The moment the book page was taken out, it began buzzing and trembling violently in his hand, straining desperately against his fingers as though trying to fly free.
Han Li smiled faintly. He simply rubbed the page between both hands, and immediately the golden light dimmed as the buzzing came to an abrupt halt.
Only then did he pinch the page between two fingers and give it a casual shake.
With a soft "puff," countless golden script characters surged wildly from the page and rapidly coalesced into a complete scripture that materialized before his eyes.
Han Li narrowed his eyes slightly and concentrated, studying it carefully.
"The Five Viscera Body Tempering Art."
He unconsciously read aloud the name of the technique inscribed at the opening of the scripture.
His expression shifted subtly as a vague realization dawned on him, and he hurriedly continued reading further down.
Time ticked by bit by bit, and a look of surprise and delight gradually crept onto Han Li's face.
After finishing the entire scripture, he gave his sleeve a flick, and a stream of azure radiance swept outward.
With a soft boom, wherever the azure light passed, the scripture dissolved into motes of spiritual light that flickered and vanished.
Han Li closed his eyes and began quietly contemplating in meditation.
After an indeterminate length of time, when he opened his eyes once more, a soft chuckle escaped his lips.
"Interesting, very interesting. A technique that specifically cultivates the five viscera and six bowels — now that's truly rare. Once this art is mastered, not only can the internal organs become vessels capable of storing Magical Power, much like the Dantian, thereby dramatically increasing one's reserves of Magical Power, but it can also give rise to a host of other extraordinary and mysterious abilities. This technique and the Hundred Meridians Treasure Refining Art appear to be complementary — they most likely originate from the same source. Among the thirty-six inner jade book pages, to obtain two immortal-realm secret arts from the same lineage in one go is genuinely fortunate luck."
Han Li murmured to himself for a moment, then suddenly recalled something, and his brows furrowed.
According to the jade page, this technique had extremely demanding requirements for physical body and Meridians strength, and its cultivation required absorbing vast quantities of natural and earth spiritual energy. The speed of cultivation was slow to an almost appalling degree.
The former was manageable — he had already cultivated the Hundred Meridians Treasure Refining Art, and his physical body was sufficiently formidable, so he should be able to satisfy the requirements without too much trouble.
As for the latter, even with spirit pills to assist and shave off a large portion of the painstaking cultivation time, reaching even the minor completion stage would likely still take tens of thousands of years.
"Heh heh… 'slightly longer than ordinary techniques,' as Hu Yushuang so casually put it at the auction."
For an ordinary Deity Transformation cultivator, without fifty to sixty thousand years of bitter cultivation, it would be simply unthinkable.
The Holy Saint True Devil Art was already considered an exceptionally difficult technique to cultivate, and he had spent considerable time on it.
But compared to this technique, it actually counted as one of the shorter cultivation methods.
No wonder the Helian Merchant Alliance had treated this as little more than a chicken rib — something of negligible value — and was willing to put it up for auction.
However, according to the jade page, even a preliminary mastery of this technique would yield an astonishing boost to one's strength. To give it up now would truly be a pity.
Han Li thought to himself in silence, his expression settling into one of indecision.
This immortal-realm secret art was undeniably tempting, but tens of thousands of years of cultivation was equally daunting.
After all, he had progressed from an ordinary mortal all the way to his current Integration stage in just over two thousand years. Now, to single-mindedly cultivate just one supplementary technique that would demand four or five times that length of time — naturally, a wave of hesitation swept through his heart.
"Who's there? There's no need to lurk so sneakily outside — come in." Han Li's eyes suddenly flashed with a sharp light as his spiritual sense detected something. His face darkened and he spoke in a cold voice.
With a casual wave of one hand toward the main gate, the doors burst open with a bang, revealing a faint, hazy figure standing directly outside.