Chapter 1698

Although Han Li did not say everything, Old Monster Xu naturally understood his meaning and could not help but frown and ask:

"What kind of treasure do you need to be willing to trade? You might as well say it directly. Even if I don't have it, I consider myself well-connected and can help you find a way to obtain it."

Upon hearing this, Han Li fell into deep thought.

To say he didn't want anything would be impossible. Not to mention anything else, the rare materials needed by Qing Tian Yuanzi alone were a huge pile.

But precisely because of this, he found it difficult to speak.

Trading the True Qilin source for several of those materials would naturally not be worth it. But if he wanted to trade for many materials, Old Monster Xu would likely think he was trying to take advantage of the situation, which would only lead to enmity for no reason.

After all, only he knew the value of the True Qilin source. But this matter could not be disclosed to the other party. He found himself in a difficult position.

"Fellow Daoist Xu, the things I need are quite obscure, and even with your power, they would not be easy to find. Let's not talk about it. As for that Heaven and Earth spiritual energy..." Han Li sighed lightly, his face still showing hesitation.

Seeing Han Li's difficult appearance, Old Monster Xu's expression became uncertain.

But after glancing at the youth behind him, he suddenly gritted his teeth, took out a deep blue jade box from his bosom, and said with a concentrated expression:

"Fellow Daoist Han, take a look at this item. Its value is even greater than the previous items. It is just that this item is something a clan elder also needs, and I originally intended to offer it to him to seek another benefit. But now, for the sake of my junior, I cannot care about that. Fellow Daoist, take a look first. I believe that even if this is not what you are seeking, it is enough to compensate for your loss."

Seeing Old Monster Xu's actions, Han Li did not feel too surprised. If it were him asking for help, he would never bring out the most precious item at the beginning.

As for the clan elder mentioned by the other party, it was mostly just an excuse. He naturally would not take it too seriously.

Thus, Han Li nodded calmly and reached out to grab the blue jade box.

The moment his finger touched the jade box, he felt a strange coldness transmitted, and he could not help but be startled.

He did not know what kind of spiritual jade this box was refined from; it was extremely cold, even colder than the Profound Jade he knew.

Han Li became interested in the item in the box and moved his finger, causing the lid to open slowly.

A flash of golden light appeared, and an item emerged from the box.

It was surprisingly a piece of crimson metal that looked like glazed glass, only the size of a fist, but its surface radiated golden light.

Han Li's gaze flickered, revealing a hint of shock and doubt, as if he recognized the origin of this item but could not quite believe it.

Suddenly, he flipped his palm, and with a flash of cold light, a pale white short sword appeared in his hand.

The sword was only half a foot long, and although it looked cold and flashing, it was clearly just an ordinary magic tool.

Han Li moved his wrist, and the short sword immediately turned into a beam of white light and shot into the jade box.

The next moment, the tip of the sword pierced the crimson metal in the box.

An astonishing scene occurred.

Silent! The moment the sword tip touched the crimson metal, the entire short sword dissolved like a candle, turning into a wisp of green smoke and disappearing into thin air.

"Essence of Flame Gold! You actually found this item." Han Li's expression changed, and his voice sounded somewhat dry.

"Fellow Daoist has a sharp eye. This Essence of Flame Gold is the top-tier material for refining fire-attribute magic treasures; even ordinary magic treasures can increase their fire-attribute divine abilities just by adding a little. Even if your consumable treasure is precious, I believe this item is enough to compensate." Old Monster Xu looked at the blue jade box in Han Li's hand and said slowly.

"Are you really determined to do this! I really have a use for this Essence of Flame Gold. However, since this item is so rare, I will not let you suffer a loss. How about this, I will compensate you with another five million spirit stones, treating it as half-buy and half-trade." Han Li's look of shock gradually disappeared, but after pondering, he suddenly smiled and said.

"Good, everything will be as Fellow Daoist Han says." Old Monster Xu, who had felt great pain in his heart for giving away the Essence of Flame Gold, felt his expression ease upon hearing Han Li's words and nodded in agreement.

To him, although this Essence of Flame Gold was rare, compared to the future of the junior he had high hopes for, the latter was naturally more important.

"But I wonder about the treasure you mentioned..." Old Monster Xu asked tentatively, watching Han Li flip his hand and store the jade box.

"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist. First, store this bag of spirit stones. Then wait at the top of the mountain. I will immediately activate the treasure and bring about the celestial phenomenon again. You just need to collect the spiritual energy on the mountain." Han Li explained with a chuckle, brushed his hand over his storage bracelet, took out a leather bag of spirit stones, and threw it directly to Old Monster Xu.

"Good, I will wait for the good news on the mountain." Old Monster Xu clearly did not expect Han Li to fulfill the trade so cleanly and quickly. He was startled upon receiving the bag, then overjoyed.

Thus, he immediately stood up to take his leave, took the youth, left Han Li's cave dwelling, and headed straight for the mountaintop.

Han Li saw them to the entrance, watched their escape lights disappear, and could no longer suppress the excitement in his heart, a smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.

"I obtained the Essence of Flame Gold so quickly. Coupled with the Golden Marrow Crystal Insect and Blood Apricot obtained previously, the main materials for condensing the Brahma Saint True Demon Dharma Image are complete. As long as I gather some other auxiliary materials, I can begin condensing the Dharma Image, allowing it to possess a physical body." Han Li whispered to himself, his eyes brightening.

Afterward, he closed the stone door, returned to the cave dwelling, and headed straight for the main hall.

Everything that followed was simple. Han Li released the Soul-Returning Beast again, extracted another True Qilin source crystal grain from its body, and deliberately wrapped and refined it with spiritual fire.

As a result, a scene identical to that day appeared.

The crystal grain turned into a beam of golden light again, shot through the roof, and disappeared into the mountaintop, manifesting an astonishing celestial phenomenon again and stirring up all the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy nearby.

Old Monster Xu, who had been waiting on the mountaintop for a while, was overjoyed and immediately sacrificed the vermilion gourd at his waist, letting it turn into a fire dragon that pounced into the sky with great momentum.

As a result, after only a short while, the seemingly astonishing celestial phenomenon dissipated, and most of the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy was absorbed by the fire dragon.

The entire process was much faster than last time, and it did not even alarm many other alien cultivators in the Spirit Mountain.

After Old Monster Xu restored the fire dragon to the gourd and retracted it, he happily took the youth back to his own cave dwelling.

After Han Li saw all this through a bronze mirror in the main hall of the cave dwelling, he smiled, stopped the secret technique, retracted the bronze mirror, gave a few instructions to the doll with his divine sense, and left the cave dwelling again.

This time, Han Li went directly to several large material shops in Cloud City, spent an astronomical amount of spirit stones without hesitation, purchased over thirty kinds of various materials in one go, and returned to the cave dwelling.

This was fortunate, as Cloud City was one of the few super-large cities in Tianyun; otherwise, some of the less common materials might not have been available in other cities.

Half a month after Han Li entered the secret chamber again to begin his seclusion, a major event that few people knew about occurred in Cloud City.

Suddenly, the already tight security at the city gates became even more rigorous. The number of patrols throughout the city also nearly doubled. Some mysterious figures even approached some newcomers who had recently entered the city and subjected them to extremely strict interrogation.

Some people whose identities were questionable mysteriously disappeared from the world.

In an extremely secret hall somewhere in Cloud City, over a dozen big figures with different identities sat in two rows on wooden chairs.

Among these people were the three elders of the Wangu Clan, including Qian Jizi, as well as Cai Liuying of the Crystal Clan, Duan Wen Tianren of the Stone Cocoon Clan, and others Han Li knew. As for the others, although their faces were unfamiliar, their demeanor clearly showed they were of the same rank as Qian Jizi and the others.

So many famous Saint-level figures sat solemnly, most of them revealing a hint of caution.

In the very center of one side of the hall, a man and a woman sat side by side.

The man was a white-robed youth in his late twenties, and the woman was an old woman with golden hair, her face covered in deep wrinkles like gullies, as if she could not even open her eyelids.

The old woman was fine. If Han Li were to see the white-robed youth clearly again, he would surely be shocked.

Because this white-robed youth was none other than the Mahayana-stage Weng-surnamed youth who had appeared at the Four Clans Auction last time.

Only now, the youth's face was as gloomy as water, and his whole body radiated an indescribable gloomy aura.

"So many days have passed, and we still haven't found the intruder from the Jiao Chi Clan. It seems he has either fled far away or is hiding in a secret place you cannot find. Fellow Daoist Bai, your Water Charm Clan has been responsible for this matter recently. What do you think?" The Weng-surnamed youth suddenly looked at a person sitting on the side and asked coldly.

That person was a brocade-robed man with white hair but a youthful face. Upon hearing the Weng-surnamed youth's question, his expression became somewhat ugly, but he still hurriedly stood up, bowed slightly, and replied:

"Senior Weng, this time I have mobilized all the experts in the clan who are proficient in soul-bewitching techniques and have interrogated almost all suspicious people who entered Cloud City in the past six months. I even found hundreds of spies from other clans sent to Tianyun. However, there is no trace of the Jiao Chi clansman who broke into the Offering Hall. I think he may have truly left Cloud City. Otherwise, he could never have escaped our such rigorous interrogation."

Net