Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 379

After that, the exchange meeting presided over by True Person Tian Jing concluded, and the cultivators descended the stairs one after another. Han Li and the other two cultivators also joined the crowd and left the True Dragon Pavilion.

As they exited the pavilion, Fellow Daoist Fire Dragon suddenly spoke up.

“I have another appointment, so I must be going now.”

“If you have a prior engagement, then you should go. My lodging isn’t far, so let’s meet again if we have the chance,” said Lǚ Luo with a smile.

“Yes, then I’ll be off!”

Fellow Daoist Fire Dragon bid farewell to Han Li as well and then walked away in another direction.

“He’s quite a unique person.”

As he walked away, Han Li said with a smile, and Lǚ Luo explained,

“Fellow Daoist Nan accidentally consumed some spiritual herb when he was young, and since then, he has remained in a child’s form. Still, he has a simple and cheerful personality, so he’s one of the few cultivators worth interacting with. Among the cultivators of the Ancient Sword Sect, he’s also the only elder who is friendly to our Falling Cloud Sect.”

Han Li raised his eyebrows upon hearing that.

‘So, the other elders of the Ancient Sword Sect are not friendly to the Falling Cloud Sect.’

“What will Fellow Daoist Han do now? You can return to your lodging to rest, or are you thinking of looking around elsewhere?”

“I have some materials I need, so I’m planning to look around the market for a bit. Perhaps I might find something unexpected.”

Han Li spoke truthfully, as there was no need to hide it.

“That’s a good idea. I have some items to put up for auction, so let’s split up for a while then.”

Knowing that Han Li preferred to move alone, Lǚ Luo immediately parted ways, and they each went their own way.

* * *

Several of the markets in Allheaven City were enormous. It was hard to estimate how many times larger they were compared to the markets of the Three Factions of Cloudmount Mountain.

Han Li walked through the market alleys, constantly scanning the shops on both sides. He planned to acquire some special materials to refine high-grade talismans [paper charms imbued with magical power].

Even if he had the remains of high-grade demonic beasts, such as demonic beast hides, he still needed supplementary materials to refine high-grade talismans or high-grade pills.

Furthermore, it was good to prepare for refining the Soul Binding Talisman in advance. The most important preparation was to improve his talisman-making skills.

He had not yet completed his research on refining the Soul Binding Talisman, but according to what was written, its power was extraordinary. It could save his life in a critical moment, so he couldn’t give up on it. However, as powerful as it was, the difficulty of refining it was not ordinary.

Therefore, to increase the success rate of talisman refinement, in addition to improving his skills, he also needed to acquire a new brush for drawing talismans.

However, it was difficult to find a truly good brush, and he had looked around two shops in the market but hadn’t seen a satisfactory one. He had seen some top-grade brushes, but while they were sufficient for refining ordinary high-grade talismans, they were insufficient for refining talismans like the Soul Binding Talisman.

Such brushes were magical tools only used by talisman masters, so there weren’t many people looking for them, and even if there were, most of them were low-grade items.

This was because if a talisman master with insufficient magic power used a top-grade brush, the probability of failure in talisman refinement would increase dramatically rather than increase the success rate.

Moreover, there were only a few talisman masters who had reached the Core Formation stage throughout the entire Southern Heaven, and he had never heard of a cultivator who had succeeded in reaching the Nascent Soul stage while focusing solely on talisman refinement.

Most of them were old cultivators who had already reached the Nascent Soul stage and were only skilled in refining the talismans they needed, so they were not experts. Also, the success rate was extremely low compared to the precious materials.

This was why high-grade talismans were traded at such high prices in the cultivation world, comparable to top-grade magical tools.

Most of the high-grade talismans containing the Five Elements spells were considered weak compared to the power of magical treasures.

Some cultivators even stopped practicing the Five Elements spells once they reached the Core Formation stage, as the power of the spells did not match the power of magical treasures. However, this did not mean that high-grade spells were completely useless.

As far as Han Li knew, there were definitely Five Elements spells with such great power that even Nascent Soul cultivators had difficulty blocking them.

However, while the process of comprehending and practicing these spells was daunting, they also had the disadvantage of being too complex and inconvenient to use in actual combat.

It was better to simply use a magical treasure to attack or defend. However, according to rumors, the mages of Moran had broken through these limitations.

Even after condensing his Nascent Soul [a stage of cultivation], Han Li knew his own shortcomings, so he had only challenged the most basic high-grade spells. He had learned about three or four of them, but the speed at which he could cast them was too slow. If he were to use them in actual combat, even seven lives would not be enough.

However, just like he had done with low-grade talismans in the past, if he threw dozens of high-grade talismans at once, he could make even late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators retreat in confusion, let alone cultivators of the same level.

It would be like receiving an attack from dozens of Nascent Soul cultivators at once, so no matter how great one’s cultivation technique or how well one’s body was protected by a defensive magical treasure, there would be no way to withstand it.

However, other cultivators could only imagine such a thing. After all, it was too extravagant an attack, as it was like throwing away tens of thousands of spirit stones [currency in the cultivation world] in a single attack.

Han Li walked down the street with these thoughts. He diligently scanned the shops on both sides of the street, but generally, only larger establishments were likely to have such rare items.

Besides Han Li, many other cultivators were also going in and out, looking at items. Most of them were Foundation Establishment cultivators, and occasionally, Core Formation cultivators could be seen.

However, except for those who resided in Allheaven City, Qi Refining cultivators were rarely seen.

Han Li had concealed his cultivation back to the mid-Core Formation stage, so he only caught the attention of Foundation Establishment cultivators.

After looking around the large shops without attracting the attention of others, Han Li walked out of the first floor of a pavilion, feeling disappointed. Half a day had already passed.

Looking at the darkening sky and the moonstones of the shops that had just begun to emit light, he hesitated. He was wondering whether to return to his lodging or look around a few more places.

But then, he heard a commotion that sounded like someone was arguing.

“What’s going on? Are all the cultivators of your Falling Cloud Sect so rude? You broke someone’s item and won’t compensate?”

“It’s not that I won’t compensate, but I just said that I don’t have that many spirit stones left because I bought another item earlier. Besides, how can a single low-grade Fire Cloud Talisman be worth 300 spirit stones? It’s worth at most 100 or so. Besides, I said I’d go back to the inn where I’m staying and borrow spirit stones from my fellow disciples!”

Han Li paused and stopped walking. The man’s voice sounded familiar, like someone he knew from the Falling Cloud Sect. Stroking his chin, he thought for a moment and then turned back, walking towards the noisy shop.

He didn’t know who it was, but he thought he should first assess the situation. After all, as one of the three great elders of the Falling Cloud Sect, it was not right to pretend not to know and run away.

Soon, Han Li discovered that the cultivators were confronting each other from afar. The black-clad youth with an angry face was unexpectedly Sun Huo of Fire Cloud Peak, whom he had met at the sword competition.

It had only been 20 years, so Sun Huo’s face hadn’t changed much, but his cultivation had greatly increased. Those confronting him seemed to be the shop owner and his employees who were doing business here.

The owner, with a short mustache, glared at Sun Huo and shouted.

“What am I supposed to do with your useless spirit token! If you ignore the spirit token and return to the Falling Cloud Sect, am I supposed to chase you ten thousand miles to the State of Ji to get my money back? Stop talking nonsense and give me something from your storage pouch if you don’t have spirit stones.

And this Fire Cloud Talisman is not an ordinary item, it’s a masterpiece by a famous talisman master in our Allheaven City! How dare you compare it to other low-grade talismans? It’s already fortunate that I’m settling for 300 spirit stones! Are all the cultivators of the Falling Cloud Sect so poor?”

As he finished speaking, the owner looked at the wooden box held by his employee with a pitiful expression, as if he had really suffered a great loss.

“Ha! You’re just making things up as you go. A normal talisman becomes a masterpiece of a talisman master with just your words!”

Sun Huo was so angry that he was almost laughing.

“Can you even tell if it’s a masterpiece of a master or not? Or are you just trying to avoid paying compensation? If that’s the case, don’t blame me if I report you to the law enforcement officers of this city!”

The owner sneered and threatened him without hesitation. Sun Huo’s face turned red at those words. If the law enforcement officers of the Nine Nations Alliance appeared, it was obvious who they would side with.

Moreover, it was originally ambiguous to determine who was right and wrong, and he would suffer no matter what.

After a while with a dark face, Sun Huo finally stamped his foot and fiercely swept his hand across his storage pouch.

At the same time, various colored talismans appeared, all of them low-grade talismans.

“This much should be worth at least two or three hundred spirit stones, even if they are low-grade talismans.”

Sun Huo was gritting his teeth, but the owner’s expression softened a little after seeing the talismans.

“Well, it’s about enough!”

And then he reached out to take the talismans.

“Oh, wait! Not that one!”

Before the owner could touch the talismans, Sun Huo’s expression changed when he saw one of them. He hurriedly picked out a half-torn talisman fragment from among them and handed over the rest.

“Hmph! Why are you so nervous about a torn piece of blank paper? It seems the Falling Cloud Sect is really a den of paupers.”

The shop owner, who had been briefly surprised, was now full of ridicule as he reached for Sun Huo’s talismans again. But at that moment, a figure flashed, and someone stepped between the two and snatched the talismans.

Sun Huo was startled, and the shop owner quickly stepped back and shouted.

“What are you doing!”

“I’m not trying to do anything. I keep hearing you say this and that about our Falling Cloud Sect. I’ll give you one more chance to say it in front of me,” the cultivator who had stepped between them said coldly. And as soon as he finished speaking, an astonishing aura erupted from his body.

The pressure of the mountain-like spiritual energy caused even the nearby cultivators to be shocked and involuntarily pushed back. Some of those with shallow cultivation could not withstand it and their knees buckled.

The Core Formation cultivators who were passing by staggered for a moment and then immediately cried out in surprise.

“A Nascent Soul cultivator! Senior, how could you…”

Han Li turned his head to look at the Core Formation cultivator who had shouted, and he swallowed the words he was about to say and closed his mouth. The faces of the two middle-aged Core Formation cultivators passing by were unfamiliar. Han Li did not know them.

At this time, the shop owner and his employees, who were standing in front of Han Li, were almost prostrate on the ground, unable to move due to the pressure of the spiritual energy that had poured out from close range.

They had lost their minds upon hearing the words ‘Nascent Soul cultivator’ and began to beg for mercy, but they could only mumble because it was so difficult to breathe due to the strong spiritual energy.

Only Sun Huo, who was standing right behind Han Li, was standing upright because Han Li had taken special measures. Soon, he recognized Han Li, and his expression changed. He hurriedly bowed and greeted him respectfully.

“Disciple Sun Huo greets Martial Ancestor Han.”

Without even glancing at the prostrate cultivators, Han Li turned his body, glanced at the half-torn talisman in Sun Huo’s hand, and nodded.

“It seems you know my identity without me having to explain.”

“This disciple was ignorant of Martial Ancestor’s cultivation at the time and spoke rashly, so I can only beg for forgiveness!”

Sun Huo was reminded of the words he had said to Han Li in the Holy Land, and he lowered his head even further with anxiety.

“It’s fine since you weren’t yet an elder of this sect at that time. However, the talisman you hold in your hand seems to be an item that has a connection with me.”

“Yes? Could it be that Martial Ancestor is…”

Sun Huo’s eyes widened and he was about to show a joyful expression when a silver-tinged streak of light approached from afar.

“We’ll talk about this later.”

Han Li waved his hand to stop Sun Huo’s words and looked at the light approaching from afar.
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