Chapter 901: The Person in the Coffin

"It is nothing; we can talk about this later. Since there is such a grand event, I will go and take a look first," Han Li said peacefully after pondering for a moment.

"That is good; the junior will lead the way for you, Senior." After looking at each other, the short youth immediately said with a smile.

Afterward, the two took out a disc-shaped magic tool from their bodies, threw it into the air, and jumped onto it. Seeing this, Han Li casually threw out a flashing flying sword, and after a sway of his body, he was also on it.

"Your magic tool is actually a high-tier flying sword, Senior. You must be an inner-chamber disciple out for training from a large sect, right? Otherwise, ordinary disciples would certainly not be able to receive such high-quality magic tools as rewards from the sect," the tall youth glanced at Han Li's flying sword and said with a look of surprise.

The short youth on the side also had a look of envy.

"Hehe! My sect has regulations that I am not allowed to disclose the sect casually when out for training. You two Fellow Daoists should not try to pry into my words," Han Li said with a light smile, directly opening the matter.

The two were hit by Han Li's thoughts, and their faces were a bit embarrassed, but they became even more certain that Han Li was truly a disciple of a large sect. Their expressions became even more respectful.

Below, the three flew into the sky with their magic tools and drove them toward the south of the small town.

This so-called "Xueling Mountain" was not too far from the small town, and one could vaguely see the continuous black mountain peaks from the small town.

This Xueling Mountain should actually be called the Xueling Mountain Range. The mountain range stretched for ten thousand li and could be considered one of the few large mountain ranges in Liao Prefecture. Moreover, it is said that demons and ghosts haunt the depths of this mountain range; not to mention mortals, even cultivators with not-so-low cultivation bases sometimes disappear inexplicably in the mountains.

But when the friends and relatives of these missing cultivators searched through most of the mountain range in groups, they found no abnormalities at all. However, cultivators continued to disappear in the mountain range afterward.

But fortunately, not everyone passing through the mountain range would disappear, and most of those who disappeared were low-tier cultivators from Liao Prefecture; they were safe and sound on the periphery of the mountain range. Therefore, after some warnings and admonitions, local cultivators no longer ventured deep into this mountain. Disappearances immediately became rare. Gradually, no one pursued the abnormalities in the depths of the mountain range anymore.

The Ginseng King Assembly held by the three great families of Jiangning naturally could not be in the depths of the mountain range, but was held on a tall mountain peak close to the small town on the periphery.

When Han Li looked at the top of the mountain peak from the air, he saw a large area of magnificent buildings and pavilions appearing on the peak, and his eyes flickered a few times.

He saw at a glance that these buildings were brand new, clearly built recently, and he couldn't help but reveal a thoughtful expression.

"You have arrived, Senior; it is here. All Foundation Establishment cultivators who come to the assembly will be assigned a separate room, while seniors at the Core Formation stage and above will have a separate pavilion to ensure that all seniors can rest well," the tall youth pointed below and introduced somewhat flatteringly.

Han Li nodded and didn't say much. But his spiritual sense quietly released and scanned this area carefully and secretly. His eyebrows twitched inadvertently; there was actually a Nascent Soul cultivator inside. He didn't know if it was a cultivator who came to participate in this assembly or the Old Monster Kong that Feng Zhen mentioned before he died.

The strength of the Great Jin families really should not be underestimated. One must know that the highest cultivation base of a cultivation family in Tiannan was only at the mid-to-late stage of Core Formation. Nascent Soul-level cultivators could not be cultivated by cultivation families in Tiannan at all.

However, one thing surprised him: the aura of this Nascent Soul cultivator actually contained some corpse qi. Although it was very slight and disguised very cleverly, Han Li's spiritual sense far exceeded the other party's, so he noticed a fraction of it after paying attention.

Could it be that this person is cultivating demonic evil sect techniques?

If he remembered correctly, the Kong family was under the famous Heavenly Saint Sect of the Confucian school and was still supported by this sect. Regardless of whether this Nascent Soul cultivator was the ancestor of the Kong family, the Kong family should not be associating with such figures.

Han Li pondered this, and he followed the two to land at the entrance of the manor, and immediately four blue-robed cultivators walked out of the main gate to welcome them.

Almost at the same time, in a secret room twenty zhang deep underground, the lid of a pitch-black coffin suddenly moved, then a hand as white as jade stretched out from the crack, pushed the lid lightly, and a man in a jade crown and yellow robe sat up from inside.

This man was in his thirties, with a refined appearance, and a look of surprise and suspicion appeared on his face.

"What is going on? There was a sudden palpitation just now; could it be that someone is peeping at me?" The man muttered to himself, hesitated, and carefully released his spiritual sense, searching the entire mountain peak from top to bottom, especially the cultivators in the manor, even more carefully.

But after a long while, he gained nothing and did not discover any other Nascent Soul-level cultivators, so he frowned and pondered.

"Perhaps it was just some old immortal passing by here and occasionally probing. With this black jade coffin concealing my corpse qi, it shouldn't arouse the other party's suspicion," the jade-crowned man said to himself, lay back down in the coffin, and the lid closed by itself. The secret room returned to silence once again.

On the ground, Han Li had been led by a blue-robed cultivator into a huge square built in the middle of the manor, where cultivators in various costumes were densely packed, numbering five or six hundred.

However, these cultivators were divided into several blocks, gathered in clearly divided areas, either discussing or trading things. And all around the square were stalls of various sizes, some placed on tables, some placed directly on the ground—a very lively scene.

Han Li smiled knowingly, which reminded him of the situation when he first entered the cultivation world and participated in the Tainan Small Assembly. Thinking about it now, it was truly moving!

However, what surprised Han Li was that in the middle of the square, there was a huge tent temporarily set up, with white light flashing on it—it was actually a magic tool, and the tent was over a hundred zhang wide, with people entering and leaving the entrance.

Turning his gaze, on the left and right sides of the square, there were two bluestone halls with spiritual light flashing, although there were cultivators active inside, compared to the square and the tent in the middle, there were far fewer people. And some cultivators were wandering at the entrance of the hall or discussing something with their companions.

Those qualified to be here, apart from some low-tier disciples of the three families, were naturally cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage or above, and even among the Core Formation cultivators, there were more than a dozen under Han Li's spiritual sense scan. Such a scale, apart from Nascent Soul cultivators, was enough to compare to a first-class sect in Tiannan. And this was just a trading assembly held by some local families in Great Jin.

Secretly pondering, Han Li felt some emotion.

He had already been informed by the disciples who received him before entering that the morning was for free trading, and the afternoon was the start of the auction. If there were any rare materials, magic tools, or treasures, they could be handed over to the auction in advance. The scheduled time for the trading assembly was three days, and now it was exactly the second day. On the third day would be the grand finale auction of that thousand-year-old Ginseng King. I fear the Core Formation cultivators who came here were all aiming for this item.

After looking at it for a few glances, Han Li walked into the square with a leisurely pace.

As a newly joined Foundation Establishment cultivator, although his face was relatively unfamiliar, no one would pay attention to him.

Once inside, Han Li immediately turned into an ordinary cultivator.

The things at the surrounding stalls were indeed as expected, with nothing worth seeing. Perhaps they were indeed attractive to Foundation Establishment and Core Formation cultivators, but to Han Li, who had handled countless rare materials, he naturally had little interest.

The only stalls that could make him stop were those with strange-looking magic tools or materials.

However, there weren't many such things, and after Han Li carefully identified them, he recognized the origins of most of them. The remaining ones, although he had never seen them, had no research value.

After wandering around for quite a while, Han Li gained nothing and was just about to head toward the tent in the middle to see what things the sects were selling when suddenly, his expression moved, and he turned around vigilantly. He saw an old man with a sharp-mouthed, monkey-cheeked face standing two zhang behind him, looking at Han Li with some astonishment; he had the cultivation base of the early Foundation Establishment stage.

"This Fellow Daoist, you seem to have been following me for quite a while. Do you know me, Han?" Han Li's eyes flashed with cold light, and he said coldly.

"Fellow Daoist, don't misunderstand. I, Jin Yuan, don't want to be unfavorable to you; I'm just a bit curious. I am meeting you for the first time, but seeing that you seem to know everything about all kinds of things, I truly admire you!" The old man smiled awkwardly, but then explained as if nothing had happened.

"Oh! I didn't expect you to be such a caring person. However, following me for so long, you don't just want to say these things to me, right?" Han Li looked indifferent.

"Hehe! It seems you are also a sensible person, Fellow Daoist. Actually, besides curiosity, I do have a request," the old man said with a smile.

"What is the matter? Let's hear it!" Han Li crossed his arms and remained expressionless.

"I have a strange treasure here that I have always been unable to judge its use and origin, so I want to ask you to identify it. Of course, if you know the goods, it's fine to sell it to you. I think with your family background, you can definitely afford this treasure!" The old man observed the spiritual beast bag and storage bag at Han Li's waist, narrowed his eyes into a slit, and said with a smile.

"Strange treasure!" Han Li frowned and looked at the old man for a while.

"Fine. Since you have followed me for so long, it seems you are sincere. It doesn't hurt for me to take a look. Let's find a secret room to talk." Han Li nodded and pointed to a side hall.

"Secret room? This costs a spirit stone; it's a bit extravagant," the old man was stunned and hesitated.

"It doesn't matter; I will pay for this spirit stone. I just hope your strange treasure won't disappoint me too much," Han Li stared at the old man with a smile that was not quite a smile and said leisurely.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 902 =====