A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality (Chapter 201-Chapter 400)

Back then, when he had used the excuse of finding a location to undergo closed-door Foundation Establishment cultivation, the medicine garden naturally returned to the hands of the little old man. This caused him to feel extremely unhappy, and he had spent much time blowing his beard and staring.

When Han Li entered the garden, the little old man was absorbing the Spiritual Qi from his surroundings with his eyes closed in front of his cottage. Although he did not open his eyes, he still accurately yelled out Han Li’s name. This was unsurprising, considering that due to the restrictions on the Hundred Medicine Garden, apart from the little old man, only Han Li could enter or leave as he pleased.

However, right when this Senior Martial Uncle Ma had called out Han Li’s name, he suddenly felt something and abruptly opened his eyes, staring at Han Li in disbelief.

“You actually successfully reached the Foundation Establishment stage?”

“Senior Martial Uncle Ma, this disciple truly luckily entered the Foundation Establishment stage!” Han Li bowed in greeting courteously and said with a gentle laugh.

Although the little old man stared blankly with shock for some time, he slowly returned to normal. However, he still muttered to himself:

“This is too unbelievable! He actually entered the Foundation Establishment stage!”

After he murmured these two sentences, he suddenly corrected his expression and said with respect:

“Since we are both Foundation Establishment cultivators right now, you don’t need to bring up the three words ‘Senior Martial Uncle’ anymore; from today onwards, we should refer to each other as Martial Brothers! Since I am somewhat older, if Junior Martial Brother does not despise it, you can just call me Senior Martial Brother Ma!”

Upon hearing this, Han Li nodded with a smile and did not oppose it. This kind of determining seniority based upon one’s realm was a tradition of the cultivating world; this was nothing to be modest about!

Following, the little old man, who was also Han Li’s Senior Martial Brother Ma, entered the room together with Han Li. Then, they each sat down at a table and began to steep a pot of good tea.

They had not been sitting for long when the little old man impatiently asked about how Han Li had reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

Han Li naturally would not tell the other person the real circumstances; however, he did not hide that he achieved Foundation Establishment in the Earth Fire room, obediently revealing it to the other person. This was because if the other person investigated even a little, he would be able to easily discover this matter.

He only said that he had rented an Earth Fire room from Yue Lu Hall, then swallowed the Foundation Establishment Pill that the sect had given him and cultivated behind closed doors for near a year; he did not know how, but somehow he luckily succeeded.

As he listened raptly to what Han Li said, the little old man clicked his tongue “zeze” incessantly, calling the situation strange.

When he had heard the story that Han Li had told him, he blinked his eyes and said to him:

“Junior Martial Brother Han! From what you said, your experience of reaching the Foundation Establishment stage is not too different from other people! Even you could reach Foundation Establishment with this kind of a natural ability; all I can say is that Junior Martial Brother was extremely lucky. Even a success rate of one percent is enough for you!” In the past few years, the little old man had become very familiar with Han Li, so when he spoke he was very direct and did not conceal his envy towards Han Li. In fact, even a jealous expression was emerging from his face.

“Hehe! This can only mean that I, Junior Martial Brother, am extremely lucky; I also did not expect that I could enter the Foundation Establishment Stage so easily!” Han Li laughed and said with a grin.

“However, since Junior Martial Brother Han has successfully reached the Foundation Establishment stage, you have to let the sect head know so that Sect Master Zhong can record your name down on the books! In this way, Junior Martial Brother will be treated according to how high-level disciples are treated, and the amount of spirit stones one receives after reaching Foundation Establishment is not trivial!” said the little old man in a joking manner.

“Much thanks to Senior Martial Brother’s pointers!” When Han Li heard this, his expression changed, and he said this sincerely.

“This can’t count for much! No matter how you see it, we have known each other for so many years; the things that I should remind you of, I will do my best to tell you,” said the little old man casually, waving his hand.

“In reality, after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, the best benefit that the sect gives is still allowing Foundation Establishment disciples to pick at will a location in the Tai Yue Mountain Range. There, one can create their own cave and undergo isolated cultivation! Furthermore...”

Following, the little old man explained to Han Li in detail many things that one should pay attention to upon entering the Foundation Establishment stage, causing Han Li to nod his head continuously as he listened.

But when the other person had finished explaining these things and was leisurely conversing with Han Li, Han Li couldn’t help but ask him about the “Azure Essence Sword Art”.

“Azure Essence Sword Art!” A surprised expression flashed across the little old man’s face!

But after he had deeply glanced at Han Li, he didn’t question him further. He thought for a while and then opened his mouth:

“This Azure Essence Sword Art, I truly have heard others talk about it, and a few have actually cultivated it to the third layer. This sword art is not actually a technique from our Yellow Maple Valley; instead, it is a technique from a sect that we had extinguished many years ago called the Profound Sword Sect. In addition, it originally was not nine layers, but rather thirteen. Reportedly, when the Profound Sword Sect’s Sect Master saw that his sect was about to be extinguished, he wanted to destroy the sword art right then and there, but a few of the Martial Ancestors from our sect were not slow in making a movement, forcefully seizing half of the technique. The remaining half was destroyed and lost forever. Thus, the version of the “Azure Essence Sword Art” being circulated is only a fraction of the whole! At most, one can cultivate it to the Core Formation stage before there is simply no way to continue cultivating it. From hearsay, the complete sword art could be cultivated even up to Deity Transformation stage, but who knows if that is true or not?”

The little old man spoke up to here while waggling his head, then reached his hand out and picked up the teacup in front of him to take a drink. Then, he continued to say:

“Although the Azure Essence Sword Art, missing its later stages, is somewhat inferior when compared to other first-rate cultivation techniques, its strength is truly still not bad! The instantaneous characteristics of the sword streak and protective sword shield are even more sought after by a significant number of Foundation Establishment cultivators. Thus, if it was so easy to cultivate it, a significant number of people all over the sect would be willing to cultivate it as their main technique! After all, the techniques of the Nascent Soul stage are too far away from us, and we would have no way of using them.”





Chapter 218: Pros and Cons