Han Li spent many days searching through the libraries of the Heaven’s Knowledge Pavilion. However, he hadn’t found a single formation spell book with regards to ancient transportation formations.
This caused Han Li to become greatly disappointed!
At this moment, Han Li thought of a single person who could perhaps help him restore this formation.
Chapter 272: One Year
The person Han Li thought of was naturally Qi Yunxiao, whom he had made a pact with several years ago.
Since Qi Yunxiao, a friend and formation spell master, was proficient in the “Five Elements Reversal Formation”, surely he should be very knowledgeable about other formations. This ancient transportation formation could also be considered a formation spell. As such, perhaps this friend of his could help him restore the formation.
As Han Li thought of this, his heart felt greatly moved. After thinking about the dates, he realized that the day the two had arranged to meet again shouldn’t be far away. However, he could be dispatched on a mission at any time, so he wouldn’t be able to immediately leave to go find him. It seemed he had not choice but to postpone the trip.
After a moment of contemplation, Han Li felt slightly disheartened and was no longer in the mood to further look through formation spell books, returning to his Immortal’s cave.
Returning to his Immortal’s cave, Han Li discovered that the spider eggs had grown larger. It seemed the spirit well spring was quite effective at accelerating their incubation.
When Han Li saw this, he immediately drew a simple spirit-controlling spell formation, a cultivator’s basic method for controlling infant demonic beasts. He then bled several drops of essence blood into the spell formation and placed the spider eggs within. The spell formation took effect, and the two white eggs absorbed the essence blood. Han Li then placed them back into spirit spring.
As Han Li finished this, a sound transmission talisman arrived and told him to go the main hall without delay.
His heart trembled. He knew his assignment has finally come.
……
On the main battlefield between the Seven Sects of the State of Yue and the Six Sets of the Devilish Dao, at a patch of stones in the Golden Drum Plains at the common border between the States of Yue and Che Ji, Han Li was controlling two streaks of light formed from his Black Dragon’s Grasp and several golden blades. He was madly attacking an early Foundation Establishment disciple from the Ghost Spirit Sect at all sides.
Although the black Qi on his opponent's body surged formidably and had several human skulls faintly howling around him, under the violent storm of attacks from Han Li’s two magic tools, Han Li quickly found an opening and chopped him into pieces.
Han Li skillfully snatched the other’s storage pouch from his body. Yet another person had disappeared from this boundless wasteland.
By the time he reaped his harvest, the sky had already turned dark. As usual, the Core Formation cultivators of the Devil Dao and the Seven Sects should have come out to fight.
If the battle spread to his location, he was certain to die an unjust death!
Han Li recalled a battle between Core Formation cultivators that he had previously witnessed with his own eyes; Fear still lingered in his heart!
The magic battle between the cultivators of Saber Transformation Dock and the Controlling Spirit Sect had shattered the heavens and earth and swept back and forth over several kilometers.
From then on, so long as the sky was the slightest bit dark, he made an early return even if he turned up empty-handed.
A year before, he and several others had received orders to escort a spirit stone transport to this location. Afterwards, they would remain there and become high-grade cannon fodder for the Seven Sects, participating in multiple successive large-scale battles. The battle that had just occurred deep within the Golden Drum Plains was such a battle, where over a thousand scattered enemies mutually killing one another was a common occurrence.
What was even more baffling was that ever since the second campaign between the Devil Dao and the Seven Sects had resulted in a draw, the two sides facing each other across the vast Golden Drum Plains would engage in a large skirmish every month, as well as random battles, both small and large, occurring every day.
The so-called ‘large skirmishes’ involved both sides dispatching over a thousand troops in a mutual struggle. For small melees, each side would dispatch small groups of cultivators spanning from groups of three to five or even solitary cultivators to the center of the Golden Drum Plains, all of whom sought to kill enemy cultivators.
Large skirmishes didn’t go as one would expect. Although both sides had fought fervently enough, the number of casualties were quite small. If a side truly tried their utmost, the other side would activate their core defensive barrier, so it would become extremely difficult to harm them.
For other smaller skirmishes, because the strength of Core Formation and Foundation Establishment cultivators were incomparable, they tacitly agreed to reserve the time between morning and early evening for close skirmishes between Foundation Establishment cultivators after each side had probed one another out. When night arrived, Core Formation Experts would appear, and a great battle would occur.
Core Formation cultivators fought alone, one on one, even if they were likely to be defeated or sustain heavy injury. But if their lives were in danger, the speed at which a Core Formation cultivator could flee with all their strength was truly astonishing!
A year passed in this manner. Each side had suffered several hundred losses of Foundation Establishment cultivators. As for Core Formation cultivators, their losses also were not few. This caused the leaders of both sides to feel great heartache at their losses and a bit of depression.
As for Qi Condensation cultivators, because their magic power was meager, they could only prepare their strength and had preserved the entirety of their numbers.
However, with this passing year of war on the battlefield, sabotage and raids had not ceased, causing both the the Devil Dao and the Seven Sects to feel they could not endure much longer! Both sides simultaneously attempted to weaken the other and accumulate their own strength. They both clearly understood that the moment of their decisive battle was soon drawing near.
After two hours on the Divine Wind Boat, Han Li arrived at his allied camp.
Wood and stone rooms of various sizes could be faintly seen from within the great restrictive formation, scattered about without any semblance of a pattern. These were improvised buildings created by cultivators with wood and earth attribute Daoist magics. Naturally, the camp was divided into regions accordance their sects.
Han Li first went to his dwelling, a stone room that wasn’t very large.
After he firmly closed the door, he temporarily sealed the room with essence restriction formation flags.
Then, Han Li took out the items from the storage pouch he obtained today and laid them out before starting to pick through them.
“Again with heaps of human skulls and small flags! Apart from the Ghost Spirit Sect, who else would have such use for these ghostly items? Yi! This sword isn’t bad. I’ll keep it as a spare. This...” After Han Li muttered to himself as he quickly separated the magic tools that would be of use and would remain. Those that were of little value and could not be used would go into a separate storage pouch.
After Han Li put everything into the storage pouches, Han Li removed the formation and walked out.
He turned several corners and eventually walked toward a very conspicuous room.
This wooden room spanned a length of hundred fifty meters and was painted with golden paint all over. When the sun setted, it glimmered as if it were truly made from gold.
Han Li impolitely pushed the door and entered. The room was bustling with activity and had several tens of trading stalls set up by cultivators. There were even more cultivators who were currently haggling over the price or picking items from the trading stalls.
&n
bsp; With great familiarity, Han Li hastily rushed through several stalls and turned the items in his storage pouch into spirit stone with great speed. After all the items had disappeared, he had about a hundred more spirit stones.
Han Li didn’t pay any further attention to anything else and went to the center of the room toward the largest vendor stall.
This vendor’s stall spanned over twenty meters, nearly three to four times bigger than that the other vendor stalls. The stall’s owner was a chubby mid Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Han Li didn’t say any superfluous words and immediately threw a storage pouch full of spirit stones toward the fatty, impolitely saying, “Elder Brother Chen, I have gathered five hundred spirit stones for the Dragon Cry Grass.”
“Hehe, well if it isn’t Brother Han! Truly impressive, you managed to gather this many spirit stones so quickly!” When the fatty saw Han Li, he immediately beamed with a smile. Then he sunk his consciousness into the storage pouch within his chubby hands to count the spirit stones.
“Not bad, not bad! It really is five hundred spirit stones! Here is the Dragon Cry Grass. Make sure to put it away properly!” Fatty Chen then took out a jade box with a joyful smile and handed it over to Han Li.
Han Li took the small box and immediately opened it to see what was inside. He then nodded his head and put it away. Afterwards, he asked the fatty with slight anticipation, “With regards to my previous requests for pill formulas, is there any news? So long as there’s a pill formula, I am willing to pay a bit more!”
“Old pal, pill formulas are extremely rare. Although Foundation Establishment cultivators are likely to have some, they are extremely treasured items. Who would dare to take them out and sell them? Furthermore, if dear friend wishes to have pill formula that are of use to Foundation Establishment cultivators, it would be even more difficult. I’ve spared no effort, but even so, I truly haven’t been able to find any!” When Fatty Chen heard Han Li’s words, he face grew bitter as he poured out his complaints.
Feeling slight disappointment, Han Li wore an indifferent smile and said, “It doesn’t matter. If there’s nothing, then forget it! I still must thank Elder Brother Chen for helping find those two formulas earlier!”
When Fatty Chen heard those words, he happily smiled, saying, “Those two nearly ruined pill formulas were something I picked up over my many years. I didn’t dare to be confident that you would actually want them! However, dear friend wished to take them and experiment to see whether he could improve them. This is something ordinary people wouldn’t dare to do. After all, the energy and time required to do so is far too great! It’s a feat that perhaps would be accomplished with the constant efforts of multiple generations!”
The fatty said this while feeling slightly moved.
When Han Li heard this, he faintly smiled and didn’t say anything else.
Ever since Han Li arrived here, he shockingly discovered that within the camp’s improvised market, there were many rare goods that couldn’t be found in market cities. From medicinal herbs and raw materials to magic tools and cultivation techniques, it nearly had them all.
All the medicinal ingredients he lacked for the Spirit Gathering Pill were easily gathered within the market. With only a bit of maturation, he’d be able to immediately progress his magic power once more.
With this fatty here, Han Li only had to spend about a thousand spirit stones for two of his greatly desired pill formulas, much to his pleasant surprise!
Chapter 273: A Timely Encounter
After pulling out a majority of the spirit stones in his pocket, Han Li even collected a majority of the ingredients necessary for the new ancient pill formulas.
As for the remaining missing ingredients, Han Li gritted his teeth and risked taking out two four-hundred-year-old spirit herbs to sell. His other option was to participate in a few more assignments to kill Devil Dao cultivators. In this way, not only could he earn a reward of a considerable amount of spirit stones, he could also exchange the items found in the enemies’ storage pouches for even more spirit stones.
Based on the numerous treasure talismans he possessed and the strength of the Great Development Technique, even if Han Li ran into late Foundation Establishment cultivator, he could escape from the opponent safe and sound. Similarly, if early or mid Foundation Establishment cultivators were to run into Han Li, they naturally would not have any strength to retaliate and could only flee for their life from Han Li.
Of course, how could important Foundation Establishment cultivators like the Ghost Spirit Sect’s young master participate in these kinds of operations?
Just like this, Han Li earned himself a small bit of reputation among the Seven Sects Foundation Establishment cultivators this past year.
Everyone knew that a vicious character had emerged from the Yellow Maple Valley. While his cultivation base was only that of the mid Foundation Establishment, he inconceivably hunted down over ten Devil Dao cultivators and was still able to return whole.
Han Li used the spirit stones that he had exchanged for to gather all the remaining ingredients for the ancient pill formulas. Upon hearing that the campgrounds of a few other sects also had similar exchange locations, Han Li asked Fatty Chen to be on the lookout for pill formulas, but now it seemed there wasn’t much hope.
Just as Han Li wanted to say goodbye to the other person, a gust of fragrant wind suddenly reached his nose.
Slightly stunned, Han Li twisted his head around to take a look; an elegant and cold female cultivator was approaching from behind.
Upon clearly seeing that newcomer’s touching face and that dainty body with full assets, Han Li’s expression did not change, but in his heart, he was somewhat uneasy! It was actually Junior Martial Sister Chen, with whom he had had skin-to-skin contact before. As soon as he thought about the provocative and erotic scene from that night, a strange feeling surged up in his heart.
Come to think of it, he and this woman had not run into each other ever since the departure from the forbidden area, so he didn’t know when she had arrived at this camp.
“Fifth Uncle, this is the item that you asked for!”
Junior Martial Sister Chen indifferently sized up Han Li. Soon after, a trace of shock flashed across her eyes, but she still arrived in front of Fatty Chen and handed a storage pouch over to him.
“Hehe! Niece Qiaoqian, your arrival is too timely; I was just thinking about these goods!” Fatty Chen said with delight upon seeing Junior Martial Sister Chen, his jowls flapping.
“Fifth Uncle?”
Han Li was stunned by Fatty Chen’s title for quite some time!
He never expected that this fatty whom he had known for the greater half of a year was actually Junior Martial Sister Chen’s senior. Just based on his mid Foundation Establishment cultivation base, his status in the Chen Clan would definitely not be low.
After initially glancing at Han Li, Junior Martial Sister Chen did not send a single glance in Han Li’s way. This cold treatment caused Han Li to feel unhappy in his heart!
“Senior Martial Brother Chen, I will take my leave now, but I will definitely come visit you in the future!” Han Li said politely, unwilling to stay any longer. He turned his head around and walked out of the market.
At this time, Chen Qiaoqian finally gazed coldly at Han Li’s disappearing figure; her eyebrows were tightly knit as she asked Fatty Chen, who was inspecting the storage pouch:
“Fifth Uncle, was this scaredy-cat trying to buy something from you?”
“Scaredy-cat?”
Fatty Chen was shocked by Chen Qiaoqing’s words.
“Yes, the fellow who was just standing here!”
“You’re talking about...... Han Li?” Fatty Chen blinked his tiny eyes as an expression of disbelief surfaced on his face.
“Yes, I’m talking about him. Is there something wrong with that?” Chen Qiaoqian asked, somewhat curious.
Back then, during the expedition to the forbidden area,
Han Li had not given this Junior Martial Sister Chen any good impressions. She always reckoned that Han Li was someone who had run into a great deal of good fortune and always took the opportunity to escape from a fight.
Fatty Chen sat in silence for a moment before suddenly sighing, saying with a strange tone:
“Qiaoqian, you’ve just arrived here and are ignorant about some matters. Although I don’t know why you think this guy is a scaredy-cat, your fellow sect member’s reputation here is not small! He is an extremely strong character who exterminated over ten Foundation Establishment cultivators in succession and is definitely not a mediocre individual. I even want to recommend this person to the clan leader after a few more battles. If we can win over this guy, he will be a great help to us!”
“He exterminated over ten Foundation Establishment cultivators?” Junior Martial Sister Chen asked, the cold expression on her face turning into one of amazement; she truly did not dare to believe what she was hearing.
She couldn’t help but gaze blankly at the exchange location’s front door, but by now, Han Li had already left the room for quite some time.
After walking out of the exchange location, Han Li pondered for a moment, then headed towards his master Li Huayuan’s residence, preparing to pay his respects to his master according to common convention.
As a Core Formation cultivator, Li Huayuan’s residence could not be compared to those of regular cultivators! He lived in a cozy little house in the middle of a large formation; his wife naturally lived together with him.
As for Han Li’s seven Senior Martial Brothers, apart from the eldest, who was still standing guard outside of the Green Ripple Cave, all the others had missions and were not present here. The only ones remaining here were Han Li and his Fourth Senior Martial Brother, Song Meng.
The first day that Han Li arrived and went to see Li Huayuan, his cultivation base of mid Foundation Establishment caused his master to feel great shock!
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 146