Chapter 1345: Mysterious Lightning Patterns

"Oh, nothing much. I've also cultivated some lightning power in the WM Net, so I'm naturally curious about this. Fellow Daoist, what do you plan to exchange this for?" Han Li played with the lightning wood in his hand for a moment, then replied calmly without changing his expression.

Upon hearing that Han Li truly wanted to trade for the willow branch, the elderly man in Bai Xia was startled, sized Han Li up and down, then spoke in a hoarse voice:

"Although I haven't yet found the true use of this lightning wood, this spirit wood formed by heavenly lightning is of incalculable value. How about this: I'm currently refining a batch of 'Ganyuan Dan' and am missing one kind of five-thousand-year-old spirit herb. If Fellow Daoist can provide one stalk, this spirit wood is yours. Of course, if you have top-grade spirit stones or other items of equal value, I won't refuse either."

"How do you know I have spirit 'medicine'!" Han Li's heart jolted, and the face in Bai Xia darkened instantly.

"Fellow Daoist need not be surprised. I've cultivated some minor divine ability, my sense of smell far surpasses that of ordinary people. Just now, when you traded with that demoness woman and took out the wooden box, the 'medicine' scent leaking out was detected by me. That must be a three-thousand-year-old spirit 'medicine'. Producing such spirit 'medicine' so easily suggests you likely have even older ones, perhaps over five thousand years." The old man said in a low voice.

Han Li, upon hearing this, was somewhat speechless.

He had heard of a great Buddhist divine power that enhances cultivators' five senses—legendary heart-penetration, thousand-mile vision, wind-following ear—similar divine abilities. His own Mingqing Lingmu, in a sense, is a concrete manifestation of such power, though he has not yet reached the inconceivable level spoken of in rumors.

After understanding the specific reason, Han Li's expression eased, and he spoke slowly:

"Ah, I see. Since Fellow Daoist has specifically asked for spirit 'medicine', I happen to have exactly one such stalk. Fellow Daoist, please check if it's suitable."

Han Li showed no intention to haggle. Raising his hand, a white light flashed, and a rectangular wooden box appeared, which he lightly tossed over.

The old man was somewhat surprised, not expecting Han Li to agree so readily, and naturally delighted, he caught the box, opened the lid, glanced inside, then immediately closed it again.

"Not bad. It's indeed a five-thousand-year-old spirit 'medicine', perfectly suitable for my alchemy." The old man put away the box, overjoyed.

Seeing this, Han Li smiled faintly, the willow branch in his hand trembled slightly and vanished. Then, after a slight fist salute, he turned and left without another word.

In front of these old foxes, speaking too much leads to loss.

After leaving the Tai Xuan Palace, Han Li wandered through the rest of the market, but given his possession of heavenly-penetrating spirit treasures and countless spirit 'medicines', nothing in these shops could easily move him. After a few hours, he immediately returned to the Green Stone Giant Tower.

Upon entering the quiet chamber where his squad was stationed, Han Li raised his hand and cast a spell upon the stone door, temporarily activating the chamber's restriction to prevent disturbance.

Yet even so, Han Li still felt uneasy. Raising his hand, several rays of light of varying colors shot out, flashing and vanishing into the four corners of the chamber, leaving no trace.

With a pinch of the fingers, a layer of Bai Mengmeng light curtain appeared on the stone wall, completely blocking any possibility of peeping.

Only then did Han Li relax, sitting cross-legged on the futon. With a flick of one hand, the half-foot-long lightning wood appeared in his palm.

This thing is only as thick as a thumb, its color an abnormal emerald green, yet its surface bears some fine, vortex-like patterns that make one feel as if their gaze could sink deep into them.

Back in the Tai Xuan Palace, he hadn't examined this object closely. Now, using his fingertip, he slowly traced along the branch, inch by inch, while closing his eyes.

The lightning power beneath the spirit wood's bark is violently turbulent, yet it strangely solidifies into this form—truly an astonishing phenomenon.

Thinking thus, he opened his eyes again, green light flashing on his hand as he began to slowly infuse a thread of spirit power into the branch.

But as soon as he infused a little, the branch trembled slightly, and a rebound force suddenly emerged, actually bouncing the spirit power back out.

A flash of surprise crossed Han Li's mind; the green light on his hand gradually intensified, becoming blindingly bright.

As the branch trembled, a faint white light arose, intertwining and flickering with the green light on Han Li's hand, yet appearing utterly incompatible.

After a while, a faint humming sound began to come from between the two lights.

Han Li frowned, then with a single hand gesture, the green light on his hand instantly dissipated and vanished.

Clearly, continuing to increase spirit power infusion might allow forced injection, but the branch itself would likely self-destruct in the process.

Given Han Li's experience, he naturally wasn't limited to just this method of studying the object.

He gripped the branch with his palm, and immediately a series of thunderclaps rang out, golden-colored electric threads appearing and instantly enveloping the branch.

The branch remained motionless amidst the golden arcs, showing no abnormality whatsoever.

Han Li did not reveal a disappointed expression; if it were truly this easy to study, the previous owner wouldn't have treated it like chicken ribs.

Han Li suddenly threw the middle of the branch into the air, where it immediately spun and hovered in midair.

He pointed his finger at the branch and flicked— a golden sword qi flashed and shot out, cleanly severing the middle of the branch.

A low thunderclap rang out, a white light arc flashed, and the branch was easily cut into two sections, fluttering down lightly.

Without hesitation, Han Li made a grasping motion in the air, and the two small sections of branch were immediately drawn into his hand.

A glance revealed the cut surfaces were entirely silver-white.

Han Li's eyes flashed with blue light as he gazed intently—he immediately discovered that so-called silver-white was actually countless fine electric threads, intricately and regularly interwoven, forming an astonishingly strange pattern.

Extremely complex and exquisite!

Without his spirit eye, he would absolutely not be able to detect any irregularity.

In the blink of an eye, the silver-white electric meter surface at the cut developed a layer of emerald green, instantly causing the two broken sections to transform into two completely independent branches.

Han Li was truly startled now,

Controlling electric arcs and condensing lightning into form—this was originally one of his special divine abilities. But refining lightning to this degree and forming such an inconceivable state—this was truly something he had never even imagined.

The complexity of this could far surpass his earlier method of using the Evil-Repelling Divine Lightning to form an electric net and condense it into an electric ball—by who knows how many times.

The demand this method places on the 'manipulation' of divine sense is absolutely extraordinarily high; otherwise, achieving this level would be utterly impossible.

Han Li held the two branch sections, lowered his head, and began to murmur in contemplation.

Suddenly, his eyes flashed—he extended a finger toward one section and made a grasping motion in the air.

Golden light flashed, and that section was again severed into two by the white electric arc.

But this time, having prepared, Han Li moved his divine sense—immediately one section arrived before his eyes, the silver-white cut fully exposed.

Han Li's eyes flashed with blue light, unblinking, staring fixedly at the cut, his face full of solemn expression.

Although similarly silver-white, the pattern formed by the electric threads on this cut was completely different from what he had seen the first time.

After a moment, the cut was once again covered by a layer of emerald green.

Han Li then slowly closed his eyes, as if carefully pondering something.

Suddenly, his fingers flicked repeatedly, chopping the branch into sections one after another. He glanced at the repeating lightning patterns, then immediately looked away. When new patterns appeared, he focused intently without moving.

In this way, in the blink of an eye, half the branch was chopped into countless small pieces, scattered across the ground.

When Han Li revealed an expression of sudden realization, the newly emitted fine sword light changed direction, beginning to split the other half of the branch directly down the middle, in a flash of silver light, dividing it evenly into two uniform pieces.

Similarly, after careful observation, the golden sword threads continuously ejected, and this half of the lightning wood became a pile of thin, sheet-like fragments.

At its thinnest, it resembled white paper.

Thus, these remnants of lightning wood still maintained an extremely stable state—clearly containing terrifying abnormal lightning power, yet showing not the slightest sign of eruption.

Han Li suddenly flipped his palm, and a white jade slip appeared in his hand.

He held the jade slip in one hand, and in an instant copied every detail of the cuts he had just seen onto it without the slightest omission.

Then he let out a long breath.

Even with his remarkable memory, memorizing so many complex and intricate lightning patterns at once was quite taxing.

After slightly recovering his composure, Han Li began to quietly contemplate those lightning patterns.

For no particular reason, upon seeing these lightning patterns, he immediately felt seventy to eighty percent confident, knowing these patterns were the key to forming lightning wood.

Han Li sat like that for an entire day and night, his whole body as still as a wooden carving, not moving a muscle.

Suddenly, Han Li's eyelids twitched, and his ten fingers snapped outward—thunderous roars erupted!

Golden arcs of electricity shot out, then in the blink of an eye shattered apart, turning into countless filaments as fine as hair that shot out in all directions.

Han Li muttered under his breath, his ten fingers incessantly pointing and gesturing in the air.

When the electric filaments paused, they suddenly converged toward the center, then began interweaving and crisscrossing in the void, forming an extraordinarily intricate pattern that was nearly identical to one of the lightning patterns Han Li had memorized.

Just as it was about to take shape, condensing into a mass resembling a golden cloth, it suddenly made a "puchi" sound and the entire mass exploded apart.

Amid the crackling thunder like firecrackers, it dissipated and vanished.

Han Li drew a deep breath; his face showed no sign of disappointment, but instead his eyes faintly gleamed with excitement.

His thought was correct—at the very moment the golden lightning pattern formed, he clearly felt an inexplicable power emanating from that golden cloth.

Unfortunately, before he could study it further, a single electric filament miswove during the interlacing, causing all his efforts to come to naught.

Han Li drew a deep breath, rubbed his hands together, and a thick golden arc shot out again, rumbling loudly between his palms.

Likewise, it shattered, and countless golden electric filaments reappeared, densely packed, far more numerous than before.

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