Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 119

He examined the golden scroll, his doubts lingering. Although he felt a strong urge to compare it with the silver scroll from his storage pouch, this wasn’t the place. Any strange behavior here would only arouse his master’s suspicion. After a moment of contemplation, Han Li quickly made his decision.

“Master, I will choose this cultivation method,” he said to Li Huayuan, who had his eyes closed. Li Huayuan opened his eyes, briefly looking surprised at the cultivation method Han Li held, but nodded without a word. Following his master back to the main hall, they found the woman waiting for them.

“Did you make a good choice?”

“Thank you for your concern, Madam. I was able to choose a good cultivation method thanks to you.”

“That’s good, then.”

“Now that you’ve repaid your debt of life, let’s talk about accepting you into my sect. Do you sincerely wish to become my formal disciple, Li Huayuan’s disciple?” Li Huayuan asked sternly, his expression serious. Han Li, startled by his question, immediately gave a clear answer.

“Disciple Han Li, I sincerely wish to.”

However, the words he spoke and the sincerity echoing in his heart were slightly different.

‘If you treat me sincerely, I will naturally do the same. For now, I will uphold the duties of a disciple, but if you harbor any ill intentions, I won’t stand idly by.’

“Good. Matters in the cultivation world are always straightforward. From today on, you are Li Huayuan’s formal disciple. Always uphold the path of cultivation and refrain from doing anything that would tarnish my reputation.”

Only then did Li Huayuan’s expression soften. He then gave Han Li some advice and teachings as a benevolent master. After the conversation, Han Li bowed and left.

As he was about to leave the valley, he happened to run into Senior Brother Wu. When he insisted on escorting him, Han Li, having tasted the bitter experience of being caught by him yesterday, refused outright.

Although the other party seemed disappointed, Han Li quickly rode his magical artifact and left. Once on the boat, he reflected on the events of the past two days.

His impression of his master, Li Huayuan, had improved significantly. His attitude was like heaven and earth compared to the forbidden expedition. Whether it was because he had saved his wife’s life or because he had succeeded in Foundation Establishment, he had finally caught the eye of a Core Formation cultivator [a cultivator at a higher stage of power].

In any case, he had gained a lot this time. He had a background in the cultivation world and had obtained a golden scroll, bringing him closer to the secret of the silver scroll.

Even if he couldn’t unlock the secret, he could simply cultivate the ordinary Qi Condensation Technique [a basic cultivation method]. It wasn’t something to worry about for now.

Returning to his residence, he went into his bedroom and took out both the golden and silver scrolls from his storage pouch.

When he overlapped the silver and golden scrolls, it was clear that many of the patterns matched, confirming they were related. He then held the scrolls in each hand, weighing them. The silver one was slightly heavier. The golden scroll did feel thinner.

He tilted his head, holding the silver scroll, looking at and touching the strange patterns.

He was constantly debating something, his mind racing. But soon, Han Li made up his mind.

He suddenly held the scrolls in both hands and slowly rubbed them together, creating a flame.

Even with the flames reaching his face, he didn’t blink, watching as the scrolls began to melt under the high temperature.

As the thin silver layer melted away, a golden light shone through. Han Li tried to control the flames, preventing them from spreading to the scroll, but the contents inside were unaffected by the fire. He calmed his racing heart and examined the contents.

However, Han Li’s expression gradually hardened. What was written there was unexpectedly a technique for cultivating flying swords or light swords. Although it was a good item, it was not what he wanted at all.

It was undoubtedly a treasure for a Qi Refining cultivator [a cultivator at a lower stage of power], but for Han Li, who had already succeeded in Foundation Establishment, it was ordinary and unnecessary. Still, feeling regretful, Han Li couldn’t just end it like this.

He carefully examined the golden scroll again and even tried burning it, but to no avail.

After wasting half a day, he became frustrated. To put so much effort into obtaining something completely useless! And the term ‘light sword’ already made him cringe. He had already mastered the excellent Azure Essence Sword Technique and could use the Azure Essence Sword Light, so why another light sword?

Depressed, he suddenly threw the scroll into the air and drew a blue sword as thick as a bowl, sending it flying.

He intended to tear it apart and vent his frustration. But the sound he expected didn’t come, and the blue sword light suddenly disappeared into it as if it had fallen into the sea. It was as if something had swallowed it.

“What is this!”

He reached out and cast a levitation spell on the falling scroll. Then, using the Azure Essence Sword Light, he sent small swords one by one, watching as it devoured the light swords.

It seemed like he would run out of magical power before he could satisfy that greedy thing with enough light swords.

Just as he was in a dilemma, wondering what to do, a reaction finally occurred. The scroll emitted a golden light and began to repel the light swords instead of absorbing them. Unable to hide his excitement, Han Li watched the changes without blinking.

The golden light slowly gathered, transforming into tiny characters, each the size of an ant, floating in the air. The golden glow looked like countless stars in the sky.

‘Pop!’

The levitation spell disappeared on its own, and the scroll fell to the ground. Han Li lunged to catch it before it hit the floor.

But before Han Li’s fingertips could touch it, the golden characters flowed towards him like a flood.

Alarmed, he tried to throw the scroll away, but it stuck to his hand like a living creature and wouldn’t budge. The golden light instantly covered Han Li’s entire body, now covered in characters written in light.

This extreme pain thankfully ended in an instant, and the absorption of all the characters was complete. Han Li collapsed to the floor, unable to move a single finger.

Only after a day did he faintly regain consciousness and barely managed to get up. The headache was almost gone, but his head still throbbed, and every nerve felt taut.

He quickly went to his bed, closed his eyes, and began circulating his energy, trying to reduce the pressure he felt in his head.

It was only after three full days and nights of sitting there that he managed to calm the strange currents in his head and understand the nature of the characters.

The complete incantations from the first to the tenth level were all there. If he mastered it to the end, reaching the legendary Deity Transformation stage would not be a problem at all. When he first recognized this information, he was a little surprised but not at all excited.

However, he became quite interested in the supplementary cultivation method called the Three Revolutions Heavy Yuan Technique that was added later.

When he started to skim through the Three Revolutions Heavy Yuan Technique, he thought he might be misunderstanding something. But after repeatedly examining it in detail, he laughed out loud, realizing it was no misunderstanding.

Surprisingly, the Three Revolutions Heavy Yuan Technique had the effect of preventing the bottleneck that occurs before reaching the Core Formation stage. This was like a dream come true for Han Li.

Since he had entered the cultivation world, every cultivator who spoke about the Core Formation stage had sighed in despair.

Breaking through the limits and reaching the Core Formation stage was said to depend entirely on the harmony of heaven.

In fact, this technique didn’t create any shortcuts. To be precise, it was closer to an unverified hypothesis.

The ancient person who created this technique and the Azure Essence Sword Technique had only written down what he had predicted. He himself had stated at the end of the technique that even after doing everything, the probability of succeeding in Core Formation was only half.

But that was enough for Han Li. Even if the probability was one-tenth, he would have tried it without hesitation.

However, as this excitement subsided and he began to examine the technique in detail, even someone as steadfast as Han Li felt like he had been hit on the head with a club.

To cultivate this technique, one first had to master the Azure Essence Sword Technique. But what made Han Li’s face pale was that the Three Revolutions Heavy Yuan Technique meant exactly what it said. Once one had mastered the Azure Essence Sword Technique to the sixth level, one had to scatter their magical power and start cultivating from the beginning again.

According to the creator of this technique, by using the Three Revolutions Heavy Yuan Technique to cultivate magical power again, the true essence would be condensed, and its purity would be several times higher than ordinary magical power.

It was said that after doing this three times in a row and then cultivating to the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, a Core Formation would easily occur in the dantian [an energy center in the body].

Han Li wasn’t worried about the difficulty of scattering his magical power and cultivating again. The problem was whether he would have the time to do it three times in this lifetime.

Even with the help of his mysterious bottle, it was very dangerous. Moreover, according to the creator’s thoughts, the time required would increase with each repetition of cultivation.

This was because the true essence had to be condensed as much as possible. This would allow one to possess several times more true essence and magical power than ordinary cultivators, but it would also waste much more time.

With only about 200 years of lifespan, he couldn’t be sure if he could accomplish everything.

Unable to reach a conclusion, Han Li’s eyes fell on the cultivation method he had received from Li Huayuan. He thought he should examine that first before thinking again.

In conclusion, after repeating the same process of injecting light swords and experiencing a splitting headache, he was able to understand the contents of the other golden scroll.

The Azure Bamboo Cloud Bee Sword was the first phrase that came to Han Li’s mind. After patiently organizing all the golden characters, this was the content. The second scroll surprisingly explained how a Core Formation cultivator could refine a flying sword magic treasure called the Azure Bamboo Cloud Bee Sword. This magic treasure, like Han Li’s Golden Talisman Mother-Child magic artifact, had to be made in sets.

The minimum was a set of twelve wood-attribute flying swords, and if there were enough materials and overflowing true essence, it was theoretically possible to refine thirty-six or even seventy-two.

Although the specific power was not mentioned, it was a terrifying magic treasure. The mere thought of dozens of flying swords attacking simultaneously was enough to make one tremble.

Of course, it was useless now since he had to reach Core Formation to even attempt it.

Still, it helped Han Li decide to master the Azure Essence Sword Technique. Looking at these wood-attribute flying swords, he could imagine how well they would complement the Azure Essence Sword Technique, and it was certain that they would increase each other’s power.

Thus, he decided to cultivate the Azure Essence Sword Technique for now. After all, the question of whether to scatter his magical power or not was something he could only choose after reaching the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, wasn’t it?

Once that time came, he would try Core Formation, and if it didn’t work, he could scatter his magical power again and follow the method of the Three Revolutions Heavy Yuan Technique.

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