After waking up, Han Li did not immediately leave the tree hollow. Instead, he sat down cross-legged.
The spiritual power within his body surged, his magical power having recovered to its peak before entering the forbidden ground.
The aching in his waist and legs had vanished without a trace, his physical strength thoroughly replenished.
After inspecting his internal state, Han Li slowly opened his eyes, feeling extremely satisfied!
He then stood up and checked the talismans and artifacts in his storage pouch, making his final preparations.
He had previously been too preoccupied to examine the storage pouches he had obtained from the bearded man and his accomplices that day. Now, he naturally had to go through them to see if there were any useful artifacts.
To tell the truth, whether it was the storage pouches belonging to the bearded man and his companion, or the ones they had plundered from others, the scarcity and low grade of the artifacts within them left Han Li utterly speechless!
Across all five storage pouches, there were a total of twenty-three artifacts: five low-grade artifacts, seven mid-grade artifacts, and eleven high-grade artifacts.
One storage pouch contained only two low-grade and two mid-grade artifacts, with no high-grade artifacts at all. This discovery left Han Li baffled for quite some time, prompting a flurry of lamentations.
The difference in wealth between ordinary disciples and elite disciples was truly a world apart!
Such a large collection of storage pouches, yet not a single top-grade artifact among them. No wonder the bearded man had been completely helpless when trapped by his Earth Prison technique, with no choice but to watch as he was smashed to death by the Golden Light Brick.
When Han Li recalled the number of top-grade artifacts possessed by Duo Bao Nü and Feng Yue, he couldn't help but feel a sense of helpless resignation at the poverty of ordinary disciples!
No wonder others would instinctively assume he was weak and easy to bully the moment they saw his shallow cultivation technique. They never even considered that he might possess formidable artifacts. It turned out that ordinary disciples had so few high-quality artifacts!
Now Han Li finally understood why so many disciples had been so excited when high-grade artifacts were distributed that day in the Hall of Assembly at Yellow Maple Valley! It seemed that his own Yellow Maple Valley had already treated them—these insignificant disciples—quite well! After all, they were willing to use dozens of high-grade artifacts to boost their morale!
In fact, Han Li had still underestimated the situation. Even among the elite disciples sent by the various sects for the forbidden ground expedition, the number of top-grade artifacts they possessed was exceedingly rare.
People like Duo Bao Nü, who carried top-grade artifacts in abundance, were among only a handful of elite disciples, and most of them came from extremely prominent backgrounds. Ordinary elite disciples couldn't even dream of competing!
For someone like Han Li, who had three or four top-grade artifacts on him, he was already the type to make so-called elite disciples drool! After all, before reaching the Core Formation stage, aside from talisman treasures, top-grade artifacts were the most formidable combat tools. Each additional top-grade artifact could completely transform one's combat strength!
When Han Li was at Yellow Maple Valley, because he had interacted so little with his fellow disciples, he had only a vague understanding of such matters in the cultivation world. He had naively assumed that all elite disciples had a pile of top-grade artifacts!
This was hardly surprising, considering that ever since his great battle with that "Senior Brother Lu," every group of enemies he had encountered possessed top-grade artifacts. This had given him the illusion that top-grade artifacts were nothing special—a significant misunderstanding.
Now, while he knew about the scarcity of artifacts among ordinary disciples, he still didn't fully understand the true value of top-grade artifacts. Whether this was a blessing or a curse for Han Li, he truly couldn't tell!
He naturally disregarded the low and mid-grade artifacts, not even considering using them. He tested all the high-grade artifacts one by one, and finally selected the three most powerful and practical ones as his backup artifacts.
A glistening blue flying knife, a golden cymbal, and a jade-green pot! These were the items Han Li had chosen.
The flying knife and the golden cymbal were purely offensive artifacts, nothing much to say about them. But that jade-green pot was quite rare—it was actually a supplementary-type artifact, which was unusual.
From the pot, a hazy green poisonous mist could be sprayed, swirling around the enemy and causing them to die from poisoning! On the surface, the pot's function seemed quite effective, but in reality it was a rather useless artifact, because all elemental protective barriers could easily block the poisonous mist, making it impossible to truly poison a cultivator!
Had it not been for the fact that Han Li felt the green mist could temporarily obscure an enemy's vision and cause them considerable trouble in seeing their surroundings, he probably wouldn't have selected this artifact at all.
After organizing everything he carried, Han Li estimated the time and quietly slipped out of the tree hollow. After orienting himself, he moved steadily onward.
Flying directly into the Ring Mountains from the sky after dispelling the mist was absolutely out of the question—it would attract the attention of countless flying demon beasts, leading to a fatal siege. Over the years, several small paths had been explored that allowed safe entry into the Ring Mountains. Han Li headed straight for the passage closest to him.
The entrance to the passage wasn't far, and in a short while, Han Li arrived at the location described in the intelligence!
Hiding behind a large tree and looking out at the endless, sky-obscuring thick fog, Han Li was genuinely struck with awe!
This vast white fog almost blotted out the sky and the sun! Forget about seeing the entrance to the Ring Mountains—he couldn't even see a single zhang into the fog!
No wonder almost no one had dared to approach these mountains before the Moon-Yang Treasure Pearl existed! The thought of having to endure attacks from invisible demon beasts appearing and vanishing without a trace within such fog left Han Li speechless for quite some time.
The mist was still this thick—it seemed the Sky Tower Fortress disciple who controlled the treasure pearl hadn't yet begun the spell to disperse it!
With these thoughts, Han Li stood behind the tree and began to wait in silence.
—
In the area where Han Li was positioned, facing the thick fog, wild trees and overgrown weeds sprouted in a disorderly tangle everywhere, more than enough to conceal a dozen or so people.
Although Han Li hadn't detected anyone else nearby, he knew there must be others present—after all, there were only a few paths that led up the mountain. But since the ascent was imminent, no one cared about his arrival.
Time ticked by, one quarter-hour after another!
After waiting bitterly for three or four hours, Han Li suddenly felt a tremendous surge of spiritual power coming from the southwest. Then, a towering pillar of white light shot straight up into the heavens from the distant horizon! Above the vast sea of mist, it condensed into an enormous sphere of light.
Though the sphere had already formed, the pillar showed no intention of stopping, continuing to pour energy into it. Thus, the sphere grew larger and larger, brighter and brighter, until finally it was like a newly risen sun, so dazzling that no one could bear to look at it!
Moments later, the pillar of light suddenly vanished, leaving only the colossal sphere of light floating high in the sky.
But the sphere's lifespan proved pitifully short. In the blink of an eye, it began to twist and distort, its surface undulating like dough—bulging here, caving in there. This spectacle left Han Li staring in wide-eyed astonishment, his mouth hanging open, forgetting to close it!
With a thunderous boom that seemed to shake heaven and earth, the giant sphere of light finally burst apart in the sky, shattering into countless fist-sized points of beautiful light that drifted downward, raining upon the vast expanse of fog below—like the most dazzling rain of light imaginable!
Each white mote of light that fell into the fog immediately caused the surrounding mist to surge to life like coiling dragons, frantically pressing inward toward the mote as its center. But upon contact, the fog would be instantly dissolved by the mote, while the mote itself grew noticeably dimmer.
As more motes of light met the fog, the entire misty region became a scene of earth-shaking turmoil, with all the fog rolling and churning as if in a frenzy—like a colossal demon beast making its final, desperate struggle.
Han Li watched without blinking, transfixed by the entire spectacle. For the first time in his life, he witnessed the true might of a high-grade magical treasure! Amid the shock, his heart was filled with envy and longing!
After its fierce battle with the motes of light, the fog finally began to gradually thin. The tall, imposing silhouette of the Ring Mountains appeared before Han Li and the others for the very first time.
"How incredibly tall!"
This was the exclamation of everyone who could now see the Ring Mountains clearly, and Han Li was no exception!
The section of the Ring Mountains before Han Li was truly terrifying in its height!
Looking upward, the mountain rose a thousand zhang high, soaring into the clouds with its peak invisible. The mountainside was covered with bizarre rock formations and sheer cliffs as far as the eye could see, and towering ancient trees—so massive that several people couldn't wrap their arms around a single trunk—blanketed the entire mountain in a dense forest. Even more striking was how the mountain's ridges extended in a continuous, perilous chain into the distance, stretching onward without any visible end.
Only the ridge facing Han Li's side was comparatively gentle in slope, far less steep than the other directions. This, it seemed, was the so-called path up the mountain.
At that moment, several low growls echoed faintly from within the mountain—sinister and mournful sounds that sent chills down one's spine!
Han Li was still staring in a daze.
With a sharp whoosh, a yellow-clad figure shot out from the grassy area near Han Li like an arrow, darting into the dark mountain and vanishing from sight.
This action seemed to trigger the nerves of all who lay hidden. Immediately, several more figures leaped out simultaneously, rushing forward together. But just before entering the forest, the group separated slightly, infiltrating the Ring Mountains from different locations!
Han Li did not emerge. He intended to observe just who would choose this same path into the mountains as he had.