Volume Three Invasion of the Demonic Path Chapter 172 Choice
In the northern part of Jianzhou, on a desolate mountain on the border between Yue Kingdom and Yuanwu Kingdom, stood dozens of men and women dressed in yellow shirts.
Their clothes fluttered in the wind, and they varied in age.
Some were elderly with white hair and wrinkles, while others were young with rosy lips and a hint of childishness. Yet, they all stood silently in order.
At the forefront was a dignified old man who stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the sky in a trance. Behind him stood four men and one woman, all with solemn expressions. Among them was the Senior Brother Wang who had introduced Han Li, wearing a serious expression.
Behind the five individuals were two rows of neatly arranged disciples in yellow shirts, each with a different expression. Some looked nervous and restless, some seemed indifferent and looked around casually, while others smiled without saying a word, keeping their composure.
In the corner of the last row stood a young man with a dark complexion and ordinary appearance, his eyes lowered, always looking at his own toes, seemingly very shy.
But no one knew that this seemingly immature guy was harboring a lot of resentment in his heart.
This young man was none other than Han Li, and the group of people in yellow shirts were the disciples of Huangfeng Valley who participated in the "Bloodsoul Trial."
In the end, Han Li still joined this journey of no return, and even after obtaining two Foundation Establishment Pills, this could only be described as a ridiculous and helpless situation.
Over a month ago, Han Li was greatly disappointed after learning the method of taking Foundation Establishment Pills from Wu Feng.
It turned out that after taking the Foundation Establishment Pill, the person undergoing Foundation Establishment must remain in seclusion for three months to completely refine the medicinal power, otherwise, the medicinal power would disperse, greatly reducing its effectiveness.
So whether Foundation Establishment could be successful or not would only be known after several months at least.
But waiting for such a long time was extremely unfavorable for Han Li.
According to his original plan after obtaining these two Foundation Establishment Pills, he would take them first to see if he could successfully establish his foundation, and then decide whether to participate in the trial.
If he could establish his foundation successfully, he definitely wouldn't go to such a dangerous place as the forbidden land, considering the terrifying one-fourth chance of survival.
If taking the pills didn't work, then the journey to the forbidden land would still be necessary.
If one or two Foundation Establishment Pills weren't enough, he would refine three or four more, or even more.
He believed that no matter how poor his aptitude was, after taking a sufficient number of Foundation Establishment Pills, he could still enter the Foundation Establishment stage.
But the restriction of three months in seclusion after taking the medicine disrupted Han Li's plan, leaving him in a dilemma where he couldn't have both.
After nearly half a month of deliberation, Han Li felt that with his poor aptitude, even if he took two Foundation Establishment Pills in a row, the hope of successfully establishing his foundation was still very slim, so he couldn't give up on the Bloodsoul Trial.
Actually, Han Li had also considered waiting another five years to participate in the Bloodsoul Trial. By then, even if he hadn't established his foundation, his cultivation base would definitely have reached a high level, which would greatly enhance his ability to protect himself.
But shortly after Han Li came up with this idea, the upper echelons of Huangfeng Valley announced a shocking event that shook the entire cultivation world of Yue Kingdom, dispelling his thoughts.
The content was: the forbidden land of the Bloodsoul Trial would be temporarily closed for sixty years after five years, during which time representatives from the seven major sects would jointly supervise, and no one would be allowed to enter for harvesting herbs.
This temporary closure of the forbidden land was not uncommon. Almost every three or four hundred years, the seven major sects would do such a thing.
Because frequent opening of the forbidden land would cause a large loss of spiritual energy, slowing down the production and growth of spiritual herbs. This temporary closure measure would change the density of spiritual energy, allowing it to return to normal levels.
However, even with this measure, the spiritual herbs in the forbidden land would become increasingly scarce year by year, especially the finished spiritual herbs suitable for alchemy.
According to the speculation of some knowledgeable individuals from the seven major sects, if they wanted to truly restore the normal quantity of spiritual herbs in the forbidden land, the time of closure would have to be extended to at least a thousand years.
Otherwise, this temporary closure would only delay the exhaustion of spiritual herbs, as the production and growth of spiritual herbs were not instantaneous.
Although this reasoning combined with the actual situation inside the forbidden land made it undeniable, the leaders of the seven major sects were still unable to make a firm decision.
The quantity of Foundation Establishment Pills was closely related to the rise and fall of their seven major sects.
If they lacked these pills for five or six decades, the seven major sects would only suffer some minor losses without affecting their foundation.
But if there were no Foundation Establishment Pills for hundreds or thousands of years, then not to mention the seven major sects, the entire cultivation world of Yue Kingdom would face life and death.
After all, a place where cultivators could no longer establish their foundations could no longer be called a cultivation world. Perhaps all the cultivation families and lone cultivators would leave Yue Kingdom and seek survival elsewhere. The seven major sects would not be exceptions either.
Therefore, although the frequent opening of the forbidden land was foolish, the people in charge of the seven major sects had to do it.
They only hoped to find alternative places for harvesting spiritual herbs before the spiritual herbs in the forbidden land truly became extinct.
This also led to the abnormal behavior of some Nascent Soul or even Yuan Ying stage experts from the major sects in the past few hundred years.
They frequently went out to search for other places where spiritual herbs grew, or sought other ways out for their sects, determined not to let their sect's lineage decline.
Han Li naturally couldn't know about the above-mentioned matters so clearly. But as soon as this news came out, he dared not even consider participating in the Bloodsoul Trial five years later.
Even the most dull-witted person would understand that the forbidden land opening five years later would definitely be extremely bloody and fierce.
All the elite disciples of the major sects would participate to make the last big profit before the closure.
For Han Li to join such a trial would be seeking his own death!
Although the difficulty of this trip to the forbidden land would also increase dramatically after this news was announced, the fighting would be more intense. But no matter what, it would definitely be much better than the next time.
As for the foolish idea of participating in the Bloodsoul Trial fifty years later, Han Li never even thought about it.
After the optimal age for Foundation Establishment had passed, even if he reluctantly entered the Foundation Establishment stage later, he would definitely not be able to go far on the path of cultivation. This was not the result Han Li wanted.
Han Li joined the herbal collection team with this mentality. And the one in charge of registration was unexpectedly Senior Brother Wang, which surprised Han Li greatly and made him somewhat regretful.
And Senior Brother Wang was even more astonished when he saw Han Li.
On one hand, he was surprised that
a newcomer like Han Li would participate in the Bloodsoul Trial; on the other hand, he was incredulous about Han Li's rapid progress in cultivation.
With Han Li's aptitude, it was indeed possible for him to achieve such advancement in a short period of time, but it still made Senior Brother Wang unable to believe it.
If Han Li was someone with extraordinary talent, it wouldn't be surprising, as there were others who progressed faster than him. But Han Li's status as a pseudo Spirit Root was personally tested by him. How could he cultivate so rapidly?
For pseudo Spirit Root individuals like Han Li, reaching the eleventh level of cultivation that he had achieved was already quite remarkable.
It usually required the imparting of spiritual energy by elders, or frequent consumption of spiritual herbs, combined with diligent cultivation, to achieve such accomplishments. Yet here was Han Li with his eleventh level cultivation, standing right in front of him, which was truly astonishing!
Since Senior Brother Wang was so puzzled, he didn't hesitate to pull Han Li aside and test his attributes again. The result was the same as before, and there was no sign of the speculated spiritual root mutation.
This made Senior Brother Wang even more puzzled.