Fame Spreads Far, Blood Shadow Escape

Chapter 614: Fame Spreads Far, Blood Shadow Escape

Han Li was actually more satisfied with this woman surnamed Mu for her consistently cool and distant attitude toward him.

He would be even happier if she simply forgot this place entirely and never disturbed his cultivation.

Thus, another month passed. Han Li finally managed to comprehend the Spirit-Binding Formation to a considerable degree.

Once he felt he had grasped the essentials, Han Li did not hesitate. He immediately set up the Spirit-Binding Formation outside his cave dwelling according to his understanding.

As a result, the faint, elusive spiritual energy fluctuations from the earlier arrays vanished completely.

Looking at the small rocky hill from the outside, not a single trace of abnormality could be seen.

Han Li was quite satisfied with this.

Over the following two or three months, the refinement of the Crying Soul Pearl and the expulsion of the Wind Spirit energy were both completed successfully, one after the other.

To Han Li's surprise, after the Crying Soul Pearl was refined to the point of being spiritually connected to him, he did not feel any headaches or problems at all.

It seemed that the unexpected evolution of the Crying Soul Beast had also caused a change he hadn't anticipated in the life-bound Crying Soul Pearl.

Han Li was overjoyed.

As for the evil qi of the Wind Spirit energy, while it was extremely difficult to expel from his body at first—often leaving him completely exhausted after a single forced session—once the majority had been forced out, the remaining portion was much easier to handle.

Not only had the pain from the evil qi's attacks lessened, but the time required to force it out had also been greatly reduced.

During the final few sessions, Han Li cleared away the remaining evil qi with complete ease.

After carefully inspecting his body several times to confirm there were no more abnormalities, he finally felt at ease.

With the most pressing matters taken care of, Han Li turned his attention to cultivation and refining the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng pill.

Regarding cultivation, after a few days of deliberation, he decided to cultivate both the fourth layer of the Great Derivative Art and the Azure Origin Sword Art simultaneously.

Based on his previous experience with Core Formation, it seemed that a powerful divine sense was greatly beneficial for breaking through bottlenecks.

Even if the fourth layer of the Great Derivative Art was extremely difficult to cultivate, Han Li still intended to give it a try.

After all, even if a powerful divine sense didn't actually help much with forming a Nascent Soul, it was still highly advantageous in combat and in anticipating the enemy's moves.

Even if it delayed his entry into the False Infant realm for a while, he didn't think it was a wrong choice.

He could afford to spend this time.

As for refining the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng pill, Han Li was even less likely to be careless.

Other ingredients could be found elsewhere, but the three main materials—the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng, the eighth-grade Companion Herb, and the Agate Horn—were simply nowhere to be found in the Heavenly South. They couldn't be bought with spirit stones either.

If he failed in the pill refinement, Han Li would have no recourse but to stare helplessly.

Therefore, in his spare time from cultivation, Han Li began to study the pill formula for the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng. He frequently refined other pills with similar steps and techniques to the formula in order to improve his alchemy skills.

And so, time passed bit by bit amidst continuous cultivation and pill refinement.

During this period, Han Li also learned the script of the Yao race, intending to find out what was recorded on the copper piece and the beast-skin book he possessed.

With Han Li's photographic memory, it was naturally very easy for him to master the ancient Yao language. He first translated the contents of the beast-skin book.

The beast-skin book contained a Yao race cultivation technique called "Nine Transformations of the Swift Wind." After reading it for a while, Han Li discovered that this technique seemed to be specifically designed for avian-type demon beasts to cultivate. It included a set of techniques, a set of movement arts, and two secret arts.

The techniques and movement arts were completely useless to him, as they were intended for Yao cultivators. Unless he possessed the powerful physique of a Yao, he would surely explode and die halfway through cultivation.

As for the Wind Concealment Art within the two secret arts, it was basically the same as the nameless Qi Concealment Technique he had learned before. It had just been slightly modified to be more suitable for human cultivation.

Besides being a reference point, it had no real value to Han Li.

However, the other secret art, "Blood Shadow Escape," truly piqued Han Li's interest.

As its name suggested, this so-called "Blood Shadow Escape" was a bizarre escape technique that used the power of one's essence blood to instantly flee over a hundred kilometers.

Many sects, especially demonic path cultivators, possessed secret arts that used the power of essence blood to instantly unleash great power.

But this Blood Shadow Escape was somewhat different from these human secret arts.

First, when using this secret art, the distance could not be controlled. The moment it was activated, the user would instantly turn into a blood shadow and shoot over a hundred kilometers away.

Second, using this secret art required a fixed, rather large amount of essence blood. Once activated, the essence blood would immediately combust within the user's body. If there wasn't enough essence blood, the user's physical body would explode mid-flight, turning into a bloody mist. It was an extremely dangerous secret art.

Finally, to use this art, one had to possess a pair of wings.

Because the speed of the Blood Shadow Escape was simply too fast, without wings to maintain body balance and apply a special weight-lightening technique, the user would not fly far before tumbling head over heels. They might crash headfirst into the ground or spin in place. In short, they would be unable to escape in a straight line.

Han Li carefully examined the secret art several times. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed like something he could cultivate.

Others didn't have wings, but he had the Wind Lightning Wings.

The spirit wings transformed by that treasure moved at his will, and were no different from real ones.

If this Blood Shadow Escape was truly as miraculous as it seemed, it would be the ultimate escape technique for evading powerful enemies.

After all, even his Wind Lightning Wings' lightning escape only allowed him to continuously blink within a small area. It couldn't provide such a complete escape.

Han Li silently committed the cultivation method for the Blood Shadow Escape to memory. Then he picked up the copper piece.

The Yao script on the copper piece didn't include a technique name or an explanation of its origin. It was just a fragment of a chant and some strange cultivation postures. This left Han Li completely confused.

When he tried to ponder the techniques more closely, he felt even more dizzy and bewildered.

After a moment's thought, Han Li remembered that the Venomous Flood Dragon had once mentioned that this object, suspected to be a Sanctum Sacred Fragment, had long been incomplete. No wonder he couldn't understand the techniques recorded on it.

After figuring this out, Han Li was greatly disappointed. He had no choice but to put it away.

For the time being, while cultivating the Great Derivative Art and the Azure Origin Sword Art, he also began to practice the Blood Shadow Escape secret art on the side.

Later, even though he believed he had grasped the technique, he dared not easily test it in practice.

After all, a significant loss of essence blood was no laughing matter.

And so, time unknowingly passed until half a year later.

One day, Han Li was meditating in his quiet room, cultivating the Great Derivative Art.

Suddenly, his expression flickered and he opened his eyes, a trace of surprise flashing across his face.

In an instant, azure light surrounded his body. He turned into a streak of azure light and shot directly out of the quiet room, heading straight for the medicine garden outside his cave dwelling.

Moments later, Han Li retracted the puppets in the medicine garden and stood before the thatched hut.

He glanced towards the southeast, pondered for a moment, then turned and walked into one of the huts, sat down, and poured himself a cup of tea, appearing completely unhurried and composed.

After a while, a voice, speaking with extraordinary politeness, came from outside the medicine garden's restrictions:

"Is Senior Sister Yuan inside? I am Kui Huan from the Hidden Sword Peak." It was a young man's voice, slightly sharp in tone.

"Senior Sister Yuan? The female disciple who used to look after the medicine garden?"

Han Li's expression remained calm. He waited for the other party to call out a few more times before draining his cup of tea and replying leisurely:

"Brother, there's no need to call out. Senior Sister Yuan left this place over a year ago. I am now in charge of the garden. If you wish to find her, you should ask at Uncle-Master Mu's cave dwelling."

"What? The person in charge of the garden has changed!" The young man sounded somewhat surprised.

It didn't seem like he was here to find someone. It was more like he had other business at the medicine garden.

"Hehe, since Senior Sister Yuan is not here, then it's fine to talk to you, Junior Brother. I wonder if Junior Brother would let me in for a chat?" the man said with a chuckle, his tone genial.

Han Li rubbed his chin. The other party had been so tactful; it would be hard to justify an outright refusal.

After thinking it over, Han Li walked out of the hut. He took out the yellow token and shot a beam of light from it, causing the thick fog around the medicine garden to slowly dissipate.

Standing outside the restriction in the southeastern direction was a young man in a yellow shirt.

The man had small eyes, thick eyebrows, and a large, upturned nose. His head was noticeably smaller than average. While not exactly unsightly, his appearance was unquestionably somewhat comical.

His cultivation was only at the eighth or ninth layer of Qi Condensation, even a bit lower than Han Li's displayed cultivation.

He really didn't know how this fellow had managed to get into the Falling Cloud Sect.