Chapter 401: Heaven Lightning Bamboo
Han Li didn’t fly back to his cave residence after leaving the teahouse. Instead, he walked along the road and suddenly turned a corner into the rear of a nearby store.
Afterwards, he closed his eyes and calmly stood in silence.
A long while later, Han Li frowned and opened his eyes.
He had just attempted to stealthily use his spiritual sense to return to the teahouse and listen in on what they said afterwards. However, he hadn’t expected to be blocked by a layer of restrictions as he approached their room.
These restrictions couldn’t be considered to high quality and could be easily broken through with Han Li’s spiritual sense. However, it would cause far too much of a commotion and ruin his plan of stealthily spying on them. Since Han Li wasn’t able to forcefully continue, he withdrew his spiritual sense.
“It seems the Exquisite Sound Sect isn’t to be trifled with. They’ve left no holes to be exploited.” Han Li opened his mouth and spat out the inch long green dagger and used it to fly back to his cave residence.
After returning to his residence, Han Li went to his hidden room and retrieved the storage pouch holding the demon beast materials. He then called out to Crooked Soul, having him accompany him back to the teahouse for safety. The journey back and forth had taken quite a few hours.
Fortunately, by the time Han Li and Crooked Soul returned to the teahouse, Lady Fan’s subordinate, the middle-aged man, was anxiously waiting for him. Upon seeing Han Li approaching, he immediately ran inside with a happy expression.
Han Li saw that he went back to report to Lady Fan and didn’t seem to mind. He then calmly walked inside with Crooked Soul.
By the time Han Li arrived at their room, the young woman and the middle-aged man were respectfully waiting for him.
“Elder Zhao and Lady Fan are awaiting you!” The woman spoke with a careful, respectful expression. After she finished, she stole a curious glance at Crooked Soul.
Without any intention of introducing Crooked Soul, Han Li nodded his head and bluntly entered the room with Crooked Soul close behind him.
The young woman hesitated for a moment, but she didn’t dare to step forward and investigate him.
Lady Fan had covered her face beforehand. Upon seeing Han Li enter, her eyes lit up in a graceful welcome.
“Senior Han has arrived quite quickly! I had believed you would’ve taken a moment more. Huh, this Senior is...?” Lady Fan’s beaming smile froze after seeing Crooked Soul.
“This is my good friend, Crooked Soul. After hearing of this matter, he wished to have a look. I’m sure Lady Fan doesn’t mind, yes?” Han Li chuckled and deemphasized Crooked Soul’s presence.
“Of course not. Please, have a seat!” Lady Fan took a good look at Crooked Soul’s ugly face and his ice-cold expression for a moment before speaking with a sweet smile.
She secretly rejoiced in her heart. Fortunately, they hadn’t planned to carry out any foul play; otherwise, they would’ve provoked a great enemy, given the appearance of his Core Formation a.s.sociate.
In addition, her intentions to rope in Han Li only grew stronger.
“The materials are all in here. Please, take a look!” Han Li was straightforward. After taking a seat, he threw the two pouches containing the demon beast materials on the table.
When Lady Fan saw this, she was unable to conceal her joy and expressed her thanks before picking up the storage pouch and examining them with her spiritual sense. Afterwards, she handed the pouch over to Elder Zhao.
The old man calmly received the pouch and examined the items within for appraisal.
This took some time because the quant.i.ty of materials were far too great in number. While this was happening, Lady Fan was chatting with Han Li while wearing a beaming smile and unconsciously made an inquiry about the material’s origin.
But as Han Li was someone of quick mind, he was able to deflect the question and give the woman no information.
After a short amount of time, Elder Zhao finished checking the materials and used a voice transmission to give Lady Fan an estimate. After some silent deliberation, she lowered the price by a tenth and offered it to Han Li.
When Han Li heard this, he started muttering to himself, causing Lady Fan to somewhat worry. In order to ensure the deal went through she gritted her teeth and hesitated for a moment before taking the initiative to raise the price by five percent.
After hearing the new price, Han Li nodded his head and approved. Although he clearly understood the price given was a bit low, being able to sell off all of these items in a single instance was much to his satisfaction.
When Lady Fan saw Han Li approve, she felt greatly relieved and handed over a storage pouch containing a small sum of mid-grade spirit stones.
The deal was now finished and both sides were satisfied.
But as Han Li was about to take his leave, the woman casually said, “I’ve heard that Senior is looking for some exotic spirit bamboo. I happened to just acquire some information on this. Would Senior be interested in staying to listen?”
Han Li’s heart strongly stirred and he couldn’t help but turn around.
At that moment, Lady Fan was looking at Han Li with a smile. Her beautiful eyes were concealing a peculiar glint.
Lady Fan, an expert of bewitchment techniques, intended to take advantage of Han Li’s shock and stealthily plant a seed deep in his heart. In the future, Han Li would unconsciously become deferential to her as a result.
As Han Li met her gaze, he felt a concentrated feeling of attraction towards her; it was smothering and difficult to escape.
As his mind had nearly succ.u.mbed to the pressure, a thought flashed through his mind like lightning, ‘Bewitchment Technique!’
Suddenly, Han Li’s heart trembled and his expression grew ice-cold. Upon seeing Han Li’s icy intent, Lady Fan’s heart trembled and her bewitchment technique lost its effect.
Fearful, she hastily thought to turn her gaze away, but for some unknown reason, her neck and skull had grown stiff and she was unable to turn her gaze away; she wasn’t even able to open her mouth.
‘Cultivation backlas.h.!.+” Once Lady Fan recognized what was happening, she felt her heart drop and did her utmost to break free of Han Li’s grasp.
“What did you do to Left Envoy Fan?” When Elder Zhao saw that Lady Fan appeared amiss, his eyes coldly glinted and he thought to step forward.
However, Crooked Soul then blurred, disappearing from his sight. The old man couldn’t help but be alarmed upon his sudden reappearance at his side with a strange movement technique, not knowing whether or not he should take action.
At that moment, Lady Fan’s expression became heartbreakingly pitiful, begging Han Li to show her mercy as her struggle to break free had been fruitless.
“Humph!” With a cold snort, Han Li released her from his icy gaze.
The woman then hastily turned her gaze away as if she were being spared. But at the same time, she couldn’t help but spit out a mouthful of blood and stain her shawl red.
“Left Envoy Fan, are you...?” Elder Zhao raised his brow upon seeing this and furiously glared at Han Li, wanting to attack.
“Elder Zhao, don’t get angry! Senior Han treated me leniently. I only suffered Qi backlash. Spitting out only a bit of blood is already merciful!” Lady Fan hastily stopped the old man from acting out of fury and said this with a wide smile.
Having heard this, the old man’s expression gradually softened and returned to normal.
“I truly didn’t think that Senior was an expert proficient in bewitchment techniques! I had impulsively attempted to test you, please don’t blame me too harshly. However, I really do know some minor information on the whereabouts of Heaven Lightning Bamboo.” Having seen that Han Li’s gaze was still harsh, the woman took the initiative to speak, afraid that Han Li would investigate the previous matter.
“Heaven Lightning Bamboo!” Han Li’s ice-cold expression stirred upon hearing this.
“Heaven Lightning Bamboo? The same that is known as one of the three great divine woods?” Han Li was doubtful of what he heard, but his voice still contained a trace of excitement. Although he planned to use an exceptional bamboo to refine his magic treasure, he hadn’t thought of being able to use one of the three great divine woods to refine it! But wasn’t it said those three great divine woods have all gone extinct?
Lady Fan took out a small jade bottle and swallowed a medicine pill that restored her pale complexion before replying with absolute certainty, “That’s right! I have personally handled the item. It is definitely genuine.”
“Could it be that you’ve already sold it to someone else?” Han Li stared at the woman and his tone grew cold once more. At the same time, he apprehensively thought, ‘Could it be this woman hasn’t learned her lesson and wishes to use me to handle her dirty work?’
After a moment of hesitation, Lady Fan decided to give an explanation with an honest appearance, “No. This item was originally to be auctioned off in Heavenly Star City. However, we didn’t expect for a majority of our goods to be robbed during transport. Our sect has managed to find the hideout of our thieves and are inviting righteous Daoists to take care of them in a single blow!”