Rising Winds Beyond the Sea, Part 2: The Jade Emerald Island

Over the past two years, Han Li had visited the market several times to replenish materials for refining puppets. Because he spent generously, he had become fairly familiar with the faces of a few shop owners.

So, after briefly inquiring with one of them about the matter at hand, he obtained the information he wanted. He then took Qu Hun and headed to a bookshop called the "White Gate Pavilion."

As it turned out, the shop indeed had a complete collection of all known demonic beast records in the Starfall Sea. Han Li’s spirits lifted. He paid over a hundred spirit stones to have a copy made.

As for the records on the outer sea's beast islands, he managed to find those in another inconspicuous little shop.

With his objective achieved, Han Li originally planned to return to his cave dwelling immediately. But as he passed a shop specializing in "storage pouches" and "spirit beast pouches," his heart stirred, and he walked inside.

The amount of things he had to carry with him now was simply too much!

For one thing, the over two hundred puppet beasts alone occupied three or four storage pouches, making them quite inconvenient to use.

Besides, since he planned to head out to sea to hunt demonic beasts, aside from the demonic cores, the rare materials on the beasts were also worth a considerable sum. He naturally couldn’t just abandon them.

Therefore, he would need to prepare a few storage pouches with larger capacities.

Half an hour later, Han Li came out of the shop, feeling some pain at the loss of spirit stones.

He had spent over a thousand spirit stones to acquire two large-capacity storage pouches, each with roughly ten times the capacity of his previous ones. That should be enough for his use.

Afterward, as Han Li passed by the "Fengle Auction House," a famous establishment in Heaven Star City, he couldn't help but cast a few more glances at it.

The contents of the auction catalog displayed in front of the hall were truly tantalizing!

Not only were there demonic cores from grade five and six rare demonic beasts, but there was also a great deal of high-grade materials for refining magic treasures, let alone a host of other rare items he had never even heard of before.

Unfortunately, although the items auctioned at this so-called number one auction house in Heaven Star City were excellent, they were not something cultivators like Han Li, whose net worth was only a few thousand spirit stones, could afford to buy.

Regardless of how rare an item was, once it entered this auction house, its original price would be marked up by at least half.

With the rarity of thousand-year spiritual herbs, naturally, the auction house could sell them for a high price.

But unfortunately, Han Li didn’t want to invite trouble.

After all, although he felt he was somewhat short on spirit stones, it wasn’t to the point of desperate need. It was better to avoid trouble when possible.

Gazing at those sky-high auction items, his heart felt a bit sour. He returned directly to his cave.

For the following month, Han Li did nothing but focus on studying the habits and weaknesses of the demonic beasts that appeared in the outer sea.

He also mentally simulated which methods and techniques would be most suitable for dealing with them.

But one day, about a month later, Han Li suddenly burst into loud laughter. Holding a jade slip, he danced around with wild excitement on his face.

Then, he quickly ran out of his cave and flew toward the market once more…

In the blink of an eye, another half a year passed.

Han Li and Qu Hun appeared in the fiftieth layer district of Heaven Star City.

In front of them now stood a great hall built from white marble. Above it hung a massive horizontal plaque a few zhang long, upon which the three characters "Star Void Hall" were written in gold powder.

Not a single person was at the hall’s entrance.

Han Li calmly walked inside with Qu Hun.

After traversing a short corridor, the space before them suddenly opened up. A spacious hall, twenty zhang wide and deep, appeared before their eyes.

Inside this hall, four men, one woman—five cultivators in total—were conversing with a white-robed cultivator from the Star Palace.

Behind them stood several rows of teleportation arrays, all of the same size.

In front of each array was a small stone stele, inscribed with the name of the destination the array would teleport to, making everything clear at a glance.

Han Li didn’t spend much time looking at the arrays. Instead, he swept his divine sense over the five cultivators and felt a slight shock.

Among these six cultivators, three were at the Core Formation stage. The other three, who weren’t at Core Formation, were at mid or late Foundation Establishment.

When they saw Han Li and Qu Hun enter, the group looked over with some surprise.

The white-robed Core Formation cultivator was fine; although he showed a flicker of doubt at seeing only Qu Hun and Han Li, he quickly returned to normal.

As for the other five cultivators, most of them actually showed signs of delight at the arrival of two more people.

“Fellow Daoists, are you also heading to the Beast Islands? How about joining us for the teleportation? We can split the fee evenly among us,” a seductive woman in her thirties suddenly said with a charming smile.

Han Li paused for a moment, not replying immediately. Instead, he looked at the white-robed cultivator managing the teleportation arrays and asked with slight confusion:

“Senior, is that permitted?”

“Of course it is. The teleportation array charges per use, not per person. Sending one person costs seven hundred spirit stones; sending several people also costs seven hundred spirit stones. But each use can only transport a maximum of seven people,” the white-robed cultivator replied coolly.

Hearing this, Han Li thanked him respectfully before turning his head and asking with a smile:

“May I ask which Beast Island you fellow Daoists are planning to visit? My uncle and I are set on going to Jade Emerald Island!”

“Jade Emerald Island?”

The woman at late Foundation Establishment was momentarily stunned. She glanced back at the people behind her, then immediately grinned and said:

“What a coincidence! We were also planning to go to Jade Emerald Island. We can travel together!”

Han Li’s expression didn’t change, but inwardly he sneered.

What a coincidence, indeed. It was clear that these people didn’t really care which Beast Island they went to.

However, since it would save him a considerable number of spirit stones, he naturally wouldn’t refuse such a benefit. Nodding in agreement, he said yes.

Next, Han Li paid two hundred spirit stones, and the woman’s group paid five hundred. They all stepped onto the teleportation array marked “Jade Emerald Island.”

After the white-robed cultivator collected their spirit stones, he handed each of them a “Teleportation Talisman” to stick onto their bodies.

This talisman had the same protective effect as the “Great Teleportation Token,” preventing accidents during long-distance teleportation.

Although the Teleportation Talisman could cover a very long distance, it still had a range limit and could only be used once.

Thus, compared to the Great Teleportation Token, it was vastly inferior.

Even so, this talisman was considered a rare item. Only the talisman masters of the Star Palace could refine them, and they were never sold outside.

With Han Li feeling slightly nervous, the spirit stones embedded around the teleportation array emitted a blinding white light.

The teleportation went smoothly!

After the white light faded, Han Li and the other six appeared inside a crude stone hut. Apart from an expressionless Star Palace cultivator, the hut was empty.

This Star Palace cultivator was only at mid Foundation Establishment. He was sitting cross-legged in a corner of the room, meditating.

Although he noticed the seven of them teleporting in, he gave them a cold glance before closing his eyes again, showing no intention of acknowledging them.

Han Li sensed some unusual fluctuations in spiritual power; it seemed the stone hut was warded by some kind of formation or restriction.

The stone hut’s door was half-open. Through the gap, faint voices could be heard from outside, and occasionally, figures could be seen moving past.

Just as Han Li was curiously observing his surroundings, the group of five had already stepped off the teleportation array on their own. One of them, a ruddy-faced old man, suddenly turned and spoke to Qu Hun:

“Fellow Daoist, are you interested in joining forces? When we harvest the demonic cores, we can sell them and split the spirit stones equally.” This old man was one of the Core Formation cultivators among the five.

“No need. My companion and I have other plans. You may go ahead and take care, fellow Daoists.” Qu Hun’s ugly face showed no particular expression, but he refused flatly.

Seeing Qu Hun’s unwillingness to join, the old man showed a hint of disappointment. He sighed and added:

“What a pity! If another Daoist were to join us, even hunting a grade-six demonic beast wouldn’t be out of the question.”

“By the looks of it, you two are visiting the Beast Islands for the first time. Let me offer you a piece of advice: not only do you need to watch out for high-level demonic beasts here, but you must also be wary of the attacks from some scoundrels and rogue cultivators. If possible, it’s better to contact a few other Daoists and act together. If you change your mind, I welcome you to join us at any time.”

Having said this, the old man led the others forward, pushed the door open, and walked out.

Han Li was silent for a moment. Then, with a soft laugh, he led Qu Hun out as well.

“This is…” Han Li looked at everything outside the stone hut with some surprise.

It seemed that the place he was in now was a small street. Nearby, there were general stores, magic tool shops, talisman shops, and even a few acquisition outlets. Each shop had a lazy-looking shopkeeper sitting inside.

But these shops were far too crude, weren’t they? Some were built from rough stone blocks piled together, others were cobbled together from wooden planks. They couldn’t be any simpler.

Han Li even wondered if a strong gust of wind would blow them all down.

Moreover, this so-called street was nothing more than a few buildings haphazardly erected around the stone hut he had just come out of, scattered east and west in a disorderly mess. It was a chaotic jumble that was very unpleasant to look at.