Han Li was delighted yet slightly curious—what if, by further ripening the Golden Thunder Bamboo, additional changes would occur? With this thought in mind, he proceeded. However, the bamboo's inherent color and power remained unchanged, and its size stayed steady at the scale typical of a ten-thousand-year-old bamboo, showing no further growth. Instead, during this period of nurturing, a young bamboo had unexpectedly sprouted beside the original one. As the green liquid dripped upon it, the young bamboo gradually grew stronger and taller. After several months, the newly grown Heavenly Thunder Bamboo was virtually indistinguishable from the original one when it was still young in age—though this time, it was a complete, full-length bamboo stalk. Witnessing this development, Han Li was not only neither disappointed but actually overjoyed. To be honest, even the original single Heavenly Thunder Bamboo had previously been slightly insufficient to produce a full set of twelve "Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords." Now, knowing that the green liquid could effectively stimulate the growth of new young bamboo, his concern over insufficient raw materials had been completely resolved. Indeed, this development only further fueled his ambitions. Since he no longer needed to worry about the quantity of the primary materials, he suddenly conceived a bold idea—to craft exactly seventy-two flying swords, forming a complete set of the "Green Bamboo and Honey Cloud Swords." Though with seventy-two such swords, his initial Jin Dan stage cultivation power would be utterly insufficient to fully refine and activate them, he didn’t rush. He could simply proceed at his own pace, refining one by one according to his current cultivation level. After all, as long as the swords were complete sets, they could either be treated as a single divine artifact stored within him or used individually—making no difference at all. This thought ignited a passionate enthusiasm within Han Li, prompting him to reflect whether he truly had the capability to achieve this. The primary challenge in crafting complete sets of divine artifacts has always been the variation in the main materials, which often hinders successful refinement. But now, since he was using the same kind of Tian Lei Bamboo drawn from a single root, that issue was entirely resolved. What remained was his own refining skill and the quality of the auxiliary materials he had prepared. The auxiliary materials were already prepared—he had no need to seek them out again, since whether he produced twelve or seventy-two pieces, the amount of auxiliary materials required remained the same. The only concern he now had was his own skill in crafting the法宝. After all, he had no prior experience in crafting items. For ordinary法宝, there was little difficulty in mastering the process of refining and integrating the essence through flame, making it quite accessible. However, the "Green Bamboo and Honey Cloud Swords" were quite different. Even individually, each sword was far more complex to produce than typical法宝. Moreover, since these individual sword components needed to be assembled into a complete set, the semi-finished pieces had to be consecutively refined using a specific magical array—a requirement that demanded a solid understanding of array techniques. Without such knowledge, the crafting of these法宝 would simply be impossible. Han Li was also a person of extremely firm resolve. Despite facing so many difficulties, he had decided—either to abandon the endeavor altogether or to pursue the very best flying swords. Otherwise, he would never have remained so steadfastly devoted to the Thunder Bamboo. As a result, after pondering for one full day and night within his abode, Han Li finally established a well-structured cultivation plan for the next twenty years. What surprised the nearby shopkeepers most was that this young man rarely stepped out of his shop, spending his days constantly reading an old, unbound scroll of faded silk, occasionally gesturing and dancing as if deeply moved—sometimes even completely absorbed. At other times, he would retreat into the back part of the shop, remaining unseen for entire afternoons. All the customers and business transactions were handled entirely by the rather plain, earnest man who appeared so grounded and unassuming. Most of the neighboring shopkeepers were ordinary folk born and raised in Tianxing City, opening shops merely to make a living. Among them, only an elderly man named He possessed a mediocre spiritual root, attaining only a few layers of Qi cultivation. Yet even so, He was deeply respected by the others, who constantly referred to him as "Master He the Immortal." Thus, when the young man arrived, the others had asked He directly and learned that the young man, though seemingly ordinary, was in fact no mage at all—just another common mortal. At once, others grew bolder and began visiting the shop regularly, chatting with the young man who introduced himself as Han about everyday matters. After all, the area was quite remote, with limited daily business, so people naturally came to visit one another to relieve the monotony. The arrival of this stranger added fresh topics of conversation. Yet the young man seemed awkward in social interactions, speaking slowly and often staying indoors, rarely stepping out. Even when other shop owners came to visit, he mostly listened without much speaking—remarkably reserved. He never mentioned his background, and when asked, only smiled and remained silent. Others, naturally, did not press for more information. Over time, as the visits dwindled, interest in the "Qingzhu Xiaoxuan" shop gradually waned. However, this development brought a quiet sense of relief to the young man. The young man himself was, of course, Han Li and the one dressed in the form of a young man with a spirit aura. Though merely an ordinary technique common among the martial circles, it was more than sufficient to handle several ordinary mortals and a low-level cultivator. As for why Han Li had come to establish a shop here, it was certainly not merely to earn the modest amount of spiritual stones he considered unimpressive. His true purpose was to cultivate his grounded, worldly mindset and to study the art of crafting artifacts and the principles of array techniques—choosing a location specifically suited for such pursuits. Previously, Han Li had not engaged deeply in these areas because his time during the Foundation Stage had been too brief to allow him to devote attention to them. Now, having successfully achieved the Dan Stage, and with the next step of crafting his own artifacts requiring knowledge and experience in these fields, he naturally decided to make use of the current period of cultivating the Sky-Heaven Bamboo to further study the treatise "Cloud Sky Insights" and the array texts gifted by Xin Ruoyin. Indeed, at a deeper level, Han Li had always harbored a genuine interest in the arts of artifact crafting and array techniques. In just twenty years, and while simultaneously pursuing both aspects of study, he dared not hope to reach the level of those two geniuses—yet merely to possess a portion of their skills would be more than sufficient. At the very least, he would be able to craft the simplest array flags and array discs himself! However, studying these things wasn't enough merely to read books; hands-on practice in crafting and experimenting was essential. As a result, a large number of inferior, substandard artifacts accumulated—so poorly made that they were neither useful nor worth discarding, truly a culinary waste. Moreover, whenever a sudden inspiration arose during his practice, he had to constantly purchase various unusual materials, which meant he couldn't possibly make daily trips to the marketplace. Fortunately, coincidentally, the fourth stage of the Dàyǎn Jué required a specific cultivation of grounded, worldly mindset—without this, he would suffer from heart-mind disturbances during the fourth stage and find it extremely difficult to progress. Thus, after some thought, Han Li decided to purchase the shop outright, achieving multiple benefits at once. The location was neither too noisy nor disruptive to his daily studies of alchemy and array techniques, yet it was close enough to ordinary people, allowing him to witness everyday civilian life firsthand. He could also promptly source the materials needed for practical alchemical crafting and array setup, and sell the small items he produced on the counter. Even selling just a few would be a success. Seeing lower-level cultivators purchase his personally crafted artifacts brought him genuine satisfaction. Of course, he still needed to visit his cave residence every few days to check on the thunder bamboo, hasten its ripening, and visit the gold-eating insects; the two blood-jade spiders remained at the cave residence to guard it. Yet, not long after, a surprising scene unfolded within the herb garden. The first Heavenly Thunder Bamboo, when it reached five or six thousand years of spiritual maturity on its second root, suddenly detached itself from the ground without any apparent cause. Its sparse branches and leaves fell clean off, and upon touching the ground, immediately transformed into vibrant, pure golden leaves. Though he did not know the purpose of these golden leaves, Han Li still refused to discard them lightly, gathering every one and placing them into his storage pouch. The main trunk, still lush and emerald-green, was carefully placed into a box made of "Gao Yu" and preserved with care, to be kept until he collected six or seven such trunks—when he could begin to refine the "Green Bamboo Honey Cloud Sword." Thus, with his magical energies gradually withdrawn, Han Li fully immersed himself into the ordinary world, settling in a quiet corner of the marketplace and beginning his journey into the human realm. Aside from daily studying the silk scrolls copied from the jade scrolls, he quietly observed the complex expressions of ordinary people—ranging from joy to sorrow, anger to contentment—and slowly recalled and savored each experience.