Mastering the insect-control techniques was no difficult task. For someone of Han Li's current realm and cultivation, comprehending these secret arts was as natural as water flowing downhill, as easy as turning over one's hand.
Yet these techniques had broadened his horizons considerably. Several of the methods for commanding insects in combat, as recorded within, left him clicking his tongue in amazement.
The "Insect Armor Art" in particular had taken a vague notion he'd once harbored and made it a perfect reality.
Previously, though he could command the tri-colored Gold Devouring Beetles to form simple shapes like blades and swords, something as complex as battle armor had been beyond him — several sticking points had remained stubbornly unsolvable.
Now, with the Insect Armor Art's formula recorded on the jade slip, only a little over a month of practice had been enough for him to condense battle armor proficiently.
It was truly incredible!
Still, beneath his excitement, Han Li was privately rather pleased.
He figured that whoever had created the Insect Armor Art could hardly have possessed Spirit Insects as formidable as the Gold Devouring Beetles for condensing insect armor. Its defensive power would naturally fall far short of a true protective treasure. On top of that, insect cultivators were rare to begin with, which was why this technique had never gained much renown.
But once this formula had fallen into his hands, the situation was entirely different.
The tri-colored Gold Devouring Beetles' carapaces were already extraordinarily tough and nearly impossible to shatter. Combined with their remarkable ability to transform and merge, the armor they formed surpassed ordinary protective treasures — a perfect match for his needs.
Besides, once he had fully mastered those newly evolved golden Gold Devouring Beetles with the new insect-control method, he would naturally be able to conjure armor that was a cut above again.
Han Li was utterly confident in this.
And when he thought about the fully mature Gold Devouring Beetles that would eventually emerge from the final stage of evolution, he could hardly contain his excitement.
A good while later, Han Li finally regained his composure.
He ran his hand over the insect armor, pondered silently for a moment, then blew a stream of spiritual energy over it.
The insect armor dissolved and reverted into a swarm of Spirit Insects. With a wave of his hand, Han Li swept them all back into the Spirit Beast Pouch.
He sat down cross-legged again and calmly retrieved a cyan jade slip from his storage pouch — the one Xin Ruyin had left behind.
Cradling it flat in both hands, Han Li narrowed his eyes and quickly submerged his spiritual sense into it.
He bypassed the ancient formations recorded in the earlier sections and went straight to the very end, where the secret formula for the Profound Mother Infant Transformation Art lay.
This technique — he had no idea which ancient demonic-path cultivator had created it — was not only abstruse and profound in its wording, but every phrase contained hidden depth and subtle meaning. Han Li had to ponder it character by character, and the process was agonizingly slow.
It took a full six months before he had penetrated more than half of the technique.
Even so, what he had grasped left him shaken to the core. His admiration for the ancient cultivator who had devised it was absolute.
True, the technique bore a superficial resemblance to the Daoist "One Breath, Three Transformations" secret art. How many real differences existed between them, Han Li had no way of knowing — he had never so much as touched upon the Daoist school's premier mysterious cultivation method.
But this technique was entirely distinct from the ordinary demonic-path "External Avatar" secret arts. It was a genuine, heaven-defying power for creating a true second avatar. Once successfully cultivated, one would possess two completely independent Nascent Souls. Although there was a distinction between primary and secondary, if either Nascent Soul perished unexpectedly, the other could continue to exist unharmed.
The only caveat was that if the primary Nascent Soul was the one that met with misfortune, the second Nascent Soul would suffer a considerable loss of vital energy in order to slowly transform into the primary's existence. But if the second Nascent Soul was damaged, the impact on the primary was almost negligible.
What tempted Han Li even more was that once the second Nascent Soul was successfully cultivated, he could select an excellent cultivator's body and merge it within, forging an avatar.
Once the avatar was complete, it would become a true second existence apart from the main body. Even if the original body dissipated to nothing, as long as the avatar still existed, Han Li would remain alive.
After all, the memories and emotions of both were identical — merely a copy stored within the second Nascent Soul.
This was worlds apart from the Qu Hun clone he had cultivated before.
What he had created back then — the so-called Evil Spirit Pill clone — had been controlled by a mere sliver of spiritual sense split off from Han Li's Primordial Spirit. It possessed no memories or emotions, no autonomous will, and was essentially nothing more than a high-grade puppet.
Not only that, the Qu Hun avatar could not venture too far from Han Li's side. Otherwise, once it moved beyond the range of his spiritual sense, it would lose all capacity to act.
The avatar produced by the Profound Mother Infant Transformation Art, however, was entirely different. Not only could it operate tens of thousands of miles away from its creator without any issue, but in the absence of orders, it could move and cultivate entirely on its own — indistinguishable from any ordinary cultivator.
When Han Li read this, he drew in a sharp breath.
But as he delved deeper into the technique, the jade slip finally began to mention the restrictions and flaws of cultivating it.