Han Li

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

At ten years old, Han Li entered the Seven Mysteries Sect’s selection but failed to qualify beyond outer discipleship. Mo Juren, who was temporarily staying at the sect and needed assistants, accepted him as a disciple. Alongside medicine, Mo Juren taught him an exceptionally difficult method that Han Li eventually discovered was an immortal cultivation art 11.

Mo Juren encouraged his progress because he intended to seize Han Li’s body using a method taught by Yu Zitong. Han Li resisted the attempt, causing his master’s death. Mo Juren’s earlier surveillance with Cloud-Winged Birds had already failed to uncover the full extent of his disciple’s activities 10 11.

The Little Green Bottle gave Han Li a way to compensate for his slow cultivation: its liquid accelerated herb growth, providing medicinal ingredients, pills, and goods he could exchange for Spirit Stones. Even so, his Pseudo-Spiritual Root left him undervalued after he entered Yellow Maple Valley, where someone took the Foundation Establishment Pill intended for him 12 13.

Appearance

• Complexion and features: Dark-skinned and ordinary-looking when he first enters the Mo Residence 10.
• Initial presentation: A young man whose eyes scan the room before he bows, immediately displaying his caution 10.
• Shopkeeper disguise: Later poses as an elderly, apparently dull-witted shopkeeper under the surname Song 80 84 88.
• Infiltration disguise: Enters the Covering Moon Sect disguised as a member of an affiliated faction helping with wedding preparations 147.

Personality

Han Li places cultivation and longevity above wealth, beauty, and social obligations. When Mo Caihuan first offers him Spirit Stones, he insists on exchanging pills rather than accepting a favor. At the Green Bamboo Pavilion, he restrains his curiosity about her survival because cultivation still takes priority 12 80 87.

His vigilance stems from Mo Juren’s attempted possession and the need to conceal the Little Green Bottle. He usually acts alone, keeps reserves when dealing with strangers, and avoids unnecessary attention. Even as a Miaoyin Sect Guest Elder, he rarely participates in its activities 52 84 133.

His caution does not prevent anger. At Mo Juren’s mourning hall, he bluntly rejects accusations of betrayal and threatens the household, believing that he acted in self-defense. Once Mo Caihuan reveals her connection to a cultivator, he immediately moderates his behavior 11.

Family remains an emotional vulnerability. During the Void Sky Hall’s illusions, images of beautiful women barely affect him, but his younger sister’s appearance leaves him wavering. He recognizes the loneliness created by choosing cultivation over family and regains control before it becomes a greater danger 95.

His attachment to Nangong Wan can override his crowded cultivation schedule. After hearing of her impending marriage, he abandons other priorities to find her, but still chooses covert infiltration over a suicidal public confrontation 146 147.

Abilities & Skills

Alchemy and Resource Cultivation

Han Li turns rapidly matured herbs into pills and cultivation resources through the Little Green Bottle 12 13.

• Refines medicines for illness and poisoning, as well as pills that increase magic power 12.
• Produces his own Foundation Establishment Pills to offset poor aptitude and inadequate sect support 12 21.
• Trades high-grade herbs for Spirit Stones, financing experimentation and additional skills 13.
• Grows rainbow skirt grass to attract demon beasts, allowing him to hunt them in large numbers 74.

Great Evolution Art and Divine Sense

The Great Evolution Art strengthens the divine sense needed to direct his puppets and insect swarms 74 80.

• Reaches the third level before emerging as a Core Formation cultivator 74.
• Returns to ordinary society while working toward the fourth level 80.
• Resists the Void Sky Hall’s illusions, although his attachment to his younger sister still unsettles him 95.
• Possesses divine sense exceptional enough for Marquis Nanlong to recruit him despite his being only at Early Nascent Soul 146.

Flying Swords and Evil-Warding Divine Thunder

His seventy-two Green Bamboo Cloud-Swarming Swords are forged from golden thunder bamboo and carry Evil-Warding Divine Thunder 88 98.

• Kills Profound Bone, who underestimates how much divine thunder the complete sword set contains 98.
• Wraps Heavenly Blue Ice Flame in divine thunder, containing it for storage in a Jade Box 98.
• Disperses the malevolent specters surrounding Nangong Que’s Blood Demon Sword attack 148.
• Searches for geng metal to further upgrade the swords after reaching Nascent Soul 146.

External Incarnation

Using the Profound Yin Scripture obtained from the Yue emperor, Han Li learns the External Incarnation ability and turns Qu Hun into an incarnation 78.

• Raises Qu Hun to Core Formation before his own breakthrough 74 78.
• Has Qu Hun travel ahead of him when the incarnation’s cultivation exceeds his own 78.
• Uses their combined presence as two Golden Core cultivators to improve his safety while seeking heavenly thunder bamboo 78.

Formations and Restrictions

Han Li understands traditional formations and can break ancient restrictions, but has not invented formations himself 87.

• Benefits repeatedly from Xin Ruoyin’s Formation Essentials when surviving danger and searching for treasures 54.
• Seeks Xin Ruoyin’s assistance with a damaged teleportation array 26.
• Breaks the painting-scroll space’s magic array before escaping with Yuan Yao 99.
• Tests Mo Caihuan’s pill flame formation and finds it more stable than true flame or earth fire 87.

Escape Techniques and Soul Searching

Han Li relies heavily on mobility to survive stronger opponents 59.

• Uses Wind-Thunder Wings to evade Mo Caihuan’s physically powered charge across the Covering Moon Sect’s hall 148.
• Knows the Soul Searching Technique and plans to use it on a sect disciple to locate Nangong Wan 146.
• Cannot normally use magic power in the Netherworld Land; Mei Ning’s spirit communication qi temporarily restores his access to it 103 104.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Little Green Bottle / Heaven-Palm Bottle — Produces liquid that accelerates medicinal herb growth and revives damaged plants. It also matures heavenly thunder bamboo into golden thunder bamboo. Broader descriptions attribute Creation Crystal Grain production, stellar-power gathering, and strengthened time-travel capabilities to it 12 42 52 88.
• Seventy-Two Green Bamboo Cloud-Swarming Swords — Golden thunder bamboo swords bearing Evil-Warding Divine Thunder; central to his victory over Profound Bone 88 98.
• Warm Sun Jade — Obtained from Mo Caihuan to remove the Yin Poison in his body 11.
• Yellow Maple Valley Ascension Token — Allows him to join the sect directly instead of competing for admission through the dangerous Ascension Conference 12.
• Void Sky Cauldron — Acquired with Profound Bone’s help; its seizure makes Han Li a likely target for Nascent Soul treasure hunters 98.
• Heavenly Blue Ice Flame and Jade Box — Captures the dangerous flame with divine thunder and stores it in the box 98.
• Ten Thousand Year Spirit Milk — Obtained through Yuan Yao; rapidly replenishes magic power and improves his endurance 99.
• Wind-Thunder Wings — Acquired before his entrapment in the Netherworld Land and later used against Mo Caihuan 103 148.
• Supreme Wood Spirit Infant — Taken from the Spirit Controlling Sect and used to refine a second Nascent Soul 146.
• Thousand-Heavy Peak — Used to attack Mo Caihuan when she refuses to surrender the Heart-Trapping Technique token 148.
• Thunderbolt Beads — Mo Caihuan’s bulky nuclear bombs, which he agrees to stock at his shop and considers useful additional trump cards 80.

Spirit Creatures & Companions

Relationships

• Mo Juren — Master in medicine and cultivation, later an enemy when he attempts to seize Han Li’s body. Han Li maintains that killing him was self-defense 11.
• Mo Caihuan — Junior martial sister through Mo Juren. Their relationship develops from a tense interrogation and pill exchange into nearly twenty years of business cooperation; they later fight over the token restricting Nangong Wan 11 12 88 148.
• Nangong Wan — His first intimate partner and the woman he refuses to see married to Weilichen. They confirm their feelings privately and agree to elope 21 146 147.
• Li Huayuan — Yellow Maple Valley master who takes half Han Li’s trial herbs, later sends him to protect a friend’s descendants in the capital 21 26.
• Xin Ruoyin — Formation expert whose repairs and writings repeatedly help him survive. After reaching Nascent Soul, he fulfills his promise to avenge her by destroying her enemies 26 54 146.
• Zi Ling — Miaoyin Sect leader who provides heavenly thunder bamboo and recruits him as Guest Elder. He repays her assistance by helping her through the Void Sky Hall’s first trial; she credits him with saving her life repeatedly 78 92 115.
• Mei Ning — Restores his magic power in the Netherworld Land in exchange for help finding her brother. She hopes to become his Dao Companion, but he turns her down 104 115.
• Yuan Yao — Gives him the Soul-Howling Beast; he later helps her obtain soul-nurturing wood and gains spirit milk through their cooperation 99.
• Patriarch Extreme Yin — Forcibly accepts him as a disciple in the Void Sky Hall because his Blood Jade Spider is useful 75 95.
• Profound Bone — Extreme Yin’s master and thus Han Li’s nominal grandmaster. Helps retrieve the Void Sky Cauldron, then attacks Han Li for his treasures and is killed 98.
• Wang Chan — Ghost Spirit Sect young master who nearly kills him earlier in his career. By the Mulan expedition, Han Li has reached Nascent Soul while Wang Chan remains at Core Formation 23 146.
• Mu Peiling — Falling Cloud Sect elder under whom he works while infiltrating the sect; becomes attracted to him after his Nascent Soul advancement 146.
• Liu Yu — Spirit Controlling Sect disciple who pursues him over the Supreme Wood Spirit Infant, then remains at Falling Cloud Sect as his concubine in name 146.
• Younger sister — A lasting source of familial attachment; women resembling her can evoke his sympathy even when they are enemies 95.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Mo Residence and Entry into the Cultivation World

• Presents himself at the Mo Residence, where hidden writing in Mo Juren’s letter exposes his connection to the master’s death 10.
• Explains the failed possession attempt and receives the Warm Sun Jade 11.
• Exchanges medicinal pills for twenty Spirit Stones rather than accept Mo Caihuan’s investment as a gift 12.
• Enters Yellow Maple Valley through an Ascension Token, then gathers trial herbs and manufactures pills to pursue Foundation Establishment 12 21.

Demonic Invasion and the Yue Capital

• Escapes the Yan family’s blood sacrifice and Wang Chan’s pursuit before being assigned to defend a spirit mine 23.
• Discovers a broken teleportation array underground and seeks Xin Ruoyin’s repair expertise 26.
• Kills the Yue emperor with a formation and destroys the Black Fiend Cult, losing two senior martial brothers in the battle. His victory creates the opening Mo Caihuan uses to take the capital 26.

Tianxing City and the Green Bamboo Pavilion

• Emerges from sixty years of seclusion as a Core Formation cultivator and secures heavenly thunder bamboo through the Miaoyin Sect 74 78.
• Meets Mo Caihuan again while posing as Shopkeeper Song; her unchanged appearance and name astonish him at age 128 79 80.
• Spends twenty years observing Tianxing City’s changing ideas while tempering his heart and gathering artifact materials 84 87.
• Closes the pavilion, accepts Mo Caihuan’s hundred-spirit-crystal farewell gift, and returns to seclusion to forge his seventy-two swords 88.

Void Sky Hall and the Netherworld Land

• Helps Zi Ling through the first trial, resists the hall’s illusions, and proceeds under Extreme Yin’s forced discipleship 92 95.
• Seizes the Void Sky Cauldron, kills Profound Bone, and captures Heavenly Blue Ice Flame 98.
• Cooperates with Yuan Yao in the painting-scroll space and obtains spirit milk before leaving the hall 99.
• Later enters the Netherworld Land through the Ghost Mist. With Mei Ning’s help, he regains magic power and escapes alongside her and Zi Ling, returning to the Heavenly South and joining Falling Cloud Sect 103 104.

Nascent Soul and Nangong Wan’s Elopement

• Advances to Nascent Soul, repays old obligations, pursues sword-upgrade materials, and explores the Mulan Grasslands with Marquis Nanlong 146.
• Learns that Nangong Wan will marry Weilichen and infiltrates the Covering Moon Sect before the ceremony 146 147.
• Confirms Nangong Wan’s feelings, but must obtain the token controlling her Heart-Trapping Technique before they can leave 147.
• Refuses Mo Caihuan’s demand for additional payment and attacks her. Her unexpected speed forces him to use Wind-Thunder Wings; the supplied passage ends during their fight 148.

Notable Quotes

“Then let me trade some pills for them.” 12

“I only know that she is the person I care about. Other matters have nothing to do with me.” 148

Trivia

• Mo Caihuan recognizes Han Li as the protagonist of A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality and uses her knowledge of that story to anticipate his opportunities 2 10 75.
• She initially declines the Miaoyin Sect’s Void Sky Hall expedition partly because she fears disrupting his eventual ascension and its cause and effect 87.
• The account identifies the Little Green Bottle as a gift from Han Li from another timeline 51.
• References to his later Great Ascension cultivation and Spirit Realm techniques concern the original story or anticipated future, not his realm during the latest supplied events 129 136 143.