Chapter 378: Training Beyond Time

Days passed one by one.

Every day, Han Li spent his time in rigorous cultivation, meditating to refine his Qi. His only other activities were ripening spiritual herbs and concocting the necessary "Yellow Dragon Pills" and "Golden Marrow Pellets." Of course, he also regularly trained his white spider and other exotic insects, following the insect-rearing techniques of the Spirit-Controlling Sect cultivators. This was his sole enjoyment amidst his cultivation.

As Han Li had estimated, he reached the ninth layer of the Qi Condensation stage in just over a year, a remarkably fast pace compared to his past progress. Yet, Han Li remained somewhat dissatisfied with this speed. Upon reaching the ninth layer, he resolutely consumed three Foundation Establishment Pills, one after another. Relying on the potent medicinal effects, Han Li re-entered the Foundation Establishment stage after approximately another year.

At this point, he could finally utilize Innate True Fire. Consequently, Han Li immediately stopped concocting low-grade pills and began refining several types of pills suitable for the Foundation Establishment stage, following their respective recipes. Based on Han Li's calculations, aside from the "Qi Condensation Powder," which had lost its effect on him due to excessive consumption, the pills from the other three recipes should have no trouble advancing his cultivation to the late Foundation Establishment stage.

However, according to his original plan, Han Li did not immediately cultivate to deepen his spiritual power. Instead, he accumulated pills and began cultivating the "Great Development Art" to prepare for refining his "clone." Initially, Han Li's cultivation of the first layer of the "Great Development Art" was surprisingly smooth; he mastered it in just six months. This gave Han Li a sense of confidence. He realized that while his aptitude for comprehending Five-Element spells was poor, he possessed considerable talent for the "Great Development Art." Therefore, he had great confidence in cultivating its second layer.

According to the partial manual, upon mastering the second layer of the "Great Development Art," one's spiritual sense would become several times stronger and could be split into over a hundred individual parts. Only then, when combined with the puppet art, would the true, terrifying power of the "Great Development Art" be revealed. 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 initially thought the second layer of the "Great Development Art" could be mastered in two or three years, but in reality, it took Han Li a full six years of dedicated day-and-night cultivation to barely succeed. This was nearly half the time longer than anticipated, leaving Han Li utterly frustrated.

During this period, the brain-numbing torment of forcibly training his spiritual sense made Han Li's face pale at the mere thought of it, filled with deep lingering fear. Furthermore, during the third year of cultivating the Great Development Art, the disciple of the middle-aged cultivator from Ascension Pavilion—who had suffered greatly at Han Li's hands over the qualification for island trade—truly arrived at Han Li's small Huan Island, following his master's orders, to challenge him again.

As a result, he was first trapped in Han Li's grand formation for three days and three nights before Han Li, who just happened to emerge from seclusion, discovered and released him. It was important to note that Han Li had almost completely forgotten about this matter due to the arduous cultivation of the Great Development Art. Facing Han Li, who had concealed his true cultivation with a nameless aura concealment art, the man—frustrated and annoyed from being trapped in the formation for days—was naturally defeated by Han Li with just the right amount of effort. He was led to believe that Han Li merely possessed sharper magical artifacts and dejectedly departed.

Three more years passed after this incident. Having mastered the second layer of the "Great Development Art," Han Li prepared to cultivate the secret art of the "External Avatar." He first rested quietly for several days to ensure his primordial spirit was in its strongest state. Then, 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. He then gazed intently at Qu Hun opposite him, remaining silent for a long time. As he looked at Qu Hun's ugly yet familiar face, Han Li was overwhelmed with a mix of emotions, recalling many long-forgotten memories: the Seven Mysteries Sect, Cai Xia Mountain, and a host of familiar figures...

However, after gazing into Qu Hun's dull, lifeless eyes for a while, Han Li sighed and finally, without hesitation, rapidly formed hand seals. A faint green light emanated from his body, bathing the entire secret chamber in an emerald glow. Soon after, Han Li's face subtly distorted within the green light. Tiny beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his eyes emitted a dazzling, piercing white glow that no one dared to look at directly.

"Hah!" Han Li suddenly roared, forming a strange hand seal. His body became motionless, but a thumb-sized cluster of green light hummed out from his nostril. This light cluster swiftly flew to Qu Hun's nose and similarly entered his body through his nostril. At this moment, Han Li's face was utterly pale, and pea-sized beads of sweat rolled down. However, the piercing white light in his eyes grew even more dazzling, eventually shooting out two thin strands of white light directly from his pupils. These beams pierced into Qu Hun's eyes, and both bodies simultaneously began to tremble...

The stone door of the cultivation chamber remained closed for over a month. It was only in the middle of the second month that the chamber's stone door slowly opened, revealing Han Li, who emerged looking haggard but extremely excited. This time, the refinement of the clone had finally succeeded after painstaking effort. Although he didn't yet know the full extent of its effects, at the very least, there were no signs of magical backlash, which allowed Han Li to breathe a huge sigh of relief.

However, immediately upon emerging from the secret chamber, Han Li entered another stone chamber and began a new period of secluded cultivation. The recent refinement had significantly damaged his primordial essence. If he didn't immediately take pills and cultivate his Qi, there was a risk of his cultivation level regressing to the Qi Condensation stage. As for the newly refined clone, Qu Hun, because his split soul had not yet fully mastered the body, he had to remain in the secret chamber, gradually adjusting and adapting.

Just a few months later, Han Li had fully recovered his damaged primordial essence. However, he did not emerge from seclusion but instead began researching the cultivation method of the "Three Revolutions of Heavy Primordial Qi Art." The cultivation method for the "Three Revolutions of Heavy Primordial Qi Art" was clearly outlined: when a cultivator reached the late Foundation Establishment stage, they would disperse most of their cultivation from the "Azure Essence Sword Art" and restart cultivation from the early Foundation Establishment stage. Simultaneously, they would compress and condense their true essence, striving to solidify the liquefied true essence of the Foundation Establishment stage, thereby reducing the bottleneck resistance encountered during Core Formation. According to the estimation of the master who created this art, three such cycles should provide a fifty percent chance of forming a Golden Core.

When Han Li had dispersed his cultivation, he hadn't yet reached the late Foundation Establishment stage; he had unexpectedly dispersed it during the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. However, he didn't mind this at all! In Han Li's view, the difference between dispersing cultivation in the mid or late Foundation Establishment stage was merely a matter of slightly more or less true essence to compress and condense. As long as the fundamental principle of compressing and solidifying his true essence remained unchanged, and he dispersed his cultivation in the late Foundation Establishment stage the next two times, there shouldn't be any major issues.

After dedicating several months to studying the "Three Revolutions of Heavy Primordial Qi Art" and feeling he had thoroughly comprehended it, Han Li entered the secret chamber, carrying a large supply of pills. He had made up his mind this time: he would not leave his cave abode until he had mastered the first revolution of this art and cultivated the Azure Essence Sword Art to the sixth layer.

As for Qu Hun, who had integrated with the body, Han Li instructed him to continuously consume pills and cultivate Qi, preparing for Foundation Establishment. Because Qu Hun possessed the "three-spirit root" attribute, his aptitude was far superior to Han Li's. Therefore, with the aid of pills, his cultivation level skyrocketed at a pace nearly equal to Han Li's re-cultivation. Han Li estimated that Qu Hun could reach the Foundation Establishment stage in just two more years. Furthermore, Han Li had long since selected the demonic art "Blood Refining Divine Light"—which Emperor Yue had cultivated—from the jade slip emitting a grayish-white aura, intending for Qu Hun to practice it after reaching Foundation Establishment. After all, he had personally witnessed the immense power of this demonic art when used by Emperor Yue. As for the issue that the art had no subsequent techniques after Core Formation, preventing further advancement, Han Li didn't care much. This was because even if a Fiend Core was formed, Qu Hun, as a separated corpse, could only maintain an early Core Formation cultivation level. Therefore, whether there were subsequent techniques or not made no difference.

Han Li's period of cultivation was indeed quite long! As the saying goes, time flies in cultivation. In the blink of an eye, over twenty years had passed. Throughout these long years, Han Li truly never left his cave abode, nor did he reappear before the island's residents.

As for Little Huan Island, Han Li's arrival as an Immortal Master had almost no impact on its hundreds of town residents. Fishermen fished, and farmers farmed, as usual! Of course, the two formerly clear and visible mountain peaks were now obscured by a dense white mist, becoming blurred and indistinct. The mortal residents of Little Huan Island were initially somewhat unaccustomed to this change. But after many years, the townspeople grew accustomed to this sight and began to pay no attention to it.

Nevertheless, the adults in the town would still warn their mischievous children to never approach the white mist near the mountains. This was because anyone who walked into it would become completely lost and unable to find their way out. Only after being trapped for several days, enduring much hardship, and then shouting "Immortal Master Han" a few times would the path reappear, allowing them to escape. After this happened several times, the town residents naturally learned their lesson and understood that Immortal Master Han preferred not to be disturbed. However, as long as they didn't go near the mountain peaks and only chopped firewood or gathered fruit around Little Huan Mountain, there was no problem at all.

Moreover, whenever the town's protective formation lacked spirit stones each year, the town chief simply had 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 Little Huan Island. And his requests for spirit stones were equally effective. In this way, while the residents of Little Huan Island couldn't be said to be overwhelmingly supportive of Immortal Master Han, most held a favorable impression of him.

But one day, Han Li finally emerged from his cave abode.