Even though Han Li didn't finish his sentence, Eccentric Xu naturally understood the unspoken implications, and his brows furrowed as he asked, "Why don't you tell me what kind of treasure you'd like in exchange for that disposable treasure of yours? Even if I don't have it, I have many acquaintances, and I could try and source it for you."
Han Li fell silent upon hearing this.
There naturally were items that he wanted. Not taking into account other matters, just the rare materials that Qing Yuanzi was asking for comprised of quite an extensive list.
However, it was exactly because of this that he found it difficult to state any terms.
If he were to use the true Kirin essence to exchange for only a few of the materials on the list, it naturally wouldn't be worth it for him. However, if he were to ask for too many materials in return, Eccentric Xu would most likely be of the opinion that Han Li was simply trying to take advantage of him, and he'd essentially be making an enemy for no good reason.
After all, only he was aware of the value of the true Kirin essence, but that was not something that he could disclose to Eccentric Xu, thereby resulting in this predicament.
"Fellow Daoist Xu, the items I require are all extremely rare, and even you wouldn't be able to source them, so there's no point in disclosing them. As for whether I can replicate that phenomenon for you…" Han Li heaved a faint sigh with a hesitant look on his face.
Eccentric Xu's expression darkened further at the sight of the hesitant expression on Han Li's face.
He glanced at the young boy behind him, then gritted his teeth and pulled out a blue jade box as he said, "Would you like to have a look at this item as well? It's even more valuable than all of the other items I've shown you. One of the elders of our Cloud Race also requires this item, and I wanted to offer it to him in exchange for some benefits, but the future of my junior clearly takes priority over that. I'm sure that even if this item isn't something that you're looking for, it's at least of equal value to the disposable treasure you possess."
Han Li wasn't surprised at all to see that Eccentric Xu had held something back in reserve. If he were in Eccentric Xu's shoes, he wouldn't bring out the most valuable item he had to offer from the get-go, either.
As for the story about how he was planning to give this item to one of the elders of his race, that most likely wasn't true, and Han Li naturally wasn't going to take it seriously.
Thus, he nodded in response before making a grabbing motion to draw the blue jade box into his grasp.
As soon as his fingers came into contact with the box, a strange chilling sensation suddenly ran through his entire body, and his heart jolted with shock in response.
He didn't know what kind of spirit jade this box had been refined from, but it was even colder than profound jade.
As such, Han Li was rather intrigued as he slowly removed the lid of the box, and golden light flashed as the content of the box was revealed.
This was a fist-sized chunk of crimson metal that was radiating shimmering golden light.
A hint of bewilderment flashed through Han Li's eyes as soon as he caught sight of the item, as if he'd managed to identify it, but he still seemed to be in disbelief.
All of a sudden, Han Li flipped a hand over, and a short white sword appeared in his grasp amid a flash of spiritual light.
The sword was only around half a foot in length, it was shimmering with a cold light, but it was quite clearly only a very ordinary treasure.
Han Li flicked his wrist, and the sword immediately shot forth into the jade box, striking the chunk of crimson metal in a flash.
An astonishing scene then ensued.
In the instant that the tip of the sword came into contact with the piece of crimson metal, it melted in a soundless manner like a burning candle, then disappeared into nothingness in the blink of an eye.
"Flame Metal Essence!" Han Li exclaimed through a slightly dry throat.
"You sure are quite knowledgeable, Fellow Daoist Han. This Flame Metal Essence is a top-grade material for refining fire-attribute treasures, and if you were to add even a tiny portion of it to a normal treasure, that treasure would be given fire-attribute powers. Regardless of how precious your disposable treasure is, I'm sure this item will be enough to exchange for it," Eccentric Xu said in a slow voice as he appraised the blue jade box in Han Li's hand.
The bewilderment gradually faded from Han Li's eyes, and he suddenly smiled as he said, "I really do have a use for this Flame Metal Essence, but I'm naturally also aware of just how precious it is. How about this? In addition to replicating that phenomenon for you, I'll also throw in 5,000,000 spirit stones for you."
Eccentric Xu had originally been quite dejected that he had to part with this precious treasure, but after hearing Han Li's proposal, his expression eased slightly, and he nodded as he replied, "Alright, we'll do as you say."
To him, the Flame Metal Essence was indeed extremely precious, but it still couldn't compare with the future of this junior on whom he'd placed such high hopes.
Thus, Han Li flipped a hand over to stow the blue jade box away, and Eccentric Xue began, "Now then, about the phenomenon…"
"Rest assured, Brother Xu; take this bag of spirit stones first, then go to the summit of this spirit mountain. I'll unleash the treasure right away to conjure up the phenomenon, and all you have to do is wait and harvest the world's origin Qi when it appears," Han Li explained with a smile before sweeping a hand over his storage bracelet, producing a leather pouch of spirit stones that he tossed over to Eccentric Xu.
Eccentric was clearly not expecting Han Li to fulfill his end of the transaction so quickly, and he faltered slightly as he reflexively caught the bag, then immediately rose to his feet in an elated manner. "Alright, I'll be waiting at the mountain summit then."
Thus, he hurriedly departed with the young body before flying up the mountain.
After the two had left his cave abode, Han Li was able unable to repress his excitement any longer as a faint smile appeared on his face.
"I didn't think I'd obtain the Flame Metal Essence so quickly. In addition to the Golden Marrow Crystal Insects and the Blood Apricot, I've gathered all of the main materials required to manifest my Provenance True Devil Projection. Now, all I need to do is gather some secondary materials, and I'll be able to manifest a substantial body for my projection," Han Li murmured to himself with a bright gleam in his eyes.
After that, the process was quite simple. Han Li released the Weeping Soul Beast again, then extracted another true Kirin essence particle from its body before intentionally refining it with his nascent flames.
Thus, the same explosion took place, and the particle burst through the ceiling of his cave abode before conjuring up the same astonishing phenomenon again, drawing all of the nearby world's origin Qi toward it.
Eccentric Xu was already well prepared, and he was ecstatic as he immediately grabbed the crimson gourd that was hanging from his waist before hurling it into the air, upon which the gourd transformed into a fiery wyrm.
Mere moments later, all of the world's origin Qi above the spirit mountain was absorbed by the fiery wyrm, and the entire process was even faster than it had been last time.
As such, not many cultivators living on the spirit mountain had been alerted by this phenomenon.
After that, Eccentric Xu transformed the fiery wyrm back into his crimson gourd, then took the young boy back to his cave abode in high spirits.
After witnessing all of this through a copper mirror in the hall of his cave abode, Han Li smiled as he ceased his secret technique, then immediately stowed the mirror away. After that, he gave Doll a few instructions using his spiritual sense before departing from his cave abode again.
On this occasion, Han Li visited several large material shops in Cloud City, spending a staggering amount of spirit stones to purchase over 30 types of different materials before finally returning to his cave abode.
Luckily for him, Cloud City was one of the few super cities on the territory of the 13 Heavenly Clod Races. Otherwise, he may not have been able to source some of the rarest materials he required if he were in another city. Half a month after Han Li had gone into seclusion in his cave abode again, a major event took place in Cloud City.
As a result, the city's defenses were tightened even further, and almost twice as many people were deployed to patrol the city compared to before. There were even some newly arrived outsiders in the city that were tracked down by some mysterious individuals, and extremely exhaustive investigations were conducted on these outsiders.
Some of the outsiders who were deemed to be overly suspicious mysteriously disappeared off the face of this world.
Within an extremely secretive hall in Cloud City, a dozen or so important figures were seated in two rows on a pair of wooden benches.
Among these people, there were some who were familiar to Han Li, such as the three elders of the Myriad Ancient Race, Cai Liuying of the Crystal Race, and Duan Tianren of the Stone Cocoon Race. The others were all beings whom Han Li had never met before, but the spiritual pressure emanating from their bodies indicated that they were beings of the same caliber as the likes of Qian Jizi. All of these vasty renowned holy race beings were gathered with solemn and cautious expressions on their face, while a man and a woman sat at the very center of the hall.
The man wore a set of white robes and appeared to be around 27 to 28 years of age, while the woman had a head of golden hair, but a face so deeply wrinkled that it appeared she was barely even able to keep her eyes open.
If Han Li were present at the scene, he wouldn't have paid much attention to the elderly woman, but he certainly would've been quite alarmed by the sight of the white-robed young man.
This was none other than the Grand Ascencion cultivator with the Weng surname, who had appeared during the last Four Races Auction.
At this moment, the young man wore a thunderous expression, and there was a menacing aura emanating from his body.
"It's been so many days, yet all of you still haven't managed to find the Jiao Chi Race infiltrator. It looks like the infiltrator has already fled Cloud City or is hiding somewhere that's beyond the scope of your search. Fellow Daoist Bai, Your Water Wraith Race has always been responsible for this area as of late; what do you think?" the white-robed young man suddenly asked in a cold voice.
The person that he had questioned was a man in a brocade robe with a head of white hair, but a set of youthful facial features. His expression soured slightly upon hearing this question, but he still hurriedly rose to his feet as he cupped his fist in a salute, and replied, "Senior Weng, we've already deployed all of the beings in our race who are proficient in interrogative techniques, and investigated all of the suspicious beings who have come to our Cloud City in the past six months. During the process, we've even weeded out hundreds of spies that had been planted in our Cloud City from various other races, but we've still been unable to find that Jiao Chi Race being who infiltrated our Enshrinement Hall. I think the infiltrator has most likely already left Cloud City. Otherwise, there's no way that he would've been able to escape such an exhaustive investigation."
