"Devil Refining Herb!" Bao Hua and Yuan Yan exclaimed in unison at the sight of this new spirit medicine, and the latter immediately sprang forward, instantly vanishing on the spot.
In the next instant, a burst of black light flashed before Han Li, and Sacred Ancestor Yuan Yan reappeared amid a gust of fierce winds before reaching out toward the spirit medicine like lightning.
His face was currently slightly twisted, and he was staring intently at the silver spirit herb with bloodshot eyes, as if he had become completely fixated on it.
Han Li's expression darkened upon seeing this, and he immediately swept a sleeve through the air, upon which the chunk of five-colored glacial ice vanished in a flash. Immediately thereafter, he let loose an enraged roar as he launched a golden-scaled fist through the air.
A resounding boom akin to an explosive thunderclap rang out, and golden and black light intertwined as powerful shockwaves erupted in all directions.
The entire sky tremored violently, and countless thin white rifts appeared in the nearby space before quickly fading again.
At the epicenter of the explosion, two humanoid figures flew back in opposite directions, and only after shooting back several hundred feet did they both manage to steady themselves.
It seemed that Han Li and Sacred Ancestor Yuan Yan had been evenly matched during that clash.
Han Li turned toward the black-robed young man with a frosty expression, and yelled, "Are you planning to take my spirit medicine by force? If so, I'd be more than happy to take you on!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, a golden devilish head appeared on one of his shoulders amid a flash of golden light, and a golden-scaled devilish arm also emerged on either side of his body.
Having attained two heads and four arms, Han Li clenched his four fists at once, and a terrifying aura that was several times more powerful than what he had previously possessed erupted from his body.
"Second Nirvana Transformation! So you really have cultivated the Holy Nirvana Physique to a higher level!" Bao Hua murmured to herself as a hint of surprise flashed through her eyes.
As for Sacred Ancestor Yuan Yan, a wary look had appeared on his face at the sight of the new form that Han Li had adopted.
However, the Devil Refining Herb was clearly extremely important to him, and he took a deep breath before announcing, "That Devil Refining Herb has no use to you; if you're willing to hand it over to me, I'll immediately leave this place, and I won't interfere with this matter any longer."
"Devil Refining Herb? That's the first time I've heard this name. Would you be able to introduce it to me?" Han Li asked in a cold voice.
"Just like the Heavenvoice Lightning Core, the Devil Refining Herb is a spirit medicine that should only exist in the upper realm. As for its effect, just as Fellow Daoist Yuan Yan said, it's only useful to devilish beings like us. However, due to certain reasons, this herb is far more important to Fellow Daoist Yuan Yan than it is to me. It's a vital factor behind whether Fellow Daoist Yuan Yan will be able to take that final step in the future. He's been attempting to nurture a Devil Refining Herb for many years using several other types of similar spirit medicines, but he's still yet to…"
"That's enough, Bao Hua!" A furious look appeared on the black-robed young man's face as he cut off Bao Hua before she could elaborate any further.
Bao Hua merely glanced at him with a faint smile before falling silent.
"I see." A contemplative look appeared on Han Li's face.
"Seeing as Bao Hua has already revealed everything to you, I'll admit it; this Devil Refining Herb is something that I'm determined to obtain. If you're unwilling to give it to me, I'm going to keep you here for the rest of eternity even if I have to sacrifice my main soul to do so," the black-robed young man said with a fierce expression.
"Seeing as it has no use to me, I'm certainly willing to hand it over, but don't you think it's far too naive of you to expect me to hand it over free of charge?" Han Li asked in an indifferent manner.
The black-robed young man was ecstatic to hear this. "I'm willing to give you anything in exchange for that herb. I may be a devilish patriarch, but I have many treasures that are definitely extremely sought after by human cultivators like you."
After witnessing Han Li's Second Nirvana Transformation, he wasn't confident in his ability to capture Han Li by force, so he was switching to a more gentle approach.
"Hehe, we'll discuss this later; I still haven't completed my exchange with Senior Bao Hua yet," Han Li chuckled in an ambiguous manner.
Sacred Ancestor Yuan Yan hesitated momentarily before nodding in response. "Alright, I'll wait for you to take care of this matter first."
"Senior Bao Hua, I'm afraid I do not have many more spirit medicines to show you. If I don't possess the spirit medicine you're searching for, then there's nothing I can do," Han Li said as he turned toward Bao Hua.
"Bring out what you have; we'll take things one step at a time," Bao Hua replied in a calm manner.
Han Li didn't waste anymore time with words and swept a sleeve through the air to release a blue jade vial amid a flash of blue light.
He tossed the vial forward, then rapidly flicked his fingers toward it in succession, sending a string of incantation seals vanishing into the vial in a flash.
The jade vial tremored, and a burst of rich water-attribute spiritual Qi erupted out of its opening, following which a white spirit spring emerged.
The spring was quite small, but at its center sat a fist-sized silver lotus seed pod, and a silver lotus root that was around as thick as an infant's arm.
The seed pod was attached to the lotus root by a thin shimmering silver stem that had an extremely smooth surface, and it gave off a pristine sense of surrealism.
After releasing the contents of the vial, Han Li cast his gaze toward Bao Hua to find that her composed expression had been completely replaced by one of elation.
Even though she hadn't said anything, her reaction told the entire story.
He then cast his gaze toward the Sacred Ancestor Yuan Yan to find that the latter was appraising the silver seed pod and lotus root with a perplexed expression, clearly unfamiliar with what they were.
Thus, Han Li turned back to Bao Hua, and said, "Looks like this is what you're searching for. Would you be able to enlighten me by telling me its name?"
Bao Hua finally shifted her gaze away from the silver lotus seed pod before turning to Han Li. "What's the point in asking questions if you don't even know its name? As I suspected, you really do have the spirit medicine that I want. Having said that, it doesn't appear that you're going to just hand it over to me."
"These spirit medicines are most likely all from the True Immortal Realm, and even though I don't know what they are, I'm sure you won't be able to find any replicas in the Spirit Realm and Elder Devil Realm. If you were in my place, would you be willing to hand one over so easily? Besides, I only said that I would show you the spirit medicines I have; I never promised to give one to you," Han Li replied in a calm manner.
Bao Hua wasn't surprised in the slightest to hear this, and she said with a confident smile, "Alright, what conditions do you have? I possess some treasures and cultivation arts that I've obtained from some old geezers from the Spirit Realm; I also possess some true spirit bloods and pills that are extremely useful to Body Integration cultivators. Unfortunately, the cultivation arts we're using are different, so the experiences and insights I derived from my breakthrough to the Grand Ascension Stage wouldn't be of much use to you, but I would certainly be willing to give them to you."
"There are true spirit bloods in your possession?" Han Li wasn't interested in the other items that she had listed, but this one immediately caught his attention.
"That's right. I've encountered some true spirits in the past, and I've managed to obtain some true spirit bloods from them. I can see that you're only able to forcibly unleash your Holy Nirvana Physique by drawing upon the power of several types of true spirit bloodlines, so I'm sure true spirit bloods will be extremely useful to you," Bao Hua said with a smile.
"I do indeed need true spirit bloods, but not all types of true spirit blood will be useful to me. Please tell me what types of true spirit blood you have in your possession," Han Li said in a calm manner.
"Sure, I possess the true spirit bloods of the Black Phoenix, the Six-winged Bone Dove…" Thus, Bao Hua began to rattle off a list of true spirits.
Han Li listened intently to her list before shaking his head without any hesitation. "I'm afraid none of those will be useful to me. Do you have any other types of true spirit blood?"
Bao Hua's smile stiffened slightly upon hearing this, and she shook her head in response. "I have some Heavenly Phoenix True Blood, but you already possess that, so I assume it won't be of any interest to you. As for everything else, I've already used them up. How about you take a look at the pills in my collection instead?"
"There's no need for that. I ventured into the Elder Devil Realm solely for the Spirit Cleansing Pond and Clean Spirit Lotus. As long as you allow me to access those two things, I'll hand over this spirit medicine to you."
