Published: August 16, 2025
Chapter 170: Spoils and Seduction
Han Li raised his hand and beckoned to the air. The Greatsword immediately turned around and shot back. When it reached Han Li’s side, it transformed back into the form of a talisman, gently drifting down into his hand.
Just as Han Li was about to catch the Talisman Treasure, the talisman paper suddenly burst into flames with a “sizzle” sound during its descent. Moments later, it turned to ashes and disappeared without a trace, blown away by the mountain wind.
Seeing this, Han Li was momentarily stunned, but then a bitter smile appeared on his face.
This “Talisman Treasure” was completely ruined. Its remaining power had been exhausted in this prolonged stalemate. Han Li, who deeply understood the value of talisman treasures, felt a sharp pang of regret but was helpless.
After all, to kill a formidable enemy like Senior Brother Lu, one had to pay a price—there was no other way! However, the Azure Flood Dragon Banner he carried was a very good spoil, enough to compensate for the loss of the talisman treasure. Not to mention, there were two foundation establishment pills waiting for him to claim!
Thinking of this, Han Li’s heart leapt with joy. He felt this brutal battle was well worth it.
If he could successfully establish foundation by consuming these foundation establishment pills, he wouldn’t need to risk his life by participating in something like the Blood Trial. After all, there must be many strong immortal cultivators like Senior Brother Lu there, perhaps even more difficult to deal with.
After a while, Han Li absorbed the spiritual power from the spirit stones in his hand and felt a slight recovery of his magical power. He stood up and wanted to pick up the Azure Flood Dragon Banner not far from him.
But as soon as he straightened up, a sharp pain erupted from his dantian, as if countless steel needles were stabbing him fiercely. The pain was so intense that Han Li bent over again, his face pale and contorted in agony.
Han Li remained motionless, and after the time it took to drink a cup of tea, he took a deep breath and felt the stabbing pain lessen somewhat.
His expression was gloomy, his mouth twitching slightly.
He knew exactly why this was happening. It was caused by swallowing a large amount of aged spiritual herbs. Although he had absorbed some of the herbs’ spiritual power in time, most of it had clustered in his dantian as foreign matter, mixed with many unclear medicinal impurities. If not removed promptly, it would definitely cause endless trouble.
Han Li was well aware that this method of swallowing spiritual herbs was not advisable and would cause backlash. But at that moment, to save his life, he had no choice but to take the risk. Indeed, this forced absorption of spiritual energy had greatly helped him in this drawn-out battle.
However, merely swallowing herbs wasn’t enough for Han Li to endure until the end. Besides the mid-grade spirit stones providing spiritual power faster than his opponent, another key to his victory was that he canceled his defensive spell—the “Water Shield Technique.”
A couple of years ago, while learning some minor casting techniques, Han Li had inadvertently learned from Wu Feng that most low-level disciples had a misunderstanding when using talismans: they thought the talisman would not consume any magical power except for the small amount activated when the talisman was triggered. This was actually incorrect.
In reality, once a talisman is activated, the spell it casts remains connected to the user by a faint spiritual power thread, allowing the caster to control the spell. As long as the spell remains active, the user’s magical power is continuously and automatically consumed to maintain this spiritual connection.
Because this spiritual thread is invisible and undetectable to disciples in the qi refining stage, and the magical power consumed is negligible over a short time, most disciples ignored this and thus formed this mistaken belief.