Published: August 27, 2025
Chapter 413: Refining
The life of ordinary people was indeed very different from that of immortal cultivators, filled with joys and sorrows, partings and reunions, birth and death.
Just a few years of observation allowed Han Li to experience many feelings he had long forgotten—both positive emotions and negative ones.
But no matter which kind, they all touched Han Li’s state of mind, allowing him to re-experience and then reflect on them from the perspective of an immortal cultivator.
At the same time, his skill in refining magical artifacts and understanding of formations gradually improved day by day.
Most noticeably, after one or two years, Han Li’s shop “Green Bamboo Cottage” gradually gained a small reputation in this area.
Because at Han Li’s place, cultivators often found some affordable but decent magical artifacts. Some lucky ones even managed to buy rare intermediate talismans from the shop.
Once this news spread in a small circle, many lower-level cultivators flocked there.
Of course, the magical artifacts and talismans were personally refined by Han Li. Since entering the core formation stage, he was finally able to cast some intermediate spells he had long envied.
Although they were only the most basic of the intermediate spells, Han Li was extremely satisfied.
Intermediate talisman papers could be made using ordinary talisman paper made from somewhat aged spiritual herbs, but it was even better to use rare beast hides as raw materials. This not only enhanced the talisman’s power but also improved the success rate.
However, each talisman had unique requirements for the spiritual beast skin used; not all beast hides were suitable.
Fortunately, when Han Li sold those batches of beast materials, he had anticipated this and kept a large amount of materials suitable for talisman making.
Otherwise, even if he had learned the spells, he still wouldn’t be able to refine talismans.
Han Li first practiced with the more common beast hides. Only when he felt confident would he use rare materials to refine a few special talismans.
Most of these practice talismans were attack-type spells. Han Li would post one or two every month or two, and whoever saw them first got to keep them.
At Han Li’s cultivation base in the core formation stage, the power of these talismans and magical treasures was actually quite negligible—almost like useless scraps. Keeping them didn’t serve much purpose.
But Han Li obviously underestimated the allure of intermediate talismans to those in the qi refining stage or foundation establishment stage. Even as he raised the prices one after another, there were still cultivators who didn’t hesitate to pay spirit stones to buy them, bringing Han Li a small fortune.
Unfortunately, intermediate talismans were extremely difficult to refine. Despite having so many beast hides to practice with, the success rate was still pitifully low—roughly one success for every twenty to thirty talismans refined.
Comparing this to the success rate of primary talismans, Han Li could only smile wryly.
Otherwise, Han Li could have become a wealthy cultivator just by selling intermediate talismans.
Additionally, as Han Li’s refining skills improved, more mid-grade and high-grade magical artifacts appeared in the shop, further enhancing “Green Bamboo Cottage’s” reputation.
Luckily, this reputation was only within a small circle of lower-level cultivators, so Han Li didn’t have to worry about attracting trouble.
By the ninth year since arriving here, Han Li began experimenting with refining formation flags and formation arrays, combining some simple formations he had comprehended.
Thanks to the insights provided by Qi Yunxiao and Xin Ruyin, Han Li avoided many detours and grasped some key techniques.
But even so, refining a complete set of formation instruments was still extremely difficult for him at this early stage and could not yield quick results.
However, Han Li was not impatient. After entering the core formation stage, he had ample time to gradually accumulate experience and comprehension.