Chapter 466: Shady Cultivation Art
The black needle on the stone plate shuddered slightly, immediately following which an arc of black lightning shot out like a springing viper to strike Han Li's fingertip.
A burst of sharp pain speared straight into Han Li's soul, and he snapped his hand back as he winced involuntarily.
At this point, the soul fragment in the Soul Nurturing Burner had already recovered some of its strength, and it began to cackle in schadenfreude upon hearing the commotion ringing out within the hall.
However, in the next instant, the Soul Nurturing Burner was swept up by a streak of azure light before being wrenched into the hall.
The soul fragment instantly began to wail in panic and agony as the same burst of golden light rose up from the ground once again.
With a casual sweep of his sleeve, Han Li summoned a spherical light barrier that enveloped the entire Soul Nurturing Burner, and only then did the soul fragment's wailing subside.
"I can't believe I'm at the mercy of a rude little brat like you! Back in the day..."
Before the soul fragment had a chance to finish its sentence, Han Li extended the incense burner toward the sundial on the stone platform as he interjected, "What is this supposed to be?"
"How the hell am I supposed to know? Hey! Hold on, let's be civilized now..."
Once again, before the soul fragment could say anything else, Han Li threatened to withdraw the spherical light barrier, and the soul fragment hurriedly began begging for mercy.
"This is an Extreme Yin Sundial, and it's also the core of this secret area. Only by completely destroying it will you be able to leave this secret area," the soul fragment explained in a deflated voice.
A hint of intrigue appeared in Han Li's eyes upon hearing this. "All I have to do is destroy this thing?"
"It's not as easy as it sounds, kid. You're dreaming if you think you can destroy this thing through brute force at your current cultivation base. If you're not careful, the yin lightning backlash from the sundial could easily send you to an early grave!" the soul fragment warned in a solemn voice.
"You were saying earlier that mastering the laws of time or space would be very helpful to breaking the core of this secret area, right?" Han Li asked with a contemplative expression.
"Of course! Time and space are two of the three paramount laws, and normal laws are completely incomparable to them! All spatial barriers and restrictions are built upon the basis of spatial laws, so mastery of spatial laws will allow you to tackle this restriction directly at its roots. As for the laws of time, that's also relevant as the Extreme Yin Sundial is a pseudo-immortal treasure that contains the time law powers," the soul fragment explained.
Han Li's brows instantly furrowed tightly upon hearing this.
During that brief inspection that he had just conducted, he wasn't able to sense any time law powers from the sundial.
"I'll be honest with you, Senior. I just so happen to be cultivating the laws of time, so why is it that I wasn't able to detect any time law powers in this sundial just now?" Han Li asked.
The soul fragment faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a mixture of elation and skepticism appeared in its eyes as it exclaimed, "What did you say? Is that supposed to be a joke? Don't try to fool me! Have you managed to manifest any time law threads? If so, how many?"
"Answer my question first," Han Li said in an expressionless manner.
"Fine, I'll believe you just this once. Honestly, from the moment I first laid eyes on you, I immediately knew you were no ordinary person! My eye for talent is unmatched, and I saw the talent in you right away! As for why you weren't able to detect any time law powers from the Extreme Yin Sundial, that tells me that you've only manifested fewer than five time law threads," the soul fragment said.
"Are you saying my mastery of the laws of time is insufficient?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Let me put it in simple terms for you: even if you're cultivating the laws of time, you'll have to at least be at the mid-Golden Immortal Stage and have manifested at least six time law threads in order to have any chance at destroying the core of this secret area," the soul fragment replied.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he said, "Truth be told, I've only recently reached the early-Golden Immortal Stage, so it'll take me at least 10,000 years to progress to the mid-Golden Immortal Stage."
"What an impudent little brat you are! You think you can reach the mid-Golden Immortal Stage in just 10,000 years? For someone who's cultivating one of the three paramount laws, it'll take you at least a million years to get to the mid-Golden Immortal Stage!" the soul fragment scoffed.
Han Li fell silent upon hearing this. The soul fragment wasn't exaggerating. Indeed, without a supply of suitable pills, Han Li had no idea how long it was going to take for him to reach the mid-Golden Immortal Stage.
"Having said that, don't be disheartened. You're extremely fortunate to have met me, and I just so happen to have a way to help you drastically accelerate your cultivation. It's just a matter of whether you have the courage to pursue such a path," the soul fragment said with a hint of provocation in its voice.
"What do I need to do?" Han Li asked.
"The main obstacle to reaching the mid-Golden Immortal Stage is the 24 immortal acupoints that must be opened. These 24 immortal acupoints are far more difficult to open than the 36 immortal acupoints of the True Immortal Stage, but I have a cultivation method that can allow one to channel the power of baleful qi to drastically speed up the process," the soul fragment said.
"Baleful qi? I'm assuming using such a cultivation method will result in a whole host of future complications, right?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.
"I'm not denying that. That's why this is a matter of courage. Let me finish what I have to say, and after that, you can decide whether you want to pursue this path or not. In essence, baleful qi is just like magic power in that both are inherently present in your body, except baleful qi doesn't show itself under normal circumstances.
“Using this cultivation method will leave residual baleful qi lingering in your immortal acupoints. As for exactly what impact this will have, that varies from person to person, so I can't tell you," the soul fragment explained.
All of a sudden, a thought occurred to the soul fragment, and it hurriedly added, "Oh, by the way, there's another downside to using this cultivation method. Just like the Spirit Refinement Technique, this cultivation art is forbidden by the Heavenly Court, so you'll be in a lot of trouble if you run into any immortal envoys in the future."
Han Li fell into deep thought upon hearing this.
This cultivation art sounded extremely shady, and Han Li was confident that the soul fragment definitely hadn't revealed all of its downsides. As for the fact that it was forbidden by the Heavenly Court, that didn't matter to Han Li as he had already cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique anyway, so it hardly made a difference.
After some contemplation, Han Li asked, "How much will this cultivation art shorten the amount of time that I'll need to reach the mid-Golden Immortal Stage?"
"That also varies from person to person. Those with more baleful qi... In other words, those who have killed more will harbor more baleful qi in their bodies, and that'll make it easier for them to open their immortal acupoints using this cultivation art. As for those with less baleful qi, progress won't be as fast.
“You don't look like the type who's done much killing, so I'd guess that your rate of progress will only be sped up by twofold at most. Having said that, this is still a drastic enhancement that you may not be able to achieve even with top-tier pills!" the soul fragment said.
"How can I check how much baleful qi my body harbors?" Han Li asked.
"That's easy. I'll teach you a baleful qi manifestation mantra. Listen up."
With that, the soul fragment recited a peculiar mantra to Han Li, who quickly memorized the mantra before repeating it himself.
As the final syllable of the mantra was uttered, the entire hall shuddered violently, following which plumes of black smoke began to rise up from the top of Han Li's head before spreading through the hall like a black cloud.
Before long, the entire ceiling of the hall was completely concealed behind a dense black cloud that was as dark as ink.
Even then, there was still more and more viscous black qi constantly surging out of Han Li's body.
The soul fragment's mouth had completely gaped open in astonishment upon seeing this, and if it possessed a physical body, its jaw would've most likely already dropped onto the ground!
"This is incredible... How many people have you killed?!" the soul fragment murmured to itself in a flabbergasted voice.
After releasing all of this baleful qi, Han Li was feeling much more relaxed, as if a heavy load had been lifted from his shoulders, but at the same time, a series of wild and aggressive impulses were springing up in his heart.
Han Li suppressed these impulsive urges as he asked, "How is my baleful qi looking?"
"I've seen quite a few people with baleful qi as abundant as yours, but most of them also harbor immense bloodlust, so their baleful qi has a dark red coloration. However, your baleful qi is completely different. Suck pure black baleful qi is an extremely rare sight, and I'm sure that'll help you significantly mitigate the negative side-effects of using this cultivation art of mine," the soul fragment praised.
Han Li nodded in response, then withdrew his hand seal, and the churning black qi around him instantly receded back into his body.
"Why are you in such a hurry to withdraw your baleful qi? You haven't even released all of it yet," the soul fragment complained.
Han Li paid no heed to its complaints as he demanded, "Teach me your cultivation art."
"So you've decided to use it? Don't take this decision lightly," the soul fragment chuckled.
Han Li offered no response to this. He hadn't decided whether he was going to use the cultivation art yet. Instead, he was going to secure it first, then make up his mind on whether he was going to use it later.
After obtaining the cultivation art by the name of the Profound Baleful Spirit Arts from the soul fragment, Han Li returned it to the same hall as before.
In order to help the soul fragment stabilize itself, he left the Soul Nurturing Burner with it as well.
He still didn't know just how much he could trust the soul fragment, but it did seem to know quite a bit about the Infernal Frost Immortal Palace, and a mere soul fragment wasn't going to be able to pose any threat to him anyway, so he decided to keep it around for now.
With that in mind, Han Li arrived in a large secret chamber in the underground palace, and after closing the stone door of the secret chamber, he summoned a stack of array tools and began to set up some restrictions.
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶