He slowly rose to his feet and stretched his limbs. Turning his palm over, a ball of azure light materialized, then condensed and compressed, transforming in the blink of an eye into a sphere the size of a chicken's egg. Spiritual light flickered across its surface, giving it an almost solid appearance.
"It seems that as my Nascent Soul has grown, my magical power has increased considerably as well." Han Li stared at the azure sphere formed from his pure spiritual power, murmuring softly.
With a flick of his hand, the sphere dissipated and vanished.
Next, he placed one hand on the crown of his head, and instantly a ball of azure qi shot upward. After spiraling once, it transformed into a tiny infant that bore an identical likeness to himself.
However, his Nascent Soul—originally just two inches tall—had grown by another half inch over the past half year. Moreover, its body had become noticeably more substantial than before, its features considerably more defined.
The Nascent Soul cradled a small azure cauldron in its arms. An emerald talisman orbited above its head, while dozens of needle-thin flying swords—divided between gold and azure—circled and danced around it, creating a truly dazzling spectacle.
Once released, the Nascent Soul seemed exceptionally excited. It frolicked around the secret chamber for over an hour before finally growing somewhat weary, at which point it flew back into his body.
Han Li, whose eyes had been shut the entire time, reopened them. A look of satisfaction appeared on his face.
Before taking the Nascent Nurturing Pill, given the solidity of his Nascent Soul, it could only remain outside his body for less than half an hour. Any longer, and its form would destabilize, rapidly draining the Nascent Soul's essence.
He had heard that only when one's cultivation reached the late Deity Transformation stage would the Nascent Soul truly solidify into permanent form, becoming fearless of the world's yang winds and able to leave the body and roam freely.
This was the greatest advantage that allowed cultivators at the late Deity Transformation stage to ascend to the Spirit Realm!
However, although his magical power had greatly increased, he was still far from reaching the peak of the mid Nascent Soul stage. Strangely, though, after undergoing the refinement from the Nascent Nurturing Pill, he could clearly sense that with just over a hundred years of secluded cultivation, he could advance his magical power to that level. It seemed as though he would encounter no further bottlenecks along the way.
This peculiar sensation was naturally a cause for celebration for Han Li.
After returning his Nascent Soul to his body and adjusting the vital energy within, he opened his mouth and spat out two streaks of golden light.
After spiraling through the air, the two streaks of light transformed into a pair of golden flying swords, though they appeared somewhat dim overall.
These were precisely the two Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords that had been seized by the ancient devil and steeped in demonic energy for a time.
Although their spiritual nature had not been entirely lost and they could still be reluctantly deployed in battle, using them to form the Greater Metal Sword Formation would clearly be beyond their current capability.
Han Li therefore planned to set aside some time to specially re-refine these two flying swords, restoring their full power so they could serve him once more.
With a thought, the two small swords—each just several inches long—flew to a position a few feet in front of him and hovered motionlessly.
He opened his mouth once more, and a ball of azure Nascent Fire sprayed out, instantly enveloping both flying swords within its flames.
Gazing at the flickering azure fire, Han Li swept his sleeve, and several small bottles and jade boxes that he had already prepared shot out, each opening on its own.
Powdered materials of varying quantities poured into the azure flames one after another, transforming into spiritual light of different colors before ultimately merging into the two flying swords.
Without so much as blinking, Han Li stared intently at the two swords, his ten fingers flicking out successive streams of incantation seals to control the refining process.
The refinement continued for three days and three nights.
Only when Han Li's face had turned abnormally pale, and he spat out a mouthful of vital blood that split in two and seeped into the swords, did the entire process finally conclude.
The two Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords now gleamed with a brilliant golden radiance once more. Every last trace of residual demonic energy within them had been completely refined away.
Opening his mouth, he drew the two flying swords back into his body. Han Li immediately sat down to rest. It took a full day before his magical power was fully restored.
Sensing the abundance of spiritual power within him, Han Li pondered for a moment. Then, with a flash of green light, an emerald wooden ruler roughly half a foot long materialized in his hand.
Running his fingers over the extremely ancient patterns carved along its surface, a contemplative expression appeared on his face.
Needless to say, this was the Eight Spirit Ruler spirit treasure.
Back in the Demon Suppression Tower, Han Li had already sensed the profundity of this artifact. It seemed that ordinary spiritual power had no effect on the treasure. Of course, at the time, pressed by urgency, he had not been able to study it in detail and had not truly confirmed this.
Now, Han Li held one end of the Eight Spirit Ruler in one hand, azure light flowing through his five fingers, as he began slowly infusing spiritual power into it.
Sure enough, it was exactly the same as before—the spiritual power clearly flowed through the wooden ruler, yet produced absolutely no change. The faint threads of green light on its surface were merely the spiritual luminescence the treasure emitted of its own accord.
After channeling a tenth of his spiritual power into it with still no effect, Han Li decisively cut off the flow and lowered his head in deep thought.
After a moment, he suddenly raised his other hand and extended a single finger.