Han Li, at the Guest Hall, had been handling the wooden spirit orb for a while, just about to place it alongside the other two treasures when he heard, "Han, are you truly going to keep this orb?" "How so? Is there something wrong with this orb?" Han Li was momentarily startled, his brow slightly furrowed. "Ah, well, the orb itself is in no way defective. But do you know that the spirit-accumulating orb is actually a failed semi-finished treasure? While you may indeed make rapid progress in cultivation and gain strong spiritual power by relying on it during the early stages, once your cultivation reaches a certain level and hits a bottleneck, you'll begin to notice its drawbacks. High-level cultivators who use this orb find it significantly harder to break through such bottlenecks—by relying solely on one type of spiritual energy to advance their techniques, they're effectively weakening their sensitivity to other forms of spiritual energy. For cultivators below the Yuan Ying stage, this drawback is still not very apparent. But for a cultivator like you, who needs to sense and harmonize various earthly and celestial essences to make breakthroughs, it would simply be a net loss. Therefore, although this gathering-spirit pearl is remarkable, in the spiritual realm it is mostly used to accelerate the progress of lower-tier disciples with average potential—higher-level cultivators rarely undertake such "pulling-the-straw-to-quicken-its-growth" measures. The young attendant explained carefully. "Is that really the case? Then this treasure will actually hinder my advancement to the Stage of Immortal Transformation, rendering it completely useless to me." Hearing this, Han Li's face grew pale, and as he gazed at the jade-green pearl in his hands, a hint of anger flashed across his features. "I just mentioned this earlier," the attendant said calmly, "this pearl is merely a semi-finished artifact. If you can locate several other rare wooden-element materials, you can transform it into another precious artifact—the 'Wood-Generating Pearl.' While this pearl won't speed up your cultivation, once fully refined within you, it will grant you a divine ability to achieve an indestructible body—sufficient to save your life in critical moments." "An indestructible body?" Han Li was astonished upon hearing this. He had long admired this kind of divine ability, though he had only seen it manifested in ancient beasts, ancient demons, and those magically transformed Tianjue magi-shadows. Indeed, among human cultivators, no one had ever been heard of possessing such a cultivation. "What materials do you need? Wood-elemental ones—I’ve actually gathered quite a few." Han Li smiled indifferently. "I’ll copy over the full list of required materials for you. But if you’d like me to explain the crafting method, I’ll need something from you in return—as a trade!" The child was equally straightforward, clearly stating his terms. "Oh, then Tianlan, please go ahead and tell me exactly what you’d like," Han Li replied, feeling a sense of relief. If Tianlan, the celestial beast, simply offered the crafting method without any request or exchange, he’d have been suspicious. Though they had grown somewhat acquainted due to the lightning calamity, the differences between human and immortal being meant that such a cordial relationship usually stemmed from mutual interests and ongoing exchanges. He had always remained cautious. He certainly didn’t expect that just from their previous small favors, the two could now be so open and trusting. The other party had to yield largely because he was still under the control of the Virtual Sky Cauldron, unable to act independently without it, and thus had no choice but to comply. "My demands are quite modest. Though I have successfully taken on a humanoid form, I still need to consume certain elixirs to stabilize my current state. With your esteemed position in the southern heavens, I'm certain you'll find these elixirs easily accessible," the young attendant said calmly. "No problem. Kindly include all the materials you need within the preparation method," Han Li replied thoughtfully without hesitation. "Very well. Once you return to your abode, I will deliver both the list of materials and the preparation method to you," the attendant expressed his satisfaction with Han Li's promptness. Han Li smiled upon hearing this, placed the Wood Spirit Pearl back into the wooden box, then flipped his palm, and with a single motion, the three treasures were neatly stored in his storage pouch. "Master Tianlan, do you think the Ghost Spirit Sect is aware of the drawbacks of the Wood Spirit Pearl?" Han Li's eyes flashed with cold intensity, and his voice suddenly grew colder. "It's hard to say. As you mentioned earlier, this pearl has long since been abandoned by ancient cultivators, and its drawbacks haven't been passed down. If there's a Yuan-Stage cultivator in the Gui Ling Sect who practices wood-based cultivation techniques who has used this pearl, they might have noticed the issues. If no such person exists, then based solely on the pearl itself, there's nothing to detect. So, are you suspecting that those three deliberately used this pearl to hinder my advancement to Shen Stage?" The child immediately grasped the point. "Initially, I thought that, but now upon further reflection—there seems to be no clear motivation from the Gui Ling Sect! After all, being merely prevented from reaching Shen Stage isn't a catastrophic setback. Even if I remain at Yuan-Stage level, I would still be the foremost cultivator in the Tian Nan region. Wouldn't they fear that, upon discovering the discrepancy, I might be furious and destroy the Gui Ling Sect entirely? There must be something else going on! Let me think—since they've managed to leverage the Gui Ling Sect so effectively, the person behind this likely resides among the native cultivators of Tian Nan. As for hindering my advancement to Shen Stage, what difference would Even if I were not a Huashen cultivator, no one in Tiannan could stand against me. The only consequence of failing to advance to Huashen would likely be that my lifespan remains stagnant—staying around a thousand years. With that, the time it takes the Luoyun Sect to consolidate its dominance over other sects in Tiannan would be significantly shortened. However, for ordinary sects, it makes little difference who becomes the leading sect in Tiannan. Only a handful of sects would truly care—most likely the Huiyi Sect, the Hehuann Sect, and the Taimen Sect—the three major ones, or perhaps they are secretly working together. Han Li stroked his chin, rapidly analyzing the situation. "With what you've just said, what was once only a faint hint now seems completely clear. Do you think the other three Yuan-Ying late-stage cultivators were involved in this?" The young attendant was momentarily stunned by Han Li's analysis, only managing a chuckle after a while. "Possibly. But that's still just a guess—how do we know what the real truth might be?" "I can't say how certain I am either," Han Li stood up, walked back and forth in the hall, then glanced upward at the ceiling, and said with a cold smile. "To find out the truth isn't difficult—just capture those three and use the soul-searching technique to probe them, and everything will be clear." The young attendant offered a low chuckle. "Capturing the three of them is easy enough, but that doesn't guarantee any results. Even if I uncover the truth, without solid evidence, I wouldn't dare to take action against any one sect at random. Moreover, once I capture three Yuan-Center cultivators from the Gui Ling Sect at once, I'll become the target of everyone's criticism. I currently hold the esteemed title of the foremost cultivator of the southern heavens, which commands respect from others, yet I suspect there are even more who harbor resentment and jealousy toward me. Perhaps others will seize the opportunity to rally the entire southern cultivator community against me. At that point, no matter how strong I am, I won't be able to face off against the entire southern cultivation world alone. Such precedents have certainly occurred before in the southern region. A flash of sternness passed over Han Li's face, but after a moment's pause, he shook his head. "Han, you've been rather hesitant lately. If I'd been in my usual temper back in the Spirit Realm, well, I'd have—though, this matter is up to you. As long as you manage to keep your own life, I won't interfere." The child spoke lazily. "Rest assured. Since I now know someone harbors ill intentions, I'll be careful. I'll pretend to remain unaware. If they simply let things go, that's fine. But should they resort to any underhanded tactics against me, I'll surely catch them off guard. With solid evidence in hand, I'll make them understand what a matter of life and death truly means." Han Li's expression remained calm, yet the frostiness in his tone was unmistakable. This time, the child smiled gently and said nothing. Han Li lingered in the hall a little longer, and finally stepped out of the guest pavilion, lifting his gaze toward the other pavilion not far away, his brow subtly furrowed. Huan Yun Zhi was nothing special. But what about Dong Xuan'er? Why had she come to him personally? Their relationship in the past had not been particularly pleasant. Though Dong Xuan'er was indeed beautiful and graceful, she had never left a favorable impression on him. "Both of you coming together is rather unexpected for me. Though both of the young ladies are old acquaintances of mine, it's truly touching to see you both again today." Han Li stepped forward a few paces, glanced at the two, and smiled gently. "Han brother—no, Han elder—has Yunzhi's visit caused you any inconvenience?" Upon seeing Han Li, the woman in yellow's dark eyes sparkled with surprise, and she quickly rose, a little at a loss for words. (First update!