Chapter 122: The Trial

In the blink of an eye, more than a month had passed.

On this day, Han Li sat cross-legged in the secret chamber, his eyes lightly closed, his body motionless as he meditated.

Suddenly, his eyelids moved, he opened his eyes and stood up, then with a flicker of his form, he appeared in the void above the small courtyard, now wearing a green bull-head mask on his head.

After a moment's hesitation, he transformed into a streak of green light and sped off in a certain direction.

Half a day later, above an unnamed island countless miles away from Wumeng Island, a green light shot over from the distant horizon, flashing once. After circling the island a few times, the light converged, and Han Li, still wearing the bull-head mask, hovered at a low altitude beside a hill.

The moment he appeared, the void not far in front of him suddenly rippled with visible waves, and then a gray figure stepped out from within.

This person wore a crimson mask, was enveloped in a gray light, and his aura was faint, as if it were there but not. Although he stood right before him, he gave Han Li a very distant feeling, and he could not see him clearly no matter how he tried.

Han Li's pupils contracted slightly.

At the moment this person appeared, he had an intuition that this person's cultivation was likely even stronger than Jiao San's.

"Jiao Fifteen, Jiao San recommended you to become a Green-level member. Originally, based on your past contributions, you were far from qualified. But since someone was willing to expend a recommendation qualification, I won't say anything more. However, you must complete the trial mission." The gray figure looked Han Li up and down and said bluntly.

His voice was somewhat indistinct, making it impossible to tell whether it was male or female, old or young.

"I understand." Han Li nodded upon hearing this.

"This is the list of missions. Choose one." With that, the gray figure flipped his hand and produced a crimson token.

With a flick of his finger, the strange patterns on the token lit up, and countless small runes emerged. After intertwining and weaving, they formed a crimson light screen several zhang in size.

On the light screen, multicolored light flowed, and lines of small text appeared, each being a description of a mission.

Without saying much, Han Li turned his gaze to the light screen and studied it intently.

The missions were varied: some required guarding a dangerous region for ten thousand years, others involved exterminating powerful demons haunting a distant area, and still others required collecting rare heavenly treasures.

But without exception, these missions seemed quite difficult, many of them appearing no less challenging than killing the Red Moon Island Lord.

Seeing this, Han Li's mind raced.

Although some of these missions were not impossible for him to complete given his current strength, they would basically take a lot of time, and what he lacked most now was time.

Not to mention ten thousand or a thousand years, he didn't even want to wait a hundred or ten years.

After all, the True Immortal Realm he was in was not only fraught with danger, but there were clearly some forces he still didn't fully understand that were intent on killing him, otherwise he wouldn't have lost three hundred years of memory and ended up in the Spirit Realm.

Thinking this, his eyes quickly scanned the list of missions, and suddenly his gaze fell on one of them:

"Revive an unknown medicinal herb seed within a hundred years."

Han Li was secretly delighted. There was actually such a mission.

Although he didn't know what kind of medicinal herb seed it was, with the Heaven-Devouring Bottle, completing this mission should be easy.

"Special Envoy, is there any more specific explanation for this mission to revive the medicinal herb seed?" With this thought, he pointed to a spot on the light screen and asked calmly.

"Oh, you want to choose this mission?" The gray figure's light flickered slightly, and his tone seemed somewhat surprised.

"Is there something wrong with this mission?" Han Li was taken aback and asked.

"No. This mission was issued by an elder of the alliance. He obtained that medicinal herb seed by chance, but unfortunately couldn't identify its variety. The seed had no life force inside. According to his guess, it would require a certain level of wood-attribute laws to revive it." The gray figure explained slowly.

"I'll take this mission." Han Li nodded upon hearing this.

The gray figure glanced at Han Li, didn't ask further, put away the crimson token, then took out a white array plate-like object and handed it to Han Li, saying:

"This is called a Transmission Plate. In a few days, someone will transmit the seed to you using this. If you can revive it, use this to send it back, and that will count as completing the trial mission."

"Yes, thank you, Special Envoy." Han Li took the white array plate, a hint of curiosity flashing in his eyes. The Immortal Realm actually had such a convenient item.

The gray figure did not stay long. After assigning the mission, he raised his arm and a gray light flew out, spinning in the void before him.

Rip!

A crack opened in space, then turned into a gray spatial passage, its edges emitting a faint light.

Without giving Han Li another glance, the gray figure turned and stepped into it, disappearing. The spatial passage also flashed and closed shut after his figure entered.

Han Li squinted his eyes, somewhat shocked.

Within the gray light was a seemingly ordinary talisman, its surface adorned with mysterious golden patterns.

This item could easily tear through space and faintly emitted a special law power fluctuation, clearly not an ordinary object. Yet the other party seemed to use it merely for travel, which was somewhat extravagant.

Han Li shook his head, stopped thinking about it, and transformed into a streak of light, flying off into the distance.

That night.

Luo Feng hurriedly arrived at Han Li's small courtyard. As soon as he entered, he bowed from a distance to Han Li, who stood with his hands behind his back, saying:

"Luo Feng pays respects to Senior Liu."

"Help me find some high-grade spiritual soil suitable for planting spiritual herbs. You don't need too much of each type, but try to find as many different kinds as possible." Han Li instructed.

"Yes." Luo Feng was slightly startled but immediately agreed without asking further.

...

Three days later.

Han Li sat cross-legged in the secret chamber. Before him floated a white array plate-like object, spinning and emitting a humming sound.

After a moment, a large swath of dazzling white light surged from the array plate, and countless silver runes gushed out, swirling around the plate before plunging into its center, forming a white light mass.

The white light mass expanded and contracted, then dispersed, revealing a palm-sized pale green jade box suspended above the array plate.

Seeing this, Han Li waved his hand and grabbed the green jade box. After a brief inspection to confirm there was no problem, he opened the lid.

Inside the box lay a thumb-sized, yellow-brown, shriveled seed, resembling a peach pit, looking utterly unremarkable.

Han Li carefully picked up the seed with two fingers and brought it close to his eyes for a closer look.

After a long while, he shook his head.

As the Special Envoy had said, there was no trace of life force inside the seed.

And he really couldn't see what was so special about it that the elder, who seemed to hold a high position in the alliance, would go to such lengths to revive it.

After a moment's thought, he took out a jade token and opened the entrance to the secret realm. With a flicker, he entered and went directly to an open space behind a small hut. He flipped his hand and placed a jade basin on the ground, filled with multicolored soil that emitted a rich spiritual energy fluctuation.

This was a type of five-colored soil he had prepared himself using the spiritual soil Luo Feng had collected.

Although this spiritual soil couldn't be said to nurture all spiritual herbs and medicines, most herbaceous spiritual plants could survive and grow in this five-colored soil.

Han Li buried the seed in the spiritual soil and then took out the Heaven-Devouring Bottle.

He hadn't used it for some time, and a drop of green liquid had already condensed inside.

He carefully dripped the green liquid onto the spiritual soil, where it quickly seeped in.

Then he sat cross-legged, released his spiritual sense into the seed buried in the soil, and closed his eyes.

Time passed slowly. About half a day later, he suddenly opened his eyes, a hint of joy appearing on his face.

About two or three hours after the green liquid was dripped, a trace of life force indeed emerged within the yellow-brown seed, and it was increasing very slowly.

Seeing this, Han Li turned and left the secret realm. He came to the small courtyard, set up layers of restrictions, and placed the small bottle on the ground.

It was late at night, and the sky was filled with sparkling stars.

Countless starlight converged and merged into the bottle...

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, a month had passed. Another drop of green liquid had formed in the small bottle.

Han Li immediately dripped the green liquid onto the seed.

This time, faint traces of green began to appear on the yellow-brown seed's surface...

Five months later.

After the sixth drop of green liquid was added, the life force within the seed seemed to have recovered nearly one-fifth, and the originally dull surface had turned half-gray and half-green.

Another three months passed.

When Han Li added another drop of green liquid, with a soft "crack," a small crack appeared on the seed's surface, and a tiny green sprout about an inch long emerged.

Several slender, white tender roots also sprouted from the bottom of the seed, taking root in the five-colored spiritual soil...

Han Li looked at the green sprout before him, his eyes flickering.

Although he still didn't know what kind of seed this was, judging by the current situation, if it grew, it would certainly be extraordinary.

The seed had originally had no life force at all. The hardest part was to make it generate a trace of life force and maintain it. Now that its life force had recovered nearly a quarter and gradually stabilized, it could be considered revived. From now on, as long as it was moved to spiritual soil and carefully nurtured with suitable wood-attribute spiritual liquid, full recovery of life force was only a matter of time.

Of course, without the green liquid, this time might be measured in tens of thousands of years. But that was not Han Li's concern. Naturally, he had no intention of letting the seed fully recover its life force, to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Thinking this, he returned to the secret chamber in the small courtyard.

After putting on the bull-head mask, he flipped his hand and took out the white jade plate. He placed the sprout along with the jade basin on it, and waved his hand to activate the restrictions on it.

Hum!

A white light emerged from the jade plate, enveloping the jade basin.

With a flash of light, the jade basin vanished without a trace.