A Record of A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

Chapter 154: Old Master Xu and the Storage Room

The hall where Han Li stood was very peculiar. It was an enormous cylindrical room, about thirty zhang in diameter and four to five zhang high. The surrounding bluish rock walls were embedded with pale red crystals, and a thin layer of white sand covered the floor, giving the entire hall a clean and tidy appearance.

But if someone looked up, they would be astonished to find that the ceiling was hung with numerous white stalactites, densely packed everywhere. This was actually a rare stalactite cave, only slightly modified by humans to form its current appearance.

Three passages were evenly distributed around the hall. Alongside two of them were ancient characters carved into the walls: one read "器" (artifacts) and the other "丹" (pill). The last passage was empty, without any markings nearby.

At this moment, the hall was empty. Han Li scanned it briefly, hesitated for a moment, then proceeded toward the passage marked with the character "丹".

The passage was not very long. After walking a dozen steps and turning a corner, a somewhat larger room appeared at the end of the passage. Inside stood a long table, beside which stood a rosy-faced elderly man smiling warmly at Han Li.

Behind the table were several shabby shelves leaning against the wall, filled with various cauldrons, raw materials, and some strange miscellaneous items Han Li had never heard of.

Before Han Li could speak, the old man cheerfully spoke first: “Young friend, judging by your face, this must be your first time here! These days, fewer and fewer newcomers come to this ghostly place! I’ve long grown tired of those dead-faced fellows. Having a younger newcomer is truly wonderful!” The old man nodded his head with a slightly mischievous look on his face.

However, Han Li had already noticed that his heaven's eye technique had no effect on this old man, revealing nothing about his true strength. This indicated that the man was another foundation establishment stage expert. Han Li dared not be disrespectful.

So he hurriedly bowed and said, “Junior greets Senior Uncle. This is indeed my first time at Yuelu Hall. Please, Senior Uncle, offer me some guidance!”

“I don’t mind if you call me Old Master Xu or Uncle Xu. Don’t bother with ‘Senior Uncle’ or all those formal titles—I don’t like those!” The old man quickly corrected Han Li’s form of address, seemingly quite particular about this.

“Well… as you wish!” Han Li hesitated but agreed indifferently, finding the man somewhat strange.

“That’s right. Now, tell me what brought you here,” the old man said with satisfaction.

“I wish to find some formulas or books related to pills, to study the path of pill refining,” Han Li said cautiously, trying to be indirect so as not to attract too much attention.

“Formulas and books on pill refining? Just go up that staircase!” To Han Li’s surprise, the old man showed no curiosity and casually took out a black command token. After performing a spell formation, a stone staircase suddenly appeared in the empty space between himself and the shelves, leading to the roof.

Han Li was delighted and quickly approached the stairs, just as Old Master Xu suddenly revealed a sly expression.

“Viewing the collection on the second floor costs one low-grade spirit stone per hour. Original materials may not be taken out. If you want to copy anything, it costs ten spirit stones per copy.”

Before Han Li could set foot on the stairs, Old Master Xu calmly announced the rules behind him, causing Han Li to freeze and almost curse aloud.

The fees were outrageous! Not to mention the ten spirit stones for copying, even the one spirit stone per hour browsing fee would deter many poor disciples.

Keep in mind, a low-grade disciple can only earn about twenty to thirty spirit stones a year through various jobs! After accounting for daily cultivation expenses, only a handful of spirit stones can actually be saved.

So this kind of fee was definitely exploitative! Han Li’s perception of this old man turned 180 degrees—truly a cunning merchant!