Seeing the young woman's face full of disappointment, Han Li suddenly laughed, and then said softly:
"I may not be able to take you as my disciple, but don't lose heart! I can introduce another senior brother at the Foundation Establishment stage to be your master. Whether you can succeed in becoming his disciple, however, depends on whether this senior brother of mine is satisfied with you?"
"Really?" The young woman's originally disappointed expression immediately brightened upon hearing these words.
Without another word, Han Li pulled out a voice transmission talisman from his person, whispered a few words into it, then handed this talisman and a jade token to the young woman.
"Take this talisman and jade token. You can go to the Hundred Herb Garden in Yellow Maple Valley and look for a senior surnamed Ma. Whether you will be accepted as his disciple depends on your fortune." Han Li said with an indifferent expression.
The young woman hadn't expected that although Han Li was unwilling to take her as a disciple, there would be another opportunity, and a glimmer of hope rekindled in her heart. She hurriedly bowed in thanks to Han Li. The old man was equally excited.
"Since the introduction of a master is not certain to succeed, I'll give you two more high-grade magic treasures as well, to repay the kindness your grandfather and grandson showed me with those cultivation manuals."
As Han Li spoke, he took out an emerald green brocade ribbon and a small blue sword from his storage pouch, and casually handed them to the old man.
The old man's face showed a look of delighted surprise.
He had thought that since Han Li was introducing a master for the young woman, that was already a considerable kindness. He never expected that Han Li would give them additional benefits, and he couldn't help but feel deeply grateful.
The old man hurriedly thanked him repeatedly, then respectfully accepted the magic treasures, showing a look of extreme fondness for the two items.
High-grade magic treasures — after cultivating for so many years, he had only one on his person. Now he had received two more at once. How could he possibly be dissatisfied!
After that, Han Li did not stay long. He casually withdrew the two wisps of spiritual power he had planted in their bodies, and then, under the respectful gaze of the grandfather and grandson, he drifted away.
Once they saw that Han Li had truly gone far, the old man happily handed the brocade ribbon to the young woman, keeping the small sword for himself. He planned to set out soon, heading to Yellow Maple Valley to find that senior Ma, to see whether his granddaughter had the fate to become a disciple under one of the Seven Sects.
However, Elder Xiao also found it somewhat strange — why would Han Li be involved with the Qin family? Those people were genuine mortals!
...
Setting aside Elder Xiao's wandering thoughts, Han Li finally returned to the Qin residence in high spirits.
Since he used his magic treasure to land directly at his own quarters, his return did not attract anyone's attention. He appeared in his bedroom completely unnoticed.
This newly acquired set of unnamed qi-concealing technique, Han Li found it extremely practical, and he opened the ancient book that very night to study it.
The technique was merely a few small tricks for manipulating spiritual power. With Han Li's deep reserves of spiritual power supporting him, mastering it posed no difficulty at all.
In just a single night, he had grasped seventy to eighty percent of it.
The next morning, Han Li had just finished sitting in meditation and cultivating qi. Feeling that his luck had been pretty good lately, when suddenly a muffled "bang" came from a storage pouch at his side. It sounded as though something had cracked.
Han Li's expression immediately turned ugly, his face darkening. After a moment, he reached into the storage pouch and pulled out a purple bead — identical to the magic treasure he had given to the white-haired old Daoist. Only, several cracks of varying depths now marred this bead's crystal-clear, smooth surface.
Han Li remained silent for a while, then suddenly walked out of the room without a word. After looking around the courtyard and seeing no one, the Spirit Wind Ship immediately flew out from his hand and hovered before him. He flashed onto the ship and vanished from the Qin residence without a sound.
A quarter of an hour later, Han Li appeared at a small village outside the capital of the Kingdom of Yue. With an unchanged expression, he scanned all directions above the village, as if searching for something.
Finally, on a remote hill several li from the village, Han Li landed his magic treasure, his gaze flickering as he stared intently at a massive willow tree.
After a long while, Han Li formed a hand seal with both hands and softly uttered the word "Return."
Immediately, a ball of green light flew out from the roots buried deep in the earth beneath the tree. Inside the light was a round bead, brilliant purple in color, with several cracks across its surface identical in shape and size to the one in Han Li's hand.
Han Li sighed, beckoned at the ball of light, and the cracked bead immediately flew into his hand, still wrapped in the green glow.
Once the bead reached his palm, the layer of light on its surface instantly dissolved into Han Li's body, leaving only the bare bead for him to turn over and examine in his hand.
Han Li pondered for a moment, then suddenly flicked his finger. A fireball the size of a fist shot from his fingertip and blasted a large pit at the base of the great tree, reducing the entire willow tree to ashes in an instant.
Han Li stepped forward and carefully examined the area for a while, but found nothing.
"It seems most likely that he met with foul play." Han Li shook his head and muttered to himself.
The "Purple Light Bead" magic treasure he had chosen to give to the old Daoist was actually called the "Purple Light Sensing Bead" in its full name.
Once this magic treasure was forged, it came as a matched pair of two beads. They could not only release a protective barrier, but when one bead's barrier was broken and the bead destroyed, the other bead — as long as it was within a thousand li — would simultaneously crack and be destroyed as well. It was truly extraordinary.
This type of magic treasure was the most commonly used defensive treasure by disciples of the Joyful Union Sect, one of the six devil path sects. Han Li had captured several pairs during the border conflicts. Finding them quite novel, he had kept them rather than sold them.
When he gave this treasure to the old Daoist, he actually had the secondary thought that if the old Daoist met with any misfortune, he would know about it immediately.
But he had never expected that in just a single night, the old Daoist would have already been forced to use this magic treasure — and from the looks of it, things were grim.
This was far beyond Han Li's expectations, leaving him quite caught off guard!
Han Li stood by the edge of the pit, motionless, as if considering something.
After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Han Li's expression shifted slightly. Then, with a blank face, he released the Spirit Wind Ship, jumped aboard, and transformed into a streak of white light flying off into the distance.
This desolate little hill seemed to return to its silence. Apart from a few birds chirping, it became lifeless once more.
"Huff..."
Half a shi chen later, a deep, long sigh was heard from nearby.
Then, from beneath a small tree about a dozen zhang away from the large pit, a figure slowly emerged. This person was completely wrapped in black cloth, revealing only a pair of eyes that gleamed with a dark, sharp light. Over their entire body was a yellow protective barrier.
But the moment this person fully emerged from the ground, the yellow protective barrier quickly faded and then vanished entirely without a trace.
After coming out, the person warily scanned in all directions and up at the sky before saying in a low voice:
"Come out. That person has really left!"
As these words fell, several spots of ground around them bulged simultaneously, and three more people emerged — dressed identically, with the same yellow protective barriers, the same black-robed and masked appearance. One of them, however, had a slender figure and appeared to be a woman.
"Big Brother, what are we going to do? They ordered us to capture or kill whoever came. But now we just watched that person walk away. Will we be in trouble?" One of the newly emerged figures, who was tall and lean, asked anxiously. From his accent, he seemed not to be very old.
The one who had come out first trembled slightly upon hearing this. These words struck exactly at what he was worried about. They all knew from experience how ruthless and merciless those who had given them their orders could be.
"Should be fine, right? When they gave the orders, they didn't say the person coming would be a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage. This is far beyond our capabilities. Even if we had acted, it would only have been seeking death." The man said with some lack of confidence.
"Hmph! Big Brother is right. What right do we have to detain a Foundation Establishment cultivator? I don't believe those people are completely unreasonable!" The only woman among the three said indignantly.
Hearing this, the other three exchanged bitter smiles. Their little sister was still so naive even now — their lives were literally in those people's hands, and those people would hardly bother reasoning with them.
"However, what the little sister said isn't entirely without reason. I reckon they didn't expect such a big fish to show up. Otherwise, they wouldn't have left this matter to us alone. They should have at least sent a Foundation Establishment cultivator to help." The last person, who was tall and thin, also spoke up.
"Right! If we explain things clearly, we probably won't be punished too severely!" The tall, lean one seemed to perk up and hurriedly agreed.
But no matter how you heard it, those words sounded more like self-consolation.
"However, there's something odd. I keep feeling like I've seen this young Foundation Establishment cultivator somewhere before. He seems familiar!" This person's eyes suddenly showed a hint of suspicion as he murmured softly.
These words made the other three freeze, greatly surprised.
The woman, especially, had a flash of curiosity in her eyes and opened her mouth to ask for details.
But the one called Big Brother suddenly waved his hand to cut her off:
"That's enough. Let's hurry and leave this place. Whatever needs to be said, we can discuss later."
The woman, seeing this, had no choice but to swallow the words that had reached her lips and nodded in agreement.