Chapter 580: A Blessing in Disguise

Han Li gritted his teeth and suddenly let out a loud shout.

A flash of spiritual light appeared above his head, and a golden nascent soul suddenly emerged at his crown. Its small face was taut, and it rubbed its hands together. With a flash of golden light from its eyes, it once again submerged into his crown.

The next moment, Han Li felt waves of coolness spreading through his sea of consciousness, slightly diluting the scorching sensation in his soul.

But the scorching heat transmitted by the green flames came wave after wave, growing increasingly intense. Even with the full power of the Divine Refining Art, it seemed impossible to alleviate.

Han Li closed his eyes and frantically activated the Divine Refining Art, while a layer of translucent True Extreme Membrane appeared on his body surface, resisting the invisible forces pressing in from all sides.

Even so, his entire body began to tremble uncontrollably, and cracking sounds came from within as if all his bones were being crushed.

Time passed bit by bit. After who knew how long, Han Li's body shook violently, and a trace of ferocity flashed across his face.

At this moment, the scorching heat in his sea of consciousness had accumulated to a terrifying degree. His entire soul seemed to roll and surge like flames, as if burning, and slowly began to shrink.

His consciousness gradually became blurred, as if slowly leaving his body.

Just then, a tremor suddenly occurred deep within his soul, and a shattering sound echoed from its depths, as if something had been broken.

Hum!

A speck of crystalline light suddenly brightened somewhere in his sea of consciousness, and an invisible suction force emerged from it.

The scorching heat that filled his sea of consciousness seemed to find an outlet at once, madly surging toward that speck of crystalline light, forming a scorching vortex.

In just a few breaths, the scorching sensation in his mind completely receded, quickly transforming into a cool energy that traveled through his mind. The ferocious expression on Han Li's face entirely faded.

Then, with a loud rumble, his soul seemed to explode, and his soul power rapidly increased, instantly reaching a new level.

After a full quarter of an hour, the changes in his mind slowly subsided, and everything returned to calm.

Han Li slowly opened his eyes, his consciousness fully restored, and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

At this moment, his divine sense power had greatly increased, nearly two or three times what it was before, and it had become purer, as if countless crystalline springs were surging and flowing in his mind, emitting powerful divine sense fluctuations.

He had never expected that, on the verge of his soul's collapse, the final bottleneck of the fourth layer of the Divine Refining Art would actually be broken.

Perhaps the reason the Divine Refining Art had been so difficult to break through that barrier before was that his divine sense power was too strong for his level, and he had never encountered a situation that pushed his soul to its limits.

This time, pursued by a powerful enemy whose cultivation far exceeded his own, he had no choice but to make a desperate decision to explore this mysterious pit of baleful qi in hopes of breaking through his cultivation, yet by some strange twist of fate, he had succeeded in cultivating the Divine Refining Art. It could be called a blessing in disguise.

As these thoughts turned in Han Li's mind, he swept his gaze around and suddenly let out a long howl. Crystalline light blazed from his brow.

Dazzling beams of crystalline light shot out, cutting through the surroundings like sharp swords.

Inside the blood-colored space.

Suddenly, dazzling crystalline light burst forth from within the green giant rat. The next moment, its massive body exploded with a bang, turning into wisps of green light that scattered in all directions.

Han Li's figure appeared in midair, having transformed back into human form.

A dazzling crystalline light like a blazing sun radiated from his body, illuminating the surrounding blood-colored space.

He formed hand seals and gestured, and the dazzling crystalline light immediately condensed into a giant crystalline sword, which he slashed through the air!

With a thunderous boom!

The blood-colored space instantly burst apart.

Han Li's vision blurred, and the next moment he was back in the dark abyss.

He let out a light breath, glanced around, then flickered and landed on a protruding cliff not far away, sitting down cross-legged.

Now that his divine sense power had greatly increased, the dense yin winds and baleful qi howling around him could no longer affect him.

He closed his eyes and carefully sensed the vast and pure divine sense power in his mind.

The fourth layer of the Divine Refining Art had reached great completion, and it had such a tremendous enhancement to the soul. It was not in vain that he had worked hard to cultivate it over the years.

After a moment, Han Li suddenly opened his eyes, and crystalline light flashed from his brow.

A clear and bright crystalline sword shadow shot out like lightning, vanished into the black mist, and rapidly ascended toward the heights of the abyss.

High above the abyss, above the clouds, a true immortal realm eagle-type cyan bird was flapping its wings as it flew by.

The void before it flickered, and a crystalline sword shadow shot over, vanishing into the cyan giant eagle's head.

The cyan giant eagle let out a miserable shriek, and the sharp light in its eagle eyes quickly dimmed, turning completely gray in an instant.

The aura on the giant eagle also disappeared. Its corpse tumbled downward, falling with a thud into the forest formed by the tree demon.

The vines and branches in the forest, which had been quiet, suddenly awakened. Countless branches quickly intertwined, covering the cyan giant eagle's corpse, and soon strange squelching sounds came from within.

In the abyss, a hint of joy appeared in Han Li's eyes.

With the great increase in soul power, the power of the Mind Sword Art's attacks had also suddenly multiplied several times, making it even more useful against the Golden Devouring Beetle.

He then tried several other soul attacks, and their power also greatly increased.

Han Li then closed his eyes again, and crystalline light once again flickered from his brow.

After a moment, several crystalline chains shot out from his brow, swiftly intertwining to form a square chain cage.

The chain cage was inscribed with faint black runes, and the dazzling crystalline light it emitted was mixed with specks of black light. The interplay of crystalline and black light gave it an indescribable feeling.

Han Li looked at the chain cage floating in midair and suddenly pointed a finger.

The light emitted by the cage brightened sharply, and in an instant it decomposed back into several crystalline chains, which then all vanished into the void.

Deep in the forest outside the abyss stood a lush giant tree, hundreds of feet tall, with extremely dense foliage. Both trunk and leaves were a crisp jade color, and on the main trunk of the giant tree was a huge face.

At this moment, the huge face had its eyes closed, and from its half-open mouth came snoring sounds, as if it were sleeping.

Just then, the void near the giant tree rippled, and several crystalline chains appeared, vanishing into the giant tree's body.

The jade-green giant tree suddenly opened its eyes, letting out an angry roar. Its entire body blazed with green light, and several thick branches flailed like arms.

A vast pressure erupted from the giant tree, reaching the Taiyi realm.

Thick beams of green light shot out from the giant tree's branches like meteors, striking the nearby mountains.

Rumble!

The nearby peaks and ground collapsed like paper upon contact with the green light. The ground within hundreds of miles shook violently, and billowing dust rose everywhere.

But the next moment, the giant tree's flailing branches suddenly stopped, and the expression on its face froze instantly, as if it had been hit by a paralysis spell.

However, the dazzling green light on its body and the rolling aura still remained.

Inside the giant tree, there was a green space filled with dense green mist. In the center of the mist floated a tree-shaped green soul.

But now, the green soul was trapped inside a cage formed by crystalline chains. A layer of crystalline light appeared on the cage, isolating the green soul from the misty sea outside.

The green soul struggled fiercely inside the chain cage, transforming into various forms, even expanding and contracting, desperately impacting the cage.

But no matter how it struggled, the crystalline cage remained as solid as a mountain.

After imprisoning the tree soul for a moment, the chain cage suddenly disintegrated again, turning into several crystalline chains that vanished into the void.

The jade-green giant tree's body immediately returned to normal. Its two eyes showed a confused look as it glanced around in bewilderment, and its wildly waving branches slowly stopped.

…

Deep in the baleful qi pit.

The void beside Han Li flickered, and the several crystalline chains appeared, swiftly entering his mind.

His face was somewhat pale, but a hint of joy appeared on it.

The chain cage just now was a secret technique that could only be performed after cultivating the fourth layer of the Divine Refining Art, called the "Divine Sense Cage." It could imprison an enemy's soul and temporarily sever the connection between their soul and body.

This technique was extremely powerful. Although the Taiyi realm tree demon just now was caught off guard and had its soul imprisoned, the technique's power was still evident.

Han Li's chest rose and fell slightly. After a few deep and shallow breaths, his pale complexion slowly recovered, and a flicker of light moved in his eyes.

Although this technique was powerful, it also consumed a great deal of divine sense power. He had only used the Divine Sense Cage for a short time, but the vast divine sense in his mind was now only thirty percent left, and it would take at least a month to recover.

But compared to the technique's formidable power, this consumption was a minor matter.

Han Li sat quietly for a moment, then flipped his hand and took out a black jade slip, sending his divine sense into it.

The jade slip recorded lines of text, which were the incantation for the fifth layer of the Divine Refining Art.

The power of the Divine Refining Art exceeded Han Li's expectations. He had come here originally intending to use the dense baleful qi to open his immortal apertures and improve his cultivation.

But now it seemed that cultivating the Divine Refining Art was a better choice.

Moreover, this special environment could quickly enhance the Divine Refining Art.

Han Li read through the fifth-layer incantation from beginning to end, but his brow furrowed slightly.

The content of the fifth layer was much more profound than the fourth, with deep meaning between the lines. It would not be easy to comprehend clearly.

However, he had seen countless profound techniques, and knowing the incantations for the first four layers, the fifth-layer incantation, though profound, was consistent with the previous four. As long as he took time to slowly comprehend, it should not be a problem.

After calming his mind, he once again immersed his divine sense into the jade slip, pondering it word by word.