The "Great Yan Art" — a technique Han Li had heard mentioned several times today, one that Senior Brother Lin had used to entice him — had actually been found just like that, with a casual flip through the jade slip. The ease of it gave Han Li a surreal, almost absurd feeling.
Still, the fact that Senior Brother Lin had actually been carrying the Great Yan Art cultivation method on his person was truly beyond his expectations.
Han Li genuinely couldn't tell whether this Senior Brother Lin was extraordinarily foolish or extraordinarily clever.
He now skimmed through the Great Yan Art technique recorded in the jade slip. Sure enough, just as Senior Brother Lin had said, it contained only four layers of incantations. On this point at least, the man hadn't lied to him.
But what came next made Han Li even more astonished.
Right after the Great Yan Art, another text appeared in the jade slip, called the "Puppet Compendium." It was filled entirely with methods for refining puppet beasts and human puppets of various grades — a remarkably detailed encyclopedia of puppet crafting.
After reading for a while, Han Li finally withdrew his spiritual sense from the jade slip with an excited expression, looking thoroughly pleased. But after glancing at the jade slip in his hand, a thought struck him and his expression suddenly turned peculiar.
The Great Yan Art and the Puppet Compendium — as a combination, if cultivated simultaneously, they would be a perfect match.
As long as both were cultivated to a sufficient level, one could theoretically replicate what Huang Long had done that day: a single person wielding the power of numerous puppets, crushing several cultivators of the same Foundation Establishment stage so completely they couldn't even muster the slightest resistance.
The prospect of overpowering other Foundation Establishment cultivators like this made Han Li's heart pound with excitement.
But the drawbacks of cultivating them were just as he had analyzed — glaringly obvious. It would very likely delay his own cultivation, snuffing out what was already an exceedingly slim chance of reaching Core Formation. That would be trading far more than he gained.
As for the claim that the Great Yan Art could increase one's odds of forming a core, Han Li didn't believe such baseless nonsense for a second.
Han Li lowered his head in thought, finding it genuinely difficult to choose. After a moment, he shook his head and tucked the jade slip into his storage pouch, deciding to deal with it later.
After all, whether to cultivate the Great Yan Art and practice this puppet-crafting art that had practically fallen into his lap — deciding now would be far too hasty. Better to wait until he had a clear mind before weighing the matter.
Still, this haul had stirred something in Han Li. It suddenly reminded him that although Huang Long and the rest — people and storage pouches alike — had been obliterated by Lei Wanhe's lightning-attribute sword light, there were apparently some puppets that hadn't been collected in time, still lying outside the formation.
These were free goodies waiting to be picked up!
With that thought, Han Li strode out of the grand formation in high spirits.
Sure enough, not far outside the formation, he found the puppet humans and mechanical beasts that had reverted to palm-sized form now that no one was controlling them. There weren't quite as many as he had imagined — only around twenty-odd. The rest had all been swept up by Lei Wanhe's sword light and reduced to ash.
Even so, Han Li collected them one by one with great enthusiasm.
Having swept up so many good things at once, Han Li still felt it wasn't enough. He almost wished another hundred or so puppet figures would appear before him to collect. This greedy mindset made even Han Li himself laugh — it really was insatiable!
Muttering a few self-deprecating words under his breath, Han Li returned to his cave dwelling, planning to study those two ancient formulas first. Then, come tomorrow, he would go see his master Li Huayuan and see whether he could get his hands on a decent cultivation technique.
……
The next morning, Han Li stood aboard the Divine Wind Boat and headed straight for the eastern part of the Taiyue Mountain Range.
He had learned from Lei Wanhe yesterday that his master's cave dwelling was built beneath a peak in that area, and that Li Huayuan happened to be in the middle of something there recently. Going to find him now would be just the right time.
At the Divine Wind Boat's speed, it didn't take Han Li long to locate the place Lei Wanhe had described. It really was a secluded but beautiful spot, with lush green mountains and clear flowing water.
Han Li stood before a massive waterfall at the base of a mountain peak, pulled a voice transmission talisman from his robes, murmured a few words into it, then tossed it outward. The talisman transformed into a streak of fire that shot through the curtain of water and vanished.
After roughly the time it takes an incense stick to burn, a large opening suddenly appeared in the water curtain out of thin air. A thin, scholarly man in his thirties flew out from within. The moment he saw Han Li, he called out with genuine warmth: