Chapter 587: Shared

After taking a moment to compose himself, Han Li turned his attention back to the giant rat carcass nearby.

At this point, the baleful qi emanating from it was far sparser than before.

Instead of immediately approaching the carcass, Han Li made a hand seal to reactivate teh array around it, speeding up the process of baleful qi dissipation.

Close to an hour later, all of the baleful qi in the carcass had finally been expelled.

At this moment, the skeleton was looking even more translucent than before, to the point that Han Li could almost see the spiritual power flowing through it.

Han Li inspected his surroundings momentarily before sweeping a sleeve through the air to stow away the carcass and the array tools around it, then began flying back up the ravine as a streak of azure light.

On the stone cliff at the top of the ravine, Jin Tong was pacing back and forth with an anxious expression while occasionally peering down into the ravine.

"Settle down, Jin Tong. I'm sure Master is fine," Xiao Bai said as it laid on the ground with a bored look on its face.

"I can't just sit around and do nothing! There's not much time left until the 20 years run out, yet Uncle still hasn't come out yet. Something must've happened to him! I have to go down there!" Jin Tong decided with a grim expression.

Daoist Xie drifted over to her side to stop her, then said, "I'll go. I'm a puppet, so I'll be less affected by the baleful qi in the ravine."

A grateful look appeared on Jin Tong's face upon hearing this, and she was just about to say something when she suddenly turned her gaze back to the ravine.

A streak of azure light was racing up from down below, and it broke through the dense baleful qi before quickly arriving atop the cliff.

The azure light faded to reveal none other than Han Li, and a displeased look immediately appeared on Jin Tong's face, but before she had a chance to complain to Han Li for his belated return, her expression suddenly changed drastically as she exclaimed, "Uncle! Your cultivation base..."

Xiao Bai and Daoist Xie also approached Han Li, and a stunned look appeared on the former's face as it exclaimed in elation, "Master, you've reached the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage! How?"

"You're certainly never one to disappoint, Fellow Daoist Han," Daoist Xie praised.

"Did you find some treasure down there and eat it without telling me? Is that why your cultivation base suddenly went up by so much?" Jin Tong yelled in an accusatory voice.

However, she then noticed that there was something different about Han Li's physical appearance, and she asked, "Also, why have your eyes suddenly turned gray? They look so cool!"

Han Li's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he raised a hand to conjure up a mirror formed by water vapor.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Sure enough, his pupils had indeed turned gray, giving him a rather similar appearance to Mo Yu.

It looks like Mo Yu wasn't telling me the full truth about the Profound Baleful Spirit Arts, after all,

Han Li thought to himself as he heaved a internal sigh.

Jin Tong was a little concerned by Han Li's silence, and she hurriedly asked, "What's wrong, Uncle? Did something happen?"

"I'll tell you about what happened in the ravine another time. For now, come with me, I found some things that should be of help to you in the ravine," Han Li replied.

"So there really is a treasure down there?" Jin Tong exclaimed as her eyes lit up with excitement.

"But I didn't sense anything..." Xiao Bai mused with a puzzled expression.

"You'll see what it is once we get there. Brother Xie, I'll have to trouble you to keep overseeing the array up here in our absence," Han Li said as he turned to Daoist Xie.

After that, he took another glance at his own reflection in the mirror that he had conjured up, only to discover that his pupils had returned to their original color.

Daoist Xie nodded in response, and Han Li cupped his fist toward it in a grateful salute, then flew back down into the ravine as a streak of azure light, taking Jin Tong and Xiao Bai with him.

Before long, the three of them had all vanished into the baleful qi down below.

After absorbing all of the baleful qi in the giant rat carcass, Han Li had become far more sensitive to baleful qi, and his body's rejection of baleful qi had also diminished significantly.

At the same time, the effect that the surrounding baleful qi had on him had become virtually negligible, and he was even able to control the baleful qi on a very rudimentary level.

Upon returning to the bottom of the ravine, Han Li made his way over to the giant rat carcass, then began making a quick string of hand seals.

A burst of invisible force erupted out of his body to force back the surrounding baleful qi, creating a space that was completely devoid of baleful qi.

After that, he swept a sleeve through the air to release two streaks of light, one golden and one white, and they transformed into Jin Tong and Xiao Bai.

As soon as she appeared, Jin Tong's brows immediately furrowed slightly as she complained, "There's so much baleful qi here..."

In contrast, Xiao Bai's gaze was immediately drawn to the giant rat carcass.

Upon noticing the object of Xiao Bai's fixation, Jin Tong's gaze also fell upon the mountainous green skeleton, and an ecstatic look appeared on her face as she rushed toward it as a streak of golden light.

However, she had only just begun flying toward the carcass when she was pulled back by Han Li.

"Hold on a second! This carcass previously contained a vast amount of baleful qi. Even though the baleful qi has since been eradicated, there's still no guarantee that it won't have a detrimental effect on you, so you should conduct a careful examination before you begin eating," Han Li advised.

"Don't worry about it, this amount of baleful qi isn't enough to hurt me! Let me go, I'll die if I don't eat this thing! After I'm done with it, maybe my cultivation base will go up by a lot as well!" Jin Tong urged in an insistent voice as she wiped away the drool that was flowing down the corner of her lips.

"Can I have some as well, Master?" Xiao Bai asked with a hopeful expression.

"The circumstances are a bit special right now. If eating this skeleton can help Jin Tong make a breakthrough, then we'll stand a better chance against the Gold Devouring Immortal, so I'm afraid we'll have to prioritize Jin Tong for now," Han Li replied.

"Alright..." Xiao Bai sighed in a dejected manner.

"If we can survive this ordeal, I'll make sure to think of some other way to compensate you," Han Li consoled as he patted Xiao Bai on the head.

Jin Tong's attention had been focused on the skeleton this entire time, and her impatience had been mounting by the second. She turned to Han Li with an eager expression as she asked, "Can I begin eating now, Uncle?"

Han Li could only give a resigned nod in response.

Jin Tong was ecstatic, and she immediately sprang forward as a giant golden beetle, digging into the delectable feast that was laid out before her, while Xiao Bai could only watch with an envious expression.

However, not long after Jin Tong began her feast, she suddenly reverted back to her human form, then flew down from the giant rat skeleton, holding a long green bone around the same thickness as a human arm in her hand.

She then flew over to Han Li with a perplexed expression as she said, "Take a look at this bone, Uncle. I almost chipped my tooth when I tried to eat it!"

Han Li accepted the bone from Jin Tong upon hearing this, then began to inspect it closely, upon which a surprised look appeared on his face.

Immediately thereafter, a burst of azure light emerged over his hand as he injected a wisp of immortal spiritual power into the bone, and it immediately began to glow brightly as a rune that Han Li had never seen before appeared on its surface, giving off bursts of powerful spatial fluctuations.

"This is a spatial treasure... Could this be its storage tool?"

Han Li attempted to inject more of his immortal spiritual power into the bone, but all that did was make the bone glow brighter and brighter, and it became as radiant and translucent as a piece of flawless jade, but it displayed no other reaction.

No matter what Han Li tried, all the bone did was glow, and Han Li was unable to refine it, nor figure out what it was meant to be used for.

At this point, Jin Tong had already flown back onto the giant rat skeleton in her golden beetle form.

Some time later, a streak of golden light flew down from the skeleton, then reverted back to Jin Tong's human form, and she wiped the back of her hand over her own lips, then patted her bulging belly as she gave a content burp.

"I'm full. You can have the rest, Xiao Bai," she declared in a generous manner as she pointed at what remained of the skeleton.

Xiao Bai was completely caught off guard by the offer, and Jin Tong gave it a slap on the head as she urged, "What are you waiting for? Hurry up before I change my mind!"

Xiao Bai naturally wanted to take up the offer, but it was still a little hesitant.

"You're one of us, so I can't just have the entire skeleton for myself and leave nothing for you. Besides, this skeleton really is quite filling. Even at the halfway mark, I was already starting to feel a little stuffed.

It's definitely going to take me a while to digest what I've eaten. On top of that, I ate quite a few of your immortal treasures while I was inside your stomach, so this makes up for that," Jin Tong said.

Xiao Bai was very touched to hear this, but it still didn't immediately take Jin Tong up on her offer. Instead, it turned to Han Li for approval first.

"We'll do as she says," Han Li said with a nod, and Xiao Bai was certainly more than happy to oblige, swelling drastically in size before devouring the rest of the skeleton in a single bite.

After that, it reverted back to its original size, while Jin Tong praised, "I have to admit, your ability to swallow anything in one go is really impressive. Even I can't help but feel envious!"

"Alright, focus on digesting the skeleton now," Han Li said with a smile.

"Now that you mention it, I'm starting to feel a little sleepy..."

Jin Tong gave an involuntary yawn as she spoke, then quickly transformed into a tiny golden beetle before drifting down toward the ground.

Han Li reached out to catch her, then stowed her away into a spirit beast pouch.

"Master, that skeleton contained an enormous amount of energy, so I'll have to go into seclusion for a while as well," Xiao Bai.

Han Li nodded in response, then flipped a hand over to produce another spirit beast pouch before stowing Xiao Bai away as well.