"This place really is about to collapse! Looks like that person wasn't lying!" Bao Hua's expression immediately darkened upon seeing this.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he quickly cast his gaze toward the spot where the Stemborer Queen had just been killed, then suddenly made a grabbing motion.
Spatial fluctuations erupted in that direction, and a thumb-sized black bead emerged out of thin air before flying into Han Li's grasp.
"Is that…" Bao Hua faltered slightly, and was just about to say something, then the entire abyss began to collapse.
Countless white spatial rifts rapidly appeared in the surrounding area, and they were expanding at a rate that was discernible to the naked eye.
Bao Hua's expression changed drastically as she summoned her Treasured Phoenix Spirit Plate, but just as it began to glow with crimson light, a burst of peculiar energy fluctuations swept forth, and the formation plate immediately dimmed once again.
"Looks like that person really has made it impossible for us to leave this place," Bao Hua said with a dark expression.
"That's only to be expected; it seems that he was determined to keep us here from the very beginning," Han Li replied in a calm manner.
Bao Hua gave a cold harrumph and was just about to say something when grey light converged toward them from all sides, and a blurry light formation descended upon them.
Han Li and Bao Hua's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, but neither of them tried to resist or evade.
The light formation flashed, and both of them instantly vanished on the spot.
Almost at the exact same moment, the entire abyss completely collapsed amid an earth-shattering boom.
After returning to his senses, Han Li discovered that he was standing in front of a crimson altar that was over 100 feet tall.
Directly beside him stood Bao Hua, who immediately began to inspect their surroundings with a grim expression.
On the altar sat an inky-black bowl, which was surrounded by eight massive copper pillars, upon each of which was an antiquated crimson lamp.
"This seems to be an extremely profound ancient restriction that has the same function as the ancient seal," Bao Hua murmured as a flash of recognition appeared in her eyes.
"I didn't think that someone from a lower realm would recognize this Eight Origins Soul Locking Formation. You're right, this formation is indeed closely related to the seal that had trapped the Stemborer Queen. In fact, it wouldn't be incorrect to say that this is a miniature version of that seal." The familiar male voice rang out again.
Han Li and Bao Hua immediately focused their eyes on the black bowl on the altar, which was where the male voice was coming from.
"You're far too kind, Senior; I was only able to notice the similarities as I had once guarded the seal for an extended period of time. In terms of mastery in the art of formations, Fellow Daoist Han is far superior," Bao Hua said with a slightly forced smile.
"I see that your race hasn't forgotten my instructions and has been doing its best to maintain this seal over all these years; I'm quite pleased with your efforts," the man said.
"So you really are one of the true immortals that sealed the Stemborer Queen!" Bao Hua had already guessed this to be true, but she was still stunned upon hearing confirmation of her suspicions.
"Hehe, I also didn't think that I would remain in this lower realm for so long and be reduced to such a sorry state. You made quite a significant contribution to eradicating this Stemborer Queen, so here is a reward for your efforts," the male voice chuckled as the lid of the bowl rose up, and an object flew out from within.
An elated look appeared on Bao Hua's face upon hearing this, and she immediately caught the object before focusing her gaze on it, upon which she discovered that this was an ordinary-looking yellow wooden hairpin with a coarse surface that was even lined with several cracks.
However, as soon as she caught the hairpin, a burst of cool energy instantly surged into her body, flowing through all of her meridians and striking her entire body with an indescribably warm and comfortable sensation.
"This is Golden Yang Wood! Thank you for the precious gift, Senior!" Bao Hua's eyes widened as she immediately extended a deep bow toward the bowl, and even her voice was beginning to tremble slightly.
"This Golden Yang Wood isn't all that precious in the True Immortal Realm, but it's perfect for your current situation. With the nourishment from that hairpin, all of your chronic injuries will be completely healed. Alright, I'll send you out of here now," the man said in a calm voice. Bao Hua faltered slightly upon hearing this, yet before she had a chance to react, a burst of black light flashed from the surface of the bowl, and a small light formation emerged beneath Bao Hu's feet, instantly teleporting her away.
Thus, Han Li was the only one left standing in front of the altar.
His eyes narrowed slightly, but he remained silent as he appraised the black bowl from afar.
"You're quite a brave man; aren't you afraid that I'll turn on you now that you're alone?" the man chuckled.
"If you truly harbored any ill will toward me, then you wouldn't have helped me kill the Stemborer Queen, nor teleported me to this place," Han Li replied with a calm smile.
"You're not completely right, but you're indeed correct to say that I bear no ill will toward you. I teleported both of you here so you wouldn't perish in that collapsing space, but in reality, I only wanted to see you. Let me ask you this: have you cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique?" the man asked.
Han Li's heart jolted slightly upon hearing this, and he asked, "Did you find this out after hearing what the Stemborer Queen said before it perished?"
"There's no need to be so suspicious; I already detected that you had cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique through the formation here as soon as you entered the underground palace. Do you know what my occupation was back in the True Immortal Realm? I was a patrolling envoy. In the presence of an immortal patrolling envoy, there's no way that anyone can disguise the special spiritual sense fluctuations from cultivating the Spirit Refinement Technique," the man said in a nonchalant manner.
Han Li's expression changed slightly upon hearing this. "Why are the patrolling envoys of the True Immortal Realm so fixated on who's cultivating this technique?"
"I really don't know whether you're immensely fortunate or extremely unlucky to have been able to master this Spirit Refinement Technique up to the second stage. The Spirit Refinement Technique is a restricted technique among all of our immortal regions, and even though there aren't specific laws prohibiting it, all those discovered by major powers to have cultivated this secret technique will be hunted down and killed no matter the cost," the man said in a cold voice.
Han Li's expression darkened slightly upon hearing this, and he asked, "Why is that? Is there something wrong with the Spirit Refinement Technique?"
"Hehe, do you know how many immortal regions there are in the True Immortal Realm? Even discounting all of the secluded and insignificant ones, there are thousands upon thousands of immortal realms. The Spirit Refinement Technique had been invented tens of millions of years ago, and due to its extraordinary spiritual sense enhancement effects, countless people cultivated the technique. However, not long after that, barely anyone in all of the immortal regions dared to cultivate this technique, and those who did were almost constantly in seclusion," the man sighed.
Han Li was very intrigued to hear the reasons behind this, but he didn't ask any questions as he knew that the man would provide an explanation in due time.
Sure enough, after a brief pause, the man continued, "The reason for this is that all those who cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique ended up going insane and perished as they couldn't repress their inner demons. In this insane state, they lose all sense of reason and become extremely bloodthirsty, and the condition is irreversible, creating a disaster that almost destroyed half of the entire True Immortal Realm. Of course, there's no lack of immortals who couldn't resist the temptation and cultivated the technique in secret, but all of them were apprehended with no exceptions upon being discovered by patrolling envoys like me."
"Even true immortals are unable to perfect this secret technique? Has there really been no one that's managed to break the mold and completely master this technique?" Han Li asked with a grim expression.
"At its core, the Spirit Refinement Technique is a technique that stimulates the latent potential of one's spiritual sense to drastically enhance it. The one who invented it was an extremely renowned figure in our True Immortal Realm, and it's certainly no easy task for others to try and perfect it. There have been several other spiritual sense secret techniques invented with the Spirit Refinement Technique as reference, and they're all a lot safer than the Spirit Refinement Technique, but they obviously work nowhere near as effectively.
"As for whether anyone has ever fully mastered this secret technique, there has, and there's been more than one. However, all of them encountered some miraculous opportunities. Otherwise, their ultimate fates wouldn't have been any different," the man said in a solemn voice.
"So that means those who unintentionally cultivate the Spirit Refinement Technique in the True Immortal Realm will either have to go into hiding or disable this ability altogether," Han Li murmured to himself with furrowed brows.
