Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 68

How could Han Li, who was only at the Qi Condensation stage, handle such Innate True Fire! It was something barely possible even after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.

But to reach Foundation Establishment, he needed the Foundation Establishment Pill, and to make the Foundation Establishment Pill, he needed the Innate True Fire that only came after the Foundation Establishment stage. It was a vicious cycle that seemed impossible to break. Depressed, Han Li felt like banging his head against the wall.

He couldn’t even get help from other Foundation Establishment cultivators. To get help, he would have to reveal his situation, and that would likely lead to his death.

After standing there blankly for a long time, his troubled mind finally let go of the first jade tube. He returned it to its original place and picked up the second jade tube. Then, a fiery red surface was revealed.

‘Face-Preserving Pill.’

The three words popped into Han Li’s mind as soon as he focused on the jade tube. He felt uneasy but tried to reassure himself.

‘Even if that’s the name, the medicinal properties might not be exactly as the name suggests. It might have other effects, like enhancing magical power!’

However, the explanation that followed shattered his hopes. The only purpose of this pill was to maintain youth and preserve one’s appearance.

He stood rooted to the spot as if his feet were nailed to the ground, and he wanted to scream out in anger.

‘What kind of library is this! There’s no pill recipe that I need, only all sorts of useless things! They’ve gathered things that are of no use to cultivators.’

While he was standing there lost in thought, a voice came from downstairs again.

“Time’s up. Are you going to look more…”

“I’m coming down!”

Han Li was about to leave with the jade tube containing the Foundation Establishment Pill recipe when he stopped.

Although the Face-Preserving Pill was of no help in enhancing magical power, he thought he might be able to sell it to other cultivators.

Moreover, the Face-Preserving Pill could be refined without Innate True Fire, so Han Li could make it. Han Li ran back and picked up the remaining jade tube before descending the stairs.

“Well? Did you find anything?”

The old man asked with a smile on his face when he saw Han Li. But how could Han Li be fooled by his fake smile now?

“Old Man Heo, is the upper floor really the place where the sect’s pill recipes are kept? Why are there only such trivial books and no other pill recipes? Is there perhaps another hidden room?”

Han Li didn’t care about the other’s sneer and asked the question he had been holding back.

“Since I’ve been in charge of this place, the new disciples who have come to the Scripture Depository have all looked around the upper floor and asked me what was going on. The situation is…”

Old Man Heo deliberately dragged out his words, leaving Han Li speechless. Only now did he realize why he hadn’t been called ‘Senior Brother’ from the beginning but rather ‘Old Man Heo’ or ‘Uncle Heo.’ Once you become a senior member of the sect, how could you swindle money from your juniors with petty tricks?

Han Li placed the two jade tubes he had brought on the table.

“I originally intended to copy both of these jade tubes, but it seems I don’t have enough spirit stones. So, I’ll have to put one back and only copy one.”

“Young friend, you were going to copy two? Haha! Since you’re so generous, I’ll just answer your question. Let me copy this for you first!”

The old man hurriedly took the two jade tubes and then brought two more white jade tubes from behind to start copying. He seemed worried that Han Li would change his mind.

“Alright, take them!”

The old man, having quickly finished copying the jade tubes, handed the copies to Han Li and looked at him with eyes that seemed to say, ‘Hurry up and take out the spirit stones.’

Han Li’s lips twitched as if he had something to say, but he swallowed his words and immediately rummaged through his storage pouch, giving twenty spirit stones to the old man.

The old man happily took the items, checked the spirit stones three or four times, and then looked at Han Li again with a satisfied expression.

“As they say, you can’t judge a book by its cover! Young friend, you have quite a bit of wealth. It’s beyond my expectations. Although I’m greedy for wealth, I keep my promises, so I’ll give you a satisfactory answer to any question you have today.”

Seriousness appeared on the old man’s face. Han Li was a little surprised by this change, but since he had already paid, he didn’t hesitate and repeated the question he had asked earlier.

“The answer is simple. Most of the pill recipes have been lost for a long time. It’s not just a problem in our Yellow Maple Valley, but a very common phenomenon in other sects and even throughout the cultivation world.”

Surprised by the unexpected story, Han Li looked at the old man with a puzzled expression.

“If you think about it, you’ll understand. The reason why pill recipes are valuable is that they use natural treasures to make pills for cultivators to consume.

However, there is a limit to the world’s precious natural treasures. Each elixir requires numerous herbs that have grown for a hundred or even a thousand years, but the number of cultivators consuming them doesn’t decrease; it only increases every year.

So, the herbs recorded in the pill recipes gradually became rare, and some even disappeared from the world. By the time the cultivation world realized the seriousness of this situation and tried to stop it, all the precious herbs had already been stolen or destroyed.

It is said that small amounts remain in some extremely special areas, but those places are dangerous even for cultivators, so not just anyone can go there. So, what value would pill recipes have if the ingredients were gone? As time passed and the cultivation world went through several disasters, these pill recipes also disappeared into history, and today, only a very small number remain, like the Foundation Establishment Pill recipe.”

Even after learning the reason for the loss of the pill recipes, Han Li’s expression didn’t change. But after a moment, he nodded and, without saying anything else, picked up the copied pill recipes and turned to leave.

“Hey, if you want to refine pills, shouldn’t you buy a pill furnace? I’ll give you a discount, how about it?”

The old man hurriedly tried to sell his goods when he saw Han Li was about to leave.

“It’s alright! I can’t use it for a while anyway.”

Han Li said, waving his hand without turning his head.

“That’s a shame. The pill furnaces here can withstand the high temperatures of earth fire.”

“Earth fire?”

Han Li, who was walking towards the passage, stopped.

“That’s right, it can withstand the Earth Lung Fire, which is even more powerful than Innate True Fire.”

“Don’t you need to use Innate True Fire to refine pills? Can you use that earth fire instead?”

His voice was as calm as possible, but he couldn’t stop his heart from pounding. He might find a way to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill.

“It seems you don’t know that the cultivation world has been using earth fire instead of Innate True Fire for a long time? Anyone who has refined pills even once knows this. I’ll explain it to you for free!”

The old man emphasized the word ‘free’ when he saw Han Li’s interest, but his true intention was that there was no such thing as a free lunch. However, Han Li couldn’t delay any longer and immediately turned around and asked.

“If what you say about earth fire is true, then it would be good to choose a pill furnace here.”

“Hehehe. I guarantee the quality of the pill furnaces here! You’ll definitely be satisfied.”

The old man’s face lit up with a smile again as his trick worked.

“Actually, using Innate True Fire to refine pills is old-fashioned. Nowadays, the cultivation world uses the Earth Lung Fire from the Profound Yang Lands [a place with naturally occurring earth fire] to refine pills. Earth fire is purer and hotter than a cultivator’s true fire, and it can be used very stably, which greatly increases the efficiency of pill refinement. It’s also very effective when refining magical artifacts. Therefore, most of the major sects and some large cultivation families have their own professional Profound Yang Lands, which they provide for their disciples and family members to refine pills or practice. Those who don’t belong to any sect or those who cultivate alone can’t use this earth fire, so they use the true fire refinement method, which has a high failure rate.”

The old man finished speaking, nodding repeatedly as if he was satisfied with his explanation.

“Then, does our sect have a place to use earth fire? Where is it?”

All of Han Li’s worries disappeared in an instant, and he asked in a calm tone.

“Hahahaha!”

The old man couldn’t help but burst into laughter at Han Li’s reaction.

“Didn’t you see the unmarked passage when you came into the Scripture Depository? That’s the path to the Profound Yang Fire Land. You can borrow the earth fire there if you pay spirit stones.”

The old man, after laughing for a while, finally told the truth.

“Really?”

“Would I joke with someone like you who is my junior?”

Han Li couldn’t hide his joy and asked again with a smile, which seemed to displease Old Man Heo slightly.

“I misspoke. Please forgive me.”

Han Li apologized sincerely.

“Hmph! I’ll forgive you this once since you’re young and don’t know the ways of the world.”

Only then did the old man’s expression soften, and he returned to his original demeanor, adding,

“But I’m taking back my offer to give you a discount on the pill furnace.”

The old man never missed an opportunity to think about profit.

“Are these pill furnaces?”

“Of course not! Those are just ordinary pill furnaces used to make low-grade pills. How could they withstand the heat of earth fire? The real ones are all in here!”

The old man, looking like a cunning merchant, showed a gray pouch hanging from his waist. He opened the pouch and lightly touched it, and several unique pill cauldrons appeared with a blue glow.

“How about it? These are the best pill furnaces I have. They are all top-quality and are on a different level from ordinary ones.”

Han Li picked up the pill furnace closest to the old man and examined it. They all emitted a faint spiritual energy, which he liked very much. And his eyes naturally went to the ugly pouch on the old man’s waist.

It was definitely a higher-grade storage pouch than his own. Otherwise, there was no way so many heavy and large items could fit inside.

“Hehe! Not that I’m trying to brag, but I’m an expert in making pill furnace magical artifacts, so most of the low-grade disciples’ pill furnaces in our sect were made by me. And these are the most outstanding ones among them.”

The old man, seeing Han Li’s admiring gaze, became excited and talked on and on. Han Li smiled and, without saying anything, bent down and began to choose a pill furnace.

“This Rahu Cauldron absorbs high-temperature flames and increases the success rate of pill refinement…”

Every time Han Li picked up a pill furnace, the old man would explain that they were all unique treasures and that if he didn’t buy them now, he would miss a great opportunity.

“This one is good.”

After examining all the pill furnaces, Han Li paused for a moment and then pointed to the smallest silver pill furnace.

“Hehe, young friend, you have a good eye! This Silver Silk Cauldron is a really good item and can be called a top-grade magical artifact. It’s the best of the pill furnaces I’ve made.”

The old man, who was slightly surprised that Han Li had chosen it, showered the Silver Silk Cauldron with praise.

‘Good eye, my foot. I chose the smallest one because of the limited space in my storage pouch.’

Han Li was not at all pleased by the other’s flattery. After arguing with the old man about the price, he was able to buy the item for thirty-two spirit stones.

In a short time, Han Li had spent fifty spirit stones. Considering his tight financial situation, it felt like he had given away a piece of his flesh.

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