Only after a long while did Elder Jin return to his senses, and a wry smile appeared on his face as he said, "I didn't think you'd consume the dao fruit right away, Fellow Daoist Han."
"The safest way to deal with such an extraordinary fruit would naturally be to consume it as soon as possible. Otherwise, it would only attract trouble," Han Li said with a smile.
"That's obviously up to you in the end. By the way, the effect of the Vast Spirit Dao Fruit can be extended if you consume a few other types of spirit items along with it," Elder Jin said.
"10,000 years of the Vast Spirit Dao Physique should be sufficient for my cultivation. If I can't make a substantial breakthrough during this time, then an extension won't be of much use to me. In any case, your True Dragon Race has done me a great service, and I'll be sure to repay you in the future. There are a few more people who are almost here, so I'll be taking my leave now," Han Li cupped his fist in a parting salute, then flew away as a streak of azure light, vanishing into the distant sky after just a few flashes.
"As expected of someone who's slain a true immortal. If he can ascend to the True Immortal Realm, he'll definitely cause quite a stir there as well," Elder Feng praised.
"He'll have to actually be able to ascend first," Elder Jin said with a peculiar look in his eyes.
"What do you mean by that? With his current power, surely there would be a very good chance of success for him to transcend his ascension cultivation now that he's consumed the Vast Spirit Dao Fruit," a green-robed female elders said.
The other elders were also rather befuddled to hear this.
Instead of giving a direct reply, Elder Jin stroked his own bear, and asked, "What did you all think of his spiritual sense?"
"It's very powerful; perhaps one of the most powerful among all beings participating in this Dao Fruit Convention," Elder Feng replied.
"That's an understatement. If I'm not mistaken, he's only displayed a small portion of the full extent of his spiritual sense," Elder Jin said.
"How is that possible? Wouldn't that mean that even our spiritual sense wouldn't be able to compare with his? Could it be that you verified this using that secret technique already?" someone immediately exclaimed.
"Of course, I wouldn't make such claims without any basis. The more powerful one's spiritual sense is, the more beneficial it would be for their chances at successful ascension, but his spiritual sense is too powerful, to the extent that it's exceeded the upper limit of what living beings in the lower realms can handle. My innate secret technique tells me that despite his powerful spiritual sense, its foundation is extremely shaky, and if he can't find a way to rectify this, he most likely won't even be able to survive past a few more centuries," Elder Jin explained.
"How could this be?"
"I wonder if he's aware of this himself."
"Even if he isn't, he'll sense this soon enough, but by then, it would most likely already be too late."
"That's true. Matters regarding spiritual sense are always the most troublesome to deal with, so we can't really help him. Otherwise, Elder Jin would've revealed this to him earlier."
Just as the elders were discussing this revelation, a streak of white light suddenly appeared in the distant sky before arriving near the platform, where it was revealed to be a handsome white-robed young man with a golden crown on his head.
He cupped his fist in a salute, and said, "Xuanyuan Jie of the Xuanyuan Race pays his respects to the fellow daoists of the True Dragon Race."
"Oh? You're a member of the ancient Xuanyuan Race?"
All of the elders were stunned to hear this, and they immediately focused their attention on the young man, quickly forgetting about the topic of conversation surrounding Han Li.
……
A year later, Han Li returned to the Boundless Sea, and after a brief reunion with Nangong Wan and the others, he issued a string of orders to everyone in the Azure Origin Palace before going into seclusion in his secret chamber.
This seemed to be an extremely important period of seclusion, and it stretched on for an unbroken period of 200 years.
During this time, the human race underwent an astonishing transformation.
Several years after Han Li went into seclusion, Fairy Ice Soul returned to the human race as a Grand Ascension Stage being, creating a massive stir among all neighboring races.
Immediately thereafter, the Wood Tribe and many other weaker races near the human race willingly pledged subordination to the human race one after another.
After that, the nearby races who were on bad terms with the human race abandoned their territory and entered the primordial world, mass migrating to somewhere else on the continent.
The human race naturally seized all of this vacant territory.
At the same time, many foreign races across the Tian Yuan Continent were expressing an urge to be on friendly terms with the human race, and there were even some races, like the Flying Spirit Race, that declared that they were willing to forge alliances with the human race.
Thus, in the short span of less than a century, the human race had been thrust firmly under the limelight.
During this period, some cultivation arts and secret techniques of extremely high calibers began to spread within the human race, alongside many treasures that could be found almost nowhere else.
As a result, many high-grade human cultivators who were stuck at bottlenecks made breakthroughs in an extremely short period of time, and intense competition had been sparked among the juniors with exceptional aptitude.
The demon race didn't undergo anywhere near as drastic a transformation, but it also benefited significantly from the uprising of the human race.
The demon race occupied the territory that was neglected by the human race, thereby expanding its territory by around twofold.
Some of the new cultivation arts, secret techniques, pills, and treasures that had appeared in the human race also spread to the demon race, benefitting it immensely.
If one were to carefully investigate all of this, they would discover that all of these things stemmed from the same place.
Everything was originating in the area near the Azure Origin Palace before somehow spreading into other areas and accelerating the growth of the two races by a downright ridiculous extent.
……
Another 200 years passed by, and on this day, a group of devilish guards were patrolling through the air at a low altitude on several black beast-drawn carriages over the original sealed site in the Elder Devil Realm.
Once the group of patrolling guards were far away, Han Li emerged out of thin air amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
He cast his gaze toward the guards in the distance, then turned his attention deeper into the original sealed site.
"I didn't think that the Spirit Refinement Technique would be so troublesome that even Mo Guang and Huo Xuzi are unable to do anything about it. It's a pity I only managed to gather a small portion of that immortal's memories. Otherwise, I wouldn't have to make this trip," Han Li murmured to himself as he vanished into thin air again.
A day later, he reappeared in a secluded area within the original sealed site.
Not far up ahead was a crimson altar, upon which was placed a black bowl with eight azure copper pillars around it.
As Han Li approached the altar, a male voice rang out from the bowl. "So you came after all, Fellow Daoist Han. At this point, I'm sure you no longer have any suspicions about the peril of the Spirit Refinement Technique."
Indeed, after spending 200 years in seclusion, Han Li had finally discovered the underlying issues in his spiritual sense, thereby forcing him to venture into the Elder Devil Realm again.
"Does our agreement still stand, Senior?" Han Li asked.
"Of course, I wouldn't go back on my word," the male voice replied without any hesitation.
Han Li's expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he said, "In that case, I agree to your condition; please tell me the way to cultivate the third stage of the Spirit Refinement Technique."
"Haha, you've made a wise decision, Fellow Daoist Han; only by mastering the third stage will you buy yourself enough time to ascend to the True Immortal Realm," the male voice said in an elated manner.
Immediately thereafter, a streak of white light flew out of the black bowl before reaching Han Li in a flash.
This was a palm-sized jade talisman with countless golden and silver runes etched on its surface, as well as specks of five-colored light flashing around it.
"This is the talisman that can directly contact the True Immortal Realm; the way to activate it…"
Half a day later, a streak of azure light flew out of the lake at the center of the original sealed sight, then departed toward a certain direction.
Within the azure light, Han Li had his hands clasped behind his back with a contemplative look on his face.
……
300 years later, Bai Guo'er was situated in a certain hall in the Azure Origin Palace, delivering a report in a respectful manner to the seated Han Li.
At the conclusion of her report, she extended a slight bow before summoning a white storage bracelet that she offered to Han Li with both hands.
"Well done, Guo'er. Not only have you progressed significantly in your cultivation during your journey, you've also tracked down a large quantity of Vast Yin Stones, many more than I had expected," Han Li said with a pleased smile after inspecting the contents of the storage bracelet with his spiritual sense.
