Han Li expressionlessly waved his hand, and the twelve small swords instantly merged back into a single blade. With a flash of white light, the sword returned to his sleeve and vanished without a trace.
"Now, perhaps we can talk." Han Li lowered his hand, his expression calm as he spoke.
That strike had not killed his opponent—he had merely inflicted severe injuries, rendering the man temporarily incapable of fighting.
So, after a brief moment, Yun Tianxiao struggled back to his feet. Drenched in his own blood, he stared at Han Li with eyes full of terror.
"Fine! Yun's skills are inferior! Fellow Daoist Li is welcome to take Wen Siyue away. But let me say this plainly—a certain senior has already taken a fancy to this woman, intending to use her as a cauldron. Once you take her, don't complain when trouble finds its way to you." Yun Tianxiao's face was pale as he spoke. Only then did he take out several talismans, slapping them onto his body. After a flash of green light, his wounds vanished at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"A cauldron?" Hearing this, Han Li finally understood why Wen Siyue had been so desperate to leave.
But the veiled threat embedded in Yun Tianxiao's words caused Han Li's expression to turn abruptly cold.
"Someone else has designs on this woman? That's no concern of mine. I'm taking her regardless. As for threats, Fellow Daoist, you'd do well to hold your tongue. If I'm in a bad mood, I might just massacre everyone here." Han Li said, his expression unchanged, then casually swept his gaze around the hall.
His words were not entirely a bluff.
If not for the fact that there were too many Core Formation cultivators present and he couldn't be absolutely certain he could eliminate every last one, he would truly have slaughtered everyone in the hall and been done with it.
But even so, the viciousness of his words was enough to drain the color from every face in the room.
If his earlier attack had filled the others with suspicion and doubt, then the sheer audacity of his tone now led most to guess that Han Li was a Nascent Soul monster in disguise. One by one, they grew uneasy or lowered their eyes, and not a single person dared meet Han Li's gaze directly.
Yun Tianxiao had naturally arrived at the same possibility. Combine that with the fact that the man possessed only early Core Formation cultivation yet had nearly killed him—a mid Core Formation cultivator—in a single strike, and was searching for the lair of an eighth-grade demon beast to boot. His mouth filled with bitterness, and inwardly he cursed his own misfortune.
Wen Siyue, cradled in Han Li's arms, had her beautiful eyes opened wide, equally stunned by the scene unfolding before her.
She would rather die than serve as someone's cauldron, which was why she had risked everything earlier. But she had never imagined that this cultivator surnamed Li possessed such terrifying cultivation, single-handedly suppressing every cultivator present.
Yun Tianxiao, whom she had feared terribly, was now gravely injured. Madam Fan's face was a mask of panic, and she hadn't uttered a single word.
All of it felt like a dream, filling her with equal parts shock and elation.
Seeing that everyone else wore cautious, silent expressions, Han Li let out a cold laugh and beckoned with his hand.
The copper plate belonging to the dark-skinned cultivator rose into the air of its own accord, then shot with a whistle into Han Li's palm.
Han Li examined the plate closely without the slightest hesitation.
The dark-skinned cultivator's expression shifted slightly, but his lips moved several times and he ultimately didn't dare voice any complaint.
Since Han Li could severely wound Yun Tianxiao—a cultivator of comparable cultivation—in a single blow, he was obviously no match either. But that didn't mean his expression had improved in the slightest.
"I'll take this. How many spirit stones?" Han Li set down the copper plate and addressed its owner in a flat tone.
"F-f… no, five thousand spirit stones will do!" The dark-skinned cultivator replied, somewhat surprised, unable to stop himself from answering reflexively.
Han Li tossed a fifth-grade demon beast core, which landed accurately before the man.
"We'll trade with this beast core. And lest anyone accuse me of robbing a fellow Daoist of his sect's female cultivators, consider the materials on this table as the price for this woman's freedom." Han Li turned toward Madam Fan. He then patted the shoulder of the woman in his arms, and once she released him, he rose to his feet and strolled unhurriedly toward the exit.
Wen Siyue took a moment to recover from her daze, then hastily rose and followed him out in a fluster.
"Senior Li, please wait!" Madam Fan's expression flickered, and she actually called out.
This made Han Li pause mid-stride. He turned back with a hint of curiosity on his face.
The fact that this woman still had the nerve to call out to him piqued his interest. Wen Siyue, however, tensed up involuntarily and drew closer to Han Li's side.