The man in the blue robe was actually speaking to the gaunt man. This took the gaunt man by complete surprise; a flicker of panic flashed in his eyes before quickly being replaced by anger.
The others exchanged bewildered looks, unsure of the blue-robed man’s intentions.
“Rest assured, fellow Daoist, I won’t ask you to give up your spot for nothing. I have two fifth-grade demon beast cores here as compensation. I trust you won’t find them lacking,” the blue-robed man said calmly, reaching into his robe and producing two shimmering blue orbs. Judging by the spiritual energy they emitted, they were genuine fifth-grade demon cores.
“Hmph! Do you think two mere demon cores are enough to make me give up my spot?” the gaunt man retorted, though a glint of greed flashed in his eyes before he coldly refused, as if remembering something.
The blue-robed man wasn’t angered by this response. Instead, he smiled strangely. Then, his lips moved silently as he sent a voice transmission to the gaunt man right in front of everyone. After just a few words, the gaunt man’s initially indifferent expression turned deathly pale.
“That’s all I have to say. I trust you won’t refuse my offer now?” the blue-robed man said leisurely, this time speaking aloud instead of using voice transmission.
The gaunt man grew visibly tense, cold sweat beading on his forehead as the blue-robed man spoke.
“Fine! Since you put it that way, I’ll yield my spot to you!” After glaring fiercely at the other man for a moment, the conflicted gaunt man gritted his teeth and agreed.
However, this decision shocked the other six members of their group.
“Fellow Daoist Zhang, what are you saying? Didn’t we agree to advance and retreat together? How could you…” The brocade-robed man’s expression darkened as he stared coldly at the gaunt man.
“My apologies, but I’m afraid I must part ways with you all for now. Please go on ahead. Perhaps we can cooperate again in the future,” the gaunt man said with a bitter, helpless smile.
The brocade-robed man fell silent. It was clear to everyone that Fellow Daoist Zhang seemed to have been coerced into giving up his spot. Under these circumstances, there was little else they could say. Fortunately, losing one person wouldn’t significantly impact their plans.
“Hmph! Who said you could casually swap people?” the bald elder suddenly frowned, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
“Elder Gu, I…” The gaunt man was startled and stammered, unsure how to explain himself.
At that moment, the blue-robed man flipped his hand, producing two jade boxes. With a flick of his wrist, the boxes flew toward the bald elder and the elegant-looking cultivator.
The two instinctively caught the boxes and glanced expressionlessly at the blue-robed man.
“Inside are two treasures I stumbled upon. I offer them to you two seniors as a gift,” the blue-robed man said calmly.
The two exchanged a curious glance. They had already inspected the boxes and found no tricks. Still, out of caution, they cracked open the lids just a sliver, allowing a few rays of red light to escape.
After a casual glance, both of their faces lit up with delight.
“Fellow Daoist Qu, are you truly giving these treasures to us?” the elegant-faced cultivator asked, visibly moved.
“Senior, you know as well as I do that while these items are precious, they are of little use to someone of my current cultivation level. I would much rather travel to the Outer Star Seas to continue my cultivation in peace,” the blue-robed cultivator replied with a faint smile.
“Heh! Very well. Since Fellow Daoist Qu has offered such generous gifts, we are not unreasonable people. You may accompany these six through the teleportation array,” Elder Gu said gleefully, too excited to consult his companion before agreeing.
Although the elegant-faced cultivator seemed slightly displeased, he too appeared swayed by the gift and did not object, silently acquiescing.
The others grew suspicious, almost all of them curious about what was inside the boxes. However, the two elders quickly closed the lids, and no one dared to openly probe with their spiritual sense, leaving them in the dark.
Only the brocade-robed man took an extra glance at the jade boxes, a flicker of surprise in his eyes. Though he couldn’t see inside, the blue-robed man’s words brought the term “magic treasure” to mind. Could he really have given them magic treasures? The thought sent a shiver down his spine.
Before he could ponder further, the two Core Formation cultivators each produced a white jade token and began chanting incantations toward a teleportation array behind them.
While the others showed no reaction, the blue-robed man let out a silent sigh of relief, inwardly congratulating himself on his luck.
“It seems these arrays really have been tampered with. If I had tried to force my way through, it likely would have failed. Those two mediocre magic treasures really came in handy,” he thought. This blue-robed man was, of course, Han Li in disguise, using Qi Restraining Art to conceal his cultivation.
Inside the jade boxes were two gleaming red flying dagger magic treasures—the very ones that had belonged to Hu Yue, who was killed by Xuan Gu. Han Li had casually repurposed them as gifts.
While Han Li had several such magic treasures without any special abilities, they were still incredibly valuable to Core Formation cultivators.
Magic treasures that could be used immediately without further refinement, even if they couldn’t achieve perfect spiritual synchronization and only unleashed seventy percent of their power, were rare finds for ordinary Core Formation cultivators.
Over the years, while many magic treasures had been left behind, most were destroyed or lost in battles between cultivators. The few that remained were mostly in the hands of Nascent Soul old monsters or exceptionally powerful Core Formation cultivators.
Others had been secretly hidden away by unknown cultivators or minor factions.
While an organization like Star Palace had collected numerous magic treasures, its vast influence also meant it had hundreds of Core Formation cultivators. These two, being early Core Formation cultivators, would not receive extra magic treasures as rewards without significant contributions. Thus, obtaining these flying daggers was an unexpected windfall that thrilled them. Refining these treasures would significantly boost their combat power.
As for the gaunt man obediently yielding his spot, Han Li had indeed uncovered his secret. Noticing the man’s strange behavior after returning from Star Palace, Han Li had sneaked into his room that night and used a secret technique to render him unconscious. While no spell could truly control another’s consciousness, combining a soul-dazing technique with his powerful spiritual sense allowed him to extract some deeply hidden thoughts from the semi-conscious man.
Han Li’s luck held—the man’s fragmented words revealed that he had conspired with two Star Palace cultivators to inflate the teleportation fees and exploit the others. With this information and the lure of two demon cores, the gaunt man was terrified into compliance, likely believing the two Star Palace cultivators had betrayed him.
As the incantations echoed through the hall, white light shimmered around the teleportation array, followed by a clear chime before the light vanished.
“Alright. Normally, there’s another person managing affairs here, but he was sent away on business for a couple of days. Otherwise, no amount of spirit stones would have made us accept this. Now, hand over the spirit stones,” the bald elder said bluntly to the brocade-robed man and the others after inspecting the de-restricted array.
The group promptly took out prepared storage pouches and handed them to the bald elder.
Han Li produced two more demon cores, which slightly surprised the bald elder.
After inspecting each pouch, the bald elder nodded in satisfaction. The elegant-faced middle-aged cultivator then took out several talismans and distributed them to Han Li and the others.
“Take these teleportation talismans. You may proceed now,” he said coldly, pointing at the array.
While the others hesitated, Han Li strode forward without a second thought.
It wasn’t that he was recklessly confident—he had already scanned the array with his spiritual sense and found it to be perfectly normal.
The stone tablet in front of the array was inscribed with two words: “Abyssal Depths.”
The name held no special significance in Han Li’s memory, suggesting the island it led to was likely nothing out of the ordinary.
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