The three skulls were faring even worse than the flood dragon.
When the black Qi they spat contacted the rainbow flame, it slowed and was soon wiped away by the flame.
When the skulls saw the flames slowly draw closer, a trace of fear appeared from their eyes and their whimpers grew louder.
The cinque devils sinisterly cackled at this display and soon the icy flames from their mouths halted, suddenly turning to five grey streaks into the sea of flame.
In that next moment, when the rainbow flames nearly arrived at the top of the bone banner where the three skulls resided, five clouds of grey Qi flew out from the flames and took the form of malevolent ghost heads.
They bared their fangs with excitement and sped forward without any abilities.
Crack! The five ghost heads fiercely bit down on the three skulls.
Of course, the three skulls weren’t about to accept their fate. They bit back at the cinque devils.
Suddenly, strange howls and violent screams sounded as the ghost heads and skulls tore at each other with their teeth.
Due to the vast amount of black Qi they earlier released, the three skulls were lacking in vitality. Their position was even worse since they were outnumbered.
In the blink of an eye, the two of the three skulls were torn apart by four of the ghost heads and devoured in large mouthfuls. It took all the strength of the last ghost head to ward off the fifth ghost head for the time being.
When Han Li saw this, he smiled with satisfaction.
Meanwhile, the small cauldron he held in his hand let out a faint sigh.
“What? Does Fellow Daoist Endless Sky have any suggestions for my rainbow glacial flames?
“Nonsense! But your rainbow glacial flames remind me of many five elemental type techniques from the Spirit Realm. After these techniques are fully used, they are divided into five colors like your glacial flames. However, your glacial flames are incredibly cold. If an opponent mistook your flames for an elemental technique, they would suffer quite a bit.”
(The Five Elements refer to Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water)
Azure light flashed and an azure-robed young boy appeared on top of the Heavenvoid Cauldron. He had red lips, white teeth, and a pair of plump white feet. He spoke leisurely as he glanced in the direction of the cinque devils.
“An elemental technique?” Han Li asked with a start.
“That’s right,” The boy smiled with a trace of mockery, “Since I’ve arrived in your mortal realm, I’ve discovered that there are few cultivators that learn multiple elements. Most only learn one. Hehe, If any of those people ascended to the Spirit Realm, I fear they will have no hope of ascending to the Void Refinement stage.”
“What do you mean?” Han Li quickly asked with a shaken heart.
“It’s nothing much. It’s still too early to speak with you about the Void Refinement stage. However, I will mention that a crucial point of ascending to the Void Refinement stage is to fuse the five elements into one. If you manage to raise yourself to the Deity Transformation stage, it would be best for you to primarily cultivate as many of the five elements as you can. Peculiar elements such as wind and lightning are too difficult to fuse together. This way, you’ll have a greater chance of breaking through to Void Refinement. Of course, cultivation methods with multiple techniques are far more difficult to cultivate than ordinary techniques. The rate at which magic power gathers will be inferior to single element techniques as well. If you don’t have high hopes for reaching Void Refinement, it would be better to only cultivate a single element. With the increased rate at which you gain magic power, you’ll be able to more easily survive the minor heavenly tribulations that occur every three hundred years!”
Han Li was left stunned by these words. After a long while, he eventually brought himself to say,
“Five elements into one? That is quite troublesome. My Azure Essence Sword Art is only a wood-attributed technique. As for the wind and lightning attributed techniques that is understandable. After all, they are variant elements that are formed by combining others. But shouldn’t I cultivate techniques that conform to my body’s spiritual roots? Could it be that heavenly spiritual roots are ordinary in the Spirit Realm? And what is this minor heavenly tribulation that you mentioned? Do humans in the Spirit Realm experience similar tribulation to metamorphosed demon beasts"
The boy flashed a mysterious smile and chuckled, “I didn’t expect that a few of my words would attract so many questions. In that case, I’ll give you a bit of an explanation.”
“Heavenly spiritual roots are also remarkably rare in our Spirit Realm. Powers and sects of all sizes do their utmost to attract these disciples. After all, those with single elemental spiritual roots would have difficulty entering Void Refinement Stage. Heavenly Spirit Roots are far more difficult to cultivate, but the Void Refinement cultivators they produce are hegemons and sect leaders. When those with Heavenly Spirit Roots breakthrough to Void Refinement, a majority of them will be cultivating techniques with two or more attributes. As for the problem with spiritual roots, that is easily solved. The humans in the Spirit Realm devised a method to use particular demon beast cores to substitute their lack of spiritual roots. This ‘Core Spiritual Root’ method is somewhat inferior to genuine spiritual roots, there should be no problem in cultivating techniques of other elements. Of course, the core spiritual root method can only be used with preexisting spiritual roots. Mortals cannot use them. In fact, there was a method in the past that used magic tools and treasures as a substitution for spiritual roots. However, this method is incredibly dangerous and slow, so this method is hardly being used. There are cultivators with anywhere from three or four elemental spirit roots that do manage to breakthrough to Void Refinement Stage, but they all possess incredible perseverance. They can’t be compared to ordinary cultivators, haha! The so-called minor heavenly tribulation is something that all cultivators above Core Formation stage much experience.
The boy briefly paused before continuing.
“In the lower realm, Nascent Soul and Deity Transformation cultivators experience a tribulation every three hundred years, thus earning the name ‘minor heavenly tribulation. At the middle realm, Void Refinement, Integration, and Grand Ascension level cultivators experience a grand tribulation every three years. As for cultivators in the very last stage that ascended to the true Immortal realm, they experience Immortal tribulation. Normally, if your cultivation no longer progresses, the following tribulation will be far more powerful than the last. Also, the increased abundance of spiritual Qi in the spirit realm leads to greater speeds in cultivation, but once one condenses a Nascent Soul, it is a race against time. Many famous cultivators die each year from tribulation. Fellow Daoist Han should think that you will have no problems past Void Refinement Stage. Although these cultivator techniques technically have a limitless lifespan provided enough worldly essence, their lives aren’t so peaceful or long. So long as you ascend to the spirit realm, death by heavenly tribulation is only a matter of time.” With that said, the boy’s face grew sullen and his eyes possessed deep fear.
Han Li wore a grave expression.
The boy didn’t speak much, but his words clearly illustrated that the spirit realm was no paradise. But when Han Li heard that Void Refinement Stage cultivators didn’t have a lifespan, Han Li was overjoyed.
Although he already read through a few records mentioning the limitless lifespan of a Void Refinement cultivator, he now possessed the full and certain truth.
From his tone, it appeared that a limitless lifespan can only be achieved after he ascended to the spirit realm. Even if he managed to achieve, Void Refinement in the mortal realm, the worldly essence is lacking, this limiting his lifespan. At the Deity Transformation stage, one is able to join with worldly essence. Their span won’t be limited by two thousand years once they entered the Spirit Realm. It was no wonder why these Deity Transformation eccentrics were so desperate to find a method to ascend.
As for the tribulations that he mentioned, Han Li was somewhat cautious of them, but he didn’t take them too much to heart.
The matter was a bit too far away from him for his consideration.
After Han Li asked a few more questions related to core spiritual roots and artifact spiritual roots, he eventually grew silent, his eyes twinkling in deep thought.
A short moment later, Han Li fiddled with the dark-green bottle in his hand and flicked off its cap.
Azure light flashed and the bottle rumbled before the cap shot off.
In the next moment, he found that there was absolutely nothing inside of it.
In his surprise, as he thought about what action to take next, a green light abruptly streaked out from the bottle and flew off.
Although Han Li was caught unprepared, he wasn’t about to allow it to escape. With a cold snort, he reached his hand out.
A large azure hand appeared above the green light and slipped down to grab it.
The escaping green light seemed to have already been weakened. Although it was fleeing with the utmost speed, the large hand easily grabbed it from the air.
Within the flickering green light, one could see the vague appearance of a female Nascent Soul.
Han Li couldn't help but stroke his chin at the sight.
He stared at the Nascent Soul and slowly asked, “Who is your esteemed self? Why has Six Paths trapped you inside the bottle?”
“Who are you? Where is that devil Six Paths?” Although the Nascent Soul was trapped, it replied boldly.
Facing a mere Nascent Soul, Han Li simply smiled and lazily replied, “If you’re thinking about seeing him, I fear you will be disappointed. I already sent him to the underworld.”
“What? You killed that old devil? How is that possible? Yi! You’re…” The Nascent Soul trembled and spoke with a tone of disbelief.
