Uncle Wang and Han Li flew on a leaf-shaped artifact for about an hour before descending onto a lush, green mountain ridge. They landed amidst a dense cluster of plain stone houses. These simple dwellings, built from ordinary mountain rocks, were extremely crude, and not a single person could be seen in the entire settlement—it seemed completely deserted, which puzzled Han Li.
“Don’t be surprised. These houses are indeed all empty. This area is originally meant for newly enrolled disciples. They only move out and find another place once they’ve made some progress in their cultivation. Right now, it’s the ten-year rotation period, and new disciples haven’t arrived yet, so the houses are temporarily vacant.” Uncle Wang noticed Han Li’s confusion and explained calmly, which made everything clear to Han Li.
Uncle Wang led Han Li through a maze of twists and turns within the housing cluster until Han Li felt completely disoriented. Finally, they stopped in front of a house much larger than the ordinary stone ones. Without explaining anything, Uncle Wang called out loudly, “Junior Brother Lin, open the door! I’ve brought a new disciple to collect his belongings!”
As soon as Uncle Wang finished speaking, the door swung open automatically. Without hesitation, Uncle Wang strode inside. Han Li hesitated for a moment before following him in.
To Han Li’s surprise, the interior of the house seemed even more spacious than it appeared from the outside. He wondered silently what kind of tricks had been used to achieve this effect.
The state of the room left Han Li with one overwhelming impression: chaos.
All sorts of miscellaneous items were scattered everywhere—some were clothes, others were weapons like swords and knives. Judging by the spiritual energy emanating from them, these were actually well-crafted artifacts. Besides these, there were also daily tools such as shovels and hammers, all infused with spiritual energy and refined into artifact-like objects. Han Li was amazed but wondered what magical effects these tools might have when used.
In the center of the room stood a square Eight Immortals table. Behind it, facing the door, sat a gray-robed old man with disheveled hair. The old man paid no attention to the two newcomers and instead focused intently on carving a palm-sized piece of yellow wood with a gleaming small knife.
Uncle Wang frowned slightly at this but quickly regained his composure. He did not disturb the old man’s work. Instead, he pulled a chair from a corner of the room and sat down opposite the old man, quietly waiting for him to finish carving.
Seeing this, Han Li blinked but remained silent. He wisely stood behind Uncle Wang and waited along with him.
The gray-robed old man’s hands moved swiftly, wood shavings scattering between his fingers. In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, a vividly lifelike little monkey appeared in his palm.
“Junior Brother Lin, your carving skills have improved quite a bit since I last saw you!” Uncle Wang praised with a smile.
“It’s nothing. I’m just killing time with idle hands. But why does Senior Brother Wang have the leisure to visit my humble abode?” The old man spoke indifferently, but his eyes had already turned to Han Li, as if he had guessed their purpose.
“Nothing major. I’m just here to collect some daily necessities for a newly enrolled disciple and to equip this Junior Nephew Han with his belongings,” Uncle Wang said cheerfully.
“Weren’t all the new disciples from the Ascension Immortal Conference already equipped? How did another one pop up? And his aptitude is rather poor! Has Sect Leader Zhong’s standards dropped so low that he’d recruit such mediocrity into the valley?” The old man spoke bluntly, criticizing Han Li right in front of him without holding back. His tone also carried a hint of disrespect toward Sect Leader Zhong.
Naturally, Han Li felt extremely awkward, and Uncle Wang was caught between amusement and exasperation.
He knew that due to past events, this Junior Brother Lin had always held a grudge against the current sect leader. However, in front of a junior like Han Li, he couldn’t very well engage in such a discussion.
So, he coughed dryly a few times and changed the subject.
“Junior Brother, this Junior Nephew Han joined our Yellow Maple Valley by presenting an Ascension Immortal Token. He was admitted as an exception, so his aptitude isn’t the main concern. What matters is that our sect must honor its promises.”
“Ascension Immortal Token!” The gray-robed old man was greatly surprised and took a closer look at Han Li.
“Tsk, tsk! So this kid has a great opportunity and even gets to take a Foundation Establishment Pill?” The old man showed an expression that seemed to say, “Kid, you’ve really hit the jackpot,” and clicked his tongue.
“Well, theoretically, yes. But Junior Nephew Han made a trade with Senior Brother Ye and voluntarily gave up that Foundation Establishment Pill,” Uncle Wang said with a smile.
“Gave up the Foundation Establishment Pill?” The old man was stunned at first, but for some reason, his expression soon turned somber. After a moment of silence, he unexpectedly said something that took Han Li completely by surprise.
“It’s good that he gave it up! The most important thing in life is to know one’s limits. At such a young age, he already understands the principle of trade-offs. That’s much better than I was!” The gray-robed old man’s expression was filled with loneliness, and the coldness in his eyes when he looked at Han Li softened slightly.
However, Han Li was baffled by the old man’s words and inwardly disagreed vehemently.
“What does he mean by ‘knowing my limits’? I was forced into a corner and had to hand over the Foundation Establishment Pill with a bleeding heart! If it weren’t for that, who would be willing to give it up?”
While Han Li was inwardly complaining, the old man suddenly straightened his face and stood up abruptly. He reached out with both hands and made a series of light grasping motions in the air around him. Instantly, an item appeared in his hands, and soon more and more items materialized. The entire process left Han Li utterly stunned.
“One yellow silk robe, one green leaf artifact, one set of daily refining tools, one Lieyang Sword and one Lengyue Blade, one tenfold storage bag.” The old man coldly listed the items in his hands and placed them on the table.
“Everything is here, little guy. Take them and go! As for Senior Brother Wang, you’re a busy man, so I won’t keep you. Don’t bother seeing me out!” After saying this, the old man took out another piece of wood from his robe and began carving again, ignoring the two completely.
Uncle Wang sighed but said nothing more. He motioned for Han Li to pick up the items, and they exited the house. As soon as they stepped out, the door slammed shut automatically with a loud clang!
Uncle Wang glanced at the closed door, shook his head slightly, and prepared to lead Han Li away.
“Eh! You don’t need to carry all those things in your arms. Just put them into the storage bag!” As soon as Uncle Wang turned around, he saw Han Li standing beside him dumbfounded, arms full of items, looking rather foolish. He couldn’t help but chuckle and offered a reminder.
Only then did Han Li realize what to do. He placed the pile of items on the ground and rummaged through them until he found a black bag. “Is this the so-called tenfold storage bag?” Han Li wondered inwardly.
He picked up the bag, looked at its extremely narrow opening, and then at the comparatively huge swords and other items. For a moment, he hesitated, unsure how to fit them into the bag.
“Since it’s your first time using a storage bag, let me demonstrate!” Uncle Wang was quite amiable. Noticing Han Li’s confusion, he took the bag from him.
“Just point the bag’s opening toward the item you want to store, inject some spiritual power into the bag, lock onto the item, and it will be automatically sucked in.” As he spoke, Uncle Wang demonstrated.
He pointed the bag’s opening downward, and a faint white light flashed in his hand. A stream of white mist sprayed out from the bag, enveloping all the items on the ground. The items rapidly shrank under the white light and, once they had become small enough, were sucked into the bag. Han Li watched in amazement and delight!
“The method for retrieving items is the same. You just need to lock onto the item you want to retrieve with your spiritual power beforehand.” Uncle Wang handed the bag back to Han Li.
“But there are a few taboos regarding the use of storage bags, Junior Nephew Han. You must remember them well!” Uncle Wang said gravely, clasping his hands behind his back.
Naturally, Han Li nodded eagerly like a chick pecking at rice.
“First, storage bags have a limited capacity and a limit to how much they can shrink items. If the items are too large or if you try to store too many things, the storage bag will fail and won’t be able to hold anything else.”
“Second, storage bags cannot hold living beings. If you put a living creature inside, it will undoubtedly die!”
“As for the last point, it’s even more crucial to remember: low-grade storage bags do not have an ownership recognition feature. Anyone who snatches your storage bag can claim the items inside as their own! So, never reveal your storage bag in front of other cultivators. Keep it well hidden, or you might easily invite fatal trouble.”
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