‘Enough, don’t speak any more nonsense. First, you’ll help me find the Ninecurl Spirit Ginseng. Then, we’ll kill the youngster and give his body to you.’ The Bone Sage coldly interrupted him.

‘That will be no problem! With our great spirit searching arts, finding that lone spirit ginseng will be a trivial matter.’ The man disdainfully said.

‘Then let us go!’ With that said, the Bone Sage’s expression grew heavy, and he flung his sleeve downwards.

Two threads of black Qi shot out from his sleeve. In an instant, they had bored into the earth and disappeared from sight. At the same time, a strange dim green light streaked down from the Bone Sage before quickly fading away. Motionlessly floating in place, the Bone Sage closed his eyes.

Down on the ground, Han Li was playing around with the yellow formation flags with a calm expression. However, his gaze continuously flickered as if he were pondering a problem. Hesitation could be seen from his brow.

With a flick of his hand, the flags flew off as streaks of yellow light, firmly inserting themselves into the ground.

“Although I couldn’t find anything wrong with the formation flags, did you truly believe I wouldn’t suspect anything?” Han Li muttered to himself with a smirk.

Soon after, he reached towards his treasure pouch, and took out over ten yellow flags that bore a similar appearance and emitted dense earth Qi.

A strange expression flashed across Han Li’s eyes as he glanced at the small flags flickering with light.

……

The Bone Sage’s expression stirred, and he suddenly opened his eyes.

The two threads of black Qi and the green light shot up from the ground and quickly reentered the Bone Sage’s body.

‘Found it. The Ninecurl Spirit Ginseng sure knows how to hide. It concealed its true body in the groove of a huge stone. Were I not careful, it would’ve been difficult to spot.’ The man proudly said.

‘Good! I will go and see whether that youngster finished setting down the formation. Conceal yourself and be careful. Don’t just appear as you wish and allow him to discover you.’ The Bone Sage solemnly exhorted.

‘Be at ease. My disguise technique can only be detected with the spiritual sense of a Nascent Soul cultivator. In the coming moments, if you are unable to restrain him, don’t rely on me for help. His Gold Lightning Bamboo’s Divine Devilbane Lightning is particularly lethal to bodiless souls such as I.’ The man spoke of the ugly matters upfront.

‘Humph! I don’t need your help to deal with an early Core Formation junior. I naturally hold complete certainty in dealing with him. Also, you need not fear his Divine Devilbane Lightning. A few days ago, he had discharged his flying swords in battle. Any remaining lightning in his magic treasures should’ve been exhausted in dealing with the ghost mist. As for when we had originally fought, he had released a swarm of gold-silver beetles, much to my dismay. Despite my great experience, I am unable to recognize them, strangely enough. Although I don’t know specifically what these spiritual insects are, they should be fiercer than common insects!’ The Bone Sage spoke with an indifferent expression.

‘Oh! Without the Divine Devilbane Lightning, he will pose no threat to me. I will act in accordance to how things play out.’ The man let out a breath of relief.

The Bone Sage smirked and didn’t say anything else. Although the Bone Sage held onto a sliver of the man’s life essence, he knew it was incapable of completely controlling him. As this ghost had immersed himself in the Ghost Dao for so many years, he was sure to be more experienced with the matters of soul restrictions than the Bone Sage was, and he was both willing and able to break free of his restrictions by risking severe damage to Origin Qi. As such, the Bone Sage was unwilling to threaten him.

After looking around, he turned into a black cloud and flew off in Han Li’s direction.

A short moment later, he found Han Li and dropped down.

Although the land here could be considered to be level, it was overgrown with weeds. There was even a small forest of sparse large trees nearby.

The Bone Sage appeared before him and calmly asked, “Have you finished setting up the formation?”

“Of course I have! It’s over there.” Han Li leaned against a large tree and pointed behind him.

With an attentive glance, he saw a large quantity of earth spirit Qi fluctuations behind Han Li as expected.

The Bone Sage inwardly rejoiced and took out a jade box from his storage pouch. He then opened its lid in front of Han Li.

Han Li’s nose was assailed with a strong fishy scent as soon as it was opened. He immediately stood straight and held his breath. With an alert expression, he took a few steps back and suspiciously gazed at the Bone Sage. “What’s that?”

The Bone Sage spoke with an indifferent expression, “There is no need to be overly suspicious. This is the feces of an Orchid Musk Beast. Although it is rather unpleasant to us, the Ninecurl Spirit Ginseng is immensely attracted to its scent. So long as we place it into the formation, the Ninecurl Spirit Ginseng’s avatar will be sure to search for it. After restraining its avatar, we’ll be able to easily excavate the main body of the Spirit Ginseng. There will be no fear of it transforming and escaping.”

“Orchid Musk Beast feces?” Han Li glanced at the jade box in the Bone Sage’s hand.

He now saw it clearly. It was only a thumb-sized faint yellow lump. The intense smell it released greatly surprised Han Li.

He had heard of the Orchid Musk Beast before. It was a strange spirit beast raised by cultivators. It had an odd, fire-red horn that released a peculiar fragrance that placated souls, receiving much favor from cultivators as a result. He hadn’t expected that its feces would prove to be so unpleasant. He was also completely dumbfounded that a spiritual object such as the Ninecurl Spirit Ginseng would be fond of it.

But after Han Li looked at the Bone Sage’s indifferent expression, he widely smiled and said, “Senior, please place the item in the formation spell. I will go and examine the formation flags to ensure everything is properly in place. Afterwards, I will guard this place and seize its avatar. As for the Ninecurl Spirit Ginseng’s true body, I will have to trouble Senior to fetch it.” With that said, Han Li cupped his fist and walked into the forest behind him. With some unknown method, he soon disappeared without trace.

The Bone Sage was startled. He inwardly frowned as he looked at the earth spiritual Qi in the forest. After his mouth twitched, he raised his hand. A strange serpent of black Qi flew out and flew straight into the heart of the forest with the jade box in its mouth. After placing down the jade box, it flew back towards him.

With that done, there was still no trace of Han Li, causing a grim expression to momentarily appear on his face. He immediately flew to the sky in silence.

‘What? Are you actually scared of your own trick, the formation flags that you gave him?’ The man’s mocking voice suddenly appeared in the Bone Sage’s mind.

‘Carefulness leads to no mistakes! I will first test the formation and see whether or not it is properly set up. Although the chance that he happened to possess earth attribute formation flags is miniscule, I cannot take the risk!’ The Bone Sage spoke without caring.

The man clicked his tongue, ‘If you were originally this careful, you wouldn’t have fallen to this degree. It seems you’ve learned your lesson about that great flaw of yours, old pal Bone Sage!’

The Bone Sage couldn’t make out whether he was sarcastic or truly praising him. With an inward snort, he didn’t pay any further attention to the man’s words.

The Bone Sage floated in the air and opened his hand. A yellow formation flag appeared in his grasp. This flag appeared similar to the four that he had given to Han Li but it was a bit shorter and appeared quite exquisite.

The Bone Sage glanced at the small flag and lightly shook it. The flag immediately released a faint yellow light. After it twirled in the Bone Sage’s hand, it pointed down towards the forest.

The Bone Sage let out quiet breath, and his face revealed an evil smile. After putting away the small flag, he turned his gaze to the small mountain and flew off.

At that moment, Han Li had finally appeared from the forest.

Han Li’s eyes coldly glinted as he watched the Bone Sage fly farther away. After his expression stirred, his body became blurred, leaving behind only a breeze. The fishy smell from the jade box was becoming increasingly potent, causing Han Li to tightly frown. All he could do was hold his breath.

As time passed, doubts began to spring into his heart. He couldn’t stay there for long. If the Ninecurl Spirit Ginseng wasn’t duped into appearing, he could only return in vain.

As Han Li was thinking this, his expression stirred. His spiritual sense detected a small object burst into the trees. Han Li was pleasantly surprised by this and immediately concealed his body’s aura. He then stared at the jade box with complete attention.

A yellow light flashed. A sneaking rabbit was floating outside the formation spell. This rabbit’s body was snow white and its blood-red eyes were swivelling incessantly, occasionally glancing around. It appeared extremely timid.

Despite this, the rabbit’s pink nose was continuously sniffing in the direction of the jade box and would occasionally reveal a human-like expression of infatuation.

What was an extremely unpleasant odor to Han Li proved to be an extremely pleasurable one to this small creature.