Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 89

Of course, if it were just the dense fog or the roaming demonic beasts, the confident elite disciples might still have tried to challenge the area.

However, with both combined, which disciple would dare to venture in to collect spirit herbs?

In this situation, climbing the mountain was impossible. Therefore, the disciples who had previously entered the forbidden area only searched for spirit herbs outside the central area and never entered the mountains.

However, as time passed, a cultivator from the Moonveil Sect, after much effort, created a magical artifact called the Moon Yang Pearl.

This artifact was neither for attack nor defense; it simply emitted a strange light that dispelled the dense fog like a poisonous mist.

It was specifically made for this expedition. As expected, the Moonveil Sect disciples who possessed this artifact shone brightly during the forbidden area expedition.

They outpaced the disciples of other sects, used the artifact to clear the dense fog, and returned with a tremendous harvest.

With this harvest, the Moonveil Sect created a large number of Foundation Establishment Pills [Pills that help cultivators advance to the Foundation Establishment stage] for their disciples, and with this, the sect’s strength soared, solidifying their position as the top cultivation sect in the Moon Kingdom.

However, as the saying goes, no secret stays hidden forever.

The news that the Moonveil Sect had achieved great success in the forbidden area expedition with the Moon Yang Pearl spread quickly, and the other six major sects, seeking to prevent the Moonveil Sect from monopolizing the resources, launched an attack.

With public opinion turning against them, the Moonveil Sect had no choice but to hand over the Moon Yang Pearl. After much discussion and haggling with the other six sects, they eventually surrendered the artifact to be jointly owned.

After that, the seven major sects took turns storing the artifact, and after the expedition, the sect that had stored the Moon Yang Pearl would hand it over to another sect.

Regardless of who possessed the artifact, once they entered the forbidden area, that sect had to use it at a predetermined time under the surveillance of other disciples.

They were absolutely not allowed to use it intentionally beforehand or delay the time. This was a fair method that allowed the disciples who gathered in the central area on time to enter simultaneously.

This arrangement was established because, although it seemed that the Moonveil Sect had suffered a great loss and missed the opportunity to monopolize the spirit herbs of the forbidden area for a long time, in fact, they had avoided the disaster of annihilation due to this artifact and gained time to slowly build their strength.

Today, the Moonveil Sect already held a dominant position among the seven major sects. Their power was so immense that the other sects could not confront them unless they formed alliances of two. And this was the reason why Han Li was not at all impatient and could continue talking with the ugly man in front of him.

The seven major sects had already set the time for the dense fog to dissipate as the morning of the third day before entering the forbidden area.

Han Li had come in a hurry without getting enough rest because he was worried that he might encounter some obstacles on the way and be delayed.

Now that he was already in the central area, there was no reason to rush. He just had to go to the second area and wait for the dense fog to disappear.

The three areas of the forbidden area’s central region were even more mysterious.

If you reached the top of the ring-shaped mountain range, you could clearly see a huge, towering pagoda within the area surrounded by the second area.

And surrounding it was a dense green forest covering a vast area, blocking it off completely. This was the core area of the forbidden area.

The elders of the seven major sects, after hearing the disciples’ descriptions, immediately realized that it was the residence of the forbidden area’s master. And they began to covet the special items that might be inside the pagoda.

However, at the border between the second and third areas, a powerful, unidentified restriction still remained, blocking the movements of the disciples who tried to enter it.

This restriction was something that disciples who had only reached the Qi Refining stage [The first stage of cultivation] could not handle, and disciples above the Foundation Establishment stage were not allowed to enter the forbidden area itself, so they had no idea what was inside the pagoda.

Han Li had no interest in the pagoda in the third area. He only hoped to find enough spirit herbs in this area and leave. Han Li spent another hour with the ugly man before he could finally get away.

He immediately disappeared into the trees on one side. Just before leaving, he turned his head and saw that Zhong Wu was still standing there, not thinking of leaving.

‘It seems that the task of the experts weeding out the small fry is not yet over. There must be similar people guarding the other three gates as well.’

Thinking this, he searched a corner far from the east gate. He was overjoyed to find a hidden hole in a large tree that grew tall towards the sky. He squeezed inside, made some minor preparations for defense outside the hole, and immediately fell asleep.

He planned to rest well and wake up when the fog in the ring-shaped mountain range cleared the next day. Since he didn’t know what might happen, it was best to get his body in top condition first.

He was sure that there wouldn’t be many disciples waiting for the fog to clear in front of the ring-shaped mountain the next day. However, each one of them would be no easier to deal with than Feng Yue. Han Li, who had fallen into a deep sleep, slowly woke up around dawn the next day. The most important day of the forbidden area expedition had begun.

* * *

After waking up, Han Li did not immediately leave the hole but sat in a lotus position.

‘My spiritual power is in the same optimal condition as before entering the forbidden area. The numbness in my legs and the aches in my body are gone. My stamina has also fully recovered.’

He was quite satisfied after checking his physical condition. Only then did Han Li get up and begin his final preparations, examining the storage pouches.

He hadn’t had time to examine the storage pouches he had taken from the Bearded Man and his group, so he had just been carrying them around. Now it was time to examine them carefully to see if there was anything useful.

After a while, Han Li was speechless because he couldn’t find anything useful in the storage pouches of the Bearded Man’s group, nor in the ones they had plundered.

There were twenty-three magical artifacts in a total of five storage pouches: five low-grade magical artifacts, seven mid-grade magical artifacts, and one high-grade magical artifact. In some cases, there were only two low-grade magical artifacts and one mid-grade magical artifact, with no high-grade magical artifacts at all. It was truly disappointing and bewildering.

The difference between ordinary disciples and elite disciples was like heaven and earth.

That there wasn’t a single top-grade magical artifact among so many storage pouches was probably why the Bearded Man hadn’t been able to use any special techniques after being trapped by the Earth Thunder Technique. That was why he had been crushed to death by his own golden light before his eyes!

Remembering the top-grade magical artifacts of the white-clothed woman and Feng Yue, who had possessed so many treasures, he couldn’t help but think about the miserable state of ordinary disciples.

This was why others couldn’t imagine that his skills were outstanding just by looking at his cultivation technique.

Ordinary disciples usually lacked even ordinary magical artifacts, so they didn’t consider that they might make up for their lack of skill with powerful magical artifacts from the start.

They had been given dozens of high-grade magical artifacts to encourage them and instill confidence. However, in fact, Han Li’s assumptions were not entirely accurate.

Among the elite disciples sent by each sect, only a very small number enjoyed the privilege of possessing top-grade magical artifacts.

It was rare to find someone like the white-clothed woman, who carried a lot of miscellaneous treasures, even among the elite disciples. Most of the top-grade magical artifact holders were from powerful families. Ordinary elite disciples could not keep up with them.

Even elite disciples would envy someone who already carried three or four top-grade magical artifacts.

In any case, before reaching the Core Formation stage [The third stage of cultivation], there was nothing as reliable as a top-grade magical artifact in a battle, except for talismans. Obtaining such a top-grade magical artifact was like increasing one’s own strength by a level.

He had hardly interacted with his fellow disciples while staying in the Yellow Maple Valley. That was why there were such gaps in his knowledge, even though he knew about the cultivation world.

He had unconsciously assumed that all elite disciples carried around such piles of top-grade magical artifacts. This misconception was understandable.

Since almost all of his enemies after the battle with the Lu family had possessed top-grade magical artifacts, it was enough to make Han Li mistakenly believe that top-grade magical artifacts were not that rare.

After setting aside the low-grade and mid-grade magical artifacts and trying out the high-grade magical artifacts one by one, he finally chose three of the most powerful and practical magical artifacts to prepare. The magical artifacts that Han Li liked were a blue jade flying knife, a golden bell, and a jade-colored bottle.

The flying knife and the golden bell were simple offensive magical artifacts, so there was nothing special to say about them, but the jade-colored bottle was a rare auxiliary magical artifact.

If a green poisonous mist came out of the bottle and enveloped an enemy, it could poison them to death.

If you heard it without thinking, it seemed to have a good effect, but in reality, it was a magical artifact that was both useful and useless. Most of the Five Elements defensive techniques could block this poisonous mist, making it difficult to poison a cultivator.

However, from another perspective, this thick green poisonous mist could temporarily obstruct the opponent’s vision and annoy them. If not for this point, why would Han Li have chosen this magical artifact?

After completing all his preparations, Han Li came out of the tree hole. And after deciding on a direction, he slowly began to move.

Even if the dense fog cleared, it was out of the question to fly around the mountain range. He would be easily discovered and killed by countless flying beasts and monsters.

Moreover, through the experience of the past several years, several small paths to safely enter the ring-shaped mountain had already been developed, so he just had to choose the closest one.

The entrance to the passage was not far away, and after a short while, Han Li was able to reach the place specified in the records.

Hiding behind a large tree, Han Li was startled by the enormous scale of the dense fog that filled the sky.

The endless white fog covered even the sun. It was impossible to find the entrance to the ring-shaped mountain, and it was even difficult to see short distances within the fog.

‘No wonder no one could approach it without the Moon Yang Pearl.’

The thought of countless unknown demonic beasts rushing at him in this thick fog made him shudder just imagining it.

Judging by how thick the fog was, it seemed that the Heavenly Fiend Sect disciples in charge of the artifact had not yet begun to dissipate the fog. He silently began to wait behind the tree.

The place where Han Li was hiding was so densely packed with all sorts of wild trees and grasses that a dozen people could hide there. Although he couldn’t find them no matter how much he looked, there were definitely others hiding here and there. After all, there were only a few paths to the ring-shaped mountain, including this one. However, right now, everyone was in a hurry to enter the mountain, so no one would be paying attention to him.

An hour passed, then another.

After waiting for three or four hours in a row, he felt an astonishing flow of spiritual energy from the southwest direction.

Then, a white pillar of light that seemed to pierce the sky shot up, forming a huge sphere of light high above the sea of fog. Even though the sphere of light had already formed, the pillar of light did not seem to want to stop, continuously pouring in enormous energy. The sphere of light grew in size over time and emitted a dazzling light, eventually transforming into something like the sun, making it impossible to look directly at it.

# 91