Chapter 886: The Feng Family

"What other Ning could it be? Naturally, it is the Guan Ning Feng family. In Guan Ning Prefecture, they can be considered quite a significant force," Feng Yue said without hesitation.

"Guan Ning Prefecture? Which province's prefecture is this?" Han Li narrowed his eyes.

"There are indeed several prefectures in the Great Jin provinces called Guan Ning, but there is only one Ning-middle Feng family, and that is the one in Guan Ning Prefecture of Liao Province." Feng Yue looked at him with a strange expression, appearing somewhat surprised and suspicious at how detailed Han Li's questions were.

Han Li, however, did not care at all and nodded, not asking any more about the Feng family, but instead pointed to the jade pendant and said:

"How was this item obtained? Does it have any history?"

"This Lingxia Pendant is a Feng family token passed down to me by my father. Why does Fellow Daoist ask about this item?" Feng Yue was greatly surprised.

"A token? Could it be that every disciple of your Feng family carries a top-tier magic tool as a token?" Han Li glanced sideways at the young man, asking somewhat incredulously.

"Of course not. The entire Feng family only has three or four such tokens. It is impossible for anyone other than direct bloodline disciples to possess this item." Feng Yue shook his head.

"So, your status in the Feng family is not low."

"I am the eldest son of the Feng family's main lineage. If there were no accidents, I should have taken charge of the Feng family in a few decades." Feng Yue's mouth twitched, and a flash of pain crossed his eyes as he spoke.

Hearing this, Han Li knew that it was indeed as he had expected; the other party was in deep trouble, and it seemed that something had happened to the Feng family itself.

Since it did not concern him, Han Li did not ask about related matters, but instead stared at the young man and asked the question he most wanted to know.

"What relationship does your Feng family have with the Great Jin Buddhist Sect? Don't tell me you don't know anything. Since the token could be imbued with such deep Buddhist spiritual light, there must certainly be some connection."

"The Buddhist Sect and our Feng family do indeed have some origins. One of the Feng family's ancestors was once a lay disciple of the Guan Ning Qianguang Temple, and Qianguang Temple was a branch of the Buddhist Sect's major sect, the Jinluo Gate. Our Feng family originally cultivated Buddhist techniques. But ever since Qianguang Temple moved out of Liao Province hundreds of years ago and returned to the main sect, our Feng family disciples have switched to cultivating Confucian techniques." Feng Yue was stunned for a moment, but having nothing to hide regarding this, he answered very readily.

Upon hearing this, Han Li felt a surge of joy in his heart.

Although he did not know what Qianguang Temple was, he had indeed heard of the Jinluo Sect; it was one of the four major Buddhist sects in Great Jin. It seemed that what the Feng family cultivated in the past was actually the most orthodox Buddhist technique.

"Do you know all of these Buddhist techniques?" Han Li continued to press.

"I did not want to cultivate Buddhist techniques, so why would I go and memorize those formulas? However, our Feng family does indeed still preserve the cultivation methods for these techniques." After hesitating for a moment, Feng Yue replied.

At this moment, he had already realized that the unfathomable person before him seemed to be targeting Buddhist techniques, and he could not help but feel surprised in his heart.

One had to know that although Buddhist techniques were incredibly powerful in the later stages, their slow cultivation speed and harsh requirements were famous in the Great Jin cultivation world. There were truly not many who were willing to actively cultivate Buddhist formulas.

"Han kid, ask him what realm their ancestor cultivated to, and whether he had already cultivated a sarira. Only those in the Buddhist Sect who have cultivated a sarira could possibly have cultivated a method to eliminate baleful qi," Great Expansion Divine Lord suddenly spoke up to remind him.

Regarding the rumors of sariras, Han Li had already learned some things through ancient texts before coming to Great Jin.

A sarira was a unique item belonging to those in the Buddhist Sect; some appeared during the Core Formation stage, while others were only cultivated during the Nascent Soul stage. There seemed to be no pattern to follow. To cultivators outside the Buddhist Sect, it was a very mysterious item.

But one thing was certain: many profound techniques and divine abilities of the Buddhist Sect could only be cultivated and unleashed after having a sarira.

Therefore, toward those in the Buddhist Sect who had cultivated a sarira, cultivators of other sects would harbor great wariness, even if their cultivation base far exceeded the other party's.

Han Li nodded secretly and calmly asked Feng Yue the same question.

"A sarira? My ancestor did indeed cultivate this item in the past. If it weren't for his limited aptitude in other aspects, preventing him from breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage, my ancestor probably wouldn't have been so disheartened as to create the Ning-middle Feng family." Feng Yue replied with a slight frown upon hearing this.

Han Li's spirits were greatly lifted.

It seemed his luck was truly not bad; perhaps he wouldn't even need to go deep into Great Jin to find the technique to eliminate the baleful qi.

Thinking of this, Han Li smiled slightly, and his expression also softened.

"Now I have one more question; answering it will be enough."

"Whatever else Fellow Daoist wishes to know, just ask!" Feng Yue said with a forced smile.

"You are only a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator; why would that person use such a strange poison as Bitter Poison to deal with you? You must know that in some respects, the Ten Absolute Poisons are even more precious than some rare medicinal pills. If he intended to capture you alive, he couldn't have used this poison. But if he was determined to kill you, with his Core Formation stage cultivation, it seems there would be no need to go to such extra trouble." Han Li slowly asked the question that had been circling in his heart.

"So it was about this. Fellow Daoist doesn't know, but that old thief Feng Zhen was actually a demonic cultivator that our Feng family took in years ago. Back then, because he offended a high-level expert and was being hunted, he voluntarily became a servant to our Feng family to save his life, and even changed his name. At that time, my grandfather was still alive, and the Feng family was still prosperous, so we could protect this thief. This thief was previously responsible for the trade between the Feng family and some tribes of the Tuwu people. I came here originally intending to find him, but I didn't expect this thief to have secretly defected to the Kong family as well, appearing at the station to lure me here. As for using Bitter Poison, naturally, he had long been subjected to the Feng family's unique secret technique; as long as it is a direct descendant of the Feng family above the Foundation Establishment stage, they can cast a spell to restrict his cultivation. If he hadn't used Bitter Poison to ambush me secretly, how could I have been left without the power to fight back?" Upon hearing Han Li mention this, Feng Yue's expression could not help but turn gloomy.

"So that's how it is. It is said that Bitter Poison is invisible and odorless, and the moment it touches you, it can make a cultivator with low cultivation collapse and fall into a coma. That Kong family seems to be your Feng family's great enemy." Han Li tilted his head and said, somewhat enlightened.

"That's right. The Kong family, the Zhang family, the Jin family, and our Feng family are considered the four great cultivation families of Guan Ning Prefecture. We had always kept to ourselves. But I didn't expect that in recent years, just as our Feng family weakened slightly, the Kong family suddenly united with the other two families to secretly strike at our Feng family." Feng Yue said this with a ferocious expression on his face.

As a young master of a great family, now reduced to wandering in a foreign grassland and suffering a fate that would soon end his life, he naturally hated these three families to the bone.

"I have no interest in the rights and wrongs between your families. But I am quite satisfied with your answer. Now, you can first talk about the Haoyuan Pill. I don't have much of this medicinal pill left, probably only about ten or so. It should be enough to let you hold on for another ten days or so. However, each of these medicinal pills is worth thousands of spirit stones; can you really afford to buy them?" Han Li said indifferently.

"Thousands of spirit stones?" Even though he had some guesses in his heart, Feng Yue was still startled by the price. This was equivalent to the price of a top-tier magic tool.

"Fine, I'll buy them." But the hesitant expression on Feng Yue's face flashed by, and he gritted his teeth and agreed.

"You have tens of thousands of spirit stones on you?" Han Li raised an eyebrow, looked the young man over a few times, and said with a half-smile.

He did not believe that the other party would be carrying so many spirit stones on him.

"I don't have tens of thousands of spirit stones on me, but I will use this key to the Feng family's secret grotto as collateral." Feng Yue pulled the silver key from his neck and handed it over without the slightest hesitation. It looked as if he had already secretly considered this.

"The Feng family's secret grotto?" Han Li stared at the key without speaking, having no intention of taking it immediately. But he knew the other party would naturally take the initiative to explain.

"That's right, this is the only magic tool that can open the secret grotto where our Feng family has stored its collections for over a thousand years. As the eldest grandson of the Feng family's main lineage, on the day of the Feng family's catastrophe, the family elders naturally had me take this key and escape first. Although I have never been there, the value of the collection inside is certainly far more than tens of thousands of spirit stones." Feng Yue said calmly.

"Using this item as collateral! How can I be sure of the authenticity of this key? Even if it is real, you have handed it to me. Don't you want the Feng family to make a comeback?" Han Li said without any expression on his face, making it impossible for anyone to see what he was thinking.

"What comeback is there to make! As far as I know, apart from me, the others who escaped from the Feng family were just servants and disciples of collateral lineages. Now, I am the only one left of the direct lineage. Otherwise, I would have gathered the other clansmen long ago and wouldn't have run to the grassland alone. If I die and the Feng family's bloodline is cut off, the secret grotto will eventually benefit the Kong family members. They will eventually find it by following the trail. In that case, it is naturally better to let it save my life. If I cannot find a way to remove this poison within these ten days, the secret grotto will be a gift to Fellow Daoist, which is still better than falling into the hands of the Kong family. In addition, the Buddhist technique that Brother Han most wants to obtain is also placed in the secret grotto." Feng Yue said with a gloomy expression on his face.

Han Li pondered in silence, and after a long while, he said calmly:

"Fine, you can use this key to exchange for the spirit pills. But before that, I need you to cooperate with me and let me search your spiritual sense to verify the authenticity of the key and the Buddhist technique. Otherwise, I don't want this secret grotto, and I don't want to be played for a fool."

"Search the soul? Isn't that a divine ability that only Nascent Soul cultivators possess? How can you possibly do it!" Upon hearing this, Feng Yue's face turned somewhat pale, and his eyes revealed a look of fear.

"Forced soul searching naturally requires a cultivation base above the Nascent Soul stage. But if the person being subjected to the technique cooperates, there is no need for such trouble. Moreover, this secret technique of mine is very different from ordinary soul-searching techniques. Although a Foundation Establishment cultivation base cannot explore complex things, it is easy to judge the truth or falsehood of a matter from the spiritual sense." Han Li pursed his lips, then relaxed to reveal his snow-white teeth, which flashed with a cold light.

Seeing Han Li's expression, Feng Yue could not help but feel a chill in his heart.

As a disciple of a great family, he naturally knew the terror of soul searching. Under normal circumstances, how could he agree to such a dangerous thing? But looking down at his pitch-black hands and thinking about the consequences of not agreeing, he felt a sense of helplessness in his heart.

"Fine, I will cooperate with you in casting the spell. But you can only explore matters regarding the secret grotto and the Buddhist Sect. You cannot touch other matters. And I will not open myself up to you completely." Feng Yue clenched his fists and took a deep breath, saying resolutely.

Net ===== CHAPTER 887 =====