Chapter 1196: Wood-Life Pearl

Han Li, who was in the guest pavilion, played with the Wood-Spirit Pearl for a while, and just as he was about to store it away with the other two treasures, the faint voice of the child suddenly came to his ears.

"Fellow Daoist Han, do you really intend to keep this bead?"

"Why, is there a problem with this Spirit-Gathering Pearl?" Han Li was startled, asking with slightly furrowed brows.

"Hehe, there is no problem with the bead itself, but do you know that the Spirit-Gathering Pearl is actually a semi-finished treasure? If you cultivate with the help of this bead, your cultivation will indeed advance rapidly in the early stages, and your magic power will progress quickly. But once your cultivation reaches a certain level and you encounter a bottleneck, you will discover its drawbacks. High-level cultivators who use this bead to cultivate will find it twice as difficult to break through bottlenecks compared to other cultivators. Because while you are making great progress in your cultivation technique by relying on the absorption of a single type of spiritual energy, you are actually indirectly weakening your ability to sense other types of spiritual energy. For cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage, this drawback is not yet obvious. But for cultivators like you, who need to sense various types of heavenly energy to break through, it is simply not worth the loss. Therefore, although the Spirit-Gathering Pearl is strange, it is mostly used in the Spirit World for low-level disciples with poor aptitude to achieve rapid success, and higher-level cultivators would never do such a thing as pulling up seedlings to help them grow." The child explained carefully.

"There is such a thing? In that way, this treasure will cause obstacles to my advancement to Spirit Transformation, and it is actually useless to me." Han Li's expression changed slightly upon hearing this. Looking at the emerald-green bead in his hand, a look of anger flashed across his face.

"I said it just now, didn't I? This bead is merely a semi-finished treasure. If you have a way to find other rare wood-attribute materials, you can transform it into another treasure: the 'Wood-Life Pearl.' Although this bead cannot speed up your cultivation, once you have completely refined it, it can grant you the divine ability of an indestructible body. In a critical moment, it is enough to save your small life." The child said leisurely.

"Indestructible body?" Han Li was stunned upon hearing this.

He had long envied this divine ability. It was just that he had only seen this divine ability in some legendary demon beasts, ancient demons, and the demonized Heavenly Absolute Demon Corpse; he had never heard of any human cultivator who could cultivate it. 【1196-9

"Not bad, one Wood-Life Bead is enough to allow you to perform the Undying Body once. Within the time it is activated, even if your head falls to the ground or your body is split in two, you can recover as before," the boy said with a low chuckle.

"There is actually such a thing? But it can only be used once; wouldn't that make it a consumable item?" Han Li asked, moved and also puzzled.

"The Undying Body can be used once, which is enough to save your little life once at certain times. What else is there to be dissatisfied with? Moreover, besides needing a Wood Spirit Bead, the other several types of materials required for this treasure are likely not easy to find in the mortal world. Whether it can be refined is still a matter of uncertainty," the boy snorted with dissatisfaction.

"What materials are needed? I have actually collected quite a few wood-attribute materials," Han Li smiled indifferently.

"I will copy a list of the required materials for you. But if you want me to tell you the refining method, you also need to give me some things, Daoist friend, as an exchange!" The boy was quite frank and directly brought up the conditions.

"Oh, whatever Daoist friend Tianlan wants, just speak up." Hearing the boy say this, Han Li felt relieved instead.

If this Tianlan Sacred Beast had really told him the refining method for nothing and didn't ask for the slightest reward, he would have been suspicious instead.

Although the two had some friendship previously because of the lightning tribulation, after all, humans and demons are different, and it was mostly due to conflicts of interest that they could maintain such a situation. He always had a trace of vigilance in his heart.

He did not expect that, with just these small favors between a human and a demon, they could truly face each other frankly and talk about trust. The other party helping him so much was mostly because the Void Heaven Cauldron was controlled in his hands and it could not leave this cauldron to act independently, so it had to bow its head.

"My conditions are nothing much. Although I have successfully transformed, I still need to swallow some spiritual medicines to consolidate my realm. With Brother Han's status in Tiannan, I presume these spiritual medicines are very easy to obtain," the boy said slowly.

"No problem, Daoist friend, just copy the things you need into the refining method together," Han Li thought for a moment and replied without hesitation.

"Good, after you return to your cave dwelling, Daoist friend, I will hand the material list and the refining method to you together." The boy was also very satisfied with Han Li's straightforwardness.

Han Li smiled upon hearing this, put the Wood Spirit Bead back into the wooden box, and then flipped his palm, and the three treasures were simultaneously put into his storage bag.

"Daoist friend Tianlan, do you think the Ghost Spirit Sect knows about the drawbacks of the Wood Spirit Bead?" A cold light flashed in Han Li's eyes, and his voice suddenly turned cold.

"That's hard to say. Listening to your previous words, this bead was abandoned by ancient cultivators long ago, and the drawbacks don't seem to have been passed down. If there were any Nascent Soul cultivators in the Ghost Spirit Sect who practiced wood-attribute cultivation techniques and used this bead, they might have noticed the harm. If not, one naturally couldn't detect anything from the bead itself. Why, do you suspect those three deliberately used this bead to try to stop you from advancing to Spirit Transformation?" The boy reacted immediately.

"I thought so at first, but thinking about it carefully now, the Ghost Spirit Sect seems to have no motive to do so! After all, it's just being stopped from advancing to Spirit Transformation. Even if I only stay at the Nascent Soul stage, I am still the number one cultivator in Tiannan. Aren't they afraid that I will discover something is wrong and destroy the Ghost Spirit Sect in a fit of rage? There is likely some other inside story! Let me think, since they can use the Ghost Spirit Sect to do this, the person causing trouble behind the scenes should be a local Tiannan cultivator. And stopping me from advancing to Spirit Transformation, what difference could it make to others? Even if I am not a Spirit Transformation cultivator, no one in Tiannan is my match. The only consequence of being unable to advance to Spirit Transformation is probably that my lifespan cannot increase and can only be maintained at a little over a thousand years. In this way, the time for the Falling Cloud Sect to suppress other sects in Tiannan would be greatly shortened. But for ordinary sects, it makes no difference who becomes the number one sect in Tiannan. The only sects qualified to be interested in this are just a few, mostly the Intent-Concealing Gate, the Joyous Union Sect, and the Taiyi Gate—one of the three great sects, or perhaps they secretly joined forces together," Han Li touched his chin and analyzed with his thoughts racing.

"Listening to you say this, what was originally just a trace of clues seems to be clear immediately. Do you think the other three late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators participated in this matter?" The boy was a bit stunned by Han Li's analysis and only said with a bitter smile after a long while.

"Maybe. But this is just a guess; who knows what the truth is? I can't say how much certainty I have." Han Li stood up, walked back and forth in the hall a few times, looked at the top of the hall, and said with a cold smile.

"It's not simple to want to know the truth. Capture those three and search their souls, and you'll know," the boy suggested with a low chuckle.

"Capturing the three of them is easy, but it might not necessarily have any results. Even if I know the truth, without solid evidence, it's not easy for me to take action against any sect casually. Moreover, capturing three Ghost Spirit Sect Nascent Soul cultivators at once would make me a target for everyone. I currently bear the title of the number one cultivator in Tiannan; although it makes other cultivators feel awe, I'm afraid there are even more people who are jealous and wary of me. Perhaps others will take the opportunity to incite the entire Tiannan cultivation world to attack me. Even if I am powerful, I can't fight the entire Tiannan cultivation world alone. It's not like such precedents haven't happened in Tiannan before." A fierce look flashed across Han Li's face, but after pondering for a while, he still shook his head.

"Little Han, you are too timid. If it were according to my temper when I was in the Spirit Realm, hehe... but this matter is up to you. As long as you can keep your own little life, I won't be meddlesome," the boy said lazily.

"Rest assured, since I know someone is harboring evil intentions in the dark, I will naturally be careful. It's better to pretend not to know about this! If they stop here, so be it. If they use any more unspeakable means against me, they will eventually be caught by me. As long as I have solid evidence, hmph, they will naturally know what it means to be in a dilemma between life and death." Han Li's expression was calm, but the coldness in his words could be felt by anyone.

This time, the boy chuckled and didn't respond.

Han Li stayed in the hall for a while longer, finally walked out of the VIP building, looked up at another pavilion not far away, and frowned inadvertently.

Han Han Yunzhi was one thing, but why did Dong Xuan'er come to his door? He and Dong Xuan'er didn't get along very well back then. Even though this woman was extremely charming, she didn't leave a good impression on him.

However, Han Li also had a puzzle in his heart. He once learned from a deserter of the Joyous Union Sect that after Dong Xuan'er formed her Core, she had sent people to search for him for a period of time. Why was this?

Han Li looked at the distant pavilion, his eyes flickered a few times, but he still walked over slowly.

Entering the pavilion, there were two beautiful-looking female cultivators who appeared young, one standing and one sitting, silent in the hall.

The one sitting was a woman in yellow, with a delicate and pretty face, like a gentle and graceful girl from a small family. The one standing was a woman in white, with an extremely charming and moving appearance, but there was a trace of haggardness between her brows, which did not detract from her beauty but instead added a bit of pitiful charm to her.

Han Li's arrival immediately made the two women look over at the same time.

"I am truly surprised that the two Daoist friends would come here together. However, both of you fairies can be considered old acquaintances of mine; being able to meet again today, I am truly a bit emotional."

Han Li walked a few steps in front of the two, swept his gaze, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

"Big Brother Han, no... Senior Han, Han Yunzhi's visit this time, didn't cause any trouble for Senior, did it?" As soon as the woman in yellow saw Han Li, a look of surprise flashed in her dark eyes, and she hurriedly stood up, looking a bit at a loss.

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