"Humph, this fellow has only been a disciple for a short while; don't use a lecturing tone immediately upon meeting him!" the young woman said gently to Li Huayuan upon seeing Han Li's uncomfortable appearance, a trace of laughter in her eyes.
"Okay! Husband knows. No matter what, this good disciple is also my wife's savior; as his master, I must compensate him well!
Li Huayuan glanced at the young woman with a tender gaze, then turned around and said to Yu Kun standing to the side:
"You can withdraw for now; your master's wife and I are going to talk individually with your Junior Martial Brother Han. Don't let anybody disturb us!"
"As you command, Master!"
Yu Kun respectfully replied, then stole an envious glance at Han Li before quietly withdrawing.
"Savior? Reward?"
Now, Han Li was truly stunned; he really didn't know when these two words had suddenly become related to him! When had he earned a reward for saving someone, and how could he himself not know about it?
Seeing Han Li's confused appearance, the young woman couldn't help but laugh and said:
"Lord Husband, why don't you explain it to him! Your disciple doesn't know anything yet; don't let his head be filled with fog!"
Hearing the young woman's words, Li Huayuan lightly smiled, and explained to Han Li, nodding:
"Han Li! By now you should know the reason why I accepted you as my disciple back then! There's no embarrassment for me to talk about it; as your elder, I truly did covet your spiritual medicines. Thus, I used the excuse of receiving you as my disciple to take away a half of your portion. Otherwise, you should have received two Foundation Establishment Pills, not just one! However, although I confess that I caused your rewards to decrease for no apparent reason, you could have in turn also used my reputation to your advantage, and people wouldn't lightly offend you. This could be considered my way of making things up to you. After all, with regards to your natural talent back then, even if you were to have an extra Foundation Establishment Pill, it seemed like your chances of successfully establishing your Foundation were nonexistent!"
Li Huayuan said, his expression nonchalant as if he did not feel that there was anything inappropriate about what he had done!
"But soon after, the situation changed; not long after I obtained these spiritual medicines and was about to refine them into pills that could increase one's magic power, an accident suddenly occurred while my wife was cultivating, plunging her into danger. Luckily, I hadn't used your spiritual medicines yet, and thus I was able to temporarily preserve her life. In the few years afterward, I was able to use the remaining spiritual medicines to refine a pill that could save her, causing my wife to finally recover in the past few days! Because of this, when I told my wife about the origins of these spiritual medicines, my wife immediately expressed that I must reward you. After all, her life was preserved solely because of your spiritual medicines. You could also be considered her savior!"
When Li Huayuan talked about the young woman's life-threatening condition, his expression changed, as if he were reliving the dangerous circumstances of those times. It seemed as if he really dearly loved the young woman beside him.
"After I heard her say that, I felt that what she said was very reasonable, and ;so I wanted to officially accept you as my disciple before you reached the Foundation Establishment stage. But who knew that before I could make a move, I had already received the news that you had successfully established your Foundation; this really surprised me! After all, I had previously said that as long as you entered the Foundation Establishment stage, I would officially accept you as my disciple. Thus, this could no longer be considered some kind of reward. I could only think of other ways within my abilities to reward you"
Li Huayuan finally explained the whole situation once, causing Han Li to become somewhat dazed upon hearing it.
He never expected that meat pies falling from the sky could actually land on his head; even when he heard Li Huayuan personally say that he would reward him, Han Li still did not dare to believe it. Instead, he could only stand there, stunned.
"What about this? Since it seems you haven't thought it through yet, you can think about it in your cave for a day; tomorrow morning, you can come to your master and raise a request. You have to think about it carefully; normally your master is not a very generous person, so this is an opportunity that is hard to come by!" the young woman gently said to Han Li, glancing at Li Huayuan.
This caused Li Huayuan to dryly laugh a few times as if he were somewhat embarrassed!
Han Li, who finally regained consciousness, hesitated for a moment. Originally, he wanted to request a cultivation technique, but upon being reminded by his master's wife, he could not refuse the other person's good intentions, so he nodded his head and accepted.
Then, Li Huayuan called Yu Kun to give Han Li a tour of the cave.
This Senior Martial Brother immediately agreed with a smile, then brought Han Li and walked out. They had not yet left the large lobby when he had already begun to introduce Han Li to the entire cave.;
"Master, your Green Ripple Cave is about a few hundred acres in size; as for rooms......"
The young woman, after seeing Han Li and Yu Kun walk far away, suddenly said to Li Huayuan with a smile:
"Do you think our new disciple can handle Yu Kun's harassment? Every time I see Yu Kun open his mouth, I feel a headache coming on even if he hasn't said anything yet! Yu Kun's long-windedness truly causes many headaches."
"Yi! Not to mention you, even I have no way of dealing with him! Han Li definitely cannot endure for too long!" Li Huayuan said with helplessness.
"This is also true! But what kind of request do you think this disciple of yours will make?" the young woman suddenly asked as she opened her round eyes. A trace of cunning could be found within them.
"What requests could he make besides pills, cultivation techniques, magic tools, and the sort! If it weren't for madam's relentless requests to reward this disciple, I really would not be willing to be so generous." Li Huayuan had not even handed anything out yet but he already appeared to be in excruciating pain.
"What are you talking about! If you don't repay his saving grace, the Ice Heart Technique that I cultivate would contain many leaks, and I would not be able to cultivate it to the Great Circle of Completion! Then, in the future, how could I enter the Core Formation stage and spend the rest of my life with you?"
The young woman first gave Li Huayuan a haughty look, but her next sentence was filled with deep affection, causing Li Huayuan to feel greatly moved upon hearing it! He thumped his chest and expressed that he would definitely fulfill Han Li's requests and that he would not allow any troubles to be left in the way of his wife's cultivation.
Han Li naturally did not know that the huge meat pie that fell on his head was actually related to the young woman's cultivation technique.
At that moment, he was following Senior Martial Brother Yu, wandering around, but in his heart, he still felt that the arrival of this kind of good fortune was too sudden! This caused him to feel strangely unsettled.
"Yi, Senior Martial Brother Yu has time to come to this Sword Discussion Hall; how about us Senior Martial Brothers exchange a few magic techniques!"
When Yu Kun had brought Han Li near an extremely large stone room, an extremely buff man just so happened to be walking out of it. When he saw Yu Kun, he carelessly said this. However, his gaze was constantly sweeping over Han Li.
"Who hasn't heard about the combat strength of Fourth Junior Martial Brother's Five Elements magic technique? It is the number one under Master's family! I think I'll pass and not make a fool of myself!" Yu Kun's expression first changed upon hearing the man's words, then laughed and refused.
However, he suddenly turned around and pointed at Han Li while laughing:
"I still haven't introduced Fourth Junior Martial Brother to this individual; he is the new disciple that Master is going to accept. He is the Junior Martial Brother Han who is soon to become our Eighth Junior Martial Brother!"
"And this is your Fourth Senior Martial Brother Song Meng; you can just call him Senior Martial Brother Song! Everyone come meet each other; after today we will all be Martial Brothers from the same family!"
"Eighth Junior Martial Brother!"
When this fourth Junior Martial Brother heard these words, a radiant light shone out from his eyes, focusing directly on Han Li!
Han Li's expression did not change, but in his heart, he quietly sighed. This individual was clearly a battle-crazy individual; being gazed at him could not have any good outcomes.
Thus, before this individual even opened his mouth, Han Li spoke first:
"Greetings, Fourth Senior Martial Brother. Junior Martial Brother has just recently entered the Foundation Establishment stage; I ask that Senior Martial Brother take good care of me!"
Having said this, Han Li greeted him.
However, these words from Han Li caused this man to reveal a disappointed expression. He lost interest in Han Li, and after indifferently nodding his head a few times, he didn't glance at Han Li even once. Then, he coldly walked directly between the two of them, leaving to attend to his own business!
Only Han Li and Yu Kun remained, and they looked at each other in dismay for quite some time.
"Haha, Junior Martial Brother Han, please don't take offense; Junior Martial Brother Song just has this kind of a strange temper. Although outwardly he appears somewhat cold, in actuality his personality is pretty good!" It was still Yu Kun who recovered first, and with a few sentences he shook off the awkward atmosphere.
Han Li naturally adopted an understanding attitude, and the two of them immediately continued on their way, laughing and talking.
Although the cave was not small, apart from Li Huayuan and his wife as well as that Song Meng, there were no other people in such a large place. Han Li did not encounter any of the other five Senior Martial Brothers. Afterwards, Han Li learned that the other five were all like him and had their own caves outside; they would occasionally come to pay their respects to Li Huayuan and his wife.
As for Yu Kun and Song Meng, they had grown up next to Li Huayuan and his wife; as such, they already had very deep feelings for them, so they naturally would stay in this place instead of building their own cave.
As Han Li was idly chatting with Yu Kun, he finally gained some understanding of the other few cultivators; however, he had unwittingly finished touring the entire cave.
This Eldest Senior Martial Brother's spirits seemed to rise the more he spoke, so he just pulled Han Li and began to walk towards his own room, wanting to continue their extended discussion.
Although Han Li felt slightly surprised, he didn't mind, and so he indifferently followed him over. After all, this person was the Eldest Senior Martial Brother, so he still had to give him this face.
In the beginning, he was intently listening to this Eldest Senior Martial Brother, hoping to find a few pieces of useful information.
But not too long after, this Senior Martial Brother Yu's ability to chatter away was revealed to be truly frightening, and Han Li slowly began to experience it firsthand.
The endless flow of words snuck into his head like evil spirits, causing Han Li's head to begin to hurt, having heard them for numerous hours.
It wasn't until this moment that Han Li finally realized the truth: the attitude this Eldest Senior Martial Brother had shown when he had come to pick Han Li up was not enthusiasm! It was clearly that a hard-to-find guest had finally appeared to satisfy his addiction to flapping his lips!
After another moment, Han Li could not longer take it, his physical fatigue finally growing too extreme. He hurriedly escaped from the other person's room, then found a room used to accommodate guests and collapsed.
Hearing this Senior Martial Brother Yu's verbal attack was truly damaging to one's soul!
Han Li had completely served this person's urges! Han Li's horizons had been broadened; this world actually contained men who could chatter like this!