Chapter 715: Han Shi’s Awakening

Chapter 715: Chapter 715: Han Shi’s Awakening

"As expected, it still has flaws..."

Xu Yunfan’s gaze was focused as he recorded the various problems with this newly refined Profound Mirror. For a moment, he was a bit overwhelmed.

The Artifact Refining Dao was inherently complex. It required understanding and verifying the principles of the heavens and earth, then applying that knowledge to the crafting of artifacts. The many interconnected Array Patterns on a Magical Treasure had to be tested one by one, seeking stability and the ability to exert ten or even a hundred times its base power.

Inside the passage to the Netherworld, just as the cracks were about to spread to the core and Han Shi’s physical body was on the verge of its limit, Xu Yunfan finally intervened again.

He channeled his Divine Sky Magical Power from afar, and the Purple Gold Thunder Gang reappeared, once again yanking Han Shi back from the brink of collapse in the nick of time.

Han Shi crashed to the ground, looking even more battered than the last time. He even had a few new cuts on his body, sliced open by the turbulent currents within the passage.

He stared at the fragments of the Ancient Mirror in his hand, which had shattered once more, leaving only its frame. He couldn’t even muster an angry expression; he just gazed blankly, his eyelids lowered, not saying a word.

However, Xu Yunfan could clearly sense the rage continuously building within Han Shi’s heart.

His clone, Han Shi, was formed from the accumulation of his negative emotions. The same was true for Wukong.

However, due to the influence of the Puchen Pure Land, Wukong had spent years studying the scriptures and had been enlightened by a Bodhisattva, which had erased much of his demonic nature. Otherwise, he would have been even more vicious than Han Shi.

Xu Yunfan, of course, paid Han Shi no mind. He methodically collected the fragments and continued his analysis and deductions, then made targeted improvements.

The data from failure was just as precious.

Time flowed by in a cycle of repeated failures.

Although he had the assistance of the Attribute Panel and had reached the Perfection Level in the Artifact Refining Dao, developing a new Magical Treasure still required honest, painstaking debugging.

Even so, with the information prompts from his Attribute Panel, Xu Yunfan’s progress was already moving at rocket speed compared to other Artifact Refining Grandmasters.

In the time that followed, Xu Yunfan consumed vast amounts of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Materials, constantly refining new Destiny-Defying Profound Mirrors and then shoving them at Han Shi to enter the Netherworld.

On the third attempt, cracks appeared on the mirror’s surface at the junction between the frame and the Reincarnation Stone’s Dao Patterns. The new mirror held out until a deeper point than where it had disintegrated last time. Xu Yunfan recalled Han Shi just before his Sword Body could be deeply corroded by Death Qi.

On the fourth attempt, the energy coupling issue with the North Nether Profound Crystal on the mirror’s back was greatly improved. However, the Dragon Scale Pattern on the surface proved drastically ineffective against a peculiar Soul-Eroding Yin Wind and shattered almost instantly. Han Shi’s Divine Soul suffered a heavy blow, and Xu Yunfan had to use the power of the Star Spirit Banner to barely protect its core and pull him back. Han Shi spent a full month recuperating.

The fifth time, the sixth time...

Han Shi was completely numb.

He was like a walking corpse, utterly incapable of resistance. He could only single-mindedly continue to accumulate his Fury Killing Sword Intent, hoping that one day he could strike Xu Yunfan down with a single slash.

When Xu Yunfan handed him the sixth improved version of the Destiny-Defying Profound Mirror, he didn’t even make any unnecessary movements. He just took it mechanically, turned, and walked toward the Nether Gate.

His eyes had lost all their light.

Whether the Destiny-Defying Profound Mirror shattered or survived, whether he lived or died—none of it seemed to matter to him anymore.

He was just a tool, executing commands after they were given.

Of course, Xu Yunfan wasn’t bothered. This Han Shi was very cunning; he appeared numb on the surface, but the curses in his heart had never stopped for a single moment.

His Divine Thought was tightly locked onto Han Shi through the Attribute Panel.

This time, an unprecedented gravity and anticipation flickered in his eyes.

Every previous failure was a stepping stone to success.

The panel had accumulated a thick stack of deduction data on Life and Death Reincarnation and the reversal of Yin and Yang. His Daoist Cultivation Value had also quietly increased by a fair amount from this process of probing the limits of the Great Dao Laws.

The sixth time he entered the passage to the Netherworld.

The turbulence was as violent as ever, the yin chill even more intense.

Han Shi numbly injected his Magical Power.

The new version of the Destiny-Defying Profound Mirror hummed. The Runes on its back lit up in sequence, and the seven North Nether Profound Crystals emitted a stable and coordinated reversal power.

The Qiu Long scale pattern on the mirror’s surface no longer just glowed simply; it seemed to come alive. As the tiny scales opened and closed, they cleverly guided and dispersed the incoming spatio-temporal turbulence.

The illusion simulating the True Spirit Returning Ruins achieved an astonishing degree of compatibility with the surrounding violent fluctuations of the Netherworld’s Laws, almost merging into one.

No cracks appeared.

The barrier was as steady as a rock.

The violent turbulence and bone-chilling Death Qi battered the barrier like waves crashing against a reef—fierce, but unable to shake its foundation.

Han Shi felt an unprecedented stability. The terrifying pressure from the outside world was perfectly isolated and neutralized by the seemingly thin curtain of light.

For the first time, a flicker of astonishment rippled through his numb gaze. He subconsciously looked down at the dark, heavy Ancient Mirror in his hand.

It was emitting a gentle yet resilient clear light, faithfully fulfilling its duty.

In the Divine Sky Palace, Xu Yunfan stared intently at the constantly refreshing data prompts on the Attribute Panel in his vision.

The data stream on the Attribute Panel was smoother than ever before.

’Destiny-Defying Profound Mirror Structural Integrity: 99.9%...’

’Simulated Law Fluctuation Compatibility: 99.5%...’

’...’

Success.

At this moment, even Xu Yunfan’s heart, usually as still as an old well, rippled with clear joy, like a stone tossed into a lake.

Through Han Shi’s perspective, he saw that Han Shi had steadily passed through the final and most dangerous core layer of turbulence in the Netherworld passage. The marker had landed firmly in the blood-red area representing the Netherworld.

’Life and Death Reincarnation, the reversal of Yin and Yang... this technique is truly profound and limitless!’

Xu Yunfan thought to himself as the comprehension progress bars for the Daos of Yin and Yang, and Life and Death, on his Attribute Panel clearly jumped forward. His Daoist Cultivation Value also ticked up slightly again.

Among all things in heaven and earth, a lone yang cannot give birth, and a lone yin cannot grow.

This was not just the successful creation of a Magical Treasure; it was an advancement in his understanding of the Great Dao Laws.

Joy flickered in his eyes, and his desire to probe and learn from the White-haired True Daoist, who was deeply versed in this Dao, grew stronger.

’If I get the chance, I must have Han Shi spar with that White-haired True Daoist a few more times.’

’That Dao of Life and Death Reincarnation would be of great benefit to my practice of the Great and Small Circulations.’

Now that Han Shi’s physical body had successfully entered the Netherworld, it meant that through the strong control link of the Cloud Scripture Incarnation Technique, Xu Yunfan could use this Innate Sword Body as a vessel in critical moments to project Divine Sky Magical Power from afar, temporarily unleashing combat power far exceeding the Foundation Establishment Level and on par with a Golden Core cultivator.

This undoubtedly increased his trump cards for the contest in the Netherworld and his confidence in facing the White-haired True Daoist.

As for Han Shi, when the suffocating tearing force of the passage suddenly vanished, he found himself standing on solid ground.

Beneath his feet were cold reefs, dark red like congealed blood. The air was thick with the cloying stench of blood and a bone-deep, yin-cold silence.

Before him was a boundless ocean of churning, bloody waves.

The Sea of Suffering Reincarnation.

The bloody waves crashed against the reefs, creating a dull roar like a mournful wail. Within the spray, countless twisted, tormented faces seemed to flash and disappear.

The gloomy, gray sky hung low. There was no sun, moon, or stars—only an eternal, oppressive gloom.