Chapter 768: Spirit Talisman and Flood Dragon Soul

Volume 3, Chapter 5: Renowned in One Region, Chapter 759: When Wei Wuya suddenly mentioned Han Li to Reverend Ziyang in the main hall with an air of nonchalance, Han Li himself had already reached the hall’s main entrance.

To his surprise, he spotted Dong Xuan'er right outside the hall.

At some point, she had emerged from a side hall and was standing there, head slightly bowed, seemingly lost in thought. The gate-keeping cultivators, aware that she had arrived with Old Monster Yun Lu, naturally turned a blind eye, allowing her to stand there without interference.

As Han Li emerged, Dong Xuan'er seemed to sense his presence and looked up. Upon seeing Han Li, a peculiar expression crossed her face—a mix of bewilderment and perhaps a hint of resentment. This left Han Li feeling somewhat puzzled.

Though surprised, Han Li had nothing to say to her. He walked past her as if he hadn't seen her, heading slowly towards a distant street. Dong Xuan'er remained rooted to the spot, biting her red lips, watching Han Li's receding back without uttering a single word.

Only after turning a corner, when he no longer felt her gaze, did Han Li subtly furrow his brows and shake his head.

"Master, do you know that female cultivator?" Silvermoon's confused voice echoed in his mind.

"An old acquaintance from years ago, but we didn't get along well," Han Li replied nonchalantly.

"Really? But the way she looked, it seemed like your relationship was quite extraordinary. Could it be that Master's past..." Silvermoon giggled, deliberately leaving the latter half of her sentence unspoken.

"Stop making wild guesses. I don't have a good impression of her. In fact, we were once adversaries," Han Li sounded displeased, letting out a cold snort.

Silvermoon playfully sent Han Li a mischievous expression in his mind, then wisely said no more.

Ever since Han Li saved Silvermoon that day and didn't question her about the stolen Purple Gilded Pouch and ancient flower basket treasure, Silvermoon had clearly grown much closer to him. While still not daring to be overly presumptuous, she had visibly opened up to Han Li. Han Li, of course, had sensed this and in turn trusted her more. Their relationship had significantly improved since their initial encounters.

Upon returning to the Falling Cloud Sect's encampment, Han Li naturally gave Lu Luo a brief account of the discussions in the main hall.

"Brother Han, why risk participating in the challenge battle? Those Geng Metal essences, while precious, are external objects. What if something goes wrong for you?" Lu Luo immediately showed concern upon hearing that Han Li intended to participate in the challenge.

Han Li smiled faintly, saying calmly, "Brother Lu, rest assured. If I agree to participate, I naturally have the confidence to come out unscathed. Otherwise, why would I agree so readily? As for the battle in seven days, the safety of the other disciples in the sect—I won't be able to spare attention for them. I'll be relying entirely on you, Brother Lu."

"For the battle in a few days, I will naturally look after the disciples. You don't need to worry, Brother Han. Since you have such confidence in the challenge, I won't say more. However, before the battle, if you need anything, just instruct the disciples to do it." Lu Luo's expression eased somewhat after hearing Han Li's words.

Han Li smiled. After a moment of thought, he slowly said, "For this battle, I really do need to make some preparations. There are some special materials that I might need a few of your junior nephews to help me collect."

Han Li didn't stand on ceremony. He immediately pulled out a jade slip he had already prepared from his storage pouch and handed it to Lu Luo.

"Don't worry, as long as the materials can be found in Tianyi City, I will certainly help you gather them," Lu Luo said without hesitation as he took the jade slip.

Han Li felt a slight warmth in his heart. After nodding, he chatted for a few more moments before excusing himself. The materials listed in the jade slip he gave to Lu Luo were the auxiliary materials needed to refine the Spirit-Suppressing Talisman. He had already considered this on his way back to the encampment.

Although he felt confident participating in the challenge with his current abilities, being accustomed to caution, he still felt it best to have an extra contingency. This immediately brought to mind the "Spirit-Suppressing Talisman" as a viable option. It was also the only powerful killing move he could prepare within a few days. Other tasks, like re-refining flying swords or cultivating the Grand Geng Sword Formation, simply couldn't be completed in a mere few days.

His only concern regarding the "Spirit-Suppressing Talisman" was its success rate. Originally, he had planned to find a satisfactory spiritual talisman brush and practice his talisman crafting skills for a longer period before attempting to refine the Spirit-Suppressing Talisman. But now, it seemed there wasn't enough time. Even if the success rate was low, he had to give it a try. If he succeeded, he would naturally have an additional killing move. If he failed, it wouldn't matter. After all, a few days' time wouldn't significantly enhance his strength with other preparations.

With these thoughts, Han Li unhurriedly arrived at his living pavilion. After entering his bedroom, he sat cross-legged on the bed and soon entered a meditative state, closing his eyes.

Remarkably, in just two days, all the materials Han Li needed were gathered and delivered into his hands. Seeing this, Han Li was inwardly pleased. It seemed being an elder of the Falling Cloud Sect was indeed quite beneficial.

With these materials, Han Li re-entered the secret chamber. Sitting cross-legged in the center of the chamber, he meticulously arranged the auxiliary materials before him. Finally, he took out a dark green small bottle from his storage pouch and carefully opened the lid.

With a soft *whoosh*, a blood-red light mass shot out from the bottle. But Han Li, already prepared, raised his hand without a change in expression and, with outstretched fingers, made a grasping motion in the air. A shimmering blue hand instantly snatched the blood-red light mass into his palm. Then, as the blue light continuously flowed, and his fingers subtly twitched, the blood-red light mass revealed its true form within the blue light.

It was a small, blood-colored flood dragon, several inches in size, constantly squirming in his palm, seemingly eager to fly away at any moment. However, the surrounding blue light, seemingly ethereal, firmly trapped the dragon spirit within his large hand, like a bird in a cage, unable to escape even an inch.

Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly, a faint blue glow flickering in the depths of his pupils. He immediately saw the venomous dragon's essence clearly, inside and out. Despite the lively movements of this small blood-red dragon, as if it were identical to when he first collected it into the bottle years ago, Han Li, under the clear sight of his Bright Sight Spirit Eyes, clearly discovered anomalies. While the dragon spirit's soul power was still astonishingly potent, the divine light in its eyes was scattered and unfocused, appearing somewhat dull. This was clearly a sign that its spiritual consciousness had vanished.

The current dragon spirit possessed powerful soul energy but its intellect had regressed to a primordial state. Its earlier attempt to escape was merely an instinct from its former life. Han Li sighed softly. He thought back to the transformed Level Eight venomous dragon, how arrogant and powerful it once was. Yet, now, after only a few years in his hands, its spiritual awareness was gradually fading, reduced to the state of a wild beast. The stark contrast between its past and present was truly moving, and it made Han Li secretly wary of the arduous and difficult path of cultivation. If one day his physical body were destroyed and his nascent soul fell into enemy hands, his fate would be no better than this venomous dragon's.

He sat silently, pondering for a while. Han Li sighed and, with a flick of his single hand, a ball of blue light encompassing the small blood-red dragon shot out of his hand, directly upwards to about a丈 (10 feet) above his head, where it hovered motionlessly.

Ignoring the venomous dragon's essence, Han Li lowered his head to scan the materials in front of him. He then suddenly pointed a finger at a piece of unknown spiritual beast hide. Immediately, this rare, emerald-green hide slowly floated up and flew to Han Li's chest.

A sharp glint flashed in Han Li's eyes. He opened his mouth and a wisp of azure infant fire喷 (sprayed) out, directly striking the spiritual hide, enveloping it without inexplicably causing it to burn. Han Li formed hand seals, his fingers constantly flickering, casting one spell after another onto the spiritual hide. The infant fire flickered intermittently, brightening and dimming.

Just then, Han Li paused his hand seals. He extended a pale finger from his single hand and pointed at a white jade box in front of him. With a *whoosh*, the box lid flew open on its own, revealing a dazzling box full of silver powder. With a hook of his finger towards the jade box, a small portion of the silver powder immediately transformed into a silver thread and directly plunged into the azure infant fire.

Immediately, silver sparks emerged within the flames. Under Han Li's spell-pulling, they instantly converged towards the spiritual hide in the center of the firelight. The entire hide instantly transformed into a large cluster of silver light lotuses, slowly rotating within the flames. Han Li's expression grew increasingly solemn. He began pointing at the various bottles and jars in front of him, one by one, and a dazzling array of materials poured into the infant fire. The color of the flames enveloping the spiritual hide changed from silver to black, then from black to green. When it finally turned blood-red, Han Li let out a soft breath, at last ceasing to add materials to the flames, and began to chant a low incantation.

At the same time, with a tremor of several fingers, several thin azure threads shot out from his fingertips, directly striking the spiritual hide. Immediately, the spiritual hide stopped rotating, and under the traction of the azure threads, it began to sway strangely, sometimes slowly, sometimes rapidly. Amidst the incantations, Han Li continued the above actions with an expressionless face. Gradually, wisps of black qi began to emerge from the surface of the spiritual hide within the flames. Upon contact with the blood-red infant fire outside, these black qi instantly vanished, but a faint, fishy odor filled the secret chamber. The overall volume of the spiritual hide, however, shrunk by a fraction.

Han Li paid no heed to this. This action continued for over an hour. When the last wisp of black qi on the spiritual hide was also refined away, he visibly relaxed and let out a long breath. After adding a few more materials to the flames and refining for a short while longer, Han Li's eyes flickered. He then suddenly blew gently at the firelight.

With a soft *puff*, the flames immediately extinguished, revealing the entire spiritual hide, now blood-red. It was now only palm-sized. Seeing the hide transformed in this manner, a look of satisfaction appeared on his face. He raised his head to glance at the dragon spirit above him, then no longer hesitated, pointing a finger at it.

The blue light surrounding the dragon spirit paused for a moment, then instantly transformed into specks of spiritual light and vanished. The dragon spirit, as if attracted by something, shot directly towards the blood-red spiritual hide. With a *sizzle*, it plunged into the surface of the hide and disappeared.