Chapter 2271: The Descent of a True Immortal, The Perfection of the Treasure Art

The piece of ore was no larger than a chicken egg, its surface pockmarked and uneven, gleaming with a cold, icy luster — it looked almost metallic.

This was precisely a piece of Otherworldly Demonic Gold that Han Li had brought back from the Demon Realm.

*Pfft!*

Han Li drew one finger across the ore in a void slash, and a thin green thread flashed past in the blink of an eye.

The black-and-white ore silently split in two from the center, and a bean-sized crystal bead dropped out from within.

Two fingers shot forward like lightning, catching the round bead precisely between them.

After Han Li toyed with the crystal bead for a moment, he gave one large sleeve a shake toward the void.

Over a dozen five-colored banners flew out, and after another flash, they vanished one after another into the surroundings without a trace.

The next instant, a layer of five-colored light curtain appeared, enveloping the entire secret chamber within it.

Only after setting all of this up did Han Li place the round bead between his palms and abruptly rub them together.

A peal of thunder rumbled as over a dozen arcs of golden lightning surged forth wildly.

Amid the flashing golden light, the crystal bead cracked apart inch by inch, and after a wave of spiritual energy fluctuations, a gray-white beam of light shot upward from between his palms.

But Han Li had long been prepared — one palm trembled as all five fingers slapped downward through the air.

Instantly, a colossal golden hand appeared out of thin air above the secret chamber, and without the slightest hesitation, it pressed downward.

With a deafening boom, an invisible, tremendous force crushed downward from above.

The beam of light was instantly compressed into a fist-sized ball of gray-white light.

At this point, Han Li murmured an incantation, and countless golden runes rolled forth from his mouth. After spinning around rapidly, they enveloped the light ball in a tight cocoon.

Only then did Han Li's expression relax slightly. With a slight beckoning gesture of one hand, the light ball dropped down and landed steadily in his palm.

Then, with a blue glow flickering in his eyes, a sharp hissing sound rang out as crystal filaments shot forth from his brow one by one. With a flash, they all plunged into the light ball.

The light ball trembled slightly, emitting a low hum, but after a moment, under the flickering of the surrounding golden runes, it returned to calm once more.

Han Li closed his eyes slightly and silently circulated his cultivation technique.

Half a day later, when he opened his eyes again, all the crystal filaments had long since coiled back, and the light ball wrapped in golden runes had vanished without a trace.

Han Li sent a sweep of his spiritual sense inward and discovered that his Magical Power had increased by yet another slender thread. A faint smile appeared on his face, but when his perception touched that additional wisp of green energy threading through his body, his brow furrowed slightly.

He immediately changed the hand seals, and a layer of dark gray radiance began to shimmer across his body's surface. Faint, eerie auras could be felt wafting off him in waves.

This was the technique for refining terrestrial yin energy that he had obtained from Lan Ying of the Guangyuan Trading House in the Demon Realm!

As long as he refined away the terrestrial yin energy mixed in with the crystal bead's power each time he absorbed it, he would have nothing left to worry about.

After about half a shi chen, Han Li ceased the hand seals and flipped his palm to produce another piece of Otherworldly Demonic Gold.

After a flash of the green thread, another gray-white crystal bead dropped out.

He snatched the crystal bead and once again began absorbing its energy.

And so, in the days that followed, Han Li devoted himself within the secret chamber to repeating the same process over and over.

Day after day, he ceaselessly absorbed energy and refined the terrestrial yin energy, clearly sensing the advancement of his Magical Power with each cycle.

In the blink of an eye, two years had passed.

After Han Li once again finished refining the last traces of terrestrial yin energy within his body, he couldn't help but let out a long breath. His gaze swept across the ground nearby.

Scattered around where he sat were the split remains of Otherworldly Demonic Gold, piled up in several mounds roughly a zhang in height, still faintly glimmering with a pale luster.

This batch of Otherworldly Demonic Gold had already consumed fully ninety percent of what he had brought back from the Demon Realm.

And just a short while ago, the energy within the most recently absorbed crystal bead could no longer increase his Magical Power by even the slightest amount.

Clearly, his cultivation had now reached the peak of the late stage — his Magical Power had increased by a full thirty percent compared to before his seclusion.

And all of this had been accomplished in a mere two years.

If any other Integration stage cultivators were to learn of this, they would be struck dumb with astonishment — and more than that, they simply would not believe it.

After all, for an ordinary cultivator, reaching the level Han Li had originally been at through bitter cultivation alone would have taken at least several hundred years, or even close to a thousand.

To achieve such progress in just two years — even the celestial pills and elixirs of the Immortal Realm likely could not accomplish such a heaven-defying feat.