Chapter 1354: What Was Lost is Gained

The middle-aged fat cultivator could only stand opposite him, maintaining his smile. As Li Yan’s gaze moved, his mind kept recalling the origin and function of each item. He waited for Li Yan to ask at any time, so he could give the clearest explanation in the first instance.

Soon, Li Yan pointed to a few beast bones in the corner of the yellow stall cloth and then looked up at the middle-aged fat cultivator.

“Senior, these are the beast bones of a second-rank Two-Winged Flying Bear, used for refining earth-attribute spirit artifacts and magical treasures. Although the rank is decent, the most important thing is that there is still a wisp of essence blood power inside. Your eyes are truly like torches, Senior…”

The middle-aged fat cultivator had been waiting by the side. Seeing Li Yan look up at him, he immediately began to introduce them quickly. However, he was also a bit strange in his heart. This was just the skeleton of a second-rank demonic beast, and it was not of much significance for the cultivation of a Golden Core cultivator. But among his refining raw materials, these few beast bones were actually quite good. After all, there was still a wisp of the Two-Winged Flying Bear’s essence blood remaining, which could make the refined spirit artifact or magical treasure more powerful and able to exert a very strong earth-attribute art intensity.

Of course, the “very strong” here was only in relation to Foundation Establishment cultivators. He also did admire Li Yan’s judgment. With just a glance, he could see the extraordinariness of this bone in this pile of things. He felt that this Golden Core cultivator was probably choosing it for his disciple or a junior. But he didn’t dare to ask and just honestly introduced it. If the one standing opposite him at this moment was a Qi Condensation or Foundation Establishment cultivator, then the efficacy of this bone in his mouth would be different, at least more than double.

At this moment, the middle-aged fat cultivator didn’t dare to speak nonsense at all. He could only fawn and tell the truth.

Li Yan just listened quietly. After the middle-aged fat cultivator finished speaking, he didn’t immediately say anything. Instead, his Divine Sense repeatedly swept over it a few more times before he seemed to mutter to himself. “The fluctuation of that wisp of essence blood power is not weak. It’s quite suitable for him (her) to use… How many Spirit Stones for these four bones?”

The first half of Li Yan’s sentence was like a low murmur to himself, but the latter half suddenly raised his voice a little, and at the same time, he looked at the middle-aged fat cultivator again. And his words had all fallen into the other’s ears without a single one missing. The middle-aged fat cultivator’s heart stirred.

‘He’s really buying it for his junior…’

However, a hesitant look appeared on his face. After another four or five breaths, he finally quoted a price with some trepidation.

After hearing the other party’s offer, the expression on Li Yan’s face didn’t change at all. He didn’t immediately state his position, neither saying he would buy it nor that he wouldn’t. Instead, his gaze started to look at the stall again. This made a lot of sweat appear on the middle-aged fat cultivator’s forehead. Not only did the other party not say whether he would buy it or not, but he also had a noncommittal look on his face as to whether the price he had quoted was suitable. This made him unable to figure out what the other party meant. Had he quoted too high and displeased him, or had he quoted too low, making the other party mistake him for selling fake goods?

He was a disciple of a small family. To be able to get these things to sell was due to his cleverness and good social skills. He was also quite trusted by some people in his family. After collecting some items from some of the family’s disciples, he would sell them along with his own things, and he could get a commission each time. This kind of thing was not uncommon here. After all, to set up a stall here, one had to pay a stall fee. It was best if one person could rent a stall to sell, as long as you believed that the other party wouldn’t cheat you.

The middle-aged fat cultivator was, of course, a hundred percent willing to have customers come to his stall, but he was afraid of encountering this kind of person whose cultivation was higher than his and who spoke very little. This kind of person’s character was often a bit extreme. One mistake and they might hold a grudge against you. Li Yan’s face made him even more afraid to speak nonsense.

“What is that thing? Why is there no spiritual energy fluctuation? Are you selling mortal items here?”

At this moment, Li Yan’s gaze fell on a red hand-held lantern. The lantern was like red paper over bamboo. The lantern itself was already broken in several places, and one could vaguely see some residual black candle wax marks on the base inside. The red hand-held lantern was not large. A finger-thick, only one-chi-long thin bamboo handle extended out. The handle itself was also old and worn, with mottled fine lines, and some of the bamboo skin had peeled off, revealing the fine vertical bamboo grain and black grime inside.

“Senior, this is definitely not a mortal item! This was obtained from a demonic beast’s lair on the ‘Heavenly Demon Prairie.’ Although it has no spiritual energy, it cannot be damaged by either water immersion or fire burning! But Senior, the water and fire immunity here only… only means that the water and fire arts used by Qi Condensation stage cultivators cannot damage it. That… that damage on it was caused by a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s test… that’s how it got damaged. But although it’s not a very good spirit artifact or magical treasure, it is definitely not a mortal item. This junior can guarantee that!”

The middle-aged fat cultivator hurriedly explained. Although he did have many inferior goods and fakes for sale here, he would never dare to cheat people with mortal items here. He had to come here often and didn’t want to be marked by others. It was acceptable for the rank of the items to be inconsistent, but they had to be immortal items, or simply items he couldn’t understand.

This hand-held red lantern was obtained by one of his cousins six or seven years ago when he teamed up with others to scavenge on the edge of the Heavenly Demon Prairie. But after bringing it back, he hadn’t found anything from his research, and had instead damaged it even more. This item was useless to Foundation Establishment cultivators. His cousin felt it was a pity to throw it away, and that it could still be sold to Qi Condensation stage cultivators. This kind of item with an unknown use was, in the imagination of some low-level Qi Condensation stage cultivators, a potential supreme treasure. There were still people willing to spend Spirit Stones to buy it and then go back and try to study it with various methods, in the hope of opening a hidden treasure vault.

But the middle-aged fat cultivator himself had also studied it for a long time and had found nothing. He had brought this item here repeatedly for several years but had not been able to sell it. In the end, he had just thrown it aside.

“Oh, obtained from a demonic beast’s lair? What rank was that demonic beast?” Li Yan asked, seemingly casually.

“This…” The middle-aged fat cultivator’s face showed hesitation, as if he was thinking about how to answer.

“Alright, here are the Spirit Stones. I want those four demonic beast bones!” The moment the middle-aged fat cultivator hesitated, Li Yan moved his gaze away, as if he understood the reason for his hesitation, and then no longer looked at the red lantern. Instead, with a wave of his hand, dozens of low-grade Spirit Stones appeared on the stall. Then, with a casual gesture, the four bones he had taken a fancy to earlier immediately flew up and, in the next moment, landed in his sleeve. Then, he turned and strode away.

“Senior, Senior, please wait! You’ve misunderstood, misunderstood! That lair might have been the lair of a third-rank demonic beast, but the aura left inside was already very weak. It’s highly likely that the original owner had already perished outside, which is why the items in the cave were left behind. Because the aura emitted was too weak, it’s also possible that it was the cave residence of a second-rank demonic beast. So, the rank of the demonic beast cannot be truly determined. But this lantern is definitely not a worldly item. If you think it’s interesting, Senior, then fifteen low-grade Spirit Stones will do…”

The middle-aged fat cultivator hurriedly called out, wanting to keep Li Yan. They couldn’t figure out what was special about this item. As long as someone asked, he of course wanted to sell it as soon as possible.

“Five Spirit Stones!” Li Yan, who had turned away, paused slightly. Without turning back, he continued to walk forward, on the verge of disappearing into the vast crowd.

“Senior, Senior, ten low-grade Spirit Stones, ten will do! No less! It’s at least a spirit artifact-level item…” The middle-aged fat cultivator, seeing this, became a little anxious. But the five Spirit Stones the other party had offered was too little. He hurriedly spoke again.

As he was speaking, his vision blurred. Ten Spirit Stones had appeared on the stall, and the hand-held red lantern had already disappeared. When the middle-aged fat cultivator looked up again, there was no longer any sign of the other person in the bustling crowd. He hurriedly put away all the Spirit Stones. After carefully checking them with his Divine Sense, a smile slowly bloomed on his face…

As Li Yan walked through the crowd, he was still thinking about something.

‘I shouldn’t have been wrong in my sensing. There is an extremely faint aura on this item. This aura is neither spiritual energy nor soul power… Perhaps others can also detect it, but it’s hard to know what it is. It’s an aura somewhat similar to the ‘Heaven-Stealing Kerchief.’ But the ‘Heaven-Stealing Kerchief’ is very sturdy. It would be extremely difficult for a cultivator below the Nascent Soul realm to damage it. But that low-level cultivator said that even a Foundation Establishment cultivator could damage this hand-held red lantern. It’s too easily damaged…’

Li Yan thought quickly. He hadn’t expected to encounter such a thing in the market. The miraculousness of the “Heaven-Stealing Kerchief” was self-evident. Although it might not be able to break all the formations in the world, at the very least, it had accompanied him all along and had helped him through too many difficulties. Like the restrictions of the Qionglin Sect’s Third Island Master’s cave residence, Meng Zhiyuan’s enemy-trapping passage restriction, and… the cave residence restriction when he was being chased by that Black Demon Clan female cultivator…

Some thoughts flashed through Li Yan’s mind, but suddenly, a graceful and alluring body, as well as some sensual and fiery images, appeared in his mind. This sudden association made Li Yan himself stunned for a moment. He then felt it was too absurd. How could he, while thinking about this unknown item he had just acquired, suddenly think of that person? He immediately reined in his thoughts and thought back to the hand-held red lantern. He had walked over earlier because he had sensed that somewhat familiar aura. Although he couldn’t be sure if his sensing was wrong, he still decided to buy it. That’s why he had bantered with the other party for a bit, and under the pretext of buying bone raw materials, he had “casually” bought the hand-held red lantern…

After that, Li Yan didn’t rush back to study this hand-held red lantern but continued to wander around the free market. After really taking a fancy to some alchemy and artifact refining raw materials, he bought some more. It was not until more than an hour later that he started walking back to the “Water-Cloud Inn.”

Entering the inn, he walked all the way through the fairy-tale-like courtyard. He soon arrived outside the fence of his residence. He glanced at the room where Shangguan Tianque was staying next door. The fence was as it was. Li Yan immediately withdrew his gaze. He didn’t want to go looking for the other party. And just as he was about to enter his room, he suddenly turned his head to look.

Then, Li Yan turned his head back with a calm expression. With a gentle wave of the jade pendant in his hand, he opened the fence. Amidst a surge of white mist, he had entered his room.

The black-robed woman with the half-silver mask turned sideways and glanced at the surging white mist opposite her. Her finely shaped, furrowed brows relaxed slightly. It was such a coincidence twice. When she was coming and going, she had run into that green-robed guest. For some reason, under the other party’s plain expression, the one glance he had given her had made this woman feel as if she was being stared at by a prehistoric beast, which made her very uncomfortable.

‘This person is not to be trifled with. I don’t know how many people he has killed to have such a heart-palpitating aura…’ As the masked woman thought, she also strode with her long legs into the mist, and her figure was submerged!

After entering the room, Li Yan closed the door again and walked directly to the area where the prayer mat was placed, sitting down cross-legged. With a thought, a silk kerchief and a hand-held red lantern appeared in front of him, quietly suspended in the air.

Li Yan’s Divine Sense first carefully observed the hand-held red lantern. The room, for a moment, fell into a dead silence. Even Li Yan’s breathing disappeared. He observed for more than half an hour, and then his Divine Sense entered the “Heaven-Stealing Kerchief.” And so, in his Divine Sense, those crisscrossing, disorderly, and dizzying silk threads appeared again…

After several dozen breaths, Li Yan stretched out his hand and snatched the hand-held red lantern into his hand. Without blinking, he began to carefully scan it from the mottled handle, not missing any detail. He was certain that although the red lantern in his hand had no spiritual energy fluctuation, nor did it have the so-called soul power like the broken pottery jar, the overall faint aura it emitted was indeed somewhat similar to the “Heaven-Stealing Kerchief.” But when he carefully examined it inch by inch, something unexpected happened. He found that those auras had disappeared again. Li Yan was suspicious for a moment, wondering if he had been sensing it wrong all along.

But when he stopped scrutinizing every detail and was no longer examining it inch by inch, but instead observed the entire red lantern from a distance with his Divine Sense, that aura appeared once again.

‘This is strange. I can only sense that wisp of aura when I observe from a distance, but it disappears when I examine it up close. It gives me a feeling of not knowing its true face because I am in its midst. But how can I examine it in detail like this?’

After thinking for a while, Li Yan finally chose to use his eyes, infused with magical power, to examine it, and no longer used his Divine Sense to enter the interior of the red lantern. With his eyes infused with magical power, when he now looked at the mottled lantern handle in his hand, the patterns on it, and even the dust and old ashes between the inner bamboo grains, were all clearly visible. With one hand holding the handle and the other gently rotating the lantern to different angles, he did not miss any spot. The lantern had no ears. Li Yan first carefully observed the rope on the handle.

The rope was a short section of round, smooth red rope. It looked a bit greasy. Li Yan could see that it should be made from the fascia of a demonic beast, but it had already lost its spiritual energy. When he pulled on it with a little force, he only felt that it was quite tough. This toughness was, of course, almost non-existent to Li Yan. The lantern’s frame was made of forty-nine demonic beast bones. These demonic beast bones were black. When he touched them, he could feel a faint warmth coming from them, and they also had a good toughness. Li Yan estimated that the magical power of the Golden Core realm should be able to break these frames.