In the blink of an eye, a cold-faced young man in blue, an elderly man with a long beard, and a strikingly beautiful young woman in green robes emerged one after another. With unspoken默契, they each chose different entry points and slipped into the forest ahead.
Han Li waited for nearly another quarter of an hour. Seeing that no one else appeared, he made a final check of his belongings and, imitating the earlier group, quietly infiltrated the forest through an untouched direction.
Unbeknownst to Han Li, shortly after he entered, Zhong Wu—the ugly man he had met just the day before—appeared at the passage. Staring at the dark mountain path, Zhong Wu let out a cold chuckle and released over a dozen yellow specks from his body into the forest. Only then did he leisurely follow after them.
Outside the forbidden area, at the entrance where the restrictions had been breached, the remaining members of the seven major sects watched the forbidden area with concern. Among them was Han Li’s Patriarch Li.
It was unclear whether he was more worried about his disciples’ mission completion or the bet he had placed!
Another Core Formation Daoist from the Clear Void Valley wasn’t faring much better. Ever since the Masked Moon Sect’s Elder Qiong had forcefully inserted himself into the bet, this Daoist had lost the confidence he initially had when the wager was first made, becoming visibly anxious and hesitant.
This was hardly surprising. The Bloodline Flood Dragon’s inner core had been incredibly difficult to obtain, costing him nearly all his savings. If he were to lose it so easily to someone else, no matter how composed his temperament, he would likely be tormented by regret for years to come, unable to sleep peacefully!
The Daoist stole a glance at the only person in the crowd who appeared completely at ease—the Masked Moon Sect’s leader, the young woman known as Fairy Nichang.
As the only female among the seven Core Formation experts, she had not shown the slightest trace of worry since the disciples had entered the forbidden area. She had been chatting and laughing with others the entire time, seemingly brimming with confidence in the disciples her sect had sent, as if she had no need to fret over the outcome.
The more the Daoist observed her smiling demeanor, the more anxious he became. Coupled with the memory of Elder Qiong’s self-assured expression during the bet, he felt as though his Bloodline Flood Dragon inner core had already flown out of his pocket and into someone else’s possession!
As these thoughts swirled in his mind, the worry on his face grew increasingly pronounced. To an outsider, it might have seemed as though he were genuinely concerned about his sect’s disciples inside the forbidden area.
After a while, the Daoist could no longer contain his anxiety. Seizing a moment when no one was paying attention, he quietly approached Patriarch Li, who was standing elsewhere, and asked with a worried expression, “Patron Li, the disciples your Yellow Maple Valley sent this time must be quite capable, right? Let’s hope our two sects don’t end up losing to that Elder Qiong! I must say, I have some confidence in the disciples Clear Void Valley sent into the forbidden area.”
“What do you mean? Do you look down on our Yellow Maple Valley?” Patriarch Li’s face immediately darkened with displeasure.
“Haha! Of course not! It’s just that I find the disciples the Masked Moon Sect sent this time rather peculiar, and I can’t help but feel uneasy!” the Daoist laughed awkwardly, forcing a smile as he explained.
“That’s true enough! I’ve also noticed something odd. In the past, when has the Masked Moon Sect ever sent such young disciples, and in male-female pairs at that? Do they think this trip to the forbidden area is some kind of children’s game?” Patriarch Li said with a grim expression, clearly also uneasy about the bet.
The Daoist nodded repeatedly upon hearing Patriarch Li’s words, evidently in full agreement.
“But you need not worry, Daoist Brother. Since I dared to place a bet, I must have some confidence in my sect’s disciples. Their strength is certainly not inferior to yours,” Patriarch Li said meaningfully, his voice filled with a hint of pride.
“Haha! With those words, I feel much more at ease! I won’t disturb you further, then.” The Daoist, having obtained the reassurance he sought, relaxed visibly and excused himself with a smile. He returned to his original spot and began meditating, preparing to calmly await the results in a few days.
After watching the Daoist leave, Patriarch Li let out a soft snort and muttered under his breath, “Floating Cloud Zi, you old fool, do you think I don’t know what you’re up to? You’re hoping our two sects can join forces to defeat the Masked Moon Sect, and then your Clear Void Valley can overpower our Yellow Maple Valley, aren’t you? Heh! Although I don’t know what exceptional disciples your sect sent into the forbidden area, our valley has dispatched all our top disciples, including those ranked among the top three in Qi Condensation. Otherwise, do you think I would have agreed to this bet?”
As he spoke, a cunning glint appeared on Patriarch Li’s face. The earlier worry had completely vanished, revealing him to be a deeply shrewd old fox.
Han Li, of course, knew nothing of the mind games playing out between the two Core Formation cultivators outside the forbidden area. At that moment, he was being blocked by a giant brown wild boar.
Apart from its skin color and enormous size—standing several zhang tall—the boar was identical to an ordinary wild boar.
Yet, upon seeing it, Han Li immediately recognized it as one of the most common low-tier demon beasts in the Circular Mountain—the Mountain Pusher. Aside from its thick skin, great strength, and a innate Stone Skin Technique, this demon beast had extremely low intelligence and wasn’t particularly difficult to deal with!
The Mountain Pusher snorted heavily, and then a yellow light flashed, covering its entire body in a layer of white, rock-like armor. It then charged fiercely toward Han Li.
Han Li remained calm, standing still as he waited for the beast to charge. Only when it was within seven or eight zhang of him did he wave his right hand and flash to the demon beast’s back.
The Mountain Pusher continued charging forward for several more zhang before, with a final snort, its body split neatly in half from snout to tail. Colorful innards spilled all over the ground. Han Li had used his thread-like magical tool to completely slice it open!
Han Li retracted the invisible thread, glanced at the dead Mountain Pusher, shook his head slightly, and immediately leaped into the trees to leave the area. He knew that the bloody scent of the demon beast’s corpse would soon attract a large number of other嗅觉敏锐 demon beasts. It was best to make a quick escape.
Han Li had been in the dense forest of the Circular Mountain for several hours now. In that short time, he had already encountered four demon beasts.
Three of them were low-tier, which Han Li had dispatched without hesitation. However, the mid-tier Feathered Peacock, with its five-colored long feathers that could detach and autonomously attack or defend, had given him quite a headache. Fortunately, although it was a bird, its speed wasn’t particularly fast. In the end, Han Li simply accelerated and left it far behind, avoiding an unnecessary battle.
Now, as Han Li leaped swiftly through the trees, he couldn’t help but sigh repeatedly.
He had finally realized just how densely populated the Circular Mountain was with demon beasts.
Currently, he was still on the periphery, where he mostly encountered low-tier demon beasts, which were manageable. But once he ventured deeper into the mountain’s interior, he feared mid-tier and even high-tier demon beasts would appear in droves. At that point, aside from fleeing for his life, Han Li couldn’t think of any other way to escape.
No wonder there was so little information about the locations of spiritual medicines in the records! The disciples who had entered the mountain in the past had likely spent most of their energy simply avoiding these demon beasts. The remaining time would only allow them to check seven or eight locations at most—and even then, there was no guarantee that each investigation would yield results.
“It seems my hope of gathering enough spiritual medicines isn’t very high,” Han Li thought gloomily.
Han Li was currently heading toward a hidden cave that often produced Purple Monkey Flowers.
According to the records, this place shouldn’t be of much value. The cave had been harvested over a hundred years ago, and whatever remained inside were likely seedlings far from maturity, useless for medicinal purposes.
“Seedlings?” Han Li couldn’t help but smile faintly at the thought.
What Han Li needed were precisely these seedlings that others would overlook!
The main reason he had taken such a great risk to enter the forbidden area and was so confident he could snatch “Heaven and Earth Spiritual Medicines” from the clutches of so many “experts” was that he had set his sights on the unripe spiritual medicine seedlings from the very beginning! Only by doing so could he minimize conflicts with disciples from other sects and visit as many locations as possible to gather what others deemed useless.
Once he collected these seedlings, he could use the mysterious small bottle’s green liquid to accelerate their growth. In this way, it would be no different from harvesting mature spiritual medicines.
Although Uncle Ma had mentioned that these seedlings couldn’t survive for long outside the forbidden area—only a year or two—that was more than enough time to mature them through several cycles. After all, as the main ingredients for Foundation Establishment Pills, they didn’t require extremely long growth periods; a mere four or five hundred years was sufficient for medicinal use.
The only trouble now was whether three days would be enough for him to gather a sufficient quantity of spiritual medicines. The locations of these seedling patches were scattered far and wide, and with potential obstructions from demon beasts and possible conflicts with disciples from other sects, Han Li felt uncertain about his chances.
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