Han Li calmly walked out from the Stardust Pavilion a quarter hour later.

He turned his head to look at the huge pavilion with a faint, mysterious smile on his face before continuing on with long strides.

Han Li currently had the “Redthread Shadowchaser Needles” and a jade slip containing the True Essence Pill formula inside his storage pouch.

Moments ago, he had casually asked about the selling price of thousand-year-old spiritual medicine. Instead of taking out any herbs, he took out two boxes each containing a “Face Setting Pill” created from thousand-year-old herbs and handed it over to the young woman.

Han Li vividly remembered the fervent expression of the usually aloof woman when he told her about the Face Setting Pill’s miraculous effect of an unchanging appearance. The sharp contrast with her usual expression had surprised him by no small measure.

Soon after, the young woman called over a pill refinement expert from the Stardust Pavilion to personally confirm the claims. However, none of them had refined such a pill before.

In the end, she brought the two medicine pills to the fifth floor’s Madam Lan to verify the legitimacy of the “Face Setting Pills” as well as their miraculous effect of preserving one’s appearance.

After a whispered discussion, the women decided that Han Li could pay for the pill formula and the magic tool set with the two Face Setting Pills along with a thousand spirit stones.

Now that he thought about it, he felt it was quite funny.

Being able to eternally preserve one’s appearance was a matter that proved extremely enticing and irresistible to women. Even such a clever schemer with such deep cultivation as Madam Lan revealed the same fervent expression as the young woman upon hearing Han Li say the words “Face Setting Pill”. As a result, Han Li came to a complete understanding about how greatly women cared about their appearance.

However, the amount that Han Li had acquired for the Face Setting Pills had far exceeded his estimations.

He had originally believed that the pills would get him two thousand spirit stones at most. Therefore, their offer had left Han Li completely satisfied. Naturally, he didn’t attempt to haggle over the price and ignore their generous offer. It was quite fortunate that the two shopkeepers were women. Were it a male shopkeeper, he would have been quite lucky to get a few hundred spirit stones for them.

After he finished the trade, Madam Lan couldn’t help but ask about the medicine pill’s origin after recovering from her earlier fervor. Han Li thoughtlessly replied, “It was an unintentional discovery,” before making himself scarce.

As Han Li walked out of the Stardust Pavilion, he felt some reluctance.

He knew that since the Stardust Pavilion was able to take out such rarities as pill formulas and the “Redthread Shadowchaser Needles,” they were certain to have even more precious items. It was a pity that he wasn’t able to take out more medicine pills and spiritual herbs for trade as Han Li clearly understood the dangers of openly revealing one’s wealth.

With regret lingering in his heart, Han Li found an inn that accommodated cultivators and decided to stay there.

For the remainder of the day, Han Li started to meditate and refine Qi, preparing for the next day when he would have Store Owner Xu refine his magic tools.

On the morning of the second day, Han Li arrived at the Tool Refinement store in accordance with the appointed time.

Store Owner Xu had been waiting for him for quite a while. Once he saw Han Li, he immediately called out to him in excitement, urging him to enter the rear courtyard. Han Li gave a slight smile and entered.

……

Half a month later, Han Li finally emerged from the store.

But this time, he appeared to be the opposite of how he entered and wore a darkened expression as if he were in an exceptionally foul mood.

Store Owner Xu closely followed behind him with a face full of shame. He was muttering something to Han Li as he followed him.

Han Li then released a long and heavy sigh, which somewhat alleviated his foul mood. Soon after, he spoke to Store Owner Xu in an amiable tone before slowly walking out of the market city, leaving behind the old man in a daze.

A short while later, Han Li had left the territory of the market city and flew toward Xin Ruyin’s small, nameless mountain.

While Han Li stood on the Divine Wind Boat, his expression became sullen once more as he thought of the repeated tool refinement failures in the past half month.

He had overestimated the tool refinement technique of that Shop Owner Xu, resulting in the almost complete destruction of those precious materials just to make one magic tool set. As for the mantis materials that he had valued the greatest, they had been entirely lost in the refining process.

Han Li became extremely regretful after the fact and felt an urge to ruthlessly strike down Shop Owner Xu.

But in the end, when he saw the old man’s great display of shame, he decided to let the matter drop. Even when he departed, he had consoled the old man in an amiable manner.

Sighing from what had happened, Han Li patted his storage pouch. Five white, flawless flying knives flew out from the storage pouch and continuously spiralled around Han Li.

After seeing the five knives magic tool set that was refined from the white spider’s legs, Han Li’s mood improved slightly.

Not only were three of the legs destroyed, but the white spider’s shell that he intended to refine into armor had also been lost. But what he truly hadn’t expected was that the entirety of the huge mantis materials would be completely wasted. This could be considered a great misfortune borne from great fortune. Han Li could only think about this with a bitter smile.

But this experience taught Han Li that the rarer and more superior the materials, the greater the skill that was required to refine them into magic tools. Even the same person who had refined the Inky Flood Dragon’s materials with great success was not enough!

During his flight, Han Li appeared to have entered deep contemplation.

Several days later, he had once again arrived above a small, nameless mountain.

This time, Han Li didn’t need to use a voice transmission talisman. The formation spell had automatically opened a passage for Han Li.

Han Li smiled. It seemed that Xin Ruyin had been waiting for his return. After all, the agreed date had nearly arrived.

After a short moment, Han Li was sitting down in a chair in a bamboo room. Wearing plain clothes, Xin Ruyin sat across from him with a smile.

Xin Ruyin took out a jade slip and handed it to Han Li. With a gentle expression, she said, “Senior Han, your arrival is quite timely. Yesterday, I just finished restoring the ancient transportation formation. So long as Senior restores the formation in accordance with the design, the ancient transportation formation will be functional.”

From her point of view, restoring the ancient transportation formation proved to be quite challenging, and she was quite happy with her recent success.

Han Li reached out for the jade talisman. He was extremely happy and had even revealed a rarely seen undisguised smile.

Although he didn’t intend to immediately make use of the transportation formation, it was bound to be a good backup plan.

Han Li submerged his spiritual sense into the jade slip to take a look. As he expected, he saw detailed and complete instructions on the ancient formation’s restoration.

“Thank you for your trouble, Young Lady Xin!” Han Li didn’t drag his thanks into a long-winded speech. Instead, he sincerely said a few words of thanks and carefully put the jade slip away.

“It was nothing. I personally held much interest in this ancient transportation formation.” Xin Ruyin replied with a faint smile.

Soon after, she thought of something and took out a small, exquisite storage pouch and handed it over to Han Li. She unhurriedly spoke, “I only have another year or two to live at most. These are sets of formation flags and plates that Elder Brother Qi and I refined together. Since I won’t be able to use them, I’ll give them to Senior Han as a present! I hope it proves useful in assisting Senior Han with his future cultivation!”

Seeing that Xin Ruyin had given such an impressive gift with such light words, Han Li was left stunned.

At that point, he took a deep look at her. After a short moment of silence, he took the storage pouch into his hands and solemnly said, “Although I, Han Li, am not an honorable, kindhearted, or chivalrous hero, I will promise Xin Ruyin once more that as long as I have the strength, I will thoroughly extinguish the Fu Clan from the cultivation world without doubt!”

Xin Ruyin smiled in response. The purpose of her large gift had been achieved.

The more reluctant someone was to make a pledge, the more sincerely they would attempt to uphold it.

“If Senior doesn’t have any pressing matters, he can stay at my humble abode for a few days. I do hope to have a chat with Senior Han about the Dao of Formation Spells.”

……

Three days later, Han Li left the nameless mountain on his Divine Wind Boat and arrived at White Pond Mountain, a nearby gathering place for cultivators.

Rogue cultivators and cultivator clan members would often gather here to exchange information of the cultivation world and conduct trade as well.

Han Li came in order to hear how much the situation had deteriorated in the State of Yue and whether or not the Seven Sects were able to make a turnaround.

Only after acquiring this information would Han Li be able to decide on his next plan of action.

The day of the next cultivator gathering had nearly arrived.

White Pond Mountain wasn’t far from Xin Ruyin’s nameless mountain, and she and Qi Yunxiao had previously went there several times. Naturally, a small meeting such as this would mostly have Qi Condensation cultivators. Only rarely would Foundation Establishment cultivators appear here.

One day later, Han Li arrived at the base of the so-called White Pond Mountain.

This mountain was quite large and had three peaks. The tallest and most rugged location, the west peak, was where the meeting would be hosted.

Han Li turned into a streak of white light as he shot toward the mountain peak.