All of a sudden, Han Li felt a scorching sensation in his dantian, which then spread through his limbs, meridians, and all over his body to create an extremely comfortable sensation.
Han Li closed his eyes to savor the aftertaste of the wine for a long while before finally praising in a heartfelt manner, "This wine is indeed extraordinary! This is the first time I"ve had such delectable spirit wine."
"Hehe, if that weren"t the case, then I wouldn"t come here every year to beg for wine," Duan Tianren chortled heartily.
"It is a great honor for me that you two enjoy my spirit wine. However, we didn"t invite you here just to drink wine, Fellow Daoist Han," the woman said with a smile.
Han Li"s heart stirred upon hearing this, and he put down his cup as he asked, "I"m also quite curious; why did you and Senior Duan ask me to come here?"
"Seeing as you"ve raised the question, I won"t waste any more time. Fellow Daoist Li, would you be able to roll up that sleeve so I can see your hand?" the woman asked with a peculiar look on her face.
"My hand?" Han Li feigned a surprised expression, but he actually heaved a long sigh of relief internally.
It appeared that these two weren"t after his profound heavenly treasure.
"Indeed, I"d like to see your hand," the woman confirmed as she pointed at Han Li"s sleeve.
"Alright, no problem," Han Li reluctantly agreed after a long hesitation.
He then rolled up his sleeve to reveal his hand, and it appeared to be no different from the average human hand.
The woman"s brows furrowed upon seeing this, following which the crystal on her glabella flashed as a streak of silver light shot forth. The streak of light hurtled through the air at an astonis.h.i.+ng speed, reaching Han Li in the blink of an eye before stabbing down with ferocious might toward the hand that Han Li had just unveiled.
The woman appeared to be quite warm and gentle, but she was attacking without any premonition in a display that completely belied her appearance.
Han Li was completely caught off guard by this attack, and he reflexively spread his fingers apart before grabbing toward the silver streak of light.
The silver light struck his palm with a loud clang, following which the sound of metal grating on metal rang out.
Han Li then grabbed onto the silver streak of light before unfurling his fingers to reveal a silver needle that was several inches in length.
The needle was s.h.i.+mmering with translucent light and trembling slightly in his hand, seemingly possessing extremely abundant spiritual nature.
At this moment, Han Li"s entire hand had already turned a glossy black color as if it had been forged entirely from black iron.
On top of that, a s.h.i.+mmering silver miniature mountain insignia had appeared on the back of his hand, and that was none other than a manifestation of the Divine Essencefused Mountain.
After mastering the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra, the mountain had completely fused as one with his hand, so despite the lethality of the silver needle that the woman had unleashed, there was no way that it would be wound him.
However, Han Li wasn"t triumphant in the slightest to have withstood that attack. Instead, his expression darkened significantly.
In contrast, the Crystal woman was staring at his black hand with undisguised excitement in her eyes, and Duan Tianren also wore an elated expression on his face.
"You really do possess an acquired Essencefused Body. In that case, we"ll be able to achieve our objective!" the woman murmured to herself before raising a hand, and the silver needle escaped Han Li"s grasp before flying back to her.
In the end, the needle disappeared into the crystal on her glabella in a flash.
Han Li took a deep breath to compose himself before asking, "What do you mean by Essencefused Body, Senior?"
"An Essencefused Body naturally refers to someone capable of using the Divine Essencefused Light. Seeing as you"ve fused an Essencefused Treasure with your body, you technically possess an acquired Essencefused Body. Speaking of which, this cultivation art that allows you to fuse a treasure into your body is quite similar in effect to the cultivation art you"re using, Fellow Daoist Duan. The only difference is that instead of treasures, you fuse all types of precious tool refinement materials into your body instead, Brother Duan." The woman seemed to be in very high spirits.
Han Li"s expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but he didn"t ask any questions. He knew that the woman would definitely explain the situation to him anyway, even if he didn"t ask her anything.
As expected, seeing as Han Li wasn"t saying anything, the woman continued, "Even though we"ve essentially confirmed that you possess an Essencefused Body, I still want to see you release your Divine Essencefused Light. You wouldn"t turn down that request from me, would you, Fellow Daoist Li?"
Instead of answering the question, Han Li merely waved a hand before him, and a layer of grey light instantly surfaced to create a light barrier around his body.
The woman"s eyes lit up upon seeing this, and she rubbed her hands together before raising them toward Han Li.
A string of spluttering sounds rang out, following which several crimson fireb.a.l.l.s flew toward him.
Initially, they were only fist-sized fireb.a.l.l.s, but not long after they left her hand, they swelled to the size of human heads, and seemed to be quite powerful as well.
Han Li looked on at these fireb.a.l.l.s and displayed no intent to evade them, merely allowing them to strike his grey light barrier in quick succession instead.
As soon as the fireb.a.l.l.s came into contact with the grey light barrier, they disappeared amid dull thumps like sandcastles in the rising tide, completely vanis.h.i.+ng before they could unleash any power.
"There"s no mistaking it; Divine Essencefused Light combats the power of the five elements. From the ease with which you"re using your Divine Essencefused Light, I can tell that you"ve clearly cultivated it to the maximal extent, and your mastery of it is no less proficient than in those who are born with Essencefused Bodies. What do you think, Fellow Daoist Duan?" The woman clapped her hands with elation before turning to Duan Tianren.
A peculiar light flashed through Duan Tianren"s eyes upon hearing this, and he suddenly made a grabbing motion toward Han Li.
Several large runes flashed from his fingertips, following which a vast expanse of grey light surged forth, sweeping directly toward Han Li.
"Divine Essencefused Light!" Han Li exclaimed with alarm as he looked on at the familiar grey light surging toward him.
He then reflexively made a hand seal, and brilliant light erupted from the grey light barrier around the body as it prepared to withstand Duan Tianren"s Divine Essencefused Light.
Immediately thereafter, the two bursts of grey light flashed amid a string of strange crackling noises.
Even though both bursts of light were grey in color, it was not impossible to tell the difference between the two.
It was quite clear that the color of Duan Tianren"s Divine Essencefused Light was slightly darker, but it was clearly more volatile and unstable, as if he were unable to completely control it as he pleased.
A hint of surprise flashed through Han Li"s eyes, and after a brief pause for contemplation, he suddenly pointed an inky-black finger toward the grey light up ahead. All of the Divine Essencefused Light suddenly converged toward the center to form a large ball of light that rapidly rotated on the spot.
An astonis.h.i.+ng scene then ensued.
The grey light unleashed by Duan Tianren seemed to have encountered a ma.s.sive vortex, and it all disappeared into the ball of light in a flash.
"Alright, that"s enough! Even though Fellow Daoist Li"s Essencefused Body is an acquired one, it"s quite clear that he"s far more proficient in using the Divine Essencefused Light than you are, Brother Duan. Tsk tsk, his level of mastery is no different from that of a being naturally born with an Essencefused Body," the woman remarked with a wide smile.
"Hmph, of course that"s the case. My Divine Essencefused Light is only released from forcibly using my magic power to activate the Essencefused Stones that I"ve fused with my body, so there"s no way it can compare with Fellow Daoist Li"s Divine Essencefused Light. Tsk tsk, speaking of which, your secret art to fuse treasures with your body is quite extraordinary, Fellow Daoist Li," Duan Tianren clicked his tongue with wonder.
"It"s quite fortunate that you fused a large quant.i.ty of Essencefused Stones into my body. Otherwise, you wouldn"t have been able to detect the Essencefused Treasure within Fellow Daoist Li"s body," the woman said with a smile.
Han Li was left a little speechless upon hearing this.
At this moment, Duan Tianren raised a hand to withdraw the Divine Essencefused Light that he"d released, then lowered his arm in a calm manner.
Han Li also made a hand seal to withdraw the silver light around him before asking, "There must be a reason why you hold this ability in such high regard, right, Senior?"
"We do have our reasons, of course. In all honesty, we"ve waited thousands of years for someone capable of wielding the Divine Essencefused Light, but we were still unable to gather enough people, so we"d originally already given up. Who would"ve thought that you"d appear us at this juncture to rekindle our hopes?" the woman replied with an excited gleam in her eyes.
"Gather enough people? Does that mean you found others with the Essencefused Body as well?" Han Li was quite surprised to hear this.
"Of course. We"ll have to tell you everything eventually, so I"ll fill you in now. We have an objective that we want to achieve, and only beings with mastery of the Divine Essencefused Light can achieve it, but one person alone definitely isn"t enough. After searching for thousands of years, Brother Duan and I have found three beings with the Essencefused Body, including yourself," the woman explained.
"The Divine Essencefused Light isn"t a unique secret cultivation art, but it"s most definitely extremely rare, so we weren"t confident at all that we"d be able to gather enough people, but it appears that the heavens have blessed us with immense fortune," the woman continued with a smile.
"Alright, I now understand why I was invited here, but how may I be of a.s.sistance to you, Senior?" Han Li asked with a wry smile.
"That"s quite an important matter, and I can only reveal the specific details to you after discussing some things with Brother Duan. However, one thing is for sure; we"ll need you to do something for us, and we"ll require your services at several years to a century from now," the woman replied.
"What? Several years to a century?" Han Li"s brows furrowed upon hearing this familiar timeframe.
"Is there something wrong, Fellow Daoist Li?" the Crystal woman asked.
Han Li was silent for a long while before a peculiar look appeared on his face, and he asked, "Does this have something to do with the Vast Glacial Realm?"