"Not interested! I never deal with shady characters — you can save your breath."
Far from what the little old man expected, Han Li refused outright without even bothering to hear him out. A flicker of surprise crossed the old man's face, but after a moment something seemed to occur to him. The wrinkles around his eyes smoothed out, and he let out a soft chuckle.
"You're too hasty, my friend. It would be best to hear me out first. After you've listened, Brother Li can make his decision. Otherwise, you may be the one who ends up at a disadvantage." There was a faint edge of menace hidden in the old man's words.
"At a disadvantage? Now you've caught my interest. I suppose I'll hear you out." Han Li clasped his hands behind his back, a thoughtful glint flashing through his eyes as he spoke.
"That's the wise choice. This old man will first show you something, and then we can discuss the matter of a deal." The old man gave a wheezy laugh and slapped the spirit beast pouch at his waist. A ball of green light immediately shot from the pouch, circled once, and settled on top of the old man's head, revealing a spirit beast the size of a fist.
The creature resembled a snail magnified several times over, but its entire body was a vivid, translucent green. It swayed its crystal-clear, slender tentacles with agonizing slowness, moving as though every motion required tremendous effort.
"A slug beast… What exactly is the meaning of bringing out this creature? Don't tell me you intend to have it spit venom at me?" Han Li's expression darkened the moment he laid eyes on the beast.
"How could I possibly use a low-ranked spirit beast to threaten you? I'll be honest with you, Brother Li — this old man's spirit beast carries a slight mutation, and the ability it has gained happens to be quite useful at penetrating illusion techniques and visual deceptions. When you were just now confronting several cultivators from the Yin Luo Sect, I happened to have a sliver of my spiritual sense attached to this creature. You understand what I'm getting at, don't you? The trick you used to transform that bamboo cylinder into a long saber — it might fool everyone else, but it cannot fool this beast's spiritual perception." The old man plucked the slug beast from the top of his head, cupped it gently in his palm, and spoke with unmistakable smugness.
"And even so — what of it? Do you have some other notion in mind?" Hearing that the slug beast was a mutated spirit beast capable of piercing through illusion techniques, Han Li's heart tightened, though his expression betrayed nothing.
"Ha ha ha, why must you push me away? I have no grand intentions. If Brother Li is willing to gift me three or four treasures or a generous sum of spirit stones, I will immediately forget everything I witnessed just now. I absolutely would not dare to trouble you." Greed finally surfaced openly on the little old man's face as he named an outrageous price.
"Are you threatening me?" Han Li let out a laugh instead of showing anger.
"What's this? Feeling murderous? You'd better rein it in. I'm a loose cultivator too — I'm not the least bit worried about your threats. The fact that I appeared before you alone should tell you I have every confidence in my own safety. I already sent one of my disciples to follow behind the Yin Luo Sect and that Tianlan Saintess. If anything happens here, my apprentice will immediately reveal the truth about what you're concealing behind your back. Your troubles will be enormous. And besides, this is the Jing Capital — there are countless high-level cultivators here for the auction. Do you really think you could silence me in a place like this? One long whistle from me, and you'll be powerless to stop what follows. My disciple will come leading the Yin Luo Sect cultivators, and with me here to keep you occupied, you'll have no chance of fleeing. It will be a dead end, plain and simple. Perhaps four or five Nascent Soul cultivators working together still couldn't destroy you — but what about seven or eight? As I happen to know, the Yin Luo Sect has more than just those few Nascent Soul Elders stationed in Jing Capital. Against so many, do you still have the confidence to escape? Spending some wealth to avert disaster — that is the wise course." The old man retreated two steps, a crafty grin spreading across his face as he spoke. At the same time, he raised a hand, and a wooden shield flew from his sleeve, unfurling into a hazy yellow barrier of light that enveloped his entire body in a posture of extreme caution.
Han Li furrowed his brow slightly, his gaze sweeping across the barrier of light, his expression shifting between shadow and clarity as he weighed the situation.
"It seems that if I don't offer you some sort of benefit, there really will be trouble. What treasures are you looking for?" After a long pause, Han Li's expression returned to normal, and he spoke with perfect composure.
"Now that's more like it. I'm only after profit — I have no desire to drag you into a fight to the death. I'm not particular, either. Give me a few ancient treasures and I'll be more than satisfied." The old man's spirits soared the moment he heard this, and he hurriedly replied.
The sheer greed on display made the corner of Han Li's eyebrow twitch almost imperceptibly. His face darkened as he reached toward his storage pouch, turning his palm over. A ball of gold-and-silver light instantly appeared in his hand, within which a sphere roughly the size of an egg could faintly be seen.
"A few ancient treasures? You're overreaching. I don't have others to spare — this Cloud Sky Pearl is something I obtained by chance years ago. It doesn't suit my cultivation technique, so you may take it and be on your way. Don't get too greedy. You might choke on it." Han Li flicked his wrist, and the sphere shot toward the little old man at a sharp speed.
Joy appeared on the old man's face, but after a calculated glance he didn't reach out to catch the treasure directly. Instead, he tossed the slug beast aside, swept his sleeve forward in a swift motion, and a sheet of dark light shot from within it, wrapping around the gold-and-silver sphere in an instant.
After a moment, seeing no anomaly from the sphere, he carefully drew it through the barrier and into his grasp.
"The patterns on this thing are unusual — it certainly doesn't look like an ordinary treasure. I wonder what special properties it holds." The old man maintained a spiritual link to the slug beast beside him, and sensing that the sphere before him was no illusion and bore no aura of being bound to a master, his suspicions evaporated. He extended a hand, drew the sphere into his palm with a tug of spiritual force, and murmured as he examined it closely.
"You should try it for yourself and find out. I can promise you — it will be quite the surprise." Han Li crossed his arms over his chest and replied in an indifferent tone.
"Fair enough. But one ancient treasure to send me on my way — don't you think that's a bit careless?" The old man spoke with barely concealed excitement as he began to channel Magical Power into the sphere, yet his greed still drove him to try to extort even more.
Watching this, the corner of Han Li's mouth curled upward in the faintest trace of mockery.