Chapter 295: Keeping an Appointment
“A relations.h.i.+p with the Devil Dao?”
When the old Daoist heard that Han Li was a Yellow Maple Valley cultivator, he didn’t show any surprise. This was a matter he had previously guessed. Apart from the seven sects, cultivators at Foundation Establishment were truly too few. However, when he heard that his own disciple and Steward w.a.n.g were possibly implicated with the Devil Dao, his face immediately became green.
The reputation of the Devil Dao in the State of Yue was nearly synonymous with bloodshed and ruthlessness. A small Qi Condensation cultivator such as the old Daoist naturally knew of this.
“Senior misunderstands! I truly examined that young prince’s body. He doesn’t possess the slightest magic power.” After a moment of apprehensive and careful thought, he found this hard to believe.
After all, he had spent some time with the young prince and truly hadn"t been able to observe anything similar to the rumors of the Devil Dao.
After Han Li heard his words, he didn’t respond with any superfluous words. He simply said this with a serene expression, “As for whether these two are with the Devil Dao, you will be personally paying attention to this in the future. If you discover anything abnormal, you know what to do. I don’t require you take any harmful actions towards to those two; You simply have to keep an eye on them. Additionally, you mustn’t perform any probing actions in any mesaure. If the other party realizes that you"ve uncovered their ident.i.ties, it’s likely your life will be forfeit!”
Han Li’s final words were a warning to the old Daoist.
The doubt in the eyes of the old white-haired Daoist immediately disappeared after hearing Han Li’s words. Moreover, he now had a terrified appearance.
After some slight hesitation, he opened his mouth and said with slight fear, “If by chance these two discover that I’m monitoring them, what should I do! This humble Daoist’s magic power is meager. I truly fear I will have to turn down Senior’s great task!”
Having heard this, Han Li wrinkled his brow.
This old Daoist appeared to change his mind and wanted to give this up, but this wouldn’t do. It seemed Han Li would have to give him a few more benefits.
With this thought, Han Li touched his storage pouch and took out an item, lightly placing it on the table.
“Monitor the two. If there are any dangers, I will give you this high-grade magic tool to defend yourself with. After this matter has ended, this magic tool will officially become your own.” Han Li insipidly said to the old Daoist as he pointed to the purple bead emitting a faint radiance on the table.
“High-grade magic tool!” When the old Daoist heard this, his mind immediately shook.
Normally, he would be pathetically short on money. He wouldn’t have enough money to afford a mid-grade magic tool, let alone a high-grade magic tool!
“This purple light bead will immediately create a barrier of light to protect your body after you pour magic power into it. I’m confident there aren’t many Qi Condensation cultivators that will be able to break through it. This should be enough to cope with most of the dangers you’ll face.” Han Li patiently said with an unchanging expression.
“This is a defensive magic tool?” After hearing its introduction, the old Daoist’s eyes became pa.s.sionate.
Defensive magic tools were the most precious and rare kind of magic tool. If this old Daoist were to spend the rest of his years gathering spirit stones, it was likely he still wouldn’t have enough to buy a high-grade defensive magic tool.
“Alright, this old Daoist will spare no effort to complete this task.” After the old white-haired Daoist’s face calmed down, he finally clenched his teeth and agreed.
It seemed the proverb “Birds die in pursuit of food, men die in pursuit of money” applied to the cultivation world as well!
When Han Li saw the old Daoist agree to take on this greatly dangerous task, although his face revealed a smile, he inwardly sighed.
“Place this spiritual mark on your body. That way, if anything happens, I can immediately come find you and perhaps save your life! Additionally, I will reward you with an additional bottle of Yellow Dragon Pills after this matter ends.” By using this method and placing the spiritual mark on the old Daoist’s body, Han Li was using both force and incentive.
After the old Daoist saw Han Li do this, he was slightly startled, but he feigned ignorance of Han Li’s true intent and repeatedly expressed his thanks.
Seeing the old Daoist being tactful, Han Li couldn’t help but smile as he took his leave. Then after the old Daoist respectfully sent him off, he quietly departed from the Prince’s residence.
Han Li didn’t intend to immediately return to the Qin Residence. Instead, he casually found a teahouse and calmly contemplated as he tasted the tea. He started to mull over the recent affairs that had occurred to see whether or not there were anything he had done inappropriately or overlooked.
He regularly examined and reflected on all his previous affairs, a habit that Han Li had acquired over the years. Only by continuously reducing his own failings and making up for his deficiencies would Han Li be able to come out unscathed from the crises of the cultivation world at every step.
Thus, Han Li sat at the teahouse for a long while. When the sky had gradually begun to darken, he left the teahouse under a waiter’s strange gaze.
He only called for a single pot of tea and spent half a day drinking it. This was the first time the waiter had seen such a customer. He would later become unable to help but mention this to his friends, causing Han Li to be the unexpected b.u.t.t of a few mortals’ jokes. The unfortunate Han Li would forever remain oblivious to this loss of face.
...
The agreed time by which he would meet old man Xiao had not yet arrived. However, Han Li never intended to truly arrive at the appointed time.
Even though he was always one to be punctual, it was better to arrive early and prevent them from playing any tricks on him.
After walking for a moment, Han Li suddenly wrinkled his brow.
He felt the marks of the Xiao grandparent-grandchild pair appear in the west when they should’ve been in the east as agreed, causing Han Li to feel a bit angry.
With a cold snort, Han Li took advantage of the lack of spectators and threw his Divine Wind Boat to the sky. He and the boat turned into a streak of white light that rushed through the sky in the pair’s direction.
The magic technique for using Spiritual Qi to track people was a very common method used by Foundation Establishment cultivators. However, most people could only sense the marker from a few tens of kilometers away. Han Li, on the other hand, practiced the Great Development Technique and could faintly track it down from over fifty kilometers away, a feat that was truly astonis.h.i.+ng.
This caused Han Li to greatly look forward to practicing the second layer of the Great Development Technique!
After a moment, Han Li stood on the Divine Wind Boat and coldly looked down at an unremarkable courtyard that was about a hundred meters wide. There were three small, half-worn rooms in the courtyard.
Standing on the small pure white jade-like boat, Han Li didn’t recklessly descend. Instead, he remained calm and silent as if he were thinking about something.
In the end, Han Li took a light step, and the small boat immediately fell from the sky like a shooting star.
But when he was about fifteen meters away from the floor, the magic tool suddenly came to a stop. Han Li’s body moved, and he lightly stepped off the magic tool and landed in the small courtyard. At the same time, he beckoned toward the sky. In response, the small boat shrank and flew into Han Li’s hand.
This series of events was as smooth and nimble as flowing water; the slightest of noise couldn’t be heard.
Then, like a demon, he stood in front of the middle room and calmly probed the room for activity with his spiritual sense.
Han Li clearly felt that within the room, there were two ma.s.ses of Spiritual Qi faintly accompanied by traces of his own Spiritual Qi.
As expected, after Han Li’s spiritual sense entered the room, he clearly heard a young woman’s voice.
“Grandpa, aren’t our actions going to anger him? If that person truly finds us, will the excuses we prepared work?” The young girl’s voice was filled with worry. It seemed that Han Li had left a deep and powerful impression on her.
“Humph! You foolish girl. How could he actually find us relying on just a bit of Spiritual Qi? Your grandpa ate more hards.h.i.+ps than you ate meals. Threats, deliberately menacing words, your grandpa has seen them all! I am not convinced his words were true. Furthermore, even if he can activate the magic technique, since we are separated by such a far distance, that Foundation Establishment cultivator won’t be able to accurately sense us. If he goes to the east district, then this person will truly have to go search for us.” After a cold snort, the old man chided the young girl.
“Since it is like that, why didn’t we leave Yuejing during the night? All we did was move to the west district,” the young girl retorted, unconvinced.
“You still don’t understand? What I said earlier was only your grandpa’s guess! As to whether or not it’s true, that is unclear. If I guessed correctly, naturally we won’t have to face his threats and we’ll be free to leave to a different place. But he is nonetheless a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Perhaps he will be able to trace us from afar with his magic technique. If we ran away from Yuejing and he found us, we would have no excuses. But moving to the west district isn’t the same as running away, so we can just casually use an excuse to explain ourselves.” The old man doted on this young girl very much, so he gave her a detailed explanation.
“Hehe! Grandpa, you are truly cunning! However, I don’t think that person seems to be of the despicable sort. Is it necessary for us to hide from him? According to my thoughts, wouldn’t simply exchanging the Daoist book with him give us great benefits?! In any case, this Daoist book is far too profound for us to understand it.” The young girl giggled and said this without care.
“Humph! The world is dangerous. That is just wishful thinking! By conventional morals, everyone would honorably trade openly, and there would be no reason to scheme. You have yet to realize that for fair dealings to exist, they require both sides to have similar strengths. If one side is strong and one side is weak, how can that be considered fair?”
“Besides, although that Daoist book is of no value to us, it could perhaps be a treasure in his hands. After possessing the treasure, he might immediately exterminate us. Your grandpa has seen this on many occasions throughout his life! How could I possibly trust him? After all, the difference in cultivation between him and us is far too great. He could exterminate without expending the slightest of strength.” As the old man said this, his voice became darker. It was clear he was helpless against the reality that his life was in someone else’s hands.
“Grandpa, don’t be discouraged! Didn’t you say that although that person appears young, he’s likely an old monster that lived an unknown number of years?” When the young girl saw this, she hastily consoled him.
But at this moment, a cold voice from their most feared person suddenly came from outside the room.
“What? How am I anything like an old monster?”
As the complexion of the grandparent-grandchild pair greatly changed, the originally tightly closed door silently opened and gave way to Han Li, who calmly walked in.
After he entered the room, Han Li bluntly sat in the host’s seat and then wordlessly looked at the two with an extremely calm expression.