Chapter 410: Cultivating Bamboo

"This is the Heavenly Lightning Bamboo?" Han Li asked with an uncertain expression.

Inside the box was actually just a short section of ordinary withered bamboo, about two inches long, the thickness of a small finger, and it even had some obviously withered roots attached.

No matter how one looked at it, it was no different from ordinary bamboo!

While Han Li was confused, he couldn't help but glance at Fairy Zi Ling with an expressionless face.

The young lady clearly understood Han Li's doubts; she chuckled and held the half-yellow, half-green withered bamboo between her jade fingers. Then, with a flip of her jade hand, a crystal-clear dagger appeared in her other hand.

With a clear "clink," Fairy Zi Ling struck the bamboo hard with the dagger. The moment the blade touched it, a thin electric arc flashed on the surface of the bamboo, immediately repelling the dagger.

Seeing this, Han Li's doubts vanished. He carefully placed the Heavenly Lightning Bamboo back into the box and put it away properly.

Afterwards, Fairy Zi Ling gave Han Li a waist token for an elder of the Sound of Music Sect. The two chatted for a while, and Han Li took his leave.

Not long after Han Li left, Madam Fan and Zhuo Zhuo Ruting returned to the inn together. After hearing Fairy Zi Ling recount the matter, the two looked at each other for a long time.

"Junior Sister, doing it this way is not quite the same as what we originally discussed. Aren't we suffering too much of a loss! With the reputation of this Heavenly Lightning Bamboo, we could have completely found other Core Formation cultivators; why bother accommodating this person so much?" Madam Fan couldn't help but complain a little.

Although Zhuo Zhuo Ruting didn't say anything on the side, her willow brows were slightly furrowed, and she also revealed a look of confusion.

"The two senior sisters do not know. When I first proposed letting him be an elder of our sect, the expression on his face was very ugly, and from his eyes, I could see at a glance that this person's will was extremely firm; even if he didn't get this Heavenly Lightning Bamboo, it would be impossible for him to agree to this matter. Furthermore, Senior Sister Fan has also said that this person is not afraid of our charm techniques at all."

"As for using the Heavenly Lightning Bamboo to invite other cultivators, you two senior sisters are overestimating the value of this 'chicken rib' item. You must know that although the Heavenly Lightning Bamboo is known as one of the three divine bamboos of the cultivation world, in reality, there are very few who can actually use it. Unless one is refining a top-tier wood-attribute magic treasure, who would use this item as a material? And for those who know the refining methods for such magic treasures, this little bit of Heavenly Lightning Bamboo we have is simply of no use. Moreover, you also know that even Heavenly Lightning Bamboo is divided into different grades. This root of ours is only a white lightning bamboo of several thousand years; even if it were refined into a magic treasure, it wouldn't have much power. It's better to use this item to befriend this person first. Besides, since he has agreed to be an elder of our sect, as long as we sisters are respectful to him and offer tribute every year, when our sect truly encounters a great enemy, will he have the heart to refuse to help?" Fairy Zi Ling said leisurely, looking calm and unruffled.

"And even if there were others who were tempted by the Heavenly Lightning Bamboo and were willing to be an elder of our sect, would our sect dare to accept them in our current situation? It would likely be 'rejecting the tiger at the front door, only to let the wolf in the back.' Back then, my mother also relied on her own status as a Core Formation cultivator to adopt a strategy of checks and balances, allowing the two elders Zhao and Meng to honestly work for our sect. After all, relying solely on charm techniques and female beauty to win over high-level cultivators is very easy to suffer a backlash from!" The young lady said with a bitter smile.

Hearing these words, Madam Fan and Zhuo Zhuo Ruting fell silent.

After the recent mass defection of their subordinates, the two of them also lacked confidence in their own charm techniques. They felt that what this little junior sister said made some sense.

"From now on, matters within the sect will be handled by the three of us together; we will not appoint a sect master for the time being. It will not be too late to appoint a sect master once one of us or one of our female disciples can reach the Core Formation stage!" The young lady said decisively.

This time, the other two women had no intention of opposing.

"Will this Elder Han rely on his high cultivation base to forcefully interfere in the sect's affairs? Should we take precautions in advance?" Zhuo Zhuo Ruting suddenly asked in a cold voice.

"He won't. Although I haven't had much contact with this person, from his conversation, I can see that this person seems to be a diligent cultivator. Perhaps apart from cultivation, nothing else can move his heart. Otherwise, when I mentioned gifting a female disciple to him as a concubine, he wouldn't have had no expression at all. Perhaps it is because of this that this person was able to enter the Core Formation stage!" Fairy Zi Ling shook her head, looking a little envious.

"Sigh! I wonder, do we sisters still have a chance to reach the Core Formation stage?" Madam Fan sighed faintly, seemingly not holding much hope for reaching the Core Formation stage.

Hearing this, Zhuo Zhuo Ruting's face also revealed a look of loneliness.

It seems these few beauties also yearn for Core Formation to the extreme!

At this time, Han Li had already returned to his cave dwelling.

He did not busy himself with other matters, but immediately checked the numerous classics he had stored.

After much difficulty, he found the cultivation method for the Heavenly Lightning Bamboo from a jade slip, and then Han Li transplanted this bamboo into his medicine garden, following the instructions exactly.

Looking at the extremely thin Heavenly Lightning Bamboo transplanted before him, Han Li was truly excited.

He naturally knew clearly that the Heavenly Lightning Bamboo was divided into grades. However, he didn't take this to heart at all.

Because the quality of the Heavenly Lightning Bamboo's grade was entirely determined by its spiritual age.

Heavenly Lightning Bamboo under two thousand years old could only release ordinary white lightning, while those over five thousand years old would have lightning that turned blue, and the power would also be much greater.

And when the Heavenly Lightning Bamboo reached over ten thousand years, the lightning would turn into a pale golden color. At this time, the power of the lightning would reach an unimaginable level and have various miraculous effects in restraining all kinds of evil techniques and demonic arts, which cultivators called "Evil-Warding Lightning."

This was also the oldest Heavenly Lightning Bamboo that could be seen in the cultivation world to this day, and it was the legendary "Golden Lightning Bamboo."

"This kind of Golden Lightning Bamboo" had appeared once in the Chaotic Star Sea back then, and no one could say clearly where it had flowed from, and there was only such a small section of it.

As a result, this item caused the Chaotic Star Sea of that time to be filled with blood and wind for decades; numerous forces were eyeing it covetously, fighting openly and snatching secretly, and it had passed through the hands of unknown numbers of cultivators.

But in the end, no one was able to preserve it until it was refined into a magic treasure. Because this bamboo was as strange as when it appeared, it suddenly disappeared inexplicably. This made the numerous forces of that time extremely angry, and they continued to investigate for a long time before it gradually calmed down.

From the above turmoil, one could see the value of this ten-thousand-year Golden Lightning Bamboo.

And Han Li had never done anything like cultivating spiritual objects over ten thousand years old. Because for ordinary pill refining, spiritual herbs of at most one or two thousand years were completely sufficient.

This made him feel a hint of anxiety while looking forward to ripening the Heavenly Lightning Bamboo into Golden Lightning Bamboo.

In the following days, Han Li used green liquid to ripen the bamboo while beginning to frequently stroll around the markets of Heavenly Star City.

Because the "Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords," besides using spiritual wood as the main raw material, also needed to be mixed with some rare auxiliary materials before they could finally be refined with pill fire.

Moreover, these swords were a set of magic treasures, so the materials required were naturally far beyond those of the same type. Although Han Li had collected some before, there were still many he hadn't gathered, so he naturally had to search everywhere.

This Chaotic Star Sea was indeed far richer in products than the Tiannan region.

While Han Li spared no effort in throwing out large amounts of spirit stones, making himself go bankrupt, he finally gathered these things together two years later. For this, he even had to take the risk of attracting attention by selling the few rare demon cores he had left.

When Han Li looked at his many empty storage bags, he could only look up to the sky and sigh.

Refining magic treasures, especially refining a good magic treasure, was truly not something an ordinary rogue cultivator could afford.

On this day, Han Li walked toward the medicine garden with an undisguised look of anticipation.

A few days ago, before he started his cultivation, he had just dripped the green liquid that should be the ten-thousand-year portion. Now, the Heavenly Lightning Bamboo in the garden should have become a ten-thousand-year spiritual object.

Thinking of the legendary great power of the Golden Lightning Bamboo, Han Li was naturally extremely excited.

The bamboo, which was originally two inches long in the medicine garden, was now completely different.

Not only had it grown to about a foot tall, but it was also emerald green and dripping, covered with a layer of faint mist.

Han Li observed it carefully for a while, then flipped his hand, and a small sword magic tool appeared in his hand. Then, the small sword turned into a white light and shot straight at the bamboo.

A pale golden electric arc flashed from the Heavenly Lightning Bamboo without warning.

With a muffled "pfft" sound, after the white light was struck by the pale golden electric arc, it turned into a wisp of visible green smoke and disappeared without a trace.

Han Li was startled at first, but immediately started laughing, and he laughed very happily!

He really wanted to know what kind of interesting expression Fairy Zi Ling would have if she knew that this white lightning bamboo had actually turned into Golden Lightning Bamboo.

This deal was probably the biggest bargain he had taken since entering the cultivation world!

But unfortunately, he would not have the chance to see that scene.

【End of Chapter】 ===== CHAPTER 411 =====