With the wager settled, the old man vanished again with a strange chuckle.
Li Huayuan turned to the Yellow Maple Valley disciples and said:
"You should have heard that this wager is very important to me! If we win, I certainly won't treat you poorly."
"Every disciple who helps me win will be generously rewarded. Whoever contributes the most can become my disciple after reaching Foundation Establishment."
Hearing this, the Yellow Maple Valley disciples immediately grew excited at his extraordinary final promise.
What did it mean to become the disciple of a Core Formation cultivator?
Seeing the crowd stirred up, each of them eager to try, Li Huayuan smiled faintly, thoroughly satisfied.
As long as he won the wager, taking on three or four more nominal disciples would be a trifling matter.
At most, he could settle them somewhere, teach them a few superficial cultivation techniques, and easily send them on their way, couldn't he?
Naruto knew that this was exactly how Han Li had been sent away in the original story.
Little did Li Huayuan know that Han Li had taken his most precious treasure:
The Golden Page that recorded how to forge the Green Bamboo Cloud-Swarming Sword and set up the Great Geng Sword Formation from the Azure Essence Sword Art!
Then, after the Demonic Path invasion, Li Huayuan had foolishly abandoned Han Li, the future Dao Ancestor...
Although the decision to use Han Li and the other disciples as bait in the original story had been made by Old Monster Linghu, Yellow Maple Valley's Nascent Soul cultivator, Han Li was still Li Huayuan's disciple!
As a Core Formation cultivator, could you really not protect your own disciple?
Why would Old Monster Linghu care whether each individual disciple lived or died?
So, while Naruto wouldn't go so far