Han Li raised his hand and beckoned toward the air. The giant sword immediately turned around and shot back toward him. When it reached him, it reverted to its talisman form and drifted lightly down into his hand.
Just as Han Li was about to grab the talisman treasure, the paper spontaneously burst into flames mid-fall with a sharp sizzle. In moments, it crumbled to ash, and a mountain breeze swept it away without a trace.
Seeing this, Han Li froze for a moment, then a bitter smile crept across his face.
The talisman treasure was completely spent. Its remaining power had finally been drained dry in the grueling battle of attrition. Having come to understand just how valuable talisman treasures truly were, Han Li felt a pang of heartache—but there was nothing he could do about it.
After all, taking down an enemy as formidable as "Senior Brother Lu" couldn't be done without paying some price! Still, that Azure Flood Dragon Banner of his was a fine piece of spoil—more than enough to make up for the talisman treasure's loss. And that was before the two Foundation Establishment Pills waiting for him to claim!
At the thought, Han Li's heart swelled with delight. The brutal battle had been well worth it.
If taking this Foundation Establishment Pill allowed him to break through to Foundation Establishment, he wouldn't need to risk his life in any "Blood Color Trial." After all, there were surely plenty of cultivators as strong as "Senior Brother Lu" in that place—perhaps even a whole pile of those more troublesome than him.
After a while, Han Li absorbed some spiritual energy from the spirit stone in his hand, feeling his magical power recover slightly. He rose to his feet, intending to pick up the Azure Flood Dragon Banner lying not far away.
But the moment he straightened up, a searing pain erupted from his dantian, as if countless steel needles were stabbing violently into it. The pain was so intense that Han Li doubled over again, his face turning deathly pale, teeth clenched through a grimace.
He held perfectly still. After the time it took to finish a cup of tea, he finally drew a deep breath and felt the stabbing pain ease somewhat.
Han Li's expression was somewhat gloomy, and his mouth twitched a few times.
He knew perfectly well why this was happening. It was the result of swallowing large quantities of medicinal herbs with considerable age. Although he had managed to absorb some of the spiritual energy within them in time, much of it had gathered in his dantian, becoming foreign matter—mixed in with all sorts of impurities of indeterminate properties. If he didn't purge them soon, the consequences would be dire.
Han Li had known full well that the method of forcibly swallowing spirit herbs was ill-advised and would inevitably backlash. But at the time, with his life on the line, he had no choice but to take the gamble. And sure enough, this crude technique of forcibly drawing in spiritual energy had served him tremendously in the prolonged battle.
Yet relying on herbs alone hadn't been enough to keep Han Li going until the end. Besides the fact that his mid-grade spirit stones provided energy faster than his opponent's, the other key to his victory lay in his decision to dispel his defensive spell, the "Water Shield."
During his research into minor spellcasting tricks over the past two years, Han Li had casually learned from Wu Feng that most low-level disciples held a misconception when using talismans—they believed that aside from the bit of spiritual energy needed to activate the talisman, it consumed none of the user's own magical power. This was actually a mistaken belief.
In truth, once a talisman was activated, the spell it cast remained connected to the user through a fine thread of spiritual energy, allowing the caster to control and direct the spell. As long as the spell persisted, the user would automatically and continuously drain magical power to maintain that thread.
Because this spiritual thread was invisible and imperceptible to Qi Refining stage disciples, and the magical power required to sustain it over short periods was negligible, most disciples simply overlooked it—hence the widespread misconception.
Even the handful who knew the truth considered it trivial and hadn't gone out of their way to spread the knowledge among the lower-level disciples. Wu Feng happened to be one of those in the know. He had mentioned it casually during a chat with Han Li, but Han Li had taken careful note. He later ran a few tests himself to verify, and sure enough, it was true.
So in this fierce battle, once Han Li realized it would drag on, he immediately recalled this fact and decisively dropped his defensive spell—all to conserve as much magical power as possible. Though it might seem like a trivial amount at first glance, over a prolonged period the savings were far from insignificant. And that "Senior Brother Lu," who clearly didn't know about this, had cautiously maintained his deadly "Wind Wall" the entire time—never realizing that it was this very Wind Wall that pushed him further toward his doom.
In this way, Han Li ultimately outlasted his opponent by just a narrow margin thanks to that small reserve of saved power. Without both of the advantages mentioned above, he genuinely might not have been able to outlast the man.
Even so, Han Li felt the victory had been terrifyingly close. He had thrown everything he had and still barely managed to keep his life—his opponent's strength truly had been above his own!