The Gray-Clothed Elder

Elder Wang led Han Li atop the leaf-shaped magical tool for over an hour. They descended onto a lush, verdant mountain ridge, landing amidst a dense cluster of flat-roofed houses. These simple structures, built from ordinary mountain stone, were crude and unadorned. The entire complex appeared utterly deserted, not a single person in sight—they all seemed to be empty. This puzzled Han Li.

“Don’t be surprised. These houses are indeed empty. This area is originally for newly accepted disciples to reside upon entering the sect. Once their magic power reaches a certain level, they move out to find other lodgings. Right now is the ten-year rotation; the new disciples haven’t arrived yet, so it’s temporarily vacant,” Elder Wang said flatly, perceiving Han Li’s confusion. This brought Han Li sudden understanding.

Elder Wang wound through the complex in a series of twists and turns, leaving Han Li feeling thoroughly disoriented, before finally stopping before a house much larger than the ordinary stone dwellings. Without any explanation to Han Li, he called out in a loud voice:

“Junior Disciple Lin, open the door. I’ve brought a new disciple to collect his supplies!”

The moment Elder Wang’s words fell, the house door flew open with a creak, swinging outward by itself. Seeing this, Elder Wang unhesitatingly took the lead and entered. Han Li hesitated for a brief moment, then followed him inside.

The interior was surprisingly more spacious than it had appeared from the outside, which secretly amazed Han Li. He wondered what had been done to the house.

As for the specific state of the room, one word came to Han Li’s mind: “Chaos.”

All sorts of miscellaneous items were piled up in heaps and scattered everywhere. Some were clothing, others were weapons like blades and swords. However, judging from the spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from the weapons, they were actually well-crafted magical tools.

Besides these, there were also everyday tools like shovels and hammers in the room, all brimming with spiritual energy, having been refined into something akin to magical tools as well. This broadened Han Li’s horizons considerably, though he wondered what miraculous effects these tools might have when used.

In the very center of the room sat an eight-immortal table. Behind it, facing the door, sat an old man with disheveled gray hair, dressed in gray clothes. The old man paid no attention to Han Li and Elder Wang as they entered; he was focused entirely on carving a palm-sized piece of yellow wood with a gleaming small knife.

Elder Wang frowned slightly, but his expression quickly returned to normal. He didn’t disturb the old man’s work. Instead, he pulled a chair from a corner of the room, sat down opposite the old man, and quietly waited for him to finish carving.

Seeing this, Han Li blinked and, without a word, stood behind Elder Wang, discreetly waiting along with him.

The gray-clothed old man’s hands moved like flying, with wood shavings fluttering down from between his fingers. In the time it takes to finish a cup of tea, a lifelike little monkey appeared in his palm.

“Junior Disciple Lin’s carving skills have improved considerably since we last met!” Elder Wang finally spoke, offering a smile of praise.

“It’s nothing. Just passing the time, whiling away the hours. So, Elder Brother Wang, what brings you to my humble abode today?” the gray-clothed old man said casually, but his eyes had already shifted to Han Li, suggesting he had guessed at least part of the reason for their visit.

“It’s nothing major. Just need to collect the standard supplies for a new disciple entering the valley and get this Junior Han set up with some equipment,” he said with a genial smile.

“Didn’t all the new disciples from this Ascension Assembly already receive their supplies? How did another one pop up? And his talent is far too poor! Has our Sect Leader Zhong’s standards fallen so low that he’d accept mediocrity like this into the valley?” The gray-clothed old man criticized Han Li bluntly to his face, and his tone didn’t seem particularly respectful towards the Sect Leader.

Han Li, of course, felt extremely awkward. Elder Wang was caught between laughter and helplessness.

He knew that, because of that incident years ago, this Junior Disciple Lin still held a grudge against the current Sect Leader Zhong. But with Han Li, a junior, present, how could he possibly respond to his junior’s words?

So, he just gave a few dry coughs and changed the subject.

“Junior Disciple, this Han is entering our Yellow Maple Valley bearing an Ascension Token. It counts as an exception. So his talent isn’t the issue; the main thing is that our sect must uphold its promises.”

“Ascension Token!” The gray-clothed old man was greatly surprised. He cast a fresh, appraising glance at Han Li.

“Tsk tsk! So this brat has some serious luck and can claim one Foundation Establishment Pill?” The old man’s expression seemed to say, ‘kid, you’ve really stepped in it,’ and he clicked his tongue.

“Heh, in theory, yes. But Junior Han made a deal with Elder Ye and voluntarily gave up the pill,” Elder Wang said with a knowing smile.

“Gave up a Foundation Establishment Pill?” The old man was taken aback at first, but then his expression inexplicably darkened. After a moment of silence, he spoke words that caught Han Li completely off guard.

“It’s good that he could give it up. The most important thing for a person is to know their limits. To understand the principle of gain and loss at such a young age... it’s far better than I was!” The gray-clothed old man’s demeanor was profoundly lonely, and his originally cold gaze towards Han Li softened slightly.

Han Li was baffled by the old man’s words and strongly disagreed.

“‘Know one’s limits’? It’s because I was forced into a corner that I had to heart-achingly hand over the Foundation Establishment Pill. If it hadn’t been necessary, who would be willing to part with it?”

Han Li’s internal complaints aside, the old man suddenly put on a stern expression and stood up. He made a few light grasping motions into the empty space around him, and items suddenly materialized in his hands, appearing one after another. The whole process left Han Li dumbfounded.

“One Yellow Silk Shirt, one Green Leaf Magic Tool, one set of Standard Refining Tools, one Blazing Sun Sword and one Cold Moon Blade, one Tenfold Storage Pouch.” The old man recited each item in a cold voice, then placed them on the table.

“Everything is here, boy. Take them and go. As for you, Elder Brother Wang, I know you’re a busy man. I won’t keep you any longer. I won’t see you out.” Having said this, the old man took another piece of wood from his bosom and resumed carving, ignoring the two of them.

Seeing this, Elder Wang sighed. He said nothing more, instructing Han Li to gather the items and leave the room. The moment they stepped out of the stone house, the door banged shut on its own!

Elder Wang looked at the closed door and shook his head gently. He prepared to take Han Li away.

“Hey! You don’t need to carry all that in your arms. Put it into your storage pouch!” As Elder Wang turned, he saw Han Li standing there, clutching a huge pile of things, looking utterly foolish. This struck him as somewhat amusing, so he offered the reminder.

Hearing this, Han Li finally reacted. He put the pile of things on the ground and rummaged through them, pulling out a black cloth pouch. “So this is the so-called Tenfold Storage Pouch?” Han Li thought with some suspicion.

He picked up the pouch, looked at its remarkably small opening, and then looked at the comparatively massive blade and sword, and hesitated for a moment. He had no idea how to stuff them inside.

“Is this your first time using a storage pouch? Let me give you a demonstration,” Elder Wang said amiably. Perceiving Han Li’s confusion, he reached out and took the pouch.

“Simply aim the opening at the item you want to store, inject some spiritual power into the pouch to lock onto the item, and it will be absorbed automatically,” Elder Wang said, giving a hands-on demonstration.

He held the pouch with the opening facing down. A faint white light flickered. Then, a plume of white, shimmering light sprayed from the opening, enveloping all the items on the ground. The things rapidly shrank within the white light. Once they were small enough, they were sucked back into the pouch. Watching this, Han Li was both surprised and delighted.

“The method for retrieving items is the same. You just need to use your spiritual power to lock onto the item you want to take out beforehand,” Elder Wang said, handing the pouch back to Han Li.

“But there are a few taboos regarding storage pouches that you, Junior Han, must remember well!” Elder Wang said, his tone turning serious as he clasped his hands behind his back.

Upon hearing this, Han Li naturally nodded his head like a chick pecking at grain.

“First, storage pouches have a limited capacity and a limit to how much they can shrink items. If you put in items that are too large or absorb too many things, the pouch will fail and won’t be able to hold anything else.”

“Second, storage pouches cannot hold living things. If you put living beings inside, they will surely die!”

“As for the last point, you must remember it even more carefully. Low-grade storage pouches do not recognize their master. Whoever snatches your storage pouch can take everything inside for themselves! So, do not easily show your storage pouch in front of other cultivators. Hide it away properly. Otherwise, you will easily invite deadly disaster.”

(End of Chapter)