Chapter 150: Two Years Later

Han Li was seeing mid-grade spirit stones for the first time. One was a shimmering red fire-attribute spirit stone, and the other was a deep yellow earth-attribute spirit stone; both were common types of mid-grade spirit stones.

They indeed looked vastly different from low-grade spirit stones, which only had faint elemental colors. Not only did their luster differ, but their powerful spiritual energy waves alone ensured there would be no confusing mix-ups.

The three magic tools were also impressive. As expected from items refined by Foundation Establishment experts, they were far superior to the shoddy goods Han Li had seen at the Great South Meeting.

One was a ring that appeared to be made of fine steel. Once activated, it would automatically fly out to lock onto enemies and could change its size freely within a certain range. Han Li once, on a whim, channeled all his magic power into it. The ring then emitted a faint yellow glow and expanded to an astonishing size, large enough to encompass his entire thatched hut, leaving Han Li speechless for a long time.

Another item was a small, black, triangular flag. This magic tool was even simpler to use. By simply infusing it with spiritual energy and waving it, dense black fog would instantly materialize around the wielder, blinding nearby enemies and concealing the user's presence. It was an excellent defensive magic tool.

While the first two magic tools were rare and exquisite items in the outside world, what initially thrilled Han Li the most was the last auxiliary magic tool: a brass bottle capable of preserving the spiritual energy of any item placed inside it.

The moment he acquired this bottle-shaped magic tool, Han Li immediately thought of a way to store the mysterious green liquid that had troubled him for so long.

Ever since Han Li learned about the existence of spiritual energy, he had suspected that the small bottle absorbed and condensed the natural spiritual energy of the world every night. However, he lacked suitable means to confirm this, so the idea remained a deep-seated conjecture.

The appearance of this brass bottle now provided him with a way to test his hypothesis. So, that very night, he put the condensed green liquid into the brass bottle to see if the magic tool could preserve it.

However, the final result left him greatly disappointed.

The brass bottle only extended the green liquid's preservation time from a mere fifteen minutes to a full day. After this limit, the green liquid would still vanish without a trace from the bottle. This indicated that the liquid was not merely a condensation of natural spiritual energy; there had to be something more complex mixed within it.

After completing this test, Han Li wisely recognized that this mystery was likely beyond his current ability to easily solve. Therefore, he simply stopped racking his brain over the issue, deciding instead to let nature take its course in the future. In any case, the small bottle's current utility was already immensely beneficial to Han Li.

With his mind at ease, Han Li once again began using the green liquid's effects to concoct batches of "Yellow Dragon Pills" and "Gold Marrow Pellets." He planned to consume these less potent pills while simultaneously trying to find more effective substitute pill recipes within the valley.

However, Han Li knew very well that this matter could not be rushed.

As a newly initiated disciple, openly inquiring about pill recipes would be like shouting "There's no silver buried here!" It would undoubtedly arouse suspicion and speculation from others, potentially leading to mortal danger.

Therefore, Han Li decided to diligently cultivate within the medicine garden for a few years. Once he thoroughly understood the sect's affairs and became an established figure in Yellow Maple Valley, no longer drawing undue attention, he would then consider the matter of recipes.

As for the medicinal herbs Han Li had to submit periodically, he had even less to worry about. With the help of the diluted green liquid, there wasn't a single herb he couldn't mature overnight; it was a trivial matter. He was prepared to reside permanently in this medicine garden, and presumably, Martial Uncle Ma would have no objections.

And so, Han Li busied himself with his daily routine.

After finishing the elder's cultivation notes during the day, he frequently visited Senior Disciple Wu Feng, who imparted cultivation knowledge. There, he learned many practical incantations for basic spells, returning to the medicine garden afterward to study and comprehend them himself.

Furthermore, Han Li consumed "Yellow Dragon Pills" and "Gold Marrow Pellets" in large quantities daily, treating them like candy. According to his own reasoning, if the quality was lacking, couldn't he compensate with quantity? These pills, accumulating little by little, would still have an effect.

In this way, time flew by! Unbeknownst to him, Han Li had already been a disciple of Yellow Maple Valley, one of the Seven Great Immortal Sects, for over two years.

Many things had happened during these two years. Not long after Han Li began his secluded cultivation, the sect held its decennial grand recruitment drive for new disciples. Thousands of youths with excellent root bones and aptitudes from various large and small cultivation families pledged allegiance to Yellow Maple Valley. Among them, there even appeared two twin brothers with "variant spiritual roots" of the same attribute, specifically "Thunder Spiritual Roots," known for their destructive power among variant spiritual roots.

The emergence of these brothers completely captured the attention of the valley's high-ranking officials. Even a Core Formation elder, who had been in secluded cultivation for a long time, made an exception to emerge and, after examining the brothers' root bones, publicly declared: "As long as these two successfully achieve Foundation Establishment, this elder will accept them as personal disciples and personally instruct them."

This announcement naturally made the other disciples envious. But besides these two brothers, several other exceptionally talented individuals appeared among this batch of disciples.

For example, a young boy named Li from a minor family, merely eleven or twelve years old, had already cultivated the basic cultivation method to the peak of the ninth layer without consuming any pills. His progress was astonishingly fast, seemingly no less impressive than that of a variant spiritual root holder.

Another remarkable case was a seven or eight-year-old boy named Wang. Not only was he a direct descendant of the great cultivation family, the Wangs, but he also possessed innate "Profound Yin Eyes," allowing him to cultivate the "Chiding Eye Divine Light," a technique lost for hundreds of years, which could greatly suppress all yin souls and specters in the world.

Of course, in addition to these two, there were other outstanding talents who were significantly superior to ordinary disciples. Compared to previous new disciple recruitments, this one was truly a great harvest, making Sect Master Zhong so overjoyed that he couldn't stop smiling for several days. He even briefly thought that perhaps heaven had opened its eyes, intending for Yellow Maple Valley to surpass all other sects!

However, when news arrived from outside the valley that the Moon-Veiling Sect, the strongest of the Seven Great Sects, had discovered a young girl with "Heavenly Spiritual Roots" among its newly recruited disciples, Sect Master Zhong, who had only been ambitious for a few days, was utterly choked and speechless for a long time.

Regardless, this batch of new disciples completely captured the attention of everyone in Yellow Maple Valley. Even the earlier initiated low-level disciples talked daily about which talented junior brother had made how much progress in their basic cultivation method today, or what astonishing feats they had accomplished!

Thus, under the brilliance of so many dazzling new talents, Han Li, the disciple who had only gained entry with an Immortal Ascension Token, was completely forgotten by Sect Master Zhong and the valley's overseers.

Furthermore, since Han Li spent his entire days immersed in the medicine garden, rarely venturing out to meet people, those who knew him were pitifully few. Perhaps only Senior Disciple Wu Feng, who imparted cultivation knowledge, and Deacon Yu of the Hundred Mechanisms Hall occasionally remembered Han Li. After all, these two would still meet him when he sought advice on cultivation methods or collected his monthly spirit stones.

Regardless of how others viewed him, Han Li was very content with his current semi-reclusive cultivation. And the old man who came every few months to collect a certain amount of medicinal herbs was even more satisfied with him! After all, where else could he find a garden overseer like Han Li, who consistently submitted the required items on time and never delayed?

To secure Han Li, this prodigy of garden management, the old man's spirit stone rewards grew increasingly generous, rising from two low-grade spirit stones per month initially to five per month now. This made Han Li a genuinely high-income earner among low-level disciples, considering that the average income for other ordinary disciples was merely three spirit stones per month. This, in turn, increased Han Li's favorable impression of Martial Uncle Ma.

As for Hall Master Ye, who had gone back on his word and confiscated most of Han Li's items, Han Li heard that his much-anticipated grand-nephew had failed to establish his foundation after taking the Foundation Establishment Pill, remaining at the peak of the Qi Condensation stage, which greatly vexed him. Upon hearing this news, Han Li secretly chuckled, feeling his mood instantly lighten considerably.

Furthermore, with the persistent consumption of numerous pills, Han Li's Evergreen Art finally broke through two layers, reaching the eleventh stage, elevating him to an intermediate level among the valley's low-level disciples. However, by this point, the "Yellow Dragon Pills" and "Gold Marrow Pellets" had completely lost their effectiveness; even consuming more yielded no results whatsoever!

Consequently, Han Li had to accelerate his plans and set his sights on other pills.

Fortunately, at this time, no one in the valley would be interested in an unknown nobody like him. Therefore, as long as he was slightly cautious, his actions would no longer attract others' attention.