Chapter 677: Soul Stone

"Oh, I am somewhat interested in these puppets; they are good things to give to my little disciple for self-preservation. I wonder what True Person Brother Tianjing intends to exchange for?" Another cultivator who looked quite old said while stroking his long beard.

"Hehe, the things I want to exchange for are quite rare; they are things called 'Soul Stones' from the ancient period. One Soul Stone for one of my puppet beasts. These puppets were all personally made by ancient cultivators; it is estimated that there are no more such high-tier puppets in this realm." True Person Brother Tianjing said peacefully.

"Soul Stone?"

Upon hearing this extremely unfamiliar name, the cultivators present all revealed looks of doubt.

They had never heard of this thing; it was truly very unfamiliar.

Seeing this, True Person Brother Tianjing seemed to have expected it, touched his storage pouch with one hand, and an emerald green crystal the size of a thumb appeared in his palm.

At first glance, this crystal was somewhat similar to a wood-attribute spirit stone. After the divine senses of those present swept over it, they discovered that what this crystal emitted was not the wood-attribute spiritual energy that cultivators were familiar with, but a kind of extremely cold and inexplicable fluctuation.

"Perhaps some fellow Daoists have this item in their hands but don't recognize it. I happen to have one here; you fellow Daoists can identify it first." The old Daoist held the crystal and said slowly again:

"Eh! A bit strange, somewhat like the power of a ghost, but much purer than the power of a ghost." A demon cultivator wrapped in black Qi asked in surprise.

"I don't know what is contained in this crystal either, but it is definitely not ordinary soul Qi. Otherwise, how could I be willing to exchange these puppets for such a stone." True Person Brother Tianjing was quite straightforward and replied directly.

"Oh! That is also true." The demon cultivator sensibly didn't continue to pursue the question.

But when Han Li saw this crystal clearly, the face behind his mask suddenly changed drastically, and his gaze flickered incessantly.

If he hadn't seen wrong, this "Soul Stone" was clearly the "Yin Underworld Beast Crystal" he had collected from the Yin Underworld Realm. Of course, the term "Beast Crystal" was just the name used by the natives of the Yin Underworld Realm. In the mouths of ancient cultivators, it seemed that its true name was this so-called "Soul Stone."

"True Person Brother Tianjing not only brought out so many puppets but also wanted to collect so many 'Soul Stones' at the same time. Thinking of the many puppets seen in the Heavenly Void Palace that had Soul Stones hidden inside, it seems that this person..." Han Li began to ponder thoughtfully.

However, this 'Soul Stone' was clearly discovered by very few people. After a good while, only one cultivator hesitated and took one out, went up, and exchanged it for a beast puppet.

True Person Brother Tianjing asked a few more times, and seeing that no one came up again, although he had expected this, he still couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed in his heart.

Just as he was about to put away the remaining puppet beasts, someone suddenly stood up and walked over. This made the old Daoist's spirits lift, and he looked at the visitor with some surprise and joy:

"This fellow Daoist, do you also have a Soul Stone?"

The person who came forward was precisely Han Li, who had finally made up his mind. He silently flipped his palm, and a piece of emerald green crystal appeared in his hand.

However, this crystal was the size of a chicken egg, and a mass of cold Qi that was almost visible to the naked eye was emitted from the crystal, far from what the crystal the old Daoist had taken out could compare to.

True Person Brother Tianjing was startled at first, then immediately overjoyed in his heart. But he couldn't help but reveal a smile on his face and said:

"This Soul Stone of yours is so large, it is truly rare. How about this. You can pick two from these puppets and take them. I won't let you suffer a loss."

"Two?" Han Li heard this and shook his head with a light smile.

"Why. Fellow Daoist thinks it's too little! I wonder how many you intend to exchange for?" True Person Brother Tianjing didn't get angry and asked harmoniously.

"Exchange this Soul Stone for all the remaining puppets of yours?" Han Li said calmly.

"Exchange for six! Fellow Daoist, don't you think you are too greedy?" The old Daoist was stunned upon hearing this, then frowned and said somewhat dissatisfied.

"Hehe! Whether I am greedy or not, True Person should be very clear. This Soul Stone is not just about size. Moreover, such a large Soul Stone is for you..." Han Li stared at True Person Brother Tianjing, suddenly stopping his words without finishing them.

True Person Brother Tianjing heard this, his expression changed slightly, he looked at Han Li carefully for a few times, and then said after a moment of silence:

"Alright, such a large Soul Stone is indeed very rare. I am in urgent need of this item. I will exchange according to what you said."

Hearing the old Daoist say this, the other cultivators in the pavilion were astonished and couldn't help but stare at the crystal the size of a chicken egg in Han Li's hand a few more times.

Being able to exchange for several rare puppets with one thing, they had to pay more attention to it.

Han Li's expression didn't change. He handed the crystal over directly. Then he flicked his sleeve across the table, and the six puppets all disappeared without a trace.

However, what the other cultivators didn't notice was that at the moment Han Li lowered his head, his lips moved a few times. True Person Brother Tianjing's eyes flashed with essence, and a hint of surprise and suspicion flashed across his face.

At this moment, Han Li had already taken the puppets and returned to his seat.

Below, True Person Brother Tianjing announced the end of the exchange meeting, and many cultivators left the building one after another. Han Li and the other two also left the Crystal Dragon Pavilion mixed in with them.

When the three left the pavilion, no one said anything, but after crossing two streets and being a little further from the pavilion, the Fire Dragon Child spoke with an old tone.

"Two fellow Daoists, I have another appointment. I won't be with you two."

"If Brother Lan has business to attend to, just go ahead and be busy. Our residences are not far, and there will be plenty of opportunities to gather again." Lu Luo said with a smile.

"Hmm, then I, Lan, will take my leave!" The Fire Dragon Child didn't stand on ceremony. After greeting Han Li, he walked toward another street.

"This fellow Daoist Fire Dragon is truly a wonderful person!" Han Li looked at the child's receding back and suddenly laughed and said.

"Because Fellow Daoist Lan accidentally ate a strange herb when he was young, his appearance and figure have always remained in the form of a child. But he is generous and straightforward, and can be considered one of the few fellow Daoists from other sects worth befriending. He is also the only elder in the Ancient Sword Gate who is friendly to our Falling Cloud Sect."

Han Li heard this, raised his eyebrows, but thought in his heart:

"Listening to this, it seems the other elders of the Ancient Sword Gate don't think much of the Falling Cloud Sect."

"By the way. What are Brother Han's plans next? Return to the residence to rest for a while, or go to other places to stroll around." At this time, Lu Luo looked around and asked.

"I need to buy some special materials, and I intend to go to a few nearby markets alone to see. Perhaps there will be unexpected gains." Han Li didn't intend to hide it and said directly.

"Exactly. I also intend to go to the auction house to consign something. Then I will temporarily part ways with Brother Han here." Lu Luo heard Han Li's intention to act alone and agreed without the slightest opposition.

Thus, Han Li and Lu Luo parted ways here and went about their own business.

The several markets in Tiantian City were very large, at least much larger than the markets of the three sects of Mount Mount Yunmeng.

Han Li walked on a street in the west market of Tiantian City, looking at the shops on both sides incessantly.

The words Han Li said to Lu Luo about buying materials were not empty words.

He indeed intended to buy some rarer talisman-making materials, preparing to refine some high-level talismans.

Although he possessed many spirit beast skins and spirit beast blood left over from those years, refining high-level talisman paper and high-tier cinnabar naturally required other raw materials as supplements.

This was also to make preparations for the Spirit-Descending Talisman he had long intended to refine, striving to raise his talisman-making art to a higher level first.

Although he hadn't studied the Spirit-Descending Talisman carefully yet, the power of the Spirit-Descending Talisman mentioned on the bone fragment was truly no small matter. It could save his life at a critical moment, so Han Li naturally wouldn't let it go easily.

However, the difficulty of refining this talisman was also not ordinarily complex and difficult, far exceeding ordinary Five Elements talismans.

As such, in order to increase the success rate, besides improving his talisman-making ability, he had to replace his talisman-making brush.

His original talisman-making brush should have been eliminated long ago.

Unfortunately, talisman-making materials were easy to buy, but a satisfying talisman-making brush was truly not easy to find.

In the two market shops in front, there were also a few that sold talisman-making brushes. Among them, there were even rare top-tier talisman-making brushes. But after looking at them, he just shook his head and left.

These talisman-making brushes might be enough to make ordinary high-level talismans, but they were clearly slightly insufficient for drawing secret talismans like the Spirit-Descending Talisman.

As a kind of spirit artifact used only by talisman masters, talisman-making brushes were not common. Even if there were any, most were of low or mid-grade.

Because for a talisman master, if their magic power was insufficient, forcibly using a high-tier talisman-making brush would not only fail to increase the talisman-making rate but would instead increase the probability of failure.

And because talisman masters were distracted by cultivating talisman-making arts, their cultivation bases were mostly not high, and even eight or nine out of ten were still hovering below the Foundation Establishment stage.

There were only a few dedicated talisman masters in the entire Tiannan cultivation world who could reach Core Formation.

As for Nascent Soul talisman masters, as far as Han Li knew, it seemed that no such perverted guy had ever appeared.

Most were Nascent Soul cultivators who concurrently cultivated talisman-making arts themselves. They were not dedicated talisman masters.

And the talisman-making arts of these Nascent Soul cultivators also varied greatly. Basically, they all specifically cultivated one or two high-level talismans useful to themselves. But because high-tier spirit beast skins and high-tier beast blood were rare, they naturally couldn't practice much, and the success rate could be imagined.

This also caused the strange phenomenon where high-level talismans were sometimes much more expensive than top-tier magic artifacts in the cultivation world.

(Web) ===== CHAPTER 678 =====