"What other Ningzhong could there be? Of course it's the Feng family of Guanning. Within Guanning Prefecture, they're quite a considerable force." Feng Yue answered without hesitation.
"Guanning Prefecture? Which province's prefectural city is that?" Han Li narrowed his eyes.
"There are indeed several prefectural cities named Guanning across the various provinces of Great Jin, but the Feng family of Ningzhong exists only in Liaozhou's Guanning Prefecture." Feng Yue shot him a peculiar look, seemingly somewhat startled by how precisely Han Li had inquired.
Han Li merely nodded, completely indifferent, and dropped the topic of the Feng family. Instead, he pointed at the jade pendant and said:
"How did you obtain this item? Does it have any particular history?"
"This Lingxia Pendant is a Feng family token that my father passed down to me. Why does Fellow Daoist ask about it?" Feng Yue was quite surprised.
"A token? Don't tell me every disciple of the Feng family carries a top-grade magic treasure as a token." Han Li cast a sidelong glance at the young man, somewhat incredulously.
"Of course not. The entire Feng family only has three or four such tokens. Only disciples of the direct bloodline could possess one." Feng Yue shook his head.
"So your status within the Feng family is not insignificant."
"I am the eldest son of the main branch. If nothing had gone wrong, I should have taken over the family in a few decades' time." The corner of Feng Yue's mouth twitched, and a flash of pain crossed his eyes.
Hearing this, Han Li knew his suspicions were confirmed — the young man was in serious trouble, and it seemed something had gone wrong with the Feng family as well.
Since it was none of his concern, Han Li didn't pursue the matter further. Instead, he fixed his gaze on the young man and asked the question he most wanted answered:
"What is the relationship between your Feng family and the Buddhist sects of Great Jin? Don't tell me you know nothing about it. If even your family token has been blessed with such deep Buddhist spiritual light, there must certainly be some connection."
"The Buddhist sects and our Feng family do share some history. An ancestor of ours was once a lay disciple of Guanning's Qianguang Temple. Qianguang Temple was a branch of the great Buddhist sect Jinluo Gate, so our Feng family originally cultivated Buddhist techniques. However, several hundred years ago, Qianguang Temple relocated out of Liaozhou and returned to its parent sect. After that, the disciples of our Feng family switched to Confucian techniques." Feng Yue was momentarily stunned, but he had nothing to hide on this matter and answered quite candidly.
Hearing this, Han Li felt a secret thrill of delight.
Although he had never heard of Qianguang Temple, he had indeed heard of Jinluo Sect — it was one of the four great Buddhist sects in Great Jin. It seemed that what the Feng family had once cultivated was actually the most orthodox Buddhist techniques.
"Do you know all of these Buddhist techniques?" Han Li pressed further.
"I had no interest in cultivating Buddhist techniques, so why would I commit these methods to memory? However, our Feng family does still preserve the cultivation manuals for these techniques." After a moment's hesitation, Feng Yue replied.
By now he could tell that this unfathomably deep individual before him seemed to have come specifically for the Buddhist techniques, and he couldn't help but feel secretly astonished.
After all, while Buddhist techniques grew extraordinarily powerful in the later stages, their notoriously slow and grueling cultivation process was well known throughout Great Jin's cultivation world. There were truly few who willingly chose to pursue Buddhist methods.
"Han boy, ask him what realm that ancestor of theirs reached, and whether he managed to produce a Sarira. Only Buddhist cultivators who have produced a Sarira would know methods for eliminating malicious aura." The Grand Arcane Sovereign suddenly spoke up as a reminder.
Before coming to Great Jin, Han Li had already learned something about Sariras through various texts.
Sariras were something unique to Buddhist cultivators. Some appeared as early as the Core Formation stage, while others only manifested at the Nascent Soul stage. There seemed to be no discernible pattern. To cultivators outside the Buddhist tradition, they remained a deeply mysterious phenomenon.
However, one thing was certain — many of the Buddhist sect's most profound techniques and divine abilities could only be cultivated and employed after producing a Sarira.
Therefore, even cultivators from other sects who far surpassed their Buddhist counterparts in cultivation still held them in considerable apprehension.
Han Li nodded to himself and calmly posed the same question to Feng Yue.
"A Sarira? That ancestor of ours did indeed produce one in his time. Had his aptitude not been limited in other areas, preventing him from breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage, he probably wouldn't have lost heart and gone on to establish the Feng family of Ningzhong." Feng Yue furrowed his brow slightly as he replied.
Han Li's spirits soared.