During these two years, Han Li had visited the market several times to replenish materials for refining puppets. Because of his generosity, he had become familiar with several shopkeepers.
So after inquiring with one of the shopkeepers, Han Li obtained the information he wanted and then went to a bookstore called "White Gate Pavilion" with Qu Hou.
Sure enough, this bookstore stored all the information about the monsters discovered in the Chaotic Star Sea so far, which greatly excited Han Li. He spent over a hundred spirit stones to make copies of all this information.
As for the information about the monster islands in the outer star seas, Han Li found it in another inconspicuous small shop.
With his purpose achieved, Han Li originally intended to return to his cave immediately, but as he passed by a shop specializing in "storage bags" and "spirit beast bags", he couldn't help but walk in.
Now he had too many things to carry with him!
Not to mention the two hundred puppets, which occupied three to four storage bags alone, making it quite inconvenient to use.
Moreover, since he planned to go out to sea to hunt and kill monsters, besides the demon cores, the rare materials on the monsters' bodies were also valuable and couldn't be abandoned.
As a result, he naturally had to prepare some larger storage bags.
Half an hour later, Han Li walked out of the shop feeling somewhat sore.
He spent over a thousand spirit stones to finally purchase two large capacity storage bags, each with ten times the capacity of his previous ones, which should be enough for his needs.
After that, as Han Li passed by the "Fengle Auction House" in Tianxing City, he couldn't help but take a few more glances.
The contents of the auction catalog displayed in front of the auction hall made Han Li's eyes sparkle with desire!
Not only were there demon cores of rare fifth or sixth-level monsters, but there were also many high-level materials for refining treasures, not to mention numerous rare items that Han Li had never even heard of.
Unfortunately, although the items auctioned by this self-proclaimed number one auction house in Tianxing City were good, they were not affordable for cultivators like Han Li with only a few thousand spirit stones to their name.
Because no matter how rare the items were, once they entered this auction house, their original prices would almost double or even triple.
Even something as rare as millennium spirit grass could naturally be sold at a high price in the auction house.
But unfortunately, Han Li didn't want to get into trouble.
Although he felt that he didn't have enough spirit stones, it wasn't to the point where he couldn't survive without them. It was better to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Looking at those sky-high auction items, Han Li felt a bit sour in his heart and simply returned to his cave.
In the following month, Han Li didn't do anything else, focusing solely on studying the habits and weaknesses of monsters that appeared in the outer star seas.
He also envisioned appropriate methods to deal with these monsters when encountering them.
But one day, a month later, Han Li suddenly burst into laughter, dancing with joy as he held a jade slip in his hand.
Then he quickly ran out of the cave and flew back to the market...
Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
Han Li and Qu Hou appeared in the fiftieth level area of Tianxing City.
Ahead of them was a grand hall built of white marble, with a plaque several zhang long hanging above it, inscribed with the words "Star Pavilion" in gold powder.
There was no one at the entrance of the hall.
Han Li and Qu Hou calmly walked in.
After passing through a short corridor, a spacious hall measuring more than twenty zhang in length and width appeared in front of them.
In this hall, there were five male and one female cultivator, along with a white-robed Tianxing Palace cultivator, talking about something.
Behind them were several rows of equally-sized transmission arrays.
Each transmission array was accompanied by a small stone tablet indicating the destination of the transmission, making it clear at a glance.
Han Li didn't pay much attention to those transmission arrays, but rather scanned the cultivators with his divine sense, feeling somewhat astonished.
Among these six cultivators, three of them were at the Foundation Establishment stage, and the rest, although not at the Foundation Establishment stage, were at the late stage of the Foundation Establishment or even the middle stage of the Core Formation stage.
As soon as Han Li and Qu Hou walked in, these people looked at them with some surprise.
The white-robed cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage was fine. Although he showed a hint of doubt when he saw only Qu Hou and Han Li, he quickly returned to normal.
As for the other five cultivators, most of them showed a hint of joy when they saw two more people arrive.
"Are you two also going to the Monster Beast Island? How about we go together and split the transmission cost evenly per person?" A charming woman in her thirties among the five suddenly smiled and said to the two.
Han Li was taken aback for a moment, not immediately responding, but looked at the white-robed cultivator who managed the transmission array with some confusion and asked:
"Elder, is this acceptable?"
"Of course. The transmission array charges are not based on the number of people but on the number of uses. It costs seven hundred spirit stones to transmit one person, and it's still seven hundred spirit stones to transmit multiple people. However, each time, it can only transmit up to seven people at most." The white-robed cultivator said indifferently.
After hearing this, Han Li respectfully thanked him and then turned to smile and ask:
"I wonder which Monster Beast Island you fellow cultivators plan to go to? My senior and I are determined to go to Jade Island!"
"Jade Island?"
The middle-aged woman at the late stage of the Foundation Establishment was first stunned, then turned to look at the other cultivators behind her before immediately smiling and saying:
"What a coincidence! We also plan to go to Jade Island. It's perfect to travel together!"
Han Li's expression remained unchanged, but he sneered in his heart.
What a coincidence to travel together! These people seemed indifferent to which monster island they were going to.
However, since they could save many spirit stones, Han Li naturally wouldn't refuse the benefit of saving some spirit stones. He nodded in agreement.
Next, Han Li paid two hundred spirit stones, while the group of five paid five hundred spirit stones, and they all stood on the transmission array labeled "Jade Island".
After the white-robed cultivator collected their spirit stones, he gave each of them a "Transmission Talisman" to stick on their bodies.
This talisman had the same protective effect as the "Great Teleportation Order", preventing accidents during long-distance teleportation.
Although the "Transmission Talisman" could be used over a very long distance, it still had a certain distance limit and could only be used once.
Therefore, compared to the "Great Teleportation Order", it was far inferior.
Nevertheless, this talisman was still a rare item, only crafted by the talisman masters of the Star Palace, and was not sold outside.
Feeling a bit nervous, Han Li watched as several luminous white stones around the transmission array emitted dazzling white light.
The transmission went smoothly!
After the white light flashed, Han Li
and the other six people appeared in a rudimentary stone house. Apart from a expressionless Star Palace cultivator, there was no one else in the house.
This Star Palace cultivator seemed to be at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment, sitting cross-legged in one corner of the stone house, meditating.
Although he noticed the arrival of Han Li and the others, he gave them a cold glance, then closed his eyes and ignored them.
Han Li sensed some unusual spiritual fluctuations and realized that the stone house was enveloped by some kind of array restriction.
The door of the stone house was half open, and through the cracks, there were faint voices coming from outside, with occasional shadows flickering.
Just as Han Li was curiously looking around, the five people had already walked off the transmission array on their own. Among them, an old man with a ruddy complexion suddenly turned back and said to Qu Hou:
"Fellow Daoist, are you interested in teaming up? We can split the demon cores we obtain for spirit stones evenly." This old man was one of the Foundation Establishment cultivators among the five.
"No need, my senior and I have other plans! Please take care, fellow cultivators!" Qu Hou's ugly face showed no change, but he immediately refused.
Seeing Qu Hou's unwillingness to join, the old man showed a hint of disappointment and sighed before saying:
"What a pity! If fellow Daoist were to join us, even capturing sixth-level monsters wouldn't be impossible."
"Judging by your appearances, it seems like it's your first time coming to the Monster Beast Island! Let me give you a piece of advice. Besides being cautious of high-level monsters, you should also be careful of some scoundrels and evil cultivators' sneak attacks. If possible, it's better to contact a few more fellow cultivators to act together. We are always welcome to have fellow cultivators join us."
After saying this, the old man led the others out of the door.
Han Li remained silent for a while, then suddenly chuckled lightly and walked out with Qu Hou.
"What is this?" Han Li looked somewhat astonished at everything outside the stone house.
It seemed that it wasn't entirely wrong to call the place where Han Li was now a small street, because nearby there were not only grocery stores, artifact shops, talisman shops, but also several pawn shops, each with a lazy shopkeeper sitting there.
But these shops seemed too rudimentary, either built with rough stones or pieced together with wooden strips, extremely simple and crude.
Han Li even wondered if a strong wind blew by, whether these shops could still stand.
Moreover, this so-called street was centered around the stone house he had just come out of. In a small area, buildings were haphazardly erected, giving an extremely disorderly and uncomfortable feeling.