Chapter 507: Extortion

The person in the green shirt was actually speaking to the thin man. This left the thin man full of astonishment, a trace of panic flashing through his eyes, but it was immediately replaced by an expression of annoyance.

The others also looked at each other in dismay, not knowing what the green-shirted man meant by these words.

"Fellow Daoist, rest assured! I am not asking you to give up your spot for nothing. I have two Level 5 monster cores here, which will serve as compensation for giving up the spot. I trust you won't find them lacking." The green-shirted man said unhurriedly, then reached into his bosom and pulled out two blue, glowing spheres from somewhere.

Judging by the spiritual energy they emitted, they were indeed genuine Level 5 monster cores.

"Hmph, do you think I would give up my spot just for two monster cores?" The thin man looked at the two cores, and although a look of greed flashed in his eyes, he seemed to remember something and coldly refused with a snort.

Upon hearing this, the green-shirted man did not get angry; instead, he began to smile eerily.

Then, his lips trembled silently a few times, and he actually began to transmit his voice to the thin man in front of everyone, though no one knew what he said.

The thin man had been full of indifference at first, but after hearing only a few words, his face suddenly turned deathly pale.

"That is all I have to say. I trust you won't refuse my trade, Fellow Daoist?" The green-shirted man appeared carefree, and he said this sentence aloud without using voice transmission.

The thin man looked nervous, and cold sweat actually began to bead on his forehead following the green-shirted man's words.

"Fine! Since you have said so, Fellow Daoist, I will yield the spot to you!" After glaring fiercely at the other party for a moment, the thin man, whose expression was shifting between light and shadow, gritted his teeth and agreed.

However, these words caused the expressions of the other six people who had come with him to change.

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, what are you saying? Didn't we agree to advance and retreat together? Why are you now..." The burly man in brocade clothes darkened his expression and stared coldly at the thin man.

"I am truly sorry, but I am afraid I must part ways with you all for now. You should go ahead first. We can cooperate again if there is an opportunity in the future." The thin man gave a bitter laugh and said helplessly.

At this, the burly man in brocade clothes said nothing more. Because not only him, but even the others could see that this Fellow Daoist Zhang seemed to have been caught by some leverage, forcing him to give up the teleportation spot.

Since that was the case, they naturally found it difficult to say anything more.

Fortunately, although one person was missing, the impact would not be too great.

"Hmph! Who agreed that you could change people as you please?" The bald old man frowned, glared fiercely, and said grimly.

"Senior Gu, I..." The thin man was startled and looked as if he wanted to explain, but he didn't know what to say for a moment.

But at this moment, the green-shirted man flipped his palm, and two jade boxes appeared. Then, with a flick of his hand, the jade boxes shot toward the bald old man and the refined-looking cultivator respectively.

When these two saw the jade boxes flying over, they subconsciously reached out to catch them, then looked at the green-shirted man with calm expressions.

"Inside are two treasures I obtained by chance; please accept them, Seniors." The green-shirted man said with a serene demeanor.

The two opposite each other exchanged glances, curiosity appearing in their eyes. Because they had instantly checked the jade boxes and knew that no tricks had been played on them.

But for the sake of caution, they still opened the jade boxes one after another just a crack, and immediately, several streaks of red light shot out.

After the two of them swept their gazes over them casually, they simultaneously revealed expressions of pleasant surprise.

"These two treasures, does Fellow Daoist Qu really intend to gift them to us?" The cultivator with the scholarly face was somewhat moved.

"Seniors are well aware that although these two items are precious, my current cultivation base cannot make use of them. I would rather go to the Outer Star Sea to continue my cultivation properly." The green-shirted cultivator's mouth curled slightly, and he said with a hint of a smile.

"Hehe! Good, since Fellow Daoist Qu has gifted such a heavy reward, we two are not people who don't know how to be reasonable. You may teleport over together with those six people." The old man surnamed Gu looked at the items in the box, overjoyed, and actually agreed first without even consulting his companion in his excitement.

Although the cultivator surnamed Gan was somewhat displeased, he seemed equally moved by the items in his hands and did not voice any further opposition, tacitly agreeing to the matter.

This scene made the others suspicious, and almost all of them had the thought of wanting to see what was inside the boxes.

But the two jade boxes were quickly closed by the bald old man and his companion, and naturally, they dared not brazenly probe with their spiritual sense, so they gained nothing.

Only the burly man in brocade clothes took a few extra looks at the two jade boxes, a trace of astonishment flashing in his eyes.

Although he also couldn't see the items inside, after hearing the green-shirted man's words, the term "Magic Treasure" appeared involuntarily in his mind. Could it be that this person really gifted them Magic Treasures? This speculation made his heart feel a wave of shock.

However, before the burly man in brocade clothes could think about it in detail, the two Core Formation stage cultivators opposite simultaneously pulled out a white jade plate from their bodies. Then, they began to chant incantations toward a teleportation array behind them.

Seeing this scene, the burly man in brocade clothes and the others had no unusual reactions, but the green-shirted man let out a long sigh of relief, secretly calling it "a stroke of luck" in his heart.

"These teleportation arrays really have been tampered with. If one were to just barge through regardless of anything, I'm afraid it would still be difficult to get what one wants. It seems those two Magic Treasures, which were tasteless to eat but a pity to discard, were truly used at the critical moment."

Harboring such thoughts, the green-shirted man was naturally Han Li, who had disguised himself and used Qi-restraining techniques to conceal his cultivation base.

And inside those jade boxes were each placed a red, glowing flying knife Magic Treasure.

These two flying knives were precisely the items of Hu Yue, who had been harmed by Xuan Gu that day. Now, he had conveniently gifted them away.

Although Han Li still had many such Magic Treasures without any special divine abilities, for some Core Formation stage cultivators, they were still exceptionally precious treasures.

Magic Treasures that could be used directly without needing to spend time refining their power—even if one could not achieve a connection of heart and mind, and the power could at most be exerted to seventy percent—were things that many ordinary Core Formation cultivators could only hope for but never find.

After all, although there were many Magic Treasures left over from these many years, most had been destroyed or lost in the cultivators' battles, and even if a small portion remained, most were in the hands of some Nascent Soul stage old monsters or exceptionally powerful Core Formation stage cultivators.

There were also some that had been secretly hidden away by some unknown cultivators or small forces.

A massive force like the Star Palace naturally collected many Magic Treasures. But also because the force was too large, there were hundreds of Core Formation cultivators within the Star Palace.

These two were both Core Formation early-stage cultivators, and without having performed any great service, they naturally could not obtain extra Magic Treasure rewards.

Now that these two had unexpectedly obtained these flying knife Magic Treasures, they were naturally ecstatic.

Once they refined them, their strength would immediately increase greatly!

As for why the thin man would obediently yield the spot, Han Li truly had grasped the other party's leverage.

That day, Han Li saw that the thin man's expression upon returning from the Starry Sky Hall was truly somewhat strange, so he snuck into his room that night and used secret techniques to knock the other party unconscious.

Although no magic technique could truly control the other party's spiritual sense, it was still possible to use soul-bewitching techniques in coordination with powerful spiritual sense while the person was half-asleep and half-awake to make them reveal some of their deeply hidden secrets.

And Han Li's luck was not bad; among the fragments of words the other party revealed, it indeed leaked information about how he and the two Star Palace cultivators had intentionally raised the teleportation fees to squeeze the others.

Now that Han Li used these words to extort him slightly, plus the temptation of the two monster cores, the thin man was indeed terrified and obediently complied, not even daring to hold out at all. Perhaps he thought that all of this had been intentionally leaked by the two Star Palace cultivators!

As the sound of incantations echoed in the hall, white light flickered around the teleportation array, and then a clear ringing sound came, and the white light around the array suddenly vanished.

"Alright, usually there is another person in charge of this hall. But it just so happens that he has some matters to attend to these two days and has been sent out of the Star Palace Hall. Otherwise, even if you offered too many spirit stones, we two would not accept them. Now, hand over the spirit stones." The bald old man looked at the teleportation array whose restrictions had been removed, then turned his head and spoke to the burly man in brocade clothes and the others without any courtesy.

Upon hearing this, these people immediately took out storage bags they had prepared long ago and handed them to the old man.

Han Li then took out two more monster cores, which caused the bald old man to reveal a trace of surprise.

After checking them one by one, the bald old man nodded with satisfaction. At this time, the middle-aged cultivator with a refined face reached out and took out several talismans, handing them to Han Li and the others respectively.

"Carry these teleportation talismans on your bodies. You may go now." He pointed at the teleportation array and said coldly.

The others were still somewhat hesitant, but Han Li walked over first without saying a word.

It was not that he was bold because of his high skills, but rather he had long ago used his spiritual sense to scan the teleportation array, and indeed everything appeared quite normal.

And on the stone tablet in front of this teleportation array, the two characters "Qiyuan" were inscribed.

Han Li had no special impression of this name in his mind; it seemed the island they were going to shouldn't have anything particularly special about it.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 508 =====