Chapter 588: A Gamble

After the giant rat's skeleton was devoured by Gold Boy and小白 with the force of a whirlwind, the originally open abyss floor suddenly became much more spacious.

Han Li swept his gaze around and suddenly raised an eyebrow slightly.

At the base of the mountain wall previously blocked by the corpse, there seemed to be faint flickers of emerald green light.

He walked over, bent down to examine it for a moment, and his heart stirred.

Here grew more than a dozen translucent plants about a foot tall, their leaves as thin and delicate as ice crystals, with clearly distributed veins inside, emitting a green glow.

After a brief hesitation, Han Li urged his divine sense to scan these strange plants for a moment but found no special aura on them.

Although he could not identify them, he knew well that anything capable of growing to this day in the abyss thick with baleful qi could not be ordinary.

But now he naturally had no mind to ponder this matter further.

With that thought, he flipped his wrist, took out more than a dozen white jade boxes, dug up the dozen or so green plants with roots and soil, carefully placed them one by one, and then took out silver talismans to seal them.

After doing all this, Han Li pondered on the spot for a moment before suddenly speaking: "Demon Light, come out."

As his voice fell, the shadow before him suddenly turned pitch black, gradually lengthening and extending twofold, and Demon Light's figure stood up from within.

"Well, Fellow Daoist Han, have you decided to adopt my suggestion?" Demon Light asked with a smile on his face, which closely resembled Han Li's.

"I am well aware of the value of a Gray Immortal corpse. Now that a powerful enemy is approaching, since you can maximize its use, I have no reason to refuse. Consider it a favor to help you succeed." Han Li said indifferently.

"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Han. Since we have signed the Heavenly Demon Contract, we are interdependent. Every bit of my strength increases is a bit of your combat power, ultimately benefiting you." Demon Light said, a hint of joy flashing in his eyes.

"What Fellow Daoist Demon Light says is true. However, our understanding of Gray Immortals is too limited. To prevent any accidents, I need to plant a few restrictions in your body. I assume you won't refuse?" Han Li raised an eyebrow and asked with a smile.

"This... naturally..." Demon Light was momentarily stunned, then nodded as if nothing had happened.

Han Li said no more. He pressed two fingers together and pointed at his own brow, sending a strand of divine sense power onto Demon Light.

Then he formed a hand seal with both hands, silently activating the cultivation technique for refining the spirit. Several crystalline threads immediately extended from between his brows, shooting toward several key points on the demonic light's forehead, heart, and lower abdomen.

"Hmm..."

A muffled groan escaped from the demonic light's mouth. His face twisted in pain, revealing a pained expression, but he did not speak, merely enduring in silence.

After a moment, his expression relaxed, and he returned to normal.

"Alright, these restrictions won't affect you under normal circumstances. However, if you enter the Gray Immortal's body and are inadvertently controlled by some remnant soul or the like, and unintentionally do something against the rules, these restrictions will activate on their own. By then, even I might not be able to stop them in time." Han Li withdrew his hand, looking at the demonic light with a meaningful gaze.

"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Han, these restrictions will never need to be used," the demonic light said with a smile.

"It's best if they aren't needed. Please recount the method for refining the external incarnation in detail once more, so we can begin the process," Han Li said, waving his hand and speaking seriously.

Upon hearing this, the demonic light moved his lips slightly and began to inform Han Li of the specific refining steps.

Han Li listened while silently comparing the information with the jade slip the other had given him earlier. Whenever he encountered something unclear, he would ask a few questions.

Three days later, a triangular formation inlaid with black marrow crystals stood at the bottom of the abyss. Han Li and the demonic light stood on either side of the formation, while the Gray Immortal's corpse was placed at its center.

They exchanged a glance, then sat down cross-legged simultaneously, forming hand seals and chanting incantations.

As the black marrow crystals in the formation lit up, a cluster of black flames devoid of heat rose from the formation, enveloping the Gray Immortal's corpse and beginning the refining process.

Time passed, and half a year went by.

At the bottom of the abyss, baleful qi surged. A triangular formation was shrouded in thick black mist, its interior indistinct.

Three zhang away from the formation, Han Li sat cross-legged on the ground. Green light rippled around him, and circles of faint golden waves continuously expanded from beneath him, emitting strange fluctuations.

After a moment, a wisp of black baleful qi swirled around his cheek, flickered a few times, and then disappeared.

Han Li let out a soft sigh and slowly opened his eyes. Within his pupils, a silvery-gray light shone brightly.

During this period, his eyes would change from time to time, with no discernible pattern in either the duration of the episodes or the intervals between them.

Moreover, as the occurrences multiplied, Han Li increasingly felt a deeply hidden baleful aura within the depths of his sea of consciousness growing stronger and stronger, while a sense of irritability welled up.

If not for his powerful divine sense, he might have already had his mind affected.

Han Li let out a long breath. The black baleful aura on his face gradually faded, and his pupils slowly returned to normal.

He flipped his hand, took out a medicinal pill, swallowed it, and closed his eyes again to regulate his breathing.

…

Two months later.

The originally silent abyss suddenly echoed with rumbling sounds. Rolling black baleful aura churned violently like oil droplets in boiling water.

The surging baleful aura shot straight upward, almost overflowing the mouth of the abyss.

The Crab Immortal, hovering high in the sky, stared expressionlessly downward, but a hint of doubt flickered in his eyes.

At this moment, on the ground of the valley floor, a massive baleful aura vortex was twisting wildly, converging toward the triangular formation.

Outside the formation, Han Li and Mo Guang stood with their hands behind their backs, one with a focused expression, the other slightly weary.

"Fellow Daoist Han, I'm truly sorry. I originally thought it would take sixty-four days to complete, but I didn't expect it to take so long..." Mo Guang said, his gaze fixed on the hundred-zhang-tall, imposing baleful aura vortex.

"No matter. The timing is just right. But regarding the fusion, are you confident?" Han Li asked, his eyes falling on the gray immortal corpse at the center of the formation.

Compared to when they first saw it, the corpse's physique had grown considerably. It seemed to have been infused with a lot of flesh and blood, becoming much more 'plump.' Its ferocious face had also softened somewhat, finally looking a bit more 'human.'

"I dare not deceive you, Fellow Daoist Han. Success or failure is only fifty-fifty. If I can successfully take over this corpse, my cultivation should rise to the Golden Immortal level, and I might even break through to the late stage. But if I fail, I will be trapped in this corpse with no way out, left to become nourishment and feed back into the body." Mo Guang gave a bitter smile and said.

"Since you knew the risk was so high, why did you propose this method?" Han Li asked with a frown.

"This is a last resort. Fellow Daoist Han's cultivation has grown at an astonishing rate, and all your spirit pets and puppets are formidable. Leaving aside that unlucky Firebeard, both the Crab Immortal and the Devouring Gold Beetle now far surpass me in strength. As a contracted servant, I am now like a chicken rib—utterly useless. If I don't take a desperate gamble this time, I'm afraid I'll be discarded as a pawn sooner or later. Don't you think so?" Mo Guang sighed and said.

"That's an interesting way to put it." Han Li neither denied nor nodded, merely stating indifferently, noncommittally.

"Alright, success or failure hinges on this move. Fellow Daoist Han, just wait for good news." Mo Guang said with a "hehe" laugh.

With that, his figure suddenly stretched like smoke, turning into a black shadow that vanished into the vortex.

With a loud "boom"!

In the center of the triangular formation, the corpse of the Gray Immortal, as if reanimated, abruptly sprang up and stood stiffly in place.

Its eyes remained a deathly gray, but its mouth suddenly opened to an extremely exaggerated extent.

Han Li's gaze flickered as he saw the black shadow that was Mo Guang plunge headlong into the Gray Immortal corpse's mouth, quickly turning into rolling smoke that surged into its belly.

As Mo Guang entered its body, the Gray Immortal corpse began to tremble uncontrollably, raising both hands high and lifting its left leg at the knee, flailing about in a very awkward posture.

All around its body, countless pores like immortal apertures opened wide, frantically absorbing the black baleful aura from the abyss.

This scene lasted for an entire month.

A month later, the vortex of baleful qi at the bottom of the abyss had vanished, and the gray immortal corpse had returned to its normal state, yet it remained suspended in midair in its previous bizarre posture.

Han Li stood not far away and swept his divine sense over it, only to find that there was not a trace of mana fluctuation on the gray immortal corpse, and even the aura of Mo Guang was barely perceptible.

If not for the lingering connection forged between them by the Heavenly Demon Contract, Han Li might have thought that Mo Guang had been devoured by the gray immortal corpse, becoming its nourishment instead.

Han Li shook his head and let out a sigh.

Suddenly, his brow twitched slightly. He waved his hand, and a flash of golden light appeared, from which the figure of Gold Devouring Beetle emerged.

"How is it? Has your cultivation base stabilized?" Han Li's gaze fell on Gold Devouring Beetle as he asked.

"After taking the two pills you gave me, my aura has basically stabilized, but that's all," Gold Devouring Beetle said, a hint of regret showing on his face.

"The Taiyi realm is a major hurdle on the path of cultivation—how difficult it is to cross! Just look at those who fought to the death over a single Taiyi Pill in the Minghan Immortal Mansion. You didn't even need a Taiyi Pill, relying only on half a skeleton to smoothly enter the Taiyi realm. What more could you be dissatisfied with?" Han Li said, smiling with a hint of exasperation.

Seven days earlier, Gold Devouring Beetle had suddenly awakened and successfully broken through his bottleneck, reaching the early Taiyi realm.

It seemed that the twin declines of heaven and man had not manifested in Gold Devouring Beetle, who was a Devouring Gold Beetle. This both delighted Han Li and left him marveling in wonder.