Encroachment

“What is it?” Han Li turned to look at Silvermoon with a strange look in his eyes.

Silvermoon slowly asked, “Ever since Master took me in as an Artifact Spirit, you’ve never asked me to enhance the power of your flying swords in the form of an Artifact Spirit, nor have I ever been summoned as an Artifact Spirit to fight enemies. I wonder if Master can tell me the reason.”

“Why did you ask about this?” Han Li frowned, somewhat surprised.

Silvermoon lowered her head and softly said, “It’s nothing. I was just asking. After all, Silvermoon’s true identity is an Artifact Spirit.”

“Artifact Spirit? Do you think you’re an ordinary Artifact Spirit? Ordinary Artifact Spirits don’t have intelligence at all, so why would they ask such a question? In fact, although summoning an Artifact Spirit can greatly increase the power of a magic treasure, it consumes a lot of essence for the Artifact Spirit itself. There have even been cases where the owner of a magic treasure uses the Artifact Spirit too often, causing the Artifact Spirit to collapse on its own. To me, you’ve given me a lot of help as a demon fox. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, I won’t turn you into an Artifact Spirit to deal with the enemy. After all, if your cultivation is depleted, it’s not a good thing for me,” Han Li said after a moment of silence. Then, he turned around and left the hall without saying anything else.

Silvermoon, who remained in the hall, blinked several times as a contemplative look appeared on her face.

After a while, she lowered her head to look at the jade box in her hand and walked out with a faint smile.

…

The next day, Han Li appeared in the secret room of the cave abode, preparing to cultivate the divine power of his second Nascent Soul.

Ordinary secret techniques could not be compared to this kind of great divine power secret technique, so Han Li had actually started to prepare for today’s cultivation since a long time ago.

Currently, Han Li was sitting cross-legged on the ground with a light green jade slip in his hand. He seemed to be immersing his spiritual sense into it and comprehending something.

This jade slip contained the Profound Nascent Formation Technique.

A moment later, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense, closed his eyes, and thought for a moment. He formed a hand seal and uttered a few low incantations. After his body condensed, he stopped moving.

Above his head, azure light flashed, and a baby wrapped in azure light suddenly appeared. It was the Nascent Soul that Han Li had cultivated diligently for more than two hundred years.

This Nascent Soul appeared to be slightly more robust than it had been a few years ago. Its eyes were pitch-black and clear, and it appeared to be full of spirituality.

Han Li’s Nascent Soul had only condensed for a few years, and he only dared to let it leave his body in such a safe place for a while. Otherwise, if anything happened, Han Li’s Nascent Soul would be extremely fragile.

After sitting on Han Li’s head for a while, the Nascent Soul tilted its head and looked around the secret chamber. Azure light flashed from its body, and it turned into a ball of spiritual light that floated in the air. Then, it slowly flew around the secret chamber.

At first, it seemed to be a little unskilled, but gradually, the Nascent Soul seemed to have mastered the method of flight, and the azure light became faster and faster. In the end, the entire secret chamber only ha a ball of azure light flickering erratically like a ghost, making people gasp in amazement.

After a while, the Nascent Soul suddenly stopped and floated in a corner of the secret chamber, as if it had thought of something. Its two fair hands formed an incantation gesture, and spiritual light flashed. The Nascent Soul suddenly disappeared from the spot, but in the next moment, it appeared above Han Li’s head again. However, its small face was slightly pale, as if it had consumed a lot of vitality.

This was a divine power unique to Nascent Souls, a true teleportation technique.

The Nascent Soul stretched and turned into a streak of azure light again, disappearing into the top of Han Li’s head.

Han Li’s eyelids moved slightly and he slowly opened his eyes, revealing a trace of seriousness.

“It seems that my Nascent Soul has finally solidified after a few years of cultivation. Although it can’t be compared to the Nascent Souls of those old monsters, there should be no worries about starting to cultivate a second Nascent Soul,” Han Li muttered.

Soon after, he slapped his storage pouch and took out a jade box covered in talismans.

Han Li waved his sleeve with a solemn expression, and all the talismans fell off of their own accord. He then used his finger to gently point at a corner of the box, and the lid opened on its own, revealing a shining golden ball.

It was the sealed Wood Spirit Nascent.

“The Soul Separation Technique that I used back then is almost completely effective now!” Han Li looked at the golden ball and muttered.

After some thought, he raised his hand and pressed his fingers against the golden ball.

A thunderclap sounded and golden light flashed. Countless thin arcs of lightning shot out from the ball and quickly entered Han Li’s hand, disappearing without a trace. In the blink of an eye, the golden ball in the box dissipated, revealing a small green humanoid figure that was several inches in size. It had delicate features and was the Wood Spirit Nascent’s main body.

However, at this moment, the Wood Spirit Nascent was covered in densely packed black needles. Its eyes were tightly shut and it appeared to be unconscious. These black needles that were like cow hair would occasionally flicker with threads of green light, creating a truly strange sight.

Han Li did not dare to be careless. He narrowed his eyes and carefully sized up the Wood Spirit Nascent and these thin black needles.

When he saw that everything was as he had expected, his expression eased slightly as he extended an index finger and slowly pointed it at the Spirit Nascent’s forehead.

A pea-sized ball of green light erupted from his fingertip before he could even touch it. It then transformed into a streak of green light that pierced into the Spirit Nascent’s forehead.

Han Li’s finger did not waver. He was extremely calm, as if he was using the green thread to investigate the situation in the Spirit Nascent’s body.

After the time it took to finish a meal, Han Li let out a long breath. He retracted his finger and withdrew the green spiritual thread. In a flash, it disappeared.

Han Li stroked his chin and pondered for a moment. He suddenly raised his hand and waved. Instantly, the black needles that filled the Spirit Nascent’s body turned into hundreds of black lights and flew into his sleeve.

The Spirit Nascent was still lying unconscious in the jade box.

Han Li seemed to have made up his mind. Without any hesitation, he formed a strange hand seal and cast a spell on the Wood Spirit Nascent.

Immediately, the Spirit Nascent lightly flew out of the jade box. After flying to the same height as Han Li’s head, it sat cross-legged on its own and stopped in front of Han Li.

Han Li gently closed his eyes and activated an incantation gesture in his heart. Green light shone brightly from the top of his head, and his Nascent Soul appeared there again.

This time, the Nascent Soul did not reveal a smile on its face. Instead, its small face was tense with a solemn expression.

It raised its head and looked at the motionless Wood Spirit Nascent.

He flew over to the Wood Spirit Nascent and sat down cross-legged.

The Wood Spirit Nascent was two inches in size, while Han Li’s Nascent Soul was only an inch tall. When the two stood together, they naturally appeared to be incongruous.

But at this moment, Han Li’s Nascent Soul’s small mouth moved a few times, and it mumbled a few obscure incantations.

He then opened his mouth and spat a cloud of pure azure spiritual Qi onto the Wood Spirit Nascent’s face.

The Spirit Nascent’s expression immediately changed and it slowly opened its eyes. However, its eyes were completely lifeless, as if it were a puppet.

Han Li’s Nascent Soul looked as if it was facing a great enemy. Its two small hands quickly formed hand seals without stopping, and its eyes were wide open as it stared at the other party without blinking.

Suddenly, two wisps of azure light shot out from the Nascent Soul’s eyes and entered the Wood Spirit Nascent’s eyes.

The Wood Spirit Nascent let out a miserable cry and plummeted to the ground with a thump. It rolled on the ground as if it were suffering from extreme pain.

Han Li’s Nascent Soul was still floating steadily in the air, but his small face also had an expression of unbearable pain, but he could still forcefully restrain it.

In the secret room, the sounds of pain were intermittent, fluctuating between loud and soft. They lasted for a full day and night before gradually disappearing.

Two days later, Han Li walked out of the secret chamber with a tired expression, but there was a hint of excitement in his eyes.

Back then, Han Li was afraid that if he forcibly invaded the Wood Spirit Nascent’s spiritual sense, he might suffer a backlash. Therefore, Han Li did not immediately cast a spell to plant a second Nascent Soul. Instead, he used a secret technique recorded in the Profound Yin Scripture that day on the Wood Spirit Nascent, causing its spiritual sense to weaken and dissipate bit by bit under the use of those needles.

Now that so much time had passed, the Wood Spirit Nascent’s spiritual sense was naturally as low as it could get.

Under such circumstances, Han Li relied on his powerful spiritual sense, which was not inferior to that of a late-Nascent Soul cultivator, to forcefully erase the last bit of the Wood Spirit Nascent’s spiritual sense. Of course, it was only a matter of time.

Now that the Spirit Nascent’s spiritual sense had been forcibly erased, he injected a portion of his own spiritual sense into it. Afterwards, he used a secret technique to absorb the Spirit Nascent into his body and slowly assimilate it.

Although there was still the danger of his spiritual sense being assimilated by the Spirit Nascent’s instincts, Han Li was confident that his spiritual sense was abnormally solid and would most likely not encounter such a thing. Furthermore, even if such a thing really happened, he would at most abandon this portion of his spiritual sense. With his powerful spiritual sense, this loss would not affect his intelligence.

As for the duration of this assimilation process, it was hard to say. It could take three to five years, or it could take seven to eight years, or even over ten years. It basically varied from person to person.

Han Li originally did not have much hope that this second Nascent Soul would be useful during the trip to Devilfall Valley, so he was not in a hurry.

After he left the secret chamber, he rested for a day and went to the market to buy a batch of tool refinement materials. He then stayed in the tool refinement room for half a month before coming out again.

However, he now had over a dozen magic nails that could change their size at will.

Han Li brought them to the swamp where he had captured the Snow Cloud Fox.

When he appeared in the stone house in the mountain, Han Li saw the Cadaver Demon lying peacefully on the stone platform. Although he had expected this, he still heaved a sigh of relief.

He first took out a jade box with a golden talisman stuck to it from his storage pouch. Then, he arranged the silver nails one by one and looked at the Cadaver Demon with narrowed eyes.