Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 67

“I am Han Li…”

“Do you think I care who you are? Judging by the fact that you haven’t even reached the Qi Condensation stage, you must have a guarantor. Quickly, show me your guarantor’s token.”

The other party cut off Han Li’s words and hurriedly asked. Han Li, unfazed by the other’s arrogant attitude, took out a jade token from his pocket and tossed it in front of the barrier. One of the disciples reached out, and the jade token flew into his hand as if it had wings.

“Senior Brother Ma is your guarantor?”

The person who checked the jade token seemed a little surprised.

“That token is indeed from Senior Brother Ma.”

Han Li pretended to be calm, but inside, he was greatly surprised. The disciples who appeared before him looked very young, but surprisingly, they were experts of the Qi Condensation stage. In the cultivation world, those who reached a higher realm, regardless of their order of entry, had a higher status, and sometimes became senior brothers or even masters.

“Is that the Senior Brother Ma who only does alchemy all day long?”

“For him to be a guarantor for someone else, that’s surprising! Could it be that you are Senior Brother Ma’s close disciple or nephew?”

The red-robed disciple with a cold tone asked, seemingly surprised. The one holding the jade token also checked it several times, as if curious.

“No, I just manage the garden where I cultivate medicinal herbs for Senior Brother Ma. I worked without pay for a year to get this token, and it was difficult to obtain.”

Han Li explained politely, as if the other’s guess was absurd. When he first tried to obtain a recipe, the first person who came to mind was Senior Brother Ma.

Judging by how he valued medicinal herbs, he was clearly researching alchemy and must have many recipes in his possession. So, a few months ago, when Senior Brother Ma came to pick up medicinal herbs, he seized the opportunity to speak.

However, as soon as Senior Brother Ma heard Han Li’s words, he shook his head vigorously, making it clear he was unwilling.

All the recipes he had were ones he had carefully refined after numerous failures. So, how could he give them to just anyone? He immediately refused Han Li’s request.

Han Li did not give up and persistently asked for even a common recipe. Senior Brother Ma, unable to stand it, shouted that he should go to the Akrok Hall for such common recipes, and why was he bothering him? So, Han Li promised a year of unpaid labor and finally got the old man’s token to visit the Akrok Hall.

“Haha, is that so! I thought the famous Senior Brother Ma had suddenly changed his personality.”

The two red-robed disciples seemed to understand Han Li’s explanation.

“Alright, go in!”

As the two simultaneously chanted an incantation, the light barrier opened, creating a space large enough for one person to pass through. Seeing this, Han Li quickly stepped inside. Beyond the barrier, there was nothing to be seen except for a small circular formation on a barren mountain.

“You have to be checked every time you come, so take good care of your jade token. That is the rule here.”

The one who retracted the incantation from the light barrier handed the jade token to Han Li and said.

“Thank you, Senior Uncle!”

Han Li bowed politely. He needed to leave a good impression on the two so that it would be easier to come and go in the future.

“Alright, follow me.”

The expressions of the two were much more gentle than before. Those who came here were mostly people of similar strength to them, so there were hardly any cases of people being as polite as Han Li. So, they had no reason to dislike him.

“But why did Junior Brother Han come all the way to the Akrok Hall? Whether it’s alchemy or the alchemy pavilion, you need to be at least at the Qi Condensation stage to use them, isn’t it too early?”

The disciple who was taking Han Li to the circular formation asked.

“After hearing about alchemy in Senior Brother Ma’s garden, I thought that since what’s growing in the herb garden is the raw material, I might be able to find a suitable recipe if I’m lucky. Anyway, my talent is not very good, so it’s hard to cultivate without external help.”

It was half true and half false.

“I see. But I don’t know if your wish will come true. You’ll understand what I mean when you go inside.”

When they arrived at the circular formation, the red-robed disciples placed Han Li in the middle of the formation and took their positions on the left and right.

“Originally, you have to pay one low-grade spirit stone to use the teleportation formation, but since it’s your first time, we’ll let it slide. From next time, you have to follow the rules here.”

One of them chuckled and poured red light into the formation with practiced hands. As the red light surged on both sides, the spirit stones that made up the formation began to glow.

Before he could even thank them, the sky and earth turned upside down, and his surroundings became blurry. When he opened his eyes again, he was inside an unfamiliar hall. And he found himself standing in the same circular formation he had just seen. This was the teleportation formation he had only heard about. Han Li calmed his racing heart and began to look around the hall.

* * *

This hall was uniquely designed as a large cylindrical space. It was 30 meters in diameter and height, with blue rocks on all sides and red crystals embedded everywhere.

Looking up, surprisingly, there were white stalactites hanging from the ceiling of the hall. It seemed that someone had modified a rare stalactite cave to create the current hall.

Han Li slowly walked towards the passage with a sign. This passage was not very long, and after turning a corner, a large space was revealed.

There, a long table and an old man with a red glow on his face were standing and smiling at Han Li.

“You look unfamiliar, so it must be your first time here! Those who come here usually have faces that look like they’re bored to death, but it’s nice to see a young person like you come.”

The old man nodded and spoke seriously. Han Li tried to use his Heavenly Eye Technique [a technique to assess someone’s cultivation level] to assess the other party, but failed. He was also an expert who had reached the Qi Condensation stage.

“Greetings, Senior Uncle. It is my first time in the Akrok Hall, so I ask for your guidance.”

“If you don’t understand something, ask me anything. But I am Old Man Heo, so just call me Old Man Heo or Heo Baek. There’s no need to call me Senior Uncle or anything long like that.”

The old man hurriedly corrected his title.

“Understood… Then, I will follow your orders.”

“Alright. But what is your purpose for coming here?”

Old Man Heo asked with satisfaction.

“I came to find recipes or books related to pills and to learn about alchemy.”

“If it’s recipes and books about alchemy, you can go up these stairs.”

Surprisingly, Old Man Heo did not ask any further about why Han Li had come here. When Old Man Heo took out a black spirit token from his pocket and chanted a spell, a stone staircase leading to the ceiling appeared between the old man and the storage cabinet.

As Han Li happily approached the stairs, the old man finally revealed a cunning expression.

“To see the books on the second floor, it’s one low-grade spirit stone per hour. You can’t take the originals out, and if you want to make a copy, you have to pay ten more.”

‘It’s too expensive! Ten spirit stones for a copy is one thing, but one spirit stone just to look at them? Poor disciples won’t even be able to enter.’

A low-grade disciple could only collect twenty or thirty spirit stones in a year, and they had to use them to buy things needed for cultivation or daily necessities, so there was not much left.

Han Li’s expression slightly distorted, but he could not hesitate any longer at the old man’s words. Without turning his head, Han Li placed one spirit stone in the old man’s hand and quickly climbed the stairs.

“He’s not even surprised at the mention of receiving spirit stones, he’s an interesting fellow! A little rich kid has come. Hehe, I’ll make a good profit this time too.”

Old Man Heo was delighted by Han Li’s generous attitude. And he carefully wiped the spirit stone in his hand, unable to take his eyes off it. The previous gentle face was gone, and only a miserly look remained.

Han Li hurriedly looked at the items on the second floor, but contrary to his expectations, the space was large, but the items in the room were too few.

Two dark bookshelves, a dirty-looking table, and an old chair were all that was in the room. There were twenty or thirty yellowed old books on the bookshelves, and two old bamboo slips and jade tubes that had lost their original color were placed on the table.

“It’s so shabby! This is more like the study of a poor scholar than a library with the scriptures of a great cultivation sect!”

Han Li was shocked by the scene before him. He felt like grabbing his collar and asking what this was. He barely calmed down and approached one of the bookshelves, picking up a random book to look at.

As he read the title of the book, the words caught his eye. This book contained the secret of acupuncture that could bring a dying patient back to life.

But what does this golden needle technique have to do with alchemy? But what angered him was that this book was one he had seen in Scholar Moon’s study.

He was shocked and angry, but he turned his gaze to the other books on the bookshelf. But an ominous feeling was stirring in his heart. He randomly began to look at the remaining old books. And with each book he looked at, his face was filled with gloom.

Out of the twenty or so books, there was not a single one about alchemy, and all of them were either secret techniques for curing diseases or books that listed various symptoms. There was even a poison scripture left by a master of poison, but in the end, they were all just secular books.

“An hour has passed. If you want to see more, it’s another spirit stone.”

Suddenly, Old Man Heo’s voice was heard from downstairs. He didn’t answer, but he was furious that they were collecting spirit stones for these secular books.

But since he still had to check the items left on the table, Han Li took out another spirit stone and threw it down.

“I received the spirit stone well. Then, keep looking. I won’t disturb you.”

The other party was blatantly trying to get spirit stones. Han Li also had no intention of wasting any more spirit stones, so he only skimmed the contents and had no intention of reading them carefully.

This time, what was written on the bamboo slips was clearly various types of pill-making methods. But unfortunately, they were all spirit pills with the same efficacy as the Yellow Dragon Pill or the Golden Marrow Pill. They were not needed for Han Li, who had now reached the 11th level of the Evergreen Art.

Now, the only hope was the jade tube. He couldn’t just lose spirit stones and return empty-handed.

* * *

He picked up the jade tube and blew off the dust, revealing its turquoise color. He placed the jade tube near his temple and slowly focused his mind, and a pill-making method appeared before his eyes.

Surprisingly, it was the refining method of the Foundation Establishment Pill that Han Li had been dreaming of. It contained everything from the raw materials to the method of refining.

He forgot about the fact that there was another jade tube and focused all his attention on examining it in detail. Then, when he reached the part of the recipe that said, ‘The pill can only be made by tempering it with Innate True Fire,’ he felt completely foolish.

Innate True Fire was the Taoist’s Gang Fire [a type of spiritual fire] that could only be handled by a cultivator who had reached the Foundation Establishment stage. Only cultivators after the Qi Condensation stage could handle it as a basic function, and its power varied depending on the cultivator’s practice.

It was even said that after the Core Formation stage, it would turn into the so-called Samadhi Fire [a powerful spiritual fire], which could turn anything in the world into ashes.

# 69