"What is it?" Han Li turned his head and glanced at Silver Moon, a strange look flickering through his eyes.
"Ever since Master took this servant in as a tool spirit, you have never once had me enhance your flying swords in spirit form, nor summoned me to fight as a tool spirit. I wonder whether Master might tell me why," Silver Moon asked slowly.
"What made you think to ask about this?" Han Li frowned, somewhat surprised.
"Nothing in particular. This servant was merely asking out of idle curiosity. After all, Silver Moon's true identity is simply that of a tool spirit." Silver Moon lowered her delicate head and spoke softly.
"A tool spirit? You think you're an ordinary tool spirit? Ordinary tool spirits possess no intelligence at all — how could they ask a question like that? In truth, summoning a tool spirit to take physical form can greatly increase a treasure's power, but it drains a considerable amount of the spirit's vital essence. There have even been cases where a treasure master overworked the tool spirit to the point that it dissipated on its own. As for you — appearing in the form of a demon fox, you are no small help to me. Unless it is absolutely necessary, I will not have you transform into a tool spirit to face an enemy. After all, any loss to your cultivation is no small matter for me either." After a moment of silence, Han Li spoke evenly. Then, without another word, he turned and left the hall.
Silver Moon remained behind in the hall, her bright eyes blinking a few times. A thoughtful expression appeared on her jade-like face, her mind clearly occupied with something.
After a while, she lowered her gaze to the jade box in her hand, and a faint smile curved her lips before she too walked out.
…
The next day, Han Li appeared in the secret chamber of his cave dwelling, preparing to begin cultivating the art of the Second Nascent Soul.
Ordinary secret techniques could not compare to a grand art of this magnitude, and so Han Li had begun making preparations long ago for this day's cultivation.
He now sat cross-legged on the ground, holding a pale cyan jade slip in his hand, seemingly immersing his spiritual sense within it to comprehend something.
This jade slip was the very one that recorded the "Xuan Mu Infant Transformation Grand Art."
After a short while, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense. He closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, then formed a series of hand seals. A low, murmuring chant left his lips, and his body grew still, utterly motionless.
At the crown of his head, green light flickered, and a tiny infant wreathed in emerald radiance suddenly materialized there. This was the Nascent Soul that Han Li had painstakingly cultivated for over two hundred years.
The infant looked slightly sturdier than it had a few years ago. Its eyes were dark and clear, brimming with spiritual awareness.
Having refined his Nascent Soul for only a handful of years, Han Li dared let it leave his body only in a place as secure as this. Otherwise, should anything unexpected happen, his Nascent Soul was still exceedingly fragile.
After sitting atop Han Li's head for a time, the Nascent Soul tilted its little head and surveyed the secret chamber. Its body flashed with green light, transforming into a ball of spiritual radiance that rose into the air. It then began to drift slowly around the chamber.
At first it seemed clumsy, but gradually the Nascent Soul appeared to grasp the art of flight, its green light growing ever faster. In the end, the entire chamber was filled with a single streak of emerald light flickering about like a specter, appearing and vanishing in mesmerizing fashion.
A moment later, the Nascent Soul suddenly halted its flight and hovered in one corner of the chamber, as if something had occurred to it. Its two tiny, porcelain-white hands formed a seal, a flash of spiritual light flickered, and the infant vanished from where it had been — only to reappear the next instant atop Han Li's head once more. Its little face had turned slightly pale, evidently having consumed a fair amount of vital energy.
This was the unique ability exclusive to a Nascent Soul — true instantaneous movement.
The infant stretched its tiny body, then transformed back into a streak of green light and sank into the crown of Han Li's head, disappearing without a trace.
Han Li's eyelids twitched slightly. He slowly opened his eyes, a look of solemnity in their depths.
"It seems that after these few years of tempering, the Nascent Soul has finally solidified properly. It still can't compare to the Nascent Souls of those old monsters, but there should be no misgivings about beginning the cultivation of a Second Nascent Soul now," Han Li murmured to himself.
He then slapped his storage pouch, and a jade box appeared in his hand, its surface covered with numerous talismans.
With a grave expression, Han Li swept his large sleeve across the box, and all the talismans peeled away of their own accord. He then tapped a finger lightly against one corner of the lid, and it opened by itself, revealing a resplendent golden sphere inside.
Within it lay the Sealed Wood Spirit Infant.
"The Soul-Separating Technique I cast back then should have taken full effect by now!" Han Li gazed at the golden sphere and muttered another line to himself.
After a moment's thought, he raised his hand and pressed all five fingers against the golden sphere.
A peal of thunder rang out. Golden light flashed, and countless slender arcs of electricity sprang from the sphere, shooting rapidly into Han Li's palm and vanishing. In the blink of an eye, the golden sphere within the box collapsed, revealing a tiny emerald figure several inches tall. Its features were refined and handsome — the true form of the Wood Spirit Infant.
But at this moment, the Wood Spirit Infant's entire body was pierced through with dense rows of pitch-black fine needles. Its eyes were tightly shut, and it hung unconscious. The needles, fine as cattle hair, occasionally flickered with threads of green light, giving the whole sight an unsettling quality.
Han Li did not dare be careless. He narrowed his eyes and studied the Wood Spirit Infant and those black needles with meticulous care.
Seeing that everything appeared to match his expectations, his expression eased somewhat. He extended his index finger and slowly, gently pressed it toward the infant's brow.
A soft "pfft" sounded. Before his finger actually made contact, a green sphere of light the size of a broad bean burst forth from its tip, then transformed into a thin emerald beam that shot straight into the infant's forehead.