“One is called the Silver Wick Stone. The other is something that I don’t know. You’ll just have to take a look at it for yourself. The old man opened one of the boxes to reveal a silver fist-sized rock.
He then closed the box and tossed the box in Han Li’s direction.
When the beautiful woman heard that name, she cried out in delight. As for the youth, he immediately shouted, “Wait, we want that stone!” He quickly reached out for it.
An azure mist shot out towards the embroidered box.
When Han Li heard the name of the stone, his expression also stirred, but when the youth made an effort to take ahold of it, his face sank.
With a wave of his hand, a crack sounded and his arm burst forward, extending a meter in length and grabbing ahold of the two boxes.
At that moment, the azure mist continued to pull, dragging Han Li as it attempted to take the box by force.
Han Li coldly snorted and shook his shoulder. Like a spring, his body flew three meters forward and struck the azure mist with his other hand in the form of a golden palm.
In a gust of wind, the golden palm tore through the mist like paper and scattered it.
“A high-grade body refiner!” The youth had formed an incantation gesture to launch that mist. But after seeing Han Li act, his face changed and he became hesitant.
“Senior Martial Brother Qian, please wait,” the woman surnamed Lu called out, “Let’s have a proper talk about it. There is no need to take action. Shopkeeper, this Silver Wick Stone hasn’t been sold yet. No matter the price, I am willing to pay double. What do you think?”
“That won’t do. Even if Fairy Lu is a descendent of Senior Huang Liang, you cannot break the rules of my Sky World Pavilion. This isn’t an auction house where you can claim things with a higher price. Furthermore, I will be serving those who arrive first. Unless this Fellow Daoist truly doesn’t want it, I will not be selling the Silver Wick Stone to someone else.” It was unknown whether there were truly rules in place, or if the old man was making things difficult.
Cultivator Lu couldn"t help but turn to look at Han Li.
However, Han Li didn’t pay her any attention. He was currently opening the other box to reveal a grey rectangular ore. Its surface was as glossy as polished jade, but its dark color also gave a strange sensation.
The youth surnamed Qian looked at Han Li and slowly said, “My master is Honored Monk Qiu Long. If you let Junior Martial Sister Lu take that Silver Wick Stone, I will pay you double the price. Let it go.” His words were polite, but his voice was harsh as if he thought little of him.
Han Li looked at the grey stone and stroked it with his finger. Without raising his eyes, he said, “I will not.”
“What did you say?” The youth’s expression turned exceptionally unsightly. He didn’t think for a second that Han Li would refuse.
Han Li glanced at the youth and calmly said, “This item might be precious to your companion, but did you not think I might need it too?”
“I already said that I am willing to double the price.” The youth icily glared at Han Li, his words containing a thinly veiled threat.
Cultivator Lu frowned, but she made no attempt to stop him.
Han Li sighed and muttered, “I am not lacking spirit stones. If you are willing to turn away from the matter, I am willing to give you a sum of spirit stones.”
Although the two seemed to have much backing and support, Han Li was a solitary figure and was about to head into the Setting Sun Tomb. If he couldn"t make a breakthrough and recover his magic power, he reckoned he wouldn’t come back. Naturally, how could he care about two Core Formation cultivators? If he restored his magic power and their supporters came after him, he might not be able to win, but he was confident he could escape them.
However, his relentless reply not only turned Tian Xing’s face pale, but the old man also couldn"t hide his astonishment.
‘Could it be Han Li was someone of great origins?’ Old Xu thought, ‘After all, he didn’t shy away from dealing with the direct disciples of Spirit Lord Huang Liang and Monk Qiu Long.’
When the youth heard Han Li’s reply, his expression turned hazy.
The woman surnamed Lu had about the same idea as the old man and examined Han Li several times before eventually saying, “May I ask for your esteemed name? Who is your master? Perhaps they might know my grandfather!”
Han Li smiled and nonchalantly said, “I am a traveller with no master or sect. As for my name, I will not speak it.”
Cultivator Lu hesitated before taking out a green medicine bottle. She calmly said, “Is that so? If you won’t tell me, then so be it. However, I have a bottle of Heaven Heart Pills you might want to trade for the stone. The medicine can temporarily expand your spiritual sense. It can make up for your weak point as a body refiner. It’ll be useful when making a breakthrough.”
When Youth Qian saw this, he hastily shouted in alarm, “The Heaven Heart Pills? This is a secret medicine exclusive to Senior Huang Liang. It is too much of a waste to trade it for a trifling Silver Wick STone.”
As for Old Xu, his face couldn"t help but stir upon hearing this.
As for Tian Xing, he was somewhat at a loss as he hadn’t heard of the medicine name before.
Han Li’s heart stirred as well and he asked, “A temporary increase in spiritual sense? Is that effective to cultivators as well?”
Despite her surprise, Cultivator Lu explained, “As a cultivator possesses powerful spiritual sense to begin with, its effects are minimal on a cultivator.”
Han Li shook his head. “In that case, please put the bottle away. I won’t be making the trade.”
This time Cultivator Lu’s expression turned unsightly.
Old Xu wore an amazed expression.
The well-known Heaven Heart Pill was no only a superb medicine for breaking through bottlenecks, but it was refused for a trifling spirit tool material. Were it not for the fact the poison in the old man’s body rendered the pill useless to him, he might’ve broken his own rules and traded with the woman at that moment.
The woman casually put away the bottle. It was clear to see that Spirit Lord Huang Liang doted on her greatly.
In the old man’s astonishment, Han Li began to ask the price for the two items.
Feeling somewhat apprehensive over what just happened, the old man had no intention of being too greedy, but he still uttered a price that would be astronomical to a common cultivator.
When Han Li heard this, he nodded and took out a storage bracelet. He swiped his spirit ring over the bracelet and produced a pile of high-grade spirit stones, a sum more than enough for the two items.
These high-grade spirit stones were exchanged for large quant.i.ties of low and mid-grade spirit stones he brought along from the mortal realm.
In the spirit realm, low and mid-grade spirit stones held little use towards Han Li’s cultivation, so he exchanged them for high-grade spirit stones.
Without saying a word, the shopkeeper received the spirit stones in his bracelet and concluded the trade.
With the two boxes in hand, Han Li made his way to the exit. In his alarm, Tian Xing quickly followed after him.
The youth’s face wavered for a while, unable to determine Han Li’s true ident.i.ty, he made no effort to block him. However, he had already resolved himself to immediately send men to investigate his ident.i.ty and see if he was anybody of status.
Cultivator Lu looked at Han Li’s back and bit her lip, feeling somewhat gloomy.
As Han Li walked out of the store, he was in a rather good mood, satisfied he could acquire these two items.
Of the two items, the grey stone was considerably more valuable to him.
It was a variant spirit tool material that was incredibly rare.
If Han Li wasn’t well learned in spirit tool techniques or if he hadn’t read through most of Yu Yang City’s record archives, he feared he might’ve not recognized the item.
But to normal spirit tool masters, this material couldn"t be considered particularly good. Rather it was inferior to other quality materials. However, it was a wondrous material for the refinement of particular magic tools and treasures.
To a strange character such as Han Li, it was a material with countless optimal uses.
In the following days, Han Li followed Tian Xing through many of the other material shops in the city and collected various other materials before dismissing him. He then sought out an unremarkable spirit tool refinement and rented a forging room before secluding himself in it.
...
A month later, Han Li calmly departed from Setting Sun City and walked for nearly a month before arriving at a huge canyon.
It was the entrance to the Setting Sun Tomb.
The entire valley was several kilometers wide, but the stone and earth within and surrounding the valley was a striking crimson.
There were a few cultivators standing nearby the entrance of the huge valley as well as small groups of body refiners. A few of them were whispering to one another while others quietly meditated. Most of these people were mid-grade cultivators and body refiners. They would only dare to enter the valley after forming a temporary group.
Of course, there would be a few already formed groups that entered the valley as soon as they arrived.
There were also a few high-grade cultivators and body refiners that boldly entered the valley alone.
But regardless of whether one was a body refiner or a cultivator, none dared to venture too high in the air and kept their travel at low alt.i.tudes.
If one wasn’t stupid, they would know that flying too high into the air would mark yourself as a target, either to demon cultivators or humans harboring malicious thoughts. In addition, there were countless ancient bird-type beasts that lived in the Setting Sun Tomb, turning the sky into a forbidden area.