Over the course of two years, Han Li had visited the market district several times to restock materials for refining puppet beasts, and had gotten familiar with a few shop owners.
So after asking one of them about the relevant information, he got what he wanted and then headed with Qu Hun to a bookstore called White Gate Pavilion.
Indeed, the shop had records of all the demon beasts discovered in the Chaotic Star Sea to date. Han Li's spirits lifted, and he spent over a hundred spirit stones to have copies made of all the materials.
As for information about the demon beast islands of the Outer Star Sea, he found those in another inconspicuous little shop.
Now that his goal was accomplished, Han Li had originally planned to return to his cave dwelling right away. But as he passed a shop specializing in storage bags and spirit beast bags, something caught his interest and he walked inside.
He was carrying far too many things with him these days!
Setting everything else aside, over two hundred puppet beasts alone took up three or four storage bags, which was really inconvenient.
Moreover, since he intended to go out to sea to hunt demon beasts, apart from the demon beast cores, the rare materials from their bodies were also quite valuable and naturally couldn't be discarded.
With that in mind, he naturally needed to prepare a few storage bags with even greater capacity.
Half an hour later, Han Li exited the shop with a somewhat pained expression.
He had spent over a thousand spirit stones to purchase two large-capacity storage bags, each roughly ten times the capacity of all his previous ones combined. That should be more than enough.
Afterward, when Han Li passed by what was known as Heavenly Star City's Fengle Auction House, he couldn't help but glance at it a couple of times.
The auction catalog displayed in front of the auction hall truly made Han Li's eyes greedily widen!
Not only were there demon beast cores from rare fifth and sixth-grade demon beasts, but there were also plenty of high-grade materials for refining magic treasures, not to mention numerous rare items he had never even heard of.
Unfortunately, although this place was known as Heavenly Star City's premier auction house with excellent goods, they were not something a cultivator with only a few thousand spirit stones like Han Li could afford.
Because no matter how rare an item was, once it entered this auction house, its original price would almost more than double.
Even with something as rare as a thousand-year spiritual herb, the auction house could naturally sell it at a high price.
But unfortunately, Han Li didn't want to attract trouble.
After all, although he felt his spirit stones were insufficient, it hadn't reached the point of being desperately scarce. It was better to avoid trouble when possible.
Looking at those sky-high-priced auction items, Han Li felt a pang of bitterness and headed straight back to his cave dwelling.
Over the following month, Han Li did nothing but study the habits and weaknesses of the demon beasts found in the Outer Star Sea.
He also devised strategies for dealing with each type of demon beast should he encounter them.
But one day, a month later, Han Li suddenly burst into laughter, holding a jade slip and dancing with excitement, his face beaming with delight.
Then he quickly rushed out of his cave dwelling and flew toward the market district once more...
In the blink of an eye, another half year passed.
Han Li and Qu Hun appeared on the fiftieth floor of Heavenly Star City.
Before them stood a grand hall constructed of white marble, bearing a massive plaque several meters long with the words "Starry Sky Hall" inscribed in golden characters.
Not a soul was at the entrance of the hall.
Han Li walked calmly inside with Qu Hun.
After passing through a short corridor, the view suddenly opened up, revealing a spacious hall over twenty meters wide and long.
Inside the hall, four men and one woman—five cultivators—were conversing with a white-robed cultivator from the Star Palace.
Behind them stood several rows of teleportation arrays, all of identical size.
Before each teleportation array was a small stone tablet inscribed with the destination name, making everything clear at a glance.
Han Li didn't look much at the teleportation arrays. Instead, he swept his spiritual sense over those cultivators and felt somewhat alarmed.
Of these six cultivators, three were at the Core Formation stage, and the remaining three were at the mid or late Foundation Establishment stage.
When Han Li and Qu Hun walked in, the group looked over with some surprise.
The white-robed cultivator at Core Formation was composed enough—though he showed a hint of puzzlement at seeing only Qu Hun and Han Li, he quickly recovered.
As for the other five cultivators, when they saw two more people arrive, most of them actually showed expressions of delight.
"Are you two fellow Daoists also heading to Beast Island? Why not teleport together with us? We can split the teleportation fee per person," said a coquettish woman in her thirties, suddenly flashing a charming smile at the pair.
Han Li was momentarily stunned and didn't reply immediately. Instead, he glanced at the white-robed cultivator managing the teleportation arrays and asked respectfully:
"Senior, is that permissible?"
"Of course. The teleportation array charges by the trip, not by the number of people. One person costs seven hundred spirit stones, and several people also cost seven hundred. But a maximum of seven people can teleport at once," the white-robed cultivator said coldly.
Hearing this, Han Li thanked him respectfully, then turned around with a smile and asked:
"May I ask which demon beast island you all plan to visit? My martial uncle and I must go to Emerald Condensation Island!"
"Emerald Condensation Island?"
The woman at late Foundation Establishment was first taken aback, then glanced back at the others behind her before quickly grinning and saying:
"What a coincidence! We were also planning to go to Emerald Condensation Island. We're heading the same way!"
Han Li's expression didn't change, but he sneered inwardly.
What a coincidence indeed! These people clearly didn't care which demon beast island they went to.
However, since he could save a good number of spirit stones, he naturally wouldn't refuse such a benefit, so he nodded in agreement.
Next, Han Li paid two hundred spirit stones, and the woman's group paid five hundred. Together they stepped onto the teleportation array marked "Emerald Condensation Island."
After the white-robed cultivator collected their spirit stones, he distributed a teleportation talisman to each of them, which they attached to their bodies.
This talisman provided the same protective effect as the Great Displacement Token, preventing accidents during long-distance teleportation.
The teleportation talisman could cover very long distances, but it still had a range limit and could only be used once.
Therefore, compared to the Great Displacement Token, it was far inferior.
Even so, this talisman was still a rare item—only the Star Palace's talisman masters could craft them, and they were not available for purchase outside.
While Han Li felt a touch of nervousness, several spirit stones embedded around the teleportation array emitted a dazzling white light.
The teleportation went smoothly!
After the white flash, the seven of them appeared inside a crude stone room. Apart from a Star Palace cultivator with an expressionless face, the room was empty.
This Star Palace cultivator appeared to be at mid Foundation Establishment, sitting cross-legged in meditation in a corner of the stone room.
Though he saw the seven people teleport over, he merely gave them an indifferent glance before lightly closing his eyes, showing no intention of paying them any attention.
Han Li sensed some unusual spiritual energy fluctuations—it seemed the stone room was enveloped by some kind of protective formation.
The stone room's door was half-open, and through the gaps, faint voices drifted in from outside, with occasional shadows flickering past.
Just as Han Li was curiously looking around, the five cultivators had already stepped off the teleportation array of their own accord. Among them, a ruddy-faced elder suddenly turned back and said to Qu Hun:
"Fellow Daoist, would you be interested in joining forces? When we obtain the demon beast cores, we can sell them and split the spirit stones equally." This elder was one of the three Core Formation cultivators among the five.
"No need. We have our own plans. Please take care, fellow Daoists," Qu Hom replied flatly, his ugly face betraying no expression.
Seeing that Qu Hun was unwilling to join, the elder showed a hint of disappointment and sighed before saying:
"What a pity! If you joined us, it would even be possible to hunt a sixth-grade demon beast."
"Judging from the two of you, this must be your first time at the demon beast islands. Allow me to give you a piece of advice—not only must you be wary of high-level demon beasts, but you must also be careful of ambushes by scoundrels and heretical cultivators. If possible, it would be better to contact more fellow Daoists and act together. You are welcome to join us at any time."
After saying this, the elder pushed open the door and walked out with the others.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then let out a soft laugh before taking Qu Hun out as well.
"What is this?" Han Li looked at everything outside the stone room with some astonishment.
It wouldn't be wrong to say that Han Li was standing on a small street, because nearby there were not only general stores, magic artifact shops, and talisman shops, but even several purchasing agencies, each with a languid shopkeeper sitting inside.
But these shops were far too crude—either built from rough blocks of stone or pieced together from wooden planks, as simple as could possibly be.
Han Li even wondered whether a strong gust of wind would blow them all away.
Moreover, this so-called street was centered on the stone room he had just exited, with buildings haphazardly scattered about in a small area, some here and some there, in complete disarray that was extremely unpleasant to look at.