This strange scent was primarily a spicy one, intermingled with an intoxicating fragrant aroma.
All of a sudden, Han Li flipped a hand over, and the purple wooden box brought to him by Bai Guo'er appeared in his hand.
Azure light flashed, and the lid of the box flew off on its own to reveal the dark green demon cores.
"With the poison from the demon cores of these Glacial Devilish Spiders, I should be able to master the final stage of the Chaotic Myriad Poison Body. If I can combine this with my 12 Awakening Transformations, my body will be virtually as indestructible as those of the legendary true spirits," Han Li murmured to himself in an excited manner.
He flicked his wrist, and the demon core cores within the wooden box all flew out before falling into the giant cauldron.
They then quickly dissolved and became a part of this mysterious liquid. After that, Han Li made a hand seal, and the silver flames down below rose up to envelop virtually the entire giant cauldron.
The liquid within the cauldron immediately began to bubble and churn even more violently, and Han Li's expression remained unchanged as he appraised the cauldron, but there was a very serious look in his eyes.
The recipe for this cauldron of liquid, which had been refined from over 100 types of extremely poisonous substances, was something that he had secured from the body refinement method that accompanied the Heavenmatch Bell he had obtained during the Black Realm Exchange Convention.
If Han Li wanted to cultivate the second stage of the Spirit Refinement Technique, then he had to improve his physical constitution, so he was naturally very interested in all body refinement methods.
The Heavenmatch Bell was largely useless to him, but the body refinement method that accompanied it was quite remarkable; that much had been made apparent to him by the sight of that body refinement warrior who had struck the bell during the demonstration in the exchange convention.
This was the main reason why he had decided to exchange for that Heavenmatch Bell. He didn't immediately study this foreign body refinement method during the course of the Myriad Treasure Convention, but he had studied it in great detail during his travels throughout the human regions and demon territories thereafter, and he was stunned and elated by what he had seen.
This Chaotic Myriad Poison Body was a body refinement method that had far exceeded his expectations.
It was split up into seven stages, and progressing up each stage allowed one to drastically enhance their physical body.
Upon mastering all seven stages, even a mortal human would possess a body as powerful as that of a high-grade demonic cultivator, and they would also be immune to all poisons. The only problem was that in order to cultivate this body refinement method, one had to bathe in a specially made pool of poison.
As one progressed up the stages, the toxicity of the poison used had to become more and more potent. Of course, this was an extremely dangerous endeavor, and according to the information enclosed in the cultivation art, the vast majority of people who attempted to cultivate it had perished.
On top of this, the cultivation art had been invented by foreign beings with bodies far more powerful than those of humans. As such, if a normal human were to try and use this cultivation art, their chances of survival would be extremely low.
The man who had struck the Heavenmatch Bell during the exchange convention was already an outstanding talent when it came to body refinement, but even he had only managed to master the first two stages and didn't dare to progress any further than that.
Of course, none of this was an issue for Han Li. His physical constitution and resistance had both reached a point that normal humans could only ever dream of, so there wasn't much danger involved in cultivating this Chaotic Myriad Poison Body for him.
On top of that, he had already begun to make use of the Crystal Moon Liquid he had received from Cai Liuying. Every once in a while, he would smear the liquid all over his body, then use a secret technique to absorb it in order to further enhance his own physical body.
As such, the possibility of him being struck by backlash from cultivating the Chaotic Myriad Poison Body was virtually negligible. Additionally, he had been drinking a small cup of Red Silk Immortal Wine once every few days for these past years, and much to his surprise and elation, this wine was also able to enhance his physical constitution.
However, its enhancement effect was different from that of the Chaotic Myriad Poison Body and the Crystal Moon Liquid. In contrast, the effect was extremely minute, but it could steadily improve his physical constitution over a long period of time.
If he didn't drink the wine for a long period of time, the effect would be virtually unnoticeable, but if he were to persist, then he would benefit immensely over the long run.
As such, Han Li naturally became more confident in his chances of reaching the late-Body Integration Stage.
Once he returned from his travels, he immediately began to search for all types of poisonous items and substances. The first few stages of the Chaotic Myriad Poison Body were quite easy to cultivate, and normal poisonous ingredients sufficed. However, the poisonous ingredients required for the final three stages were extremely difficult to find in the human regions, so he had no choice but to rely on Qin Su'er.
After spending over 100 years, he had finally cultivated the Chaotic Myriad Poison Body to the sixth stage, and on this day, he had gathered all of the ingredients required to cultivate the seventh and final stage.
The final ingredient, which were the demon cores of the Glacial Devilish Spider, were extremely rare even in the demon race, and it took Qin Su'er several decades to find them.
Of course, Han Li had also been constantly cultivating his Provenance True Devil Arts and magic power during these past years.
Through some experimenting, he discovered that the green liquid within the mysterious small vial was effective on Corrosive Poisonweed, and he had successfully germinated some seeds from the spirit medicines he had brought back from the Vast Glacial Realm. With those ingredients, he was able to refine several types of pills that could enhance even the magic power of Body Integration cultivators.
Han Li had expended a vast amount of time and effort to gather both the recipes and ingredients for these pills, and if any of these pills were to be taken to the outside world, countless Body Integration cultivators would wage war over them.
After all, there were very few types of pills in the human and demon races that could enhance the magic power of a Body Integration cultivator, and the production quantity of these pills was downright pitiful.
Even if some Body Integration cultivators were to come into possession of such pills, they would save the pills for when they attempted breakthroughs as they were far too precious to be consumed on a normal basis.
However, with his mysterious small vial, Han Li was able to take one of these pills every few days. If other Body Integration cultivators were to learn of his outrageous pill-consumption schedule, they'd most likely die of envy!
As such, Han Li was able to improve his magic power at a rate that was seven to eight times as fast as that of normal Body Integration cultivators.
As a result, he had already made drastic improvements after just 200 years of cultivation. If he could master the final stage of the Chaotic Myriad Poison Body, he was confident that he would be able to progress to the mid-Body Integration Stage after around 100 more years of cultivation.
With his immensely powerful physical body and spiritual sense, as well as his virtually endless supply of pills, his chances of breaking through this bottleneck were relatively high, even though it was virtually insurmountable to many of his peers.
All of a sudden, azure light flashed from Han Li's body, and he slowly rose up into the air, still in a seated position with his legs crossed. He levitated through the air until he arrived directly above the giant cauldron, following which all of his clothes were stripped away amid a flash of azure light, and he plunged directly into the cauldron down below.
The vibrant colorful poisonous liquid immediately inundated his entire body with the exception of his head, and a clear cry suddenly rang out from the silver flames outside the cauldron. Several silver Fire Ravens took shape within the flames, each of which was around a foot in size, and they flapped their wings as they flew around the cauldron while blasting constant streams of silver flames out of their beaks.
The liquid within the cauldron immediately began to heat up dramatically, and clouds of five-colored poisonous mist permeated throughout the entire room.
It was impossible to see Han Li through the mist, and only a series of crackles and pops could occasionally be heard coming from within it.
Time slowly passed by, and the restrictions around the site that Han Li was cultivating at remained undisturbed.
This place was completely silent and deserted, aside from the occasions where Han Li's three disciples came to check on the restrictions.
Several years later, Qi Lingzi successfully manifested a Nascent Soul and became a high-grade guard of Deep Heaven City.
After several decades of arduous cultivation, Bai Guo'er also finally reached the late-Core Formation Stage. However, in order to find a catalyst that would allow her to manifest a Nascent Soul, she embarked on a lonesome trip through the human regions after bidding farewell to Han Li in front of the sea of five-colored mist.
As for Hai Yuetian, he had also reached the mid-Core Formation Stage, and following Bai Guo'er's departure, he became the disciple that most frequently visited the site where Han Li was cultivating.
Thus, 120 years flew by. On this day, Hai Yuetian was flying through the air in a translucent canoe several tens of kilometers away from Han Li's cave abode. All of a sudden, his expression changed slightly, and he immediately made a hand seal to bring the canoe to a sudden halt.
He then cast his gaze into the distance in a bewildered manner, and was greeted by the sight of a pillar of five-colored wind.
The pillar of wind was around 10,000 feet tall, and there were countless arcs of lightning flashing around it while bursts of rumbling rang out incessantly.
The pillar of wind was situated right on top of Han Li's cave abode, and upon discovering this, a hint of elation appeared on Hai Yuetian's face as he murmured to himself, "Could it be that Master is about to make a breakthrough?"
The phenomena in the distance lingered for close to half a day before finally dissipating, and everything returned to normal.
Hai Yuetian immediately spurred on his canoe to fly toward Han Li's cave abode upon seeing this, and not long after that, he arrived in front of the azure stone gate before making a quick descent.
Hai Yuetian hurriedly strode into the hall within the cave abode, and was greeted by the sight of a man and woman sitting across from one another. The elation on his face immediately grew more pronounced as he exclaimed, "Master! You really did come out of seclusion! Are you the one who triggered that phenomenon as well? Congratulations on making your breakthrough!"
The man was naturally none other than Han Li, who had just emerged from seclusion, and the woman beside him was the Ice Phoenix who had also been cultivating for many years within the cave abode.
"Long time no see, Yuetian; the phenomenon was indeed triggered by my breakthrough to the mid-Body Integration Stage. Thankfully, Fairy Phoenix was present to activate the cave abode's restrictions, which severely limited the phenomenon created by the influx of the world's origin Qi. Otherwise, we could've attracted a lot of attention," Han Li replied with a smile.
