Han Li

Han Li is a farmer's son whose pursuit of a better livelihood becomes a journey from mortal martial arts to the summit of immortal cultivation. Lacking exceptional spiritual roots, he survives through patience, preparation, alchemy, concealment, and an unwillingness to wager his life for reputation. The Heaven Controlling Vial gives him an extraordinary resource advantage, but his defining choices are his own: he guards its secret, repeatedly rebuilds damaged foundations, honors old debts, and refuses masters, sects, or heavenly authorities that demand his freedom.

His caution does not prevent lasting attachments. Han Li protects his family from a distance, remembers promises decades or millennia after they were made, and repeatedly risks himself for Nangong Wan, Silvermoon, Violet Spirit, Yuan Yao, Jin Tong, and other companions. By the end of his journey he defeats the reigning Time Dao Ancestor, briefly inherits that position, then gives it up when he learns that supreme authority would steadily erase his independent self. (Chapters 1–10, 639, 1257, 2191, 2451, 3837–3849)

Biography

Green Ox Village and the Seven Mysteries Sect

Han Li begins as the clever but physically ordinary second son of a poor farming household, known locally as “Second Fool.” He accepts his third uncle's offer to try for the Seven Mysteries Sect because success could feed and enrich his family, even though leaving home pains him. He fails the sect's climbing test, but Doctor Mo selects him and Zhang Tie as private disciples, placing him on a path neither child understands. (Chapters 1–7)

Doctor Mo teaches him the nameless Eternal Spring Arts and medicine, while Han Li's discovery of a small green bottle changes his prospects. The bottle's liquid accelerates medicinal plants, letting him compensate for slow innate cultivation. Doctor Mo's growing urgency makes Han Li suspicious, so he conceals his true progress, studies poisons and hidden weapons, and prepares contingencies rather than trusting his benefactor's apparent affection. (Chapters 7–34)

Doctor Mo ultimately attempts to seize Han Li's body, but Han Li's hidden cultivation causes the possession to fail. After destroying Yu Zhitong's soul and learning that Zhang Tie was killed and refined into the Iron Slave, Han Li inherits both cultivation knowledge and a lasting distrust of coercive mentorship. He nevertheless honors Doctor Mo's final request to protect the Mo household, and later helps Li Feiyu and Crooked Soul defeat the Feral Wolf Gang before leaving the sect alive and independent. (Chapters 35–99)

Heavenly South foundations

In Jia Yuan City, Han Li secures Doctor Mo's family against hostile gangs but refuses the marriage and mortal influence that could have kept him there. He instead follows clues into the Great South Valley, learns the formal cultivation hierarchy, wins a Writ of Immortal Ascension, and enters Yellow Maple Valley. The sect takes his Foundation Establishment Pill because of his poor aptitude, reinforcing his belief that organizations offer protection only on unequal terms. (Chapters 100–160)

Han Li uses the vial to prepare medicines and enters the Trial by Blood and Fire for the ingredients needed to advance. He saves the disguised Nangong Wan, cooperates with her against the Ink Flood Dragon, and shares an involuntary intimacy with her after poison overwhelms them. He later refines many Foundation Establishment Pills and succeeds, then chooses the difficult Azure Essence Sword Art and Three Essence Revolutions route because repeated recultivation gives his weak spiritual roots a credible path to Core Formation. (Chapters 160–244)

The Devil Dao invasion tests Han Li's loyalties without changing his distrust of needless sacrifice. He rejects the Yan clan and Ghost Spirit Sect's blood plot, fights for Yellow Maple Valley, assists Liu Jing's investigation of the Black Fiend School, and respects Liu Jing's fatal commitment to protecting mortals. He also works with Qi Yunxiao and Xin Ruyin to repair an ancient transportation formation, accepts Xin's request to avenge Qi, and uses that route to escape when the sect's retreat leaves him exposed. (Chapters 245–365)

Scattered Star Seas and the road to Nascent Soul

Transport strands Han Li in the Scattered Star Seas after Nangong Wan's altered technique strips away much of his cultivation. On Minor Expanse Island he recultivates the Azure Essence Sword Art through Three Essence Revolutions, refines Crooked Soul into an external incarnation, hunts demon beasts for resources, and forms a golden core only after years of controlled preparation. Exile thus becomes the period in which his damaged foundation is rebuilt into something stronger. (Chapters 366–398)

Han Li joins Violet Spirit during the Exquisite Sound Sect crisis and accepts an in-name elder position in exchange for Heaven Lightning Bamboo. He multiplies the bamboo and refines seventy-two bonded swords, but loses Crooked Soul when the Bone Sage seizes the corpse. In Heavenvoid Hall he balances hostile Nascent Soul cultivators against one another, works with Violet Spirit and Yuan Yao, and ultimately takes the Heavenvoid Cauldron after the Bloodjade Spiders lift it. (Chapters 399–499)

Feng Xi later captures Han Li and forces him to assist in refining Thunderstorm Wings, using implanted Wind Spirit Energy as a leash. Han Li subverts the project, takes the completed wings, and escapes with a new movement treasure but a dangerous residue in his body. When Ghost Mist suppresses ordinary magic in the Umbra Realm, he relies on physical strength and the Weeping Soul, helps Yuan Yao and Violet Spirit escape, then returns to seek a quiet spirit vein for the long advance toward Nascent Soul. (Chapters 500–600)

Return, Great Jin, and Deity Transformation

Disguised as a low-ranking Drifting Cloud disciple, Han Li finds both seclusion and Silvermoon, the jade-scepter spirit who takes a fox host and becomes his closest traveling partner. He masters higher layers of the Great Development Technique, survives the inner-demon trial, condenses a Nascent Soul, and accepts the position of sect elder. His new standing lets him fulfill Xin Ruyin's request against the Fu clan and confirm that Li Feiyu protected the Han family after Han Li's departure. (Chapters 601–706)

Han Li's increased power also makes him act directly on his bond with Nangong Wan. He infiltrates the Masked Moon Sect, learns that her “Nangong Bing” identity and earlier hostility concealed an attachment that had become her inner demon, and asks her to become his wife. Her Soul Seal Curse delays their life together, so Han Li continues through the Moulan war, Devilfall Valley, and the Great Jin, where he gathers methods, materials, and allies while avoiding stronger factions' attempts to control him. (Chapters 707–1074)

After reaching late Nascent Soul, Han Li revisits the Scattered Star Seas, settles conflicts around the Star Palace, and returns to rescue Nangong Wan. He recovers his runaway second Nascent Soul after its merger with the Sovereign Devil Corpse, marries Nangong Wan, and prepares for the mortal world's final bottleneck. His first Deity Transformation attempt fails, but he reorganizes his resources and succeeds later, becoming the Human World's leading cultivator without treating that position as a reason to remain trapped there. (Chapters 1075–1292)

Spirit Realm ascent

A spatial storm leaves Han Li in the Spirit Realm with his magic power sealed, forcing him to survive through his refined body while helping defend mortal settlements. He recovers his cultivation, serves at Deep Heaven City, and advances from mid to late Deity Transformation while adopting true-spirit transformations. In the Tian Peng and Earth Abyss conflicts he accepts dangerous bargains to preserve his freedom, protects Yuan Yao and Yan Li, and survives opponents whose realms initially exceed his own. (Chapters 1293–1516)

Qing Yuanzi recognizes Han Li's sword lineage and gives him a revised Azure Essence Sword Art, but also exposes impurities introduced by Han Li's earlier refinements. Han Li reforges and replants his sword set before advancing to Spatial Tempering. He later enters the Vast Glacial Realm for rare resources, obtains the Spirit Refinement Technique, and uses his gains to reach Body Integration, making spiritual sense, physical refinement, and sword formations equally important parts of his strength. (Chapters 1517–1766)

As a Body Integration cultivator, Han Li accepts responsibilities that his earlier self would have avoided, but he still chooses them on his own terms. He supports Deep Heaven City, protects allied communities during the devil invasion, and pursues the Chaotic Yin Yang Qi needed for late Body Integration. His breakthrough makes him decisive against Sacred Ancestor clones, yet he enters the Elder Devil Realm because the Spirit Cleansing Pond and Clean Spirit Lotus may improve his chance of surviving Grand Ascension, not to win status. (Chapters 1767–2110)

The Elder Devil Realm reunites Han Li with Violet Spirit and confronts him with choices he cannot make for others. He promises to return with enough power to free her from Liu Ji, but later accepts Violet Spirit's decision to retain her devilish body because it offers her the better route to ascension. He likewise helps Silvermoon recover her feelings from the Art of Indifference without demanding that she abandon cultivation, showing that his protectiveness has developed into respect for his companions' chosen paths. (Chapters 2111–2153)

Han Li masters the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra, withstands successive elemental, lightning, insect, and inner-demon trials, and reaches Grand Ascension under the protection of Silvermoon, Daoist Xie, and his allies. He then helps destroy the Stemborer Queen, aids Bao Hua's restoration, protects Yuan Yao during Qing Yuanzi's tribulation, and opposes the descended true immortal Ma Liang. After the Heaven Controlling Vial's identity is exposed, Han Li defeats the threat and eventually passes through his ascension tribulation with Daoist Xie and Jin Tong accompanying him. (Chapters 2154–2451)

Immortal Realm and the Time Great Dao

The aftermath of ascension is not immediate triumph. Han Li's lower-realm power must convert into immortal spiritual power, and Origin Separation Law Chains leave his nascent soul and cultivation sealed after he is displaced. He lives under the name Brother Rock, protects Liu Le'er, recovers his identity and the Heaven Controlling Vial, and breaks the chains gradually. When his early True Immortal cultivation returns, he again chooses obscurity and preparation over declaring his strength. (Chapters 2452–2585)

Using the identities Liu Shi and later Li Feiyu, Han Li joins the Transient Guild and Blaze Dragon Dao. Daoist Hu Yan becomes a friend and drinking companion, while the Mantra Axis Scripture begins Han Li's systematic cultivation of time law powers. His ability to use the vial's green liquid to condense time crystals accelerates this path, but it also draws Immortal Palace attention; advancement therefore repeatedly forces him to abandon established refuges and rebuild elsewhere. (Chapters 2586–2831)

Han Li survives his Golden Immortal tribulation, develops a time spirit domain, and reunites with Jin Tong, Daoist Xie, and allies scattered across realms. Cultivating baleful qi accelerates him to mid and late Golden Immortal but triggers severe decay and instability, so his gains carry a continuing bodily and spiritual price. He joins the Reincarnation Palace for later Spirit Refinement levels, crosses the Gray Realm and Devil Realm, and reaches High Zenith only after surviving karmic fire and the fifth decay. (Chapters 2832–3272)

At High Zenith, Han Li's goals become increasingly relational. He finds Violet Spirit, helps Shi Chuankong, repeatedly clashes with Qi Mozi, and recovers Daoist Xie. He completes the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, reaches peak High Zenith, and learns from Patriarch Miro how his five time-law treasures must remain balanced. A failed Great Encompassment attempt makes that lesson concrete; the later successful breakthrough gives him the strength to rescue Jin Tong rather than an excuse to retreat from danger. (Chapters 3273–3649)

After reaching Great Encompassment, Han Li confronts the three corpse souls that embody wickedness, kindness, and self. He contains and severs the wicked corpse soul, spends a long mortal interval rediscovering kindness before the kind corpse leaves in an Earthly Deity Avatar, and retraces his Immortal Realm journey with Nangong Wan to understand self and attachment. These trials raise him to peak Great Encompassment and complete the seventh Spirit Refinement level without requiring him to discard the people he values. (Chapters 3650–3807)

Han Li joins the final struggle against the Heavenly Court because Gu Huojin's Time Great Dao cannot coexist with his own, because the conflict threatens his companions, and because Patriarch Miro's destruction remains an unpaid debt. He survives the Heavenly Dao tribulation and becomes the new Time Dao Ancestor, but learns that using Dao Ancestor power hastens assimilation into the Heavenly Dao. He pours that power into the vial, returns voluntarily to peak Great Encompassment, and ends his journey traveling with Nangong Wan rather than ruling the True Immortal Realm. (Chapters 3808–3849)

Appearance and personality

Han Li is introduced as a tan, ordinary-looking farm boy whose appearance gives little hint of his intelligence. Cultivation preserves a youthful form for much of his life, and he frequently changes his face, aura, clothing, or apparent cultivation to avoid attention. His most recognizable combat presentation is an azure-robed figure surrounded by flying swords, lightning, or a golden multi-armed projection, but many people first meet him through an intentionally unremarkable disguise. (Chapters 1, 712–713, 1354, 2585–2586)

He is observant, restrained, and deeply risk-conscious. Betrayal by Doctor Mo makes him slow to trust, while poor aptitude teaches him to value preparation over pride. He can be ruthless toward enemies and will retreat when the odds are wasteful, yet he also keeps promises long after immediate advantage has disappeared. His later treatment of Nangong Wan, Violet Spirit, Silvermoon, Yuan Yao, and Jin Tong shows a quieter warmth: he protects fiercely, but increasingly respects decisions he would not make himself. (Chapters 28–64, 647–715, 2126–2153, 2251–2326, 3837–3849)

Abilities and cultivation

Han Li follows the human cultivation ladder from Qi Condensation through Grand Ascension, then the Immortal Realm ladder from True Immortal through Great Encompassment. His four-element false spiritual roots slow ordinary cultivation, so he compensates with pill refinement, repeated foundation rebuilding, simultaneous body cultivation, and unusually powerful spiritual sense. He is strongest when he can prepare formations, consumables, transformations, and escape routes in advance; sudden overuse of blood essence, spiritual sense, or law power can still leave him depleted. (Chapters 127, 216, 398, 639, 1257, 1528, 1766, 2191, 2917–2923, 3649–3847)

Azure Essence Sword Art and sword formations

The complete Azure Essence Sword Art gives Han Li both a cultivation method and the design for seventy-two bonded Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords. He deliberately disperses and recultivates the art through Three Essence Revolutions to compress his true essence and reduce the Core Formation bottleneck. The process costs decades and initially leaves him vulnerable, while later impurities from repeated material additions weaken his connection to the swords until Qing Yuanzi teaches him how to reforge them. (Chapters 217–241, 374–398, 1517–1535)

Forged from Heaven Lightning Bamboo, the swords carry Divine Devilbane Lightning and can fight individually, merge, or form arrays. The Aureate Sword Formation conceals and multiplies sword qi; later Azure Coil, Spring Dawn, Great Galactic, and Almighty formations expand restraint, defense, and killing power. Larger deployments demand immense spiritual sense and immortal spiritual power: at mid Golden Immortal Han Li can comfortably command only three swords at full pressure, later nine, and finally the entire set at his highest stages. (Chapters 411–415, 760–790, 1524–1535, 2918–2926, 3046, 3690–3706, 3841–3843)

Spiritual sense and Spirit Refinement

The Great Development Technique teaches Han Li to divide spiritual sense, control many puppets or treasures at once, and resist mental attacks. Its partnership with Soul Nurturing Wood and the Monarch of Soul Divergence carries him through four confirmed layers before the Immortal Realm Spirit Refinement Technique becomes the higher continuation of this specialization. Even before Body Integration, the first Spirit Refinement stage gives his spiritual sense power comparable to much stronger cultivators. (Chapters 241, 271, 374, 637, 792–800, 1740–1763)

Spirit Refinement ultimately has seven stages, each greatly enlarging and refining the soul. It enables Spiritual Sense Cages, swords, wide-area perception, fine control of law treasures, and resistance to illusions and Dao Ancestor pressure. The technique is also dangerous: stalled advancement produces escalating backlash, and major powers hunt known practitioners. Han Li repeatedly seeks the next level because stopping is eventually fatal, reaching the seventh only while severing his self corpse soul. (Chapters 2248–2250, 2821–2831, 3035, 3272, 3769, 3807)

Time law powers and spirit domain

In Blaze Dragon Dao, Han Li obtains the Mantra Axis Scripture and manifests the Mantra Treasured Axis. Time Dao Runes on the axis can slow targets within its influence, while the Eye of Truth reveals and can reverse limited traces of past processes at very high cost. He later cultivates four additional time arts, and the resulting five law treasures must remain balanced; imbalance causes his first Great Encompassment attempt to fail, while Patriarch Miro's Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra lets him combine them into a coherent domain. (Chapters 2643–2729, 2817–2829, 2910–2917, 3596–3649)

His time spirit domain progresses from localized suppression to the Five Elemental Illusory World, where law treasures, sword arrays, and Great Five Elemental Annihilation attacks reinforce one another. Time acceleration inside the Flower Branch domain lets him cultivate across enormous subjective spans, but consumes Immortal Origin Stones and depends on his available law power. At the summit his Time Great Dao can oppose Gu Huojin, yet Dao Ancestor use accelerates Heavenly Dao assimilation, prompting Han Li to relinquish the realm rather than lose himself. (Chapters 2923–2973, 3487–3649, 3775–3807, 3837–3847)

Body refinement and transformations

Han Li combines the Brightjade Arts, Vajra Arts, Provenance True Devil Arts, Holy Nirvana Physique, Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra, and multiple true-spirit bloodlines. These methods give him extreme strength, durability, regeneration, and transformations such as the Giant Mountain Ape, Kun Peng, Five-Colored Peacock, true dragon, and heavenly phoenix. The Provenance Golden Body and later multi-headed Holy Nirvana forms let him contend above his formal realm, but their largest transformations consume enormous magic power and can expose him once they end. (Chapters 879–978, 1326–1530, 1556–1664, 1938, 2100–2110, 2177–2191)

His Divine Essencefused Light suppresses five-element powers and works through the mountain treasures that eventually form the Integrated Five Extremes Mountain. The Profound Heavenly Spiritslash Sword supplies law-level cutting force, but drawing it from his arm consumes blood essence and places severe strain on his body. Han Li therefore treats both as decisive measures rather than effortless attacks, commonly combining them with sword arrays, lightning movement, or spiritual-sense disruption to create a short opening. (Chapters 1202–1257, 1327, 1537–1545, 1963–1966, 2100–2101, 2430–2433)

Alchemy, formations, and tactical preparation

The Heaven Controlling Vial lets Han Li mature plants and later condense crystals tied to time, but it does not automatically refine pills or win battles. His medical education, repeated experimentation, and willingness to preserve rare ingredients make him an exceptional alchemist across successive realms. He similarly studies formations, puppetry, talismans, insect breeding, and tool refinement, allowing him to turn information and preparation into advantages against opponents with higher cultivation. (Chapters 20–29, 214–241, 395–398, 590–591, 1740–1760, 2638–2764)

Han Li's tactical pattern is to conceal his real realm, test defenses with expendable or divided attacks, reserve a movement method, and use several systems together only after identifying a weakness. This makes him difficult to trap, but not invulnerable: Thunderstorm Wings and large sword arrays drain power, Gold Devouring Beetles consume spiritual sense, the Profound Heavenly sword drains blood essence, and the vial's greatest time effects require accumulated energy and suitable conditions. (Chapters 431–499, 542–568, 1236–1240, 1497–1528, 2917–3046, 3596–3649)

Power progression

Relationships

• Nangong Wan: Han Li's Dao Companion and wife. Their bond begins under coercive circumstances in the forbidden trial, survives separation and her Soul Seal Curse, and becomes the relationship he treats as non-negotiable even before the Heavenly Court. She later travels beside him after he gives up the Time Dao Ancestor position.
• Silvermoon: Artifact spirit, traveling companion, and trusted confidante. She provides concealment, counsel, and combat support; Han Li later helps her recover from the Art of Indifference and preserves their emotional bond without obstructing her cultivation.
• Violet Spirit: Longstanding ally and unresolved romantic attachment. Han Li repeatedly aids her across realms and offers to restore her human body, but accepts her independent decision to retain a devilish physique and pursue her own path to ascension.
• Yuan Yao: Friend whose loyalty to Yan Li repeatedly draws Han Li's respect and protection. Their connection spans Heavenvoid Hall, the Umbra Realm, Earth Abyss, and Qing Yuanzi's household.
• Jin Tong: Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch who calls him “Uncle” and becomes family in practice. Han Li protects her from stronger Gold Devouring Immortals and the Heavenly Court, while she repeatedly fights beside him and accompanies his ascension.
• Daoist Xie: Initially a transactional golden crab puppet who exchanges aid for energy, later an increasingly autonomous companion. He guards Han Li's breakthroughs, provides Immortal Realm knowledge, and ascends with him.
• Weeping Soul: Spirit-beast companion whose soul-devouring gifts repeatedly save Han Li against ghosts and devils. Han Li treats her disappearance into the Immortal Realm as the loss of a companion rather than of equipment.
• Mo Guang: A pragmatic devilish ally connected to Han Li through contracts and shared survival. His service is negotiated rather than sentimental, and Han Li remains alert to his independent ambitions.
• Daoist Hu Yan: Friend and senior from Blaze Dragon Dao. Their shared wine, time cultivation, and later reunion give Han Li one of his rare relationships grounded as much in companionship as in mutual advantage.
• Qi Mozi: Recurring time-law enemy whose pursuit connects the fall of the True Mantra Sect, the Immortal Palace, and Han Li's own conflict with the Heavenly Court.
• Doctor Mo: First master and formative betrayer. His attempt to possess Han Li creates the caution with which Han Li judges every later offer of mentorship.
• Li Feiyu: Mortal best friend whose loyalty to the Han family outlives him. Han Li honors that friendship at the story's end by using Li Feiyu's name while revisiting the mortal world.

Items

• Heaven Controlling Vial: Found in childhood and kept secret throughout Han Li's rise. It matures plants, later supports time cultivation and transmigration, and is ultimately destroyed as a vessel when Han Li relinquishes Dao Ancestor power and frees its spirit.
• Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords: Han Li's bonded set of seventy-two Heaven Lightning Bamboo swords and the foundation of his signature formations.
• Heavenvoid Cauldron: Retrieved with the Bloodjade Spiders and retained after Heavenvoid Hall; its treasures and reputation shape several later conflicts.
• Thunderstorm Wings: Co-refined under Feng Xi's coercion, seized by Han Li, and used for lightning movement and escape across successive realms.
• Integrated Five Extremes Mountain: The completed union of extreme-mountain treasures, used to suppress elemental powers and withstand high-level tribulations.
• Eight Spirit Ruler: A Kunwu Mountain Divine Spirit Treasure that passes into Han Li's custody after the struggle around the demon seal.
• Black Wind Flag: A spatial Divine Spirit Treasure associated with the Kunwu conflict; Han Li gains and employs it before later changes in custody.
• Rainbow Skirt Grass: Also called Demonlure Grass. Han Li propagates it with vial liquid to attract demon beasts and drive spirit-insect evolution, consuming individual plants in the process.
• Immortal Vanquishing Bead: Extremely destructive one-use lightning beads that Han Li keeps as emergency weapons against enemies above his realm.