Chapter 233: Ancient Prescription

"Trade for a pill formula?"

The Fatty's previously smiling face immediately froze.

"I know that these pill formulas are as precious as life to you Senior Brothers and Senior Uncles, so I won't be picky at all! As long as it can slightly improve my cultivation speed during the Foundation Establishment stage, that's enough; I absolutely won't choose!" Han Li said very sincerely.

Ever since a certain conversation with the old man, Han Li learned about the specific situation of pill formulas in the cultivation world and had been meticulously planning to collect some for his own use. After all, he possessed a secret art to hasten the growth of spiritual herbs; how could he not leverage this advantage to the fullest?

However, all the slightly better pill formulas were held by Core Formation cultivators. Even if Foundation Establishment disciples had one or two formulas, they could only refine insignificant pills. Therefore, his original plan was to target his master, Li Huayuan. But now, upon seeing Senior Uncle Lei, Han Li immediately changed the object of his plan.

Because no matter how he looked at it, this Senior Uncle Lei seemed much easier to approach than his master.

This was not only because Han Li felt that Li Huayuan was a bit too stingy with him, his registered disciple, but also because their master-disciple relationship made him more difficult and troublesome to deal with.

It was very likely that if he used the same tactic on Li Huayuan today, his master would simply praise him with a casual "Your filial piety is commendable!" and legitimately take these two spiritual herbs. Han Li would then have to feign an expression of profuse gratitude, thanking his master for accepting them.

Now that he had finally encountered another Core Formation cultivator, he naturally had to seize this rare opportunity!

"You want to exchange for pill formulas! That's indeed a very troublesome matter." Lei Wanhe's expression finally softened, though he then frowned deeply, his face showing uncertainty, as if something had occurred to him.

Seeing this, Han Li was not disappointed at all. Instead, he inwardly exclaimed, "There's definitely a chance!" Otherwise, Senior Uncle Lei wouldn't be showing this expression.

"Any pill formula that is useful to me, your disciple, will do. Your Junior Nephew won't make it too difficult for Senior Uncle!" Han Li quickly lowered his demands even further.

"Nephew Han! I do have some good pill formulas here, but these are all secret, exclusive formulas passed down within my family lineage. I truly cannot offer them for exchange!" Lei Wanhe still shook his head, saying with regret.

Han Li listened, utterly disappointed, his feelings clearly visible on his face. Seeing this, the Fatty chuckled and said:

"Although I can't exchange my family's formulas with you, I do have a few ancient formulas on hand! Some of these I found myself in ruins, and others I exchanged with friends. There's absolutely no problem with exchanging those with you."

"Really! Then I thank Senior Uncle very much!" Han Li was overjoyed and hastily expressed his gratitude.

"Hold on, wait until I finish speaking. It's not too late to thank me then!" The Fatty waved his hand, saying indifferently.

"Since we're going to exchange, as your Senior Uncle, I need to make a few things clear first." The Fatty said with a serious expression, which made Han Li slightly startled.

"Please speak freely, Senior Uncle; your disciple will certainly remember your teachings!" Han Li immediately replied respectfully.

"Teachings or not, I just want to lay out the unpleasant truth beforehand, so you don't regret it later!" Lei Wanhe glanced at Han Li, saying indifferently.

"If pills are refined according to these ancient formulas, they are indeed all genuine, top-grade spiritual pills. However, the crucial point is that the ingredients for these formulas are extremely difficult to find nowadays! I really don't know if you'll be able to gather all of them. Of course, these ingredients are merely hard to find; they definitely still exist in this world. They are not like some other ancient formulas whose ingredients have been extinct for who knows how many years! In fact, most of the newly developed pill formulas today are simply based on existing ancient formulas, continually searching for substitute ingredients and then re-experimenting to create new ones. While this provides new sources for pill refining ingredients, their efficacy is also significantly reduced. This is truly one of the unfortunate realities of the cultivation world!"

The Fatty's words left Han Li somewhat dumbfounded, but he did understand the other party's meaning.

"Senior Uncle's meaning is?"

"It's simple. After you get the pill formulas, if you genuinely can't find all the ingredients, you can try to find some substitutes and experiment. There might still be a chance of success!" The Fatty said to Han Li with a solemn expression.

Han Li was speechless! However, he knew clearly that this Senior Uncle probably felt somewhat guilty about exchanging a formula with him that was so difficult to gather ingredients for, which was why he was giving him a heads-up in advance!

It seemed this Senior Uncle Lei wasn't so bad after all! Han Li thought to himself, though on the surface he still maintained a docile appearance, repeatedly assenting, indicating his acceptance of the exchange.

Seeing this, Lei Wanhe was pleased but still felt he had taken too great an advantage of his Junior Nephew and felt a bit guilty. So, after thinking for a moment, he said:

"How about this, you have two spiritual herbs here! So, one herb for one formula! Senior Uncle can't let you suffer too great a loss!"

Han Li paused slightly at this but was immediately ecstatic. His good impression of Senior Uncle Lei surged significantly!

He repeatedly thanked Lei Wanhe, and this time, Han Li's gratitude was entirely heartfelt, without any pretense!

"Alright, here's the pill formula catalog. Pick two! It contains information on the pills' effects and the required ingredients. Once you've chosen, I'll copy the actual formulas for you!" With that, the Fatty took out a jade slip and tossed it to Han Li.

As Han Li excitedly received the item, he also felt a bit strange. When had Senior Uncle compiled this catalog?

However, this question only flashed through his mind. Han Li then took the jade slip and carefully searched for suitable pill formulas.

"I'll choose this Spirit Gathering Pill and the Qi Refining Powder!" Han Li said excitedly after withdrawing his consciousness from the jade slip.

"Spirit Gathering Pill, Qi Refining Powder?"

Upon hearing this, the Fatty nodded faintly, said nothing, and immediately pulled two more jade slips from his storage pouch, tossing them over.

"Alright, it's getting late, so I should be heading back!" After happily putting away the spiritual herbs on the table, the Fatty immediately prepared to leave. With his ingredients now complete, he was eager to return and refine his Yuan Augmenting Pill!

Han Li listened and quickly rose to see him off.

However, as he walked him to the entrance of the cave dwelling, Han Li suddenly remembered something. He then asked the Fatty about the whereabouts of his current master, Li Huayuan, and the location of his cave dwelling.

The Fatty was considerably surprised upon hearing that Han Li was actually Li Huayuan's registered disciple, but he still told Han Li the location before flashing away in a streak of silver light.

Only after watching Lei Wanhe completely disappear from the sky did Han Li, with a joyous expression, take out the jade slips containing the pill formulas and play with them for a while. After a long moment, he finally turned to re-enter his cave dwelling!

However, after only taking two steps, something near the entrance of the cave dwelling caught his attention. He saw that Senior Brother Lin's corpse was curled up there, still in the position he had been in when the Fatty threw him out.

Han Li paused for a moment, then walked over without hesitation. Arriving at the corpse, he bent down and began to search it.

He remembered very clearly that Senior Uncle Lei hadn't touched anything on the corpse. He wasn't sure if it was out of politeness in front of a junior or if he simply disdained the possessions of a Foundation Establishment disciple.

Indeed, Han Li found a storage pouch inside the corpse's robes.

This made Han Li's face light up with a smile! After all, he was very interested in these puppets, so he figured there must be a whole pile of them in the other party's storage pouch!

However, after Han Li checked the storage pouch, the smile on his face gradually faded. This was because there wasn't a single puppet inside; apart from a few meager spirit stones and two bottles of ordinary pills, there was only an unremarkable jade slip. This instantly extinguished Han Li's enthusiasm!

"He clearly controlled so many puppets that day, so how are there none now? Could they all have been destroyed?" Han Li muttered to himself, a displeased look on his face.

Han Li had actually guessed almost correctly this time.

That day, Senior Brother Lin, due to having many puppets he could control, had been able to fight his opponents to a standstill. But later, the four twin brothers from the Thousand Bamboo Sect arrived as reinforcements after killing the two cultivators who had fled. Seeing that the situation was dire, Senior Brother Lin immediately detonated all his puppets, then, taking advantage of the ensuing 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 drew out the jade slip. Then, as if performing a routine task, he sent his consciousness into it and casually glanced through it.

As a result, Han Li's eyes suddenly widened, and the casual expression on his face instantly froze.

Because as soon as his divine sense entered the jade slip, three large golden characters appeared: "Great Development Art"!