Chapter 228: Puppet Cultivator
“There’s more?” The elder first stared blankly, but then he immediately became even happier; he laughed giddily for quite some time.
Although he didn’t know what sort of materials Han Li would pull out next, saving the best for last was a principle of common sense. His gaze towards Han Li was filled with even more expectation!
Although Han Li was somewhat doubtful of this store owner’s tool-refining methods, he would be unable to find another tool-refining master that he trusted more for some time; thus, he could only somewhat hesitatingly place the Inky Flood Dragon’s raw materials onto the table.
However, he had already decided in his heart that if this elder was unable to identify the origins of these materials, it would prove that the other person’s experience and methods would be problematic! If that time came, he would at most allow the elder to refine the hard shell in front of him.
As for the high-quality materials from the Inky Flood Dragon, he would have to wait to find a superior tool-refining master!
Since Han Li had made this plan, he naturally followed the elder’s expression and movements even more closely.
In the end, when he saw the pile of materials that Han Li had taken out, the elder spat out his mouthful of clear tea onto the ground in front of him with a “puchi”.
“This is a flood dragon’s hide…...even its horns, fangs…...these are its eyes! Heavens, could Senior have single-handedly killed an evil flood dragon?” The white-haired store owner was shocked out of his normal behavior; he gazed at the materials in front of him with disbelief, incessantly muttering to himself.
No wonder this elder was so shocked! Demonic beasts like the flood dragon had already disappeared from nearby cultivation worlds for a long time. Even if there were some in hiding, this kind of evil flood dragon, which had seemingly evolved into a grade two demonic beast, was comparable to a cultivator beyond the Foundation Establishment stage.
Apart from Core Formation cultivators, how could average Foundation Establishment cultivators possibly be its opponent!? Even if that many cultivators in Foundation Establishment took action together, the pile of flood dragon materials in front of him was too complete! It was practically as if Han Li had dismembered an entire flood dragon and directly carried it over.
Could he have taken ownership of the complete corpse for himself, leaving nothing for the other cultivators? Or did this person have some terrifying method that allowed him to take care of this flood dragon on his own?
The elder’s imagination began to run wild as he fumbled around with these materials.
It was only now that a reverent attitude appeared in his heart towards Han Li!
The fact that the store owner had been able to immediately recognize these materials was somewhat beyond Han Li’s expectations.
He originally believed that even if the other person was able to recognize these items, it would perhaps still require a lot of time and energy for him to do so. But since the elder had so easily identified the materials, Han Li gained some more faith in him.
“Store Owner Xu recognized them so quickly. This actually has assured me a lot. Then, Elder Xu, please begin refining!” Han Li politely said after thinking things over in his heart.
“Okay! Okay! Senior please have faith; when I, Xu, was still an apprentice, I refined a flood dragon corpse once before with my father. My grasp of it will definitely not be small!” the elder replied, nodding his head repeatedly. He held one of the Inky Flood Dragon’s talons in his hand, unwilling to put it down!
Seeing this scene, Han Li felt that it was somewhat comical.
However, he also understood that this elder most likely was a person who was obsessed with refining tools. Otherwise, even if the materials were better, he would not have lost his self-control like this. In this way, however, Han Li felt even more at peace, since this meant that this person’s mastery of tool-refining should be pretty exceptional.
Thus, the elder led Han Li to the rear courtyard, bringing the materials with him!
……
After half a month, Han Li finally walked out of the store’s front door. He slowly left with a light smile on his face after turning around and gazing at the store.
When he was outside of the market’s prohibited flying zone, Han Li lifted his hand, and a small, exquisite white boat shot out from his sleeve. It floated in front of him a few feet off the ground and began to gently shake.
Han Li gazed at it lovingly for a moment before flicking his finger; an azure streak of magic power hit the boat. Instantly, the small boat slowly expanded in size. After a brief moment, it had become a small canoe that could fit several people.
Han Li’s figure gently shook when he saw this scene, and he got on the boot. Then, in a flash of white light, Han Li disappeared along with the boat, appearing thirty feet or so in the air!
“This Divine Wind Boat that was refined using the Inky Flood Dragon’s fins and tail is really an incredibly flying magic tool. Although it is far from being able to contain as many people as the Masked Moon Sect’s Heavenly Divine Moon Boat and has no defensive abilities, based on speed alone it should be a very rarely seen flying magic tool. In this way, I will never have to use the leaf-shaped magic tool that travels as slowly as a turtle!” Han Li said to himself as he stood on the bow of the ship; a trace of happiness was revealed on his face.
Han Li suddenly sent his spiritual power into the small boat’s frame. In an explosion of bright white light, the Divine Wind Boat immediately became a streak of white and shot forwards. Its speed was extremely fast, more than enough to cause regular cultivators to stare, tongue-tied!
Han Li sat at the front of the ship, gently closing his eyes and reveling in the sensation of speed that he had never before experienced.
He reckoned that even if he were to fly at half the speed of the Divine Wind Boat, he could return to his cave in little more than an hour. Then, he would prepare to set up the weakened Five Elements Reversal Formation. Once he finished, he could cultivate in peace!
Just as Han Li was thinking this, he suddenly felt a strong burst of Spiritual Qi flying speedily towards his Divine Wind Boat from a location below him! Although he didn’t know what was attacking him, based on the immense Spiritual Qi that he felt, if it were to hit the small boat, the outcome would be the destruction of the boat and his death!
Han Li was both surprised and furious, and he abruptly opened his eyes wide! Then, the small boat below him suddenly doubled in speed, whizzing numerous tens of feet away.
At the same time, a huge column of yellow light passed through the location where Han Li was just in a moment ago, flying into the distance without scattering. This caused Han Li’s expression to become gloomy!
“Could there be people who knew I would pass through this place and set up an ambush for me ahead of time?” Han Li could not help but think this in his surprise and fury. Then, he immediately pulled out two azure-red dual-colored spheres, gently touching them together.
A “peng” sounded out.
Instantly, a surge of dense, azure-red fog simultaneously shot out of the two spheres, rapidly enveloping Han Li. In addition, it continued to expand; in the blink of an eye, it had become a huge azure-red cloud roughly a hundred feet in size. Han Li’s figure completely disappeared in the cloud of fog.
With the protection of this azure-red cloud, Han Li slightly lowered his guard, coldly gazing at the earth below!
When he saw clearly the circumstance below, Han Li’s jaw dropped wide open, and he had no way of closing it for quite some time. This was because there was a gang war going on below him!
Four or five Foundation Establishment cultivators were at a disadvantage, confronting nearly a hundred enemies that had completely surrounded them. In addition, their opponents were all expressionless and spiritless; they were actually all tiger and leopard mechanical puppet beasts. There were even a few humanoid mechanical puppets, very similar to the one in Han Li’s storage pouch.
Although the seemingly slow movements of the puppets made them seem easy to deal with, when one puppet was defeated or destroyed by these cultivators’ magic tools, a few more puppets would walk out of the nearby forest and reinforce them, causing the numbers of puppets surrounding them to be constant and unchanging.
In addition, these puppets’ offensive abilities were very frightening!
When these mechanical beasts occasionally opened their mouths, a huge column of light as big as a bowl, identical to the one that had almost hit Han Li, would shoot from their mouths. However, their columns of light were multicolored, representing their various attributes.
It seemed as if Han Li had been accidentally shot at by them!
As for those humanoid puppets, they were even stronger! There were puppet bowmen that were the same as the puppet bowman in Han Li’s possession. They directly shot out finger-wide multicolored light arrows from the long bow in their hands. Although their strength was not as great as the light columns shot by the mechanical beasts, they were superior because they formed an endless onslaught.
If it weren’t for the fact that these cultivators had combined their efforts to set up a huge barrier, perhaps they would have long since died under the indiscriminate barrage of light arrows and columns.
However, what gave them the greatest headache was still those spear and saber-wielding close-combat puppets. Not only were those puppets wearing heavy armor, the weapons in their hands all shone with light, indicating that they were all genuine low to mid-grade magic tools.
Although there were only ten of them or so, they attacked incessantly after thoroughly surrounding the barrier. Under the onslaught, the barrier began to crumble, and its brightness fluctuated! If it wasn’t for the fact that there were two cultivators pressing their hands to the barrier and replenishing its magic power at all times, it would have most likely been broken through numerous times already.
It wasn’t that the cultivators really couldn’t do anything about these puppets!
They were, after all, Foundation Establishment cultivators; not only was their magic power very deep, the magic tools they possessed were also frighteningly powerful. In this small amount of time, thirty or forty puppets had already been demolished by their attacks.
However, no matter how strong the magic tools in their hands were, the number of puppets in the forest seemed to be inexhaustible. They continuously supplemented the existing number without stopping, and so the battle became one of attrition. The more these cultivators fought, the colder their hearts grew!
Han Li, hiding in midair within the azure cloud, was also stunned by what he saw! It seemed as if in this span of time, nobody had yet discovered his existence; that column of light had been nothing but an accident!
Finally, one cultivator ran out of patience. He suddenly added on numerous layers of protective spells onto his body. Then, waving a banner-shaped defensive magic tool, he directly escaped out of the large barrier, flying towards the sky. It seemed as if he wanted to flee from this area!
Seeing this, the other few cultivators couldn’t help but break the silence and begin to curse him out.
However, their curses had just left their mouths when a gigantic column of light tens of feet wide suddenly shot out from the forest. In a flash, it directly hit the cultivator in midair. He was immediately turned into a fireball, leaving him no time to even whimper before he fell to the ground. Whether he was alive or dead was a mystery.