Chapter 1666: Extortion

Following that experiment he’d just conducted, he no longer had any doubts about the information in the jade badge, so he could only allow the Weeping Soul Beast to slowly absorb the true Kirin essence.

The Weeping Soul Beast was his spirit beast, so if it could experience a drastic enhancement in power after absorbing the true Kirin essence, then that was naturally worthy of celebration as well.

At the very least, it was much better than having the true Kirin essence appear several hundred years from now, then fall into someone else’s hands.

With that in mind, Han Li’s mental state gradually reverted back to tranquility after the emotional rollercoaster of elation followed by dejection that he’d just gone through.

Thus, he stowed the Weeping Soul Beast away into his spirit beast bracelet, then flipped a hand over to produce an ordinary-looking azure jade vial.

The vial seemed to be quite mundane and nondescript, but it was shimmering with faint azure light, and there were several restriction talismans plastered over its opening.

Han Li tossed the vial into the air before rustling a sleeve, and a dozen or so formation flags flew up into the air from within.

He then began to chant something before pointing a finger at the formation flags, and they all vanished into thin air as a dozen or so streaks of lights of different colors.

A faint yellow light barrier appeared within the secret chamber, and there were runes of different sizes hovering all over its surface.

Han Li had set up a small formation that had also encapsulated himself within it.

After doing all that, he blew gently toward the azure jade vial, and a gentle breeze swept forth.

The restriction talismans plastered over the opening of the vial were all removed by the gentle breeze, and a burst of faint spiritual light could be seen shimmering inside the vial. Han Li raised a hand and made a grabbing motion toward the jade vial, tipping it upside-down to release a strange colorful object.

This was a humanoid object that was around several inches in size, but it was completely motionless, as if it were a miniature colorful humanoid puppet.

Even though the puppet-like object wasn’t moving at all, Han Li still didn’t dare to get complacent. He began to chant something before casting several incantation seals toward it in quick succession.

Spiritual lights of different colors flashed from all over the humanoid puppet’s body, following which it swelled drastically in size, reverting back to its original form in just a few flashes.

This was a humanoid creature that was around 20 feet tall with a vibrant green face, but limbs that consisted of four purple roots.

It was none other than the immortal zoysia that Han Li had unintentionally run into in the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges.

At this moment, there were runes of different colors all over its body, and it had been completely restricted. Its eyes were tightly shut, and it seemed to have entered a deep slumber.

Han Li’s eyes narrowed slightly as he appraised this immortal zoysia with an intrigued look on his face.

It was no wonder that he was displaying such a reaction.

Han Li had witnessed spirit medicines that had taken on sentient forms in the past, and his own Ninecurl Spirit Ginseng had even manifested an extremely life-like white rabbit.

However, this immortal zoysia had manifested its entire body into an alternative form, and it was a humanoid form. This was not something that a spirit medicine of the Ninecurl Spirit Ginseng’s caliber could compare with.

Even so, he didn’t immediately awaken this immortal zoysia. Instead, he flicked a finger, and a thin streak of sword Qi shot forth from within his sleeve before circling around one of the immortal zoysia’s purple root-like limbs.

Azure light flashed, and a small gash was immediately inflicted onto the limb. A few drops of white liquid dripped out of the small gash, and a rich medicinal aroma wafted throughout the entire chamber.

Han Li’s eyes lit up as he raised his other hand to hurl forth a thumb-sized vial that he’d already prepared in advance.

At the same time, he opened his mouth to expel a burst of azure light, and the azure light swept up the drops of white liquid dripping down from the immortal zoysia’s limb, then carried the liquid into the small vial without wasting even a single drop.

At this moment, faint purple light flashed from the immortal zoysia’s limb, and the gash instantly healed as if it had never existed at all.

However, Han Li seemed to have anticipated that this would happen, and he wasn’t surprised to see this.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

After that, he raised a hand, and a burst of invisible power drew the small vial containing the white liquid into his grasp, and he held the vial under his nose before taking a whiff.

"What pure spiritual power!" Han Li murmured to himself, and despite what he was saying, he didn’t actually seem to be overly surprised.

Meanwhile, he made a grabbing motion with his other hand, and a ball of silver light surfaced over his other palm, and the ball of light transformed into a round bowl that was around half a foot in size in a flash.

The surface of the object was shimmering with silver light, and there were extremely beautiful and intricate patterns engraved onto it, thereby indicating that it was no ordinary bowl. Han Li tipped the small vial into the bowl without any hesitation, and a drop of white spirit liquid dripped out from within.

After that, Han Li swept a sleeve toward the ground, and his storage bracelet flew out from within before expelling a swath of light.

As the light swept along the ground, a series of boxes, vials, and other containers of different shapes and sizes appeared.

Han Li swept his gaze through the line of containers before making a grabbing motion toward one of the jade boxes.

The lid of the box flew off of its own accord, following which a thin stream of blue spirit liquid flew out from within before landing in the silver bowl.

In the next instant, another vial rose into the air and also flew directly toward the silver bowl.

Almost eight hours later, the entire secret chamber was filled with a rich medicinal aroma, and Han Li had blue light flashing through his eyes as he inspected the silver bowl in his hand in a completely motionless manner, as if he were completely absorbed by its contents.

After a long while, a wry chuckled sounded inside the secret chamber, and silver light flashed from Han Li’s hand as the bowl abruptly disappeared.

"Looks like this immortal zoysia’s spirit blood can serve as quite an extraordinary pill refinement ingredient, but that alone definitely doesn’t make it worthy of so much interest to a Body Integration Stage being, so it looks like it must have some kind of alternative use," Han Li murmured to himself with a contemplative look on his face.

As soon as his voice fell, he turned his attention to the immobilized immortal zoysia again.

He stroked his chin for a moment before suddenly flicking his 10 fingers in quick succession, and several tens of silver threads shot forth before disappearing into the immortal zoysia’s body in a flash.

After that, Han Li withdrew his hands into his sleeves again and silently appraised the immortal zoysia.

Moments later, a faint layer of purple light suddenly surfaced over the immortal zoysia’s body, and its eyelids fluttered before it slowly opened its eyes, upon which it immediately met Han Li’s gaze.

Its eyes were of a faint green color, there was a piercing silver light shimmering with its pupils that created quite a peculiar sight to behold.

"Looks like I was still captured after all. Can you tell me where this is?" Much to Han Li’s surprise, the immortal zoysia wasn’t shocked or enraged in the slightest. Instead, it was speaking in a calm and collected manner, as if it were conversing with a normal stranger, rather than its captor.

A hint of a smile appeared on Han Li’s face upon seeing this, and he truthfully replied, "This is Cloud City, which is not far away from the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges. Looks like you must’ve attained intelligence long ago for you to still be so calm in this situation."

The immortal zoysia was silent for a moment before replying, "What can I do aside from remain calm in this situation? If I beg for my life, would you release me?"

"That’s true. A spirit medicine like you that is able to manifest a human form is extremely rare, even in the context of the entire Spirit Realm, so of course I won’t be releasing you," Han Li replied with a smile and a nod.

A hint of surprise flashed through the immortal zoysia’s eyes at the sight of Han Li’s calm demeanor, but it then glanced at the limb that Han Li had inflicted a gash on earlier, and it harrumphed coldly before closing its eyes, seemingly not wanting to communicate with Han Li any further.

However, Han Li remained unfazed as he continued, "I’m quite curious; aside from using you as an ingredient to refine pills, what other purposes can you serve? There must be something else. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many high-grade beings that are so desperate to capture you."

A hint of a derisive sneer appeared on the immortal zoysia’s face upon hearing this, but its mouth remained firmly shut.

"Seeing as you’ve attained sentience and intelligence, you must have a soul already; you wouldn’t want me to use a soul search technique, would you?" Han Li sighed.

"A soul search technique? If you think you can get the information you want by using such a technique, then be my guest," the immortal zoysia chuckled coldly.

Han Li’s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

In the Spirit Realm, there weren’t many soul locking secret techniques like the one enclosed within the Provenance True Devil Arts, but there certainly wasn’t a shortage of such secret techniques, either. This immortal zoysia clearly lived for countless years, so it wasn’t all that surprising that it had mastered such a technique.

Even as these thoughts ran through his mind, his expression remained completely unchanged, so it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

"It’s alright if you don’t tell me. After all, I can refine some top-grade pills using your body as an ingredient anyway. However, from what I’ve heard, the souls of spirit beings like you are very useful to some cultivators who are using certain special cultivation arts and secret techniques. I don’t know how many years it took you to develop such a high level of intelligence, but if I were to hand you over to one of those aforementioned cultivators, all of your efforts would go to waste," Han Li suddenly mused.

"You’re threatening me!" The immortal zoysia shuddered slightly before opening its eyes with a cold expression on its face.

"I wouldn’t call that a threat. It’s just that I took a great risk venturing into the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges, and I certainly don’t want the risk I’ve taken to be all for nothing," Han Li chuckled in a completely emotionless manner.

A cold silver light flashed through the immortal zoysia’s eyes, and it asked, "If I tell you, will you release my soul? How are you going to make me believe you?"

"Releasing your soul is naturally out of the question. It would be troublesome for me if you were to possess someone and seek revenge on me or be captured by someone else and reveal to them information about me. However, I can give you a final release so you can be reincarnated again someday. As for whether you believe me or not, do you have any other choice?" Han Li said with a smile.