After waking up, Han Li didn't immediately leave the tree hollow. Instead, he sat down cross-legged.
The spiritual energy within his body surged powerfully. His magical power had returned to its peak from before entering the forbidden grounds.
The soreness in his waist and legs had completely vanished, leaving him brimming with energy.
After performing an internal survey, Han Li slowly opened his eyes, immensely satisfied!
He then stood up and checked the talismans and magical tools in his storage bags, making his final preparations.
The several storage bags he had obtained from the bearded man and his companions before — Han Li had never had the chance to examine them carefully, so naturally he went through them now to see if there were any usable tools.
Honestly speaking, whether it was the bearded man's own storage bags or the ones they had looted, the scarcity of magical tools and their low grades left Han Li speechless after looking through them!
Across all five storage bags, there were a total of twenty-three magical tools: five low-grade, seven mid-grade, and eleven high-grade.
One storage bag had only two low-grade tools and two mid-grade ones, with absolutely no high-grade tools at all. This discovery left Han Li puzzled for quite a while and prompted a lengthy lament.
The difference in wealth between ordinary disciples and elite disciples was truly heaven and earth!
An entire pile of storage bags and not a single top-grade tool among them. No wonder the bearded man had been completely helpless when trapped by his "Earth Prison Technique" that day, able to do nothing but watch helplessly as Han Li smashed him to death with the "Golden Light Brick."
When Han Li thought of the number of top-grade tools possessed by Duobao the Beauty and Feng Yue, he couldn't help but feel a deep sense of sympathy for the pitiful state of ordinary disciples!
No wonder people instinctively assumed he was weak and easy to bully when they saw his shallow cultivation techniques — they never even considered whether he might possess powerful magical tools. It turned out that ordinary disciples had so few decent tools!
Now Han Li finally understood why so many disciples at the Yellow Maple Valley's council hall that day had been so excited when they learned top-grade tools were being distributed! It seemed that the Yellow Maple Valley, to which he belonged, actually treated these insignificant disciples quite well! After all, they were willing to part with dozens of top-grade tools to boost morale!
Actually, Han Li had still misjudged the situation. Even when various sects dispatched their elite disciples for the forbidden grounds expedition, the number of top-grade tools those elites carried was exceedingly rare.
Someone like Duobao the Beauty, decked out in top-grade tools from head to toe, was one of only a handful among the elite disciples — and most of them came from extremely prestigious backgrounds. Ordinary elite disciples couldn't even come close!
Someone like Han Li, who carried three or four top-grade tools, could already make the so-called elite disciples drool with envy! After all, before reaching the Core Formation stage, aside from "talisman treasures," top-grade tools were the most formidable combat assets. Each additional top-grade tool could completely transform one's combat strength!
During his time at Yellow Maple Valley, Han Li had had too little contact with his fellow disciples, so he had only a half-baked understanding of the affairs of the cultivation world. He had subconsciously assumed that all elite disciples carried heaps of top-grade tools!
This was understandable. Ever since his great battle with "Senior Brother Lu," every group of enemies he had encountered had possessed top-grade tools. This had given him the illusion that top-grade tools were nothing special — a tremendous misunderstanding.
Now, while he knew about the scarcity of tools among ordinary disciples, he still hadn't fully grasped the true value of top-grade tools. Whether this was a blessing or a curse for Han Li, he honestly couldn't tell!
Low-grade and mid-grade tools, Han Li naturally set aside, not even considering using them. He tested each of the high-grade tools one by one and ultimately selected three — the most powerful and practical ones — as his backup arsenal.
A blue-gleaming 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 both straightforward offensive tools, nothing special to say about them. But the jade-green pot was rather rare — it was a rare supportive-type magical tool.
From this pot, one could spray out a murky green toxic mist that would swirl around enemies and poison them to death! On the surface, this sounded like a pretty effective tool, but in reality it was a rather useless one. Every elemental barrier could block the toxic mist entirely, making it impossible to actually poison a cultivator!
If Han Li hadn't felt that the green toxic mist could temporarily blind an enemy's eyes and cause trouble with their vision, he probably wouldn't have selected this tool at all.
After organizing everything on his person, Han Li estimated the time and quietly slipped out of the tree hollow. Then, orienting himself, he moved steadily onward.
Flying directly into the Circular Mountain Range from above after dispelling the fog was absolutely out of the question — he would be noticed by countless flying demon beasts and attacked until he died. Over the years, a few safe paths leading into the Circular Mountain Range had been discovered. Han Li headed straight for the closest one to his position.
The entrance to the path wasn't far. After a short while, Han Li arrived at the location described in his documents!