Chapter 125: Condensing the Incarnation

Han Li looked at the Condensed Sea Crystal that showed no signs of melting, revealing no surprise; instead, his heart grew more expectant.

He muttered incantations and suddenly waved his arms.

A continuous series of "puffing" sounds rang out as dozens of formation flags shot out from his body, scattering in an orderly manner around the great formation, then vanishing in a flash.

The next moment, clusters of dazzling flames emerged from all directions and burst apart, causing the red light of the great formation to intensify severalfold. Countless red runes flew out, turning into torrents of red that merged into the earth fire.

As a scorching aura surged from below, the surrounding temperature rose again, and the originally pale golden earth fire completely turned golden.

Enveloped by the golden earth fire, the outermost layer of pale blue watery light on the Condensed Sea Crystal finally began to slow its flow and gradually faded at a visible rate.

After an unknown amount of time, the surface of the crystal, which resembled a mass of clear water, gradually became hazy and began to melt.

Seeing this, Han Li breathed a sigh of relief and quickened his hand seals.

As time passed, the Condensed Sea Crystal slowly transformed, appearing to shrink in size and taking on the shape of a heart.

It still looked crystal clear, with a surface radiating dazzling blue light.

Han Li pondered for a moment, then with one hand he tossed over the sphere formed from the fusion of other materials, while his other hand cast a spell seal.

Hum!

Another blue water-attribute formation on the ground activated, emitting a brilliant light that condensed into a massive blue Eight Trigrams pattern, humming as it operated.

Rumble!

Seawater within hundreds of li churned and surged, with countless large and small whirlpools appearing on the surface, colliding with each other and producing dull roars.

Threads of blue light, barely visible to the naked eye, emerged from the seawater and converged toward Han Li's location.

An extremely dense fluctuation of water elemental power emanated from these blue lights.

Han Li formed hand seals with both hands, and countless blue lights flew toward him, merging into the blue sphere in an orderly manner as he moved.

The blue sphere immediately emitted a sizzling sound, with bumps occasionally appearing on its surface, but they quickly disappeared.

The sphere slowly elongated, gradually taking the shape of a blue humanoid, though its limbs had not fully grown, and its face was completely smooth.

Han Li's expression was solemn as he rapidly chanted incantations, sending out spell seals from his hands.

The blue humanoid slowly transformed; its limbs finally grew out completely, fully taking human form, and facial features emerged, bearing a seventy to eighty percent resemblance to Han Li himself.

Han Li suddenly let out a soft cry, and a beam of green light shot from his hand, enveloping the nearby Condensed Sea Crystal, pulling it slowly into the heart of the blue humanoid.

Boom!

A dazzling blue light surged upward from the blue humanoid, unhindered even by the surrounding earth fire.

At the same time, blue lines emerged from its heart, spreading rapidly throughout its body like veins and blood vessels.

As more and more blue light converged from the surroundings and merged into the humanoid's body, its liquid form quickly transformed, soon solidifying.

Before long, a blue man appeared in midair.

Seeing this, a hint of joy finally flickered across Han Li's brow.

Thus, the preliminary shaping of the Earth Deity Incarnation was complete, and the process had gone quite smoothly.

This was also thanks to the incomplete incarnations of Luomeng and Jiao Ba, which he had previously studied and pondered, allowing everything to proceed so smoothly.

However, the Earth Deity Incarnation was only initially refined; to fully stabilize it, it needed to be further tempered by the earth fire.

He took a deep breath and began forming hand seals again.

The earth fire surged, enveloping the Earth Deity Incarnation into a fireball, quietly tempering it.

Time passed little by little, and in the blink of an eye, forty-nine days had gone by.

Han Li suddenly opened his eyes, formed a hand seal, and waved.

The flames on the surface of the massive fireball scattered with a roar, revealing the Earth Deity Incarnation inside.

The incarnation had shrunk somewhat compared to before, but was more condensed, emitting a watery blue light throughout its body—a sign of complete forging. Yet it still appeared as an empty shell, devoid of any spirituality.

The next step was the final stage of refining the Earth Deity Incarnation: endowing it with intelligence.

Thinking this, Han Li looked around, and after a while, he flipped his hand to produce a bloody object that seemed to be the heart of some demon beast, placing it on the ground beside him.

A strong bloody odor, mixed with a strange fragrance, emanated from the heart.

On the seabed several thousand li from Han Li's location, at the bottom of a trench, there was a pitch-black large hole with smooth edges, seemingly the lair of some sea demon beast.

With a loud crash!

The seawater churned violently as a massive black shadow shot out from within—a giant fish demon several tens of zhang long.

This demon was pure white like jade, but on its head was a human face, with two rows of dense, snow-white fangs, looking quite ferocious.

The fish demon sniffed vigorously, its face showing an excited expression. With a flick of its tail, its body turned into a white streak, shooting swiftly into the distance.

At the speed of the white fish demon, it traveled several thousand li in a short time, then suddenly stopped.

More than ten li ahead, a faint blue glow could be seen flickering, and from that direction came an enticing scent—the smell of its favorite Luosha beast.

But standing within the blue light was a young human. Though his aura was weak, the fish demon keenly sensed that he was not to be trifled with, and it hesitated.

That young man was naturally Han Li. He did not raise his head, but a faint smile curled at the corners of his mouth. Then, with a flicker of his form, he vanished from where he stood.

The next moment, with a splash of seawater beside the white fish demon, Han Li's figure materialized out of thin air. One arm shot out, his fingers forming claws as he grabbed at the fish demon.

A terrifying force surged forth, and the surrounding seawater exploded with a roar, bursting outward on both sides, leaving a vacuum in its wake.

The white fish demon was greatly alarmed. Blue light blazed from its entire body as it swung both front claws.

The nearby seawater churned violently, and a massive water column shot forth, hurtling toward Han Li.

The water column was filled with blue light, shimmering with rings of ripples, and emitted a continuous rumbling like muffled thunder. It was unclear what kind of divine ability this was.

The two forces collided with a thunderous roar.

The blue water column suddenly exploded, and countless bright blue arcs of electricity materialized, striking toward Han Li.

These blue arcs were not true lightning but water thunder, whose power was no less and even greater than real lightning.

Han Li gave a cold snort. Instead of dodging, he shot straight toward the fish demon.

Rumble!

The blue arcs struck his body, but they immediately shattered and dissipated, unable to cause any harm to his physique.

Seeing this, the white fish demon was clearly terrified.

At that moment, Han Li's form flickered, and like a ghost, he appeared behind the fish demon, giving it no time to react. He punched its head.

Bang!

The fish demon's head exploded instantly, sending red and white matter splattering in all directions, instantly staining the surrounding sea red.

A ball of blue light shot out from the blood-red sea, fleeing into the distance at great speed.

Before the blue light could escape far, a figure flickered ahead, and a figure in a green robe materialized out of thin air. With a large hand, he grabbed the blue light, which was none other than the white fish demon's essence soul.

The essence soul struggled desperately, but could not break free in the slightest.

After glancing at the essence soul in his hand, Han Li's form flickered, and he returned to the blue formation.

This fish demon was called the Luofu demon, a type of water demon quite rare in the outside world.

The final step in refining the Earthly Deity Incarnation—awakening its intelligence—required slaying such a demon on the spot and using its essence soul as a catalyst.

Han Li had spent considerable time searching painstakingly and had finally found one near this location. He had chosen this place for the ritual not only because of the underground volcano here but also for this reason.

He sat down cross-legged and waved his hand to cast a spell seal. The Earthly Deity Incarnation opposite him also sat down cross-legged facing him.

He opened his mouth and spat out a stream of green light, which enveloped the blue essence soul in his hand and landed it on top of the Earthly Deity Incarnation's head. At the same time, his hands moved like wheels, forming hand seals.

Crystalline light flickered at his brow, growing brighter and brighter, gradually obscuring his face behind it, making it look somewhat blurry.

Fine beads of sweat slowly dripped from his forehead. This spellcasting was not entirely certain even for him, and he could not afford the slightest carelessness.

"Nuò!" After forming seals for a long time, he suddenly opened his eyes.

Two piercing crystalline rays shot from his eyes, like cold lightning in the dark night, startling to behold.

Han Li continued forming seals, and a tiny green light flew out from his brow—a small green figure, which was a small portion of his soul.

To bestow intelligence upon the Earthly Deity Incarnation, one had to split off part of one's soul and have it reside within the incarnation, just like refining an external incarnation, in order to control it freely.

The small green figure flashed and vanished into the blue essence soul atop the Earthly Deity Incarnation's head. It immediately emitted a large amount of green light, enveloping the blue essence soul, seemingly attempting to assimilate it.

The blue essence soul immediately counterattacked, opening its mouth wide to bite at the small green figure. But the small green figure punched it away, sending it crashing into the surrounding green light, dazed and weakened.

The small green figure reached out and grabbed the blue essence soul, then opened its mouth wide and bit into the essence soul, tearing off a piece.

The blue essence soul immediately let out a miserable shriek, struggling to escape, but the small green figure was far stronger, holding it fast and taking another bite.

In the blink of an eye, the blue essence soul was devoured by the small green figure.

Blue light flickered over the small figure's body, interweaving with green radiance. It sat cross-legged on top of the Earthly Deity Incarnation's head, forming hand seals like Han Li, and slowly sank into the incarnation's head.

The Earthly Deity Incarnation's tightly shut eyes suddenly opened, shooting out two beams of light. In its empty eyes, a hint of spirit could faintly be seen.

Han Li's gaze flickered, and his hand seals became more urgent.

Streams of crystalline light continued to shoot from his brow into the Earthly Deity Incarnation's mind, and with each stream of light entering, the spirit in the incarnation's eyes grew a bit more.

Seeing this, Han Li nodded slightly. The refinement process had gone smoothly so far. Next, as long as he continued the spell and infused the Birth Soul Flower Liquid, the split soul within the Earthly Deity Incarnation would stabilize.

This was the most critical step; the success of the incarnation depended entirely on it.

With this thought, he flipped his hand, and a dark green jade box appeared in his palm.

He opened the lid, and a dazzling golden light shone forth. Inside lay a nearly pale golden peony-like spiritual flower.

But at that moment, a sudden change occurred!

Suddenly, five or six streaks of遁光 appeared in the nearby sea, approaching him rapidly from all directions.

The auras emanating from those遁光 were not to be underestimated; they were all at the True Immortal level!