In the northern part of Jianzhou, on a desolate mountain bordering the Yue Kingdom and the Yuanwu Kingdom, stood several dozen figures of varying heights, all dressed in yellow robes that fluttered in the wind. Their ages differed greatly—some were elderly with white hair and wrinkled faces, clearly in their twilight years, while others were young with delicate skin, rosy lips, and white teeth, still bearing traces of childish innocence. Yet, all stood in orderly silence.
At the forefront was an elderly man whose imposing presence commanded respect even without a hint of anger. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing leisurely at the sky, lost in thought. Behind him were four men and one woman, all wearing solemn expressions. Among them was the very Uncle Wang who had introduced Han Li to the sect, now also looking grave.
Behind these five stood two neat rows of disciples in yellow robes. Their expressions varied—some appeared tense and uneasy, others indifferent and glancing around, while a few smiled faintly without revealing their thoughts.
At the edge of the last row stood a young man with dark, ordinary features. His eyes were downcast, fixed on the tips of his feet, not daring to glance sideways, as if extremely timid.
Yet, unbeknownst to anyone, this seemingly inexperienced youth was inwardly seething with complaints and resentment.
This young man was none other than Han Li, and the group in yellow robes were the disciples of Yellow Maple Valley participating in the “Bloody Trial.”
In the end, Han Li had joined this suicide mission, despite already possessing two Foundation Establishment Pills. It was both ironic and frustrating.
A little over a month ago, Han Li had learned from Wu Feng how to consume the Foundation Establishment Pills and was deeply disheartened.
It turned out that after taking a Foundation Establishment Pill, the cultivator had to undergo a three-month secluded retreat to fully absorb the pill’s efficacy. Otherwise, the effects would dissipate, greatly reducing its potency. Thus, it would take at least several months to know whether the Foundation Establishment attempt was successful.
For Han Li, waiting such a long time was far from ideal.
His original plan had been to take the two pills first to see if he could achieve Foundation Establishment before deciding whether to participate in the trial. If he succeeded, he would naturally avoid the perilous forbidden land, as a mere one-in-four survival rate was terrifying.
If the pills failed, he would have no choice but to enter the forbidden land. If one or two pills weren’t enough, he would refine three, four, or even more. He believed that even with his poor aptitude, enough Foundation Establishment Pills would eventually push him into the Foundation Establishment stage.
However, the three-month secluded retreat requirement disrupted his plans, forcing him into an awkward dilemma where he couldn’t have both options.
Now, he had to either take the pills and abandon the trial or set them aside for later use after the Bloody Trial. There was no way to do both.
After nearly half a month of deliberation, Han Li concluded that even with two Foundation Establishment Pills, his chances of success were slim given his terrible aptitude. Thus, he could not afford to give up on the Bloody Trial.
He had even considered waiting for the next trial in five years. By then, even if he hadn’t achieved Foundation Establishment, his Eternal Spring Art would surely have reached its peak, greatly enhancing his self-preservation abilities.
But just as this thought crossed his mind, the upper echelons of Yellow Maple Valley announced shocking news that swept through the entire Yue Kingdom’s cultivation world, dispelling his idea.
The news was that the forbidden land of the Bloody Trial would be temporarily sealed for sixty years after the next five-year cycle. During this period, the seven major sects would jointly supervise the area, prohibiting anyone from entering to gather herbs.
This practice of temporarily sealing the forbidden land was not unusual. Almost every three to four hundred years, the seven major sects would do this once.
Frequent openings of the forbidden land caused significant spiritual energy loss, slowing the growth and production of spiritual herbs. The temporary closure would restore the spiritual energy density to normal levels.
However, even with this measure, the spiritual herbs in the forbidden land were becoming increasingly scarce year by year, especially those meeting the requirements for pill refinement.
According to some insightful individuals from the seven major sects, truly restoring the normal quantity of spiritual herbs in the forbidden land would require a sealing period of a full millennium. Otherwise, the temporary closure would only delay the exhaustion of the herbs, as their growth and production were not matters of mere days.
Although this reasoning, combined with the actual conditions in the forbidden land, was undeniably sound, the decision-makers of the seven major sects could not bring themselves to implement such a long closure.
The number of Foundation Establishment Pills was closely tied to the rise and fall of their sects.
A shortage of these pills for fifty or sixty years would only cause minor losses, not critical damage. But if there were no Foundation Establishment Pills for hundreds or even thousands of years, not only the seven major sects but the entire Yue Kingdom’s cultivation world would face existential threats.
After all, a place where cultivators could no longer achieve Foundation Establishment could hardly be called a cultivation world. By then, all cultivation families and rogue cultivators would likely leave the Yue Kingdom to seek survival elsewhere, and the seven major sects would be no exception.
Thus, even though they knew that frequently opening the forbidden land was like killing the goose that laid the golden eggs, the seven major sects had no choice but to proceed.
They could only hope to find alternative sources of spiritual herbs before the forbidden land’s resources were completely exhausted.
This also explains why Core Formation and even Nascent Soul stage experts from the major sects had recently begun frequently traveling abroad—to seek other sources of spiritual herbs or find new paths for their sects, ensuring their traditions would not decline.
Han Li, of course, was not privy to such detailed information. But once this news broke, he dared not even consider participating in the Bloody Trial five years later.
Even the dullest person would understand that the next opening of the forbidden land would be exceptionally bloody and chaotic. The major sects would send all their elite disciples to seize as many herbs as possible before the sealing. For Han Li to join such a trial would be tantamount to suicide.
Although the upcoming trial would also be far more difficult and brutal due to this announcement, it was still undoubtedly safer than the next one.
As for foolishly waiting fifty years to participate in the Bloody Trial, Han Li didn’t even entertain the thought.
Missing the optimal age for Foundation Establishment would mean even a belated success would unlikely lead to a long path in cultivation—an outcome Han Li did not want.
With this mindset, Han Li signed up for the herb-gathering team to the forbidden land. To his surprise and regret, the person in charge of registration was none other than Uncle Wang.
Uncle Wang was equally astonished to see Han Li.
On one hand, he was surprised that a newcomer like Han Li would participate in the Bloody Trial. On the other hand, he found it hard to believe Han Li’s rapid progress in cultivation. For someone with Han Li’s aptitude to advance from the ninth to the eleventh layer in such a short time was truly remarkable.
If Han Li were a naturally gifted disciple, this might not be so unusual—some progressed even faster. But Uncle Wang had personally tested Han Li’s false spiritual roots. How could he cultivate so quickly?
For a false spiritual root cultivator, Han Li’s initial ninth-layer cultivation was already unusually high. Typically, such achievements required infusions of spiritual power from elders, frequent consumption of spiritual medicines, and diligent cultivation. Yet here was Han Li, standing before him at the eleventh layer, leaving Uncle Wang utterly baffled.
Puzzled, Uncle Wang unceremoniously pulled Han Li aside to retest his spiritual roots. The result was the same as before—no mutation or change in his spiritual roots, as he had suspected.
This only deepened Uncle Wang’s confusion.
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