Chapter 125: Manifesting an Avatar
The Sea Condensing Crystal displayed no sign of melting at all, but Han Li wasn't surprised to see this. Instead, he was growing a little excited, and he began to chant an incantation before abruptly sweeping his arms through the air.
Dozens of array flags flew out of his sleeves in rapid succession, then arranged themselves in an orderly formation around the array before vanishing in a flash.
In the next instant, a series of balls of dazzling flames emerged in the surrounding area, then exploded one after another, and the red light radiating from the array immediately became around twice as bright as before. Countless red runes surged out of the array, forming streams of red light that fused into the groundfire.
A scorching aura surged forth violently from down below, and the surrounding temperature climbed once again, while the golden coloration of the groundfire deepened significantly.
Enveloped within the golden groundfire, the flow of blue light around the Sea Condensing Crystal finally began to slow, and the light was also being stripped away at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.
Finally, after an indeterminate amount of time had passed, the exterior of the crystal began to melt and take on a slightly murky appearance.
Han Li was quite relieved to see this, and he sped up even further in his hand seals.
As time passed, the Sea Condensing Crystal slowly transformed, taking on the shape of a heart.
Visually, it was still as bright and clear as ever, and its surface was radiating dazzling blue light.
After a moment of contemplation, Han Li raised a hand, and the ball that all of the other materials had melted into flew forth at his behest while he cast an incantation seal with his other hand.
Another blue water-attribute array on the ground was instantly activated, glowing brightly to form a massive blue eight trigrams image that was buzzing incessantly.
All of the seawater in a radius of hundreds of kilometers began to tumble and churn, and countless vortexes of different sizes appeared on the surface of the sea before clashing violently with one another.
Traces of blue light that were barely visible to the naked eye emerged from the seawater, then converged toward Han Li while emanating incredibly rich water law fluctuations emanating.
Han Li made a hand seal, and countless wisps of blue light flew toward him, fusing into the blue ball in an orderly fashion at his behest.
A series of bulges instantly began to appear on the surface of the blue ball, only to then immediately vanish.
The ball slowly elongated, gradually transforming into a blue humanoid being, except it hadn't completely grown limbs yet, and its face was also completely devoid of features.
Han Li wore a solemn expression as he quickly chanted an incantation while releasing a series of incantation seals with his hands.
The blue humanoid creature continued to change shape, and finally, its limbs completely developed, and features that bore a strong resemblance to Han Li's also appeared on its face.
Han Li let loose a loud cry as a burst of azure light shot out of his hand to envelop the Sea Condensing Crystal beside him, slowly dragging it into the chest of the blue humanoid creature, where its heart was supposed to be.
A burst of dazzling blue light erupted into the sky from the blue humanoid figure's body, and even the surrounding groundfire was unable to impede it.
At the same time, a series of blue lines emerged from its chest, then quickly spread throughout its entire body like a system of meridians and blood vessels.
As more and more blue light converged from the surrounding area before vanishing into the humanoid figure's body, its liquid also quickly took on a solid state.
It didn't take long before a blue male figure appeared in mid-air, and a hint of elation flashed through Han Li's eyes upon seeing this.
At this point, the initial stage of his Earthly Deity Avatar's refinement was complete, and the process was going quite smoothly.
It was only thanks to the observations that Han Li had made on Luo Meng and Wyrm 8's flawed Earthly Deity Avatar that the creation of his own avatar was going so smoothly.
However, the Earthly Deity Avatar had only just taken shape, and it had to continue to be refined in groundfire in order to be consolidated.
Thus, he took a deep breath and began to make hand seals again.
Groundfire surged and enveloped the Earthly Deity Avatar, forming a fireball to continue the refinement process.
Time slowly passed by, and 49 days flew by in the blink of an eye.
All of a sudden, Han Li's eyes abruptly sprang open, and with a sweep of his sleeve, the giant fireball instantly scattered to reveal the Earthly Deity Avatar inside.
The avatar had shrunk significantly, but it was more condensed, and its entire body was giving off watery blue light, indicating that the refinement process was complete, but it still looked like nothing more than a lifeless empty vessel.
The next step was the final step to refining an Earthly Deity Avatar, and it involved imparting sentience upon the avatar.
With that in mind, Han Li looked around for a moment, then flipped a hand over to produce an object that was dripping with blood. It seemed to have been the heart of a certain demon beast, and it was set down onto the ground beside him.
A strong bloody odor that was interspersed with a peculiar fragrance was released by the heart.
On the bottom of a deepsea trench on the seabed hundreds of kilometers away from Han Li was a massive black hole. The edges of the hole were incredibly smooth, and it seemed to have been the lair of a certain sea beast.
All of a sudden, a massive black shadow shot out of the hole amid a resounding boom, revealing itself to be a massive fish demon that was several thousand feet in length.
The fish demon's entire body was as pristine as white jade, and there was a human face on its head with a mouth that was filled with two rows of sharp white fangs, presenting a terrifying sight to behold.
The fish demon sniffed around vigorously for a moment, following which an excited look appeared on its face, and it shot forth rapidly in a certain direction as a white shadow.
The white fish demon was incredibly fast, covering several kilometers in mere moments before drawing to an abrupt halt.
A ball of faint blue light was visible close to 10 kilometers up ahead, and it was giving off the alluring aroma of its favorite prey, the Sand Pig Beast.
However, there was a young human standing within the blue light, and even though his aura was quite weak, the fish demon's sharp intuition told it that this human was not to be messed with, and it was immediately left feeling a little hesitant.
The young human was naturally none other than Han Li, and a faint smile appeared on his face, even as his head remained lowered. Immediately thereafter, he abruptly vanished from the spot.
In the next instant, a loud splash rang out from the seawater beside the white fish demon, and Han Li appeared out of nowhere, then reached out and made a grabbing motion toward the fish demon.
A burst of terrifying power surged forth, and an explosion boom rang out from the surrounding seawater as it erupted to either side to produce a vacuum area.
The white fish demon was greatly startled by this turn of events, and dazzling blue light began to radiate from its body as it swept its pair of front claws forward.
The nearby seawater churned, and an incredibly thick pillar of water shot forth toward Han Li.
The pillar of water was filled with blue light that was rippling incessantly, and rumbling thunderclaps were ringing out from within.
The two bursts of power collided violently amid an earth-shattering boom, and the pillar of blue water abruptly exploded, while a series of arcs of blue lightning appeared out of thin air before hurtling toward Han Li.
These arcs of blue lightning were actual lightning. Instead, it was water lightning, which was only more powerful than normal lightning.
Han Li gave a cold harrumph, and he made no effort to take evasive measures as he flew directly toward the fish demon.
The arcs of blue lightning instantly exploded upon striking his body, and they were unable to inflict any damage upon him.
The white fish demon was clearly extremely alarmed to see this, and right at this moment, Han Li appeared behind the fish demon in a wraith-like manner, not giving it any time to react before throwing a punch into its head.
The fish demon's head instantly exploded, sending intracranial fluids splattering in all directions to instantly stain the surrounding seawater red.
A ball of blue light flew out of the sea of blood, then fled into the distance as quickly as it could.
Before the ball of blue light was able to get very far, an azure-robed figure suddenly appeared out of thin air, then reached out to grab the ball of blue light, which contained none other than the soul of the white fish demon.
The fish demon struggled vigorously, but was unable to break free.
Han Li took a glance at the soul in his grasp, then returned to the blue array in a flash.
This fish demon was known as a Net Maiden Demon, and it was an extremely rare water-dwelling demon.
In order to impart sentience upon a newly created Earthly Deity Avatar, one of these demons had to be killed on the spot so that its soul could be used as a catalyst.
Han Li had spent a great deal of time and effort to search for one recently, and he had finally managed to find a Net Maiden Demon nearby. Aside from the presence of the underwater volcanoes here, this was the other reason why he had decided to refine his Earthly Deity Avatar in this place.
He sat down with his legs crossed, then released an incantation seal, and the Earthly Deity Avatar also sat down with its legs crossed across from him.
He opened his mouth to release a burst of azure light, which enveloped the blue soul in his hand before descending onto the top of the Earthly Deity Avatar's head. At the same time, he was casting a rapid series of incantation seals.
Translucent light was shimmering on his glabella, and it was becoming brighter and brighter, gradually concealing his facial features and giving them a blurry appearance.
Fine beads of sweat began to slowly flow down his forehead. This was not a simple process for him, and he had to give it his full concentration.
After a long while, his eyes abruptly sprang open, and two bursts of translucent light erupted out of his pupils like two bolts of lightning flashing through the night sky.
He then made a hand seal, and a speck of green light flew out of his glabella. It was a miniature green figure, and it was none other than a small part of his soul.
In order to bestow sentience upon the Earthly Deity Avatar, he had split off a part of his soul to be injected into it. Only then would he be able to control the Earthly Deity Avatar as he pleased.
The miniature green figure vanished into the blue soul on top of the Earthly Deity Avatar's head in a flash, and it immediately released a vast expanse of green light to envelop the blue soul, as if the former were trying to assimilate the latter.
The blue soul immediately retaliated, opening its mouth to bite at the miniature green figure, only for the green figure to send it flying with a punch. As a result, the blue soul was sent crashing into the surrounding azure light, becoming rather feeble and dazed from the impact.
The miniature green figure grabbed onto the blue soul, then opened its mouth and bit down onto the soul before tearing a chunk off its body.
The blue soul immediately let loose an agonized howl as it struggled with all its might, but the miniature green figure was far stronger than it, and it tore another chunk out of the blue soul with its mouth.
In the blink of an eye, the blue soul was completely devoured by the miniature green figure.
Bursts of blue light appeared on the surface of the miniature green figure's body, and the blue and green light intertwined with one another, while the green figure sat down with its legs crossed atop the Earthly Deity Avatar's head. Meanwhile, Han Li was continuing to cast a rapid series of incantation seals, all of which vanished into the Earthly Deity Avatar's head.
All of a sudden, the Earthly Deity Avatar's eyes abruptly sprang open, and a hint of life had appeared in its previously empty and soulless eyes.
Han Li was very encouraged to see this, and he accelerated even further in his casting of incantation seals.
One streak of translucent light shot out of his glabella after another before vanishing into the Earthly Deity Avatar's head, and with each streak of translucent light that disappeared into its head, the Earthly Deity Avatar's eyes would become a bit more lively.
Han Li couldn't help but give a slight nod upon seeing this. Up to this point, everything in the refinement process had gone very smoothly, and all he had to do from here was to inject the juice of the Soulbirth Flower in order to stabilize the soul fragment within the avatar's body.
This was the most important step, and it was going to decide whether the refinement of his Earthly Deity Avatar was going to be successful or not.
With that in mind, he flipped a hand over, and a dark green jade box appeared over his palm.
In the instant that the lid of the box was removed, a burst of dazzling golden light was revealed, and there was a golden peony-like spirit flower laying inside.
However, right at this moment, a wary look suddenly appeared in Han Li's eyes.
Five or six streaks of light had suddenly appeared in the nearby area, and they were rapidly approaching him from all directions.
Each streak of light was giving off a powerful aura, all of which were at the True Immortal Stage!