This flying sword was a treasure that Han Li had obtained from one of the devilish lords he had slain in the Spirit Realm.
The blue-skinned devilish being accepted the flying sword before sweeping his spiritual sense over it, upon which an elated look immediately appeared on his face. "Thank you, Senior! I exchanged for this piece of Foreign Devilish Metal from someone else, and it seemed to have changed hands several times already before that, so I'm afraid I don't know where it originally came from."
He had been asking for too lofty a price when he had requested a top-grade devilish treasure from that Bird Hoof being, so he was naturally ecstatic that he had actually obtained what he had asked for.
For a Deity Transformation Stage being like him, a top-grade treasure was very difficult to come by.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he said, "I see. In any case, this piece of Foreign Devilish Metal should be enough for me anyway."
After that, he turned to leave. The blue-skinned devil had intended to try and curry some favor with Han Li, but he didn't dare to say anything further and could only make a respectful farewell gesture.
After finding that piece of Foreign Devilish Metal, Han Li naturally no longer had any intention of leaving right away.
During the next four hours, he carefully examined everything on the remaining stalls on this street, and he really did manage to find two types of spirit medicines that couldn't be found in the Spirit Realm, with which he could refine a type of pill that could calm his heart and mind.
When consumed while cultivating an ability, the pill could slightly improve the rate of progress made during cultivation, so in the long term, it would be very useful to him.
Han Li already possessed the recipe for the pill, and the only thing that was stopping him from refining it were those two types of spirit medicines that were extinct in the Spirit Realm.
After that, Han Li left the street and went to some nearby large shops in high spirits.
Unfortunately, almost all of the items sold in these shops were meant for devilish beings, and he didn't discover anything else of value.
At this point, it was already getting rather late, and the number of people on the streets was beginning to dwindle, while the shops were closing one after another for the night.
Han Li rented an independent secret chamber at an inn and stayed there for now.
He set up several layers of restrictions in the secret chamber, and only then did he bring out that piece of Foreign Devilish Metal before appraising it in silence.
The piece of metal was gleaming with a metallic light, but its surface was extremely bumpy and uneven.
Strangely enough, not only was this object releasing dense devilish Qi, the devilish Qi was also interspersed with wisps of spiritual Qi.
This was a rare material that contained both spiritual Qi and devilish Qi.
However, Han Li hadn't just bought this piece of metal for that alone. After appraising it in silence for a long while, he suddenly tossed it forward, and it hovered in mid-air before him as he swept a finger toward it.
A streak of azure light shot forth in a flash, and the piece of metal was instantly sliced in half, upon which a pea-sized object fell out.
Han Li made a grabbing motion to draw the object into his grasp, and it was revealed to be a grey crystalline bead.
"So there really was something hiding in here; I'll need to examine it further to see if it's going to be useful to me," Han Li murmured to himself with a smile before injecting his spiritual sense into the bead.
However, in the next instant, his expression suddenly changed drastically, and he immediately hurled the crystalline bead away.
A rumbling boom akin to a dull thunderclap suddenly erupted from the bead, and it began to release a fearsome aura. At the same time, a thick pillar of grey light surged out of the bead before striking the restrictions set up on the ceiling like lightning.
Several layers of light barriers were torn apart without being able to offer up any resistance, and only after striking the final restriction was the pillar of light briefly stopped in its tracks.
During this split-second delay, Han Li rushed into the air above the pillar of light with a dark expression before pressing a palm downward.
A giant radiant golden hand immediately appeared, and the pillar of light was completely halted.
However, Han Li's expression didn't ease in the slightest upon seeing this. His fingers were trembling slightly, and his arm was slowly being forced back by the grey pillar of light.
A surprised look appeared on Han Li's face in response to this development, following which he gave a cold harrumph, and his arm suddenly became a lot thicker amid a flash of golden light. His sleeve was instantly torn apart, revealing a layer of shimmering golden scales, and he slowly closed his fingers.
A burst of enormous restrictive power immediately appeared around the grey pillar of light, crushing it into a ball of light that was several feet in diameter before being drawn into the giant golden hand's grasp in a flash.
Immediately thereafter, Han Li chanted something and flicked a series of incantation seals toward the giant golden hand with his 10 fingers.
The golden hand blurred before transforming into a series of golden runes that enveloped the grey ball of light.
The ball of light was originally in a very unstable state and looked as if it could explode at any moment, but it instantly dimmed and fell still.
Only then did Han Li's expression ease slightly, and he descended back down onto the ground before waving a hand to draw the ball of light into his grasp.
The power imbued within the ball of light was truly quite formidable; even Han Li wasn't able to completely repress it without using his Provenance True Devil Arts. However, under the restriction that Han Li had unleashed, it had become very still and calm, in stark contrast with the fearsome power it had just displayed.
Han Li appraised the ball of light in silence with tightly furrowed brows.
He had been slightly surprised by the power of the ball of light, but what he was most interested in was the type of energy that had formed this object.
Han Li had forcibly purchased this piece of Foreign Devilish Metal not just because he had seen something within the piece of metal using his spirit eyes, but also because he had been struck by an extremely profound feeling in his spiritual sense.
This was definitely an extremely valuable item, and it seemed to be very important to him as well.
At his current cultivation base, Han Li naturally took these spiritual signals very seriously. These signals very rarely appeared, and they weren't guaranteed to always be correct, but they certainly couldn't be ignored.
Even though Han Li had only briefly inspected the bead with his spiritual sense before withdrawing it in alarm, he still did manage to sense some things. However, if he wanted to be able to derive some useful information, then further examination was required.
However, the energy that the ball of light was formed by was very special, and it seemed that normal spiritual sense would immediately become extremely violent upon coming into contact with it. Thus, things were made a lot more problematic.
All of a sudden, Han Li took a deep breath as a solemn look appeared on his face. At the same time, he activated both his Great Development Technique and Spirit Refinement Technique, upon which his spiritual sense swelled drastically.
Immediately thereafter, blue light flashed within his eyes, and a series of almost transparent threads of light shot forth out of his glabella, then vanished into the ball of light in a flash.
Those were substantial manifestations of his spiritual sense, and there were over 100 of them, clearly indicating that Han Li's spiritual sense had reached an incredibly fearsome level.
In the instant that these threads vanished into the ball of light, it shuddered slightly and began to display signs of instability again.
Han Li immediately injected more magic power into the golden runes surrounding the ball of light upon seeing this, and they formed a golden net that converged violently amid a flash of golden light.
As a result, the ball of light instantly settled down again.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh of relief, then closed his eyes as he began to carefully examine the ball of light.
Moments later, a dumbstruck look appeared on his face, only to be immediately replaced by an expression of ecstasy. However, this elated expression only lingered for a brief moment before it was replaced by a befuddled and hesitant one.
Han Li made a hand seal, and all of the translucent threads were instantly withdrawn. After that, he slowly opened his eyes, but his brows were tightly furrowed.
"It's incredible to think that there's something in this world that can completely fuse devilish Qi and spiritual Qi. This is perfect for my Provenance True Devil Arts! I should be able to easily convert it into magic power for myself without even having to refine it. Could it really be that simple? I don't recall ever seeing any records of something like this, either," Han Li murmured to himself in a hesitant manner.
"So be it, I'll give it a try first."
Han Li soon made his decision, and he began to chant something while making a series of hand seals, then suddenly extended a finger toward the ball of light.
The bumpy surface of the ball of light immediately began to transform, and in the end, an egg-sized section was extracted amid a flash of light.
Before this extracted section could explode, Han Li's chanting abruptly ceased, and his hand shot forth like lightning to grab onto it, following which he immediately unleashed his Provenance True Devil Arts.
A golden projection that was around 10 feet tall appeared behind him, and it gradually became clearer.
At the same time, the grey ball of light in his grasp began to shrink at a rate that was discernible to the naked eye, and it completely vanished after the span of just a few breaths.
"As expected, the true essence within my body has been slightly enhanced. If It were to absorb this entire thing, the enhancements would be phenomenal!" An elated and excited look appeared in Han Li's eyes.
"What exactly is this thing? It clearly has no impurities whatsoever, so how did so many impurities appear following the conversion process?" Han Li murmured to himself as he extended a finger, and a wisp of barely visible green Qi surged out of his fingertip.
