Chapter 38: A Glimmer of Hope
Han Li quickly stowed the two talismans away, then sat down with his legs crossed and held the black bead between his thumb and index finger before pressing it against his own glabella.
The silver qi within the bead immediately began to seep out wisp by wisp, circling around his glabella momentarily before vanishing into it.
If one were to look closely, one would discover that this silver qi was actually comprised of countless tiny characters that were even smaller than the tiniest of mosquitoes. These were all of the cultivation arts and secret techniques that the Armor Origin Talisman puppet had gleaned from the scripture library earlier.
Even with Han Li's unfathomably powerful spiritual sense, it was impossible to absorb such an enormous amount of content all at once.
However, he was in no hurry, and he had plenty of time to spend on this.
Time slowly passed by, and Han Li continued to sit as still as a statue for three days and three nights.
Only on the morning of the fourth day did he slowly open his eyes, upon which his brows furrowed slightly.
Some of these scriptures were quite remarkable, presenting incredible ideas and concepts that even he couldn't help but be in awe of, but none of them fit his current needs.
He shook his head as he stowed the black bead away, then swept a sleeve through the air, upon which 30 to 40 jade slips appeared on the ground. These were the jade slips that the Armor Origin Talisman puppet had taken right before its departure from the scripture library.
He swept his gaze over these jade slips with a slightly disheartened expression, hoping that he would find something useful among them.
With that in mind, Han Li picked up one of the jade slips before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
Another whole day passed by, and as Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense from the final jade slip, there was a clear look of disappointment in his eyes.
These jade slips all contained advanced and profound cultivation arts and secret techniques, but there was still nothing that was useful to him.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li's face. He had gone to great lengths to secure these resources, stirring the entire sect up into a frenzy in the process, but it had all been for nothing.
He shook his head as he prepared to destroy all of the jade slips.
Even though he had already examined the jade slips and confirmed that none of them had any tracking restrictions applied to them, it was already clear that the Spirit Domain Realm contained some things that he was unfamiliar with, such as quintessential purple qi. As such, there was no guarantee that there were no measures applied to these jade slips that were undetectable to him, so it was better to be safe than sorry.
All of a sudden, a surprised look appeared on Han Li's face.
All of the jade slips had been reduced to a pile of dust, but there was a completely unremarkable yellow jade slip among them that was completely unharmed.
After a brief moment of contemplation, he picked up the jade slip before inspecting it closely with an intrigued expression.
The power that he had just unleashed would've been enough to completely destroy even a piece of iron essence, yet this jade slip was completely unscathed.
After some inspection, Han Li discovered that there was nothing remarkable about the jade slip. It was made from normal jade, and he had inspected its contents earlier to find that all it contained was a cultivation art suitable for Spatial Tempering cultivators.
Han Li inspected the jade slip for a moment longer before applying some squeezing force through his fingers.
A faint sheen of luster that resembled starlight suddenly appeared on the surface of the jade slip, keeping his power at bay.
His eyes lit up slightly as he relaxed his grip again, and the faint sheen of light also vanished.
It seemed that there really was something special about this jade slip.
He could sense that the starry sheen wasn't a tracking restriction.
Han Li injected his spiritual sense into the jade slip again with the idea that perhaps there was something special about the cultivation art that it contained, but once again, he was unable to discover anything of note.
He read through the contents of the cultivation art from top to bottom three to four times, and he even tried cultivating it, but he still failed to find any hidden secrets.
"Could it be that I'm mistaken?" Han Li murmured to himself.
However, he was still unwilling to give up, and he released an enormous burst of spiritual sense out of his glabella, completely enveloping the jade slip before carefully inspecting it inch by inch.
The starry sheen immediately surfaced on the jade slip again, and it was giving off a devouring force that was eating away at Han Li's spiritual sense.
Immediately thereafter, a speck of golden light appeared on the jade slip's surface.
Han Li was initially quite alarmed by this, but his alarm quickly turned into elation, and instead of withdrawing his spiritual sense, he allowed the jade slip to devour it as it pleased.
As time passed, an astonished look gradually appeared on his face.
The jade slip was like a bottomless pit. It had already devoured close to a fifth of his spiritual sense, yet it still wasn't satisfied, and at this point, the speck of golden light had already grown to the size of a broad bean.
At the moment, his spiritual sense was only at around 10% of its peak, but due to the cultivation arts that he practiced, it was still comparable to that of the average immortal, yet this jade slip had managed to devour a huge chunk of it.
It was going to take quite some time to recover this spiritual sense, but after some brief contemplation, Han Li decided to continue with the process.
Moments later, an astonishing scene ensued.
More and more golden light began to appear on the jade slip, filling its entire surface before gradually forming a golden diagram of the Big Dipper.
At the same time, the devouring force being released by the jade slip finally ceased.
Han Li heaved a sigh of relief as he picked up the jade slip with an ecstatic expression, and as he injected his spiritual sense into it again, he couldn't help but be stunned by what he saw.
The contents of the jade slip were also changing, and the previous body of tiny yellow text had disappeared, only to be replaced by large passages of golden text.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this before hurriedly reading through the new text.
Only after a full 15 minutes had passed did he raise his head with an elated look in his eyes.
The new jade slip contained a body refinement secret technique by the name of the Bigger Dipper Origin Arts.
According to information that Patriarch Cold Flame had left in the jade slip, this was not a cultivation art that could be found in the Spirit Domain Realm. Instead, it was an authentic Immortal Realm cultivation art that the patriarch had sent down to the Spirit Domain Realm following his ascension.
What was worthy of note was that the cultivation of this secret technique didn't depend on the spiritual power of heaven and earth. Instead, it involved refining the physical body by drawing the power of starlight into the body.
The cultivation art was split up into seven levels, and with each level that was mastered, he would be able to manifest a profound aperture. After mastering all seven levels, seven apertures would be manifested, allowing one to attain a True Extreme Body, thereby becoming a legendary Profound Immortal.
Given the current state of his nascent soul, he was unable to cultivate using the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, but perhaps he could try to harness the power of starlight.
However, at the end of the cultivation art, Patriarch Cold Flame had specifically left a note, which contained a warning that refining one's body using the power of starlight was going to put them in constant excruciating pain.
Furthermore, this was not an orthodox cultivation art. It could dramatically enhance one's physical body, but it was impossible to elevate one's magic power using this cultivation art. Even if they could master this cultivation art, they would have to pursue the path of becoming a Profound Immortal, which was a far more difficult path than becoming an ordinary immortal. Thus, one was advised not to practice this cultivation art unless they were absolutely certain that they wanted to pursue such an arduous path.
Most importantly, in order to practice this cultivation art, not only was it a prerequisite that one had to already possess a sufficiently powerful physical body, enormous spiritual sense was also required to draw the power of starlight into the body. Hence, the barrier to entry was extremely steep.
Back when Patriarch Cold Flame sent this cultivation art down from the Immortal Realm, he had placed a special restriction on the jade slip so that only those with sufficiently powerful spiritual sense would be able to see the Big Dipper Origin Arts.
Han Li's grip tightened slightly with excitement around the jade slip, and he felt like he could see a glimmer of hope.
The Big Dipper Origin Arts was virtually tailor-made for him. Even though there was a warning that practicing the cultivation art was going to be extremely painful, that didn't discourage him at all.
However, right at this moment, the jade slip in his hand suddenly cracked before transforming into a ball of piercing golden light.
Han Li's pupils contracted slightly upon seeing this, and he raised his head to discover a golden figure hovering in mid-air.
The figure was a well-built middle-aged man with a square face that wore a stern expression, giving off a sense of authority and righteousness.
Han Li's heart jolted slightly upon seeing this. Having seen a portrait of this man in the sect, he knew that it was none other than Patriarch Cold Flame!
"Fantastic! Looks like my efforts didn't go to waste. Finally, someone has managed to unravel this restriction! Which peak are you a disciple of, and what is your name?" Patriarch Cold Flame asked with a warm smile.
Han Li's mind was racing as he scrambled to fabricate a convincing lie.
It was clear that this was an avatar left behind by Patriarch Cold Flame's spiritual sense, but it still gave him a significant sense of pressure, so it was most likely quite formidable in battle.
Before Han Li had a chance to reply, Patriarch Cold Flame's brows suddenly furrowed slightly, and his voice took a cold turn as he asked, "Why do I not sense the aura of any of our sect's cultivation arts in you? Could it be that you're not an inner court disciple?"
"I am a guest elder who has only recently joined the sect, so I still haven't had a chance to practice any of the sect's cultivation arts yet," Han Li hurriedly replied.
"A guest elder? How did a guest elder like you get your hands on the jade slip containing the Big Dipper Origin Arts?" Patriarch Cold Flame interrogated in a cold voice.
Han Li had no response to this.
Patriarch Cold Flame's gaze then fell upon the pile of powder near Han Li's feet.
Han Li's expression remained unchanged upon seeing this, but his heart sank ever so slightly.
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