“He’s a cultivator from the Ye Clan,” Ge Tianhao said.

“The Ye Clan? The Imperial Ye Clan?” The Endless Sky Saintess said with surprise.

“Does Fellow Daoist Lin know the person who sent them?” Ge Tianhao asked with an odd expression, “He is a Ye Clan Elder surnamed Han. This man has the same appearance as the person we’re pursuing.”

“It was like that?” The Saintess asked with surprise, “Are those two the same person? What does that person have to do with the Ye Clan?”

Ge Tianhao said with a solemn expression, “I’m not sure. The person I soul-searched was only a vagrant cultivator recruited by the Ye Clan. Even if they aren’t the same person, they are certain to be closely related. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have sent someone to follow us. If that person is truly an elder of the Ye Clan, it will be somewhat troublesome.”

The Saintess smiled and said, “Is the Imperial Clan that large? I recall that the Ye Clan was under the control of many large sects, including your own. What is there for you to fear?”

“The Ye Clan isn’t a common cultivator clan,” Ge Tianhao explained with a sigh, “Their ident.i.ty as the top clan in the Great Jin doesn’t come from their status as the royal imperial family. It is because they possess seven Nascent Soul-stage elders, not to mention the large number of vagrant cultivators that they’ve recruited and the secret powers they nurtured in secret. Their true strength isn’t any lesser than a large cultivator sect. Although the person following us didn’t have great cultivation, his flag was exceptionally effective. Were it not for Fellow Daoist Lin’s Clearsound Mirror, it would’ve been difficult for us to detect him following us.”

“It was nothing. Because of my cultivation art’s enhanced senses, I was able to faintly perceive something amiss ever since we left the market. It was only a matter of luck that I used the Clearsound Mirror at the right time.” The Saintess stared at Ge Tianhao and calmly asked, “How does Brother Ge Plan on handling this matter? Does your sect still plan on fulfilling your agreement with our Endless Sky Temple?”

Ge Tianhao looked into the distance and chuckled. “The Ye Clan might be powerful, but my sect has nothing to fear from them. Besides, it involves our sect’s signature treasure and the life of our enforcement elder. Even if he was truly a Ye Clan Elder, our sect can make an exchange for him. Fellow Daoist Lin shouldn’t worry about the matter. Now that the time has arrived, let us go to the trade meet.”

“Brother Ge’s words have put my worries to rest.” The Saintess nodded with a satisfied expression.

Soon after, the three departed in streaks of light.

Unbeknownst to them, not long after they left, a flicker of black light appeared nearby, revealing an azure-robed youth. He sneered as he looked in the direction that the three had flown off in.

“So the Yin Sifting Sect and the Endless Sky Temple are working together... That’s fine. I’ll let you live for the time being, so have that draw out that Youth Han. I still haven’t forgotten my hatred for the death of my main soul.” After muttering that, the youth blurred and disappeared from sight.

...

Han Li was now covered in a mist of green light and was wryly laughing in his mind.

He was stood in a dim hall with about four hundred seats arranged in a circle around an empty s.p.a.ce.

To his surprise, when he was about to enter the trade meet, a masked gatekeeper stuck a unique talisman onto him, and he then pa.s.sed through a simple teleportation formation. Afterwards, he found himself shrouded in a mist of green light as he stood inside the hall. His appearance was completely hidden.

He then quickly looked around him in alarm and found several tens of cultivators scattered throughout the area that were similarly concealed in mists of various colors. A few of them were standing of their own discretion.

Curious, Han Li took a seat at the corner of the hall and began to stealthily release his spiritual sense nearby, wanting to see whether he could see past the mist of light. He was astonished to discover that he wasn’t able to forcefully break through it with his powerful spiritual sense. Although he hadn’t used all his strength, he reckoned it wouldn’t make much of a difference.

As these thoughts appeared in his mind, he unconsciously swept his spiritual sense through the hall to discover that it was under the influence of a strange spell formation. Although it didn’t appear to possess any formidable restrictions, the spiritual Qi it released matched the light that concealed the cultivators present.

Skilled both in talismans and spell formations, Han Li pondered for a moment before finding himself in awe.

It was clear that the talisman was specially made for synchronized use with the spell formation. With the talisman attached, one only needed to enter the range of the spell formation before the talisman shroud is activated. Then no matter how strong a cultivator’s spiritual sense was, they wouldn’t be able to overpower the spell formation.

Without fear of recognition, these eccentrics may now openly exchange the items they wish without fear of meeting any mishaps, no matter how rare the items may be.

Han Li let out a sigh and his original worries of the Yin Sifting Sect cultivators partic.i.p.ating in the trade meet were alleviated. He then placed his jade plate on the table in front and he began to rest in his chair.

As time slowly pa.s.sed by, more cultivators gathered in the hall through the teleportation formation.

When Han Li opened his eyes once more, there were nearly two hundred cultivators in the hall and a ten-meter-wide white jade table had appeared at the center. He narrowed his eyes and stared at it in silence.

Not long after, the jade table flashed with light and a silhouette covered in white light appeared behind it.

“As our appointed time had arrived, everyone should’ve arrived by now. Let us start the trade meet.” The white silhouette turned to look at everyone in the room and swept his sleeve to reveal four bulging storage pouches onto the table.

All the cultivators looked over with clear excitement.

The white silhouette slowly said, “This trade meet will be the same as the last: It will primarily focus on rare materials. Ancient treasures and magic tools can take part in this meeting if they are rare enough. As per common practice, you may put up a few materials for spirit stones and can trade for them if your price is high enough. But, there is something that will be different about this trade meet. This time, we were entrusted by an important client to sell a grand treasure for him. He will only trade this treasure for a few materials that are rarely seen in this world. If there is truly no one that has these materials, there will then be an auction using spirit stones. Fellow Daoists, it will be up to rate whether you will be able to acquire it.”

Someone from the crowd then said, “A grand treasure? And what does he want to exchange it with? Materials, medicine pills, or magic treasures? If there is something they want in particular, how about you tell us first? If we traded it away, we will definitely feel regretful.”

The white silhouette chuckled and said, “This item is difficult to describe in worldly terms. You will know what it is when the time comes. As for your worries, they are unfounded. The items that are traded for it are something that common cultivators would never let go.”

His bold tone had stirred an uproar in the cultivators in the hall and they couldn’t help but turn curious. Still, n.o.body had asked any further questions.

At that moment, the silhouette appeared behind the jade table and grabbed one of the storage pouches in front of him. In a flash of black light, he took out something that resembled a jujube s.h.i.+ning with dim black light.

“A Yin Jujube, born from a human tomb on the alignment of a Yin Year, Yin Month, and Yin Day, something that only occurs once every three hundred years. Additionally, it was refined with a vengeful ghost’s hatred by using a secret technique for a consummate forty-nine days until its reincarnation. The jujube may be taken as a pill itself or be refined into medicine. The minimum bid is a hundred thousand spirit stones and the price must increase by five thousand each time.

The item’s description had left Han Li in shock; he had never heard of such thing.

“A hundred-twenty thousand!”

“A hundred-forty thousand!”

“A hundred forty-five thousand spirit stones!”

In the blink of an eye, the Yin Jujube was sold at a terrifying price. All the bidders had a faint black haze covering them, revealing them to be Devil Dao cultivators.

In the end, the Yin Jujube was sold for a hundred-ninety thousand spirit stones.

The white silhouette accepted the spirit stones for it, and proceeded to put up his next item on sale: a half-foot-long block of scarlet red metal that emitted an intense heat. “Blood Yang Iron, refined from Scarlet Sun Iron and the primal souls of three fire-attribute Core Formation cultivators. It is a rare material for refining Yin Fire Treasures. The starting bid will be a hundred-fifty thousand spirit stones. Every bid will increase in ten thousand stones.”

“A hundred-eighty thousand spirit stones!”

“Two hundred thousand!”

Han Li had recalled hearing of this material before. Although there weren’t many people bidding on it, they all had great financial resources and none of them were willing to let it go. Eventually, it was won at the price of two-hundred-fifty thousand spirit stones.

“Ghostblight Gra.s.s...”

Items br.i.m.m.i.n.g with evil Qi were repeatedly taken out and all of them were exchanged for vast numbers of spirit stones that far exceeded what was seen at the grand auction.

Han Li stroked his storage pouch and he couldn’t help but wryly smile.

He was somewhat worried that he wouldn’t have enough spirit stones. Although he knew that he could exchange a few items for spirit stones before the trade meet, he didn’t expect for the items that appeared to be so precious. The bids far exceeded the amount that appeared at the grand auction.

“Jade Rubber. It is a worldly spiritual wood that is produced from a Jade Oak Tree once every a thousand years. It can be used to refine fantastical treasures and is an ideal material for mechanical puppets. The minimum bid will be a hundred twenty thousand spirit stones and each increasing bid must be five thousand mor-”

“A hundred fifty thousand!”

When the white silhouette took out a white gelatinous object, Han Li suddenly felt lightning strike through his mind and he shouted a bid without hesitation.