Han Li stayed in the secret chamber for over 10 days without leaving once, and the Myriad Treasure Convention finally officially commenced.
On this day, Han Li was seated on his futon, and he suddenly seemed to have sensed something as he swept a sleeve through the air to stow away the Myriad Sword Artwork before him.
He then rose to his feet before emerging from the secret chamber to find that Young Master Hai and Qi Lingzi were waiting respectfully for him in the hall.
The two of them immediately extended salutes toward him as he emerged, following which Young Master Hai pulled a shimmering golden slip out of his sleeve before handing it over to Han Li with both hands.
"Senior Han, this is an invitation slip sent to you by the Myriad Treasure Convention. As long as you hold this invitation slip, you can access all of the auctions and venues in the event. On top of that, due to the fact that this is the first day of the Myriad Treasure Convention, there's going to be a large auction held on the Flying Immortal Peak. According to past conventions, this will be the Myriad Treasure Convention's most important auction, and it also heralds the commencement of the convention. All of the most important treasures of the convention will appear on the auction," Qi Lingzi explained in a respectful manner.
"Oh? You two seem to have gathered a lot of information about this; looks like all the walking around you did these past few days wasn't just a waste of time," Han Li said with a smile as he accepted the golden invitation slip before taking a glance at it.
On the surface of the slip were the words "Myriad Treasure" inscribed in ancient text, and on the other side was a shimmering silver diagram of a prized treasure.
“Have the seven demon monarchs all arrived during my time in seclusion?” Han Li asked as he stowed the golden slip away.
"All of them have arrived aside from Wolf Monarch Tian Kui and the Heavenly Fox Monarch," Young Master Hai replied in a respectful manner.
"Those two haven't arrived? That's interesting. Generally speaking, the seven demon monarchs regard this Myriad Treasure Convention as an extremely important event and wouldn't miss it for no good reason," Han Li mused as his brows furrowed slightly.
"I heard that Wolf Monarch Tian Kui is in seclusion, cultivating a powerful ability, so he won't be able to attend the convention. As for the Heavenly Fox Monarch, he doesn't seem to be on the territory of the Heavenly Fox Race. He only sent someone to announce that he had some important matters to attend to, and that's all the news we have about him," Qi Lingzi replied in a truthful manner.
"I see. In that case, let's set off as well. There will be many events held during the Myriad Treasure Convention, but I'll only actually be interested in a few of them, and I definitely can't miss the first auction. You two can come with me. Not everyone will be granted access to the auction, but with this golden slip, I should be able to bring along a couple disciples," Han Li suddenly said with a smile.
The two of them faltered slightly upon hearing this before an excited look appeared on Young Master Hai's face. "Disciples? Does that mean you're willing to take us as your disciples, Senior Han?"
Han Li shook his head and put on a serious expression as he replied, "You two are too weak to become my disciples, but I can take you as my in-name disciples if you'd like. You can become official disciples of mine whenever you reach the Deity Transformation Stage. I hope you won't disappoint me."
"We'd love to be your in-name disciples! We pay our respects to our master!" Qi Lingzi knelt down and kowtowed thrice in succession without any hesitation.
Young Master Hai was also extremely excited and emulated Qi Lingzi.
Han Li could see that the two of them were being sincere, so he accepted these formalities before waving a sleeve through the air, unleashing a burst of force that helped the two of them to their feet.
After that, he continued, "Now that the two of you are my in-name disciples, you should know some things about me. Prior to meeting the two of you, I also accepted two disciples in a lower realm. Hence, you won't be my only two disciples; you have a senior martial brother and a senior martial sister above you. I'm a man of solitude, so I don't take disciples lightly as doing so could hinder my own cultivation. Hence, there are reasons behind why I accepted you two and your senior martial brother and senior martial sister as my disciples. I have to explain these reasons to you in case a misunderstanding arises, and you decide to plot against me."
A cold tone crept into Han Li's voice at the end, and the temperature in the entire hall abruptly plummeted. Young Master Hai and Qi Lingzi both shuddered in response to the sudden temperature drop and hurriedly proclaimed that they wouldn't dare to do anything to Han Li's detriment.
"Hehe, well, it's not a matter of whether you dare to plot against me or not; if I had been accepted as a disciple by a Body Integration cultivator as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, I would also be quite suspicious toward the motives involved," Han Li chuckled in a nonchalant manner.
Young Master Hai and Qi Lingzi exchanged an awkward glance upon hearing this, and both of them remained silent.
"Truth be told, if you two really were an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator and an ordinary body refinement warrior, there's no way that I would take you as my in-name disciples, so you can say that fate is what brought us together. I'm very satisfied with your senses of justice and moral compass, but most importantly, one of you possesses a legendary recessive spiritual root, while the other possesses an inherited treasure," Han Li explained.
"Recessive spiritual root?"
"Inherited treasure?"
Both Young Master Hai and Qi Lingzi were quite puzzled to hear this. At their levels, there was no way that they could be knowledgeable about such things.
"Qi Lingzi, the inherited treasure you possess is quite easy to explain. It's most likely a treasure that contains the cultivation arts and secret techniques of the Mistsea Daoist Temple. The treasure has been sealed within your body, and once you reach a certain cultivation base, the seal will be undone of its own accord, thereby bestowing upon you the appropriate cultivation arts for you to use. Of course, this is quite a rare type of treasure, and it'll definitely be quite a powerful one if you can use it along with its corresponding cultivation art," Han Li explained.
"I see. I knew that there was something weird inside my body, and I have these strange dreams from time to time; it must be because of this thing!" Qi Lingzi murmured to himself in a stunned manner.
Han Li smiled upon hearing this before continuing, "You're very fortunate. This Mistsea Daoist Temple may be an insignificant little sect, but according to my observations, its ability and secret techniques are quite powerful and are also very suitable for you to cultivate. Hence, I won't need to give you any further instructions on your main cultivation art. All I'll do is pass on some secret techniques to you once you become powerful enough to cultivate them. Thus, you'll still need to continue to keep the inheritance of the Mistsea Daoist Temple alive. When you become powerful enough, you can become the Mistsea Daoist Temple Master again and take the temple to greater heights. I definitely won't stop you from pursuing this endeavor.
“Hence, I decided to accept you as my disciple as you already have your own inheritance and require minimal instruction in your cultivation. Otherwise, I wouldn't burden myself like this no matter how brilliant your aptitude was. Of course, now that you're my disciple, I certainly won't be stingy and withhold any resources that you may require to further your cultivation. However, if you don't wish to conform to me and think that you can do better on your own with the inheritance you've received, you can revoke your pledge to become my disciple," Han Li said in a calm manner.
Qi Lingzi's expression changed drastically upon hearing this, and he fell to his knees again as he hurriedly said, "I wouldn't dare, Master. Being able to become your in-name disciple is a vastly fortunate outcome for me. As for what kind of cultivation arts I should use, that will naturally be up to you, and I'll accept whatever arrangement without any complaints."
Han Li nodded in a pleased manner before turning to Young Master Hai. "In that case, there are no issues between us. As for Young Master Hai…"
"Please call me Hai Yuetian, Master. Young Master Hai is just a nickname my friends gave me as a joke; I wouldn't dare to impose the title upon you, Master," Young Master Hai hurriedly said.
"So Hai Yuetian is your name. In that case, I'll call you Yuetian from now on," Han Li said with a smile.
"Yes, Master!" Hai Yuetian naturally accepted this arrangement in a respectful manner.
"Your situation is completely different from that of Qi Lingzi. During these past few days, I've conducted thorough examinations of your spiritual root and also made some inquiries to other Body Integration Stage fellow Daoists. Through this, I can now confirm that not only do you possess the rare Molten Body, that strange lightning spiritual root in your body is most likely the legendary recessive spiritual root. Therefore, to put it more accurately, it should be referred to as the recessive lightning spiritual root."
"Recessive lightning spiritual root?" Hai Yuetian was still as confused as ever.
"The Molten Body is quite rare, but with the massive population that the human race has, there are quite a few who possess this physique, and it's the reason behind why you're able to progress so quickly in body refinement arts. As for your recessive spiritual root, that's something much rarer and more complex. There haven't been many recorded cases of recessive spiritual roots in history, so I didn't think of this right away, and it took me a long time before I could ascertain that it actually applied to you. Furthermore, recessive spiritual roots are extremely difficult to discover, and the probability of someone possessing such a spiritual root is definitely no higher than those who have inherited true spirit bloodlines," Han Li explained.
"Why is that?" Qi Lingzi couldn't help but ask.
"That's because recessive spiritual roots can only be found in someone with a special physique or has inherited a special bloodline. Only those people have a certain chance of having their spiritual roots weakened or concealed by their special physiques or bloodlines. However, recessive spiritual roots are generally not very useful, and most cultivation sects wouldn't accept someone with such a trait unless the constitution or bloodline they possessed was extremely powerful, or if they possessed one of very few types of spiritual roots, such as one of the lightning or darkness attributes.
"Even so, the times when the spiritual root appears and disappears will have to be taken into account to determine whether the host of such a spiritual root will be worth nurturing. If the recessive spiritual root disappears for too long at a time, it'll be extremely difficult for them to cultivate as the host would only be able to cultivate their magic power when the recessive spiritual root appears," Han Li explained.
