Above a vast sea between the human and demon races, amid an archipelago of over a hundred islands, a colossal island spanning ten thousand li in diameter bustled with activity as thousands of mid- and low-rank cultivators scurried about, their various streaks of light rising and landing all across the landscape.
Centered on the island's tallest peak, tower after tower and hall after hall rose from the surrounding mountain ranges.
At the same time, formation flags and formation discs had been set up everywhere by these cultivators, and ring after ring of restrictive barriers flickered into view across the island.
Deep within the belly of that tallest peak, Han Li was placing a black-and-white round stone roughly the size of a human head into a massive formation array that spanned several mu in area.
The instant the stone was set in place, the entire formation hummed to life with a deafening drone, and countless gold and silver runes surged into existence from every direction.
Meanwhile, the surface of the black-and-white stone flashed with an eerie luminescence as a wave of unusual spatial fluctuations rippled outward from it before dissipating into the void.
"Can this formation really activate the Twin Polar Magnetic Light and keep enemies at bay beyond the island?" Silver Moon stood behind Han Li, watching everything unfold, and couldn't help but ask.
"Don't worry." Han Li stroked his chin. "This Twin Polar Myriad-Attraction Grand Formation was modeled after an ancient formation I came across. Because several major magnetic light veins run beneath the entire island, once the formation is fully activated, it can not only repel enemies from the island but even expand its range of effect by more than tenfold."
"If that's the case, then Yuanhe Island is as safe as can be. I've already witnessed the power of the Twin Polar Magnetic Light — as long as the magnetic veins below remain undamaged, even a Mahayana-stage powerhouse who carelessly gets trapped inside would be held there for a time." Silver Moon let out a soft laugh.
"More than that — I've discovered that the magnetic veins of the entire Endless Sea seem to converge beneath this very archipelago. The other islands also have magnetic veins running underneath them, and though none are as powerful as the ones beneath Yuanhe Island, they're more than sufficient for setting up simplified versions of the Twin Polar Myriad-Attraction Formation. In that way, these formations and the main island can reinforce each other, boosting the power of the Twin Polar Magnetic Light by a good margin and expanding the restrictive range to a truly staggering degree." Han Li glanced at the activated formation with a hint of pride in his voice.
"If you can really pull that off, the entire Endless Sea will be impregnable. Brother Han will finally have a proper base of his own." Silver Moon's eyes flickered with several emotions, and a note of wistfulness crept into her voice.
"Oh? Envious, are we?" Han Li turned his head toward her with a smile. "If I recall correctly, the wolf tribe has sent people over again. Are you really not interested in going back to see them? If you're willing to return, the position of Wolf King would be yours without a doubt."
"I have no interest in that position whatsoever. Let those old-timers choose their own Wolf King. Right now, all I want is to advance my cultivation further and reach the Mahayana stage. That way, I won't fall too far behind you." Silver Moon rolled her eyes at him.
"Since you don't want to be Wolf King, then there's no need to go back. As for the Emotion-Forget Art you're cultivating — I've searched through a great many texts and finally found what appears to be a way to reverse it, contrary to what Senior Ao Xiao once said." Han Li nodded, and his expression suddenly grew serious.
"What? You're saying the Emotion-Forget Art can still be reversed? But Grandfather clearly told me that unless I'm willing to crash my cultivation back down to the Void Refinement stage, there's absolutely no way to discard this art. And once I abandon it, my cultivation will never progress again." Silver Moon's eyes lit up with joy, but that was quickly replaced by a look of disbelief.
"Completely abolishing the Emotion-Forget Art is indeed nearly impossible. But isolating it separately from your body — that can be done." Han Li narrowed his eyes slightly and answered in a measured tone.
"Isolating it? What exactly do you mean?" Silver Moon looked puzzled.
"The explanation is straightforward, but the actual process is rather complicated. Let me keep it short — you can cultivate a doppelgänger and transfer all the true essence generated by the Emotion-Forget Art into it. In that way, the negative emotions attached to it will very likely separate from your body along with the essence." Han Li spoke with a grave expression.
"Just doing that would free me from the Emotion-Forget Art?" Silver Moon still found it hard to believe.
"An ordinary doppelgänger certainly won't work. And once the true essence of the Emotion-Forget Art is separated, your cultivation will drop back to the Void Refinement stage. The upside is that you'll no longer have the problem of stalled progress, and breaking through to the Body Integration stage again won't present any bottlenecks. The only drawback is that you'll need to invest some extra time in cultivation." Han Li laid everything out in detail.
"Extra time is nothing compared to resolving the Emotion-Forget Art — it barely counts as a cost. But how confident are you in this theory, roughly?" Silver Moon still hesitated.
"I can't say for certain, but seven or eight chances out of ten is a reasonable estimate. However, to separate the Emotion-Forget Art from your body, you definitely can't do it alone. You'll need someone whose cultivation and spiritual sense far surpass your own to assist — only then will it be possible. If you've truly made up your mind, I'll personally lend a hand." Han Li's tone was solemn.
"Seventy to eighty percent — that's more than enough. But cultivating a doppelgänger is no easy matter, and from the sound of it, an ordinary one won't do." Silver Moon gritted her teeth.
"Don't worry. Even if it fails, there's no risk to your life. As for the doppelgänger, I've already found one for you." Han Li smiled, flicked his sleeve, and a flash of green light appeared at his side as a verdant figure materialized out of thin air.
"Hm? Isn't that your spirit body? Are you giving it to me as a doppelgänger?" Silver Moon recognized the green figure at once and was visibly startled.
The green figure was none other than Han Li's Zhi Immortal Spirit Body.
"Correct. This spirit body is fundamentally different from an ordinary doppelgänger — it possesses no consciousness of its own and is merely an empty shell. Normally I've just had Qu'er or a wisp of my spiritual sense inhabit it. Now that my cultivation has advanced considerably, this Body Integration–stage spirit body serves little purpose for me, so giving it to you is a perfect fit. Because it was transformed from a Zhi Immortal, the body itself is extraordinarily pure and can easily accommodate various types of true essence. On top of that, it already possesses a fully matured late-Body Integration cultivation base, so it can more than contain the true essence of your Emotion-Forget Art without any concern of a backlash." As he spoke, Han Li formed a series of hand seals and pointed a finger at the spirit body from a distance.
The spirit body immediately blazed with intense green light, and after a brief flicker, its figure became slender and graceful, its facial features transforming to match Silver Moon's perfectly — though its skin remained a faint shade of green.
Silver Moon stared at the transformed spirit body, momentarily tongue-tied.