Chapter 472: Slaying the True Spirit
"It's time to put an end to this!" Han Li declared as he began making a rapid string of hand seals, and dazzling golden light erupted out of his body as the Mantra Treasured Axis abruptly began revolving in the right direction again.
Layers upon layers of golden ripples surged out of the axis, instantly permeating throughout the entire surrounding area in a radius of over 10,000 feet, encompassing the Nightmare Dragon within them.
Everything that was swept up within the golden ripples was instantly immobilized, as if they had been frozen in time, and the same applied to the Nightmare Dragon, which was looking on with its mouth wide open in astonishment.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, and the three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords appeared beside the Nightmare Dragon in a flash, then revolved around it like lightning.
The Nightmare Dragon's body was instantly sliced into over 10 pieces, but the pieces of its body didn't separate, nor did any blood emerge.
At the same time, a time law thread emerged out of thin air before piercing into the Nightmare Dragon's head in a flash.
Immediately thereafter, the time law thread re-emerged while wrapped tightly around a miniature gray dragon, and it was none other than Qu Ling's nascent soul.
A burst of golden ripples surged forth from the time law thread, encompassing the gray nascent soul to ensure that it remained bound.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief as he swept a sleeve through the air once again, and his golden spirit domain instantly surged back into his body as a vast expanse of golden light.
The golden ripples around him also flashed momentarily before surging back into the Mantra Treasured Axis, which, in turn, slowly faded away.
Right at this moment, a perplexed look appeared on his face, and his Mantra Treasured Axis reappeared behind him at his behest.
As it turned out, around a dozen more of the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis had faded, but he had completely failed to notice this earlier.
A hint of surprise flashed through his eyes upon seeing this, and he injected some of his spiritual sense into his Soul Nurturing Burner to inform the soul fragment inside of this situation.
The soul fragment wasn't surprised at all, and it said, "That's only to be expected. You think immortal spiritual power alone would be enough to support an ability as formidable as a spirit domain? Maintaining a spirit domain will require law power expenditure, so it's no surprise that some of your Time Dao Runes have faded."
An enlightened look appeared on Han Li's face upon hearing this.
Thankfully, now that he had attained 10 time law threads, it wasn't going to take very long to recover these Time Dao Runes.
With that in mind, he swept a sleeve through the air, and the three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords immediately flew back to him, following which the time law threads inside also vanished into his body.
The golden light radiating from the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords instantly faded, and the aura that was emanating from them also diminished significantly.
Han Li was quite intrigued to see this.
His Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords already possessed tremendous power, yet just the injection of a time law thread was enough to enhance their powers significantly. If he could imbue these swords with law powers that were actually suitable for them, who knew just how powerful they could become?
With that in mind, a hint of excitement instantly welled up in his heart.
He took a deep breath to compose himself, then withdrew the three Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords up his sleeve.
Even though he had managed to slay Qu Ling without much trouble using his spirit domain in conjunction with his Mantra Treasured Axis, maintaining his spirit domain and using his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had both been quite taxing on his immortal spiritual power.
Even though he had already reached the mid-Golden Immortal Stage, the immortal spiritual power expenditure had still been quite immense, and he was currently looking a little pale.
The good thing about his spirit domain was that it encompassed quite a large area, but its power was still rather limited, while the golden ripples released by the Mantra Treasured Axis covered a far smaller area, but were also significantly more formidable.
With that in mind, he flipped a hand over to produce a crimson pill, yet right after he swallowed it, Qu Ling's nascent soul suddenly began to struggle vigorously as dazzling gray light erupted out of its body.
The time law thread around it was beginning to loosen slightly in the face of its struggles.
It seemed that the gray nascent soul had used some type of ability that had granted it immunity to the effects of Han Li's time law powers.
A cold look appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, and he pointed a finger at the gray nascent soul, upon which the time law thread glowed even brighter as it ensnared the gray nascent soul once again.
Right at this moment, the gray nascent soul let loose a piercing shriek, upon which its body swelled rapidly to four or five times its original size.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, while the time law thread around the nascent soul dug deep into its body.
Right as he was about to make a hand seal to completely seal the nascent soul, it abruptly exploded into a burst of gray light that vanished into nothingness.
A blurry dragon projection then shot out of the gray light, and it was none other than Qu Ling's soul. The soul was enveloped within a layer of extremely faint silver light, and it was moving at an astonishing speed, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
Han Li's brows furrowed even further upon seeing this.
He had thought that Qu Ling's nascent soul would be completely immobilized by his time law thread, so it came as quite a surprise to him that it was able to get away.
It seemed that he had underestimated the power of a Golden Immortal Stage nascent soul.
He shook his head as he withdrew his time law thread.
Even if Qu Ling were a true spirit, only her soul remained at this point, so she wouldn't be able to pose any further threat to him.
Right at this moment, the three-colored spirit domain that Qu Ling had unleashed earlier shuddered a few times before rapidly fading away.
The body of the Nightmare Dragon inside instantly fell apart before falling out of the sky.
With another sweep of his sleeve, Han Li sent an azure bowl flying through the air, and it swelled to around an acre in size in the blink of an eye, catching all of the parts of the Nightmare Dragon's carcass without missing even a single one.
After that, the azure bowl flew back to him at his behest, shrinking as it did so, and by the time it fell onto the palm of his hand, it had already reverted back to its original size.
Han Li took a glance into the bowl, and a pleased look appeared on his face as he flipped a hand over to stow it away.
Immediately thereafter, he drew the gray throne that was still hovering in mid-air nearby to himself as well.
After a brief inspection, he stowed the gray throne away too.
Right at this moment, Jin Tong appeared beside him amid a flash of golden light, and the gong that she had been beating earlier was nowhere to be seen.
"How useless can you be, Han Li? You couldn't even stop a nascent soul from self-detonating? What a waste!" Jin Tong grumbled with a displeased look on her face.
"A waste? Why do you say that?" Han Li asked with a perplexed expression.
"Golden Immortal Stage nascent souls are filled with tremendous power, and they're a fantastic food source for me!" Jin Tong grumbled.
Han Li immediately flipped a hand over to produce a white jade box upon hearing this, and the lid of the box flew off on its own to reveal a pair of nascent souls, one black and one white. The two nascent souls belonged to none other than the white python and the black fish that Han Li had slain earlier.
Jin Tong's eyes immediately lit up at the sight of the two nascent souls, and she began staring intently at them.
"I was going to use these two nascent souls for something else, but you can eat them to help your recovery," Han Li said as he offered the jade box to Jin Tong.
The displeasure on Jin Tong's face instantly turned to elation upon hearing this, and she swiped the jade box from Han Li as she said, "Looks like you're not a completely ungrateful bastard! Seeing as you're being so sincere, I suppose I can accept this nascent soul."
She took a deep breath, then opened her mouth to release a burst of golden light, which drew in the pair of nascent souls so that she could munch on them, and a blissful look instantly appeared on her round and childish face.
In her mouth, the two near-indestructible Golden Immortal Stage nascent souls were nothing more than a snack, and Han Li was left feeling a little speechless as he looked on with a hint of doting affection in his eyes.
Right at this moment, bursts of golden light emerged over Jin Tong's body, and they rippled like water before surging toward her arms.
Her pair of semi-transparent arms quickly gained a more substantial form, and shortly thereafter, Jin Tong swallowed the pair of nascent souls, then wiped her mouth with the back of her new hand before letting loose a loud burp.
The golden light that was surging over her body quickly faded, and her arms also made a full recovery.
"Looks like Golden Immortal Stage nascent souls really are a good source of sustenance for you," Han Li remarked. "By the way, you've certainly changed a lot since we were last together."
"Do you not like what I look like now? Speaking of Golden Immortal Stage nascent souls, if I had one more, I would be able to completely recover from my injuries. It's all your fault! We could've had three nascent souls if you were more careful!" Jin Tong said, still feeling a little disgruntled.
"Don't worry. Right now, there are many Golden Immortals gathered in the immortal manor. Even if we don't go to them, they'll most likely end up coming to us," Han Li said as he turned his gaze to a certain direction.
"You're saying there are more of them to come? That's great! With my powers and your spirit domain, none of them will be able to get away from us!" Jin Tong said with a confident grin, baring two rows of gleaming white teeth.
"Setting that aside for now, Jin Tong, there's something that I want to ask you," Han Li said as a serious look suddenly appeared on his face.
Jin Tong was rather taken aback by the sudden shift in Han Li's demeanor, and a slightly anxious look appeared on her face as she asked, "What is it?"
"Back when I first ascended to the Immortal Realm, I was forced back into a lower realm after running into a powerful enemy, and due to their law powers, I lost a lot of my memories. Do you still recall what happened to us in the Immortal Realm prior to that?" Han Li asked.
Even though he had learned some things from Tao Yu and Fang Ban, he still hadn't managed to fully piece together what had happened to him following his ascension, and now that Tao Yu's inkstone had been detonated, he had lost his final lead.
For some reason, Han Li really wanted to recover these memories.
"I don't remember anything from that time, either. My memories of the Immortal Realm start from the battle against that guy called Fang Ban. I was able to slay a spirit pet that he sent after me, then circled back around to try and find you, but you were gone.
“After that, I ran into Qu Ling, and she captured me. She was quite good at nurturing spirit pets, so when I was with her, I always had stuff to eat, and my cultivation base improved rapidly. That's why I decided to stay with her and pretend to have been subdued as a spirit pet," Jin Tong replied.
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