Chapter 377

Days went by.

Every day, Han Li focused on his rigorous cultivation. Besides accelerating the growth of spirit herbs and concocting the necessary "Yellow Dragon Pills" and "Golden Marrow Pellets," he spent his entire days meditating and refining his Qi, fully immersing himself in arduous training.

Of course, he also regularly trained the white spider and other strange insects according to the insect-rearing insights of the Spirit Beast Sect cultivators. This was his only source of enjoyment during his cultivation.

As Han Li had anticipated, it took him just over a year to reach the ninth layer of the Qi Condensation stage, a speed that felt incredibly rapid compared to his past progress.

However, Han Li was still somewhat dissatisfied with this pace. Upon reaching the ninth layer, he made a determined decision and took three Foundation Establishment Pills intermittently.

Leveraging the potent medicinal effects, Han Li spent about another year and successfully re-entered the Foundation Establishment stage.

At this point, he could finally use Innate True Flames.

Consequently, Han Li immediately stopped concocting low-grade elixirs and began refining several elixirs suitable for the Foundation Establishment stage, following their respective pill formulas.

According to Han Li's calculations, aside from the "Qi Refining Powder," which had lost its effect on him due to excessive use, the other three types of elixirs from their formulas should be sufficient to advance his cultivation to the late Foundation Establishment stage without issue.

However, according to his original plan, Han Li did not immediately cultivate to deepen his realm. Instead, he accumulated elixirs and switched to cultivating the "Great Development Art" in preparation for refining his "clone."

Initially, Han Li's cultivation of the first layer of the Great Development Art proceeded with astonishing smoothness; he completed it in just half a year.

This gave Han Li some confidence. He knew that while his aptitude for comprehending Five-Element spells was poor, he possessed considerable talent for the Great Development Art. Therefore, he held strong confidence in successfully cultivating the second layer of the Great Development Art.

The second layer of the Great Development Art, according to the incomplete manual, would multiply one's divine sense several times upon completion, allowing for over a hundred mental divisions. Only when combined with puppetry did this art truly reveal its formidable power.

Although he knew cultivating the second layer would be significantly more difficult than the first, the amount of time it consumed far exceeded Han Li's expectations.

He had originally thought the second layer of the Great Development Art could be completed in two or three years. In reality, it took Han Li six years of dedicated day-and-night cultivation to barely achieve it.

This was nearly half the time longer than anticipated, leaving Han Li utterly frustrated.

Furthermore, the torment of headaches and dizziness from forcibly training his divine sense during this period made Han Li's face pale at the mere thought, filling him with lingering fear.

Moreover, in the third year of cultivating the Great Development Art, the disciple of the middle-aged cultivator from the Immortal Ascent Pavilion, who had suffered greatly at Han Li's hands over the large island trade qualification, truly came to Han Li's Minor Cauldron Island to challenge him again, as per his master's orders.

As a result, the disciple was trapped in Han Li's grand formation for three days and three nights before Han Li, who had just emerged from seclusion, discovered and released him.

It should be noted that Han Li had largely forgotten about this matter due to the difficulty of cultivating the Great Development Art.

Facing Han Li, who had concealed his true cultivation with an unnamed Qi-concealing art, the man, somewhat exasperated after being trapped in the formation for several days, was naturally defeated by Han Li at just the right moment. Believing Han Li's only advantage was his superior magical artifacts, he returned dejectedly.

Three years after this incident, having completed the second layer of the Great Development Art, Han Li prepared to cultivate the secret art of "External Incarnation."

He first rested quietly for several days. After ensuring his primordial spirit was in its strongest state, he summoned Qu Hun to the secret cultivation chamber and sat cross-legged facing him.

With a wave of his hand, Han Li lowered the stone door of the secret chamber, then gazed intently at Qu Hun opposite him, remaining silent for a long time.

Looking at Qu Hun's ugly yet familiar face, Han Li couldn't help but feel a rush of emotions. He thought of many almost forgotten past events: the "Seven Mysteries Sect," Mount Colorful Cloud, and a host of familiar figures...

However, after gazing into Qu Hun's dull, lifeless eyes for a while, Han Li sighed. He then no longer hesitated, swiftly forming hand seals like a windmill. A faint green light emanated from his body, casting a verdant glow throughout the secret chamber.

Soon after, Han Li's face subtly contorted within the green light. Tiny beads of sweat formed on his forehead, and his eyes emitted a dazzling, piercing white glow that made it impossible to look directly at him.

"Hmph!"

Han Li suddenly let out a loud shout, forming a strange hand seal with both hands. His body became motionless, but from his nostrils, a thumb-sized green light orb emerged, swiftly flying to Qu Hun's nose and entering his body through his nostrils as well.

By this time, Han Li's face was extremely pale, and large beads of sweat rolled down. However, the piercing white glow in his eyes grew even more dazzling. Finally, two thin streams of white light shot directly from his eyes, straight into Qu Hun's eyes which were gazing back, and both bodies began to tremble simultaneously...

The stone door of the cultivation chamber remained closed for over a month. It wasn't until the middle of the second month that the chamber's stone door finally opened slowly, revealing Han Li, looking weary but extremely excited.

This time, the ritual of refining the clone had finally succeeded after arduous effort. Though he didn't yet know its exact effects, at least there was no backlash phenomenon, which made Han Li breathe a huge sigh of relief.

However, as soon as Han Li emerged from the secret chamber, he immediately entered another stone room to begin another period of seclusion.

The recent refinement had severely depleted his vital essence. If he didn't immediately take elixirs and cultivate, he risked regressing to the Qi Condensation stage.

As for the incarnated clone, "Qu Hun," since the divided spirit had not yet fully gained control of the body, it had to remain in the secret chamber, gradually adapting and integrating.

Just a few months later, Han Li had recovered his depleted vital essence. However, he did not emerge from seclusion but instead began to study the cultivation method of the "Three Revolutions of Heavy Essence Art."

The cultivation method for the "Three Revolutions of Heavy Essence Art" was clearly described: once a cultivator reached the late Foundation Establishment stage, they were to disperse most of their cultivation from the "Azure Essence Sword Art," restart cultivation from the early Foundation Establishment stage, and simultaneously compress and condense their True Essence, bringing the liquefied True Essence of the Foundation Establishment stage as close to solidification as possible. This was intended to reduce the bottleneck resistance encountered during Core Formation.

According to the founder of this art, repeating this process three times should grant a fifty percent chance of forming a Gold Core.

When Han Li dispersed his cultivation, he had not yet reached the late Foundation Establishment stage; he had unexpectedly done so during the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

However, he paid no mind to this.

In Han Li's view, the difference between dispersing cultivation in the late Foundation Establishment stage versus the mid-stage was merely a matter of slightly more or less True Essence during compression and condensation.

As long as the general principle of compressing and solidifying True Essence remained unchanged, and he dispersed his cultivation in the late Foundation Establishment stage for the subsequent two times, there should be no significant problem.

After diligently studying the "Three Revolutions of Heavy Essence Art" for several months and feeling that he had thoroughly comprehended it, Han Li entered the secret chamber with a large supply of elixirs.

He was determined this time: he would not leave his cave dwelling until he had completed the first revolution of this art and cultivated the Azure Essence Sword Art to the sixth layer.

As for Qu Hun, whose body had been integrated, Han Li instructed him to continuously take elixirs and refine his Qi, preparing for Foundation Establishment.

Since Qu Hun possessed "three-spirit roots," an aptitude much better than Han Li's, his cultivation soared with the aid of elixirs, almost matching Han Li's speed during his own re-cultivation.

Han Li estimated that Qu Hun would be able to reach Foundation Establishment in just two years.

Furthermore, Han Li had long ago selected the demonic art "Blood Refinement Divine Radiance," cultivated by the Yue Emperor, from the gray-white jade slip, intending for Qu Hun to practice it after achieving Foundation Establishment.

After all, he had personally witnessed the immense power of this demonic art when used by the Yue Emperor.

As for the issue of the art having no further techniques after Core Formation, preventing further advancement, Han Li was not particularly concerned.

This was because even if a Demonic Core was formed, Qu Hun, as a separated corpse, could only maintain a cultivation level at the early Core Formation stage; having subsequent techniques or not made no difference.

Han Li's period of cultivation was indeed quite long!

As the saying goes, "cultivation knows no time." In the blink of an eye, over twenty years had passed.

Throughout this long period, Han Li truly never left his cave dwelling, nor did he reappear before the island's residents.

For the hundreds of residents of Minor Cauldron Island, Han Li's arrival as an Immortal Master had almost no impact.

Those who fished continued to fish; those who farmed continued to farm.

Of course, the two once-clearly visible mountain peaks became obscured and indistinct, shrouded in dense white mist. This initially made the mortal residents of Minor Cauldron Island somewhat uncomfortable.

However, as time went by, the townspeople grew accustomed to this sight and began to ignore it.

Nevertheless, adults in the town would still caution their mischievous children never to approach the white mist near the mountain peaks.

This was because anyone who entered would become completely disoriented and unable to find their way out. Only after being trapped for several days, enduring hardships, and then shouting "Immortal Master Han" several times, would the path reappear, allowing them to escape.

After several such occurrences, the townspeople naturally learned their lesson, understanding that Immortal Master Han preferred not to be disturbed.

However, cutting firewood and gathering fruit near Minor Cauldron Mountain, as long as they didn't approach the peaks, was perfectly fine.

Furthermore, whenever the town's protective formation lacked spirit stones each year, the town chief only needed to shout a few times towards the mountains from outside the white mist. A year's supply of spirit stones would then automatically fly out from the mist on a tray, allowing the person to take them back; there was never any delay.

Of course, after twenty years, the original town chief had long passed away. The current chief was Hei Gui, the dark-faced fisherman Han Li had first met upon arriving at Minor Cauldron Island. His requests for spirit stones were equally effective.

Consequently, while the residents of Minor Cauldron Island couldn't be said to worship Immortal Master Han, most held a favorable impression of him.

But on this day, Han Li finally emerged from his cave dwelling.