"Why do I feel like I've fallen for a ruse? So be it, I'll tell you what you want to know. It's true that I'm not the artifact spirit of this saber. Instead, I was previously but one of the souls trapped in the saber after I met my demise to it. However, thanks to my lofty cultivation base, my soul wasn't completely assimilated by the boundless resentful energy within the saber.

“Instead, I was able to glean some of the saber's secrets, and that allowed me to survive in this form up to this point," Shi Qinghou revealed.

"Who were you before you were killed, and what was your cultivation base?" Han Li asked as a hint of astonishment flashed through his eyes.

At the moment, his spiritual sense was no weaker than that of late-High Zenith cultivators like Su Liu and Bi She, but even he wasn't able to ward off the boundless resentment within the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber.

However, not only was Shi Qinghou able to do this, he was even able to gain control over the saber, and that was something that Han Li had to be wary of.

"Don't push your luck, you insolent brat! Do you want me to tell you my entire life story and all of the cultivation arts I've used up to this point? I require your help, but that doesn't mean that you can ask for whatever you want from me!" Shi Qinghou said in a cold voice.

Han Li hurriedly cupped his fist in an apologetic salute as he said, "My apologies, Senior. All you have to do is answer the three questions that I raised earlier."

Due to his cautious and inquisitive personality, he reflexively wanted to find out more about Shi Qinghou, but in his haste to do so, he had inadvertently overstepped some boundaries.

Shi Qinghou gave a cold harrumph before replying, "Before I was killed, I was the monarch of a certain region in the Gray Realm, and the person who killed me was Yin Chengquan, the monarch of the Infernal Region."

After revealing all of this, he closed his eyes, unwilling to divulge any more information.

A contemplative look appeared on Han Li's face upon hearing these three answers, and he was silent for a long while before continuing, "Alright, my first condition has been met. My second condition is that I want to set up some restrictions in your body to use as leverage."

"That's fine," Shi Qinghou agreed without any hesitation, not even bothering to ask what type of restrictions Han Li was going to plant in his body.

A hint of surprise flashed through Han Li's eyes, but he then quickly composed himself as he cupped his fist toward Shi Qinghou in an apologetic salute.

"Please pardon my intrusion."

Shi Qinghou drifted out of the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber over to Han Li, who began to chant an incantation, then bit through the tip of his own tongue before spitting out a ball of blood essence.

The blood essence began to squirm like a living creature at his behest, quickly transforming into countless peculiar crimson runes.

At this moment, Han Li's glabella was flashing with translucent light, and several translucent threads shot out from within before fusing as one with the crimson runes, following which all of them vanished into Shi Qinghou's glabella.

A series of crimson patterns instantly emerged on Shi Qinghou's glabella, and they quickly spread over the rest of his body in the blink of an eye.

However, these crimson runes only flashed a few times before fading away, and it was as if nothing had ever happened.

"It's done," Han Li declared.

The restriction that he had just set up was a special secret technique that specifically targeted the soul. It was quite similar to the restriction that he had planted in Mo Guang's body, but on this occasion, he was using his own blood essence as a medium to tie himself and Shi Qinghou together to a certain extent.

With this restriction in place, he would immediately know if Shi Qinghou were plotting against him, but at the same time, he couldn't just harm Shi Qinghou for no reason, either.

This was quite a fair and equal restriction, and it was the ease with which Shi Qinghou had agreed to his conditions that convinced him to plant such a restriction.

"I've already satisfied both of your conditions, so our deal is in effect now, right?" Shi Qinghou asked.

"That's right," Han Li replied without any hesitation.

A faint smile appeared on Shi Qinghou's face upon hearing this, and he flew back into the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber as a streak of white light.

All of a sudden, incredibly bright white radiance erupted out of the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, following which strands of fur-like white light shot forth through the air in all directions.

The surrounding black restriction seemed to have sensed the impending threat, and it also lit up before releasing plumes of black clouds that converged toward the strands of white light.

A fierce clash ensued between the two, and black and white light flashed erratically, with neither one able to get the better of the other.

Right at this moment, a quiet incantation rang out from within the saber, following which it shuddered as bursts of liquid-like white light surged forth before fusing into the stone platform down below along the blade of the saber.

The black patterns on the array quickly turned white, and the clouds of black light immediately began to dim, following which they were pierced through by the strands of white light before vanishing altogether.

The light emanating from the black restriction parted down either side to create an opening that was just wide enough to fit a person, but due to the fact that all of the white light was dedicated to counteracting the restriction, the white light emanating from the saber itself had become quite sparse, and plumes of black mist were beginning to rise up from the saber.

"Pull out the saber! Hurry! I won't be able to keep this up for long!" Shi Qinghou said in an urgent voice.

At this moment, Han Li's entire body was enveloped in radiant golden light, forming a suit of golden armor around him.

He immediately sprang into action without hesitation, shooting through the opening in the black restriction as a streak of golden light before arriving beside the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber and grabbing onto its hilt.

The black light radiating from the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber reared up while spreading outward in all directions to form a dense black halo.

Han Li's right arm and half of his entire body were swallowed up by the black halo, and a burst of incredibly formidable resentful power instantly flooded into his mind along his arm.

However, at this moment, his entire body was enveloped within time law powers, so as soon as the burst of resentful power entered his body, it was severely repressed, only able to advance at an extremely sluggish rate.

Even though the burst of resentful power hadn't yet infiltrated Han Li's mind, it was so immense that Han Li still felt his consciousness churning violently.

He gritted his teeth against the intense discomfort as he channeled all of his immortal spiritual power while hoisting his arm upward in a forceful motion.

A burst of tremendous force erupted out of his arms, causing the nearby space to ripple incessantly.

The entire stone platform shuddered violently, as did all of the black light radiating from the array, and the connective point between the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber and the stone platform was buzzing and trembling violently, but the saber remained firmly in place.

Han Li immediately made a hand seal upon seeing this, and a string of true spirit projections flew out of his body in rapid succession, then flew around him momentarily before vanishing back into his body.

A resounding boom rang out as radiant purplish-golden light erupted out of his body, and he instantly transformed into a purplish-golden devilish deity.

His aura instantly swelled drastically, causing the entire pond to tremble violently, and the devilish deity's eyes widened as it let loose a low roar and tugged on the saber with all its might.

An explosive boom rang out as the connective point between the saber and the stone platform shattered, leaving a huge hole in its wake.

The devilish deity flew back with the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber held firmly in its grasp before crashing into the side of the pond.

With the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber drawn, the black light emanating from the restriction on the stone platform quickly faded, following which the stone platform itself also disintegrated into a pile of loose rocks.

A ball of white light flew out of the stone platform before vanishing into the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber, and the black light emanating from the saber was instantly suppressed.

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Shi Qinghou emerged from the saber amid a flash of white light, and his eyes were glowing with elation as he roared, "Finally, after being trapped in this godforsaken place for so many years, I'm finally free! Yin Chengquan, you'll get what's coming to you for what you've done to me!"

Meanwhile, the devilish deity rapidly reverted back to Han Li's human form, and it observed Shi Qinghou in silence without disrupting him.

Shi Qinghou threw his head back and let loose a thunderous roar, venting all of the fury and indignation that had been accumulating within him for countless years.

Some time later, the excitement on his face slowly faded, and he turned to Han Li with a smile as he said, "My apologies, I've been trapped here for so long that I was unable to suppress my excitement upon being freed."

"It's fine, I can empathize with how you must be feeling," Han Li replied.

"Now that I'm free, let's get out of here. We caused quite a commotion just now, so someone could be coming," Shi Qinghou said.

Han Li nodded in response, then turned his gaze to the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber in his hand. Even though Shi Qinghou had suppressed the resentful energy within the saber, it was still giving off a tremendous aura, and he was trying to think of a way to suppress its aura as well.

Shi Qinghou could see what Han Li was concerned about, and he said, "Those black crystals are Mythical Black Jade, and they're very effective at concealing baleful qi and resentful energy. Make a scabbard out of the material, and you'll be able to conceal most of the Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber's aura."