Seeing the other party so carefully apologize, Han Li felt too embarrassed to carry out his original plan of teaching the ugly man a lesson. After all, aside from being somewhat rude to him before, the ugly man hadn't really made any major mistakes.
Han Li thought this, and his expression softened as he said indifferently:
"If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving now."
With that, Han Li lightly departed from the spot.
The ugly man stared at Han Li's disappearing figure for a long time, finally letting out a long sigh. He muttered under his breath:
"It's just not fair! Others can casually enter seclusion in the Earth Fire Room and succeed in Foundation Establishment. How come I specifically found a quiet room and gathered a bunch of auxiliary pills, yet still failed to break through? No wonder this person was taken as a disciple by Master Li—his aptitude must be extraordinary!"
The ugly man had actually mistaken Han Li for a genius with extraordinary aptitude. If Han Li himself had heard this, he would probably have been speechless with amusement.
By this time, Han Li had already left Yuelu Hall. The two people guarding the teleportation formation had been replaced by others, otherwise they would have been shocked to see Han Li suddenly advance from the Qi Refining stage to the Foundation Establishment stage.
Han Li rode his flying artifact, moving slowly through the sky, feeling incredibly pleased. At the same time, he recalled his experience of entering the Foundation Establishment stage.
Five months ago, after refining the Foundation Establishment Pills, Han Li had considered carefully and decided that using the Earth Fire Room for Foundation Establishment was indeed a good idea. At the very least, he didn't have to worry about someone suddenly breaking in and interrupting his seclusion, causing him to fail halfway.
With his decision made, Han Li first took one of the three original Foundation Establishment Pills and began circulating his energy to dissolve the medicinal power.
The Foundation Establishment Pill's effects manifested quickly. Within just a few hours, Han Li felt a raging fire burning increasingly fiercely in his dantian, while his limbs and other parts became extremely cold, creating a very distinct sensation of hot and cold.
But this feeling only lasted for a short while before the raging fire in his dantian suddenly vanished without a trace, and his limbs and other parts returned to their normal temperature. This left Han Li somewhat stunned.
A flash of confusion crossed Han Li's face, then his expression suddenly changed dramatically. His hands immediately pressed against his dantian and refused to let go even an inch.
Because at this moment, a sudden wave of intense pain struck, as if seven or eight sharp knives were simultaneously stirring inside. This caught Han Li completely off guard, his face instantly turning deathly pale, beads of sweat the size of soybeans continuously dripping from his chin. His entire body bent into the shape of a bow.
Han Li writhed in agony, curling up into a ball on the ground while cursing inwardly. Why had no one ever told him that taking a Foundation Establishment Pill would be this painful!
But before he could finish cursing, the severe pain in his dantian suddenly exploded.
This explosion transformed into countless streams of heat that immediately spread throughout his body along the meridians, even penetrating deep into his bone marrow. But then, the heat streams immediately turned into unbearable itching, as if countless ants were crawling all over his body non-stop. He wished he could smash his head against the wall corner just to slightly relieve this suffering.
This torment that nearly drove Han Li mad continued for the time it takes to eat a meal before gradually subsiding. Only then could Han Li support himself against the wall corner and barely stand up. By this time, he was drenched in sweat, his entire body covered in an inexplicable gray substance that was sticky and emitted an indescribable strange odor.
But Han Li didn't care about any of this. What he cared about was that his cultivation level had suddenly advanced to the twelfth layer. And his entire body felt warm and comfortable, with not a single part feeling uncomfortable.
Obviously, that Foundation Establishment Pill had improved his constitution, allowing him to cleanse his marrow and transform his tendons. As for the warmth he felt, it should be from the residual medicinal power of the Foundation Establishment Pill that hadn't been fully absorbed, which could be used to increase his magic power after absorption. This was also why one must enter seclusion for three months after taking a Foundation Establishment Pill—otherwise, this medicinal power would gradually dissipate over time.
At first, Han Li indeed followed the Foundation Establishment process step by step as others had described, diligently sitting in meditation to absorb these residual medicinal powers.
But soon Han Li discovered that the medicinal powers stored in his body could only deepen his magic power a bit more and would not provide any further constitution improvement.
If one only had a single Foundation Establishment Pill, naturally everyone would seize this rare opportunity to increase their magic power after cleansing their marrow and transforming their tendins. They would diligently enter seclusion for three months to absorb all the medicinal power clean, and only then would they be satisfied.
But Han Li was different. He still had a large batch of Foundation Establishment Pills on hand, so he didn't think much of these residual medicinal powers. What he cared about was how many more constitution improvements he would need to undergo before he could step into the Foundation Establishment stage. After all, cleansing the marrow and transforming the tendons was the key to breaking through and succeeding in Foundation Establishment.
After more than ten days of meditation, Han Li finally understood this point clearly. Naturally, he had no patience to wait.
He took the second Foundation Establishment Pill.
He figured that taking two Foundation Establishment Pills in succession shouldn't cause any major problems—at most, the residual medicinal power would be slightly stronger, which was nothing. After thinking it over several times, Han Li finally didn't wait a few more days and took the second Foundation Establishment Pill.
The same severe pain, the same numbness and itching—despite being prepared, Han Li still suffered immensely! But Han Li felt that this time it seemed slightly less intense than the last. However, his body still expelled a considerable amount of impurities. It seemed his aptitude really was quite poor!
After taking two Foundation Establishment Pills in succession, Han Li didn't feel anything wrong with the residual medicinal power in his body. Of course, the warmth was slightly stronger, but this didn't matter at all. Moreover, his magic power had surged to the thirteenth layer, reaching the peak of the Qi Refining stage.
With this, Han Li felt relieved. Below, he took one Foundation Establishment Pill after another in quick succession. Each pill performed the same marrow-cleansing function, expelling batches of gray impurities from Han Li's body!
But starting from the third pill, Han Li clearly felt that the marrow-cleansing effect of the Foundation Establishment Pill was rapidly decreasing, and fewer and fewer impurities were being expelled. At the same time, however, the true essence and magic power in his body were undergoing a strange transformation.
The originally gaseous true essence gradually became denser and more viscous after taking several Foundation Establishment Pills, with a strong trend toward transforming into liquid form. When Han Li took the seventh Foundation Establishment Pill, apart from a small area at the core of his dantian, his true essence was virtually indistinguishable from liquid.
But after taking the seventh pill, the residual medicinal power in Han Li's body finally reached a near-saturated state. The original warmth throughout his body had now turned into a burning, scorching sensation. This made Han Li hesitate!
He really didn't know what would happen if he took the eighth pill—would the medicinal power erupt uncontrollably and cause some disaster? But Han Li also felt that he was very close to the Foundation Establishment stage, probably just one or two more pills away!
After a brief consideration, Han Li's desire to achieve Foundation Establishment still prevailed. Gritting his teeth, he took the eighth Foundation Establishment Pill.
However, as soon as this pill entered his stomach, the residual medicinal power that he had barely been able to control suddenly burst forth violently. The heat surged through all his meridians, and he immediately lost consciousness and collapsed!
When Han Li woke up burning hot all over, he was pleasantly surprised to discover that he had actually broken through while unconscious and entered the Foundation Establishment stage!
Overjoyed, Han Li immediately wanted to leap up to release his excitement! But just as he straightened up, his body heated up again, and he collapsed back onto the ground, startling himself!
It turned out that although he had succeeded in Foundation Establishment, the residual medicinal power from the eight Foundation Establishment Pills had not diminished at all—it still filled his entire body just as strongly, which was very dangerous!
In this situation, he had to immediately circulate his energy and absorb this medicinal power right away. Otherwise, there was a risk of it erupting again at any moment.
Although Han Li understood the solution to this crisis, he still secretly groaned inwardly and couldn't bring himself to feel happy.
Because apart from that "Azure Essence Sword Art," Han Li had no cultivation technique above the Foundation Establishment stage! And as for this sword art, just looking at how his new master had casually tossed it to him, one could tell how worthless this technique was.
Moreover, Han had flipped through this book several times before and had even asked others about it.
This sword art was indeed quite ordinary. Nearly every Foundation Establishment stage disciple in Yellow Maple Valley practiced the first two or three layers, but no one had ever continued cultivating beyond the third layer. Han Li hadn't quite gotten to the bottom of the specific reasons, but this sword art's poor quality was evident from this!
But in the current situation, even if Han Li didn't want to practice it, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and proceed.
With no other option, Han Li took out the "Azure Essence Sword Art," spread it flat on the ground in front of him, then sat cross-legged and began cultivating according to the book.
The Azure Essence Sword Art had a total of nine layers. The first three layers could be practiced by Qi Refining stage disciples, while the middle and final three layers could only be practiced by Foundation Establishment stage disciples and Core Formation stage cultivators. Moreover, after completing every three layers, one could utilize a unique divine ability specific to this sword art.
After mastering the first three layers, one could project a sword glow several feet long from their bare palm without needing any artifacts. In terms of power, it could rival ordinary high-grade artifacts!
After mastering the middle three layers, one could instantly release a protective sword shield. Although its defensive power was roughly equivalent to an ordinary mid-level defensive spell, this shield carried a certain sword glow counterattack. Attacking this shield at will would trigger an automatic sword glow attack from the shield. As for the final three layers...