"Exchange pill formula?"
The fat man's smiling face immediately froze.
"This disciple knows that these pill formulas are treasures that senior brothers and uncles value as much as their own lives, so I won't be too picky! As long as it can slightly increase my cultivation speed during the Foundation Establishment stage, I won't be choosy at all!" Han Li said earnestly.
Since his conversation with the old man about the specific situation of pill recipes in the cultivation world, Han Li had been scheming to collect some pill formulas for his own use. After all, with his secret technique for maturing herbs, how could he not make full use of this advantage?
However, any decent pill formulas were all in the hands of Core Formation cultivators. Even if a Foundation Establishment disciple had one or two recipes, they could only concoct insignificant pills. Therefore, his original plan had been to target his master, Li Huayuan. But now, upon meeting this Uncle Lei, Han Li immediately changed his target.
Because no matter how you looked at it, this Uncle Lei seemed easier to handle than his master.
This wasn't just because Han Li felt Li Huayuan was too stingy toward him as a nominal disciple. It was also because their master-disciple relationship actually made things more complicated and difficult.
If Han Li used the same approach on Li Huayuan today, the latter could simply praise him with a perfunctory "Your filial piety is commendable!" and rightfully accept these two spiritual herbs. Han Li would even have to put on a face of tearful gratitude, thanking his master for graciously accepting them.
Now that he had finally met another Core Formation cultivator, he naturally had to seize this rare opportunity!
"Want to exchange pill formulas? That is indeed a troublesome matter." Lei Wanhe's expression finally relaxed, as if he had thought of something. But it was replaced with furrowed brows and an uncertain look.
Seeing this, Han Li was not disappointed. Instead, he shouted inwardly, "There's definitely something here!" Otherwise, this Uncle Lei wouldn't have such an expression.
"As long as it's useful to this disciple, any pill formula will do. This nephew won't make things too difficult for you, uncle!" Han Li quickly lowered his requirements another level.
"Disciple Han! Uncle does have some decent pill formulas, but these are all exclusive recipes passed down within my family's lineage. I really can't take them out for exchange!" Lei Wanhe still shook his head, saying regretfully.
Hearing this, Han Li was extremely disappointed! The disappointment showed plainly on his face without any concealment. After the fat man saw all of this, he chuckled and said:
"Although I can't exchange my family's pill formulas with you, I do have a few ancient formulas in my possession! Some I found myself in ancient ruins, and others I obtained through trading with friends. There's no problem exchanging these with you."
"Really! Then this disciple thanks you, uncle!" Han Li was overjoyed and hurriedly expressed his thanks.
"Wait, let me finish speaking. You can thank me then!" The fat man waved his hand dismissively.
"Since we're exchanging, as your uncle, I need to make some things clear first." The fat man's expression became serious, which made Han Li slightly stunned.
"Please speak directly, uncle. This disciple will certainly listen carefully to your instructions!" Han Li immediately replied respectfully.
"It's not about instructions. I just want to say the unpleasant things upfront, so you don't regret it later!" Lei Wanhe glanced at Han Li and said lightly.
"If you use these ancient formulas to refine pills, they are indeed genuine, top-quality spiritual pills. But the key is, the ingredients for these formulas are extremely hard to find now! I really don't know if you can gather all these materials. Of course, these ingredients are just hard to find—they definitely still exist in this world. It's not like some other ancient formulas whose ingredients have long since disappeared without a trace! In fact, most of the newly developed pill formulas nowadays are just attempts to find substitute ingredients for the original ancient formulas. This way, the refining materials are available again, but the efficacy is also significantly reduced. This is truly a helpless situation in the cultivation world!"
The fat man's words left Han Li stunned for a moment. However, he understood the other party's meaning.
"What does uncle mean?"
"It's simple. After you get the pill formulas, if you really can't gather all the ingredients, you can try to find some substitutes and attempt to refine them. There might even be a chance of success!" The fat man said solemnly to Han Li.
Hearing this, Han Li was speechless! But he knew in his heart that this uncle probably felt the pill formulas he was going to exchange were really difficult to gather ingredients for, and felt a bit guilty about it. That's why he was giving him a heads-up in advance!
It seemed this Uncle Lei wasn't a bad person after all! Han Li thought secretly. But on the surface, he still maintained an obedient appearance, repeatedly agreeing, showing his acceptance of the pill formula exchange.
Seeing this, Lei Wanhe felt happy in his heart, but still felt he was taking too much advantage of this nephew and felt somewhat guilty! So after thinking for a moment, he said:
"How about this? You have two spiritual herbs here! Let's exchange one herb for one formula! I can't let you suffer too much of a loss!"
Hearing this, Han Li was slightly stunned! But then he was overjoyed, and his goodwill toward this Uncle Lei shot up significantly!
He repeatedly thanked Lei Wanhe, and this time Han Li's words were completely sincere, without any pretense!
"Alright, here is the pill formula catalog. Pick two! It contains all the pill properties and required ingredients. Once you've chosen, I'll copy the actual formulas for you!" As he spoke, the fat man took out a jade slip and tossed it to Han Li.
While excitedly accepting the item, Han Li was also a bit puzzled! When had this uncle prepared this catalog?
But this question only flashed through his mind for an instant. Han Li took the jade slip and carefully searched for suitable formulas.
"Just this Spirit Gathering Pill and Qi Refining Powder!" After withdrawing his mind from the jade slip, Han Li said excitedly.
"Spirit Gathering Pill, Qi Refining Powder?"
The fat man listened and nodded slightly, saying nothing. He immediately took out two other jade slips from his storage pouch and tossed them over.
"Alright, it's getting late. I should be going back!" The fat man happily put away the spiritual herbs on the table and immediately prepared to take his leave. Now that he had all the ingredients, he was eager to return and refine his own Vitality-Enhancing Pill!
Hearing this, Han Li quickly stood up to see him off.
But as he was walking to the cave entrance, Han Li suddenly remembered something. He asked the other party about the whereabouts of his current master, Li Huayuan, and the location of his cave dwelling.
When the fat man heard that Han Li was actually Li Huayuan's nominal disciple, he was greatly surprised. But after telling Han Li the location, he mounted his silver light and disappeared in a flash.
Han Li watched as Lei Wanhe completely vanished from the sky before taking out the jade slip containing the pill formulas with a happy expression, playing with it for a while. After a long time, he turned to return to his cave dwelling!
However, after taking just two steps, something near the cave entrance caught his attention. Looking over, it was Senior Brother Lin's corpse curled up on the ground, still maintaining the posture from when the fat man had thrown him out.
Han Li paused for a moment, then walked over without hesitation. Coming to the corpse, he bent down and began searching.
He remembered clearly that Uncle Lei hadn't touched anything on the corpse. Whether it was because he felt embarrassed in front of his junior, or simply because he didn't value the belongings of a Foundation Establishment disciple.
Sure enough, Han Li found a storage pouch in the corpse's robes.
This made Han Li beam with joy! After all, he was very interested in those puppets, and he expected there should be a whole pile of them in the other party's storage pouch!
But after Han Li inspected the storage pouch, the smile on his face gradually disappeared. Because this storage pouch didn't contain a single puppet! Besides a few spiritual stones and two bottles of ordinary pills, there was only an unremarkable jade slip. This immediately extinguished Han Li's enthusiasm.
"Clearly that day, he controlled so many puppets. How come not a single one is here now? Could they all have been destroyed?" Han Li muttered to himself, looking unhappy.
This time, Han Li's guess was actually quite accurate.
That day, Senior Brother Lin originally had many puppets to control, so he could fight his opponent evenly. But later, after the Qianzhu Sect's twin brothers killed the two fleeing cultivators, they came to support. Seeing the situation was dire, Senior Brother Lin immediately detonated all his puppets. Then, taking advantage of the chaos in the enemy's formation, he broke through the encirclement. That's why there wasn't a single mechanical puppet left in the storage pouch!
Disappointed, Han Li casually took out the jade slip. Then, as if performing a routine task, he sent his spiritual sense into it and glanced through casually.
As a result, Han Li's eyes suddenly widened, and the lazy expression on his face froze instantly.
Because as soon as his spiritual sense entered the jade slip, three large golden characters appeared: "Great Development Technique"!