Chapter 191: A True Immortal's Servant

After Fang Zhuan stood still, he turned his wrist, and with a flash of golden light in his palm, a palm-sized golden round token appeared.

The token was densely covered with runes, and its material was identical to those metal squares.

As he softly chanted a few incantations and made a hand seal with his other hand, all the spiritual patterns on the golden token suddenly lit up, and a beam of golden light shot out, landing on a certain metal square on the rear wall.

Under the flickering light of the square's restriction, it emitted a brilliant radiance like rippling water waves. Then a metal box the size of an ordinary makeup case moved out from the wall and flew into Fang Zhuan's hand.

He pressed the metal round token onto the box, and immediately the box blazed with golden light. A spherical light shield then appeared, enveloping it.

Han Li's gaze swept over, and he saw golden runes constantly flashing on the light shield, like golden dragons circling around, emitting a very peculiar aura.

After a short while, the spherical light shield suddenly contracted, and the golden light also faded away.

The box slowly flew back into the square on the wall, flashed with spiritual light, and was resealed, leaving only the metal round token suspended in midair.

Throughout the entire process, the box had never been opened.

From this, it was evident that although this man was a hall steward, he could not open these boxes containing secret scriptures; all he could do was probably copy the contents.

Fang Zhuan picked up Han Li's elder token and combined it with the metal round token, softly chanting a secret incantation.

Both objects flashed with light simultaneously, then went out.

"Alright, the merit points have been deducted from the token. The spirit-speaking token has also recorded your blood essence aura. From now on, only you can view the techniques recorded inside. Remember, do not attempt to copy the contents, or you will bear the consequences." Fang Zhuan handed both tokens back and warned.

"Thank you, Elder Fang." Han Li reached out to take them and nodded in acknowledgment.

Just then, another person quickly walked into the hall and called out to Fang Zhuan, "Senior Brother Fang."

"Oh, it's Junior Brother Gu. Haven't seen you for a while. What brings you here today?" Fang Zhuan, clearly familiar with the other, responded with a smile.

Han Li was slightly taken aback.

This seemingly ordinary scene seemed hard for him to understand: that man surnamed Gu was clearly a True Immortal realm cultivator, yet he addressed Fang Zhuan, a Great Vehicle stage cultivator, as senior brother?

Fang Zhuan seemed to notice Han Li's peculiar expression, and a trace of gloom inadvertently flickered across his face.

"Since Elder Fang has a guest, I'll take my leave." Seeing this, Han Li immediately said his farewells.

"Alright, Elder Li, go slowly. If you need anything else today, feel free to come again." Fang Zhuan nodded, speaking with seeming significance.

Han Li, somewhat puzzled, rubbed his chin, nodded slightly to the two, and turned to leave.

After leaving the Transmission Hall, he originally intended to return directly to his cave dwelling on Red Cloud Peak, but then remembered something and headed instead to the nearby Interim Transmission Hall.

...

Puling Valley, located on the western edge of the Bell Cry Mountain Range, was a giant trumpet-shaped valley formed by two branch mountain ranges extending southward with a gap in between.

Because a type of Puling grass grew in this valley, which had some effect of gathering heaven and earth spiritual energy, it was named 'Puling Valley.'

Due to this property, Puling grass was often used to make meditation cushions. For low-level cultivators, having such a cushion for cultivation could indeed increase their cultivation speed somewhat.

Of course, the Puling grass in this valley all belonged to the sect, and disciples were strictly forbidden from picking it privately; violators would be severely punished.

That said, this valley was a rather special place for the Candle Dragon Sect. Every ten years, the inner sect trial would usually have the participating outer sect disciples gather here first, and then be led by an elder steward to places like the Molten Snow Forest for the trial.

However, after each trial, only a very few were lucky enough to pass and become envied inner sect disciples. Most either died in the brutal trial process or returned scarred to continue as ordinary outer sect disciples.

Since each outer sect disciple had only one chance in their lifetime to participate in the trial, failure meant that without a special opportunity, they could never become inner sect disciples.

In fact, most of these outer sect disciples came from all over the Ancient Cloud Continent, and their aptitudes were not poor. In their respective forces or families, they could be called prodigies; otherwise, they wouldn't even have been selected as outer sect disciples of the Candle Dragon Sect.

After failing the inner sect trial, they naturally were unwilling to give up the path of immortality. Thus, the vast majority chose to sign a contract in the Puling Hall, waiting for the arrival of various True Immortals of the Candle Dragon Sect to be selected, hoping to become their servants.

After all, being able to become a servant of an accomplished True Immortal was, in their eyes, an indescribably great opportunity, and their status would naturally become vastly different.

If they gained the True Immortal's favor and were granted some opportunities, it was not entirely impossible that they might be directly accepted as inner sect disciples in the future.

However, most True Immortals already had their own servants, mostly chosen from their own clan members. Very few came to Puling Valley to select servants. Of course, if a female cultivator was exceptionally beautiful, her chances of being selected were relatively higher.

Even so, whenever news spread that a True Immortal was coming, it still attracted large numbers of disciples to come and try their luck.

At this moment, Puling Valley was crowded with people, the noise chaotic, with thousands densely gathered, and more people were still rushing towards the valley entrance.

Not long ago, an elder steward of the Puling Hall had released news that a True Immortal might come to select servants soon, so many outer sect disciples who heard the news gathered here.

On both sides of the valley, patches of emerald green Puling grass with thick, sword-shaped stems grew, mostly spaced over a hundred zhang apart.

On each patch of grass stood or sat dozens or even hundreds of cultivators in gray robes, each patch seeming to form a distinct circle.

Among these people, the vast majority had cultivation levels from Foundation Establishment to Core Formation, and there were also a few Nascent Soul stage disciples. They planned to take advantage of the wait for the True Immortal's arrival to meditate and breathe, not wasting cultivation time.

Outside the valley entrance, a seemingly simple young man, about twenty years old, wearing a gray robe with a crescent-shaped jade pendant at his waist, along with three companions, also rushed out and squeezed into the vast crowd.

"Yungui, let's find a more conspicuous spot; that way we have a better chance of being chosen." Among the companions, a round-faced fat man said to the simple young man while clearing a path through the crowd.

The best large patches of grass near the valley entrance were already occupied mainly by Nascent Soul stage disciples, leaving only spots further inside.

"Alright, there's space over there." The simple young man nodded and pointed to a patch of grass about ten zhang in size not far away.

But as soon as he stepped onto the grass, he felt a heavy bump on his shoulder, causing him to stagger. Turning to look, he saw a tall, burly young man like an iron tower.

"Isn't this Young Master Meng Yungui? What, here to compete for spots again?" The iron-tower young man sneered.

The simple young man stopped in his tracks, his fists instinctively clenching, but then relaxing.

This man before him was named Sun Buzheng, actually a fellow townsman from the same remote small country, Mengchi.

The Meng family of Meng Yungui was originally a cultivator clan secretly ruling this country, while Sun Buzheng's family was the imperial clan of Mengchi. They had been good friends in childhood, close companions.

But later, turmoil broke out in Mengchi, the Sun imperial clan was overthrown, and the Meng family was also invaded by external cultivator forces at that time, leading to their decline.

Sun Buzheng, originally named Sun Hao, as a former imperial clan member, witnessed the destruction of his country and family, always believing that the Meng family had stood by idly. Thus, he harbored deep resentment towards the Meng family, and when he later met Meng Yungui again in the Candle Dragon Sect, he often treated him as an enemy.

Meng Yungui initially tried to explain, but later found it useless and gave up.

Every time he faced Sun Buzheng's provocations, he chose to endure and not retaliate, but this attitude only made Sun Buzheng angrier.

"Let's find another place." Meng Yungui said softly to the people behind him and was about to head to another patch of grass further away.

"Meng Yungui, are you even a man? Always playing the coward, it's infuriating to watch." Sun Buzheng stared at his back and couldn't help but shout angrily.

His roar was very loud, attracting the attention of many around, including a tall young man with an ordinary face.

The patch of grass where this man was located was quite large, with some outer sect disciples sitting in small groups, but he seemed to be alone.

This person was none other than Han Li, who had just arrived from the Transmission Hall.

He did not go directly to the Puling Hall to have the elder steward select through the roster; instead, he entered the valley to see for himself.

Although they were only servants, he did not want to listen to others' so-called recommendations and have spies planted by them.

He only revealed a Core Formation stage aura, which did not attract much attention. Everyone just regarded him as an outer sect disciple trying his luck.

He glanced at the simple young man walking towards him and then looked away.

"All of you, get lost! I'm taking this spot!" Just then, an icy voice came from in front of him.

It was a middle-aged man with a fierce face, looking about forty, followed by a male and a female cultivator who seemed to defer to him.

This man was clearly a late Core Formation cultivator, considered an expert among the many Core Formation cultivators nearby.

Most of the cultivators sharing the grass patch with Han Li were only at early Core Formation. Seeing this, although some looked displeased, after exchanging glances, they silently left the patch.

Soon, only Han Li remained. Meng Yungui, who was walking this way, frowned and stopped in his tracks.

"You there, you look unfamiliar. New here, right?" The middle-aged man frowned, staring at Han Li with a cold voice.

"Just arrived not long ago. I heard that disciples who want to become True Immortal servants come here, so I came to take a look." Han Li said in a calm tone.

"Haha, look at this, a greenhorn who doesn't know his place!"

"Does he really think he's some brilliant young genius!"

As soon as he said this, it immediately drew a burst of laughter from the surroundings.