Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 66

A dry, monotonous voice echoed in Han Li’s ears, and the restriction melted away like snow. Seeing this, Han Li didn’t relax his guard and quickly entered.

Walking along the path, he arrived in front of a plaque that read ‘Baegyak Garden.’ The garden was quite large, and even before entering, the strong scent of medicinal herbs reached his nose.

“What are you doing standing there like a fool? Come in quickly.”

Han Li, who had been momentarily frozen, moved quickly upon hearing the voice. Once inside, he could examine the scenery of the garden in detail.

In the fields where medicinal herbs were planted, unfamiliar herbs that Han Li didn’t recognize grew profusely. The plants were emitting spiritual energy, filling the garden with it. Even a low-level cultivator like Han Li could feel refreshed just by taking a deep breath.

“Come into the room.”

Another voice urged Han Li. Han Li hurried into the room where the voice came from. Inside, a small, thin old man stood, looking at Han Li with a dissatisfied gaze as he entered.

“You’re the disciple sent from Baegidang? Tsk tsk, you’re too young and your cultivation is too weak. Ye, that fellow, how is it that every time he sends someone, they’re worse than before! Isn’t he being too insincere with me?”

The old man was clearly displeased with Han Li, scolding him as soon as he saw him.

“Disciple Han Li greets Senior Uncle Ma!”

Han Li, having already heard about the old man’s temper, was not surprised and greeted him respectfully.

“Hmph! Do you know that if you don’t carry out your duties properly, you’ll be severely punished? You can still ask Junior Brother Ye to send someone else.”

“Maintaining the scale of the Baegyak Garden, not killing the medicinal herbs, and delivering a certain amount of herbs every month. If that’s all, then disciple Han Li is confident.”

Even though the old man told him to leave with a cold attitude, Han Li spoke calmly. At Han Li’s words, the old man looked at him with a slightly surprised expression. He had never seen a disciple act so confidently, except for the first one who was sent. Still, the old man’s suspicion did not diminish.

“Follow me.”

The old man left the room with a cold attitude despite Han Li’s words.

“How much of this can you recognize?”

“About one-tenth.”

When the old man pointed to the herbs filling the garden, Han Li answered truthfully. The old man was slightly surprised again, but soon wore a sneer.

“If you can really distinguish the herbs, I’ll leave the management of this place to you.”

At the old man’s words, Han Li immediately began to observe the herbs carefully.

“Jayahwa, Hwanggu grass, Baekhakji, Mangwol grass…”

He walked leisurely through the garden, naming the herbs as he remembered them. The old man, who had initially watched with a mocking expression, became more and more surprised as time passed. Han Li not only recognized the names of rare herbs but also knew the names of some herbs that he himself had barely managed to identify.

“That’s enough.”

He had only looked at about half of them, but the old man stopped Han Li.

“Well done. It seems you weren’t completely bluffing! I’ll leave the management of this place to you for a while. This is the restriction jade badge needed to enter this place, so keep it safe.”

With a satisfied look, he took out a black-green wooden badge from his pocket and threw it to Han Li.

“There are books about herbs that I’ve organized in the room, so make sure to read them carefully. After all, there are still many herbs you don’t know, so you shouldn’t accidentally kill them.”

The old man stroked his beard and instructed him.

“I will keep Senior Uncle’s words in mind!”

“Humph! I hope your abilities are as useful as your words. That way, I can also get out of this garden and focus on my cultivation. This is my personal herb cultivation site, so if you do a really good job, I won’t treat you poorly. But if it doesn’t seem like you can, then get lost early and call someone else. Do you understand?”

Even with the old man’s blunt words, Han Li wasn’t angry. Rather, he seemed better than that Junior Uncle Ye, and he even felt a sense of liking for him.

Wasn’t Junior Uncle Ye just a hypocrite pretending to be a gentleman? Han Li quickly nodded his head.

The old man explained a few more precautions about managing the herbs to Han Li before quickly tidying up the room and leaving.

Han Li, after confirming that Senior Uncle Ma had gone far away, chose a thatched house at random and began cleaning it. He planned to make it his room.

* * *

The first day as a new disciple of the Yellow Maple Valley passed without any major problems. The next day, Han Li woke up with a clear mind and began his true cultivator’s life.

During the day, he studied the insights and notes left by the old man, and at night, he secretly went out to the corner of the herb field, buried the mysterious bottle, and covered it with a piece of magical artifact to absorb spiritual energy.

By doing this, there were no noticeable phenomena except that the spiritual energy was slightly denser in the place where the bottle was buried. And a few days later, Junior Uncle Ye came to find Han Li.

He brought only about one-fifth of the promised spirit stones and magical artifacts, and there was nothing at all about elixirs. But he had no choice but to pretend not to know.

Still, his wealth had increased tremendously overnight, so he had to be satisfied with that. What he received were two mid-grade spirit stones, dozens of low-grade spirit stones, and various types of talismans. And he also obtained three good magical artifacts.

One of the mid-grade spirit stones that Junior Uncle Ye gave him was a fire-attribute spirit stone with a flashing red light, and the other was an earth-attribute spirit stone with a deep yellow color.

They were the most common types, but they were clearly different from the low-grade spirit stones with their pale attribute colors, so there was no chance of confusing them with low-grade spirit stones.

The three magical artifacts were also quite useful, having been refined by a Foundation Establishment stage expert. They were much stronger than the ones commonly seen in the Southern Border Alliance. The first one, a ring that seemed to be made of steel, would fly out on its own when a spell was cast and bind the enemy.

Moreover, its size could be freely changed, and if all of his magical power was poured into it, it could become large enough to cover the thatched house where he was staying.

The triangular black flag, when infused with spiritual energy and waved, would surround the area with a round black mist, causing the enemy to lose their spiritual energy and concealing his own tracks, making it an excellent defensive magical artifact.

But what made Han Li happier than these two magical artifacts was the last auxiliary magical artifact. It was a brass-colored bottle that prevented the spiritual energy of the items placed inside from leaking out. As soon as Han Li saw this bottle-shaped magical artifact, he thought that he could solve the problem of how to store the green liquid that he had been pondering for a long time.

Ever since he learned about the existence of spiritual energy, he had suspected that the small bottle was absorbing the natural spiritual energy that was spread throughout the world every night. However, he had no way to prove it before, so he had only been questioning it in his mind.

As the sun set and night fell, he put the condensed green liquid into the brass-colored bottle to see if this magical artifact could preserve the liquid’s spiritual energy. However, Han Li was soon disappointed.

The brass-colored bottle only slightly extended the preservation period of the green liquid, and it still disappeared. This incident made him realize that the liquid was not just a condensation of the spiritual energy of the world, but that something else unknown was also at work.

He concluded that he could not solve this mystery with his current abilities. So, he hid it deep in his mind and decided to wait for the question to be resolved naturally according to the flow of nature.

He used the power of the liquid again to create a large number of Yellow Dragon Pills and Golden Marrow Pills. Even if the effects of the pills were reduced, he intended to find a recipe for a spiritual medicine that would enhance his magical power while taking them. This was not something that could be resolved in a short period of time.

If a newly initiated disciple were to recklessly wander around the Yellow Maple Valley in search of a recipe for elixirs, it would inevitably draw the attention of others. This could even shorten his life.

For now, he planned to quietly cultivate in the Baegyak Garden for a few years, and after fully understanding the situation within the sect and becoming a member of the Yellow Maple Valley, he would avoid the attention of others.

There was no need to worry about harvesting the herbs in the garden every quarter. With just diluted liquid, he could grow a large number of herbs in one night.

Since he intended to stay here for a long time, he had to make Senior Uncle Ma allow it. After setting up all the plans, Han Li busily began his work.

After studying all of Senior Uncle Ma’s insights in the morning, he would diligently run to the place where his senior apprentice, Oh Pung, was located to learn the practical formulas of basic magic. And he spent the rest of his time sitting in the garden studying them, and he also took a large amount of Yellow Dragon Pills and Golden Marrow Pills every day.

* * *

Han Li spent each day busily, forgetting about the passage of time. Two years had passed in the blink of an eye, and many things had happened during his cultivation.

Han Li stayed in the Baegyak Garden all day and did not go outside, so he hardly knew anyone. Perhaps only his senior apprentice, Oh Pung, or the steward of Baegidang, Uh, would occasionally think of him. In any case, these two only saw Han Li once a month when they gave him spirit stones or taught him cultivation techniques.

Han Li was quite fond of this semi-secluded life. And Senior Uncle Ma, unlike at first, was quite satisfied with Han Li, who paid the prescribed herbs on time every month.

To keep Han Li by his side, Senior Uncle Ma increased the amount of spirit stones he gave as compensation. Originally, it was about two low-grade spirit stones, but now it had increased to five.

With the help of numerous elixirs, Han Li’s Everlasting Spring Technique had increased by two levels, reaching the 11th level. He had now reached the middle level among the low-level disciples of the Yellow Maple Valley. And upon reaching the 11th level, the Yellow Dragon Pills and Golden Marrow Pills had lost their effectiveness. Now, he had no choice but to advance his plans and find other elixirs.

Fortunately, no one in the Yellow Maple Valley cared about someone like him, so if he was careful, there was little chance of attracting the attention of others.

* * *

Han Li stood on a rock halfway up Mount Mugyun. A huge rock was covering a cave, and the name of the cave was Akrok Hall.

The Akrok Hall was a place that specialized in storing the recipes and books for refining magical artifacts and elixirs of the Yellow Maple Valley, as well as related techniques.

It also had auxiliary tools and everyday materials needed for various alchemy and refining, so it could be considered the most important place within the sect.

Therefore, there were many restrictions and layers of formations. And over a hundred disciples constantly patrolled the area.

Some said that a Nascent Soul stage Senior Uncle was in secluded cultivation within the Akrok Hall, so they were prepared to stop even a great expert from invading. Han Li knew all of this, but he moved as if nothing was wrong.

As soon as he landed here, numerous watchful eyes secretly observed him. His magical power was at an ordinary level, so the vigilance soon weakened, but they were either hiding their bodies with good magical artifacts or had much higher magical power, so they had to be more careful.

Han Li took a few more steps and chanted a formula in a low voice, emitting a red light into the air, and a red wall blocked his path. Then, two disciples wearing red robes appeared from behind the light.

“Are you trying to break the restriction now?”

One of the red-robed disciples asked in a cold voice.

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