A Name Shakes the Region – Four Great Powers

Chapter 607: A Name Shakes the Region – Four Great Powers

This development caught Han Li off guard, yet it was also something he had anticipated.

Relying on medicine pills to advance one's cultivation could indeed allow rapid progress in one's magical power, and with certain heaven-defying sacred medicines, one could advance a thousand li in a single day.

However, this method was still somewhat opportunistic. Once one's magical power reached a certain level of profundity, the original effect of medicine stones would lose their effectiveness in advancing cultivation.

This was because, as one's technique progressed and the body's meridians were continuously cleansed and refined, the amount of spiritual power a cultivator could absorb in a single breath cycle would constantly increase. After reaching a certain stage, the efficiency of extracting spiritual power from pills would become roughly comparable to the speed at which a cultivator absorbed the natural spiritual energy of the world.

Thus, relatively speaking, the pills would naturally appear to become gradually ineffective. Unless one could take other, more effective spiritual pills.

This was the principle behind why the pills Han Li had taken during the Foundation Establishment stage had lost their effect during the Core Formation stage.

In the past, however, this situation only occurred after crossing an entire major realm. Now, he hadn't even entered the Nascent Soul stage, yet these pills had already lost their effect.

This was something Han Li had not anticipated.

Because according to both the ancient texts he had read and the Nascent Soul cultivator's insights he had later obtained, it was mentioned that while pills refined from sixth-grade demonic cores could be disregarded, pills made from seventh-grade demonic cores should have been effective all the way up to the condensation of the Nascent Soul. Although their effectiveness would have been greatly reduced compared to before.

This made Han Li find it somewhat peculiar.

After careful consideration, he could only attribute the premature ineffectiveness of the pills to a drug resistance that hadn't manifested for a long time.

Of course, this was just one conjecture. It might also have something to do with the Green Flame Wine he had consumed that day, or the Spiritual Communion Energy he had obtained from Mei Ning.

One of these two things was not originally meant for human consumption, and the other was known as one of the world's seven great refined spiritual energies. It seemed entirely normal for them to have some unexpected side effects.

Han Li had no intention of investigating the true reason for the pills' failure.

The matter had already occurred, and he could not change this fact. He naturally did not wish to waste energy on a useless endeavor.

He began to consider his next course of action.

He still had one eighth-grade Poison Flood Dragon demonic core. However, this was an item that could not be bought even with spirit stones. He couldn't bear to refine it into pills for advancing his cultivation. There was also a high chance of failure in alchemy, and even if he successfully refined one or two pills, that small amount would not be enough to push him to the false-dan threshold.

As things stood, he could only do as ordinary cultivators did and rely on arduous bitter cultivation to increase his cultivation bit by bit. This snail's pace of cultivation was something he seemed to have not experienced for a long time.

After thinking it over carefully, Han Li couldn't help but smile wryly.

Fortunately, he was only a hair's breadth away from the Great Perfection stage now. He estimated that if the spiritual energy supply was sufficient, it would only take him about ten years to complete.

This meant he would need to find a place with a decent spirit vein to cultivate.

Otherwise, in a place with thin spiritual energy, his cultivation time would be multiplied. Han Li would naturally not do such a foolish thing.

However, when it came to spirit veins, the Heavenly South and the Chaotic Star Sea were somewhat different again.

In the Chaotic Star Sea, there were few people and many islands, with a territory that was almost infinitely vast. Naturally, there were countless large and small islands with spirit veins. In the Heavenly South, however, there was a large population and a limited land area.

Although the territory wasn't small, it didn't matter how weak the spiritual energy was; any place where a spirit vein existed was completely occupied by large and small sects and cultivator clans without exception.

Even if some inferior spiritual land had slipped through the net, it would be swarmed and occupied by rogue cultivators. There was no such thing as leftover land.

In terms of cultivation resources alone, the Heavenly South could never catch up to the Chaotic Star Sea!

Thus, if Han Li wanted to continue his cultivation, his only option was to infiltrate a cultivator clan or join a certain cultivation sect.

Otherwise, although he had the power to sweep through any cultivator clan or small cultivation sect and forcefully seize some spirit vein land, he would likely immediately find himself once more in a situation of being targeted by Nascent Soul cultivators.

Han Li was truly sick and tired of being chased around all day. He just wanted to honestly condense his Nascent Soul.

"A cultivator clan..." After some brief consideration, Han Li eliminated this option.

The quality of the spirit veins a single clan could occupy was limited, and they simply could not provide spiritual energy to his satisfaction. Furthermore, cultivator clans generally only accepted members of their own bloodline. It was very difficult for an outsider to blend in.

Cultivation sects were different. Especially the larger cultivation sects. Not only did they occupy the best spirit vein locations, but they also had many high-order cultivators within the sect. If anything happened, he wouldn't need to step forward and reveal his cultivation level, thereby delaying his own training. He could completely enjoy the protection offered by the big tree.

And once he had condensed his Nascent Soul, he naturally wouldn't have to fear anything. He estimated that even if he revealed his identity at that point, the higher-ups of the sect would only try their best to win him over. Why would they foolishly make an enemy of him?

And so, with the idea of finding a sect with the most abundant spiritual energy, the Yunmeng Mountain, a sacred spiritual vein renowned throughout the entire Heavenly South and even mentioned to him in Yue Country, surfaced in Han Li's mind. The three great cultivation sects that occupied this spirit vein naturally became Han Li's primary consideration.

Since he wanted to join one of these sects, Han Li naturally needed to compare the characteristics and pros and cons of these three sects.

Speaking of which, he had obtained a general picture of the Heavenly South cultivation world over the past hundred years from a small local market town.

At that time, Han Li and the two women, Zi Ling, had not yet parted ways, and they had shared this information together. After all, compared to Han Li, the two women were even more eager to familiarize themselves with the environment and general distribution of power in the Heavenly South.

The current landscape of the Heavenly South was very different from when Han Li had left.

First of all, the situation of large and small powers coexisting based on national boundaries no longer existed. The entire Heavenly South was now divided and shared by the Devil Dao, the Righteous Dao, the Heavenly Alliance, and the Nine Nations Alliance.

Han Li had known about the Righteous and Devil Dao and the Nine Nations Alliance from before. However, the Heavenly Alliance was a massive organization that emerged only after he had gone to the Chaotic Star Sea. It was an alliance of cultivator sects formed by over a dozen large and small countries to resist the growing power of the Righteous and Devil Dao. In terms of strength, it was greater than either the Righteous or Devil Dao alone, but if the Righteous and Devil Dao were to join forces, the Heavenly Alliance would not be their match.

Although the Righteous and Devil Dao had once tacitly agreed to attack their neighbors together, swallowing several nearby countries in succession, their relationship had consistently remained hostile, making any talk of an alliance impossible.

Furthermore, soon after absorbing their new gains, internal conflicts and infighting broke out within both the Righteous and Devil Dao over the distribution of benefits. They had no interest in moving against the Heavenly Alliance.

As for the Heavenly Alliance itself, it was merely a loose coalition. As long as the Righteous and Devil Dao didn't proactively attack them, they were more than happy with the situation.

They didn't seem to have the courage to launch an offensive themselves.

Thus, the three major forces had settled into a delicate state of equilibrium.

However, the true reason there had been no major wars for over a century was largely related to another great power, the Nine Nations Alliance.

The Nine Nations Alliance, besides absorbing the Seven Sects of Yue, had also taken in many other cultivator sects and rogue cultivators who had been expelled by the Righteous and Devil Dao. Its strength had immediately swelled considerably. They had thought that this would surely allow them to overpower the Dharma Warriors of the Moulan Steppe.

But contrary to their expectations, whether it was the will of heaven or pure coincidence, the Moulan tribes they had been locked in conflict with suddenly received powerful reinforcements from the second and fourth largest tribes of the Moulan people. The number of Dharma Warriors instantly doubled.

The conflict between the two sides immediately intensified. After several major battles, both sides suffered heavy casualties. The Nine Nations Alliance was at a clear disadvantage and even lost some of its territory.

In desperation, the Nine Nations Alliance was forced to send a request for aid to the Righteous and Devil Dao and the Heavenly Alliance, threatening that if the three powers were unwilling to send troops, they would simply pull back their forces and let the Moulan Dharma Warriors flood in.

When this news was relayed back, the Righteous and Devil Dao and the Heavenly Alliance, even if they were extremely reluctant, knew that if the Nine Nations Alliance really retreated, their own days would not be good under the ferocious Moulan Dharma Warriors. So they had to send some people to reinforce them.

The result was another decisive great battle. Thousands of cultivators perished, finally allowing the Nine Nations Alliance to barely hold off the Moulan offensive and regain a foothold.

From then on, however, the Nine Nations Alliance learned to be more prudent. They subsequently demanded that the other powers must send personnel on a rotating basis to jointly resist the Dharma Warriors' attacks. Otherwise, if only their own family was putting in the men and effort while the other three families sat comfortably on the sidelines, they would flatly refuse to do it anymore.

Thus, after a long period of negotiation and bickering, the four great powers finally reached an agreement. The agreement stipulated that the Nine Nations Alliance would take the lead, with the other three serving in a supporting role, to jointly resist the Moulan people.

It was precisely because of this agreement that, for over a hundred years, although the Righteous and Devil Dao had digested their vast newly acquired territories, they didn't dare to easily restart hostilities, mindful of the Moulan people's hawkish gaze and the Nine Nations Alliance's threats.

As for Xi Country and two neighboring countries, they were subordinate to the Heavenly Alliance.

The three sects—"Ancient Sword Sect," "Falling Cloud Sect," and "Hundred Artworks Institute"—were even core members of the alliance.

(End of Chapter)