Han Li had anticipated that the medicine pills would eventually lose their effect on him. While medicine pills are able to rapidly progress one's cultivation, it possessed its own flaws. When one's magic power reached a certain level, the original medicine pills would lack the medicinal power to be effective. Additionally, with his meridians being purified from the lingering effects of the rainbow beads and his continuously increases in magic power, Han Li became capable of absorbing more spiritual power in one instance. He had reached a stage where his speed at absorbing Heaven-Earth spiritual Qi was nearly the same as absorbing spiritual power from medicine pills.
Of course, this resulted in medicine pills gradually losing their original efficacy. Consequently, even if Han Li took a large amount of Foundation Establishment level pills they would have no effect on him.
However, his current predicament with the ineffective pills was caused from him crossing through entirely different worlds. This was something he couldn't have possibly anticipated.
Both the jade slips and the Nascent Soul cultivator's experiences both mentioned that while grade six demon cores might've no longer been useful, grade seven demon core medicine pills should be effective before a Nascent Soul is formed. However, they now had hardly any effect on him.
After some careful thought, he could only accept that the medicine pills had lost their effectiveness earlier than anticipated and he had finally become resistant to medicine again.
Of course, Han Li guessed that this also may have something to do with either Feng Xi's Jadefire Wine or Mei Ning's Transient Spirit Qi.
One was an item that humans should've never been able to drink while the other was one known to be one of the seven purest spiritual Qi in the world. It would be quite ordinary for their use to have repercussions.
Since these circumstances have already occurred, there was no point in investigating the true cause of the loss of medicinal effectiveness since it could no longer be changed. He was unwilling to spend a large amount of effort on something that would be fruitless. Instead, he began to think of plans for the future.
He still had the demon core of the grade eight flood dragon in his hand. But since it was such a precious material that could hardly be found, he was completely unwilling to refine it into a medicine pill since there was such a high chance of failure. Additionally, this would result in only one or two pills; it wouldn't be enough to bring him to false Nascent stage.
As a result, his only choice was to strenuously cultivate to increase his magic power a bit at a time just like everyone else. It was just that he hadn't experienced such slow progress for quite a long time.
With that thought, Han Li couldn't help but bitterly smile.
Fortunately, he was only a short distance away from reaching the peak Core Formation stage. He figured that if he was provided with an abundant amount of spiritual Qi, it would only take him about ten years worth of effort. As such, he had to find a place with acceptable spirit veins. If he were to cultivate in an area with weak spiritual Qi, it would take him several times longer, an unacceptable result.
But when speaking of spirit veins, the Heavenly South Region and the Scattered Star Seas were quite different. The Scattered Star Seas had an abundance of islands and few people with free land as far as the eye could see. There were countless islands with as many unclaimed spirit veins. Contrarily, the land in the Heavenly South was fixed, but there were also many people.
Although the area can be considered large, all of the notable spirit veins had already been occupied by sects and cultivator clans of all sizes. Even the areas with meager spiritual Qi that had escaped their notice were already taken up by vagrant cultivators. There was nothing valuable left.
With sole regards to natural cultivation resources, the Heavenly South Region was far too lacking in comparison with the Scattered Star Seas!
Under these circumstances, Han Li could only sneak into a cultivator clan or sect if he wished to continue his cultivation.
While Han Li's current abilities would allow him to forcefully seize any spirit veins belonging to a cultivation clan or smaller sects and take them over, he feared this would immediately cause him to come under the notice of Nascent Soul cultivators once again. Han Li was done with being pursued by Nascent Soul eccentrics and only wished to condense his Nascent Soul in peace.
But when cultivator clans came to mind, Han Li immediately rejected the idea.
What cultivator clan would have the power to occupy an exceptional spirit veins? None of them would be to his satisfaction. Moreover, outsiders would never be able to mingle inside a cultivator clan.
Cultivation sects were quite different, especially the larger sects. Not only did they occupy the best spirit veins, but they also had many high grade cultivators. Whenever something happened, he wouldn't need to display his true cultivation and there would be little interference with his cultivation. It was truly leisurely to take cover underneath a larger power
After he condensed a Nascent Soul, he would no longer have anything to fear. He reckoned that when that time came, the upper echelon of any sect would try to entice him through any means possible if he were to reveal himself. After all, who would be so foolish as to make enemies with a Nascent Soul cultivator?
With this in mind, Han Li began to recall the sacred spirit veins of Dreamcloud Mountain which were renowned in the entirety of the Heavenly South Region. In the end, the three great cultivator sects that occupied the spirit veins became priority targets for Han Li.
Since he wished to enter one of the sects, Han Li naturally needed to compare the three sects' characteristics and drawbacks.
But before all of this occurred, Han Li had already paid a visit to a small market city and acquired information on the past hundred years in the Heavenly South Region.
Before Han Li had parted ways with the two sworn sisters, he had shared a bit of information with them. As the two women were foreigners to this land, they particularly desired to become familiar with the circumstances and great powers of this land.
The Heavenly South Region's power structure had greatly changed since Han Li had last been there.
First of all, the nine countries of the Heavenly South had been divided between the Devil Dao, the Righteous Dao, the Heavenly Dao Alliance, and the Nine Nations Union. There were no longer individual powers controlling each of the states.
Previously, Han Li was only aware of the Righteous Dao, Devilish Dao, and the Nine Nations Alliance. After Han Li had left for the Scattered Star Seas, the superpower known as the Heavenly Dao Alliance was formed. It consisted of the cultivators of over ten various sized countries in order to stand in opposition against the Righteous and Devilish Dao. While it was larger than both the Devil and the Righteous Dao, it wouldn't be a match if the Righteous and Devil Dao were to band together.
However, it was only by a tacit agreement that the two sides wouldn't interfere with one another while they expanded by annexing their neighboring countries. Even during this short moment of peace, they still considered themselves enemies the entire time. There was no possible way they could possibly form an alliance.
Additionally, disputes had risen internally over the distribution of their newly found gains and both sides had sunk into internal strife. Neither of them were interested in confronting the Heavenly Dao Alliance.
As for the Heavenly Dao Alliance, they were only a loosely connected alliance to begin with. Having the Righteous and Devil Dao leave them alone was exactly what they had wanted. Also, it was likely they didn't have the courage to attack them in the first place.
With this, the three superpowers came to an equilibrium.
In fact, the reason as to why there was a hundred years of peace had much to do with the Nine Nations Union.
The Nine Nations Union had taken many of the cultivation sects and vagrant cultivators that were displaced by the Righteous and Devil Dao, including the Seven Sects of Yue, and were greatly strengthened as a result. With this great increase in power, they had originally believed that they would be able to suppress the spell warriors of the Moulan Plains [1]. However, they truly didn't expect that in their war with the Moulan tribes, that the formidable armies of two additional tribes would come to their aid in such a timely coincidence, multiplying the number of spell warriors.
The battle between both sides intensified and led to several large battles, resulting in a massive amount of deaths on both sides. Even so, the Nine Nations Union found themselves at a disadvantage and even had some of their land seized.
Helpless, the Nine Nations Union began to request assistance from the Devil Dao, Righteous Dao, and Heavenly Dao Alliance for assistance. They also threatened that if the three powers were unwilling to send men, they would bluntly withdraw, and allow the Moulan's spell warriors to enter their lands.
When the three parties received this information, they all sent men to assist despite their unwillingness. They all knew that if the Nine Nations Union were to withdraw, then the ferocious Moulan's spell warriors would bring them no small amount of trouble in the coming days.
With the reinforcements, the Nine Nations Unions was able to score a decisive victory, leaving several thousands of cultivators dead. They were able to gain steady footing against the Moulan's attacks and were once again able to stand firm.
From then on, the Nine Nations Union decided to shrewdly request the three superpowers to alternatively send them reinforcements in order to resist the Moulan's attacks. Otherwise, if the three superpowers chose to remain passive, then they would do so as well and allow the Moulan to freely wreak havoc in their territories.
Thus after long negotiations, the four superpowers eventually reached an agreement. With the Nine Nations Union as the leader and the other three parties as subordinates, they created a joint pact against the Moulan.
As a result of this pact, the Righteous and Devil Dao had managed to remain at peace for over a hundred years despite having completely annexed their massive domains. With the threat of the Moulan covetously looming over their shoulders, they didn't dare to rashly start another war.
As for the State of Xi and its two neighboring countries, they both belonged to the Heavenly Dao Alliance. The Ancient Sword Sect, the Drifting Cloud Sect, and Hundred Possibilities Pavilion were among the core sects of the alliance.
[1] The Moulan Tribes were introduced in chapter 358.