It was Han Li's first time laying eyes upon mid-grade spirit stones. One shimmered with a fiery red radiance—a fire-attribute stone—while the other was a deep, earthen yellow, belonging to the earth element. Both were among the most commonly encountered mid-grade varieties.
They looked nothing like the low-grade stones, which bore only faint tinges of elemental color. The difference was immediately apparent—not merely in their luster but in the potent spiritual fluctuations they emanated. There was no possibility of confusing the two.
The three magical treasures were equally impressive, befitting items forged by a Foundation Establishment cultivator. They were vastly superior to the crude wares Han Li had seen at the Tailan Assembly.
The first was a ring that appeared to be forged from refined steel. Once activated with spiritual power, it could fly of its own accord to lock onto a target and would expand or contract at will within a certain range. Han Li, in a moment of idle curiosity, had flooded the ring with his full spiritual power—and it had expanded to a terrifying size, glowing with a faint yellow light, large enough to encircle the very thatched hut where he lived. The sight left him speechless for some time.
The second was a small, jet-black triangular flag. Its use was even simpler: channel spiritual power into the flag, give it a single wave, and dense clouds of black mist would instantly materialize around the wielder, blinding any enemy who attacked from the front while concealing the wielder's own presence. It was an excellent defensive treasure.
Both of the above were rare, high-quality items one would seldom encounter outside the sect. But the one that initially thrilled Han Li the most was the third—a supplementary treasure: a brass bottle capable of preserving the spiritual energy of whatever was stored within.
The moment Han Li took the bottle into his hands, his thoughts turned immediately to the mysterious green liquid and the problem of its storage that had plagued him for so long.
Since learning of the existence of spiritual energy, Han Li had long suspected that the little bottle's nightly process of absorbing and condensing ambient qi was responsible for the emerald droplet. But lacking any means to verify this theory, he had been forced to let it remain nothing more than a private conjecture, buried deep in his heart.
The brass bottle's appearance offered a potential method of confirmation. That very night, Han Li placed the newly condensed green liquid into the brass vessel, hoping the treasure might succeed in preserving it.
The result, once again, left him deeply disappointed.
The brass bottle merely extended the liquid's survival from its usual quarter-hour to a full day. After that window expired, the green liquid vanished from the bottle without a trace. Clearly, this substance was not simply a condensation of natural spiritual energy—there was something more complex at work within it.
Having completed the experiment, Han Li possessed enough self-awareness to recognize that this mystery was far beyond his current ability to unravel. He chose to set the question aside, resolving to let things take their course. After all, the little bottle's present functions were already more than sufficient to benefit him immensely.
With that burden released, Han Li resumed using the green liquid to compound batches of Yellow Dragon Pills and Golden Marrow Pellets. He planned to consume these diminished-effect medicines for the time being while searching within the valley for more potent pill recipes to replace them.
But Han Li understood that this particular goal could not be rushed.
As a newly admitted disciple, to go sniffing about for pill recipes so brazenly would be tantamount to announcing his guilt to the world. It would inevitably arouse suspicion and speculation—potentially bringing catastrophe upon his head.
So Han Li resolved to remain quietly within the herb garden for several years, keeping a low profile until he had thoroughly familiarized himself with the sect's inner workings and become enough of an old hand that his actions would draw no attention. Only then would he turn to the matter of pill recipes.
As for the medicinal herbs he was required to deliver each month, that posed no concern at all. With the help of the diluted green liquid, there was no herb he couldn't ripen overnight—a trivial matter. He intended to remain in this garden for a long while, and he doubted Senior Brother Ma would have any objection.
Thus, Han Li settled into a disciplined routine.
During the day, after finishing his study of the old man's notes, he would make regular visits to his teaching senior brother, Wu Feng. There he learned numerous practical incantations for basic techniques, then returned to the garden to study and practice them on his own.
He consumed Yellow Dragon Pills and Golden Marrow Pellets daily as though they were candy, reasoning that if quality was lacking, he could compensate with quantity. Accumulated in sufficient doses, even weakened pills would produce results.
And so time flew like a shuttle. Before Han Li knew it, more than two years had passed since he had joined Yellow Maple Valley, one of the seven great immortal sects.
Much had happened in those two years. Shortly after Han Li had begun his seclusion, the sect held its decennial grand opening to recruit new disciples. Over a thousand youths with sound spiritual roots and favorable elemental attributes were admitted from cultivation families of every size. Among them were even twin brothers who possessed an identical "variant spiritual root"—the Thunder Spiritual Root, renowned throughout the cultivation world for its devastating destructive power.
The appearance of these two brothers captured the full attention of the valley's leadership. Even a Core Formation elder who had been in prolonged seclusion emerged specifically to examine them. After inspecting their constitutions, the elder made a public declaration: if these two could successfully achieve Foundation Establishment, he would take them under his personal tutelage and instruct them himself.
This announcement naturally filled the other disciples with envy. But beyond the twins, this batch of new disciples produced several other prodigies of exceptional talent.
For instance, a youth surnamed Li from a minor family—only eleven or twelve years old—had already advanced his foundational technique to the peak of the ninth layer without consuming a single pill. His rate of progress was astonishing, no less impressive than that of a variant spiritual root holder.
Another disciple, a boy of seven or eight surnamed Wang, was even more remarkable. Not only did he hail from the direct line of the prestigious Wang cultivation family, but he was born with the "Mystic Yin Eye," an innate gift that enabled him to practice the lost "Blinding Radiance" technique—a method suppressed by the cultivation world for centuries, uniquely effective against all manner of yin spirits and specters.
Beyond these two, a number of other outstanding individuals emerged whose abilities far exceeded those of the average disciple. Compared to previous recruitment cycles, this intake was nothing short of a bumper harvest. It left Sect Master Zhong beaming for days on end, so pleased he could barely close his mouth. He even entertained the notion that perhaps heaven itself had taken notice of Yellow Maple Valley, and was elevating it above the other sects.
But then word arrived from beyond the valley: the most powerful of the seven great sects, the Yanshade Sect, had discovered a young girl among their new disciples who possessed a Heavenly Spiritual Root—the rarest and most coveted of all. The news struck Sect Master Zhong like a bucket of cold water, rendering him speechless for a good while.
Regardless, this generation of new disciples had seized the undivided attention of every member of Yellow Maple Valley, from top to bottom. Even the more senior low-ranking disciples spoke of nothing else—wondering how much progress the prodigious young Junior Brother had made today, or what sensational feat he had accomplished.
Thus, beneath the dazzling light of so many brilliant newcomers, Han Li—the disciple who had only gained entry through an Ascension Token—was thoroughly forgotten by Sect Master Zhong and the valley's administrators alike.
Furthermore, since Han Li spent his days cloistered within the herb garden and rarely ventured out to interact with others, those who even remembered his existence were pitifully few. Perhaps only Wu Feng, the teaching senior brother, and Steward Yu of the Hundred Mechanisms Hall still recalled him from time to time—on account of his monthly technique consultations and spirit stone deliveries, respectively.
Whatever others thought of him, Han Li was perfectly satisfied with his semi-reclusive cultivation routine. And the withered old man who came every few months to collect his allotment of herbs was even more pleased. Where else could he find a garden manager like Han Li—one who always delivered on time, never once defaulting?
To keep this rare talent anchored in place, the old man's spirit stone rewards grew increasingly generous—from the initial two low-grade stones per month to the current five. This made Han Li one of the highest-paid low-ranking disciples in the valley. The average income for an ordinary disciple was merely three spirit stones per month. It further deepened Han Li's regard for this Senior Brother Ma.
As for Hall Master Ye, the man who had reneged and swallowed the bulk of his promised goods—word had it that the grandnephew in whom he had placed such high hopes had failed to achieve Foundation Establishment even after consuming the pill. The young man remained stranded at the peak of the Qi Refining stage, leaving the Hall Master deeply vexed. When Han Li heard this news, he allowed himself a quiet chuckle, and his mood improved considerably.
Under the relentless force of countless pills, Han Li's Art of Eternal Youth had stubbornly broken through two consecutive layers, ascending to the eleventh. This placed him at the median level among the valley's low-ranking disciples. But at this point, the Yellow Dragon Pills and Golden Marrow Pellets had been rendered completely inert—no amount of additional consumption would produce even the faintest effect.
There was nothing for it. Han Li would have to advance his plans and turn his attention to other types of pills.
Fortunately, at this stage no one in the valley would spare a second glance at a nobody like him. With a modest measure of caution, his activities should pass entirely unnoticed.