Chapter 56: Nangong Li's Divine Power

The clouds in the sky, once gathered by some unknown force, gradually dispersed. The unicorn, panting heavily, seemed to have lost all strength to resist. Its body lay limp upon the ground, unmoving, yet its eyes remained fixed upon the third-tier demon beast with unwavering intensity.

At last, the demon beasts surrounding the unicorn launched their attack. The unicorn was on the verge of death when, suddenly, a voice thundered across the sky.

"To cultivate the Devil's Path, to transform the Dao into demonic ways, life and death reversed!"

The demon beasts, upon hearing this voice, all turned their heads towards the spot where Qiu Han once stood. Even the unicorn did so. At that moment, Qiu Han’s form was fully revealed, hovering in midair. His eyes were pitch-black, but within them glimmered faint stars.

Qiu Han looked down, surveying the earth below. The demon beasts met his gaze and, one by one, prostrated themselves, their bodies trembling, faces contorted in pain. Qiu Han’s eyes were cold and indifferent. Suddenly, his right hand, which had been hanging at his waist, slowly lifted. He extended a finger, pointing from afar at the demon beasts below, and recited, "Dao transforms into demon life, one finger turns to demon, life and death reversed, first cycle, demon enters reincarnation!"

As his finger descended, the world seemed to change color. All hues vanished from the heavens, and the spiritual energy from all directions surged madly towards him. Gradually, a black vortex, a thousand yards in diameter, appeared and swept towards the demon beasts.

In an instant, the black vortex engulfed all the demon beasts, spinning rapidly. From within came anguished screams, and in just a few breaths, several demon beasts died in succession.

Qiu Han’s expression remained cold, as if he had become an entirely different person. The fierce wind swept his black hair and sleeves into a wild dance. He stared at the vortex below. Suddenly, his finger pointed downward again, and he slowly uttered several words.

"Life and death reversed, second cycle, demon is born from the heart!"

The voice was as commanding as before—it was Nangong Li’s. As his words rang out, shadowy figures appeared within the black vortex. Some were tall and imposing, others oddly shaped. The shadows drifted within the vortex, their appearances terrifying.

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, only the third-tier demon beast remained, but it too turned to ashes, utterly destroyed. Qiu Han felt his body lighten and realized he had regained control. He descended slowly, landing thirty yards before the unicorn, his mind savoring the strange sensation he had just experienced.

He recalled losing control of his body and then feeling an immensely powerful force within him—so shocking, so desirable, that he wished it were his own. The feeling was such that, even if his master Gu Sui Feng or the legendary old monsters of the Transformation stage stood before him, he could destroy them with a mere finger.

Although Qiu Han did not know how powerful the Transformation stage was, the force he felt convinced him that even those at that stage would perish under its might, unable to resist.

“Your cultivation is too low,” came the voice of Nangong Li. “For me to use this divine art, I needed the second cycle to kill a demon beast equivalent to the Core Formation stage. If your cultivation reached the Foundation Establishment stage, I could, through your body, destroy a third-tier demon beast with ease on the first cycle, and with the second cycle, even an early Nascent Soul cultivator could not last the time it takes to burn a stick of incense.”

“Unfortunately, my physical body and soul have perished. Now, only this remnant spirit remains. If I were at my peak, this demonic art would let me annihilate all cultivators below the Summit stage in the first cycle. With the second cycle, even those at the beginning of the second step would be doomed. If this art were fully unleashed, none beneath the Shattering Void stage could withstand it!”

Nangong Li’s voice sounded again, but this time with a trace of exhaustion, as though the price of wielding the divine art was great.

“My power is no longer what it once was. Forcing this art now hurts me greatly. Once I help you subdue this spirit beast, I must sleep for a while—it shouldn't be long. During this time, you must quickly find what you need to restore the Immortal Compass. And remember your promise to me!”

Qiu Han nodded, then slowly walked towards the unicorn. The unicorn watched him intently. When Qiu Han was ten yards away, Nangong Li’s voice grew urgent.

“Ancient divine beasts are not easily tamed. They relish all things immortal and spiritual. Take out a few crystal stones and throw them to it. I will teach you a mantra for sensing and bonding with spirit beasts.”

Qiu Han stopped, his gaze sweeping up and down the unicorn's form. He patted his storage pouch and took out several low-grade spirit stones, tossing them beside the unicorn.

Afterward, Qiu Han stood with hands behind his back, watching the unicorn to see what it would do next. At first, the unicorn made no move. It stared at Qiu Han for a moment, then slowly rose and walked to the spirit stones. Lowering its head, it touched them with its nose. Moments later, it retreated, ignoring the stones, and continued to watch Qiu Han, its intent to leave growing stronger.

“Boy, do you not have better-quality stones? Feed it with top-grade crystal stones!”

Seeing the unicorn about to flee, Nangong Li’s voice grew frantic and angry, shouting at Qiu Han.

“Senior Nangong, I truly have no top-grade spirit stones, but by chance, I do have some high-grade ones.”

Qiu Han dared not protest and spoke truthfully.

“Hurry up!”

Nangong Li’s tone grew increasingly irritable, as if he might slap Qiu Han to death.

Qiu Han had just finished memorizing the mantra. He took out several high-grade crystal stones, chanting the newly learned incantation as he did so.

The unicorn, which had been slowly backing away, suddenly halted, turned its head with a hesitant expression, and walked back to its original spot, approaching Qiu Han.

Qiu Han kept chanting. Seeing the unicorn return, his heart leaped with excitement. He threw the high-grade spirit stones to it.

This time, the unicorn did not hesitate. It picked up one stone, curling its tongue around it and chewing it for a moment, then opened its mouth and swallowed the rest in one gulp.

After eating, it licked its lips with its broad tongue, then looked at Qiu Han and walked to his side. When Qiu Han made no move, it boldly rubbed against his pant leg, showing a friendly expression and even let out several cries, begging him for more spirit stones to eat.