When Han Li saw the young girl’s disappointed expression, he suddenly smiled and gently said, “Although I can’t accept you as a disciple, do not lose heart! I can introduce you to my Foundation Establishment Senior Martial Brother, a potential master. However, whether or not you can become his disciple all depends on my Senior Martial Brother. Is this to your satisfaction?”

“Really?” The young girl’s original look of disappointment vanished. When she heard those words, her spirit immediately shook.

Without speaking further, Han Li took out a sound transmission talisman and lightly mumbled a few sentences into the talisman. Then he handed it to the young girl along with a jade medallion.

“Take this talisman and this jade medallion. Bring these with you to Yellow Maple Valley and find a Senior surnamed Ma. At that time, whether or not he will accept you as a disciple will depend on your luck,” Han Li added with an indifferent expression.

The girl didn’t expect that even though Han Li was unwilling to take her in as a disciple, he would give her another opportunity. With her wish once again ignited, she hastily saluted Han Li and expressed her thanks. The old man was equivalently in high spirits.

“Because I’m uncertain whether he will accept you as his disciple, I will also give you two high-grade magic tools. This could also be regarded as compensation for that Daoist book of yours.”

While Han Li was saying this, he took out an embroidered emerald-green silk cloth and a small blue sword, casually handing them over to the old man.

When the old man saw this, he appeared pleasantly surprised.

He originally believed that having Han Li introduce the young girl to a master was quite a good fortune, but he hadn’t thought that Han Li would bestow even more substantial benefits. He couldn’t help but feel extremely grateful.

The old man hurriedly expressed his thanks once more and respectfully took the magic tools, revealing an extremely content expression.

He had cultivated for so many years, yet he only had one high-grade magic tool on hand. Now that he acquired two more, how could he not be satisfied?

Han Li did not stay for long, but before he left, he casually withdrew the Spiritual Qi he had placed on the pair’s bodies. Under their respectful gazes, Han Li flew off and departed.

After they saw Han Li fly far away, the old man handed the embroidered silk to the young girl and kept the small sword as he roared with laughter. Then they made preparations to leave the next day and go find that Senior Ma at Yellow Maple Valley in order to see whether or not his granddaughter could become a disciple of the Seven Sects.

However, old man Xiao was a bit puzzled as to why Han Li was mixed among the Qin Clan. Those people were genuine mortals!

……

Not knowing old man Xiao had let his imagination run wild, Han Li rushed back to the Qin Residence with joyful anticipation.

Because he used his magic tool to simply descend into his own dwelling, his return hadn’t aroused anyone’s attention. He then returned to his room without anyone knowing.

Sensing that this newly acquired set of Qi restraining incantations was quite practical, he opened the ancient book to cultivate it that night.

The incantation was a minor skill that used a bit of spiritual power. With the support of Han Li’s profound magic power, he had no difficulty grasping it.

After one night, he almost completely grasped it.

On the morning of the next day, just as Han Li finished his Qi refinement meditation and felt that his luck was quite good, he suddenly heard a smothered “Bang” from within his storage pouch. It seemed that something had broke.

Han Li’s expression immediately became very unsightly and gloomy. After a moment, he reached out for his storage pouch and took out a violet bead. It was actually exactly the same magic tool he gave the old Daoist. However, the bead’s sparkling and glossy appearance was split with several deep cracks.

After a moment of silence, Han Li suddenly walked out of the room, and after checking that no one was in the courtyard, he immediately took out his Divine Wind Boat. With a flash, he boarded the small boat and silently disappeared from the Qin Residence.

After a quarter hour, Han Li appeared at a small village outside Yuejing. With a still expression, he surveyed the village and its surroundings from the sky as if he were looking for something.

Eventually, at some remote hills several kilometers away from the village, Han Li stepped off the small boat and stared unwaveringly at a huge poplar tree.

After a long while, Han Li’s hands formed a magic incantation as he softly spat out the word “Retrieve”.

From the tree’s deeply buried roots, a ball of green light carrying a bead flew out. This bead was a lustrous purple and had several cracks on it. From the size of the cracks, it unexpectedly appeared to be the exact same as the one in Han Li’s hand.

Han Li sighed and beckoned the ball of light, causing it to fly toward his hand.

When it entered his grasp, the ball of light immediately vanished into Han Li’s body. Only the bead remained in his hand.

Han Li muttered to himself for a moment before suddenly shooting a fist-sized fireball from his finger towards the roots of the large tree. In an instant, the poplar tree turned to ash and left a large crater in the ground.

Han Li stepped forward and carefully examined it, but he didn’t discover anything.

“It’s most likely that he was caught up in some evil scheme,” Han Li muttered to himself, shaking his head.

Actually, the true name of the “Purple Light Bead” magic tool that he originally chose to give the old Daoist was “Purple Light Response Bead”.

These magic tools were refined in pairs. Not only did they release a defensive light barrier, but when one bead’s light barriers was broken, so long as the other bead was within five hundred meters, it would suffer the same damage, quite incredibly.

These magic tools were extremely common defensive magic tools carried by Dao Companions of the of the Harmonic Bond Sect. After several melees on the border of the State of Yue, he had acquired many of these magic tools. Because he felt they were rather strange, he hadn’t sold them.

When he gave the old Daoist this magic tool, it was actually so that if the old Daoist encountered any mishap, Han Li would immediately know.

He absolutely did not think that the old Daoist would use this magic tool after just one night. All of this seemed to point to disaster.

This went far from Han Li’s expectations and had caught him rather unprepared!

Han Li motionlessly stood next the hole as if he were contemplating something.

After the time it took to make a cup of tea, Han Li expression seemed to stir. He expressionlessly threw out the Divine Wind Boat and boarded it, flying far off in a streak of white light.

This small overgrown hill seemed to have returned to a state of peace. Apart from the chirping of small birds, it seemed lifeless and still.

“Huuu...”

After an hour, a nearby deep voice exhaled for a while.

Over thirty meters away from the large crater, a person slowly emerged from below a shrub. He was tightly covered in black cloth from head to toe. A pair of dark glossy eyes could be seen as well as a yellow light barrier.

But when this person’s entire body came out, the yellow light barrier immediately weakened and soon completely disappeared without a trace.

After this figure emerged, he diligently took a look at the sky in every direction. Then he said with a deep voice, “Come out! He left!”

After this was said, several locations nearby started to shift, and three similarly dressed people emerged along with their own similar yellow light barriers. However, one of the figures appeared to have a thin, woman’s stature.

“Eldest Brother, what do we do? We were instructed to capture or kill anyone who came here, but we helplessly let this person go. Won’t there be consequences?” A lanky, recently emerged individual couldn’t help but anxiously ask this. From his voice, it seemed he was fairly young.

When the person who first emerged heard this, he couldn’t help but tremble. He was greatly worried about what the lanky figure had said. They all knew from experience that the ones giving them these orders were vicious.

“It shouldn’t be a problem! When they gave us our objective, they didn’t say that the person who would come was a Foundation Establishment cultivator. This is something far beyond our capabilities. If we had acted, we would only be courting death,” the “Eldest Brother” said without much confidence.

“Humph! Eldest Brother speaks correctly. How could we subdue a Foundation Establishment cultivator? I also don’t trust those people. They truly didn’t give us the slightest explanation!” The third individual was the sole female. She said this with dissatisfaction.

After hearing those words, the other three couldn’t help but bitterly smile and look at each other in dismay. This little sister of theirs was still so naive even though her life was hanging in the hands of a mysterious enemy. Why would the other party give them an explanation!

“However, it's not that they didn’t give us the slightest explanation. I reckon that they just didn’t expect there would be such a huge fish. Else, why would they hand this matter over to us? They would have had a Foundation Establishment cultivator assist us at the very least,” the last person to emerge said. He had a tall and thin stature.

“That’s right. If we give them a clear explanation, we shouldn’t be too badly punished!” The person with lanky stature hastily agreed as if his spirits had risen.

But if anybody else heard this, who wouldn’t think these words were anything but self-comfort?

“Even so, it is a bit strange. For some reason, I feel like I’ve seen this young Foundation Establishment cultivator before. He seems somewhat familiar!” He softly muttered to himself with a slightly puzzled appearance.

Those words greatly startled the other three.

That girl was especially surprised. Great curiosity flashed through her eyes, wanting to ask further on this matter.

However, the person they referred to as “Eldest Brother” suddenly waved his hand and interrupted, “Enough, we must hurry and leave this place. Let’s leave these matters for later.”

When the woman heard this, she could only swallow her question and nod her head in agreement.