Han Li wore a calm expression as he looked on at the scenes unfolding before him, but his heart was churning violently.
However, all of this only lasted for less than a breath of time before it came to an abrupt end. The light around the yellow-robed man's body dimmed again, and the enormous aura he had released also disappeared.
Han Li heaved a long sigh of relief upon seeing this, and a hint of astonishment flashed through his eyes.
The enormous aura that had erupted in that instant had struck him with a hint of fear, and even though he was unable to ascertain just how powerful it was, he was certain that it had truly transcended the True Immortal stage.
With that in mind, Han Li repressed the ripples in his heart and made another hand seal.
However, on this occasion, the yellow-robed man before him didn't react at all no matter what hand seals he made.
Han Li withdrew his hand seal and closed his eyes before releasing his spiritual sense into the yellow-robed man's body.
Moments later, he withdrew his spiritual sense, and he opened his eyes with an indecisive look on his face.
Even though he hadn't come into contact with true immortal puppets before, he was quite familiar with the Dao of puppets, and he had already found the core of this puppet.
Contrary to his expectations, this area was actually empty.
Aside from that, the entire puppet lacked an energy source, and the only reason why it had reacted to his control was most likely due to some residual energy.
According to his estimations, he would need a lot of Immortal Essence Stones to maintain the puppet's normal operations.
Han Li's expression changed slightly at the sight of the puppet, and a thought seemed to have occurred to him.
He flipped a hand over to produce a golden ball, which was none other than the core of Daoist Xie.
Han Li made a hand seal and cast an incantation seal into the ball. Golden light swirled over the surface of the ball, and it transformed into a palm-sized golden crab. The crab held onto its head with its pincers before rising to its feet in a wobbly manner.
The golden crab looked at Han Li with its small golden eyes and asked in a slow voice, "Fellow Daoist Han, what's wrong? You…"
Ever since its return, it had been in a comatose state, and it still appeared to be in a daze.
However, before it could finish speaking, it suddenly stopped and turned around. Its pair of golden eyes stared fixedly at the yellow-robed man not far away.
"Eh … An Immortal Puppet!
Daoist Xie's eyes shone with golden light as he murmured to himself.
As he spoke, it flew up from Han Li's hand and landed on the yellow-robed man's body. It happily crawled left and right and used its pincers to touch him.
Han Li silently watched all of this and did not say anything.
After half an incense stick's worth of time, Daoist Xie stopped and turned to Han Li.
"Friend Han, this immortal puppet's grade isn't low. Where did you get it?"
There was a hint of excitement in his voice.
"It's a long story, but this puppet should be closely related to a sect called the Sacred Puppet Sect," Han Li replied noncommittally.
"I've never heard of the Sacred Puppet Sect," Daoist Xie murmured to himself before turning to appraise the puppet.
"By the way, what do you mean by the Immortal Puppet?" Han Li asked.
"The Immortal Puppet … is actually a strange type of puppet. After a puppet is refined, its power is roughly fixed, and there's a limit to how much it can improve in the future.
However, the Immortal Puppet is different. The power it can unleash is determined by the spiritual sense of the person controlling it, as well as the degree of compatibility with it. To put it simply, it's like a treasure, "Daoist Xie explained.
"I see. Looks like you're quite interested in this puppet, Fellow Daoist Xie; would you like to use it?" Han Li nodded in response.
"This … I haven't done a thorough investigation yet, but this puppet is of the earth attribute. Generally speaking, only those who cultivate in earth-attribute cultivation arts would be able to have a better compatibility with it.
If the compatibility is at its peak, it should be able to unleash the power of an intermediate-stage Golden Immortal, "Daoist Xie replied in a hesitant manner.
"Brother Xie's ability is of the lightning attribute, which means …" Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
"Indeed, this Immortal Puppet is of a different attribute from mine," Daoist Xie replied with a nod.
"I see." Han Li was a little disappointed to hear this.
His spiritual sense was powerful enough, but he wasn't proficient in earth-attribute cultivation arts, so even if he could control this puppet, he wouldn't be able to unleash its full power.
"If I can find a suitable environment and enough resources, there's still hope," Daoist Xie said after a brief silence.
"Let me know if you need anything, Fellow Daoist Xie; I'll do my best," Han Li hurriedly replied.
If Daoist Xie could successfully control this immortal puppet, wouldn't he have an additional Golden Immortal helper?
"First, I need to set up a lightning formation. It's not complicated to set up, but the difficult part lies in the formation core. I need a spirit item that can continuously provide the power of lightning, which is also the key to the success of the modification.
On top of that, I'll need a large sum of Immortal Essence Stones and supreme-grade lightning-attribute spirit stones to maintain the formation to ensure that there's no interruption during the modification process, "Daoist Xie said.
He opened his mouth as he spoke, and a small golden jade slip flew toward Han Li.
Han Li caught the jade slip and injected his spiritual sense into it to find that it contained the method to set up a lightning formation, but it wasn't too complicated for him.
On top of that, maintaining the formation required close to 1,000 Immortal Essence Stones and a large sum of lightning-attribute supreme-grade spirit stones, so it wasn't a difficult task for him at his current level.
"No problem, I'll be able to set it up for you in seven days at most," Han Li replied.
"Looks like you've encountered quite a lot of opportunities after returning to the True Immortal World; I'll be waiting for your good news," Daoist Xie replied.
… …
Several days later.
There were countless purple veined patterns carved into the ground of the secret chamber, forming a large circular formation. The yellow-robed middle-aged man immortal puppet was lying at a certain spot within the formation, and there were eight golden Lightning Wood pillars around it. These were none other than the Lightning Harness Wood.
There were also formation patterns carved into the Lightning Harness Wood, and arcs of purple lightning would flash across its surface from time to time.
There was a groove at the very center of the lightning formation, within which was a purple crystal. This was none other than the Clam Bead that Han Li had obtained from the lightning-devouring Lightning Clam demon beast back when he was traversing the Lightning Storm Ocean.
At this moment, Han Li was standing at the entrance of the secret chamber with Daoist Xie perched on his shoulder.
He made a hand seal, and a series of incantation seals disappeared into the purple Clam Bead at the center of the formation in a flash.
Thunderclaps rang out one after another!
All of the formation patterns on the ground instantly lit up with dazzling light, and countless arcs of purple lightning appeared before rising into the air like dancing lightning snakes.
The entire secret chamber was instantly transformed into a world filled with purple lightning.
"What do you think of this formation, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked Daoist Xie.
Daoist Xie nodded as he pointed at the purple Clam Bead with one of his pincers, and said, "As expected, Friend Han didn't disappoint me. In particular, that crystal at the eye of the needle is quite extraordinary; it seems to be imbued with the power of lightning."
Han Li revealed the origin of the Clam Bead to Daoist Xie.
"Initially, I only had a 30% chance of success, but it looks like I should have a 50% chance now."
Daoist Xie then bent his legs and leaped into the lightning formation as a streak of golden light.
Crackle!
A vast expanse of lightning snakes erupted from the formation, surging toward Daoist Xie's golden body.
Within the golden light, a series of piercing golden arcs of lightning appeared over the small golden crab's body, and it transformed into a golden ball of lightning that descended toward the yellow-robed man's chest.
Lightning flashed, and the golden ball of lightning disappeared into the golden light.
The yellow-robed man's body shuddered slightly, and his skin glowed with a dazzling earthy yellow light. Only his chest was surrounded by arcs of lightning.
The purple lightning within the lightning formation seemed to have been drawn toward the puppet's chest before fusing with one another.
The lightning on the puppet's chest immediately intensified before spreading toward the rest of his body.
The lightning clashed with the earthy yellow light around the yellow-robed man's body, and a series of explosions rang out from time to time, causing the entire secret chamber to tremor violently.
Han Li's expression remained unchanged as he stood at the entrance to the secret chamber, but a hint of anticipation appeared in his eyes.
According to Daoist Xie, the fusion process could take several decades, or even centuries, so there shouldn't be any issues with the abundant lightning power within the Clam Bead. As for Immortal Essence Stones and supreme-grade lightning-attribute spirit stones, he had naturally placed sufficient amounts of them in the formation.
"I hope everything goes smoothly."
Han Li murmured to himself before exiting the secret chamber and closing the door before setting up a restriction.
Not long after, he appeared in another secret chamber and sat down with his legs crossed again.
Now that the matter with Daoist Xie had come to an end, it was time for him to reconsider his current situation.
He had accumulated a considerable amount of Immortal Essence Stones over the years, and barring any mishaps, he should be able to refine enough pills to make a breakthrough.
However, his encounter with the Zhong Luan in the Sacred Puppet Sect had forced him to be more vigilant.
Although he had killed the Zhong Luan, from the memories of the black crane, the matter was far from over.
According to the Zhong Luan, even if he hadn't encountered the Zhong Luan in the Sacred Puppet Sect, the Zhong Luan was planning to come to the Ancient Cloud Continent. In other words, even though he was currently in the Torch Dragon Path, it wasn't completely safe.
The Zhong Luan might be able to find him.