“Is this the Heaven Lightning Bamboo?” Han Li asked, his expression shifting uncertainly.
Inside the box lay a short, withered piece of ordinary-looking bamboo, about two inches long and as thick as a little finger, with some visibly shriveled roots. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed no different from common bamboo.
Puzzled, Han Li couldn’t help but shoot an expressionless glance at Fairy Violet Spirit.
The young woman clearly understood his doubt. With a light laugh, she pinched the half-yellow, half-green withered bamboo between her jade-like fingers. Then, with a flip of her hand, a gleaming, translucent dagger appeared in her other hand. With a crisp *snap*, she swiftly struck the bamboo with the dagger. The moment the blade made contact, a slender arc of electricity shimmered across the bamboo’s surface, immediately deflecting the dagger away.
Seeing this, Han Li’s doubts finally vanished. He carefully placed the Heaven Lightning Bamboo back into the box and stored it away.
Afterward, Fairy Violet Spirit gave Han Li a waist token identifying him as an elder of the Mystical Yin Sect. They chatted for a while before Han Li took his leave.
Not long after Han Li departed, Madam Fan and Zhuo Ruting returned to the inn together. Upon hearing Fairy Violet Spirit recount the events, the two women exchanged bewildered glances for a long moment.
“Junior Sister, this isn’t what we originally discussed. Aren’t we losing out too much? Given the reputation of the Heaven Lightning Bamboo, we could easily find other Core Formation cultivators. Why accommodate this man so much?” Madam Fan couldn’t help but voice her complaint.
Though Zhuo Ruting remained silent beside her, her delicate brows furrowed slightly, revealing a similar confusion.
“Elder Sisters, you don’t understand. When I proposed making him an elder of our sect, his expression turned very grim. From the look in his eyes, I could tell this man has an extremely resolute will. Even if he were to refuse the Heaven Lightning Bamboo, he wouldn’t agree to this matter. Moreover, as Elder Sister mentioned, he is completely immune to our charm techniques. As for using the Heaven Lightning Bamboo to recruit other cultivators, you overestimate the value of this mediocre item. Although the Heaven Lightning Bamboo is hailed as one of the three divine bamboos of the cultivation world, very few can actually make use of it. Unless one is crafting a top-tier wood-attribute treasure, who would use this as material? And for those who know how to refine such treasures, this tiny amount of Heaven Lightning Bamboo is practically useless. Besides, as you know, the Heaven Lightning Bamboo is graded into different tiers. Ours is merely a several-thousand-year-old White Lightning Bamboo. Even if refined into a treasure, it wouldn’t possess great power. It’s better to use it to build goodwill with this man for now. Moreover, since he has agreed to become an elder of our sect, as long as we sisters treat him with respect and offer annual tributes, when our sect truly faces a great enemy, would he have the heart to refuse assistance?” Fairy Violet Spirit spoke calmly, appearing utterly unflustered.
“And even if there were others who coveted the Heaven Lightning Bamboo and were willing to become elders, given our sect’s current situation, would we dare accept them? That would be like driving away a tiger only to let a wolf in through the back door! Back then, my mother relied on her status as a Core Formation cultivator to employ a strategy of balance, keeping Elders Zhao and Meng in line and working diligently for the sect. After all, relying solely on charm and beauty to win over high-level cultivators is highly susceptible to backlash!” The young woman added with a faint, bitter smile.
Hearing this, both Madam Fan and Zhuo Ruting fell silent.
After the recent mass defections within their sect, the two had begun to doubt the efficacy of their charm techniques. They felt their junior sister’s words held some merit.
“For now, the three of us will handle the sect’s affairs together. We won’t appoint a sect leader for the time being. Once one of us three or one of our female disciples achieves Core Formation, we can appoint a sect leader then!” the young woman declared resolutely.
This time, the other two women showed no opposition.
“Will Elder Han leverage his high cultivation to forcibly interfere in our sect’s affairs? Should we take precautions in advance?” Zhuo Ruting suddenly asked coldly.
“He won’t. Although I haven’t interacted with him much, I could tell from his demeanor that he seems to be a dedicated ascetic. Probably, aside from cultivation, nothing else can capture his interest. Otherwise, when I mentioned gifting him a female disciple as a concubine, he wouldn’t have shown no reaction whatsoever. It’s likely precisely because of this that he was able to reach Core Formation!” Fairy Violet Spirit shook her head, a hint of envy in her voice.
“Sigh! I wonder if we sisters still have a chance to form our cores?” Madam Fan let out a soft, melancholic sigh, seemingly holding little hope for Core Formation.
Zhuo Ruting’s face also revealed a trace of loneliness upon hearing this. It seemed these beauties also yearned deeply for Core Formation.
…
By this time, Han Li had already returned to his cave abode. Without attending to other matters, he immediately delved into the numerous texts he had stored.
After some effort, he found the method for cultivating Heaven Lightning Bamboo in a jade slip. Following the instructions, he transplanted the bamboo into his medicine garden.
Looking at the extremely thin and small Heaven Lightning Bamboo before him, Han Li felt incredibly excited.
He was well aware of the graded classifications of Heaven Lightning Bamboo, but he paid it no mind. The grade of Heaven Lightning Bamboo was entirely determined by its spiritual age and quality.
Heaven Lightning Bamboo under two thousand years old could only release ordinary white lightning. Once it surpassed five thousand years, the lightning turned blue, and its power increased significantly.
When the Heaven Lightning Bamboo reached over ten thousand years, the lightning transformed into a pale gold. At this stage, the power of the lightning reached unimaginable levels and possessed various extraordinary effects against evil arts and demonic techniques. Cultivators referred to it as “Evil-Warding Lightning.”
This was the oldest Heaven Lightning Bamboo known in the cultivation world, also known as the legendary “Gold Lightning Bamboo.”
This type of Gold Lightning Bamboo had appeared only once in the Scattered Star Seas. No one knew its origin, and it was only a small fragment. As a result, it plunged the Scattered Star Seas into decades of bloodshed and turmoil. Numerous forces eyed it covetously, openly fighting and scheming for it as it passed through the hands of countless cultivators.
In the end, no one managed to keep it long enough to refine it into a treasure. Just as mysteriously as it had appeared, it vanished without a trace, infuriating the many powers involved. They continued investigating for a long time before the matter gradually settled.
From this incident, one can see the value of the ten-thousand-year Gold Lightning Bamboo.
As for nurturing a spiritual object past ten thousand years, Han Li had never attempted such a feat. The pills he usually refined required spiritual herbs of at most one or two thousand years. This made him both eagerly anticipate and slightly uneasy about accelerating the Heaven Lightning Bamboo into Gold Lightning Bamboo.
In the following days, Han Li used the green liquid to accelerate the bamboo’s growth while frequently wandering around the marketplaces of Heavenly Star City.
The “Green Bamboo Cloud-Swelling Sword” required not only spiritual wood as its main material but also several rare auxiliary materials to be refined with core fire.
Moreover, since this sword was a set of treasures, the materials needed far exceeded those for ordinary items. Although Han Li had collected some materials previously, many were still missing, necessitating his search.
The Scattered Star Seas were indeed far richer in resources than the Heavenly South Region. By spending large amounts of spirit stones until he nearly bankrupted himself, Han Li finally managed to gather all the necessary materials after two years. To achieve this, he even took the risk of drawing attention by selling the few rare demon cores he had left.
Looking at his nearly empty storage pouches, Han Li could only sigh deeply.
Refining a treasure, especially a high-quality one, was truly beyond the means of an ordinary rogue cultivator.
…
One day, Han Li walked toward his medicine garden, unable to conceal his anticipation.
A few days earlier, before starting his cultivation, he had applied what should have been the ten-thousand-year dose of green liquid. By now, the Heaven Lightning Bamboo in the garden should have become a ten-thousand-year spiritual object. The thought of the legendary immense power of the Gold Lightning Bamboo filled him with excitement.
The originally two-inch-long bamboo in the medicine garden now looked completely different. It had grown to about a foot tall, was emerald green and lush, and enveloped in a faint glow.
Han Li examined it intently for a moment before flipping his hand to produce a small sword artifact. The sword transformed into a white light shooting directly toward the bamboo.
A pale golden lightning arc emerged from the Heaven Lightning Bamboo without warning. With a dull *thud*, the white light, struck by the pale golden lightning, turned into a wisp of visible green smoke and vanished without a trace.
Han Li was initially startled but then began to laugh, and he laughed heartily!
He now wondered what amusing expression Fairy Violet Spirit would make if she knew this White Lightning Bamboo had turned into Gold Lightning Bamboo.
This transaction was probably the greatest bargain he had ever scored since entering the cultivation world!
Unfortunately, he would never get to witness that scene.
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