The ghostly projection was horrified as it writhed and struggled with all its might, but it was completely trapped in place by the power of laws of heaven and earth.
"With my current power, I'm only able to unleash a single attack with this Profound Heavenly Sword. In the beginning, you may have been able to escape, but you've been weakened through all of those reincarnations, so there's no way you'll be able to get away," Han Li said in a cold voice as the green longsword instantly vanished from his grasp.
In the next instant, a halo of green light appeared above the ghostly projection before descending toward it.
"No!" the inner demon howled with terror and despair at the sight of the ordinary-looking green halo, as if it knew that its life was forfeit.
However, regardless of how much it screeched and struggled, the halo continued to fall, and it was quickly drawn into the green light as a burst of black Qi.
A shrill cry rang out as most of the black Qi was instantly destroyed.
After that, the remaining black Qi was shredded into nothingness within the green light.
Almost in the exact same instant, the entire grey space began to tremor violently as if it were on the verge of collapse.
Han Li was ecstatic to see this, and he immediately waved a hand through the air, upon which the green halo silently vanished.
Immediately thereafter, green light flashed from Han Li's arm, and the sword mark on his skin vanished in a flash.
At the same time, the entire space disintegrated into specks of spiritual light amid a resounding boom.
The body formed by Han Li's soul blurred, then flew out of the collapsing space as a ball of golden light.
Within the basin in the outside world, the giant grey mirror shattered amid a loud crack, and a ball of golden light shot forth before vanishing into the Nascent Soul down below in a flash.
The Nascent Soul immediately let loose a long cry, and brilliant golden light erupted from its body as it also returned to Han Li's physical body as a streak of golden light.
In the next instant, Han Li opened his eyes, and an aura that had virtually fused as one with that of heaven and earth erupted out of his body.
A rumbling boom akin to a dull thunderclap erupted through the entire space, following which all of the dark clouds in the sky dispersed, replaced by waves of dazzling light that converged from all directions, then formed a scintillating five-colored sea of light that completely inundated Han Li.
At the center of the sea of light, translucent threads of some type of mysterious energy surged rapidly through the air, and in the blink of an eye, Han Li was completely surrounded by these translucent threads.
After no more than 15 minutes, Han Li had transformed into a massive cocoon of light that was hovering unsteadily within the sea of light.
Lights of all colors were quickly sweeping through the sea of light amid a relentless string of resounding booms, making it seem as if there were something extremely fearsome being born.
Not only was there light surging toward the basin from all directions, the seven suns in the sky had been reduced to only three, and even those three suns had become extremely dim.
On top of that, they were releasing wisps of light that quickly flowed into the sea of light in small streams.
Tens of thousands of kilometers away, Daoist Xie looked up at the three suns in a completely expressionless manner.
Meanwhile, the Xiao Guan and Mouse Monarch Dong Tian both drew a sharp breath at the sight of the scene unfolding in the distance. They exchanged an incredulous glance, and both exclaimed in unison, "Three Sun Infusion!"
The same cry of surprise could also be heard combing from another mountaintop in the mountain range. "Three Sun Infusion! He's done it!"
The one who had spoken was Liao Ying, and the amazement in her eyes mirrored the tone of her voice.
Silvermoon had worn a concerned expression prior to this, but an ecstatic look immediately appeared on her face at the sight of the three dim suns, and she yelled, "That means Brother Han has already transcended his inner demon tribulation!"
"Indeed, he must've already escaped the inner demon space and is currently using the world's origin Qi and the true essence of the sun to reconstruct his own physical body. With his original powers, I wonder how fearsome he'll become after reaching the Grand Ascension Stage. At the very least, your grandfather will be no match for him," Liao Ying said with a wary look in her eyes, while Silvermoon was ecstatic to hear this.
Meanwhile, Xu Qianyu had also witnessed the phenomenon that was taking place, and she murmured to herself in a stunned voice, "Three Sun Infusion… How is this possible? Could it be that someone has just successfully reached the Grand Ascension Stage? The people guarding this place were demonic beings; could it be that someone from the demon race has progressed to the Grand Ascension Stage?"
The other Xu Family cultivators had no idea what Three Sun Infusion meant, but they were made aware of the nature of the situation after hearing the words "Grand Ascension Stage", and all of them were immediately completely flabbergasted. After all, Grand Ascension Stage beings were godlike entities in the eyes of these Xu Family cultivators, and they had barely even heard of such beings, let alone seen one in person.
Despite the tumultuous emotions running through the hearts of the Xu Family cultivators, they didn't dare to do anything under Silvermoon and Liao Ying's supervision, and could only continue waiting in the forest.
Thus, time slowly passed by.
Even though it had only been around four hours, it felt like it had been a month for the anxious Silvermoon.
All of a sudden, the giant cocoon at the center of the sea of light stirred slightly, and a rich fragrance began to waft through the air before becoming more and more pronounced.
A thin crack then appeared on the surface of the giant cocoon amid a loud crack, and countless golden runes surged forth alongside a burst of heavenly music.
Shortly thereafter, the entire cocoon exploded amid a resounding boom, and the heavenly music drew to an abrupt halt, while the golden runes were all swept away by a gust of fierce winds.
A purplish-golden figure then appeared in the place of the cocoon; it was none other than Han Li, who had completed the reconstruction of his own physical body.
Moments later, the fragrance emanating from his body became extremely faint, following which the light faded, and Han Li was revealed.
His appearance and attire were still completely identical to what it had been before, and there was no noticeable change aside from the fact that he had grown several inches taller.
However, as Han Li inspected his own body, he was extremely pleased by what he saw.
It was no wonder that all Grand Ascension cultivators were able to easily crush Body Integration Stage beings; not only had his magic power been enhanced by severalfold, his physical body was close to 50% more powerful than it had previously been.
However, the most important change that he had experienced was that his Nascent Soul was now truly complete.
The Nascent Soul that was currently meditating in his dantian had become completely different.
Its facial features had matured to those of an adult, and an azure robe had appeared over its body; it was basically an identical shrunk down model of Han Li.
Han Li carefully examined his own body with his spiritual sense, and after making sure that there were no mishaps, he was no longer able to repress his own excitement and let loose a long cry of elation.
Astonishing soundwaves erupted forth in all directions, crescendoing to a peak, causing all of the nearby trees and mountains and tremor violently.
Only after around 15 minutes had passed did Han Li completely express his own excitement, and only then did the cry of elation subside.
At this point, Silvermoon, Daoist Xie, and the others had all appeared near the basin. Zhu Guo'er flew over to Han Li with elation in her eyes, then stood beside him in an extremely respectful manner.
Daoist Xie appeared in front of Han Li amid a flash of silver light before everyone else arrived, then said something that came as quite a surprise to Han Li, "Congratulations on progressing to the Grand Ascension Stage, Fellow Daoist Han. From now, you satisfy the basic prerequisites to become my master. All you need to do is fulfill a few requests of mine to truly become my master."
"What? I can become your master? Is that supposed to be a joke, Brother Xie? If the only condition to become your master is to progress to the Grand Ascension Stage, then wouldn't you have already been claimed by a Sacred Ancestor?" Han Li asked as his eyes narrowed slightly.
"In order to become my master, not only does one have to be at or above the Grand Ascension Stage, they must also be able to provide me with energy, and the latter condition is one that no Sacred Ancestor can satisfy. Would you like to hear my other conditions now, Fellow Daoist Han?" Daoist Xie asked.
Han Li was enlightened upon hearing this, but after a brief hesitation, he replied in a cautious manner, "I see. This is not the place to be discussing something like this; let's talk about this in private later."
"Alright, we'll do as you say, Fellow Daoist Han," Daoist Xie agreed.
Han Li nodded in response, but he was slightly perplexed as he took another glance at Daoist Xie.
For some reason, he felt as if this Faux Immortal Puppet had suddenly attained a higher level of intelligence compared to prior to his Grand Ascension Stage breakthrough.
At this point, Silvermoon and the others had also arrived on the scene.
