Chapter 232: Han Li's Thoughts

Ordinary elixirs had long ceased to be of any use to cultivators at the Core Formation stage. Only spirit pills refined from herbs several hundred years old or natural spiritual herbs could accelerate their cultivation speed. Therefore, Core Formation cultivators spent most of their time during each long journey searching for extremely rare medicinal ingredients.

This was also why Li Huayuan, upon seeing the abundance of spiritual herbs Han Li possessed after emerging from the forbidden land, immediately sought every possible means to take him as a disciple. These natural spiritual herbs were simply too tempting for him!

In fact, even if Li Huayuan had not been leading the team at the time, but rather Lei Wanhe or other Core Formation cultivators, it's likely none of them would have let Han Li's share of spiritual herbs go. Chances are, they would have all employed similar tactics. It was just that Li Huayuan was indeed a bit stingy, only willing to take Han Li as an unofficial disciple!

However, taking elixirs was merely an auxiliary method for advancing cultivation, only serving to shorten the time spent in meditation and absorbing spiritual energy! Diligent and arduous cultivation was the true path to transforming spiritual energy into one's own magical power!

Otherwise, no matter how many elixirs were consumed, if one didn't spend time gradually refining the spiritual energy within them, they would still be useless and wouldn't increase any magical power. After all, external spiritual energy and one's own magical power were fundamentally two different things.

There had even been cases where individuals consumed heaven-defying elixirs found in ancient ruins, resulting in an excess of spiritual energy in their bodies, causing them to explode and die! Therefore, indiscriminately consuming elixirs far beyond one's cultivation realm was an extremely dangerous act.

Additionally, when encountering a bottleneck, cultivators often utilized the spiritual power of elixirs to break through. This was a common and proven effective method among many cultivators.

Cultivators who could break through cultivation bottlenecks without any medicinal aid were exceedingly rare in the entire cultivation world. Moreover, every single one of them was a cultivation prodigy seen only once in a century!

Heavenly Spirit Root holders were recognized as individuals of such supreme aptitude. Even those with Variant Spirit Roots, upon encountering such cultivation bottlenecks, inevitably had to take elixirs to break through, which was no different from ordinary Spirit Root holders.

And this cultivator, Lei Wanhe, was precisely facing such a bottleneck. Therefore, he had just returned from searching for herbs outside, for the purpose of refining auxiliary elixirs.

However, his luck this time was quite poor. Apart from some herbs, he had found nothing else, leaving him feeling deeply frustrated!

This was also the main reason he immediately attacked the people from the Thousand Bamboo Sect upon seeing them. Because if he hadn't vented his frustration at that moment, his mood probably wouldn't have improved for a long time. One could only say that Huang Long and the others were truly unlucky, as they happened to run into this ill-tempered 'bringer of misfortune'.

At this moment, Lei Wanhe's thoughts were fluctuating.

Having gone through over three hundred years of cultivation, he had seen all kinds of herbs. The moment these two spiritual herbs caught his eye, he immediately discerned their exact age. This filled his heart with great joy.

It was important to know that the Essence-Enhancing Pills he intended to refine now lacked spiritual herbs over five hundred years old. This was why he had undertaken this long journey of over a year. However, he had searched all the large and small markets in Yue Country, as well as the major pharmacies in the mortal world, yet he hadn't found a single herb that satisfied him.

He had only reluctantly acquired two subpar four-hundred-year-old herbs, intending to make do with them.

However, he also knew that using spiritual herbs of insufficient age to refine Essence-Enhancing Pills would likely result in significantly reduced potency, even if the pills were successfully formed. It wouldn't be of much help to him. But what could he do when he truly had no suitable main ingredient in his possession?

Continuing to search would just be a waste of time.

Because if genuinely excellent medicinal ingredients appeared anywhere, they would have already been preemptively acquired by local sects or cultivation families. By the time he arrived, he wouldn't even find a tiny bit. As for searching in the cultivation worlds of neighboring countries, unfamiliarity with the place would make his hopes even slimmer!

Therefore, when he heard this junior disciple mention some aged medicinal ingredients outside the cave dwelling, his heart stirred, and he entered the extremely simple cave dwelling with the thought of just taking a look.

In Lei Wanhe's mind, what kind of good medicinal ingredients could a Foundation Establishment disciple possess? At most, they would be herbs aged two or three hundred years!

After all, even after searching for such a long time, he had only managed to obtain four-hundred-year-old herbs. This was also because others saw him as a Core Formation expert and dared not compete with him for purchases.

Now, these two spiritual herbs, aged six or seven hundred years, had suddenly appeared before his eyes. This not only made him almost disbelieve it but also filled him with overwhelming joy!

Therefore, although he appeared to be staring intently at the two herbs in his hand, seemingly assessing their age, he was actually contemplating how he could obtain the herbs from this junior disciple.

After all, he felt it would be a great waste for such rare items to be in the other party's hands! Only by being used by him, the great cultivator Lei, for alchemy, could their full efficacy be realized.

However, he was also an old hand who had lived for many years; in the blink of an eye, he had already devised an excuse.

So he coughed twice, reluctantly placing the herbs back into the box. Then, with a barely perceptible twist of his neck, he spoke amiably to Han Li:

“Junior disciple, these two herbs are truly rare treasures, aged at least six or seven hundred years! I imagine it took you a great deal of effort to acquire them!”

“Indeed, I put in a tremendous effort to obtain them at an auction in a certain secret shop! At that time, there was also a thousand-year-old spiritual herb for sale, but unfortunately, I simply couldn't afford it, so I could only watch helplessly as someone else bought it. I still feel quite regretful about that!” Han Li said, half-truthfully.

“A secret shop? And a thousand-year-old spiritual herb!”

Upon hearing this, the fat man almost sprang from the stone stool!

For him, this was more than just a regret; it was a heartache akin to having a piece of his own flesh torn out.

To think that he, a Core Formation cultivator, had gone to such great lengths searching for spiritual herbs, even visiting seven or eight secret shops in various locations, yet he had never encountered such a stroke of luck! If he had been there at the time, he would never have let such a rare treasure slip through his fingers! He would have been absolutely willing to pay any amount of spirit stones for it!

The thought that such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity had been let slip by this young man before him made the fat man furious, feeling an urge to grab the other's neck and question him! Although he knew perfectly well that it was quite normal for a Foundation Establishment disciple like Han Li to be unable to afford such a sky-high priced item.

“Alright, what’s missed is missed! Perhaps there will be another such opportunity next time!”

The fat man finally managed to calm himself down and had to offer Han Li a few comforting words that weren't entirely sincere. After all, he still coveted those two spiritual herbs the other party possessed! These were something he absolutely couldn't let go of now.

“Junior Disciple Han, what do you plan to do with these two spiritual herbs? Do you intend to hand them over to the sect's alchemists for processing? However, as your senior uncle, I must warn you that the skill level of our Yellow Maple Valley alchemists is truly questionable! If you entrust such precious items to them, it would definitely be a terrible waste of heavenly treasures. Your loss would be truly significant!” the fat man advised in a serious, elder-like manner.

“How could I let them refine them! I actually plan to exchange these spiritual herbs for something more useful! You see, buying these spiritual herbs almost bankrupted me! How could I easily waste them?” Han Li shook his head repeatedly, speaking words that greatly surprised Lei Wanhe, causing his meticulously prepared lines to get stuck.

However, the fat man had a change of heart: if this junior disciple wanted to exchange the herbs for something, wouldn't that suit his intentions even better! Given his status as a Core Formation cultivator, aside from extremely rare alchemy and artifact refining materials, was there anything he couldn't provide to satisfy the other party? This was an excellent opportunity to legitimately acquire the items!

Thinking this, Lei Wanhe's eyes narrowed even further with his smile, appearing even more amiable.

“Junior Disciple Han, what do you need? Your senior uncle here has quite a collection from hundreds of years! Perhaps I have just what you need,” the fat man said, blinking his small eyes and suddenly chuckling jovially.

“Ah! Senior Uncle, do you also need these spiritual herbs? If so, I could give you one, as a token of respect from a junior to an elder!” Han Li said, seemingly suddenly realizing something, and quickly, with feigned humility.

Upon seeing Han Li's cleverness—that he didn't even mention an exchange and immediately offered to give him a spiritual herb for free—Lei Wanhe was greatly pleased, and found Han Li even more agreeable.

However, the fat man's goal was to acquire both! He was equally reluctant to let go of the remaining one.

Therefore, Lei Wanhe waved his hand and said with great magnanimity:

“Junior Disciple Han, what are you saying? Am I, Lei Wanhe, someone who covets a junior’s possessions! Just tell me what you need. Your senior uncle will immediately find it and exchange it fairly with you; I would never let you suffer a loss! Do you wish to exchange them for top-tier magical artifacts? Or perhaps some elixirs that are useful right now?”

Upon hearing the other party's generous words, Han Li was overjoyed internally. He had been beating around the bush precisely to elicit this statement from the other party. However, on the surface, he scratched his scalp and spoke with feigned difficulty:

“To tell you the truth, Senior Uncle Lei, I have always been very interested in the path of alchemy. However, there are hardly any practical elixir formulas in the storage room of Yue Lu Hall. I later learned that most of the ancient alchemy methods passed down from antiquity have long been lost. The alchemy methods used by my fellow disciples and senior uncles now are either painstakingly researched by their families over dozens of generations or occasionally found in ancient ruins; each one is incredibly precious and not easily shown to others. Therefore, I simply wish to use these two spiritual herbs to exchange for an elixir formula suitable for my own use!”