The piece of ore was only around the size of an egg, and its pitted and bumpy surface was giving off a cold metallic sheen.
This was one of the pieces of Foreign Devilish Metal that Han Li had secured from the Elder Devil Realm.
Han Li swiped a finger toward the piece of ore, and an azure thread shot forth before slicing the piece of ore in half to reveal a pea-sized crystalline bead, which was instantly caught between two of Han Li's fingers.
Han Li inspected the crystalline bead for a while before sweeping a sleeve through the air, releasing around a dozen five-colored flags that disappeared into the surrounding space.
In the next instant, a five-colored light barrier appeared over the entire secret chamber.
Only after setting up all of this did Han Li abruptly rub the bead together between his hands.
A dozen or so arcs of golden lightning sprang forth amid a loud thunderclap, and the bead was shattered between his palms, following which a grey pillar of light erupted forth amid a burst of energy fluctuations.
Han Li was already prepared for this, and he immediately thrust a palm through the air.
A massive golden hand instantly appeared overhead, then came crashing down without any hesitation, releasing a burst of enormous force that compressed the pillar of light into a fist-sized grey ball of light.
After that, Han Li began to chant something, and countless golden runes surged out of his mouth, forming a ball around the ball of light.
Only then did Han Li's expression ease slightly, and he drew the ball of light into his own grasp.
Immediately thereafter, blue light flashed within his eyes, and a series of translucent threads shot out of his glabella, all of which vanished into the ball of light in a flash.
The ball of light tremored slightly before emitting a faint buzzing sound, but it quickly returned to normal after the golden runes around it flashed a few times.
Han Li then closed his eyes and began to meditate, and when he reopened his eyes half a day later, the translucent threads and the ball of light enveloped within the golden runes had already vanished.
Han Li inspected his internal condition with his spiritual sense to find that his magic power had been slightly enhanced, and a smile appeared on his face, but his brows then furrowed slightly upon detecting the green thread that had also appeared in his body.
He immediately switched to a different hand seal, and a dark grey layer of light appeared over his body alongside a peculiar aura.
This was none other than the refinement method for Baleful Yin Qi that he had received from Lan Ying of the Vast Origin House.
As long as he could refine the accompanying Baleful Yin Qi in a timely fashion after absorbing the energy within the crystalline beads, he wouldn't have anything to worry about.
Around an hour later, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce another piece of Foreign Devilish Metal, which was also sliced apart by an azure thread to reveal another grey crystalline bead.
He then repeated the process and began to absorb the energy within this bead as well.
Thus, Han Li repeated the same process over and over again, absorbing energy before refining Baleful Yin Qi, and he could clearly sense that his magic power was quickly being enhanced.
Two years flew by in the blink of an eye.
After refining the residual Baleful Yin Qi within his own body once again, Han Li heaved a long sigh before casting his gaze through his surroundings.
Scattered all around him were halves of pieces of Foreign Devilish Metal, arranged in several piles that were each around 10 feet tall.
This amount of Foreign Devilish Metal comprised around 90% of all of the Foreign Devilish Metal he had brought back from the Elder Devil Realm.
The energy within the final crystalline bead that he had just absorbed was no longer able to improve his magic power at all, so it was clear that he had already reached the pinnacle of the late-Body Integration Stage. At this point, his magic power had been enhanced by as much as 30% compared to when he had first begun his seclusion, and this had been achieved in just two short years.
If any other Body Integration cultivator were to hear of this, they would most likely find such a thing impossible to believe.
After all, a cultivator of Han Li's caliber would have to cultivate arduously for at least several centuries or perhaps even 1,000 years to achieve the same thing. Even the miraculous pills of the True Immortal Realm couldn't have such an extraordinary effect in just two years.
However, despite the fact that his cultivation base had reached a sufficient level, Han Li had no intention of commencing a breakthrough right away.
After cultivating in the secret chamber for another year to completely consolidate his newly gained magic power, he flicked a wrist to send a ball of white light flying out of his storage bracelet. The ball of white light then transformed into a translucent jade box that was several feet in length with a shimmering silver restriction talisman plastered to its surface.
Han Li opened his mouth to release a burst of azure light that removed the talisman from the box, then flicked a finger toward it, upon which the lid of the box was opened to reveal a crimson fruit shaped like a grain of rice.
The fruit was over a foot in length and around as thick as an infant's arm with a very sharp end; this was one of the pieces of Bloodtooth Rice that Han Li had obtained from the Elder Devil Realm.
Han Li made a grabbing motion to draw the piece of Bloodtooth Rice into his grasp and gently stroked it as he murmured to himself, "As expected of a piece of premium Bloodtooth Rice; it's of a far better quality than normal Bloodtooth Rice. If I were to consume it before cultivating the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra, I'm sure my rate of progress will be accelerated significantly."
At this point, he had already reached initial mastery of the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra, but he was still far from achieving complete mastery.
With his current physical body, it would take at least over 100 years for him to reach that level.
Of course, if a normal Body Integration Stage human cultivator were in his place, they wouldn't be able to achieve this even if they were given all the time in the world. Instead, it would be very likely that their meridians would be shattered, and their body would implode.
After benefiting from the Spirit Cleansing Pond and Clean Spirit Lotus, Han Li's body and meridians had become far more powerful than before, and the extraordinary effects of the Bloodtooth Rice would undoubtedly shorten the amount of time required for his cultivation significantly.
As such, he was very confident in his mastery of the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra.
Once he mastered this powerful ability, it would definitely be of great help to him for his breakthrough attempt to the Grand Ascension Stage.
As Han Li considered all of his, he slowly injected a burst of pure Yang energy into the Bloodtooth Rice.
In the next instant, the Bloodtooth Rice was enveloped in a layer of gentle white light and was quickly cooked, giving off a rich fragrant aroma during the cooking process.
Han Li immediately devoured the entire piece of Bloodtooth Rice in a few bites, and countless bursts of heat instantly began to surge through his meridians.
A serious look appeared on his face as he made a hand seal, and his Provenance True Devil Projection appeared behind him amid a flash of golden light as he began to cultivate according to the mantra.
One season passed by after another, and 40 years flew by in the blink of an eye.
On this day, Silvermoon was cultivating in her secret chamber when she suddenly heard what appeared to be countless dragon's roars erupt from a nearby secret chamber. Immediately thereafter, the sound of howling winds and rumbling thunder rang out, and the ground began to tremor slightly as if there were a violent storm taking place not far away.
A hint of surprise flashed through Silvermoon's eyes, and she was just about to get up when her expression changed slightly, and she heaved a faint sigh before closing her eyes again.
Meanwhile, a series of astonishing phenomena were taking place in another secret chamber.
Han Li was still seated with his legs crossed within the secret chamber, and his entire body was radiating purplish-golden light. At the same time, countless silver spirit patterns were rapidly surging over his skin, forming a series of formations of different sizes before quickly crumbling away, presenting a very peculiar sight to behold.
The Provenance True Devil Projection behind him also had identical silver spirit patterns running along the surface of its body, and what was even more incredible was that the sounds of howling winds and rumbling thunder were stemming directly from within Han Li's body.
Fierce winds were sweeping through the nearby area, and they were intermingled with arcs of silver lightning.
Han Li's eyes were currently glowing with dazzling blue light, and he was appraising himself with an ecstatic expression.
All of a sudden, he rose to his feet before thrusting a palm forward in a casual manner.
The silver spirit patterns on his arm instantly converged to form an extremely profound formation, and at the same time, azure light flashed from his palm before pouncing directly toward the door of the secret chamber as a ferocious azure wyrm.
A resounding boom rang out from the stone door, and piercing five-colored light immediately erupted.
Han Li was quite stunned to see this, and he hurriedly withdrew the silver formation on his arm, upon which the azure wyrm also vanished.
After that, the restriction on the stone door flashed violently a few times before returning to normal, and an ecstatic look immediately appeared on Han Li's face.
He had only unleashed a casual strike with his arm, which had been refined by the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra, and it was already displaying such incredible power; it seemed that the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra was far more powerful than even what he had originally anticipated.
This was naturally fantastic news to him.
During the past 40 years of arduous cultivation, he had consumed all of his Bloodtooth Rice and finally achieved complete mastery of the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra.
Currently, every single part of his body could be transformed into a powerful treasure with different profound abilities, allowing him to kill other beings of the same caliber without even using any treasures or weapons.
