A lustrous, jet-black sphere the size of a chicken egg sat in his palm, its surface wreathed in a faint wisp of black mist. It was nothing less than the purest essence of Devil Qi.
This was precisely the goal of
With this in hand, he could repair that Extraterritorial Devil Armor. Though he couldn't yet gauge the armor's full power with certainty, it surely wouldn't be inferior to that purple battle armor he had just put away.
Unfortunately, that ape's battle armor had clearly been fully refined by its previous owner. Even if he attempted to reforge it, its power would be greatly diminished. For his purposes, it was more or less useless — a chicken rib.
Han Li considered this with some regret, then turned his palm over. A black jade box materialized in his hand.
He flipped open the lid, pointed a single finger at the demon core, and a surge of dark radiance swept out from within the box. In a flash, the demon core was drawn inside.
Han Li snapped the lid shut, then conjured a pair of gold-and-silver talismans with a flick of his other hand, pressing them flat against the box's surface.
Brilliant gold and silver light blazed forth. The wisps of Devil Qi that had been faintly seeping through the jade box instantly vanished, fully sealed within.
Only after tucking the jade box away did Han Li turn his attention to the other item.
That faintly glowing purple broken blade.
Han Li stared at the treasure, his expression turning peculiar — a mixture of excitement and uncertainty.
"A Spirit Treasure? But its power seems far weaker than mine... it doesn't quite match. Could it be because the blade is incomplete?" Han Li narrowed his eyes, murmuring to himself.
Rather than reaching for the broken blade, he closed his eyes and circulated his spiritual sense throughout his body, inspecting every part of himself in meticulous detail.
In the end, he even formed a hand seal and released a burst of golden radiance, manifesting the three-headed, six-armed Pāramitā True Devil Aspect once more, scanning it with his spiritual sense as well.
The result left Han Li's face somewhat grim.
Not only was more than a third of his magical power depleted, but the Pāramitā True Devil Aspect had nearly halved in size. He estimated it would take decades of bitter cultivation to restore it to its former state.
It was a tremendous loss.
The one saving grace was that using the Spirit Treasure sword forged from the Spirit Treasure fruit had not drained his vital blood this time, nor had it directly eroded his true essence.
However, Han Li was well aware that the Spirit Treasure sword's strike this time was far weaker than its first use — its power was less than a tenth of what it had been.
The reason, he suspected, was partly because he hadn't directly used his physical body to activate the Spirit Treasure this time, instead relying on the power of his True Devil Aspect as a substitute. The other part was that the Spirit Treasure sword's manifestation had been passively triggered by the broken blade's power of law.
As a result, while the Spirit Treasure sword's might was drastically reduced, he had still managed — barely — to slay the magic ape without suffering a complete loss of magical power.
The broken blade before him could also control a certain degree of the laws of heaven and earth, but it clearly couldn't compare to the sword forged from the Spirit Treasure fruit. This gave Han Li some doubts about whether the blade was truly a Spirit Treasure.
But the fact that a single slash from it had shattered the Spring Dawn Sword Formation meant that even if the blade wasn't a Spirit Treasure, it was absolutely not something any ordinary Heaven-Humbling Spirit Treasure could rival.
In his heart, Han Li was more inclined to believe that this broken blade's diminished power was due to its incomplete state, which also explained how the magic ape had been able to wield it.
Of course, it was also possible that the power of law contained within this blade was among the weakest of all Spirit Treasures to begin with, or that it happened to be counteracted by the power of law within the Spirit Treasure sword. That would explain why the two forces of law had collided so decisively, with the blade appearing so utterly helpless.
In the span of a few breaths, Han Li's mind raced through the analysis until he had grasped roughly seventy or eighty percent of the truth.
But the more he thought about it, the more his gaze toward the purple broken blade burned with intensity.
The Spirit Treasure sword sealed within his arm couldn't be deliberately controlled. But if he could take possession of this Spirit Treasure fragment — even one with greatly reduced power — there was real hope of wielding it.
Otherwise, how could the magic ape, having fallen to a realm comparable to his own and stripped of its physical body, have possibly driven the broken blade to attack?
Han Li took a deep breath, suppressing the excitement welling in his heart. He raised one hand and flicked five fingers outward. Five streams of grey light shot from his fingertips, attempting to envelop the purple broken blade.
A muffled thud!
The moment the grey light approached the blade, a burst of purple radiance erupted from its surface and repelled it. The broken blade spun lazily in place, and the grey light scattered and withdrew, unable to get even slightly closer.
Han Li frowned, but with his other hand — white as jade — he extended his palm, and billowing streams of five-colored cold flame surged forth.
After a series of strange, muffled explosions, the five-colored cold flame likewise failed to draw the blade in.
A look of surprise finally appeared on Han Li's face. He stroked his chin in thought for a moment, then his expression cleared with sudden realization. He raised his hand again, but this time it was suffused with a brilliant golden glow, and a stream of golden radiance shot from his palm straight toward the blade.
This time, the purple broken blade lay perfectly still, allowing the golden light to envelop it. In a flash, it was drawn before Han Li.
Han Li's face lit up with delight as he focused intently on the treasure before him.
The blade was nearly transparent, and the surrounding golden light was gradually being absorbed into its surface. The spirit creature within, once bathed in golden radiance, had shed its previously listless demeanor. It now swished its tail and wriggled with renewed vigor as it swam about inside the blade.