Though our Six Links Hall hasn't made it into the four great merchant alliances, we are still a business in the Chaotic Star Sea. These two spiritual items may be rare, but they don't mean all that much to us.
"Friend Qu, just take them. Consider them our Six Links Hall's congratulatory gift for your Core Formation," the bearded big man said with a wave of his hand, looking quite nonchalant.
Hearing this, Han Li didn't enthusiastically have Qu Hun accept. Instead, he secretly frowned.
"Freely giving such precious gifts to a stranger? Han Li didn't believe there was such a good thing in the world. Even if Qu Hun was a False Core stage cultivator as they claimed, did these two really need to court his favor that much? Could they have ulterior motives?"
Thinking this way, Han Li grew even more cautious.
He had Qu Hun shake his head and say with a serious expression:
"That won't do. I know the principle of receiving nothing without merit. These two items are worth their price—this Qu certainly has the spirit stones for them! Or do you two have some unspoken difficulty?" After saying this, Qu Hun wore an ambiguous smile.
Seeing Qu Hun so wary of gifts handed to him on a silver platter, Cao Lu and the bearded big man were startled and couldn't help but exchange a glance.
But after sharing a look, Cao Lu coughed dryly and said:
"We've made a fool of ourselves in front of you, friend. Since Friend Qu is a man of understanding, I'll speak plainly. We do indeed have a matter that requires your assistance. These two spiritual items are just our initial gesture from the Six Links Hall. If the matter succeeds, our hall has even greater gifts to offer."
This time Cao Lu spoke quite sincerely, while the bearded big man looked a touch embarrassed.
But Han Li sneered inwardly. He had Qu Hun smile faintly and decline politely:
"I won't hide it from you two—this Qu is currently focused entirely on Core Formation and has no mind for anything else. I'm truly sorry, but you two had better find someone else!"
Qu Hun didn't even seem interested in hearing what it was about, cutting off any further words from the other side.
Hearing Qu Hun's response, Cao Lu and the bearded big man didn't get angry. Instead, they burst into hearty laughter one after another.
"Haha! Since Friend Qu is so concerned about the matter of Core Formation, then this is exactly something you should help with! Because if the matter succeeds, the reward our Six Links Hall offers is precisely a Dust-Falling Pill. This pill is of great help for Core Formation—it can increase the chances of successful Core Formation!" the bearded big man said with a hearty laugh.
"A Dust-Falling Pill?" Qu Hun murmured, momentarily stunned.
"Yes. This time our Six Links Hall needs six False Core stage cultivators. We've already found five, and we're just short of one more. It would be wonderful if you could join us. And for each cultivator who helps, our hall will bestow one Dust-Falling Pill," Cao Lu said solemnly, his smile fading.
The "Dust-Falling Pill" might indeed be famous in the Chaotic Star Sea, but Han Li—who had gone into seclusion as soon as he arrived at Kui Star Island—how could he know whether this pill was as miraculous as they claimed?
So Qu Hun pondered for a moment before carefully asking:
"Friends, could you first explain exactly what help you need from me? Then I can make my decision."
"That's only natural. It's actually not that complicated. It's just that our hall has discovered a sixth-level demon beast, and we want to obtain its inner core. So we'd like to invite some outside help to eliminate this creature!" Cao Lu said with a light laugh, his tone casual.
"A sixth-level demon beast?" Qu Hun said bitterly. Han Li, standing to the side, nearly jumped up to curse at the two of them.
Back when a fourth-level giant mantis demon beast had nearly taken his life, now they were talking about a sixth-level one? Weren't they just sending a bunch of cultivators to their deaths?
"Rest assured, friend. Our hall has made thorough preparations this time, and there won't be much danger. In addition to two Core Formation stage guest elders from our hall, we've also set up the 'Six Escapes Water Wave Grand Array.' All we need are six False Core stage cultivators to help operate the formation," the bearded big man quickly interjected, having seemingly sensed Qu Hun's displeasure.
"The Six Escapes Water Wave Grand Array?"
Han Li felt this formation sounded somewhat familiar—as if in the formation notes Xin Ruyin had given him, there had been information about this particular formation.
"Since this is a matter of great importance, friends, please give me two days to consider. I'll give you an answer in two days—is that alright?" Under Han Li's control, Qu Hun still gave a diplomatic, stalling reply.
Hearing such vague words from Qu Hun, Cao Lu was first taken aback, but immediately broke into a beaming smile and agreed.
But when Han Li and Qu Hun were about to leave, Cao Lu and the bearded big man insisted that Han Li take the "Snow Spirit Water" and "Heavenly Fire Liquid" with him, saying that even if Qu Hun didn't agree to the matter, it didn't matter—they had already befriended him.
Hearing such ingratiating words, Qu Hun smiled faintly and didn't refuse. He accepted the jade box, exchanged a few pleasantries, and left the hall with Han Li.
As soon as they stepped out of the White Water Pavilion, Han Li glanced back at the hall, gave a slight shake of his head, and found a street to leave the plaza.
Since these six halls actually belonged to the same organization, Han Li naturally didn't want to go back to any of them to haggle over purchases. After all, he had already accepted their free gift.
So he decided to look for the smaller shops on the outskirts to pick up the things he wanted to buy.
Speaking of which, apart from the "Snow Spirit Water" and "Heavenly Fire Liquid" needed for Core Formation, Han Li had also come out to purchase materials for crafting second-tier puppets.
While the main material—centuries-old ironwood—could be cultivated by himself, he still needed to buy large quantities of auxiliary materials such as iron mother and cloud essence stone.
In addition, he needed herb seeds for refining "Spirit-Feeding Pills," so he could refine a batch of pills upon his return to formally train his two white spiders.
With these thoughts in mind, Han Li walked into a small general goods shop and bought most of what he needed. For the rarer items he hadn't found, a few more shops got everything sorted out.
Now feeling relieved, Han Li began browsing other types of shops.
However, the ones he paid most attention to were shops selling pill formulas and cultivation technique manuals.
After all, his pill formulas were nearly all used up, and he hoped to find one or two here.
As for techniques, while top-tier ones certainly wouldn't be available here, even ordinary ones could let him learn what kinds of cultivation methods the cultivators of the Chaotic Star Sea practiced.
But after making a full round, Han Li was shocked!
When he had Qu Hun wait outside and went into a pill shop to ask whether they sold Foundation Establishment stage pill formulas, the shop assistant casually tossed him dozens of formula sheets of various types—nearly making Han Li bite his tongue in shock.
When he carefully examined all the formulas with an expression of disbelief, he was completely dumbfounded.
These formulas, regardless of whether the pills they produced were precious or useful, all required demon beast inner cores of various grades as their main ingredients rather than spiritual herbs. Some rare and unusual pills even required inner cores from sixth or seventh-level demon beasts to be refined.
Though these pills still needed several-hundred-year-old spiritual herbs to be refined, in these formulas, such herbs were purely auxiliary materials and could be completely substituted with other spiritual ingredients.
So Han Li stood there clutching that thick stack of pill formulas, completely dazed for a good while.
In the end, under the shop assistant's strange gaze, he bought a few applicable formulas at extremely low prices and walked out in a daze.
A short while later, still unwilling to give up, he visited several more pill shops. But except for the low-tier Qi Condensation formulas that didn't require demon beast inner cores, all the high-tier formulas did.
Finally, unable to hold back, Han Li carefully asked one shopkeeper whether they had any high-tier formulas that didn't use demon beast inner cores. The shopkeeper stared at him for a long while as though looking at an idiot before finally saying: "If high-tier pills don't use demon beast inner cores, then what ingredients would you use?"
Hearing this, Han Li left in embarrassment. He was truly and thoroughly convinced.
Clearly, the alchemy of the Chaotic Star Sea cultivators had gone down an entirely different path from the Tian South—they actually used sea demon beasts as spiritual medicine.
But thinking about it carefully, it did seem quite reasonable!
After all, with the vast and boundless sea, the demon beasts within it were countless, and even the ancients couldn't possibly hunt them all to extinction. This was naturally far better than the situation in the Tian South. Presumably these formulas had been passed down since ancient times!
Thinking this, Han Li stood in a quiet corner of some street and pulled out one of the formulas he had bought—a formula also called the "Foundation Establishment Pill"—and studied it carefully.
This formula was largely the same as the Foundation Establishment Pill formula Han Li remembered, but several of the heaven-and-earth spiritual herbs that could only be gathered in the Blood Color Forbidden Zone had been replaced with inner cores from fifth-level demon beasts.
Looking at this, Han Li put the formulas away, crossed his arms, and fell deep into thought.