Han Li's brow twitched slightly, and he accepted the dark light. In his palm lay three black pills, each the size of a dragon's eye.

These three black pills were as black as ink, their surfaces reflecting a few glimmers of light, while a spicy aroma wafted from within.

Han Li wrinkled his nose slightly, waved his hand to put away the silver pill furnace, and sat down cross-legged on the prayer mat.

Seeing this, the silver flame sprite curiously crowded over, hovering beside Han Li's hand, as if staring with wide eyes at the three strange pills.

Han Li had originally placed great hopes on these three "Stern Sha Pills," but after they were truly refined, he felt even more apprehensive.

When he obtained the pill formula, the other party only said that there was a certain probability, but no one knew how great the chance of success was.

"Whether it works or not, I can only try." After a moment of contemplation, Han Li chuckled to himself.

With that said, he looked at the silver flame sprite and said with a smile, "You can help me protect the Dharma for a while."

Upon hearing this, the latter nodded heavily and immediately flew thirty feet away, arms crossed in front of its chest, looking as if to say, "Leave it to me."

Han Li smiled and nodded to it, then began to close his eyes and adjust his breathing.

Half an hour later, he raised his wrist and directly threw the pill into his mouth.

As soon as the pill entered his throat, a spicy, stimulating taste spread out immediately, sliding down his esophagus and into his abdomen.

Han Li only felt a line of fire extending from his throat, burning his face red, and he couldn't help but show a look of pain.

Before this burning energy could dissipate, a cold, Yin energy spread from his lower abdomen, instantly permeating his entire body, making him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

This sudden change of ice and fire caught Han Li off guard, and all the pores on his body unconsciously opened up.

At this moment, black mist suddenly surged out from the pores of his body, instantly transforming into a black mist vortex, engulfing his entire body.

Seeing this, the silver flame sprite immediately wanted to fly forward, using its own flames to burn away these mists that made it feel somewhat uncomfortable.

"No need to worry, I'm fine."

At this moment, one of Han Li's palms suddenly reached out from the black mist, stopping the silver flame sprite.

His tone was slightly high-pitched, as if he was enduring great pain, but his tone clearly carried a hint of joy.

Rolling black mist rose up, quickly filling the entire secret chamber, and some of it even escaped outside the secret chamber through the hole that Han Li had previously dug in the dome.

With a wave of his hand, Han Li threw out two storage bags, the mouths wide open, sucking in the rolling black mist.

As a large amount of black mist was sucked into the storage bags, the secret chamber gradually returned to clarity, but the mist surrounding Han Li was still as thick as ink, making him look like a large black cocoon.

Time passed little by little, and baleful aura constantly escaped from the black cocoon, which the storage bags continuously absorbed.

After two bags were full, Han Li took out two more, and after the storage bags were used up, he began to use the storage rings.

...

More than three years passed in a flash. Inside the secret chamber, the black light on the surface of the black cocoon flickered violently a few times before finally ceasing to emit baleful aura.

Han Li only felt a warmth all over his body, and the feeling of ice and fire intertwining disappeared immediately. The baleful aura surrounding him also dissipated like smoke.

At this moment, his face was a little pale. After breathing a few breaths, he slowly raised his head, but a hint of disappointment appeared between his eyebrows.

He never expected that the Stern Sha Pills he had painstakingly refined would only have this effect?

During these three years, he had indeed drawn out a lot of baleful aura from his body, but it was still a far cry from completely clearing it. The stubborn baleful aura entrenched in his immortal apertures still threatened his path of cultivation at all times.

In fact, in terms of efficacy, this effect was already considerable for others, and there was even a good chance of helping them survive the Sha Decay, but for him, it was a drop in the bucket, with no chance of success at all.

Han Li's eyes narrowed, and with some reluctance, he raised his palm and threw the remaining two pills into his mouth at the same time. An even more intense pain immediately swept over him, and thick black smoke once again escaped, engulfing him...

Time flew by, and another ten years passed.

Han Li, who had been sitting cross-legged in the secret chamber, slowly opened his eyes. The light in his pupils flickered, but still maintained that strange silver-gray color.

The effect of the three Stern Sha Pills, which he had painstakingly refined, was limited to helping him clear some of the baleful aura and delaying the time when the Sha Decay would break out again. Other than that, there were no other benefits.

Han Li had been somewhat prepared for this result, so he wasn't too disappointed. He simply treated it as another temporary means of dealing with the Sha Decay.

Although the Stern Sha Pills had not been able to clear the baleful aura in his immortal apertures, they had cleared a lot of the baleful aura in his body. The outbreak of Sha Decay, which had already been delayed by him, would probably be extended for a while longer.

After sitting quietly for a while, Han Li quickly composed himself.

Since the Stern Sha Pills were useless, he could only look for other ways to clear the baleful aura.

Looking back on his cultivation journey of more than a hundred years, he had walked step by step to this day, encountering countless large and small difficulties. He believed that man could conquer nature, and that his current failure was only temporary.

He showed a look of contemplation, flipped his hand and took out the Dragon Five mask, and issued a reward mission in the Inconstant Alliance, looking for a way to clear the baleful aura and overcome the Sha Decay.

Immediately afterward, Han Li took out a communication array plate, pinched a magic formula, and the spiritual patterns on the surface of the array plate lit up in circles.

...

Jukun City, a wooden pavilion in the Hundred Crafts Mountain branch.

Outside the pavilion was a large flower garden filled with flowers of various colors, surrounding the pavilion in the middle, making it look beautiful and like a sea of flowers.

Superior Man Jingyang sat in a reclining chair inside the pavilion, waved his hand and cast a magic formula, retracting a white array plate floating in front of him.

"It actually failed... However, this is also an opportunity..." he muttered to himself in some surprise, then a smile appeared on his face, and he snapped his fingers, a flash of white light at his fingertip.

At this moment, a flash of green appeared behind Superior Man Jingyang, and the figure of a green-robed girl emerged.

This person looked only sixteen or seventeen years old, with a slender figure, beautiful features, and a delicate face full of competence. She bowed to Superior Man Jingyang as if she were a bow, and said, "Deputy Mountain Master, what are your orders?"

"Give the order to find and collect methods to dispel baleful aura," Superior Man Jingyang ordered.

Upon hearing this, the green-robed girl opened her mouth, but did not speak for a moment.

"What's wrong?" Superior Man Jingyang frowned slightly.

"Your immortal essence stones have been used up, and the next resource allocation will have to wait another hundred years. Any method to dispel baleful aura is valuable, so are you going to use the wealth of the mountain? But what if it is discovered..." the green-robed girl hesitated and said.

"It's okay, just do as I say," Superior Man Jingyang said lightly.

"Yes." Seeing this, the green-robed girl stopped saying anything. Her petite figure turned into a green shadow and flew away into the distance, like a green warbler, disappearing in the distance in a flash.

...

Inside the secret chamber.

Han Li waved his hand and cast a magic formula, retracting the communication array plate.

Because of the appearance of the Silver Fox at the previous auction, Jukun City was still heavily guarded at the moment. It was inconvenient for him to go there for the time being, so he could only ask Superior Man Jingyang for help.

He had used all the channels he could use, and now he could only wait slowly.

Han Li looked ahead, planning his next cultivation plan.

Now his cultivation had fallen into a bottleneck. Before he was confident of overcoming the Sha Decay, breaking through to the Grand Prime Realm was naturally a luxury. And in addition to the Mantra Treasure Wheel Sutra, the other two Time Cultivation Methods were not far from completion, but on the one hand, he felt that these two Cultivation Methods would not be of much help to him now, and on the other hand, these two Cultivation Methods did not seem to be complete versions.

As he thought, the scene of the Silver Fox using the Refining Divine Art to deflect the attacks of Gongshutian, Su Liu and others appeared in his mind, and he felt a little warm in his heart.

He had seen some clues about this high-level application of the Refining Divine Art, but unfortunately he could not try to practice it now.

Although the Silver Fox incident did not affect Han Li, it also served as a warning to him. He was now in the Black Mountain Immortal Territory, not the Northern Cold Immortal Territory or the Wild Realm. This was a place under the strict supervision of the Heavenly Court.

Although there were various coincidences and some advance arrangements, three inspector envoys appeared at a mere auction. There was no way to know how many Heavenly Court forces were lurking in the Black Mountain Immortal Territory in secret.

The Silver Fox was now missing, but the two inspector envoys might still be near Jukun City. More importantly, the inspector envoy named "Su Liu" in Jukun City was not an ordinary person either.

In any case, now was not the time to practice the Refining Divine Art.

Although he had already tried it, practicing the Refining Divine Art would not be sensed by the white compass, but it was hard to guarantee that those people did not have other, more clever methods. It was better to be more cautious.

Han Li pondered slightly and raised his hand to wave.

A flash of light appeared in front of him, adding a broken dagger, a white small pot, and a green wooden ruler. All three items exuded faint Time Law fluctuations.

The broken dagger was found in the storage magic tool of Gongshujiu. It was an item containing the power of time. The white small pot was the Time Severing Pot, and the green wooden ruler was the Immortal Treasure Wooden Ruler that he had just obtained from Superior Man Jingyang.

Han Li pinched a magic formula with both hands, golden light spewed out from behind him, and the Mantra Treasure Wheel emerged.

He chanted incantations, pinched magic formulas with his ten fingers, golden light flashed in the center of the treasure wheel, the Eye of Truth emerged, and a golden light shot out from it, falling on the broken dagger.

Instantly, the dagger rippled with bursts of Law fluctuations and bloomed with dazzling golden light, extending from the broken area and quickly completing it.

A brand-new golden dagger appeared before Han Li's eyes. The dagger was covered with glyph runes, and the blade also emitted a glittering cold light, looking extremely sharp.

Han Li closed his eyes and carefully sensed the power of the Time Law inside the golden dagger. After a moment, he opened his eyes and nodded slightly.

The power of the Time Law in the dagger was not much, but it was different from the power of time in the three Cultivation Methods he was currently practicing, carrying a bit of chaotic aura.

After a slight thought, Han Li retracted the magic formula, and the golden light on the surface of the golden dagger disappeared, falling to the side.