Han Li was greatly surprised by what Di Xue said. Infusing Divine Devilbane Lightning into a complete formation and infusing lightning during the formation engraving process were two entirely different things.

The former was far easier and the latter required step by step coordination. It would require much attention as one would imagine. Could that be the reason why Di Xue was kind earlier?

Han Li still felt uncertain, but his face remained unchanged and he readily agreed.

Di Xue nodded with a satisfied expression in response to Han Li’s respectful display.

He then flew off several steps to the side of the puppet.

He shook his sleeve and summoned a faint red bottle from his sleeve.

Di Xue raised his hand and flicked the bottle.

Its lid opened, shooting out a ball of purple liquid. It circled once in the air before stopping and shining with a faint light.

Di Xue shrouded himself crimson robes, but his eyes turned grave as his hands formed a chain of mysterious incantation gestures.

A strange voice suddenly sounded from behind Han Li, “Fellow Daoist Han, be careful! The set of talisman formation inscriptions will cause wonders to emerge from the puppet. I’ll explain a bit more in a moment. It’ll depend on you how many mysteries you’ll be able to comprehend. The more you understand, the easier it’ll be to cooperate with me.”

In his alarm, he turned around to find another crimson-robed man. He seemed to be there this entire time, but Han Li hadn’t detected his presence.

Han Li cupped his hand and respectfully said, “Many thanks, Senior, for imparting the talisman formation to me. I will be diligent.”

The crimson-robed man waved his hand, signaling hat Han Li should be paying attention to the actions of the other crimson-robed man.

Han Li looked back over and saw that he was holding a different incantation gesture with one hand. He was chopping his other hand at the ball of purple liquid.

A bang sounded and a small fraction of the purple liquid slit off and burst into fist-sized talisman characters, then shooting off towards the huge armor.

In a flash of light, a series of talisman characters disappeared into the armor, but a series of low hums immediately sounded immediately after and the talisman characters reappeared on the armor’s surface.

Seeingly waving his fingers with the weight of a boulder, the talisman characters began to reorganize. In the blink of an eye, they transformed into a three-meter-wide purple outline of the formation.

A few talisman characters repeatedly transformed inside as if they had yet to take shape.

As Han Li was entranced, the crimson-robed man to the side explained, “This talisman formation is called golden engraving. It has no other use than to make the armor more durable, allowing it to withstand attacks from ordinary magic treasures without damage. The formation is divided into three layers. The first layer is...”

As someone with deep attainments in puppet and spell formation techniques, Han Li repeatedly shifted his gaze between the man drawing the formation and one that was giving a lecture. A lecture and demonstration by a Body Integration-grade existence was incredibly rare.

Although Di Xue was only giving a shallow explanation, a few problems that had perplexed Han Li on the topic for ages had suddenly been solved.

In the time it took to finish a meal, Di Xue had finished refining most of the talisman formation and was about to begin solidifying.

The crimson-robed man to the side sullenly said, “Youngster Han, it’s now. You will just have to fuse Divine Devilbane Lightning into the last layer’s formation core.”

Although his voice wasn’t loud, Han Li immediately woke up from his scholarly trance.

He wordlessly flew over and clapped his hands together. Rolls of thunder loudly sounded as bolts of golden lightning were released, causing the nearby scales to shine with golden light.

When the crimson-robed man saw the lightning in Han Li’s side, a trace of astonishment briefly appeared from his eyes.

...

Half a month later, Han Li once again appeared in a secluded room in the Wood Essence Cave.

He sat down on a mat cross-legged and he fiddled with a white jade badge and muttered to himself.

During the month, he spent day and night underneath the Bloodflame Palace and beside the huge puppet, assisting Di Xue through the daunting experience unharmed.

When the time came, Mu Qing arrived at the Bloodflame Palace and led him back.

Although his mind was greatly exhausted from pouring his Divine Devilbane Lightning into the talisman formation day in and day out, Han Li didn’t feel like he suffered a loss.

Let alone anything else, the set of spirit servant refinement methods and the narration of the talisman formation process had benefited him greatly.

And when he departed, Di Xue bestowed him a batch of puppet materials distinctive to the earth abyss and a few rare materials.

Although Han Li knew he had plans in him, he couldn't help but feel satisfied.

However, Han Li hadn’t put further thought into the matter. Instead, he was focused on the badly damaged outer page of the Golden Jade Tome.

The outer page recorded many powerful talismans. Among them, he already comprehended the High Zenith Invisibility Talisman and had several of them on hand.

As for the other three talismans, they were the enemy trapping Nine Palaces Heavenly Talisman, the offensive type Heavenly Halberd Talisman, and the puppet talisman Armor Origin Talisman.

The most powerful and profound of these talismans was the Heavenly Halberd Talisman. Even now, Han Li could only rack his head and leave to the side.

He studied both the Nine Palaces Heavenly Talisman and the Armor Origin Talisman meticulously over the past few years and have comprehended them mostly. There were only a few crucial points that evaded him.

But after the month of guidance from Di Xue, a master of puppets and spell formations, and several days of hard study on the spirit servant refinement methods, he resolved these problems and fully comprehended these two talismans. He was now confident he could refine them.

The materials of the two talismans were incredibly rare. But fortunately, they weren’t priceless or never sold. In Deep Heaven City, he was able to gather many ingredients of the two talismans and he could now make an attempt.

Originally, he would need much more experience before he would be comfortable refining these talismans using his rare and precious materials.

But with the several Body Integration-grade demon monarchs watching him covetously, he didn’t have time to waste.

Because of the matters regarding his Divine Devilbane Lightning, he had several more years of safety. But he had no idea if or when the demon monarchs would change their minds.

Since Han Li tread on the path of cultivation, relied on his own strength to ascend to the spirit realm, and achieved his current cultivation, he had never trusted his safety entirely to destiny.

Thus, he set his mind on refining these two talismans with utmost speed as several lifesaving measures.

Han Li’s expression varied for a long while and his expression became calm.

He slowly closed his eyes and his spiritual sense fused into the jade badge, reading through the talisman’s refinement process from start to end.

After confirming there were no problems, he opened his eyes once more.

He shook his wrist at the air and spirit light flashed. A ball of light flew out and whirled in the air.

It was Han Li’s storage bracelet. He quickly pointed at it.

A gust of wind blew out, carrying an azure mist. It laid out tens of bottles and jars as well as few jade and wood boxes all on the floor.

Among them, he took a white wooden box into his hand and flipped its lid, releasing a sparkling silver object.

Han Li drew back his fingers, causing it to flicker in front of him where it stopped. It was a delicate beast hide that seemed as smooth as silk.

Not only did the hide sparkle with silver light, but natural talisman designs of various sizes shined from its surface in a gorgeous display.

This was an optimal material for refining puppets, a beast hide of a rare ancient beast by the name of Windfire Beast.

This beast was not only proficient in wind and fire and had the Deity Transformation-stage strength, but it was also fond of Yin-cold and sleep. It would sleep yearlong in dark and moist swamps. It would only wake and leave tracks when it hunted.

Not only would using this beast hide increase the odds of success in refining a puppet talisman, but its might would increase as well. Its value was as high as one would imagine.

At the time, Han Li spent a good deal of effort to acquire many of these hides from various stores in Deep Heaven City in exchange for several myriad year medicine herbs.

Han Li planned on refining the Armor Origin Talisman from the start.

This talisman was like other puppet talismans in that it would turn into a puppet projection when summoned. It would also be granted the cultivation and partial abilities of its user. Its efficacy depended on the talisman quality itself and the cultivation of its controller.

Normally, puppet projection talismans could use only a few abilities and could produce half a user’s strength at most. Rumors had it there were perfect puppet projection talismans that could replicate a user’s entire strength. It is said only the humans of the Heavenly Spirit Region could produce them, but it has yet to be seen.

Naturally, these puppet talismans couldn't be limitlessly duplicated, and only early Spatial Tempering cultivators and below could use them. These talismans also were consumed in a single use, and their projections would disappear once their power was consumed.

As Han Li’s Armor Origin talisman came from the Golden Jade Tome, its might wasn’t comparable to ordinary puppet talismans.

At the level of the Armor Origin Talisman, the puppet projection not only could produce eighty percent of the user’s strength and a majority of their abilities, but it also allowed use for cultivators at early Body Integration stage and below. Its qualities were clear to see.

As such, it would be equivalently more difficult and complex to create than ordinary talismans.

Were it not for the extreme heat and cold flames contained in his Spirit Engulfing flames, he wouldn’t be able to refine them.

Han Li gazed at the beast hide with muddle thoughts before he opened his mouth and spat out a ball of silver flames.

The Spirit Engulfing flames let out a clear cry and soon turned into a foot-long bird. It spread its wings and circled around the beast hide.

When Han Li saw this, he inwardly muttered an incantation. Suddenly, the bird fluttered in circles and rammed into the hide.

With a crackle, the silver flames roiled, wrapping around it.

Within the flames, the beast hide didn’t burn. Instead, the talisman designs seemed to squirm in the flames as if they were alive. It was truly a mysterious sight.