Published: August 15, 2025
Chapter 96: Flaws
When Han Li actually manipulated the dancing gray light, formed from the talisman paper, using the object manipulation technique, he found that although the light was incredibly sharp—able to cut through nearly anything—and could fly to attack enemies at his gestures, there were still some significant limitations in its use.
First of all, driving this gray light was extremely taxing on his magical power!
Someone like Han Li, who had practiced the everlasting spring technique up to the eighth layer, could easily perform the full version of the fireball technique continuously over a hundred times. But when controlling the gray light, his magical power lasted only a brief quarter of an hour before being completely depleted.
Looking back, Han Li realized that Master Golden Light hadn’t simply refused to use the gray light from the start; rather, his limited magical power meant he could barely sustain driving the talisman for any meaningful length of time.
This also explained why the resistance Han Li faced when seizing this item had been so weak. The other party had likely already expended most of their magical power driving the gray light before encountering Han Li, whose magical power far surpassed theirs as fresh reinforcements. Naturally, the dwarf forces collapsed easily, allowing Han Li to seize the item without much trouble.
Besides that, the gray light had another flaw: the distance it could fly to injure enemies was limited. The gray light could only be manipulated freely within a radius of twenty zhang [about 66 meters] centered on Han Li. Beyond this range, it became sluggish and stiff, occasionally malfunctioning. Once it flew more than thirty zhang away, it would completely revert to the talisman’s original form and fall to the ground as dust.
Han Li thought that the first two flaws might gradually improve as his magical power advanced. However, the last problem was a fatal flaw inherent in the talisman itself.
After using the talisman several times, Han Li noticed that the cold light emitted by the small gray sword painted on the talisman paper slowly weakened with each use, as if its lifespan was wearing down. In other words, the talisman had a limited number of uses and duration. Once that limit was reached, the talisman would lose its spiritual essence and effectively die.
This was one of the reasons Han Li immediately stopped practicing the gray light manipulation once he had learned it somewhat. After all, he wanted to save such a powerful tool for a crucial moment. Perhaps this item would save his life during some future crisis.
Similarly, Han Li believed that the golden talisman, which could transform into a golden light shield, probably had the same limitations. Since he did not yet know the incantation to use it, he carefully hid it away for future use.
As for the triangular command token and the Qin Family Genealogy, Han Li studied them during his rest but unfortunately gained no useful insights.
By the fifth day, just as Han Li was taking down the “No Visitors” sign, Li Feiyu burst in excitedly. Upon seeing Han Li, he immediately began recounting the rumors that Han Li had been demonized.
These rumors left Han Li both amused and exasperated. He could only put on a stern face and glare at Li Feiyu, who shamelessly mocked him right to his face.
Eventually, Li Feiyu ceased laughing and slowly toned down his expression. In a serious voice, he said to Han Li, “I suppose you can guess why I came here to see you!”
“Hmm, isn’t it just because those big shots were worried about me and sent you to check my mood?” Han Li replied indifferently.
“Heh heh, good that you know,” Li Feiyu sighed heavily, as if relieved to bear the weight of the task.
“But how do you expect me, your friend, to report back to those guys? You know, they promised to promote me to the hall master of the Outer Blade Hall just to win me over,” Li Feiyu added with a mischievous grin.
Han Li frowned, then muttered quietly after some thought, “It seems that unless I meet Grand Sect Master Wang and the others to clarify some matters, they won’t rest easy.”