As soon as Han Li heard this, he thought to himself, "They're finally asking about this!"
But outwardly, he put on a look of genuine bewilderment. "Primordial Spirit? This disciple didn't see any Primordial Spirit. Did Senior Brother Lin's Primordial Spirit escape before he died?"
Han Li had already made up his mind: the moment anyone asked about the Primordial Spirit, he would deny everything. Could he really tell them that this fellow had tried to seize his body through Body Seizing, only to have his Primordial Spirit destroyed instead?
"You didn't see it?"
The fat man fixed Han Li with a half-smile, gazing at him for a long while until Han Li's scalp started tingling and his heart hammered away.
"Well, since you didn't see it, then this Junior Nephew Lin's Primordial Spirit probably lost its way in the great formation and dissipated on its own!" After a pause, the fat man turned his head away and said flatly.
Hearing this, Han Li finally breathed a secret sigh of relief.
However, he knew perfectly well that the other party wouldn't believe a word of his explanation. But judging from Senior Uncle Lei's attitude toward Senior Brother Lin's life and death, the man seemed utterly indifferent — so he probably wouldn't dig any deeper.
After all, everyone knew that the first thing a cultivator's Primordial Spirit would do upon leaving the body was to seize a new vessel in order to live again. Yet besides Han Li, there hadn't been a single other cultivator present in the formation, so the only target for Body Seizing would have been Han Li himself. Since Han Li was clearly fine, that meant Senior Brother Lin's attempt must have failed and his Primordial Spirit must have been destroyed.
As for whether Han Li had already been taken over by Senior Brother Lin's Primordial Spirit, and it was actually Senior Brother Lin walking around in Han Li's body?
That would be obvious at a glance!
Body Seizing was an extremely damaging act to one's Primordial Spirit. Even if it succeeded, without at least a month of secluded recuperation, one could never fully master another person's body — and that would easily be spotted by Senior Uncle Lei.
So in truth, both Han Li and Lei Wanhe knew perfectly well what had become of Senior Brother Lin's Primordial Spirit!
But the fat man, having taken a decent first impression of Han Li and being far too lazy to fuss over such a trivial matter, simply let it slide with a casual pass. As for Han Li, he happily played the fool, because regardless of the reasons, if word got out, the charge of harming a fellow disciple would be stuck to him for sure — and that would be enormously unfavorable.
Still, this whole affair made Han Li feel that this Senior Uncle Lei was far more agreeable than his own master.
"Junior Nephew, this cave dwelling of yours is rather too bare-bones, isn't it? How are you supposed to receive outside guests like this? We cultivators may not put much stock in such things, but it should at least pass muster!" For reasons of his own, Senior Uncle Lei did not leave immediately after dealing with the matter. Instead, he stood at the entrance of Han Li's cave dwelling, leisurely sizing the place up and offering his commentary.
Han Li gave a bitter smile. This cave dwelling had been thrown together in just a few days — how could it possibly be refined? Still, hearing the other's remark reminded him of something.
With a slight smile, he said respectfully to Lei Wanhe, "Junior Nephew has a few matters he'd like to consult Senior Uncle Lei about. I wonder whether Senior Uncle might be willing to step inside and rest for a while so I can explain at length. Also, this disciple happens to have some fairly old spirit herbs of decent vintage — I'd like to ask Senior Uncle to verify whether they're genuine, so I can use them for alchemy with peace of mind."
"Spirit herbs?"
The fat man had shown no particular reaction when Han Li asked for his guidance and invited him inside. But the moment Han Li mentioned old spirit herbs, a trace of a smile finally squeezed onto his face, and he nodded in agreement.
Han Li led Lei Wanhe into the remarkably spacious main hall and seated him there. He then excused himself, saying he needed to retrieve the herbs, and asked the man to wait a moment. He hurried off to his storage room, pulled out two backup medicinal plants several hundred years old, and returned to the hall.
The reason Han Li kept these herbs in the storage room rather than carrying them in his storage pouch was to preserve their medicinal properties over the long term. Using jade boxes and similar magical tools to hold spirit herbs was merely a temporary measure — over time, their potency would gradually drain away. That was why virtually every cultivator's cave dwelling was built with a special storage room lined with unique protective barriers, which could keep the spiritual nature of herbs intact indefinitely.
However, Han Li was wary that Senior Uncle Lei's spiritual sense might be unusually sharp. If the man probed the storage room or caught sight of the Spirit Eye Spring inside, that would be a problem. So in advance, he had activated the special spiritual-sense-sealing variation of his Inverted Five Elements Grand Formation.
If Senior Uncle Lei tried to peek at anything now, he was probably feeling rather frustrated!
The jade slip had explained it very clearly: because this spiritual-sense-sealing variation was simple and easy to execute, it could be forged into the set of magical tools at full power, without the slightest reduction in efficacy. It was the only feature of the artificial formation that could truly rival the original.
Han Li had tested this variation himself after setting up the grand formation, and sure enough, his spiritual sense could only sweep within a radius of several feet and could not extend any further.