Chapter 211 - The Winner

A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality

First, I want to thank everyone for their opinions and thoughts on how we should overhaul completed novels. We've reviewed nearly 2000 comments across multiple platforms and forum, and while we haven't responded to everything I can promise I HAVE read it all. First, I'm going to briefly go into some of the things which were discussed which may or may not work, because I don't want people to think I ignored anything. I'm putting those in 'spoiler' tags so people who don't care can skip it. Then, we'll talk...

Chapter 211: The Winner

“Quick, look over there!”

“This is?”

“I don’t dare to believe it!”

When this pile of spiritual medicines suddenly appeared on the ground, a few sharp-eyed individuals began to cry out in surprise!

These few yells immediately attracted the gazes of other people; of course, Martial Ancestor Li and Fu Yunzi were included in this group.

However, when the two people saw clearly the spiritual medicines at Han Li’s feet, the Daoist Priest’s grin immediately froze, while Martial Ancestor Li, after staring blankly for a moment, began to laugh loudly with pleasant surprise. This big pie that fell from the sky caused his heart to burst with joy.

After Martial Ancestor Li had realized his own loss of self control and stopped laughing, he stared at Han Li with a beaming gaze, assessing him constantly; how come when he looked at Han Li, he felt that Han Li was very pleasing? On the other hand, the Daoist Priest’s face had become ashen, still unable to believe that he had lost just like that; naturally, his gaze towards Han Li held great unhappiness.

“Daoist brother, this is done! Do you still want to trouble a member of the junior generation?” Martial Ancestor Li humphed after glancing at Fu Yunzi’s expression. He took a stride and blocked in front of Han Li, saying this with a straight face.

Today, Han Li had just helped him with a great service; he naturally could not allow this member of the junior generation to be frightened by Fu Yunzi in front of this many people. Otherwise, his face would be entirely gone.

The Daoist Priest, being scolded by Martial Ancestor Li like this, realized that given his own identity, glaring at a Qi Condensation disciple in this way was incredibly wrong. Other people would mistakenly believe he was trying to secretly retaliate against a member of the junior generation, so he hurriedly averted his gaze towards Martial Ancestor Li and forced a laugh:

“Martial Ancestor Li, it’s a misunderstanding. This Daoist Priest was only thinking that based on this young man’s cultivation base, it is truly inconceivable that he would be able to harvest so many spiritual medicines; I was only taking a few extra glances at him!”

The Daoist Priest made a huge effort to put on a nonchalant appearance, but as soon as he thought about that flood dragon inner Dan, he felt his heart bleed incessantly, and his expression had no way of returning to normal.

Martial Ancestor Li coldly laughed twice and noncommittally did not continue to speak. After all, he had achieved a great victory in today’s bet and was unwilling to continue to provoke the other person.

However, he was also somewhat suspicious of Han Li’s ability to obtain so many spiritual medicines, but in front of so many people from other sects, Martial Ancestor Li was unwilling to interrogate Han Li now and could only turn a blind eye to it. Not to mention, at this moment his heart was on fire; as long as he could triumph again over the Masked Moon Sect people, he really would have made it big on this expedition to the forbidden area. Naturally, he could not deal with these trivial matters. As long as he could win this gambling game, he couldn’t care less about what stealing methods Han Li used to get the spiritual medicines.

The Daoist Priest, seeing Martial Ancestor Li’s appearance, naturally realized the other person’s thoughts. Could he, as the eliminated participant, only continue to observe who won between Senior Eccentric Qiong and the other person with an angry heartache?

But Senior Eccentric Qiong’s expression was not much better than that of the Daoist Priest. The spiritual medicines that the few Masked Moon Sect disciples had turned in were all common, truly causing him to be unable to laugh.

Just as Martial Ancestor Li was in high spirits, the situation suddenly took a rapid turn. The quantities of spiritual medicines that the last few Masked Moon Sect disciples turned in suddenly all reached ten or so in number, in an instant surpassing even the sum of the Yellow Maple Valley’s and Clear Void Sect’s harvest by five or six herbs, winning the last round of the bet.

This turn of events immediately knocked Martial Ancestor Li into a stupor, while Senior Eccentric Qiong let out a long sigh of relief and began to laugh strangely.

“Bring it, bring it, turn over that demonic flood drgon inner Dan! I was just wanting to refine a furnace of good pills, and this inner Dan is the best medicinal catalyst!” Senior Eccentric Qiong impolitely demanded his betting spoils from Fu Yunzi on the spot .

Upon hearing this, the Daoist Priest Fu Yunzi forced a smile and opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth.

Seeing this, Senior Eccentric Qiong glared unhappily.

“What, the well-renowned Clear Void Sect’s Fu Yunzi, could it be that you want to renege on this debt?”

“Renege on this debt? Do I dare to renege on a debt with Senior Eccentric Qiong?”

Fu Yunzi naturally did not really mean to renege on the inner Dan. It was only that the loss of this kind of precious item hurt him greatly, and he was instinctively reluctant to part with it.

But today, now that Senior Eccentric Qiong said it like that, his face alternated between red and white. After fiercely stomping his foot, he tossed a white sphere to the other person, then turned away with an expression of physical pain written on his face, unwilling to look. That sphere was the inner Dan of a demonic flood dragon.

Senior Eccentric Qiong grabbed the inner Dan with a raise of his hand. After closely inspecting it, he beamed with joy, but he still muttered:

“It seems that its quality is not too good, and its spiritual Qi is not really sufficient. It looks like it’s just passable; I’ll have to make do with it!”

This sentence caused the Daoist Priest’s face to turn red when he heard it. He almost vomited blood and died with anger, and he hurriedly departed from this individual to a faraway place, lest his Dao heart die from depression.

“Daoist friend Li, you……”

“Li will send representatives with two chunks of iron essence within twenty years!”

“Hehe! It’s still Daoist friend Li that is straightforward. I have nothing else to say!” Senior Eccentric Qiong nodded his head with satisfaction, then returned to the Masked Moon Sect’s side, very pleased with himself.

This round of gambling had many twist and turns, truly causing the various bystanders from different sects to feel very amazed. In the end, seeing Martial Ancestor Li and Fu Yunzi’s attempts to try to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice used to lure it, everyone gloated. Who told them to gamble with this Senior Eccentric Qiong anyways!

No matter what, this time’s expedition to the forbidden area had ended.

The leaders of the various sects, having received all of their own disciples’ spiritual medicines and letting them be checked by the spiritual beasts once, all said their goodbyes one by one and left, bringing their followers with them.

Those from the Masked Moon Sect were the first to leave, and so after they had said goodbye and stepped onto the Heavenly Moon Divine Boat one after the other, Han Li couldn’t help but glance at the Celestial Nangong in their midst. However, that woman, from boarding the boat to its eventual departure, never did glance back at him, causing Han Li to feel wronged in his heart.

However, Han Li could also be considered a person with a strong state of mind, and in no time he had recovered to normal and continued to watch the other sects leave.

When she was leaving with the Spirit Beast Mountain disciples, Han Yunzhi glanced at Han Li and gave him a benevolent smile. This actually caused Han Li to feel somewhat warm in his heart.

Yellow Maple Valley, as the host of the forbidden area, naturally would have to be the last to leave. Thus, when the other six sects all left, only the Yellow Maple Valley sect remained all alone outside of the forbidden area.

However, Martial Ancestor Li didn’t just take his followers and leave; instead, he raised his head and gazed in the direction of the forbidden area silently. However, all the other people knew that this Martial Ancestor, having just lost a bet, could not be happy in his heart. Thus, nobody ignorantly went up to urge him on; they could only stand and watch behind him.

After half a day, Martial Ancestor’s mood seemed to be somewhat better; although he did not turn around, he finally opened his mouth. His first sentence was directed at Han Li.

“The disciple that turned in the most spiritual medicines, what is your name and how many years has it been since you entered the valley?”

When the other people heard this, they couldn’t help but reveal an expression of envy; to have one’s name known by this high-ranking Martial Ancestor meant that in the future one would definitely have great benefits. Han Li started slightly and, not daring to delay, immediately said with respect:

“Named Han Li, this disciple entered the valley nearly three years ago!”

“Han Li?”

Martial Ancestor Li slowly repeated Han Li’s name, as if he were considering something. He didn’t actually reply immediately; instead, he caused all the people behind him to turn and look at each other. They didn’t know what this Martial Ancestor Elder’s intention was! But Martial Ancestor Li’s next sentence caused Han Li’s heart to shiver, and he raised 120% of his attention.

“Han Li, tell me the process that you went through to obtain these spiritual medicines, I want to hear it!” asked Martial Ancestor Li, seemingly arbitrarily.

Although Han Li was alert in his heart, he had long before made preparations for being interrogated by others concerning this matter. Thus, he was not panicked. He calmly said:

“Yes, Martial Ancestor!”

“This matter is actually very much due to a fluke! On that day, although disciple had hidden in the ring-shaped mountain, regrettably no real rewards were to be had. However, on the afternoon on the fourth day, disciple actually found two people fighting over a few sprigs of chalcedony within a very remote cave. One was the barefooted, silver-sword-carrying Giant Sword Sect disciple, and the other was a Heavenly Imperial Fortress person with scars covering his face. Disciple thus secretly hid in.”

……”

Just like that, Han Li vividly began to describe a tale of taking advantage of the two people’s conflict. In addition, he did his best to exaggerate his unexpected luck, causing the Chen brother and sister, as well as the other disciples, to feel incredibly jealous, their envious intent extremely apparent.

Martial Ancestor Li, upon hearing Han Li’s account, silently nodded his head, feeling that only in this way could it possibly happen. Otherwise, how could a disciple with a low cultivation technique like Han Li possibly harvest so many spiritual medicines? It seemed like the other person truly was incredibly lucky and that it had been a complete coincidence.

Believing that he had figured out the story behind this matter, Martial Ancestor Li did not want to continue wasting time interrogating. However, after pausing for a while, he suddenly said to Han Li with a solemn expression:

“Han Li, your services towards the sect this time were not small! Although I did not win the bet, I must still reward you greatly. I plan to receive you under my tutelage, and you can be one of my few disciples. Are you are willing?”

Hearing this, Han Li instantly froze and didn’t know how to respond for some time!

And when the other Yellow Maple Valley people heard this, they first received a great shock, then tenaciously glared at Han Li, revealing an expression of disbelief!

This was too inconceivable. They hadn’t heard wrong, had they?! This Martial Ancestor Elder, would actually receive this person as a disciple so easily? This person, whether discussing qualifications or cultivation technique, was extremely average. One could truly not tell if this person had any qualities that stood out, allowing him to be noticed by Martial Ancestor Li!

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