Although the trip to the forbidden area lasted only about ten days, Han Li felt as if several years had passed. Therefore, lying on the bed in the Hundred Herb Garden felt exceptionally warm and nostalgic.
This life-risking journey had finally ended with him returning safely and perfectly achieving his goals. Now, he could rest peacefully, falling into a deep and innocent slumber! It seemed as though all the conflicts of the mortal world had momentarily drifted away from Han Li in his dreams.
Han Li slept until noon the next day before waking up.
After waking, he felt refreshed and immediately began planning his next steps.
Naturally, his first task was to accelerate the maturation of the three main herbs in his possession for preservation. As for the other supplementary herbs, they would have to wait until last. However, preparing everything was not a matter of ten days or half a month. According to Han Li’s estimation, it would take at least several years to get everything in order and officially begin pill refining.
With all the spiritual herbs ready, Han Li was in no hurry. Instead, he took the time to organize the other gains from his trip to the forbidden area.
The results were impressive: over ten mid-grade spirit stones, hundreds of low-grade spirit stones, a large pile of various-grade spirit tools, several pieces of armored centipede demon beast shells, various materials from the Ink Flood Dragon, and a useless silver sword, among other things.
However, aside from these items, two things particularly caught Han Li’s attention: a doll holding a bow and arrow and a shimmering silver page.
The doll was primarily carved from wood, complete with ears, nose, mouth, and eyes, all vividly detailed. It was dressed in extremely realistic iron armor and helmet, and even the longbow in its hands was made of bronze. This item was the top-grade magical tool Han Li had once acquired from his sect—the “Puppet Archer.”
After obtaining this magical tool, Han Li had never taken it out to test it. The reason was that this tool required the use of a soul-splitting secret technique—a strand of spiritual sense had to be injected into the puppet to control it.
But who below the Foundation Establishment stage would practice such a soul-splitting technique? Only cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage or above possessed sufficient spiritual sense to endure the pain of splitting their consciousness. For a Qi Condensation stage cultivator, attempting such a technique would likely lead to mental collapse or madness before success.
It is worth noting that when cultivators speak of using spiritual sense to survey their surroundings or scan objects, it is not true soul-splitting. Rather, it is a minor technique of externalizing their existing spiritual sense. True soul-splitting, after practicing the secret technique, is equivalent to having one or even multiple additional strands of consciousness, primarily used for controlling multiple tools simultaneously. The more strands of consciousness one can split, the more magical tools one can manipulate at once.
Qi Condensation disciples, when facing enemies, could typically control only two magical tools at most. Any more, and they would be unable to manage them effectively. Otherwise, who wouldn’t carry five or six magical tools? In a fight, they could simply throw them all at the enemy—even if ineffective, it would at least cause the opponent some chaos.
Han Li played with the doll for a while before setting it down and picking up the silver page to examine it.
This silver page was spoils Han Li had obtained from the barefoot man of the Giant Sword Sect. It was covered in raised and sunken patterns, with many peculiar designs that looked quite mysterious! Han Li pondered over it for a long time but could make no sense of it, so he had to set it aside for the time being.
Thus, in the following days, Han Li spent his time studying the silver page while waiting for news from the higher-ups to see if what the old man had said was true—that his reward would be reduced.
On the afternoon of the fourth day, Uncle Wang and another unfamiliar manager came to see Han Li. True to the old man’s words, they brought only one Foundation Establishment Pill as a reward. Their explanation was also largely the same as the old man’s, except they framed Master Li’s taking of his herbs as a disciple’s duty to show respect.
Hearing this, Han Li sneered inwardly but outwardly showed no objection. The two managers, who had expected to need lengthy explanations, breathed a sigh of relief and left with smiles.
After seeing them off, Han Li smiled self-deprecatingly and stored the newly acquired Foundation Establishment Pill. Now was not the time to take the pill and attempt a breakthrough. It would be better to refine his own Foundation Establishment Pills and take them together. After all, until the pills were refined, Han Li could not focus on closed-door cultivation.
Thus, time passed month by month. Three years flew by, and Han Li’s preparations for pill refining were finally complete. During this relatively long period, a few events took place.
During this time, Junior Sister Chen, after taking one of the rewarded Foundation Establishment Pills and cultivating diligently for a full year, successfully built her foundation two years ago and entered the Foundation Establishment stage. Her brother, however, was less fortunate. Even after taking his second Foundation Establishment Pill, he failed to break through and remained outside the Foundation Establishment stage. It was said that the eldest son of the Chen family had lost all confidence in the path of immortality and simply left the sect to manage family affairs.
Another event was that Han Li gradually gained fame within the Yellow Maple Valley sect, becoming somewhat well-known!
Stories of his great luck in the forbidden area, obtaining numerous spiritual herbs, and being accepted as a nominal disciple by Master Li spread throughout the sect in the first year after his return, nearly burning other low-level disciples with jealousy. It wasn’t until the second year that the rumors gradually died down.
However, during this time, there was a small incident. The old man surnamed Ye, who had previously withheld most of Han Li’s items, suddenly sent someone to deliver all the owed items in one go, with a little extra! This allowed Han Li to experience the convenience of having a powerful backer, and he couldn’t help but feel secretly pleased. It seemed that his status as a nominal disciple of Master Li was indeed quite useful at times!
But when it came to his newly acknowledged master, Han Li had nothing to say! Aside from sending another nominal disciple to deliver a handwritten copy of the “Green Origin Sword Art,” there had been no news from him in these three years. It seemed as though he had completely forgotten about Han Li!
Apart from grumbling inwardly, Han Li was actually quite content with the current situation. He was fully focused on refining the Foundation Establishment Pills and naturally did not want anyone to disturb him.
However, this semi-reclusive life finally came to an end today. Three days ago, Han Li accelerated the maturation of the last required supplementary spiritual herb. Everything was ready; all that was needed was the final step.
After adjusting for a few days, Han Li gathered all the matured spiritual herbs and headed to the Yue Lu Hall.
Yue Lu Hall appeared exactly the same as when Han Li had visited years ago. Of course, the guards of the teleportation array had been replaced by two other Foundation Establishment stage cultivators. However, the identical procedures and similarly impatient expressions secretly amused Han Li. In any case, he smoothly entered the inner section of Yue Lu Hall.
Following an unmarked passage, Han Li encountered the ugly man he deeply disliked, who was snoring loudly in a stone room.
Han Li frowned, pondered for a moment, then reached out and took out the bell magical tool. He walked over to the ugly man and gently shook the bell next to his ear.
The sound of the bell meant nothing to Han Li, but it made the ugly man jump up as if his backside were on fire. Mumbling incoherently, he exclaimed, “What’s happening! Who is it? Huh, what do you want?”
The ugly man was clearly still half-asleep and didn’t immediately respond to Han Li rudely! Seeing this, Han Li didn’t stand on ceremony and immediately brought up the name of his newly acknowledged master.
“I am under Master Li Huayuan. I need to borrow the earth fire. Please open the door.”
“Master Li?” The ugly man had clearly heard of this master’s name and was immediately startled. He repeatedly acknowledged and turned to walk toward the stone door. But after taking two steps, he suddenly remembered something and turned back to scrutinize Han Li with suspicion.
Seeing this, Han Li immediately understood what he was thinking. After a moment’s hesitation, he took out the “Green Origin Sword Art” that Li Huayuan had sent and showed it to the ugly man. The book bore Master Li’s personal signature.
Unexpectedly, the ugly man not only knew Master Li’s name but seemed to recognize his handwriting. After glancing at the book for a moment, he respectfully returned it to Han Li and immediately put on a smiling face. “I wonder if this junior brother plans to refine tools or pills? I will certainly arrange everything for you!”
Han Li had originally intended to rely on Master Li’s name to see if he could receive any special treatment regarding the earth fire. Seeing the other party taking the initiative to offer, he relaxed his expression and said, “I plan to refine some pills, so I hope to be assigned an earth fire room with stable and gentle fire. Thank you for your trouble!”
Before coming, Han Li had asked the old man about the general situation of the earth fire area and knew that people were assigned to rooms for using the earth fire, hence his request.
“That’s easy. I’ll arrange it for you right away! However, the fee…” The ugly man seemed somewhat hesitant.
Han Li smiled slightly, reached out, and took out a mid-grade spirit stone, handing it to the ugly man. He said slowly, “Of course, I will pay the standard fee. Since the pill refining will take some time, this mid-grade spirit stone will serve as a deposit. We can settle the balance later.”
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