"Robbed on the road?" Han Li's eyes flashed, looking utterly skeptical.
"It seems Senior doesn't believe this woman's words, but this is absolutely true!" Madam Fan suddenly put away her smile, revealing a trace of bitterness.
"Two months ago, our sect's shop received a large order—so large it could sustain the Wonderful Sound Sect for ten years without needing to take on another such business. So after gathering the bulk of the goods, Sect Leader Wang led most of our experts to deliver them. But halfway there, they were ambushed by a group of masked cultivators. Among them were five or six Core Formation stage cultivators, all highly skilled in evil arts, and the rest were experts in coordinated combat techniques. Our sect leader was outnumbered and died on the spot, and the storage bag containing the goods was stolen. As for the ordinary disciples, more than half were killed or wounded. If the two elders hadn't used a secret technique to temporarily lower their cultivation and fought desperately, they might have been completely wiped out without anyone knowing." The woman's voice grew somber as she spoke, her face filled with sorrow.
"Couldn't it be the buyer's trap?" Han Li blurted out almost without thinking.
"Impossible! The buyer is one of the four great merchant alliances in the Chaotic Star Sea. Their reputation has always been excellent—how could they do something like killing and robbing? Besides, with their strength, they wouldn't destroy their own reputation for such goods!" Madam Fan shook her head lightly, her face pale as she denied it, her whole person exuding a delicate, powerless feeling.
But Han Li only gave her a cold glance and said nothing more, showing not a hint of sympathy or comfort.
Seeing Han Li's cold demeanor, Madam Fan had to gently suppress her sorrow and continued explaining:
"That small piece of Sky Thunder Bamboo was originally a sect-guarding treasure of a small sect, but that sect is now in dire straits, with only one successor left. So not long ago, they sold it to our Heavenly Sound Sect. Our sect leader carried it with him during the delivery, planning to take it to Heavenly Star City for auction right after completing this business. But unexpectedly, it was also taken by those cultivators."
"However, when our sect leader set out with this batch of goods, he made a small mark on them. So our disciples quickly tracked down where those cultivators were hiding. But the Core Formation cultivators among those thieves are too many, and with just our sect's strength, we can't take them on in a direct confrontation. So besides purchasing goods, this woman came out with the additional responsibility of inviting powerful cultivators to help. If you two seniors are willing to lend a hand, I can offer this piece of Sky Thunder Bamboo as remuneration on behalf of our sect. How about it?"
After her careful words, the woman finally revealed her true intention. Han Li's expression remained calm, but his eyes flickered uncertainly, seemingly weighing something.
Seeing this, Madam Fan knew Han Li was considering the pros and cons, so she quickly added another bargaining chip:
"If you think the remuneration is still too low, our sect is also willing to offer a virgin female disciple as your personal servant. How about that?"
"No interest!" Han Li rejected without even a moment's consideration.
Hearing this, the woman immediately showed a look of disappointment.
"This Sky Thunder Bamboo hasn't been refined, has it? Can it still continue to grow?" Han Li exhaled lightly and suddenly asked something that greatly surprised the woman opposite.
"It hasn't been refined. This piece of Sky Thunder Bamboo was carefully cultivated by that small sect for over a thousand years. It was dug up with its roots intact, so continued cultivation is naturally no problem. Does Senior perhaps not want to use it to forge a magic treasure, but intend to leave it for future generations? But Sky Thunder Bamboo grows extremely slowly, increasing only an inch or so every thousand years—it's truly extremely difficult to cultivate!" The woman was slightly startled, asking with some confusion.
Hearing this, Han Li didn't respond to her question. Instead, he lowered his head slightly and continued to sink into deep thought.
It wasn't until Elder Zhao showed a trace of impatience that he finally made up his mind and said:
"Besides that piece of Sky Thunder Bamboo, I also want to choose another item from those goods. After all, Daoist Qu and I are both joining forces."
Han Li calmly added another condition.
"No problem, our sect can agree to this condition!" Upon hearing that Han Li agreed to help, Madam Fan immediately beamed with joy, almost without hesitation agreeing to Han Li's terms.
"In that case! When it's time to depart, send someone to my cave abode to notify me. I believe your sect should already know the location of my abode." After saying this, Han Li stood up expressionlessly.
Before Madam Fan could say anything more, he gave a slight bow and left with Qu Hun, not mentioning at all that she had used a charm technique on him.
Seeing Han Li leave so decisively, the two Heavenly Sound Sect members—a man and a woman—looked at each other in surprise. Madam Fan's eyes held an additional complex expression, her face flickering with uncertainty.
Back at his cave abode, Han Li didn't simply wait there for the Wonderful Sound Sect to send someone to invite him. Instead, he went to several other Core Formation cultivators to inquire about the Wonderful Sound Sect.
Sure enough, these people had heard of this sect, and one had even done business with them.
According to them, the Wonderful Sound Sect could be considered a sect, or alternatively, a business alliance.
However, throughout its history, the sect had primarily consisted of female disciples, so the sect leader could only be a woman.
The Wonderful Sound Sect wasn't particularly powerful in the Chaotic Star Sea. Besides the sect leader, the highest-ranking positions were the Left and Right Envoys, and they would typically hire two or three Core Formation stage guest elders as backers.
Among the mid-tier powers, they were neither the best nor the worst!
However, despite this, other forces generally wouldn't easily provoke this sect, because the female cultivators of the Wonderful Sound Sect were all beautiful and talented.
Often, outstanding female disciples would become sought-after dual cultivation partners for other forces, thereby gaining considerable covert or overt support.
What Han Li cared about most was that this sect's reputation was fairly good—he rarely heard of any malicious deeds against other cultivators. However, the Wonderful Sound Sect's charm techniques were quite famous in the Chaotic Star Sea, causing many male cultivators to become infatuated with their female disciples.
After gathering this intelligence, Han Li formed a rough impression of the Wonderful Sound Sect. After careful consideration, he still couldn't bear to part with that Sky Thunder Bamboo!
It seemed he really couldn't avoid taking action this time!
So he immediately returned to his cave abode and worked day and night to speed up the crafting of his level-three puppets.
Half a month later, a transmission talisman flew from outside into Han Li's hands.
After reading it, he calmly organized his things and then left the cave abode with Qu Hun and two Blood Jade Spiders.
At a certain city gate of Heavenly Star City, the young woman named Lian'er was waiting anxiously.
Upon seeing Han Li and Qu Hun's figures, her face lit up with joy as she hurried over and said:
"Two seniors! Madam asked me to take you to the gathering island, and then we'll depart together."
Han Li nodded after hearing this. Without a word, he spat out the Green Gleaming Sword, wrapped the young woman in its light, and shot into the sky.
Qu Hun also transformed into a yellow glow and followed.
The young woman named Lian'er seemed to be experiencing being carried by a magic treasure for the first time. In Han Li's sword light, she looked around curiously, occasionally pointing out the route to Han Li.
But whenever she accidentally met Han Li's gaze, she would lower her head shyly.
In the sword light, this woman stood very close to Han Li, almost pressed against him.
If Han Li just lowered his head slightly, he could see her snow-white neck and smell the delicate fragrance of a young woman, giving him a not-so-small stroke of good fortune.
The woman seemed to notice all this, the blush on her cheeks becoming more frequent, which Han Li found quite interesting. He couldn't help but show a half-smile expression.
He was already guessing that Madam Fan had sent her personal maid to guide him—could it be that since she knew he was immune to charm techniques, she had switched to a genuine beauty trap?
Having thought this, he secretly sneered a few times and took an even bolder deep breath of the young woman's scent, making her body tremble slightly. Her small, delicate ears also turned pinkish, revealing a hint of panic.
But Han Li's bold behavior went no further than this, with no further advances. This finally put the young woman slightly at ease, and she continued guiding Han Li with peace of mind.
After a few quarters of an hour, Han Li descended on the desolate hills of an unnamed small island.
On the mountaintop, several dozen zhang high, besides Madam Fan and Elder Zhao, there were over a dozen people of varying heights—some sitting cross-legged refining qi, others standing and whispering.
Among them were five Core Formation cultivators, and the rest were all late Foundation Establishment cultivators. It seemed the Wonderful Sound Sect had really expended considerable effort to gather this manpower.
When Madam Fan saw that her maid had indeed brought Han Li and Qu Hun, she couldn't hide her delight and approached with light, graceful steps.
"It's truly our sect's fortune that you two seniors are willing to come! Let me introduce you to a few people!" the woman said, her eyes sparkling.
She then led Han Li and Qu Hun to meet a Core Formation cultivator surnamed Meng and four Foundation Establishment cultivators.
But strangely, after introducing these people, Madam Fan didn't introduce the remaining cultivators to him. Instead, almost as a challenge, she glanced toward a beautiful woman in a lotus-green dress.
Following the woman's gaze, Han Li noticed that besides those Madam Fan had introduced, the other cultivators all seemed to center around the green-clad woman.
This woman had dark eyebrows reaching her temples, phoenix eyes and a refined nose, her gaze carrying a hidden intensity—clearly a woman accustomed to holding power. But for men, this only created an even stronger desire to conquer.
When this woman saw Madam Fan looking at her, she gave a cold laugh, but looked at Han Li and Qu Hun with some surprise before turning to whisper something to a middle-aged cultivator behind her, clearly ignoring Madam Fan.
"Who is that?" Han Li asked calmly.
"Zhuo Ruting, our sect's Right Envoy," Fan Jingmei huffed, somewhat reluctantly.
"Oh!" Han Li responded indifferently, though he couldn't help but glance at the woman a few more times.
This made Fan Jingmei show a trace of displeasure!
It wasn't that Han Li had any improper thoughts about Zhuo Ruting. He simply found something in her expression and demeanor that felt remarkably familiar, which couldn't help but make him sink into thought.
Madam Fan's expression darkened at this, and she turned to speak with Qu Hun.
But Qu Hun just listened to her words expressionlessly, never uttering a single word, which left the woman feeling even more frustrated.