A Mortal’s Journey to Immortality: Wang Yu’s Rebirth as the Reincarnation Dao Ancestor - Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Purchasing Puppets and Heading to Lanzhou

Before leaving the sect, he had one more place to go:

the “Newcomer Gift Pack” collection point, which was also the residence of Lin Shishu, the former young master of the Thousand Bamboo Sect.

The Thousand Bamboo Sect, a major sect in the far west, was skilled in puppetry. Its lineage spanned nearly ten thousand years, founded by the once-peerless genius, the Great Evolution Divine Lord. Today, it had declined, with only a handful of members remaining.

Young Master Lin Shishu was a loser in the internal strife of the Thousand Bamboo Sect.

He was the former young master.

He fled to the Yue Kingdom and joined the Yellow Maple Valley, where he lay dormant for decades, eking out a living in this corner.

On weekdays, he would forge low-level magic weapons such as the Blazing Flame Sword, the Cold Moon Blade, and the Azure Leaf Magic Weapon, as well as the Ten Directions Storage Bag, for the sect. He was the actual maker of the Yellow Maple Valley Newcomer Gift Pack.

In addition, he would also make some low-level puppets to sell, earning spirit stones to buy the cultivation resources he needed.

“Disciple Han Li of Hongying Mountain pays respects to Martial Uncle Lin.”

Han Li had come specifically to purchase two puppets from him.

Inside the room, Martial Uncle Lin was quite old, resembling a small old man, with a cultivation level of the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, and was approximately 120 years old. In fact, he was only in his early twenties when he established his foundation, and his spiritual root aptitude was clearly not bad.

As for why he was only at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage at the age of 120, it was entirely because the Great Evolution Technique he cultivated required very high aptitude in terms of the divine soul.

Those with strong innate divine souls could achieve twice the results with half the effort when cultivating the Great Evolution Technique.

Those with ordinary divine souls would take more than a hundred years to barely cultivate the Great Evolution Technique to the third level.

This Martial Uncle Lin’s innate divine soul was not exceptionally strong, just ordinary. Therefore, although he had diligently cultivated the Great Evolution Technique for nearly a hundred years, he still had not been able to cultivate the third level. He was ultimately just one step short.

“Hongying Mountain? A person from the lineage of Martial Uncle Hongfu?”

“Yes, disciple just came from Hongying Mountain, where Grandmaster Hongfu resides.” Han Li smiled.

Upon hearing this, Young Master Lin’s initial impatience and disdain vanished instantly, replaced by a solemn expression.

Then, as if remembering something, he forced a smile:

“Are you Han Li, the one who entered the Immortal Ascension Token two years ago?”

“Indeed, this disciple.”

“What brings you here, Junior Nephew Han?”

“This disciple wishes to purchase five puppets from my Martial Uncle.”

“…”

With the reputation of Fairy Hong Fu, he could easily achieve many things that even high prices couldn’t buy. For

just over three hundred low-grade spirit stones, he purchased five ironwood puppets comparable to those of a ninth-level Qi Refining cultivator.

If it were someone without any Core Formation background, this trip would likely have been a wasted one.

Even if he managed to buy the puppets he wanted, Young Master Lin would surely have overcharged him.

Having bought the puppets,

Han Li didn’t rush off but returned to Red Tassel Mountain.

Only after delivering a humanoid puppet to Dong Xuan’er did he set off.

“With four beast puppets assisting, that should be enough.”

Two are for direct combat.

Two are useful.

…

The Azure Leaf magical artifact took off, and Han Li quickly left Mount Taiyue.

On his way here, he had traversed mountains and valleys, spending a great deal of time searching.

This time, his journey began with intermittent flight, taking only one day to leave the Mount Taiyue range. He then disguised himself as a mortal, hiding in a merchant caravan and traveling downstream along a major river and the Xianglu Grand Canal that runs through the north and south of Yue Kingdom, covering thousands of miles in just a few days.

In the following days, to speed up the journey and avoid missing important matters, he even traveled by boat during the day and by paddling with the Azure Leaf magical artifact at night. In just a few days, he changed fleets countless times.

It only took eight days to reach Lanzhou in the south-central part of Yue Kingdom. Upon

entering Lanzhou, the waterways were dense and interconnected, making the downstream flow even stronger.

If traveling by boat, it would only take about ten days to reach Jiayuan City. However, he still spent his days by boat recovering his magical powers and his nights traveling in the dark. Thus, in just three and a half days, he traversed thousands of miles and entered the large port city of Jiayuan.

On the second floor of a restaurant in the city, Han Li chose a window seat to order food.

Here, one can see the main gate of “Mo Mansion,” the number one martial arts gang in Jiayuan City.

The purpose of scouting here is self-evident.

This meticulous planning is ingrained in his very being, a habit.

“I wonder if Doctor Mo has returned to Mo Mansion?”

he pondered to himself. Meanwhile, the diners in the restaurant were gossiping about various Jiayuan City saga. Some of the bolder ones even discussed several smaller gangs within the city. When he heard about two small gangs operating in the old West City dock area, his eyes flickered, as if he had thought of something.

Afterward,

he simply sampled the restaurant’s food and left.

A quarter of an hour later, in a secluded alley in the West City dock area, a dozen men lay crippled and unconscious on the ground. Han Li smiled as he looked at a sallow-faced middle-aged man kneeling on the ground. The one

kneeling was none other than “Sun Ergou.”

Jiayuan City is a large city of mortals with over a million inhabitants. Besides the Jingjiao Society, supported by the Mo family, there are two gangs with tens of thousands of members, eight medium-sized gangs with two to three thousand members each, and over forty small gangs with fewer than a thousand members.

These three major powers and eight medium-sized gangs divide the eastern, southern, and northern districts.

The thirty-three small gangs are clustered in the western district.

Sun Ergou belongs to the Siping Gang, a small gang with eight or nine hundred members, mostly dockworkers and laborers. Sun Ergou is a leader in the Siping Gang, managing forty or fifty men.

He was lured here by Han Li’s deliberate display of wealth.

“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! I surrender! I surrender! I’m willing to offer all my wealth to you, young master! I’m willing to be your slave!” Seeing his dozen or so capable men being taken down in a few breaths, Sun Ergou knew he had kicked a hornet’s nest.

This seemingly ordinary and harmless boy was not the easy prey he had initially thought he was, but a living devil. This group of lowly brats had unwittingly walked right into the clutches of this devil, practically courting death.

To survive, he could only beg for mercy while simultaneously proving his worth:

“Young master, I know everything about Jiayuan City, big and small. I’m perfectly capable of serving you. Please don’t kill me, I’m very useful…”

Han Li nodded with a smile upon hearing this.

He had come to find Sun Ergou because he overheard people chatting in a tavern and remembered this fellow.

In the unfamiliar city of Jiayuan in Lanzhou, obtaining intelligence directly from the local tyrant was undoubtedly the most efficient way.

Sun Ergou perfectly fit the bill.

“Here, eat this.”

Han Li smiled and pulled a bottle from his pocket, then poured out a dark, foul-smelling pill and fed it to the sallow-faced Sun Ergou.

The middle-aged man, upon seeing the pill and smelling its odor, knew it was something bad and his face immediately turned bitter.

He opened his mouth to refuse, but the situation was against him. Seeing the young man’s expression gradually change, he dared not hesitate any longer. He could only pinch his nose and swallow the pill.

Between “dying immediately” and “being threatened by a poison pill,” even a fool would choose the latter to save his life.

“This medicine is called the Corrosive Heart Pill, a secret medicine of the immortals. It requires an antidote once a month, otherwise, your internal organs will rot and you will die. I believe you are a sensible person, and I don’t need to tell you what to do or not to do next.” Han Li maintained a smiling, harmless appearance:

“Of course, you can rest assured. After I achieve my goal and finish what I need to do, I will help you eradicate the poison before I leave.”

“Young master, really?”

“Why would I lie to you?”

He had about five days to stay in Jiayuan City. He

had to set off for Tainan Mountain in five days.

Otherwise, there wouldn’t be enough time left, and he might miss this Tainan Small Meeting.

Missing the silk handkerchief containing the fragment of the magical artifact would greatly affect one of his later plans.

“Alright, Er Gou, tell me about the current situation of the Mo family. Who’s in charge now?”

Han Li turned around and began to ask about serious matters.

He had given Sun Er Gou the exaggeratedly potent poison pill to prevent the guy from giving him misleading information based on his wild gossip.

“The Mo family? The Mo family that controls the lifeline of the Jingjiao Society?”

“Yes.”

(End of Chapter)