Deep within the towering mountain, inside a hidden chamber of his cave dwelling, a arc of blue-white lightning flashed, and Han Li's figure materialized.
His face was filled with elation.
With the aid of the true toad spirit liquid, after over a hundred years of bitter cultivation, he had advanced the late stage of Deity Transformation to the Great Perfection realm. At the same time, the spiritual power contained within the heavenly peng relic had finally been completely refined, granting him the secret techniques for refining the true dragon and heavenly phoenix bloodlines.
With this, he naturally wasted no time fusing both spirit bloodlines into his body, mastering the transformations of the true dragon and heavenly phoenix as described in the Awe-Inspiring Art.
At that point, Han Li had reached an inconceivable realm in both physical body and Magical Power — the absolute peak of what the Deity Transformation stage could offer.
At the same time, the green luo fruit seed he had been cultivating had produced several green luo fruit trees.
Using these fruits as the primary ingredient, and after a few failures, he had successfully refined a single batch of over a dozen Heavenly Net Pills.
With everything in place, Han Li finally began his assault on the Void Refinement stage, aided by three Black Flame Pills and three Heavenly Net Pills.
It had to be said, Han Li's luck was rather favorable.
Of the three Heavenly Net Pills, two actually proved effective, boosting the power of the two Black Flame Pills by twenty to thirty percent on top of that.
Under such advantageous conditions, it took Han Li several months, but he finally succeeded in drawing in the heaven and earth spiritual energy within a ten-thousand-li radius and pouring it into his body, breaking through in one stroke and smoothly entering the Void Refinement stage.
Both his cultivation and spiritual sense had more than doubled.
But at this moment, Han Li hovered lightly in midair within the chamber, eyes closed as he sensed everything around him.
The heaven and earth spiritual energy that had once seemed vague and hazy in his perception was now strikingly clear, as though he could reach out and gather it into his palm with a mere flick of his hand.
Suddenly, his eyelids twitched, and he truly raised a hand toward the empty space before him.
A sharp hissing sound rang out as five streaks of crystalline light shot from his fingertips. Then, points of spiritual light flashed all around, and countless five-colored specks the size of rice grains materialized from nothing, darting into the crystalline rays.
The crystal light surged, and a translucent, five-colored giant hand eerily materialized from the void.
"Exactly as I expected. After entering the Void Refinement stage, my control over heaven and earth spiritual energy is on an entirely different level from the Deity Transformation stage." Han Li murmured.
During the Deity Transformation stage, he had only been able to vaguely sense the existence of heaven and earth spiritual energy and utilize the barest fraction of it. Now, he could truly command it. With every gesture and movement, any technique he performed would be significantly enhanced by the heaven and earth spiritual energy. For those special arts that relied specifically on borrowing such energy, their power would likely become terrifyingly greater — several times over, quite possibly.
Han Li opened his eyes, a look of satisfaction on his face, and waved his hand. The crystalline giant hand before him dissipated and vanished.
Han Li descended slowly, his figure drifting gently to the ground.
His gaze swept across the chamber and came to rest on an object in one corner — the Profound Spirit Mountain, which had been sitting there for over a hundred years.
During this time, Han Li had gradually fed the remaining two stone pieces into the mountain and refined them together.
Judging by the time that had passed, the fusion should be nearly complete.
With this thought, Han Li wasted no more time and casually beckoned toward the distant object with one hand.
With a deep rumble, the entire chamber trembled, and then the small black mountain rose into the air, hurtling toward him.
His five fingers spread apart, and the black mountain buzzed to a stop, hovering just inches away.
Han Li studied it carefully this time.
The Profound Spirit Mountain looked exactly the same as before — still pitch-black and unremarkable.
However, the fact that he could summon it so effortlessly, without the slightest strain, proved that the stone fragments within had truly fused completely with the mountain.
Otherwise, even with his greatly increased Magical Power, he could never have manipulated it so easily.
He nodded and formed an incantation seal, directing it at the small mountain.
A flash of blue light, and the seal struck the mountain's surface before vanishing within.
The mountain's surface lit up with silver radiance, and a ball of silver flame flew out, circling once before taking the shape of a silver firebird.
It was the Spirit-Devouring Firebird!
The firebird's body was noticeably smaller than before, and its demeanor appeared somewhat listless.
Clearly, over a hundred years of continuously refining the stone fragments had cost this flame a considerable portion of its primordial energy.
Seeing this, Han Li felt a twinge of distress. He murmured a low chant and pointed a finger at the firebird.
Instantly, the firebird shot toward Han Li and plunged into his body without a trace.
He would need to nurture it within his body for some time before the flame could fully recover its vigor.
A faint smile appeared at the corner of Han Li's lips. He formed another incantation seal and directed it at the black mountain.
The mountain spun once and vanished amid a flicker of gray light.
The next moment, Han Li flipped one pitch-black palm upward.
Amid shimmering black light, a miniature mountain three inches tall appeared above his palm and dropped unceremoniously downward.
With a flash, the tiny mountain vanished into his skin.
At the same time, a small silver mountain pattern surfaced on the back of his hand.