Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 116

“Hmm. Your formation is quite extraordinary. Even if I hadn’t intervened, those fools wouldn’t have been able to harm you.”

Lei Manxue had barely stepped into the Five Elements Formation before he immediately recognized its exceptional capabilities.

“Haha. This is just a high-grade formation tool that this junior brother bought for a large sum at the market. It’s far from worthy of Senior Uncle’s notice.”

“No, this formation is not ordinary. Even I would have wasted some time trying to break it.”

Senior Uncle Lei shook his head. By then, they had arrived in front of Senior Brother Lin’s corpse, which was still lying where it had fallen. With a wave of his thick hand, the corpse floated like a fallen leaf and landed in front of Senior Uncle Lei. He carefully examined the body.

“It’s as you said. He died from the poison of the Gu Poison Sect [a sect known for using venomous insects] in the far west. However, his nascent soul [a cultivator’s spiritual essence] should have left his body before he completely died. Did Junior Brother Han not find anything?”

Senior Uncle Lei asked Han Li without any sign of haste.

‘As expected, he noticed right away!’

Although he had anticipated this, he feigned a surprised expression and hurriedly replied.

“Nascent soul? I didn’t see anything like that. Are you saying that Senior Brother Lin abandoned his physical body before he died?”

As he had already decided, he flatly denied it when the other party asked about it.

“You didn’t see it?”

The eyes buried in his flesh scanned him with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, and Han Li felt his hair stand on end and his heart pound.

“If you didn’t see it, it seems Junior Brother Lin’s nascent soul was trapped in the formation and dissipated.”

After a moment, Senior Uncle Lei turned his head and muttered. It was a conclusion that relieved his mind, but he knew that the other party didn’t believe his words at all.

However, in Senior Uncle Lei’s case, there was no reason for him to nitpick at Han Li over a trivial matter, and in Han Li’s case, he didn’t want to admit it first and live with the disgrace of cruelly killing a fellow disciple. Han Li liked Senior Uncle Lei’s attitude of glossing over things like this.

“Junior Brother’s residence is a bit shabby. How can you invite anyone here? Although cultivators don’t usually care about such formalities, you should at least maintain a minimum standard.”

Senior Uncle Lei didn’t seem to want to leave even after everything was over, and he began to critique the residence. Han Li had a thought as he watched Senior Uncle Lei’s lingering attitude.

“This junior brother has something he would like to ask Senior Uncle Lei. If you have time, would you like to rest at my residence for a while? I have some useful spirit herbs that I would like you to examine. I bought them as old spirit herbs, but I don’t know if they are genuine, so I haven’t been able to refine them.”

“Spirit herbs!”

It was clear that if a senior had come to a junior’s residence and was not invited inside, it would have aroused suspicion.

Moreover, Han Li really had something he wanted to ask for guidance on, and he also wanted to form a good relationship with the other party. It was beneficial to get to know a Core Formation cultivator [a cultivator at a higher stage of cultivation] within the sect.

Thinking this, he brought two boxes containing spirit herbs into the main hall, where Senior Uncle Lei was waiting. He opened the boxes one by one in front of him and asked for an appraisal.

However, Lei Manxue was a little uncomfortable. As expected, when Han Li went out, he expanded his senses to examine the size of the residence, but he could only grasp about ten or so yards before he was blocked by something and could not delve any further.

“These spirit herbs are what this junior brother exchanged for many spirit stones, but I lack the knowledge to confirm how many years old they are. So, I have been keeping them without using them, but when I met Senior Uncle Lei, I was reminded of them and asked for your help.”

“Hmm…!”

Senior Uncle Lei didn’t even hear Han Li’s muttering. He gave a perfunctory answer and carefully began to pick up and examine the spirit herbs. Han Li secretly smiled at this attitude.

It was an excellent choice to bring out the spirit herbs. He had heard that Core Formation cultivators had an immense desire for spirit herbs, far more than Foundation Establishment cultivators [a lower stage of cultivation].

This was because the process of advancing from Core Formation to Nascent Soul was difficult, and it was common practice to consume large amounts of pills as part of their cultivation method.

* * *

Only spirit pills refined from spirit herbs that were hundreds of years old could help their cultivation. Therefore, many Core Formation cultivators left their sects and wandered around, mostly in search of precious herbs.

When Li Huayuan found that Han Li had brought out many spirit herbs from the forbidden area a few years ago, it was for the same reason that he took him in as a disciple.

In fact, even if it had been Lei Manxue or other Core Formation cultivators, they would not have let Han Li go so easily.

Most likely, they would have used a similar method to take half of the spirit herbs. However, Li Huayuan was a little stingy and only took Han Li as a nominal disciple!

Cultivators who improved their skills solely through cultivation without any auxiliary means were rare throughout the entire cultivation world. They were truly considered geniuses of the cultivation world, appearing only once every tens of thousands of years.

Only cultivators with the Heavenly Spiritual Root were recognized geniuses who could use this method, and even those with the Variant Spiritual Root would eventually hit a wall at a certain level and have no other way to progress without other auxiliary means.

Lei Manxue had also just returned from a journey, intending to make pills to help with his cultivation, as his progress had stalled.

However, whether it was due to bad luck or not, he had only managed to obtain two four-hundred-year-old herbs, and there was no other significant gain.

Now, Lei Manxue was greatly shaken. He needed spirit herbs that were over five hundred years old for the pill he was trying to refine to restore his vitality, and he had spent over a year searching every market and secular pharmacy in Yue Country.

However, he was worried because he could not find anything satisfactory. It was useless to make pills by mixing low-quality spirit herbs. But continuing to search for spirit herbs was also a waste of time.

Usually, even if good herbs appeared, the nearby cultivation sects or families would buy them first, so no matter how quickly he heard the news and rushed there, he would often come up empty-handed. And going to the cultivation world of another country was unlikely to succeed because he didn’t know the geography or have any connections.

Then, his junior brother brought up the topic of herbs, and he came to this shabby residence with the intention of just taking a look.

Even if he had brought out herbs that were only two or three hundred years old, it would have been impressive, but when spirit herbs that looked to be six or seven hundred years old appeared before him, he was naturally excited.

The reason he was pretending to examine the herbs while rolling his eyes was not because he really didn’t know, but because he was wondering how to coax these herbs out of his junior brother. It was a waste for such precious items to be in the hands of a mere Foundation Establishment disciple. Senior Uncle Lei, being an old fox who had lived a long life, quickly came up with a good excuse.

He cleared his throat and, with a regretful gesture, put the herbs back down and turned to Han Li.

“These spirit herbs are truly precious. They must be at least seven hundred years old. Junior Brother must have put a lot of effort into obtaining them.”

“Yes. I really risked my life to get them. I bought them at an auction at a secret shop, where even thousand-year-old spirit herbs appeared! Unfortunately, I didn’t have the ability to do anything about it and had to watch someone else take them.”

“A secret shop? And they had thousand-year-old spirit herbs there!”

Senior Uncle Lei was so distraught that he felt like he was about to vomit blood. He had missed such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he wanted to grab him by the collar and ask why he had done that.

“What’s done is done. There will be another good opportunity next time.”

After a moment, Senior Uncle Lei regained his composure and even offered words of comfort to Han Li. In any case, the immediate priority was the spirit herbs in front of him, so he had to coax the other party well!

“Junior Brother Han, what do you plan to do with these spirit herbs? Surely you’re not thinking of entrusting them to the sect’s alchemists? I’m giving you this advice for your own good, but the alchemists of Yellow Maple Valley are far from qualified to handle such good materials. You might end up losing a lot if you bring good spirit herbs to them!”

“Why would I entrust them to them? I’m also planning to use these spirit herbs to exchange for better items. I almost spent all my fortune trying to buy these spirit herbs.”

Han Li kept shaking his head and saying things that Senior Uncle Lei would like to hear.

This was because Senior Uncle Lei had plenty of wealth to satisfy the other party, even if he lacked good raw materials for refining pills or magical artifacts.

It was a good opportunity to buy the spirit herbs fairly without having to talk about this and that.

Senior Uncle Lei’s eyes grew more cheerful, and his expression gradually softened.

“I don’t know what Junior Brother Han needs. Actually, I have quite a few things that I’ve collected over hundreds of years.”

“Ah! If Senior Uncle needs them, I will give you one. Please consider it a token of respect from a junior.”

When Senior Uncle Lei blinked his small eyes and asked what he wanted, Han Li quickly replied as if he had just realized that the other party also wanted the spirit herbs. However, Lei Manxue’s goal was all of the spirit herbs, so he waved his hand.

“What are you talking about? Would I, Lei Manxue, covet a junior’s possessions? Tell me what you want. Senior Uncle will make a very fair trade with you, so don’t worry. A top-grade magical artifact? Or a pill that’s good for regular consumption?”

After going around in circles, Han Li was satisfied when he finally heard the question he wanted from the other party. However, he bowed his head even further and showed a troubled expression.

“To be honest with you, Senior Uncle Lei, I’ve become deeply engrossed in alchemy, and I’ve searched everywhere, including the Evil Record Hall, but I haven’t been able to find a proper recipe.

It turns out that most of the ancient recipes have been lost, and the recipes that other senior and junior brothers and uncles have are either passed down within their families or are treasures that they accidentally discovered from ancient relics, which they cannot easily reveal to others. That’s why I was trying to use the spirit herbs to obtain a refining method for a pill that would be suitable for me.”

“You want to obtain a pill refining method?”

“This disciple knows how precious these recipes are, so I don’t know how to ask for guidance. It would be great if it was a pill that could increase the speed of cultivation for a Foundation Establishment cultivator.”

Han Li explained earnestly again. Ever since he had heard from Old Devil Han about how precious pill recipes were in the cultivation world, he had always been wondering how to gather suitable ones. He had a mysterious bottle, and it would be a great waste if he couldn’t make full use of it.

“If you want to exchange for a recipe, that won’t be easy.”

Lei Manxue’s expression hardened and then softened, as if he had thought of something. Then, he frowned again and didn’t give a definite answer.

Seeing this, Han Li was not disappointed but thought there was a possibility. If there was no chance at all, there would be no reason for the other party to hesitate like that.

“Any recipe that would be helpful to this disciple would be fine, but I’m worried that this junior is making things too difficult for Senior Uncle.”

“Hmm, Junior Brother Han. I do have a few useful recipes, but they are all passed down from my family, so I can’t give them to just anyone. However, while I can’t trade my family’s recipes, ancient recipes are different! Some of them I found myself, and some I exchanged with others, so there’s no problem giving them to someone else.”

“Really? Thank you so much, Senior Uncle!”

Han Li was genuinely happy at the answer he heard after being disappointed.

“Wait! It’s not too late to thank me after you’ve heard everything I have to say. Since we’ve decided to trade, there’s something I need to tell you as your senior.”

“I will heed Senior Uncle’s teachings.”

“It’s not really a teaching, but I’m going to tell you about the shortcomings of the recipes so that you don’t regret it later.”