Chapter 928: Collecting Treasures

"Perhaps," Han Li agreed without objection. Of fire-attribute treasures, nine out of ten were specialized for offense. After all, fire spiritual power was inherently among the most destructive of all attributes.

Finishing his discussion with Deity Dayan, Han Li stopped talking. He gently flicked his sleeve, and the two round beads in his hand shot out. Immediately, he cast two spells, striking the two beads. Golden and white light flickered, and the two round beads instantly floated motionless in the air.

Han Li's eyes flickered. He slapped his storage pouch, and seven or eight bottles, jade boxes, and a small silver cauldron flew out of it one after another, landing steadily on the ground before him. The small cauldron, in particular, hovered directly in the low air in front of him.

He formed a hand seal and pointed at the small cauldron. The cauldron trembled, and its lid flew off on its own, circling once before hovering in mid-air.

At the same time, one of the jade boxes on the ground also opened its lid by itself, revealing a box of vibrant green powder. Han Li opened his mouth, and a cloud of misty green spiritual energy sprayed out, striking the jade box. Spiritual light flickered, and a small portion of the spiritual powder in the jade box, enveloped in green light, flew up, circled once, and then entered the small cauldron.

With a low shout, another wisp of green flame shot out from his mouth. This flame was extremely slender, but upon striking the small cauldron, it immediately burned fiercely, completely engulfing the lower half of the cauldron. As soon as the flame was emitted, Han Li's face instantly turned pale, and he appeared listless and drained. Han Li couldn't help but smile bitterly. He hadn't expected that forcefully extracting a wisp of infant flame from his Nascent Soul after his magic power was sealed would be so difficult. Of course, this was also largely due to his vitality being severely damaged and not yet fully recovered.

At this moment, he raised his hand and made a grabbing motion towards another slender jade bottle. The bottle floated up, slowly flying above the small cauldron. Its lid opened on its own, and the bottle inverted. A finger-thick stream of emerald spiritual liquid poured down, falling into the cauldron, instantly mixing with the green powder within.

Then, a low incantation was heard. The green flame on the small cauldron, propelled by a spell, immediately flared up, enveloping the entire cauldron. Just a moment later, a hint of medicinal fragrance emanated from the cauldron.

Han Li's eyebrow twitched. With a wave of one hand, another jade box flew into mid-air. A whole vibrant red spiritual herb from inside the box was poured directly into the cauldron. In this manner, under Han Li's careful control, he added various spiritual medicines and liquids at regular intervals...

After a day and a night, the contents of the cauldron were finally refined. With a flick of Han Li's sleeve, the infant flame on the cauldron vanished without a trace. The small silver cauldron then floated lightly down into Han Li's hand.

Holding the small cauldron with one hand, he lowered his head and gazed into it, seeing a several-inch-deep, extremely viscous spiritual liquid. It was crystalline emerald, and its unique fragrance permeated the air!

"This is the correct spiritual liquid, isn't it?" After observing for a while, Han Li felt there were no issues; it matched the description in the jade slip. Still, he cautiously asked.

"Precisely this spiritual liquid. I didn't expect your alchemy skills to reach such a profound level. I thought it would take at least two cauldrons to refine this liquid! In terms of alchemy alone, your accomplishments surpass even mine from back in the day. Now, simply immerse the Heavenly Corpse Bead in this spiritual liquid for seven days and seven nights, and the corpse poison within will be completely removed, allowing you to consume it safely," Deity Dayan said lazily.

Han Li smiled upon hearing this but said nothing further. Instead, he pointed at the golden bead, which was still suspended in mid-air by his levitation spell. The bead instantly transformed into a golden light, shooting directly into the small cauldron. The cauldron lid then closed tightly, resealing it.

Han Li then placed the cauldron in a corner of the secret chamber, no longer paying it any mind. Instead, he turned his attention to the Snow Crystal Bead. Refining this bead would not require much trouble.

With a flip of his palm, and a few nearly inaudible incantations, a small ball of purple flame appeared in his palm. He flicked his hand, and the purple fire shot out, striking the Snow Crystal Bead. Immediately, the bead's surface flickered with white spiritual light and purple glow. The spiritual light intensified, appearing to merge completely with the Violet Sky Flame.

Seeing this, Han Li emitted a rosy glow from his mouth, instantly enveloping the crystal bead in mid-air. The crystal bead rapidly shrank and deformed within the rosy glow, instantly transforming into the size of a pill. It was then swept back and directly swallowed into his abdomen.

Han Li's expression was solemn. He closed his eyes, formed a meditative hand seal, and remained motionless, performing an inner observation of his body. He saw the Snow Crystal Bead currently in his Dantian, gently cradled by an inch-large lotus formed from purple flames, rotating continuously. Below the bead, his Nascent Soul sat obediently cross-legged, also forming hand seals, complementing the purple flame crystal bead and appearing unusually mysterious.

Seeing this, Han Li felt a slight relief. With his current Foundation Establishment cultivation, it was naturally impossible to directly refine the treasure bead. However, his Violet Sky Flame was extraordinarily formidable, so he could first take the bead into his body and temper it with the flame. When he could refine it later, it would be much easier. Moreover, under the control of the Violet Sky Flame, he could even forcefully command the bead to confront enemies when necessary.

After dealing with the two beads, Han Li didn't immediately proceed with the next task. Instead, he meditated quietly in the secret chamber for half a day to allow his mind and magic power to recover slightly. Only then did he remove a spirit beast pouch from his waist and toss it into the air.

White light swirled out, and a dazzling golden object appeared in the air—the unfinished Vajra Cover. Inside this semi-finished golden bubble, the Soul-Devouring Beast lay comfortably, sound asleep. Seeing this, Han Li's mouth twitched, looking rather exasperated. This Soul-Devouring Beast was simply too fond of sleep. Nine out of ten times he summoned it, it was sound asleep.

With a bitter smile, Han Li helplessly flicked his finger towards the Vajra Cover. A small blue light projectile flew out and struck the surface of the golden bubble. The faint golden light rippled slightly, deflecting the light projectile without a sound. However, the Soul-Devouring Beast inside, feeling the tremor, groggily opened its eyes and woke up.

As soon as it saw itself outside the spirit beast pouch, it let out a series of cries, then shot out of the golden bubble as a black streak. After circling once in the air, it obediently landed on Han Li's shoulder, then continuously rubbed its furry head against Han Li's neck. After years of companionship, the beast had long since regarded Han Li as family and was extremely affectionate towards him.

Han Li smiled faintly, tilted his head, and stroked the beast's head once, then turned his gaze to the Vajra Cover still suspended in the air. He swept his sleeve, and a misty green glow rolled out, instantly enveloping the golden bubble. Ten thousand streaks of rosy light rotated continuously around the treasure, yet the golden bubble showed no reaction at all, as if it were an inanimate object.

Han Li was slightly startled. After a brief contemplation, he swiftly formed hand seals, simultaneously reciting another incantation for retrieving treasures. Streaks of green magic seals struck the Vajra Cover, but apart from causing the treasure's spiritual light to flicker a few times, there was still no significant change. At this, Han Li's expression changed slightly.

However, with his knowledge and divine abilities, he naturally possessed more than just these two methods and spells for retrieving treasures. Taking a deep breath, Han Li, unwilling to give up, continuously changed his hand seals, while the incantations from his mouth fluctuated in volume. Multicolored magic seals shot out consecutively from his flicking fingers.

As time passed, there was still no effect on the Vajra Cover, and Han Li's face finally grew grim. After indistinctly uttering the last treasure-retrieval spell he knew, the incantation abruptly ceased.

"Senior Dayan, what exactly is going on? Even though I'm only at the Foundation Establishment stage, it shouldn't be impossible for me to retrieve this treasure, should it? Is there something else peculiar about this treasure transformed from a Vajra Sarira?" Han Li asked with a deep frown.

"Refining a Buddhist sarira with corpse fire to create a protective treasure like the Vajra Cover is an inherently rare method of crafting magical artifacts. After all, sariras and corpse fire are naturally antagonistic and difficult to merge. It's expected that ordinary retrieval methods wouldn't work. However, I can teach you a set of incantations for retrieving sariras; see if they are effective," Deity Dayan said unhurriedly.

"Alright! I'll give it a try," Han Li agreed without hesitation.

After a short while, Han Li used the newly acquired spell and finally managed to shrink the treasure and retrieve it into his hand, which made Han Li greatly relieved. However, when Han Li attempted to complete the final refinement of the Vajra Cover according to the incantation provided by Deity Dayan, he encountered an even greater problem.

The Vajra Cover remained unaffected, no matter how he tempered it with infant flame. This time, even Deity Dayan had no solution. According to Deity Dayan's speculation, to complete the final refinement of the Vajra Cover, it seemed it would require tempering with ten-thousand-year corpse flame.

Upon hearing this, Han Li couldn't help but roll his eyes, saying in annoyance: "Hmph! Ten-thousand-year corpse flame? Where am I supposed to find that? Are you telling me to go to Snowy Ridge Mountain and kidnap King Xuanye again?"

Hearing this, Deity Dayan could only grunt a few times in helplessness, then fell silent for a moment.

Just as Han Li was at his wit's end, helplessly even considering using the Vajra Cover in its current unfinished state, the somewhat bored little monkey perched on Han Li's shoulder suddenly opened its mouth. A stream of grayish-white flame shot out, instantly engulfing the Vajra Cover floating in mid-air. The previously silent Vajra Cover immediately emitted a low hum, and the golden bubble in the gray flame abruptly expanded and contracted, rapidly deforming.

Seeing this scene, Han Li was greatly astonished.

"Ten-thousand-year corpse flame!" Deity Dayan muttered, utterly dumbfounded.