Seeing the old man's eager expression, Han Li smiled faintly and casually took out a storage pouch from his materials. He pointed the opening toward the ground and gave it a gentle shake. Immediately, a flash of white light passed, and the materials of the white spider and mantis piled up all over the ground.
"What are these..."
Shopkeeper Xu bent down and picked up a limb of the white spider, examining it closely with a focused gaze, a look of confusion appeared on his face.
Obviously, although the old man was an expert in artifact refining, he was not familiar with these rare exotic insects. Therefore, even though he could tell these materials were extraordinary, he was still completely bewildered.
Seeing this, Han Li smiled slightly and began to explain:
"Most of these materials come from the shell and limbs of a white spider demon beast. The rest are the forelimbs and wings of a giant mantis. Both are fourth-level demon beasts, especially the latter, which is a top-tier fourth-level demon beast and extremely powerful. I hope you can make good use of these materials—obtaining them cost me a great deal of effort!"
"Materials from a fourth-level demon beast!" the white-haired old man exclaimed in surprise, but immediately fell into wild ecstasy.
It should be known that normally, let alone fourth-level demon beasts, even materials from second-level or higher demon beasts were rarely seen by this person.
"Yes, Shopkeeper Xu! But for this artifact refining, I have some special requirements that I hope you can fulfill. Only if you meet these requirements can I entrust these materials to you for refining. The compensation will be the same as last time—you can keep a portion of the materials as the refining fee." Han Li said with unusual calm.
"Rest assured, Senior! No matter what the requirements, this old man will absolutely follow them! Being able to personally refine such top-grade materials, my life's study of artifact refining has finally not been in vain!" Shopkeeper Xu picked up a huge mantis limb and gently stroked it, his eyes filled with a fanatical expression.
Seeing the other party show such an expression, Han Li was somewhat surprised, but felt even more relieved in his heart. He said gently to the old man:
"The artifacts I require this time are quite special. First, it would be best if you could refine these spider limbs into a set of attack artifacts that can be used together, and that mantis..."
...
An hour later. Han Li and Qu Hun walked out of the artifact refining shop.
He had agreed with Shopkeeper Xu to let him see these materials first and think carefully about the refining method. Tomorrow, Han Li would bring the materials back for him to formally begin refining.
And now, Han Li took this opportunity to explore the marketplace properly. Because from the old man's words, he finally confirmed what he had been thinking.
It turned out that news of the crushing defeat of cultivators from the Kingdom of Yue and two other countries had already reached the Yuanwu Kingdom. Now, whether it was cultivation families or independent cultivators in the Yuanwu Kingdom, everyone was restless, with a premonition of an impending storm.
Therefore, many cultivators flocked to the marketplace, bringing many rare and precious items to exchange for things they urgently needed, in order to increase their strength to cope with this great calamity.
Thus, within just a few days, news of one after another rare artifact, pill, and other treasures appearing spread from marketplaces throughout the Yuanwu Kingdom. This attracted even more cultivators who heard the news and came rushing. It was this that caused all the marketplaces to be so prosperous.
With such a good opportunity before him, Han Li naturally would not let it pass.
Thinking this, Han Li began to stroll around the various shops.
Indeed, there were many more good things in these shops. There were even quite a few top-grade magic treasures, which greatly surprised Han Li.
Although ordinary top-grade magic treasures had long held no attraction for Han Li, the last time he came, shops with top-grade magic treasures were exceedingly rare.
After roughly looking around, Han Li only collected a few rare medicinal herbs he had never seen before in these shops, and that was all. Then, he headed straight for the "Star Dust Pavilion" in the center of the marketplace.
Having had the experience of buying and selling in marketplaces several times, Han Li already knew that if he really wanted to buy good things, he should go to those large shops with strong backing. Only they had the strength to truly possess some rare treasures. How could he compare with the collections of those big shops?
Thinking back, when he went to the "Myriad Treasures Pavilion" in the Yellow Maple Valley marketplace, hadn't he found many rare treasures?
With this thought in mind, Han Li led Qu Hun into the "Star Dust Pavilion" of the Heavenly Star Sect, that enormous pavilion some twenty to thirty zhang tall.
Upon entering the pavilion, Han Li was stunned for a moment.
Because in the first-floor hall, there were surprisingly twenty to thirty cultivators bustling about. They were all gathered around several counters, talking with some shop assistants dressed in red uniforms, and not one of them looked at Han Li.
Han Li scratched the back of his head, glanced at the staircase leading to the second floor nearby, but slowly walked toward one of the counters, with a casual appearance.
There were three cultivators at the Qi Refining stage beside this counter. One of them was holding a white formation flag, turning it over and over and examining it endlessly, while also mumbling something to a shop assistant, seemingly very dissatisfied.
And that person from the Star Dust Pavilion kept smiling apologetically, seemingly unconcerned, and kept explaining something.
But when these cultivators saw Han Li and Qu Hun behind him approaching, they immediately fell silent.
Obviously, they were very wary of unfamiliar cultivators!
The cultivator holding the formation flag hurriedly took out several dozen spirit stones from his person and handed them to the shop assistant, then took a set of formation flags and left quickly with the other two.
Han Li watched their retreating figures with some annoyance, feeling rather baffled in his heart!
But just then, the shop assistant politely said to Han Li:
"I'm terribly sorry, Senior! This is the first floor, and I'm afraid there's nothing suitable for you here. If you really want to buy something, please go to the third floor or above—that's where we specifically receive high-level cultivators."
Hearing this, Han Li was slightly stunned, but his expression immediately returned to normal, and he asked lightly:
"How many floors does your Star Dust Pavilion have in total? Give me an introduction!"
The person showed a hint of surprise, but still said respectfully:
"Of course. Since it's your first time visiting our Star Dust Pavilion, it's only right to introduce our pavilion to you."
"Our Star Dust Pavilion has a total of nine floors. The first seven floors are open to the public, while the last two floors are off-limits to outsiders. Among the first seven floors, the first to third floors are for receiving low-level cultivators at the Qi Refining stage, the fourth to fifth floors are for receiving cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage, and the sixth to seventh floors are for receiving cultivators at the Core Formation stage and above."