The wizened old man heard
Han Li followed unhurriedly behind him, his expression perfectly composed.
"Senior's face seems somewhat unfamiliar. Might I ask your honored name, and where you have been secluded in cultivation all this time? This junior may have heard of your reputation before!" Huang Mingli flew along, glancing back at Han Li with a furtive glance before asking cautiously.
"My surname is Li. I've been cultivating in seclusion within my cave dwelling and only recently emerged after successfully forming my Core. It's only natural that Fellow Daoist Huang has never seen me before." Han Li naturally wouldn't tell the truth, offering a casual reply instead.
Huang Mingli detected no hint of falsehood in Han Li's words. Though some suspicion lingered in his heart, he could only voice his congratulations repeatedly.
After that, Huang Mingli proved quite tactful. Rather than prying for information about Han Li, he took the initiative to fill him in on the recent clashes between cultivators and demon beasts. From his heavy sighs, however, it was clear he didn't hold much hope for humanity's prospects in these parts.
Listening to the man's ceaseless chatter, Han Li rarely interjected, but he came away with a far clearer picture of the current situation in the
Over the next half month, nothing unexpected occurred, and the two of them arrived smoothly at an island that looked thoroughly unremarkable.
The island was barely a hundred li across, with pitifully sparse spiritual energy. Apart from a small patch of vegetation, there was nothing but bare grey rock — the very image of the desolate islands scattered throughout the Outer Seas.
The choice of such a location was, no doubt, the best possible cover for the existence of a secret market.
Even so, when they were still half a day's travel from the island, both of them began employing concealment techniques, suppressing their flying light to travel in stealth.
This was naturally a requirement imposed by the secret market's organizers.
When Han Li had first heard Huang Mingli's earnest request, he had shown no trace of impatience and simply complied in silence. This put Huang Mingli greatly at ease. After all, not all Core Formation cultivators were easy to deal with.
At this moment, Huang Mingli circled once through the skies above the island before descending toward a jumble of scattered boulders.
Han Li, flying beside him, noticed this and a flicker of something odd crossed his face. If he wasn't mistaken, there were no restrictions whatsoever in this area. Could it be—
Just as Han Li was puzzling over this, Huang Mingli had already landed beside a massive boulder and, with practiced ease, tapped the stone surface three times.
Moments later, the boulder split open to reveal a dark opening roughly a zhang wide.
Huang Mingli immediately stepped forward, whispered something into the cavity in a low voice, then turned back and called up to Han Li in the sky:
"Senior Li, this is the place. Let's go in!"
Han Li gave a faint nod, descended from the air, and walked straight over.
Inside the entrance, a slanting stone staircase led downward. Standing beside it was a grey-robed elder with white hair and beard, whose cultivation appeared to be at the late Foundation Establishment stage.
"Welcome, Senior, to our market. We hope Senior will find what you're looking for inside." The elder greeted Han Li with a warm smile as soon as he entered, his manner neither servile nor overbearing.
"We shall see," Han Li replied calmly and took the lead going down the stairs.
Now he understood. Evidently, to prevent demon beasts from detecting any spiritual energy anomaly at this location, no formation restrictions had been placed here at all. It was simply a temporary underground venue that had been carved out.
After descending the stairs for a short distance, Han Li's eyes opened wide.
Before him stretched a vast subterranean space, some five or six zhang high, its earthen walls petrified solid through the use of stone-hardening techniques and supported by thick pillars of green stone. Scattered throughout were small square stone rooms, each bearing signs of various descriptions.
Over a hundred cultivators moved among these rooms, trading all manner of goods and raw materials.
"Senior Li, this level is merely a common trading area. If you wish to purchase rare materials, you'll need to go down to the next level." Huang Mingli pointed toward a stone staircase descending beside one of the pillars and offered a reminder.
"If I'm looking for information on the lairs of high-level demon beasts, where might I find that?" Han Li swept a glance over the staircase but made no move toward it. Instead, he asked in a low voice.
Huang Mingli was visibly startled by the question. A hint of suspicion flickered across his face, but after a brief blink of his small eyes, he answered with practiced ease:
"That depends on what level of demon beast you need. If it's fifth or sixth tier, you need only visit the 'Wind Listening Pavilion' below. They specialize in selling rare natural treasures that are difficult to obtain, as well as the whereabouts of high-level demon beasts — leaving it to each Fellow Daoist's own abilities to retrieve them. However, if it's a higher tier than that, they won't have anything. In that case, you can only hope that other Core Formation seniors have intelligence on the matter. After all, information on beasts of that caliber is rarely leaked casually. You might participate in the exchange meeting that's organized specifically for Core Formation cultivators. There may well be something to be found there."