Han Li flew back to his cave dwelling in no time flat, pushing himself to his limits the entire way.
Without a word, he first dug out the jade slip of formation arrays that Qi Yunxiao had given him, then sent his consciousness into it, carefully studying the usage instructions for the set of formation implements.
Han Li intended to put everything else aside for now and focus on setting up the great protective formation of his cave first. After all, those people's fight had taken place far too close to this place, leaving him feeling thoroughly insecure.
The setup of the Inverted Five Elements Formation was remarkably straightforward.
You simply planted the formation flags and embedded the formation discs at their precise positions, arranged a few spirit stones into a small auxiliary array as specified, and set them into the formation's eye to supply the entire grand array with sufficient spiritual energy.
Once that was done, the great formation could be activated immediately, and as long as the master had even a rudimentary grasp of the basic control methods, he could use the main formation flag kept in hand to drive the array through its various configurations, trapping and confusing the enemy.
Han Li planted and buried everything according to the instructions, then gritted his teeth and set several mid-grade spirit stones into the array. That was half of his entire spirit stone hoard! The pain of parting with them lingered for a good while. But to make sure the formation's power wasn't diminished, he had no choice but to bite the bullet.
Sure, if he took some spirit herbs of sufficient age, Han Li could easily trade them at the market for a huge pile of spirit stones. But doing that would multiply the chances of someone discovering his secret and dragging him off for interrogation. If he wasn't careful, the very scene he'd witnessed today might one day be replayed with himself as the one getting surrounded! Han Li sighed helplessly at the thought.
He tested the formation's operation, and it looked pretty impressive. As for its actual effectiveness at trapping and defending against enemies, that would have to wait until an actual invader showed up. But just the fact that it could blanket dozens of acres around the cave, with nothing visible from the outside, made Han Li feel it was money well spent.
Only then did Han Li relax, returning to his bedchamber to turn his thoughts to the matter of his cultivation.
To have any hope of stumbling into the Foundation Establishment stage had required several conditions to come together — outstanding techniques, once-in-ten-thousand aptitude, extraordinary fortune, and more — and even then there was only the slimmest chance of success.
Foundation Establishment, by comparison, was a walk in the park! After all, all you really needed was good enough aptitude and a couple of Foundation Establishment Pills, and your odds of success were pretty decent.
But the Core Formation stage? Even with all of those prerequisites met, the cultivators who actually succeeded in forming their cores were vanishingly few. That was why the appearance of even a single Core Formation cultivator was cause for a sect to throw a grand celebration, and word would spread through the local cultivation world in no time.
The Masked Moon Sect had become the number one immortal sect in the Yue Kingdom not only because they had over a thousand Foundation Establishment disciples — far surpassing the other sects — but because they also had a dominant lead in Core Formation cultivators, boasting a dozen or more of them, enough to look down on the other six major sects.
Han Li knew his aptitude was abysmal, certainly far worse than that of other Foundation Establishment disciples. As for techniques, all he'd managed to obtain was the "Green Origin Sword Technique," which was practically useless, and absolutely unsuitable for practice. Fortune was an intangible thing — it all depended on one's luck.
When he looked at it that way, everything seemed to be working against him!
But after thinking it through more carefully, Han Li realized that while his aptitude was terrible beyond redemption, the mysterious small bottle that could accelerate the growth of spirit herbs meant he could open a furnace and refine pills. That was something that could make up for his shortcomings. Fortune was beyond anyone's control, so there was no point worrying about it. That left him with only one avenue to increase his chances of forming a core — finding a high-grade cultivation technique that suited him.
The moment this thought took root, the first person Han Li thought of was his bargain-bin of a master, Li Huayuan.
Since the man had accepted him as an In-Name Disciple, wasn't it about time he taught him some techniques? After all, Li Huayuan had already succeeded in Core Formation — perhaps he could offer some guidance when it came to choosing a method!
With this decided, Han Li resolved to head back to Yellow Maple Valley first thing in the morning and find out where his master's cave dwelling was, so he could go ask for advice. The man probably still didn't know about Han Li's successful Foundation Establishment.
Come to think of it, it was almost laughable! Since taking him on, Li Huayuan had never once summoned him. For years the man had acted as though this In-Name Disciple didn't even exist, which left a bitter taste in Han Li's mouth.
Of course, moping about it wasn't going to make Han Li go knocking on the man's door either — he didn't want to seem pushy or lacking in self-awareness.
But now that he had actually succeeded in Foundation Establishment, if he really wanted to seek out this master of his… he, the disciple, would have to go asking strangers for directions! It was almost comically embarrassing.