Inside a cave in the barren mountains, Han Li sat cross-legged, his palms, soles, and crown facing heaven. Rather than rushing to break through his bottleneck, he sank his awareness into his body, carefully exploring the entirely new realm of the Foundation Establishment Early Stage.
Within his dantian's sea of qi, liquid dark attribute spiritual power slowly swirled like a deep, shadowy pool, many times purer and denser than it had been during Qi Refining. The reach of his spiritual sense had also expanded to a hundred zhang in every direction, revealing every minute detail. He silently circulated the cultivation method from the Foundation Establishment section of the Profound Fiend Asura Art, guiding his spiritual power through meridians that had grown far wider and tougher. With every complete circuit, his spiritual power became a little more condensed, and his control over his body deepened.
At Foundation Establishment, spiritual power becomes liquid, spiritual sense takes shape, and lifespan doubles... only now have I truly set foot on the path to immortality. Han Li understood this clearly. He knew the importance of a solid foundation. Burdened as he was with a blood-deep vendetta, he needed all the more to advance one firm step at a time, polishing each realm to perfection before he could go farther.
He took out the medicinal pills obtained from Mo Juren and from several encounters in which he had turned the tables on his attackers. Selecting an Essence Condensation Pill suited to strengthening his foundation at Foundation Establishment, he swallowed it and used its medicinal power to carefully refine his spiritual power and temper his dantian. The process was slow but steady. His cultivation did not surge, but the purity of his spiritual power and his control over it steadily improved.
Yet at a moment when he was immersed in cultivation, his perception of the outside world both keenest and most focused, a sudden change erupted!
At the cave entrance, the shadow of a seemingly ordinary rock rippled faintly like water. A blurred black figure, almost indistinguishable from the darkness, slipped soundlessly into the cave! His aura was restrained to the utmost. His movements stirred not the slightest whisper of wind, and even the change in temperature was barely perceptible.
This was an elite assassin! His cultivation had actually reached the third level of Foundation Establishment-the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage!
Like a phantom, the shadow closed to within three zhang behind Han Li in an instant! A pair of emotionless eyes fixed on the vital point at the center of Han Li's back. A pitch-black dagger, thin as a cicada's wing, slipped silently from his sleeve. A speck of eerie blue poison gleamed at its tip as it thrust straight toward him! Timing, angle, and speed were all flawless, striking at precisely the instant a cultivator circulating his energy was least able to defend himself!
Just as the blade was about to touch him, Han Li's closed eyes snapped open! There was no panic in them, only icy clarity!
He had seemed wholly absorbed in cultivation, but the Profound Fiend Asura Art's natural sensitivity to sinister killing energy, together with the Slaughter System's silent warning in his mind, had alerted him an instant before that concentrated killing intent erupted!
You're exactly who I've been waiting for!
Han Li shouted coldly in his mind, and the spiritual power he had already gathered burst forth! Yet he neither met the attack head-on nor dodged. Instead, his hands formed a strange, complex seal before his chest. The pure dark attribute spiritual power within him circulated rapidly in an unprecedented pattern, then surged out of his body!
"Profound Yin Binding!"
Hum!
An eerie net of runes woven from countless fine black threads, roughly a zhang across, instantly materialized behind him! Though incorporeal, it radiated a powerful binding force, as though it could freeze spiritual power and entangle the soul! This was a high-level restraining spell recorded in the Foundation Establishment section of the Profound Fiend Asura Art. Han Li had only recently begun to grasp its workings, but now he unleashed it without hesitation!
The assassin's killing strike plunged straight into the suddenly appearing Profound Yin rune net!
"What?!" the assassin cried in horror. His dagger felt as though it had stabbed into an impossibly viscous swamp, its speed plummeting. The fierce energy and poisonous gleam coating it were rapidly dissolved and bound by the black threads! More terrifying still, a bone-chilling force crept back along the dagger, causing even the circulation of his spiritual power to falter!
He made an immediate decision, abandoned the dagger, and shot backward, trying to escape the rune net's reach.
"Trying to leave? Too late!"
Han Li pressed his advantage relentlessly. With a thought, he made the Profound Yin rune net abruptly contract, its threads winding around the black figure at its center as though alive! At the same time, he grasped at empty air with his left hand. The Shadow Blade became a streak of black light, silently stabbing beneath his opponent's ribs! His right hand formed a sword with two fingers, a highly condensed wisp of dark spiritual power flickering at their tips as he struck toward the assassin's dantian!
In a single instant, attacker and defender traded places!
The assassin was shocked and furious. As a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivator with extensive assassination experience, when had he ever suffered such a crushing setback? He bit hard into his tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood essence. The fitted inner armor he wore blazed with spiritual light, forming a dense, blood-colored barrier that forcibly resisted both the rune net's tightening and the Shadow Blade's thrust!
"Blood Fiend Shield! You're from the Shadow Killer Sect!" Han Li's gaze sharpened as he recognized the signature defensive spell. The Shadow Killer Sect was a mysterious organization of assassins that took payment for its work without caring about right or wrong. Apparently, someone had spared no expense to have him killed!
"Break!"
The assassin roared, unleashing the full force of his Foundation Establishment Middle Stage spiritual power. He forcibly shattered some of the Profound Yin threads and slid backward again, but his aura was already in disarray, and the spiritual glow of his inner armor had dimmed considerably.
How could Han Li let him escape so easily? Using Shadow Step, he followed like the assassin's own shadow, his palms flashing as dark spiritual power surged. Palm strikes and finger thrusts alike targeted vital points without pause. Though his cultivation was slightly lower, his spiritual power was pure and uncanny. Combined with the Profound Fiend Asura Art's subtle suppression of sinister cultivation methods and the constant interference of Profound Yin Binding, it allowed him to pin down this Foundation Establishment Middle Stage assassin, forcing him into a frantic scramble!
A defense maintained too long was bound to fail! In a moment of carelessness, the assassin took a gust from Han Li's palm strike, laden with hidden force, across his shoulder. Though not badly injured, his blood and qi churned, and his protective spiritual light wavered.
"Brat, you're courting death!" The assassin flew into an utter rage, a glint of madness flashing through his eyes. He slammed his palms together, blood energy roiling around him. He was about to unleash some blood-path secret art that would injure them both!
At this critical instant, a sharp light flashed in Han Li's eyes, and he finally brought out the trump card he had kept hidden! He opened his mouth and drew in a breath-not merely absorbing spiritual qi, but forcibly sucking into his dantian the surrounding natural spiritual qi, stirred into unusual activity by their fierce battle, along with the blood fiend energy leaking from his opponent!
Condense!
With that low cry in his mind, the liquid spiritual power in his dantian spun and compressed madly. Following an extremely dangerous secret method in the Profound Fiend Asura Art, he forcibly ground and compressed the impure energies he had absorbed against the surface of the Profound Fiend True Core!
Hiss!
A faint, unsteady dark-red flame suddenly sprang from his fingertip! It gave off no heat whatsoever. Instead, it radiated an aura of utter cold and destruction!
Pseudo Pill Flame! The embryonic form of Pill Flame that Foundation Establishment cultivators dreamed of, which could only begin to form when their spiritual power was exceptionally pure and condensed and they had gained some insight into the laws of fire! Through the wonders of the Profound Fiend Asura Art and the pressure of that brush with death in battle, Han Li had actually succeeded by a stroke of fortune!
Though the tiny flame seemed weak enough to go out at any moment, the assassin's pupils contracted the instant it appeared. He sensed a lethal threat!
"Pill Flame?! Impossible!" he shrieked. He forcibly interrupted his half-completed blood-path secret art, suffered a backlash, and spat out another mouthful of blood.
Han Li's face also paled. Forcibly condensing that wisp of pseudo core flame had drained most of his spiritual power, and waves of weakness washed through his soul. Yet his gaze remained icy. The dark-red flame at his fingertip quivered gently, became a fine thread, and shot toward the assassin!
Scared nearly out of his soul, the assassin desperately drove his remaining spiritual power into action. His body became a streak of blood-colored light. He actually burned his vital blood essence to unleash a blood escape technique, fleeing for his life toward the cave entrance! The wisp of pseudo core flame skimmed past his afterimage and instantly ate a deep pit into the stone wall behind him. The pit's edges were smooth as a mirror and exuded an aura of deathly stillness.
Han Li did not pursue. His condition was terrible; he was a spent arrow at the end of its flight. He quickly swallowed several recovery pills and sat cross-legged to regulate his breathing, but a trace of relief appeared on his pale face.
"The Foundation Establishment Middle Stage... truly formidable. If I hadn't managed to condense that wisp of pseudo core flame by chance, today's outcome would have been uncertain." Fear still lingered in his heart, and he understood more clearly than ever the gap between himself and true experts.
[Ding! Host successfully repelled a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Shadow Killer Sect Assassin. Practical combat experience greatly increased. Gained preliminary insight into the method of condensing pseudo core flame (extremely unstable). Understanding of the Profound Fiend Asura Art deepened. Cultivation realm: Foundation Establishment Early Stage (stable).]
The system's notification confirmed what he felt. His strength had not soared, but the life-and-death battle had yielded tangible gains in his use of his cultivation art, his grasp of combat, and even his insight into condensing pseudo core flame through a breakthrough in battle. These were far more precious than simply gaining another level of cultivation.
"The Shadow Killer Sect... it seems quite a few people want me dead." Han Li's gaze was deep and dark. He cleaned up the battlefield, erased the traces, and swiftly left the cave, which was no longer safe.
After this battle, Han Li's resolve on the Dao grew firmer. He also settled his mind completely, abandoning any desire to reach beyond his grasp. He decided to find a truly safe place and enter secluded cultivation. Until he had thoroughly polished his Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivation to perfection, he would not emerge lightly.
The road to vengeance was long and fraught with obstacles. Only by advancing steadily, each step firmly planted, could he slay his enemies with his own hands and bring solace to the souls of his kin in heaven!
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