A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248

by Translator: Johnchen

  “How could I give it to them to refine! Disciple intended to use these spiritual medicines to exchange for a few items! After all, just to buy these medicinal herbs, this disciple nearly lost a family fortune! How could I easily squander them?” Han Li shook his head. His words caused Lei Wanhe to feel greatly surprised, making him choke on his previously prepared script.

  However, the fatty had a second thought: “This Martial Nephew wants items in exchange for the medicinal herbs? Is that all he wants? On the basis of my own status as a Core Formation Expert, apart from those extremely scarce pill and tool-refining ingredients, how could I not satisfy this disciple? This is a good opportunity to fairly and honorably exchange for it!”

  With this thought, Lei Wanhe’s eyes grew more squinted from smiling, making him appear increasingly more amiable.

  “What items does Martial Nephew Han want? The collection that this Martial Senior has procured over the past several hundred years is not small! Perhaps I have items that will satisfy Martial Nephew,” The fatty happily stated as he blinked his small eyes.

  “Ah! Could it be that Martial Senior wants these spiritual herbs? If it’s like that, this disciple can give a herb to Martial Senior as a Junior’s filial offering!” At this moment, Han Li appeared to have realized this and quickly spoke with reverence.

  When Lei Wanhe saw that Han Li was so quick-witted to actually not bring up the matter of the exchange and instead immediately offer an herb as a gift, he could not help but feel greatly happy; Han Li also became increasingly more pleasant to look at.

  However, the fatty’s goal was both of the herbs! There was a still one herb left, and he would hate to have to let it go.

  As a result, Lei Wanhe waved his hand and grandly said, “Martial Nephew Han, what is this? Could it be that I, Lei Wanhe, am someone who covets the items of his Juniors? Do not hesitate to say what you need. Martial Senior will immediately find it and exchange with you fairly. I absolutely won’t let Martial Nephew suffer any losses! Do you want to exchange it for a top-grade magic tool? Or any medicinal pills that you currently need?”

  When Han Li heard the other party’s grand words, he grew greatly happy. He had maneuvered in such a large circle, waiting for these words to be spoken out loud. However, with his outward appearance hesitant, he said in embarrassment, “I will not hide this from Martial Senior Lei. Disciple is very interesting in the Dao of Pill-refinement. However, the storage room in Yue Lu Hall doesn’t have any practical pill-refining recipes. Disciple later found out that the pill-refining skills of ancient times has nearly died out. The current pill-refining skills of my fellow martial disciples and Seniors were all either bitterly researched for several tens of generations or happened to be discovered from ancient ruins. Each are as precious as one’s own life and are not easily acquired. Thus, disciple intended to use these two spiritual herbs to exchange for pill formulas that he could use for himself!”

  Chapter 236: Ancient Formula

  “Exchange for pill formulas?”

  The fatty’s originally smiling expression instantly froze!

  “This disciple knows that pill formulas are precious to every Martial Brother and Senior, so I won’t be too picky! It’s enough as long as it can slightly raise this disciple’s cultivating speed in Foundation Establishment. I will definitely not pick and choose!” Han Li said very sincerely.

  After a certain conversation with the small old man from whom Han Li had learned about the circumstances behind pill formulas in the cultivating world, he racked his brains on how to obtain a few pill formulas for his own uses. After all, he owned a secret technique for ripening medicinal herbs; how could he not exploit this advantage as much as he could!

  However, the slightly better pill formulas all landed in the hands of Core Formation cultivators; even if Foundation Establishment disciples had one or two pill formulas, they could only refine insignificant medicine pills. Thus, his original plan was based off of his master, Li Huayuan, but since he had run into this Martial Senior Lei, Han Li immediately changed the target of his plan.

  No matter how one looked at it, this Martial Senior Lei was easier to manipulate than that master of his.

  This was not merely Han Li’s intuition; Li Huayuan was truly too stingy towards this in-name disciple of his. In addition, he was even more demanding and restricting because of their master-disciple relationship.

  Most likely, if today’s methods had been used on Li Huayuan, Han Li’s master would only need to make an understatement and say, “Good filial piety!”, taking away these two spiritual medicines in a justified way. Han Li would have to act as if he had been moved to tears and thank his master for kindly accepting his offering.

  Now, with great difficulty, he had finally encountered another Core Formation cultivator, so naturally he wanted to seize this rare opportunity.

  “You want to exchange medicinal formulas? This truly is a very tricky matter.” Lei Wanhe’s expression finally eased up after he seemingly thought of something. Then, his eyebrows became tightly knit, as if he were uncertain about it!

  Upon seeing this, Han Li did not feel disappointed; in fact, he began to yell “There’s a chance!” in his heart. Otherwise, this Martial Senior Lei would not have this kind of an expression.

  “As long as it’s useful to this disciple, any pill formula is fine; Martial Nephew won’t make things difficult for Martial Senior!” Han Li hurriedly lowered his demands a notch.

  “Martial Nephew Han! Martial Senior does have some pretty good pill formulas, but these things are all the foundational, secretly transmitted formulas that only my clan possesses; I truly cannot bring them out to exchange with you!” Lei Wanhe said with regret, shaking his head.

  Han Li was incredibly disappointed after hearing this! He didn’t attempt to cover up any of his emotions, so when the fatty noticed this, he began to laugh and said:

  “Although I cannot exchange my clan’s pill formulas with you, I still have a few ancient formulas on hand! Some I found within historical ruins, while others I obtained by exchanging with friends. There’d be no problem if I were to exchange them with you.”

  “Really? Then this disciple thanks Martial Senior!” Han Li hurriedly thanked with joy.

  “Wait until I finish speaking, it’s still too early to thank me!” the fatty interjected disapprovingly, waving his hand.

  “Since we are going to make an exchange, as a Martial Senior, I need to make one thing clear,” the fatty said seriously, causing Han Li to be startled slightly!

  “Please, Martial Senior, say it; this disciple will definitely listen to your teachings!” Han Li immediately answered respectfully.

  “What do you mean listening to my teachings? I want to tell you the bad news first before you regret it in the future!” Lei Wanhe glanced at Han Li and added indifferently.

  “If you follow these ancient formulas to refine medicinal pills, the result will all be genuine top-grade spiritual pills. But most importantly, the ingredients of these pill formulas are truly too difficult to find! I don’t know if you will be able to obtain these items. Of course, although these ingredients are difficult to find, they definitely do exist in this realm. It’s not the same as some other ancient formulas, where the ingredients have already gone extinct for an unknown number of years! In reality, many of the newly researched pill formulas are only the results of testing many ancient formulas with substitute ingredients, so although the ingredients for refining pills are there, the pills’ effectiveness decreased significantly. This is truly something that the cultivation world can do nothing about!”

  The fatty’s words shocked Han Li multiple times upon hearing them. However, he still understood the other person’s meaning.

  “Martial Senior’s meaning is?”

  “It’s very easy; after you obtain the pill formulas, if you truly can’t find all the ingredients to refine the pills, look for a substitute and try it out. Who knows, there might be a chance you’ll succeed!” the
fatty solemnly said to Han Li.

  When Han Li heard this, he was speechless! However, he was clear in his heart that this Martial Senior probably felt that the ingredients for the pill formulas he was about to exchange for were truly too difficult to obtain. Most likely, he felt somewhat sorry; thus, he gave Han Li a reminder!

  It seemed in this way that Martial Senior Lei’s integrity was not too bad! Han Li secretly thought this, but he nonetheless put on a lovable outward appearance, repeatedly saying “okay”, demonstrating that he was not considering backing out from the exchange!

  Seeing this, Lei Wanhe was extremely happy in his heart. He still felt that he had taken advantage of this Martial Nephew too much and felt somewhat sorry! After thinking for a moment, he spoke once again:

  “How about this, you have two spiritual herbs here! We’ll exchange one herb for one formula! This Martial Senior can’t let you take too much of a loss!”

  When Han Li heard this, he stared blankly for a moment! However, immediately afterward he began to exult with joy, and his positive feeling for this Martial Senior Lei instantly increased greatly!

  He repeatedly thanked Lei Wanhe; this time, Han Li said it out of complete sincerity without any pretense!

  “Enough. This is the list of pill formulas. Pick two! All of the medicinal pill attributes and the necessary ingredients are listed in there. When you have finished picking, I will give you the actual pill formulas!” Saying this, the fatty pulled out a jade slip and tossed it towards Han Li.

  When Han Li excitedly received this item, he felt that something was strange! When had this Martial Senior prepared this catalog!?

  But this question only flashed briefly in the back of his mind. Han Li received the jade slip, then very carefully scanned it, looking for any appropriate pill formulas.

  This Spirit Gathering Pill and this Qi Refining Powder!” Han Li retrieved his consciousness from the jade slip then excitedly exclaimed.

  “Spirit Gathering Pill, Qi Refining Powder?”

  The fatty indifferently nodded his head after hearing this and didn’t say anything. He immediately pulled out two more jade slips from his storage pouch and tossed them out.

  “Alright, it’s no longer early; I should be heading back!” The fatty happily stored the spiritual herbs on the table, then immediately said his goodbyes and left. Now that he had gathered all his ingredients, he hurried back to refine his own Soul Strengthening Pill!

  Upon hearing this, Han Li hurriedly stood up to escort him out.

  However, when Han Li was escorting him to the cave entrance, he suddenly remembered something. He then asked the other person about the whereabouts and cave location of his master, Li Huayuan.

  When the fatty heard that Han Li was actually Li Huayuan’s in-name disciple, his shock was not small; however, he still told Han Li the location, then flew away on a streak of silver light.

  Han Li watched Lei Wanhe completely disappear before happily pulling out the jade slips with the pill formulas on them, playing around with them for a while. After a long time, he turned around, wanting to return to his cave!

  However, Han Li had only taken two steps before an object near the cave attracted his attention. With a glance, it was actually Senior Martial Brother Lin’s body lying on the ground, curled up; it even preserved the posture of having been thrown out by the fatty.

  Han Li started for a moment, then walked towards it without hesitation. When he reached the corpse, he bent down and began to search.

  He remembered very clearly that Martial Senior Lei had not touched anything on the corpse. He didn’t know whether it was because he was too ashamed to do it in front of a junior like him, or if the items of a Foundation Establishment disciple simply couldn’t enter his eyes.

  As expected, Han Li found a storage pouch on the corpse’s waist.

  This caused Han Li to begin to grin widely! After all, he was very interested in those puppets; the other person’s storage pouch should have a huge pile of them!

  But when Han Li examined the storage pouch, the smile on his face gradually disappeared. The storage pouch actually did not have a single puppet inside of it! Apart from a few spirit stones and two bottles of regular medicinal pills, there was only an unassuming jade slip inside. This caused Han Li’s fired up mood to immediately be extinguished!

  “He clearly controlled so many puppets that day. How could all of them have disappeared…could they all have been destroyed?” Han Li muttered to himself with an unhappy expression on his face.

  Han Li’s guess was actually pretty much correct.

  On that day, Senior Martial Brother Lin had controlled numerous puppets and was able to fight evenly with his opponents. However, when the quadruplets from the Thousand Bamboo Sect killed the two escaping cultivators, they hurried over to harass him. Senior Martial Brother Lin, seeing that the circumstances were not good, immediately detonated all of his puppets. He then took advantage of the confusion and rushed out into the forest. Thus, not even a single mechanical puppet could be found in his storage pouch!

  In his disappointment, Han Li carelessly pulled out that jade slip. Then, as if it were a routine, he sent his consciousness into it, then carelessly gave it a few cursory glances.

  All of a sudden, Han Li’s eyes greatly widened, and the lazy expression on his face instantly froze.

  This was because as soon as his divine sense entered the jade slip, three golden words emerged: “Great Development Technique”!

  Chapter 237: Paying Respects

  “Great Development Technique”. This was what Han Li had repeatedly heard of from Senior Martial Brother Lin, the cultivation technique that the primordial soul tried to entice him with. He was actually able to rummage through his body as he wished and easily found it. This caused Han Li to feel ecstatic beyond belief!

  This “Great Development Technique” had actually been carried on Senior Martial Lin’s body! This truly went against his expectations.

  Han Li truly didn’t know whether this Senior Martial Brother Lin had been extremely stupid or extremely clever!

  He quickly skimmed through the jade slip with the Great Development Technique once through and found that it was as Senior Martial Lin had said. There truly were only incantations up to the fourth layer.

  However, what appeared next caused Han Li to feel even more shocked.

  After he finished completely looking through the Great Development Technique, a scripture called the “True Puppet Insights” appeared immediately afterward, completely instructing him on how to refine puppet beasts and soldiers of all grades. It was a very detailed and extraordinary puppet creation collection!

  After Han Li looked through it for a moment, he immediately withdrew his excited consciousness and wore an extremely happy expression. But after he looked at the jade slip in his hand, he soon though of something, and his expression suddenly became strange.

  The Great Development Technique and the True Puppet Insights were a pair. If he simultaneously cultivated them, they would be flawless together.

  So long as he cultivated the both of them to a certain layer, he would surely be like Huang Long, a single person who relied on a great amount of puppets to remain unwavering against several cultivators of the same strength level and didn’t give them the slightest opportunity to resist!

  This kind of power that suppressed other Foundation Establishment cultivators caused Han Li’s heart to thump!

  However, he was very clear that there was a certain flaw. It was very possible that it would interfere with his own cultivation and cause his originally indistinct chances of Core Formation to be completely null. This was a matter where the gains did not make up for the losses.

  As for the odds that the Great Development Technique could promote Core Formation, Han Li simply did not trust that kind of baseless nonsense.

  Han Li lowered his head and pondered for a moment. This was a very hard choice! He shook his head and first put away the jade slip into his storage
bag before deciding to deal with it in the future.

  After all, deciding whether to cultivate the Great Development Technique along with the puppet creation technique that had dropped from the sky was a bit too sudden. This was a matter to be thought over after his heart calmed down!

  Regardless, this harvest had caused Han Li to be excited! He suddenly thought that although the storage pouches of Huang Long and his fellow disciples had all been thoroughly decimated by Lei Wanhe’s lightning attribute sword light, there were a few puppets that they had not retrieved in time still standing outside the formation.

  These were good items that would be a waste not to acquire!

  With this thought, Han Li left the great formation in a good mood.

  As expected, not far from the formation’s outer boundary, he found many palm-sized puppet soldiers and mechanical beast that had shrunk since nobody was controlling them. However, there weren’t as many as Han Li had imagined, only about twenty. The rest had been turned to ash by Lei Wanghe’s sword light.

  But even if that was the case, Han Li collected them one by one while in high spirits.

  In one moment, he managed to sweep up so many good items. Han Li still wished to continue, wishing for hundreds of more puppet soldiers to appear before his eyes so he could gather them all. Han Li found this attitude of his to be laughable; this greed was truly insatiable!

  After a few words of self-mockery, Han Li returned to his Immortal’s cave and prepared to study the ancient formulas. The next day he would go to where his master, Li Huayuan, lived and see whether or not he could get some decent cultivation techniques.

  ……

  The morning of the next day. Han Li stood on his Divine Wind Boat and flew straight toward the eastern part of the Tai Yue Mountain Range.

  Yesterday, Lei Wanhe had told him that his master’s Immortal’s cave was located at the peak of a particular mountain. It also seemed that Li Huayuan was busy with something inside his Immortal’s cave. If there was a moment to go find him, now was the time.