A Name Shakes the Region, the Second Nascent Soul

The practice of the Insect Driving Arts was not difficult. With Han Li’s current cultivation and realm, comprehending these secret techniques was as natural as water flowing downhill. They came to him with ease.

Nevertheless, these secret arts opened his eyes. The several methods and means of commanding insects to attack that were recorded on the jade slip filled him with unceasing wonder.

In particular, the technique for the “Insect Armor Art” allowed his previously vague ideas to be perfectly realized.

Before, he had been able to command the tri-colored Gold Devourer Beetles to condense into simple shapes like blades and swords. However, when it came to something as complex as armor, he had always felt inadequate. Several difficult points had remained insurmountable.

Now, with the “Insect Armor Art” technique recorded on the jade slip, after just a month of practice, he could smoothly condense a suit of armor.

It was truly incredible!

However, amidst his joy, Han Li also felt a private sense of delight.

He believed that even the senior who had created the “Insect Armor Art” could not have easily possessed spirit insects as powerful as the Gold Devourer Beetles with which to condense armor. Its defensive power would naturally be far inferior to a true protective treasure. This, combined with the general scarcity of Insect Cultivators, was why this technique had never become famous.

But in his hands, this technique was a different matter entirely.

The carapace of the tri-colored Gold Devourer Beetles was already exceptionally tough and difficult to damage. When this was combined with their unique ability to deform and condense, the defensive power of this armor was only superior to ordinary protective suits. It was perfectly suited to him.

Furthermore, once he had mastered the new insect-control techniques for the golden Gold Devourer Beetles, he could naturally manifest an even more superior suit of treasure armor.

Han Li was full of confidence in this.

Thinking of the mature Gold Devourer Beetles that would be the final product of their evolution, he found it even harder to suppress his excitement.

After a long moment, Han Li finally regained his composure.

He stroked the insect armor, lost in thought for a while, then blew a mouthful of spiritual energy onto it.

The insect armor immediately collapsed, reverting into a swarm of insects. With a wave of his hand, Han Li collected them all into his spirit beast pouch.

He sat back down on the ground and calmly took a green jade slip from his storage pouch. This was the one left behind by Xin Ruyin.

Holding the slip flat in both hands, he half-closed his eyes, and his spiritual sense quickly immersed itself within it.

Ignoring the ancient formations for the time being, he went straight to the very end, to the formula for the Xuanmu Infant Transformation Grand Art.

This technique must have been created by some ancient demonic cultivator from an era long past. Not only was the formula obscure and profound, but every sentence was filled with deep meaning. Han Li had to comprehend it almost word by word, a process that was excruciatingly slow.

It took him a full half a year to grasp a little over half of the technique.

But even this was enough to fill him with awe, and he had nothing but the utmost admiration for the ancient cultivator who created it.

Indeed, this art did bear some resemblance to the Daoist “One Qi Transforms into the Three Purities.” He had never come into contact with the number one Daoist divine ability in even the slightest way, so he naturally could not know just how much they differed.

However, the art was completely different from ordinary demonic-path “External Incarnation” secret techniques. It was a true, heaven-defying divine ability for creating a second incarnation. Once it was successfully cultivated, one would possess two completely independent Nascent Souls. Although there was a difference between primary and auxiliary, if either Nascent Soul were to be unexpectedly destroyed, the other could continue to exist peacefully.

Of course, if the primary soul was lost, the second Nascent Soul would need to consume a great deal of its own origin power to slowly transform into the primary soul. But if the second Nascent Soul was damaged, the effect on the primary soul was almost negligible.

What tempted Han Li even more was that once the second Nascent Soul was successfully cultivated, one could choose an excellent complete cultivator’s body to fuse it with, thereby cultivating an incarnation.

Once the incarnation was complete, it would become a true second existence outside of the main body. Even if the main body were to vanish into smoke and ashes, as long as the incarnation remained, Han Li would still be alive.

After all, the memories and emotions of both were exactly the same; it was simply a matter of having copied a copy onto the second Nascent Soul.

This was a world of difference from the Qu Hun clone he had cultivated in the past.

Back then, the so-called Demonic Core clone that Han Li had cultivated had its actions controlled by a sliver of divine sense split from his Primordial Soul. It possessed no memories or emotions and had no independent ability. It was essentially just a high-grade puppet.

Furthermore, the Qu Hun incarnation could not stray too far from Han Li. Otherwise, it would lose the ability to act due to the spiritual sense being unable to sense it.

The incarnation cultivated through the Xuanmu Infant Transformation Grand Art was completely different. Not only could it be tens of thousands of li away from the cultivator with no issues, but it could also act and cultivate on its own without any commands or instructions. It was no different from an ordinary cultivator.

Upon reading this, Han Li drew in a sharp breath of cold air.

But when he continued to delve deeper into the text, the jade slip finally mentioned the limitations and flaws of practicing this technique.

As soon as Han Li comprehended it, it was like he had been doused with a bucket of cold water. The excitement and fervor that had just risen within him instantly plummeted to rock bottom.

The difficulties involved left him staring with his mouth wide open, utterly speechless for a long time.

Not to mention anything else, just the most important part, the condensation of the second Nascent Soul, was a prime example.

For an ordinary cultivator, just forming the primary Nascent Soul took countless years of effort before they might, by a stroke of luck, succeed in shattering their core. To condense a second Nascent Soul, they naturally had no second Golden Core to shatter, nor did they have this much time to waste.

The only feasible method was to seize and occupy the Nascent Soul of another Nascent Soul cultivator. After erasing the other cultivator’s divine sense from it, one would use their own divine sense to assimilate the Nascent Soul, thereby obtaining a second one.

Although the jade slip provided the techniques and methods for seizing and erasing a Nascent Soul’s divine sense, the risks involved and the low success rate went without saying.

Even if one were blessed by the heavens and succeeded in seizing another’s Nascent Soul, the subsequent process of assimilation was an even more dangerous endeavor.

After all, the Nascent Soul was forcibly seized from someone else. Even if one succeeded in occupying it temporarily, in order to assimilate it to be identical to one’s own, one would have to risk the divine sense being assimilated and devoured by the Nascent Soul’s instinct instead.

If the second Nascent Soul were truly formed, the benefits of possessing two Nascent Souls simultaneously would be too numerous to count.

If one wished to go a step further and cultivate a second incarnation, one only needed to find a suitable body for the Nascent Soul to possess.

Naturally, the higher the cultivation of this body’s original owner, the better.

The best would be the body of a Nascent Soul cultivator. Only then would the second incarnation be able to serve a truly great purpose.

However, it went without saying that capturing a Nascent Soul cultivator alive, or even killing one, was an extremely difficult task.

Han Li did not know about others, but he judged that he himself was nowhere near capable of this yet.

Of course, even if one successfully achieved mastery of the “Xuanmu Infant Transformation Grand Art” and truly cultivated an incarnation, it did not mean one could rest easy from then on. One still had to be constantly vigilant against the incarnation’s backlash.

This second incarnation was, in fact, equivalent to refining another version of oneself. However, as time passed, differences in memories and emotions between the two would inevitably arise. This would generate an extremely powerful Inner Demon to tempt the incarnation. The incarnation would become increasingly eager to break free from the main body’s control. In fact, if its divine abilities far surpassed the main body’s, it might even use their unique connection to take control of the main body.

Thus, the main and auxiliary roles would be reversed, and the guest would become the master.

Therefore, although an incarnation could carry out the main body’s commands and orders from millions of li away, it was best not to let it leave the main body for too long. Every so often, one would have to perform the “Return Unity Art,” a secret technique from the Xuanmu Infant Transformation Grand Art, to dispel the Inner Demon and re-assimilate the two primordial spirits, thereby strengthening control over the incarnation.

Of course, aside from preventing the incarnation’s backlash, there were a few other minor flaws. However, compared to this terrifying backlash, they were not very important.

In truth, when one possessed a second Nascent Soul, the Xuanmu Infant Transformation Grand Art could be considered a preliminary success. It was not strictly necessary to cultivate a second incarnation. One could already gain a considerable advantage in magical combat against others, use several types of powerful divine abilities, and have a far greater chance of preserving one’s life than an ordinary single-soul cultivator. Moreover, one did not have to worry about the danger of the incarnation rebelling.

Han Li now wore a gloomy expression as he carefully considered the feasibility and pros and cons of cultivating this divine ability.

Although cultivating this secret technique was extremely difficult, it was undeniably a genuine great divine ability. He was unwilling to give it up easily.

If he succeeded, it would be equivalent to gaining an extra life for free. The temptation was truly irresistible!

As for how to obtain another cultivator’s Nascent Soul, Han Li lowered his head in thought for a moment before taking out a jade box covered in talisman seals from his storage pouch. Inside was the Wood Spirit Infant that he had captured and imprisoned.

His brow furrowed tightly as his fingers gently stroked the jade box. For a long time, he did not utter a single word.

After hearing Liu Yu say a few things about the origin of the Wood Spirit Infant, Han Li naturally knew that it was different from an ordinary Nascent Soul.

However, there was no denying that the Imperial Spirit Sect had been able to use some kind of Five Elements Spirit Infant secret technique to allow the spirit infant to merge and fuse with a Core Formation cultivator. This meant that in most respects, the spirit infant was still similar to a Nascent Soul.

Refining it into a second Nascent Soul would most likely not be a problem.

Besides, he had never had any use for this Wood Spirit Infant anyway. There was no loss in giving it a try.

As for the danger involved in seizing and erasing the spirit infant’s divine sense, Han Li was confident that, with his divine sense and the help of other treasures, it would be absolutely no problem.

The only concern was the intangible danger of the Nascent Soul’s reverse assimilation.

If that really happened, he would have no choice but to sever the portion of his divine sense that had invaded the spirit infant’s Nascent Soul, resulting in a great loss of his divine sense. As for what lingering effects there might be, and whether it would affect his mental faculties, that was hard to say.

At this thought, Han Li’s face was filled with hesitation.