Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 196

It was the first time such beautiful women had approached him to start a conversation, so Han Li was a little flustered. However, looking at their gazes, he realized their interest was in Guk-hon, and he, a mere Qi Condensation cultivator, was just an extra.

Although he didn’t know their true intentions, he didn’t want to attract attention by walking around with such stunning beauties. So, under Han Li’s control, Guk-hon, who had been silent all along, opened his mouth.

“I dislike noisy things, so no thanks. Let’s go, Junior Han!”

Guk-hon took Han Li, who looked apologetic, and walked away without hesitation.

The women looked disappointed at his bluntness, but the men who had been following them secretly showed delight.

The least attractive of the men comforted them.

“I knew he would be bad-tempered. Let’s forget about them and just the four of us hang out.”

The women forced a smile and agreed with him.

The moment the two women entered a shop with the men, Han Li and Guk-hon, who had been hiding in another shop, walked out.

He looked at the shop where the women had disappeared, pondered for a moment, and then moved to another place with Guk-hon.

The shopping street wasn’t much different from a market for ordinary people. Shops lined both sides of the street, with signs or flags hanging, and various names such as ‘General Goods Store,’ ‘Magic Artifact Shop,’ ‘Five Elements Refinement Shop,’ and ‘Guo Yang Materials’ were written on them.

Han Li didn’t bother looking at these shops and went straight through the shopping street to the center of Sky Capital Street.

In his experience, large stores with wealth and reputation were usually located in prominent places. The place where most people gathered was the Cloud Dream Pavilion.

Han Li’s pace quickened. On the way, he noticed that quite a few people had gathered in Sky Capital Street today. When he arrived at his destination, Han Li realized that his guess was correct.

A wide-open plaza was revealed before him, decorated with pure white jade, making it incredibly splendid.

The Cloud Dream Pavilion, floating in the center of the sky, seemed to be closed, as if it wasn’t accepting outsiders.

Six pavilions surrounded the plaza, and the equal distance between each pavilion suggested that no other commercial district could interfere with this massive store.

Han Li, who had been staring at the pavilion in the sky for a while, finally turned his gaze to the six pavilions.

“Mountain Sea Pavilion, White Water Tower, Jade Ring Residence…”

Han Li muttered the names of the six shops, observing where the cultivators frequented the most.

After a while, his brow furrowed slightly. The number of people entering and leaving the six shops was almost uniform, and most of them seemed to visit all six shops before leaving with excitement.

Han Li began to examine the shops using different criteria. Each of the six pavilions had a flag with a different symbol representing the place.

The Mountain Sea Pavilion had a navy blue demon beast, the White Water Tower had a golden sword, and the Jade Ring Residence had a blue spirit herb…

As if he had an idea, Han Li took Guk-hon and walked to the White Water Tower, which was the closest. When they entered the main hall of the White Water Tower, it wasn’t very large, about thirty feet wide.

There were jade tables everywhere, and over a hundred shining magic artifacts were displayed on them, but they were only Upper Realm artifacts, so they didn’t catch Han Li’s eye.

In front of the tables, five clerks in navy blue clothes were recommending various magic artifacts to seven or eight customers.

As soon as Han Li and Guk-hon entered, one of the clerks in navy blue clothes immediately recognized Guk-hon’s status and approached him. After paying his respects to Guk-hon, he asked in a respectful tone.

“Senior, what kind of magic artifact are you looking for? I don’t think ordinary artifacts would catch your eye, so how about moving to the next room and looking at the top-grade artifacts collected by the shop owner?”

At the clerk’s words, Guk-hon said coldly,

“Lead the way.”

The clerk smiled and led Han Li and Guk-hon to another room, then left to bring the shop owner.

As soon as he left, a servant came in, served tea, and then left again. As Han Li was enjoying the tea, a middle-aged man with a strange hairstyle, with three strands of hair tied up, entered.

At first, he was smiling, but after recognizing Guk-hon’s cultivation, he rushed over and paid his respects.

“I am Jo Rok, the owner of this place. It is an honor to have a senior who is about to reach the Core Formation stage visit us. I wish you a speedy breakthrough to the Golden Core stage.”

In response to the other party’s polite words, Han Li manipulated Guk-hon to speak.

“How easy is it to reach the Core Formation stage? However, I have come here to prepare for the Core Formation stage. But since this is my first time in Sky Capital Street, I don’t know where to find Snow Spirit Water and Heavenly Fire Liquid.”

Guk-hon answered quite politely, as the other party was also a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the mid-stage.

“Haha! You’ve come to the right place. Our six pavilions are like a community, so I will contact Senior Gu Yang of the Jade Ring Residence and ask him to bring the items.”

Shop owner Jo immediately beamed and sent a talisman to deliver the message. Then, he chatted with Guk-hon, trying to find out about his sect and background.

But how could he reveal such things to someone he had just met? Han Li manipulated Guk-hon to say that he had met his junior by chance while passing through the Strange Sound Island and was staying for a while.

As the conversation continued, the smile on Shop owner Jo’s face grew thicker, which made Han Li a little uncomfortable. Just as he was wondering about the other party’s intentions, a burly man with a green robe and a beard entered from outside.

His face was purple, and his physique was so robust that he was very imposing.

“Senior Jo, why are you suddenly looking for Snow Spirit Water and Heavenly Fire Liquid? Is someone trying to break through?”

The burly man laughed heartily as he entered, then looked at Han Li and Guk-hon, unable to take his eyes off Guk-hon.

Han Li frowned at the burly man’s attitude of asking even though he already knew everything. It meant that the other party seemed cheerful on the outside but was actually very cunning.

A sense of caution arose towards the burly man. However, on the outside, both Han Li and Guk-hon wore very calm expressions and smiled.

Jo Rok pointed at Han Li and Guk-hon and laughed.

“Haha! Let me introduce you. Senior Gu Yang, this is Senior Guk, who has just arrived at Strange Sound Island, and this is Senior Han, Senior Guk’s junior, who resides on Strange Sound Island. Senior Guk is trying to break through.”

“Hahahaha! Congratulations. If Senior Guk succeeds in breaking through, we will have another pillar to protect our Chaotic Star Sea.”

After expressing his congratulations enthusiastically, he looked apologetic as if he had remembered something and continued.

“I was so happy that I almost forgot that Senior Guk was looking for Snow Spirit Water and Heavenly Fire Liquid. We have brought enough for both of you to break through, so don’t worry.”

The bearded man took out two brown jade boxes from his pocket.

“These jade boxes, which conceal spiritual energy, are also treasures made from deep-sea jade with earth attributes, but the items inside are priceless.”

“Thank you for your trouble.”

Guk-hon, unconcerned, paid his respects and carefully opened the two jade boxes.

The first box contained something like transparent water that emitted a cold aura as soon as the lid was opened, and the other contained a fiery red liquid that emitted a hot aura.

Guk-hon checked the items and closed the jade boxes with satisfaction.

“How many spirit stones would you like for the trade?”

Snow Spirit Water and Heavenly Fire Liquid were not as rare and precious as thousand-year-old spirit herbs, but they were still difficult to obtain. Moreover, they had an auxiliary effect of increasing the probability of a breakthrough, so they had to be obtained.

The bearded man waved his hand and said,

“Our six pavilions are not comparable to the Four Great Commercial Alliances, but we are still well-known merchants in the Chaotic Star Sea. We will give these items as a gift to celebrate Senior Guk’s breakthrough.”

Even at those words, Han Li was not happy at all.

Giving such precious items as a gift? That’s ridiculous. What are they up to?

Guk-hon immediately shook his head and hardened his face.

“That can’t be. I will pay a fair price, so tell me. Or is there something difficult for you two to say?”

In a situation where a windfall had come, Guk-hon showed caution, causing Jo Rok and the burly man to look at each other.

Jo Rok cleared his throat and opened his mouth.

“Since Senior Guk says so, I will be honest. Actually, we both have a favor to ask of you. Please accept these items as a token of our sincerity, and we will give you an even greater reward after the task is completed.”

At those words, Han Li secretly sneered as if he had expected it. Guk-hon smiled and politely refused.

“I am currently preoccupied with my breakthrough, so I don’t have time to get involved in other things. I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can be of help.”

Guk-hon rejected the offer outright, as if he didn’t even want to hear what it was about. However, instead of getting angry at his words, Jo Rok smiled and said,

“Haha, the more you focus on your breakthrough, the more you should take on this task. If you succeed in this task, our six pavilions will give you one Dustfall Pill each as a reward. It is a pill that greatly helps with the breakthrough and increases the probability of becoming a Core Formation cultivator.”

Guk-hon, slightly surprised, muttered,

“Dustfall Pill?”

“Yes, we need six Foundation Establishment late-stage cultivators for this task. Five have already been recruited, and there is only one spot left. If you succeed, you will each receive one Dustfall Pill as a reward.”

Seeing the other party emphasize it seriously, it seemed that the Dustfall Pill was a famous pill in the Chaotic Star Sea. But how could Han Li, who had been in seclusion all along, have heard of such a thing?

Guk-hon, who had been lost in thought for a moment, opened his mouth.

“Can you tell me specifically what the task is?”

“Of course, it’s nothing big. We discovered a level six demon beast at this shop, and we are gathering people to help us capture it and obtain the demon core.”

“A level six demon beast…”

Guk-hon just smiled bitterly, but Han Li, who was next to him, almost jumped up and cursed at the two men.

He had almost died fighting a level four demon beast, the giant mantis, and now they were talking about a level six demon beast? It was like telling them all to die!

As Guk-hon showed signs of refusing, the burly man quickly stepped forward to add an explanation.

“Don’t worry. Our shop has already made all the preparations, so there will be no great danger. Two of our Core Formation cultivators will be participating, and we will deploy the Six Evasion Water Wave Grand Formation. The six of you will only need to support this formation.”

Six Evasion Water Wave Grand Formation.

The name of the formation was familiar to Han Li. It seemed that he had seen it in the formation book that Shin Yeo-eum had given him. Guk-hon opened his mouth under Han Li’s control.

“Since the matter is so important, how about giving us two days to think about it?”

Jo Rok seemed a little flustered at not getting an immediate decision, but he immediately burst into laughter and told them to take their time.

However, when Han Li and Guk-hon left the shop, they ended up taking the Snow Spirit Water and Heavenly Fire Liquid with them. The shop owners had given them as a gift, claiming it was a token of their sincerity to build a good relationship, regardless of whether they participated in the task.

After leaving the White Water Tower, Han Li looked back and shook his head, then left the plaza. Since all six shops were run by the same family, it was inconvenient to go back in and choose items again.

He decided to go outside the plaza and buy the items he wanted from the smaller shops. In addition to the items for the breakthrough, one of the purposes of his outing was to purchase the raw materials to make level two puppets.

Although he grew the main material, the hundred-year-old ironwood, himself, he had to purchase auxiliary materials such as iron and cloud essence stones in large quantities.

# 198