Chapter 148 The Grey-Clothed Elder
Senior Wang led Han Li, stepping on a leaf-shaped artifact, flying for a couple of hours, and landed on a lush mountain peak, descending into a dense cluster of flat houses.
These simple stone houses were incredibly crude, and the entire settlement seemed deserted, as if they were all empty rooms, which puzzled Han Li!
"Don't be surprised, these houses are indeed all empty.
This place was originally for newly entered junior disciples to live in.
They will move out to find another place when their cultivation improves slightly.
And now is the time for the ten-year rotation, the new disciples have not yet entered, so they are temporarily empty," Senior Wang explained lightly, seeing Han Li's confusion. This made Han Li suddenly realize.
Senior Wang led Han Li through the winding paths among the houses until they stopped in front of a house much larger than the ordinary stone houses. Without explaining anything to Han Li, he shouted loudly:
"Junior Lin, open the door. I've brought a new disciple to collect things!"
As soon as Senior Wang's voice fell, the door of the house swished open automatically. Seeing this, Senior Wang led the way in without hesitation. After a moment of hesitation, Han Li followed him into the house.
Inside the house, it seemed even larger than what Han Li had seen from the outside, which surprised him.
The interior was chaotic, with various odds and ends scattered around, piles of clothes, and some weapons such as swords, all of which emitted spiritual fluctuations indicating they were well-crafted magical tools.
In addition to these items, there were also some everyday tools like shovels and hammers, all brimming with spiritual energy, turned into similar magical items, broadening Han Li's horizons. He wondered what magical effects these tools had when used.
In the center of the room, there was a square table, and behind it sat a grey-clothed elder. The elder paid no attention to Han Li and Senior Wang, but concentrated on carving a piece of palm-sized yellow wood with a shiny little knife.
Seeing this, Senior Wang frowned slightly, but then his expression returned to normal. Without disturbing the elder's work, he pulled a chair from a corner of the room and sat down opposite the elder, quietly waiting for the carving to be completed.
Seeing this scene, Han Li blinked and stood silently behind Senior Wang, waiting respectfully.
The grey-clothed elder carved swiftly, and wood shavings fell from his fingers. In just the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, a lifelike little monkey appeared in his palm.
"Junior Lin's carving skills have improved a lot since I last saw them!" Senior Wang smiled and praised.
"It's nothing, just killing time when I have nothing else to do! But why did Senior Wang come to my humble abode?" the grey-clothed elder said casually, but his eyes had already glanced at Han Li, seemingly guessing something about the two visitors.
"It's nothing major, just here to collect some personal items for the new disciples of the Ascension Ceremony, and to equip this Han nephew with some things," Senior Wang said with a smile.
"All the new disciples for the Ascension Ceremony have already received their items, haven't they?
Why is there another one? And with such poor aptitude!
Has our Sect Master's discernment become so low that even such mediocre talent is recruited into the sect?
" The elder spoke disdainfully in front of Han Li, criticizing him harshly, and from his tone, he didn't seem to show much respect for the Sect Master either.
Han Li felt extremely embarrassed to hear this, while Senior Wang was caught in a dilemma.
He knew that because of what happened years ago, this Junior Lin had always held a grudge against the current Sect Master. But in front of Han Li, how could he easily engage in conversation with this Junior Lin!
So, he could only clear his throat a few times and change the subject.
"Junior, this Han nephew is here with the Ascension Order to join our Yellow Maple Valley! It's a special case to accept him, so his aptitude isn't important. The key is that our sect must keep its promise."
"Ascension Order!" The grey-clothed elder was greatly surprised and looked at Han Li again with astonishment.
"Hmm! So this kid has a great opportunity, he can even take a Foundation Establishment Pill?" The elder revealed a look of amazement, as if saying, "Kid, you're really lucky!"
"Hehe, theoretically, yes. But Han nephew made a deal with Senior Ye and voluntarily gave up the Foundation Establishment Pill," Senior Wang said with a smile.
"Gave up the Foundation Establishment Pill?" The elder was initially taken aback, but for some reason, he then looked gloomy. After a moment of silence, he unexpectedly spoke words that surprised Han Li.
"It's good to be able to give up! The most important thing for a person is to have self-awareness. To understand the principle of choice at such a young age is much better than me!" The elder's expression was extremely lonely, and his previously indifferent eyes towards Han Li softened a bit.
However, after hearing the elder's words, Han Li felt somewhat puzzled and disapproving!
"What does it mean to have self-awareness?
It's just that one is forced to do so reluctantly and with a heavy heart to offer the Foundation Establishment Pill!
Otherwise, who would be willing to give it up!
" Han Li didn't express his inner complaints, but the elder suddenly became stern, stood up abruptly, and began to scratch the empty space around with both hands.
Objects began to appear in his hands, and more and more items appeared, leaving Han Li dumbfounded.
"A yellow silk shirt, a green leaf artifact, a set of refined daily tools, a Blaze Sun Sword, a Cold Moon Blade, and a tenfold storage bag." The elder recited coldly, placing the items on the table.
"The items are all here, little guy, take them away! As for Senior Wang, he's a busy man, so I won't keep him any longer. I won't see him off!" After speaking, the elder took out a piece of wood from his sleeve and started carving again, ignoring the two visitors.
Seeing this, Senior Wang sighed, said nothing more, let Han Li pick up the items, and then left the house. Just as they stepped out of the stone house, the door slammed shut automatically!
Senior Wang looked at the tightly closed door, shook his head gently, and prepared to leave with Han Li.
"Huh! You don't need to carry so many things in your arms. Put them in the storage bag!" Senior Wang turned around and saw Han Li standing dumbfoundedly beside him, holding a pile of things, looking silly, which amused him. He reminded him kindly.
After hearing the words, Han Li finally realized and awkwardly put the pile of things on the ground, searching inside for a black cloth bag. "Is this the so-called tenfold storage bag?" Han Li felt puzzled.
He picked up the bag and looked at the narrow mouth of the bag, then looked at the enormous swords and other items. For a moment, he hesitated, not knowing how to fit them into the bag.
"You're using a storage bag for the first time. Let me demonstrate!" Senior Wang was quite friendly, noticing Han Li's confusion, so he
took the bag from him.
"Just align the opening of the bag with the items you want to put in, then inject some spiritual power into the bag to lock the items, and they will be automatically sucked in!" Senior Wang explained while demonstrating.
He turned the cloth bag opening downward, and with a slight flash of white light in his hand, a white mist sprayed from the bag, covering all the items on the ground.
Those items immediately shrank rapidly in the white light and, after shrinking to a certain extent, were sucked into the bag. This amazed Han Li.
"The method for retrieving items is the same, but you need to lock the items you want to retrieve with spiritual power beforehand." Senior Wang handed the bag back to Han Li.
"But there are several taboos in using storage bags, Han nephew, you must remember them!" Senior Wang said earnestly, clasping his hands behind his back.
Han Li nodded vigorously like a chick pecking at rice.
"First, storage bags have a certain capacity and restriction on the number of items they can shrink. If oversized items or too many items are sucked in, the storage bag will malfunction and cannot hold other items."
"Second, living creatures cannot be placed in storage bags. If living creatures are put in, they will undoubtedly die!"
"As for the last point, it's even more important to remember.
Low-grade storage bags do not have the function of recognizing the owner.
Whoever grabs your storage bag can take the items inside it as their own!
So, don't easily reveal your storage bag in front of other cultivators.
Keep it safe yourself, otherwise, you'll easily provoke disaster. "