Chapter 687: Soul Stone

Volume 5: Renowned in All Directions

"Oh, I'm quite interested in these puppets. They'd make excellent life-saving items for my young apprentice," said another cultivator, who appeared to be quite old, stroking his long beard. "I wonder what True Master Tianjing is looking to trade them for?"

"Hehe, what I'm looking for is quite rare," True Master Tianjing said calmly. "It's something called 'Soul Stone' from ancient times. One Soul Stone for one of my puppet beasts. These puppets were personally crafted by ancient cultivators; I doubt there are any other high-tier puppets like them left in this realm."

"Soul Stone?"

At the mention of this utterly unfamiliar name, all the cultivators present looked puzzled.

They had never heard of such a thing; it was completely foreign to them.

As if he had expected this, True Master Tianjing reached into his storage pouch with one hand and produced a thumb-sized, emerald-green crystal.

At first glance, the crystal resembled a wood-element spirit stone. However, a quick scan with their spiritual sense revealed that it didn't emit the familiar wood-element spiritual energy, but rather an intensely cold and inexplicable fluctuation.

"Perhaps some fellow cultivators possess this item but don't recognize it," the old Taoist said slowly, holding the crystal. "I happen to have a piece here for you all to examine and identify."

"Hmm! That's a bit strange. It resembles yin-soul power, but it's far purer," a demonic cultivator, wreathed in black mist, asked in surprise.

"I don't know exactly what this crystal contains, but it's certainly not ordinary soul energy," True Master Tianjing replied quite frankly. "Otherwise, why would I be willing to trade these puppets for a mere stone?"

"Oh! That's true," the demonic cultivator said, tactfully refraining from pressing further.

However, the moment Han Li clearly saw the crystal, his expression beneath the mask changed dramatically, and his eyes flickered erratically.

If he wasn't mistaken, this "Soul Stone" was clearly the "Nether Beast Crystal" he had collected from the Netherworld. Of course, "Beast Crystal" was merely the term used by the natives of the Netherworld; its true name among ancient cultivators seemed to be this "Soul Stone."

"True Master Tianjing not only brought out so many puppets but also seeks to collect a large quantity of 'Soul Stones.' Considering that many of the puppets I saw in the Void Heaven Hall contained these very Soul Stones, it seems this person..." Han Li began to ponder thoughtfully.

However, it was clear that very few had discovered these Soul Stones. After a long while, only one cultivator hesitantly produced a piece and exchanged it for a single beast puppet.

After True Master Tianjing inquired a few more times and saw no one else come forward, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, even though he had anticipated this outcome.

Just as he was about to put away the remaining puppet beasts, someone suddenly stood up and walked over. This invigorated the old Taoist, who looked at the approaching person with a mix of surprise and delight.

"Fellow Daoist, do you also possess a Soul Stone?"

The person who stepped forward was Han Li, who had finally made up his mind. He silently flipped his palm, and an emerald-green crystal appeared in his hand.

However, this crystal was the size of an egg, and a mass of almost visibly frigid yin energy emanated from it. It was far superior to the crystal the old Taoist had produced.

True Master Tianjing was initially surprised, then overcome with delight, a wide smile spreading across his face as he said:

"Fellow Daoist, a Soul Stone of this size is truly rare. How about this: you may choose any two of these puppets. I won't let you suffer a loss."

"Two?" Han Li chuckled softly and shook his head.

"What, Fellow Daoist, do you think that's too few? How many do you intend to exchange for?" True Master Tianjing asked amicably, showing no sign of anger.

"I'd like to exchange this Soul Stone for all the remaining puppets you have," Han Li said calmly.

"Six?! Fellow Daoist, don't you think that's too greedy?" The old Taoist stared for a moment, then frowned, speaking with clear displeasure.

"Hehe! Whether it's greedy or not, True Master, you should be quite clear. This Soul Stone isn't judged merely by its size. Moreover, a Soul Stone of this magnitude is quite valuable for you, True Master, because..." Han Li stared at True Master Tianjing, abruptly trailing off.

True Master Tianjing's expression subtly changed upon hearing this. He scrutinized Han Li for a few moments, then, after a brief silence, said:

"Alright. A Soul Stone this large is indeed very rare, and I urgently need this item. So, we'll proceed with the exchange as you suggested."

Hearing the old Taoist's words, the other cultivators in the pavilion were surprised and couldn't help but stare intently at the egg-sized crystal in Han Li's hand.

An item that could immediately fetch several rare puppets definitely warranted closer attention.

Han Li showed no surprise. He directly handed over the crystal, then lowered his head slightly and swept his sleeve across the table, making all six puppet beasts vanish without a trace.

What other cultivators didn't notice, however, was that the moment Han Li lowered his head, his lips subtly moved. True Master Tianjing's eyes flashed with sharp light, and a hint of surprise and doubt flickered across his face.

By then, Han Li had already returned to his seat with the puppets.

Afterwards, True Master Tianjing announced the end of the exchange meeting. Numerous cultivators descended the stairs and left, and Han Li and his two companions mingled among them, departing from Crystal Dragon Pavilion.

As the three left the pavilion, they remained silent. However, after passing through two streets and putting some distance between themselves and the pavilion, Fire Dragon Child, with his mature air, finally spoke.

"Fellow Daoists, I have another appointment. I won't be accompanying you any further."

"If Brother Lan has something to attend to, by all means, go and take care of it," Lu Luo said with a smile. "Our residences aren't far; we'll have plenty of opportunities to meet again."

"Very well, then I'll take my leave!" Fire Dragon Child didn't stand on ceremony. After greeting Han Li, he headed down another street.

"That Fellow Daoist Fire Dragon truly is an interesting character!" Han Li said with a sudden smile, watching the child's retreating figure.

"Fellow Daoist Lan accidentally ingested a strange herb in his youth, which is why his appearance and physique have remained childlike. However, he is forthright and straightforward, and is one of the few approachable external cultivators we know. He's also the only elder in the Ancient Sword Sect who is friendly towards our Fallen Cloud Sect."

Hearing this, Han Li raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself:

"From the sound of it, the other elders of the Ancient Sword Sect don't hold the Fallen Cloud Sect in high regard."

"By the way, Junior Martial Brother Han, what are your plans now? Will you return to your residence to rest for a bit, or perhaps visit other places?" Lu Luo asked, looking around.

"I need to purchase some special materials, so I plan to visit a few nearby market cities by myself," Han Li said directly, without concealing anything. "Perhaps I'll stumble upon something unexpected."

"Coincidentally, I also plan to consign an item at an auction house," Lu Luo said, readily agreeing, understanding Han Li's intention to act alone. "In that case, Junior Martial Brother Han and I can temporarily part ways here."

And so, Han Li and Lu Luo immediately parted ways there, each going about their own business.

The market cities in Tian Yuan City were vast, at least many times larger than those of the three sects in Cloud Dream Mountain.

Han Li walked along a street in the western market city of Tian Yuan City, constantly glancing at the shops on either side.

Han Li's words to Lu Luo about purchasing materials were not false.

He indeed intended to purchase some relatively rare talisman-making materials to prepare for crafting high-tier talismans.

Although he possessed numerous spirit beast hides and spirit beast blood from previous years, crafting high-tier talisman paper and high-tier cinnabar naturally required other auxiliary raw materials.

This was also to prepare early for the Spirit Descent Talismans he had long intended to craft, hoping to further advance his talisman crafting skills by another realm.

Although he hadn't thoroughly researched the Spirit Descent Talismans yet, the power of the Spirit Descent Talismans described on the bone fragment was truly extraordinary. It was capable of saving his life at crucial moments, so Han Li naturally wouldn't let such an opportunity slip by.

However, the difficulty of crafting this talisman was not just complex and challenging; it far exceeded that of ordinary Five-Element Talismans.

As such, to increase the success rate, besides improving his talisman crafting ability, he also needed to replace his talisman brush.

His original talisman brush should have been discarded long ago.

Unfortunately, while talisman materials were easy to buy, a satisfactory talisman brush was quite difficult to find.

In the previous two market city shops, there were a few that sold talisman brushes. Some even offered rare, top-tier talisman brushes. But after examining them, he merely shook his head and left.

These talisman brushes might be sufficient for crafting ordinary high-tier talismans, but for drawing secret talismans like the Spirit Descent Talisman, they were clearly somewhat inadequate.

Talisman brushes, as a type of spiritual artifact used only by talisman masters, were not common. Even when found, most were of low to mid-tier quality.

This was because for a talisman master with insufficient magic power, forcibly using a high-tier talisman brush would not only fail to increase the success rate but would actually increase the chance of failure.

Moreover, talisman masters, because they divided their attention to cultivate talisman crafting, generally did not have high cultivation levels; eight or nine out of ten were still lingering below the Foundation Establishment stage.

Only a handful of dedicated talisman masters in the entire Southern Heaven cultivation world could reach the Core Formation stage.

As for Nascent Soul stage talisman masters, as far as Han Li knew, no such individual had ever appeared.

Most were merely old monsters who dabbled in talisman crafting after reaching the Nascent Soul stage; they weren't dedicated talisman masters.

The talisman crafting skills of these Nascent Soul cultivators also varied greatly. Most focused on cultivating one or two types of high-tier talismans useful to themselves. However, due to the scarcity of high-tier spirit beast hides and high-tier beast blood, they naturally couldn't practice much, so their success rates were predictably low.

This also led to the strange phenomenon where high-tier talismans were sometimes even more expensive than top-tier magical artifacts in the cultivation world.