Foreshadowed Winds: The Grand Yin Scripture

First of all, there was absolutely no way this thing was really a rib bone from the old ghost Xuan Gu. The current shape was merely a ruse to throw off suspicion.

Setting aside the unusual material, the faint trace of spiritual energy seeping from it was enough to tell that even if it wasn’t a magical treasure, it had certainly been refined by someone.

But no matter how Han Li probed it with his spiritual sense or slowly infused it with spiritual power, the rib showed no reaction at all.

After a moment of frowning, Han Li recalled that the old ghost cultivated the ghostly arts. This item probably needed the aid of yin soul energy to activate.

Han Li did not have yin soul power himself, but he still had the Soul-Gathering Bowl he had acquired long ago. Though the souls inside had long been consumed to refine his puppets, a fair amount of residual yin energy remained in the bowl.

So he reached into his storage pouch with one hand, and a pitch-black round bowl appeared in his palm.

He glanced casually at the Soul-Gathering Bowl, and azure light flashed from the five fingers holding it.

Strands of yin energy were drawn into his body through his palm, then slowly channeled to his other hand that held the bone fragment.

A mass of chilling black energy began to take shape and soon enveloped the rib completely.

Han Li watched without blinking.

The rib finally responded. Its originally white, smooth surface began to darken. Before long, all the yin energy was absorbed into the bone, turning it half-white and half-black.

Seeing these changes, Han Li's face showed no unusual expression, though a faint twitch of his brow revealed his attention.

After closing his eyes in thought for a moment, he suddenly sat up fully on the bed.

Then, brilliant azure light erupted from the hand holding the Soul-Gathering Bowl.

At the same time, a faint ghostly wailing came from his other hand as an even larger mass of pitch-black yin energy took shape.

The rib wrapped inside it began to devour the yin energy greedily.

After a full quarter-hour of continuous absorption, the object gradually turned completely black.

Suddenly, a low humming sound emerged from the rib. Then, strands of jet-black radiance burst forth, filling the room with an eerie, sinister atmosphere.

Hesitating for a moment, Han Li put away the Soul-Gathering Bowl and released his grip. The rib floated free, and the yin energy around it scattered under the impact of the black light.

Watching this strange scene, Han Li’s eyes flickered.

But aside from the low hum and the flickering black light, the blackened bone fragment showed no further change.

After a while, Han Li’s expression shifted slightly. He suddenly beckoned with his hand.

With a swish, the rib was drawn back into his grasp.

Then, staring at the object intently, he extended his spiritual sense into it.

This time, there was no more obstruction. The spiritual sense entered the rib smoothly.

A flash of black light passed before his eyes, and one after another, ancient characters and diagrams appeared in sequence.

A jade slip.

Han Li murmured to himself, not particularly surprised. That this object might be a specially made jade slip had been one of his guesses beforehand.

So he suppressed his rising excitement and began to study each character carefully.

The Grand Yin Art.

He only needed to read the first half—those somewhat familiar words—to fully confirm the content.

Though he had never practiced this infamous demonic technique, his clone’s Blood Essence Divine Light had been derived entirely from this very art. Naturally, there were many similarities in the content.

That was how, after reading only the opening portion and noting the many parallels in cultivation methods, he reached this conclusion.

This rib-shaped jade slip was the so-called Grand Yin Scripture.

To be honest, Han Li felt a bit disappointed.

Since he was already cultivating the Azure Origin Sword Art, the Grand Yin Art, despite its fearsome power, was not something he would foolishly restart from scratch.

But he did not immediately withdraw his spiritual sense from the Grand Yin Scripture. He continued reading line by line.

Because the second half of the Grand Yin Scripture also recorded several demonic secret techniques. Not all of them were impossible to cultivate.

As one incredible secret art after another unfolded before him, Han Li’s expression shifted from disappointment to surprise, then gradually took on a hint of seriousness, and finally settled on slight, barely concealed excitement.

The power of these secret arts was truly beyond expectation.

He was confident that if he could cultivate the Azure Origin Sword Art to the ninth layer and supplement it with suitable Grand Yin techniques, even if he still could not match an Nascent Soul cultivator, he would at least have a chance to escape and survive.

When encountering old monsters like Extreme Yin, he would no longer be helplessly slaughtered.

Among these techniques, Extreme Yin Patriarch’s Celestial Corpse Fire appeared prominently. The Celestial Corpse Puppet was merely a byproduct of that technique.

Unfortunately, this secret art required the Grand Yin Art as a foundation and cultivation at the Nascent Soul stage or higher. Otherwise, he would have been interested in trying it.

After all, he had witnessed the terrifying power of the Celestial Corpse Fire firsthand.

But even so, the weakness of the Celestial Corpse Fire was clearly revealed in the cultivation instructions.

Han Li sneered coldly when he saw it.

If Extreme Yin ever used that demonic fire against him again, he would certainly give the old monster a surprise.

After reading a bit more, Han Li silently memorized two or three secret arts that caught his interest and could be cultivated at Core Formation. He intended to begin practicing them when he had time.

Carefully storing the small rib that concealed the Grand Yin Scripture, Han Li felt quite satisfied with this harvest, a lingering hint of excitement still hard to suppress.

After a moment’s thought, he touched the Void Heaven Cauldron inside his storage pouch, his curiosity burning.

Without further delay, he made his way to the secret chamber of his cave dwelling.

If he could open the Void Heaven Cauldron in one go, never mind the Heaven-Mending Pill, even obtaining a few more ancient treasures would greatly increase his strength.

With this in mind, aside from his daily inspection of the Golden Silk Silkworms, Han Li spent his days studying the small cauldron obsessively, frequently searching through various old texts for any clue on how to open it.

But half a month later, forced to admit defeat after exhausting all his methods and wits, Han Li had to concede that the Void Heaven Cauldron—known as the number one secret treasure of the Chaotic Star Sea—was not something he, at Core Formation, could open.

Its resilience was extraordinary.

He had tried everything from fire and water to striking it with every magic tool and ancient treasure he owned—not a single mark was left on the cauldron’s surface. Even the newly recovered Slaughter Evil Lightning from his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, which he channeled into it, produced no reaction whatsoever.

As for other more inventive methods, he had attempted them all, each ending in failure.

Finally, Han Li had no choice but to put the cauldron back into his storage pouch and give up for now.

As for the Azure Azure Pearl that he suspected might be connected to opening the cauldron, he dared not touch it lightly.

The Azure Azure Ice Flame was something even Nascent Soul old monsters feared.

Until his cultivation reached late Core Formation or he formed his Nascent Soul, he had no intention of trying to refine that pearl.

He had enough self-awareness for that.

During this period, the two Golden Silk Silkworms that had consumed the five-colored round pills still showed no major reaction—the medicine had yet to take effect.

On the other hand, the tens of thousands of Gold Devourer Beetles in another insect chamber had finally begun to devour each other on a large scale. New beetle eggs would soon emerge, a development that delighted Han Li.

His next task would be to re-refine his seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.

He had no intention of wasting the Refining Crystal obtained on the Lava Path. He planned to refine it into each flying sword little by little.

This would make his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, if not indestructible, then something that very few things in this world could destroy.

That would be extremely beneficial for his future battles with high-level cultivators.

However, refining the Refining Crystal was an extremely arduous task.

Based on what little the texts said about its properties, Han Li estimated it would take at least half a year of continuous work with the help of a formation to slowly melt and incorporate the crystal.

If his magic power gave out halfway and he could not maintain the process, the Refining Crystal would be ruined entirely.

That was no trivial matter.

With merely his early Core Formation cultivation, even with the aid of various pills, he would not have dared to attempt it.

But now that he possessed the Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Milk—though he had used some of it—the remainder meant he no longer had to worry about running out of magical power.

Moreover, considering the dangers he would face in the upcoming sea voyage hunting demon beasts, the sharper his tools, the better.

Thus, re-refining his flying swords was something Han Li was determined to do.