Chapter 736: Perplexed |
Despite Yin Chan's befuddlement, he immediately extended a grateful bow as he said, "Please accept my gratitude on behalf of Master Yin Gua, Ms. You Luo."
"There are quite a few Heavenly Yin Soul Nourishing Pills left in this vial. Once the five of them wake up, you can keep the leftover pills. If I recall correctly, you only reached the mid-High Zenith Stage about a hundred years ago, and these pills should be very helpful for consolidating your cultivation base," You Luo said with a smile.
Yin Chan was ecstatic to hear this, and he hurriedly repiled, "Thank you, Ms. You Luo. If you ever need anything from me, I'll for sure be at your service."
There were forty Heavenly Yin Soul Nourishing Pills in the vial, so there should still be close to twenty leftover from what had to be allotted to Han Li and the others, and at the very least, these pills would be enough to save him several thousand years of arduous cultivation.
"Seeing as you made such a kind offer, I'll gladly accept. I'd like to borrow these five once they're awake, and I hope you can help me out there, Chief Warden Yin Chan," You Luo said with a smile.
Yin Chan's expression instantly stiffened upon hearing this, and he wanted to slap himself for making such a reckless promise.
"Is that going to be a problem?" You Luo asked.
"It's not that I'm unwilling to help, the problem is that the five of them are going to be refined into puppets by Master Yin Gua, so if you want to borrow them, I'll have to secure Master Yin Gua's permission first," Yin Chan replied in a careful manner.
"Master Yin Gua must've severely exerted himself by manifesting five Infernal Soul Bugs at once, so he definitely won't be coming out of seclusion for at least a month. I'm only going to be borrowing the five of them for two or three days at most, and as long as neither of us say anything, how is Master Yin Gua going to find out?" You Luo asked with a faint smile.
"Besides, even if Master Yin Gua does somehow find out, surely he wouldn't mind lending the five of them to me, considering I contributed so many Heavenly Yin Soul Nourishing Pills to his cause," You Luo continued.
"That may be true, but Master Yin Gua specifically told me..."
You Luo's expression darkened slightly as she interjected, "I'm borrowing the five of them for a matter concerning the regional monarch, not for myself. If you don't want to help me, then I won't force you to do anything against your will, but if the regional monarch asks about the delay, then I'll have to tell him the truth."
Yin Chan's heart jolted slightly upon hearing this, following which a wry smile appeared on his face as he replied, "In that case, it seems like I don't have much choice in the matter."
"Alright, then I'll leave it to you, Chief Warden Yin Chan," You Luo said as the smile returned to her face, following which she turned to depart.
Yin Chan watched You Luo as she departed, and only after standing in silence for a long while did he heave a faint sigh before making his way into Han Li's cell.
There, he removed the talisman from the black jade vial, then tipped out a small gray pill from within.
After examining the pill carefully to ensure that there was nothing amiss about it, he fed it to Han Li, immediately following which his aura began to stabilize.
After that, Yin Chan repeated the process with all of Han Li's companions before departing.
......
In his unconscious state, Han Li felt as if claps of thunder and flashes of lightning were raging incessantly in his mind, and the intense agony was threatening to tear his consciousness apart.
Is this how everything's going to end?
A sense of despair welled up from the bottom of his heart.
He slowly opened his eyes, and everything felt very blurry and indistinct.
All of a sudden, his dimly lit prison cell began to brighten, and his surroundings also began to transform. The cell gradually disappeared, replaced by an elegantly furnished hall, and there were several pots filled with rare and exotic flowers beside him.
Seated on a wicker chair beside an ornate wooden table in the hall was an indistinct figure who was looking at something with their head lowered.
The figure gradually became clearer in Han Li's eyes, and it was revealed to a white-robed young woman.
"Wan'er!" Han Li called out involuntarily at the sight of the young woman, and she raised her head to reveal a set of beautiful features that had appeared countless times in Han Li's dreams.
It was none other than Nangong Wan!
However, right as he was about to say something to her, his consciousness abruptly shuddered, and everything around him disintegrated into darkness once again, while his body began to descend into a bottomless abyss.
After what felt like an eternity, a surge of warmth suddenly began to flow through his mind, and the excruciating pain in his consciousness rapidly faded away, allowing his fractured mind to piece itself back together.
Before long, the surge of warmth dissipated, and the excruciating pain returned to his mind, but it was already somewhat less potent than before.
Some time later, the surge of warmth reappeared to nourish his mind.
Han Li's consciousness gradually became more and more intact, and finally, after the fourth flow of warmth had surged through his mind, his eyelids fluttered slightly before springing open, and he found himself staring up at the ceiling of his cell.
Even though his consciousness had recovered, his body was still in a state of agony and completely immobile.
Before long, Yin Chan appeared in Han Li's field of view, looking down at him with a surprised expression as he remarked, "Your spiritual sense must be extremely powerful for you to have awakened in just four days."
Han Li wanted to say something, but he was too feeble to utter even a single sound.
"Now that you're awake, I suppose I may as well as feed you this fifth Heavenly Yin Soul Nourishing Pill," Yin Chan said as he tipped a gray pill out of a black jade vial, then fed it to Han Li, who made no effort to resist.
"You're a lucky bunch. If it isn't for these pills, you'd still have to suffer for at least ten more days before you can wake up," Yin Chan chuckled coldly, then quickly departed, exiting Han Li's field of view.
After taking a moment to collect himself, Han Li hurriedly examined his own internal condition, upon which he discovered that all of the restrictions in his dantian and mind were still present.
On top of that, his body and meridians had sustained severe damage, and the shackles on his body rendered him completely immobile.
Han Li paid no heed to his own physical injuries as he hurriedly examined his own soul, upon which a grim look quickly appeared on his face.
His soul was hovering within his consciousness in a stable fashion, so could it be that the Infernal Soul Bug had already completely fused into it?
Han Li couldn't help but shudder slightly at the thought of the Infernal Soul Bug, but he then quickly noticed that something wasn't quite right.
Inside his soul, the Infernal Soul Bug was trapped within several spiritual sense chains, outside of which was a layer of some type of transparent substance.
Whatever the transparent substance was, it seemed to have enveloped the Infernal Soul Bug and rendered it completely immobile.
On top of that, he didn't feel as if his consciousness had been compromised at all, which was naturally a huge relief, but also very perplexing.
Right at this moment, the gray pill that he had just been fed began to melt, and it quickly transformed into a surge of warmth that entered his mind before rapidly spreading outward.
The pain in his mind was instantly significantly alleviated, and he felt as if his soul were basking in a hot spring.
Thinking back to the surges of warmth that had periodically arisen in his mind during his unconscious state, it became apparent to Han Li that this gray pill had been the root cause.
Judging from the effects of the pill, it was clearly extremely precious, and according to Yin Chan, this was already the fifth one that he had been fed, and he couldn't help but wonder why he was being administered such valuable pills.
All of a sudden, Han Li noticed that a series of extremely thin streaks of barely detectable translucent light were being released into his mind, then fused into his soul before reinforcing the transparent light membrane around the Infernal Soul Bug.
A series of thoughts instantly flashed through Han Li's mind upon seeing this, but in the end, he shook his head to rid himself of the train of thought before closing his eyes and taking some deep breaths to steady himself.
Close to half a day later, his eyes abruptly sprang open, and having regained some strength, he was able to slowly struggle up into a seated position.
He took a subtle glance at his surroundings, then raised a hand to his own forehead while feigning a pained expression.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of translucent light flashed over his fingers, and Myriad Soul Herb suddenly appeared in his grasp before being instantly stuffed into his mouth.
After chewing the Myriad Soul Herb a few times, he quickly swallowed it.
Even though his immortal spiritual power had been completely sealed away, rendering him unable to access the Flower Branch domain, the shard of spiritual sense that he had projected into it earlier was able to retrieve some things from within the domain for him.
Right at this moment, the white-haired elderly man in the nearby cell turned to Han Li with a perplexed look in his eyes, while Han Li leaned back against the wall of his cell and closed his eyes in silence.
At this moment, his consciousness was churning violently as all of his spiritual sense was stirred up into a frenzy, relentlessly attacking the black ripples in his mind.
Perhaps it was thanks to the five pills that he had been fed, but his spiritual sense had been further enhanced, and the black ripples were trembling incessantly.
At the same time, bursts of black qi were surging into his mind in a steady stream, and it was none other than the medicinal power of the Myriad Soul herb.
The black qi was giving off immense soul power fluctuations that were only slightly weaker than Han Li's own, but they were extremely violent and untamed, much like a wild stallion that refused to be ridden.
Furthermore, resentful roars could be heard ringing out within the black qi.
Myriad Soul Herbs were found in dark places where deceased spirits converged, and in essence, it was a spirit plant formed by the resentful energy of countless souls. This made it very difficult to absorb its medicinal power to enhance one's soul, and most of its medicinal power was often wasted during this process.
However, Han Li's current objective wasn't to absorb its medicinal power. Instead, he was using it to attack the black ripples in his mind, so this worked out perfectly for him.