Chapter 276: Taking Action
“Close friend? Could it be the individual whom fellow Daoist wanted to save with the spirit herb?” Han Li seemed to have casually asked this, but he was inwardly very happy. He had been bitterly worried that he wouldn’t be able to raise the subject of that formation master by Qi Yunxiao’s side. He naturally couldn’t let this golden opportunity slip by.
Qi Yunxiao was stunned when Han Li asked this question and was a bit hesitant.
But soon after, he thought of something and made up his mind, nodding his head, “Senior is not wrong. This spirit tea was made this one’s close friend. As for that previous matter, it was thanks to medicine created from Senior’s thousand year-old spirit herb that my friend’s life was saved. However, although her life had been saved, her injury is recovering extremely slowly. Therefore…. Therefore, this Junior wants to shamelessly ask Senior if he has another thousand year-old spirit herb. Even if it isn’t a thousand year-old spirit herb, as long as it’s seven or eight hundred years old, it would fulfill my wish for my close friend to fully recover. This one is willing to promise all sorts of formation flags in exchange for the spirit herb.”
After that was said, Qi Yunxiao had a face full of anticipation and was attentively staring at Han Li.
When Han Li heard Qi Yunxiao’s words, he was slightly surprised, but his heart soon relaxed. Since the other party still sought something from Han Li, it seemed he would naturally succeed in his request for the other party to repair the transportation formation.
However, his face naturally wore an awkward expression; he would make Qi Yunxiao feel like he would owe Han Li a favor!
With this thought, Han Li muttered to himself for a moment. After a long moment later, he said with reluctance, “This one does have such a spirit herb on hand. However, this one intended to refine a medicine pill with it and use it. This is truly….”
Although Han Li didn’t finish his sentence, the hesitant expression on his face was enough for Qi Yunxiao to imagine the difficulty of this matter.
After all, Qi Yunxiao should clearly know what refining a top-grade medicine pill signified to a cultivator.
When Qi Yunxiao first heard Han Li had such a medicinal herb on hand, he immediately revealed an appearance of wild happiness. However, when he heard the words that followed, his expression became extremely apprehensive. Without even waiting for Han Li to finish his sentence, he immediately said with a half-pleading tone, “Junior knows that making Senior Han Li give a spirit herb is a bit forceful. However, this one truly feels great anguish from seeing his dear friend suffering day after day! So long as Senior agrees to cede the spirit herb, this one will allow Senior to chose from this one’s formation establishment magic tools as he wishes. Even if Senior wishes to take them all, Junior will have no complaints.”
When Han Li heard the other party’s words, his heart was greatly moved.
Even if this Qi Yunxiao’s formation establishment magic tools weren’t as abnormal as the “Five Elements Reversal Formation”, they were sure to be rarely-seen quality goods. If he had several more sets on hand, he would be able to increase his defenses by no small amount. Even better were the formation spells with extremely powerful offensive capabilities; if he could trap strong enemies within the formations, it would also be another incisive method of attack.
However, the main objective of this trip was to have the other party restore the damaged transportation formation. If he were to take a few formation establishment magic tools, then this matter couldn’t be fulfilled, and if he asked for too much, he would give the other party the impression that his greed was insatiable. Han Li did not currently wish for these two to become hostile towards him.
After Han Li pondered about this, he intended to refuse the other party’s exchange and raise the matter about the transportation formation. But at this moment, the flustered yell of a young woman suddenly came from outside.
“Young Master Qi, it’s bad! My clan’s young madam has encountered mishap! Please save my clan’s young madam!”
Qi Yunxiao’s face immediately changed once the voice penetrated the walls.
He hastily stood and left the room without even said anything to his guest, Han Li. The shopkeep standing to the side similarly ran out the room with a panicked and pale face.
Han Li raised his eyebrows, but his expression didn’t change. Still, he felt puzzled and slowly walked out with hands behind his back.
Outside the room, Qi Yunxiao and the shopkeep were attentively and nervously listening to a talking woman who appeared eighteen or nineteen years old.
This girl was pretty and had fair skin. As she was talking about something, she had an anxious appearance. She immediately shut her mouth with fright when she saw a stranger, Han Li, walk out of the room. An expression of vigilance flashed from her eyes.
Seeing this, Han Li gave a smile without paying it any mind and stood still. He didn’t walk any further.
But after Qi Yunxiao turned to look at Han Li, it appeared as he had grasped life-saving medicine and flew to Han Li’s side. He excitedly pleaded to him, “Senior, this one’s close friend is currently being restrained by cultivators with malicious intent. Right now, only Senior can save her. So long as Senior agrees to take action, this Junior will be sure to give heavy payment as equivalent thanks!”
“Could Daoist Friend Qi please give me a few details? Is the young woman spoke of, your dear friend, the formation spell master?” Han Li wrinkled his brow, asking with some surprise.
“That’s right! The Five Elements Reversal Formation establishment magic tools that Senior previously used were jointly refined by this one and that young lady!” Qi Yunxiao hastily said as he looked at Han Li with impatience.
It was at this moment that the pretty woman then discovered that she was incapable of seeing how deep Han Li’s cultivation was even with her cultivation base at the fifth layer of Qi Condensation. This caused her to open her mouth in shock and then look at Han Li with fear.
Han Li then turned his body to the woman and said with a deep voice, “Could this young woman explain it once more? I want to know the whole story!”
Although Han Li knew this was the best opportunity to gain favor, he needed to know the enemy’s strength and numbers. He didn’t wish to fail and be in need of rescue himself.
“….Oh! It’s like this. Today, the young lady and I arrived somewhere nearby…” When the pretty woman saw Han Li ask her this, she couldn’t help but repeat the story once through in a fluster.
Originally, this young woman’s young madam had ran out of high-quality tea leaves to refine into spirit tea. As per previous custom, she went to the nearby Jade Cloud Mountain to pick a few, leaves, but she unexpectedly ran into a group of male Qi Condensation cultivators. When the master and servant saw so many cultivators appear, they already felt something was wrong and intended to immediately leave the mountain.
But who would have thought that there was a person from these group of cultivators who would recognize one of the women as a formation spell master who had set up a formation spell for some small clan. This person immediately informed this matter to his colleagues; As a result, this group was filled with evil intent and intended to capture this woman alive, forcing her to give them her knowledge of formation spells.
However, the young madam was exceptionally quick-witted and didn’t wait for the opponent to act, having her servant rush off the mountain to escape. But as she herself was halfway down the mountain, she discovered people relentlessly pursuing her. They were growing increasingly closer and would soon overtake and capture her.
Without a better option, she could only use the formation flags she had on hand to arrange a simple formation spell in the middle of the forest, protecting herself. Then she had this servant rush towards Qi Yunxiao in order to call for help.
As Han Li heard the other party’s account, he muttered to himself indecisively.
According to the young woman, the enemy consisted of only seven or eight Qi Condensation disciples. He no longer had any qualms and quickly decided that he must help them.
With this thought, Han Li nodded his head and said, “We’ll follow the lead of this young lady!”
After saying this, under Qi Yunxiao’s grateful gaze, Han Li threw out his sleeve, and a small white boat appeared, enlarging itself before everyone’s eyes.
“Everyone, get onboard! We must save someone from danger. Although this magic tool is a bit small, it flies extremely fast and will have no problem flying with four or five people.” Han Li’s body flashed and reappeared in front of the small boat. He then turned his head and said this to the others.
Qi Yunxiao and the young woman came to a sudden realization and boarded the small boat. But when the shopkeep also thought to board it, Qi Yunxiao stopped him and said, “Uncle Lin, your cultivation is far too low. If you were to go, there would be many dangers. Please stay here! We will immediately return after we save her!”
When the shopkeep heard this, he appeared hesitant. But he knew that Qi Yunxiao meant him well, so he remained with some slight unwillingness.
Thus, Han Li and the others flew on the small boat and turned into a streak of white light, disappearing off the edge of the horizon.
Han Li quickly flew the Divine Wind Boat south with all his strength. Its quick speed caused the two passengers to keep their eyes wide open from surprise. Not long after, they arrived above a besieged formation spell in a forest.
At this moment, there were seven or eight people viciously attacking the spell formation with magic tools. It seemed the layer of faint azure light that covered the forest had weakened to the point of near destruction.
When Qi Yunxiao saw this, his eyes grew red, and he immediately wanted to jump off. However, Han Li held him still and insipidly said to him, “Don’t rush! It seems the magic tools they are using aren’t bad. From this alone, they seem to be from some cultivation clan. Since they knew this young lady was a formation spell master, even if you were to repel them here, they would continue to tangle with you in the future. It would be better for me to help you eliminate them cleanly and wipe away the problem entirely!”
When Qi Yunxiao heard that these people would unceasingly tangle with him in the future, he couldn’t help but angrily nod his head.
When Han Li saw this, he faintly smiled and then looked at the unknowing cultivators below; cold light flashed from his eyes.
He suddenly raised his two hands, and two streaks of black light and six streaks of yellow light flew out. In the blink of an eye, they arrived in front of these cultivators and easily encircled the frightened assailants. They all fell to the floor one by one, killed by Han Li instantly.
Qi Yunxiao and that maid looked at the scene, overwhelmed with shock. Although they knew the difference between Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment cultivators was certain to be great, they did not think at all that Han Li would be able to quickly kill so many people with ease. It should be known that the highest cultivation base among these men was the twelfth layer. Qi Yunxiao himself was only at the ninth layer.
Han Li didn’t pay any attention to these two’s gazes of reverence and had the flying magic tool descend.
Without waiting for the Divine Wind Boat to completely touch the ground, Qi Yunxiao hastily and impatiently leaped off, rushing into the forest. He yelled with great nervousness, “Yin’er! Are you alright! The enemies have all died! You can come out now!”