After listening to Sect Master Zhong Lingdao's lecture and words of encouragement, two managing disciples each carrying a tray walked into the hall.
On one tray sat a gold-trimmed storage pouch, and on the other was a small pile of multicolored mid-grade spirit stones. It seemed it was time to fulfill the promised rewards — a kind of pre-battle morale boost, Han Li thought with a trace of malicious amusement.
The mid-grade spirit stones were to be taken freely based on each person's needs. Han Li already had an earth-attribute and a fire-attribute spirit stone, so he took a blue water spirit stone from the tray, and no one contested him for it.
But when it came time to draw spirit treasures from the storage pouch, the disciples' expressions turned grave.
This storage pouch was different from ordinary ones. With normal storage pouches, all one had to do was extend one's spiritual sense inside and channel spiritual power to retrieve items. But this pouch blocked cultivators' spiritual sense from probing within, and didn't require spiritual power — one simply had to reach in by hand and pull out a spirit treasure that had been shrunk dozens of times over. However, what exactly would come out was anyone's guess, entirely dependent on the sense of touch.
It seemed this storage pouch had been specially forged for drawing spirit treasures, because otherwise its practical usefulness was far inferior to that of ordinary storage pouches — who would bother with it otherwise?
Although all the items inside were high-grade magic treasures, defensive magic treasures were clearly rarer than offensive-type ones. Moreover, whether all offensive or all defensive, the quality and effectiveness of high-grade magic treasures varied considerably.
Being able to draw a suitable magic treasure would add another slim chance of survival in the Blood-colored Trial, so those people — especially the disciples who were desperately short on magic treasures — were all the more anxious about it.
Han Li didn't pay much attention to any of this.
On his last trip to the market town, he had swept clean everything the Myriad Treasures Pavilion had stored for years, obtaining two top-grade magic treasures alone, not to mention acquiring the Azure Flood Dragon Banner afterward and already possessing several other high-grade magic treasures.
Adding one more high-grade magic treasure wasn't something that warranted such excitement on his part.
By the time Han Li stepped forward, most people had already drawn theirs. As for what magic treasures they had obtained, everyone tacitly kept quiet about it and certainly wouldn't show them to others.
Han Li thrust one hand into the pouch and fished around blindly inside. His fingers closed around something with an unusual shape. Something stirred in his heart, and without a second thought he pulled it from the storage pouch and stole a quick glance. After a brief moment of surprise, he immediately put it away.
At that point, someone behind him was already pressing forward impatiently. Seeing this, Han Li courteously stepped aside and returned to where he had been standing.
The magic treasure drawing had just ended when a new group of people entered the hall. Many were stewards Han Li had seen when he first entered the Yellow Maple Valley — Martial Uncle Wang and the elderly man surnamed Ye, whom Han Li held in considerable contempt, were among them.
These people, so different from their usual haughty bearing, all wore expressions of reverence as they crowded around a square-faced old man in their midst. Not one of them dared to chat casually.
The old man appeared to be in his fifties or sixties, with hair that had gone partly gray, but he was spirited and vigorous, with a ruddy complexion. A pair of tiger eyes conveyed authority without anger, instantly revealing him to be a man of fierce temperament.
The moment his gaze swept over the assembled disciples, Han Li felt as though his very insides had been laid bare before the man, sending a chill of alarm through his heart.
When Sect Master Zhong saw the old man enter, he hurried forward to greet him, addressing him repeatedly as "Granduncle-Master Li" with a hint of fawning in his voice, leaving the disciples utterly bewildered.
But the other stewards showed no surprise at all. Not only did they not look down on this display — when they saw the old man casually respond to Zhong Lingdao with a few words, they were filled with envy and jealousy, as if merely being able to speak with the old man and address him as "Granduncle-Master" was a rare honor.
Under the bewildered gazes of Han Li and the others who knew nothing of this, Sect Master Zhong introduced the old man to the disciples. As it turned out, this "Granduncle-Master Li" whom he had been addressing was one of the several Core Formation stage ancestors whom Han Li and the others had long heard of but never met — Granduncle-Master Li.
Granduncle-Master Li would be leading the expedition to the forbidden ground, accompanied by five other stewards including Martial Uncle Wang.
As soon as Sect Master Zhong finished his introduction, Granduncle-Master Li said a curt "Let's go," ending his first meeting with juniors like Han Li, and then left the hall without further ado.
Han Li and the others stared at each other in blank astonishment, but only after being urged on by the other stewards did they hastily follow after him.