Chapter 313: A New Path

"Golden lightning locks the essence, bind!" Han Li clasped his hands together and shouted loudly.

On the golden platform, golden patterns flared brightly, and a golden lightning pillar as thick as a calf shot up, striking the dome above, splitting into a web of golden electric light.

The two mother beans were at the center of the golden lightning pillar, and hundreds of electric arcs and bolts sprang from them, forming a golden net that enveloped all the scattered beans.

A loud crackling sound erupted!

Within the electric net, strands of golden lightning, like slender branches, connected all the beans, while the golden pillar beneath the mother beans resembled a tree trunk, making the whole structure look like a small golden lightning tree.

The spiritual power flowing from the spirit stones on the ground coursed through the trunk and branches of the lightning tree, entering each bean, causing the lightning patterns inscribed on them to suddenly light up, gleaming brilliantly.

Seeing the Dao-soldier beans hanging like abundant fruit on the lightning tree, a hint of joy appeared on Han Li's face.

He took a deep breath, changed his hand seals again, and shouted:

"Inscribe the true lightning pattern, arise!"

With this shout, the formation on the ground trembled, and many nodes on the formation patterns lit up with black light, connecting to form a bizarre beast-shaped pattern.

Its shape resembled an ox but with dragon horns on its head. Judging by its proportions, it was quite large, with ancient runes on its round belly, from which emanated strong lightning fluctuations.

What was astonishing was that this beast had only one thick leg, which at a glance looked like a black giant hammer, and behind it hung a long whip-like tail.

In fact, this beast was called the "Thunder Kui," a famous奇异灵兽 in the True Immortal Realm. Born with the ability to command the nine heavens' lightning, it often struck its own belly with its long tail, producing thunderous roars that could dispel yin spirits and evil entities, feared by all ghosts.

Seeing this pattern formed, Han Li's gaze sharpened, and he let out a soft breath.

He knew that the most critical moment for refining the bean soldiers had arrived.

His hands crossed before him, forming a new hand seal, and his lips moved continuously as he chanted an incantation.

With the chanting, the Thunder Kui pattern on the ground emitted a strong black light, rose up, passed through all the beans, and reached the dome of the lightning barrier.

Seeing this, the blue light in Han Li's eyes intensified, and crystalline threads of divine sense shot from his brow into the golden lightning tree, while his hands moved back and forth before him, continuously tracing in the void.

As his movements changed, all the beans hanging on the golden lightning tree began to tremble slightly, and black light started to appear around the lightning patterns on them, marking the official start of the pattern inscription.

Outside the formation, Han Li's hands moved at a dizzying speed, but inside the formation, the black patterns on the beans formed extremely slowly, like a snail crawling, accumulating bit by bit.

Inscribing patterns was the most mentally draining task. Other ordinary True Immortal realm cultivators would likely inscribe the beans in batches to reduce the strain.

Although this method was feasible, it had one drawback.

Since not all beans were refined in the same batch, the connection between the bean soldiers from other batches and the mother beans would be much weaker.

This would not have much impact in normal times, and even in combat, there would be no issues. But when used to form formations like the Yellow Turban Bean Soldiers of old, the difference would show, as those bean soldiers would react slightly slower.

Han Li's divine sense was far stronger than ordinary people, so he did not inscribe the beans in batches but chose to do them all at once.

Time passed slowly, and soon a month had gone by.

Han Li was fully immersed in the task, concentrating entirely on the inscription, completely unaware of the passage of time.

His hands moved from both sides and came together before him, and the Thunder Kui patterns on all the beans in the formation completed the final inscription, emitting a dazzling black light.

Seeing this, the blue light in Han Li's eyes gradually faded, revealing a hint of fatigue, but a smile hung on his lips.

The light of the formation in the secret chamber gradually dimmed, all the golden electric arcs began to retract, converging toward the two mother beans, and the lightning barrier covering the outside also disappeared.

After all the lightning retracted, the golden lightning tree vanished, and all the beans slowly descended, flying back to the golden platform.

Han Li took the yellow gourd from his waist, tapped the bottom, and a yellow light shone from the gourd's mouth, emitting an attractive force that sucked all the beans inside.

He did not put the two mother beans into the gourd but kept them in his bosom.

Then, he let out a long breath of turbid air, took out a green pill, swallowed it, and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing.

The next day.

In a snowy valley within the Red Cloud Peak territory, a green light descended from the sky, and Han Li's figure appeared out of thin air.

He swept his gaze across the valley, found a relatively open and flat area, and flew over.

After landing, he took off the gourd at his waist, chanted silently for a moment, and the gourd's mouth emitted a strong yellow light. Dark yellow beans shot out like rain, falling to the ground.

A series of popping sounds like raindrops hitting plantain leaves rang out. All the beans that landed emitted a bright light and instantly transformed into one-zhang-tall Dao-soldier armored warriors.

Their faces were somewhat similar to the Yellow Turban Warriors of old, but they wore a set of armor engraved with lightning patterns. Hundreds of them stood in a neat square formation, looking quite imposing.

Han Li flicked his finger, and a green sword qi shot out, striking the chest of a Thunder Armor Dao-soldier.

A loud boom!

The Thunder Armor Dao-soldier was knocked flying backward, crashing heavily into the ground and creating a large pit.

The next moment, with a "whoosh," the Thunder Armor Dao-soldier leaped out of the pit and flew back.

The armor on its chest had been pierced, and a wound was cut into its chest, but it did not seem deep and appeared to have no effect on its movement.

Seeing this, Han Li nodded slightly.

Although he had used only about one percent of his power in that sword qi, even an average Great Vehicle stage cultivator might not withstand it. Yet it only slightly injured this Thunder Armor Dao-soldier, indicating that its defense exceeded his expectations.

Han Li pondered for a moment, then with a thought, the Thunder Armor Dao-soldiers charged into the valley at lightning speed, golden electric light flashing on their armor. They were incredibly fast, like golden lightning bolts, far stronger than the previous Yellow Turban Warriors.

Once deep in the valley, the Thunder Armor Dao-soldiers paired up and began fighting each other.

A rumbling sound erupted, like countless thunderclaps and ten thousand horses galloping.

The entire valley shook violently, and the snow on the nearby peaks collapsed and avalanched.

After observing for a while, Han Li found that in combat, they were very similar to the Yellow Turban Warriors, both fearless and fighting fiercely.

However, one difference was that these Thunder Armor Dao-soldiers had significantly better recovery abilities. As long as they were not completely destroyed, injuries like severed arms or pierced chests could quickly heal, surprising Han Li again.

Afterward, Han Li controlled the Dao-soldiers to set up formations several times, but the results were not ideal. He knew it was due to insufficient practice, so he did not pay much attention.

The strength these Dao-soldiers had shown so far had already delighted him.

Han Li then put away all the Dao-soldiers and returned to his cave abode.

Back in his cave, he entered the secret chamber, flipped his hand, and a metal sphere appeared in his palm.

"Brother Crab..." Han Li called softly.

After a moment, several deep grooves split open on the metal sphere, and metal limbs extended out. With a series of metallic clangs, it transformed into a palm-sized golden crab.

"Brother Han, why have you called me out?" The Crab Daoist looked up at Han Li and asked.

"Nothing much. I recently obtained a set of formations that can integrate Dao-soldiers with puppets and wanted to discuss it with you." Han Li said.

"Brother Han, do you want to fuse the Dao-soldiers with that immortal puppet? Forgive me for speaking bluntly, but this method is not suitable for an immortal puppet missing its core." The Crab Daoist shook his head vigorously upon hearing this.

"Brother Crab, don't jump to conclusions. First, take a look at this mother bean." Han Li smiled and said.

He flipped his other hand, and a yellow bean the size of a broad bean appeared in his palm, inscribed with the Thunder Kui beast pattern and embedded with golden lightning patterns.

Han Li picked up the mother bean and placed it beside the Crab Daoist.

The Crab Daoist let out a soft exclamation, then immediately circled around the mother bean to examine it. Afterward, he raised his body, fixed his small golden eyes on Han Li, and said:

"This... it actually possesses both earth and lightning attributes. Are you thinking..."

"Exactly. Previously, your fusion with the puppet failed due to attribute incompatibility. But now, with this mother bean as a mediator, there might be a chance for a turnaround." Han Li took over and continued.

"This could indeed be a new path... May I examine the fusion formation?" The Crab Daoist pondered for a moment and asked.

Han Li said nothing and directly handed over the jade slip. The Crab Daoist raised a crab claw and clamped onto it.

After a moment, he released the claw, turned to Han Li, and said solemnly:

"Brother Han, my previous lightning formation was like slow cooking over a low flame, a gradual and subtle process. But this formation is like a blazing fire, requiring instant success. If it fails, this invaluable mother bean will certainly be destroyed, and both I and that immortal puppet will likely suffer damage. Are you sure you want to try?"