Chapter 1201: Suspicions

"What's wrong, Master? You seem a little unsettled," Weeping Soul asked.

"Weeping Soul, keep an eye on the six people in that both. Ideally, find out who they are and why they've come here," Han Li communicated through voice transmission.

Weeping Soul didn't know why she was being asked to do this, but she still did as she told.

Right at this moment, a woman dressed in a green daoist robe entered the booth with Lan Mei.

The woman was a Great Encompassment cultivator, and she was quite youthful in appearance. Her complexion was as rosy as a lotus flower, and there was a floral fragrance emanating from her body, indicating that she was a plant spirit rather than a human.

The woman's eyes lit up slightly at the sight of the Lightning Shock Stones in the booth, following which she turned to Han Li as she said, "Greetings, Fellow Daoist Shi. I am an administrative elder of the Sun Moon Pavilion, you can refer to me as Lotus Maiden."

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lotus Maiden. Can the Sun Moon Pavilion afford these Lightning Shock Stones of mine?" Han Li asked.

"Of course. Even if you had tens of thousands of Lightning Shock Stones, our Sun Moon Pavilion would still be able to take them off your hands," Lotus Maiden replied with a faint smile.

"In that case, please give me an appraisal," Han Li said.

Lotus Maiden quickly swept her gaze over the Lightning Shock Stones, then said, "These Lightning Shock Stones are all of a very high caliber. I'm willing to offer 1.5 million Immortal Origin Stones for each one. There are thirteen in total, so that amounts of 19.5 million, which I can round up to twenty million for you. What do you say?"

Han Li was only expecting to be able to sell these Lightning Shock Stones for around fifteen million, so he naturally raised no objections to this.

"That's perfectly fine by me. I also have some other materials that I would like to sell," Han Li said as he swept a sleeve through the air to produce a collection of miscellaneous materials.

He had been trying to sell these materials in the Reincarnation Palace for many years to no avail, so this was a perfect opportunity to get rid of them.

"This is a rather chaotic collection of items, but there are a few decent things here. How about this? I'll take everything off your hands for four million Immortal Origin Stones," Lotus Maiden offered.

Han Li nodded in agreement, making no effort to barter.

Perhaps he could earn a little more by selling everything individually, but getting rid of everything at once spared him a great deal of trouble.

With that, Han Li was able to recover twenty-four million Immortal Origin Stones, placing him in a much better mood.

Lotus Maiden promptly departed with Lan Mei, following which Weeping Soul turned to Han Li, clearly ready to report her findings.

"How did it go?" Han Li aked through voice transmission.

"I wasn't able to gather much information through their conversation just now, but I've managed to identify one of them," Weeping Soul replied.

"Who is it?" Han Li asked.

"Lan Yan, the woman that we encountered earlier in the Tai Sui Immortal Manor," Weeping Soul replied.

"Lan Yan? Are you sure?" Han Li asked as a surprised look appeared on his face.

"I'm certain of it. I was too fixated on the bidder just now, so I didn't examine the soul fluctuations of the others, but now that I've had a chance to look at them, one of them is definitely Lan Yan," Weeping Soul replied in a confident manner.

Han Li had full trust in Weeping Soul's sensory abilities, so he quickly accepted this verdict.

Lan Yan was a cultivator of the Nine Origins Temple, so her five companions were most likely also from the Nine Origins Temple. What were they doing here?

Han Li was silent for a moment, then instructed, "Continue keeping tabs on them and notify me if anything interesting comes up."

Weeping Soul immediately returned to the task at hand, while Han Li turned his attention back to the auction.

Some more time passed by before an auction item that caught Han Li's eye was presented.

"The next item is the beast core of a peak-High Zenith Stage Three-Legged Golden Crow. It contains boundless fire-attribute power and can be used to refine immortal treasures or to complement one's cultivation. The starting price is three million Immortal Origin Stones, and each bid must go up by an increment of at least a hundred thousand Immortal Origin Stones."

This was one of the items that Han Li was planning to purchase for the Essence Fire Child.

It was undoubtedly a precious item, but it was made to appear quite lackluster compared with the other treasures, so there were barely any bidders, and Han Li was able to secure the item for five million Immortal Origin Stones before tossing it into the Flower Branch domain.

The Essence Fire Child instantly took on its fire raven form, then pounced joyfully onto the beast core before devouring it.

Right at this moment, the next auction item was brought out, and it was a rectangular, black jade box with many talismans plastered over it, but there was still a burst of bone-chilling ghostly power seeping out from within the box even through the masses of talismans.

Both Han Li and Weeping Soul sat up a little straighter upon seeing this.

The auctioneer chanted an incantation, and the seal on the jade box was broken to reveal a short, black flute inside. The flute appeared to have been fashioned from a length of leg bone, and there was a skull attached to one end of it.

A burst of formidable ghostly power erupted out of the flute alongside a horrific shrieking sound that cut straight into the listener's soul, striking many of the auction-goers with a sense of immense discomfort.

The auctioneer hurriedly swept a sleeve through the air, and a white light barrier rose up over the auction platform to contain the power of the flute,

"Our next item is the Soul Scattering Ghost Flute, which is a fourth tier immortal treasure personally refined by the founding father of the Myriad Ghost Sect of the Infernal Sea Immortal Region, Nili the Enlightened.

“However, following the defeat that he suffered at the hands of Celestial Maiden Murong of the Supreme Sword Sect during their battle on the Infernal Sea, the Soul Scattering Ghost Flute was damaged and reduced to a fifth tier immortal treasure, but it's far more powerful than the average fifth tier immortal treasure.

“The flute specializes in attacking the soul, so I won't be able to give a demonstration of its powers here. The starting price is ten million Immortal Origin Stones, and each bid must go up by increments of at least five hundred thousand Immortal Origin Stones," the auctioneer declared.

Han Li was rather concerned after hearing this.

The information on the jade slip had indeed stated that the flute was an immortal treasure that attacked the soul, but it failed to mention that the flute was once a fourth tier immortal treasure.

With that in mind, it was most likely going to end up far more expensive than the Infernal Ghost Claw, so even the forty-five million Immortal Origin Stones in his possession may not be enough to secure it.

As these thoughts were running through his mind, the bidding had already begun, and it didn't take long for the price to be raised to twenty million.

"Twenty-five million!" Han Li declared, raising the price by five million in one go.

With his limited funds, he had to make impactful bids in the hope of scaring off other bidders.

Sure enough, the entire venue was cast into a stunned silence by his bid, and no further bids were placed.

However, it didn't take long before the silence was broken by the very same person who had competed with him for the Infernal Ghost Claw earlier.

"Twenty-eight million!"

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he was just about to place another bid when an arrogant voice rang out from another VIP booth.

"Thirty million!"

Han Li cast his gaze toward that booth to discover a blue-robed young man sitting inside.

"Thirty-three million!" Han Li yelled.

"Thirty-four million!" the blue-robed man countered as he took a displeased glance in the direction of Han Li's booth.

"Thirty-six million!"

The cold voice rang out once again, seemingly determined to come out on top.

The blue-robed man placed no further bids.

"Forty million!" Han Li declared, creating another massive stir.

Han Li's purchase of the Infernal Ghost Claw for thirty million Immortal Origin Stones was still fresh in everyone's minds, so all of the auction-goers were very curious about Han Li's status and wealth.

Han Li paid no heed to all of the auction-goers as his gaze remained fixed on the booth that Lan Yan was in.

The booth remained silent, yet right as Han Li was beginning to think that the bidding war was over, the cold voice rang out once again.

"Forty-five million!"

Han Li heaved a long sigh, and a wry smile appeared on his face as he said to Weeping Soul, "Looks like we won't be able to secure this Soul Scattering Ghost Flute, after all."

However, Weeping Soul's eyes were closed at this moment, and she didn't appear to have heard Han Li at all.

Han Li was rather perplexed to see this, but he didn't interrupt her.

The auctioneer quickly made a final enquiry for further bids before declaring the Soul Scattering Ghost Flute sold.

Right at this moment, Weeping Soul opened her eyes with an elated expression as she said, "Master, I've gathered a piece of important information from their conversation just now."

𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"What is it?" Han Li asked.

"Take a look for yourself, Master," Weeping Soul said as she cast an incantation seal into Han Li's glabella, and a ball of black light appeared in his mind, then gently unfurled to reveal an image of the interior of the other booth.

"Your wealth is truly astounding, Senior Jin," one of the black-robed figures said in a sycophantic manner.

"This amount of Immortal Origin Stones is still well within my means," the tall and thin figure replied in a pleased voice.

"Alright, we've already spent far too much time here. If we let that Gold Devouring Immortal get away again, all of us will have to bear the consequences," a petite figure interjected, and it seemed to be a woman, but for some reason, her voice was rather muffled and unclear.

The other figures in the booth seemed to be quite fearful of her, and all of them hurriedly gave affirmative responses.

That was the conclusion of the scene, and Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly in a contemplative manner.

These were presumably Nine Origins Temple cultivators trying to capture a Gold Devouring Immortal. Could it be that Jin Tong had managed to escape from the Nine Origins Temple?