Chapter 888: Mysterious Statue

"Are you two really going to turn on me at a time like this?" Chen Yang asked with a stunned expression.

"That'll be up to you. If you want to fight it out here, we'll be happy to oblige!" Han Li harrumphed coldly as a layer of golden light surfaced over his arms, while Gu Qianxun also grabbed onto the bone bet around her waist.

"Right now, we have a common enemy in the form of Du Qingyang's residual forces, and infighting among ourselves will only benefit our enemies. If we escalate things too far and Profound City gets involved, then none of us will be spared," Chen Yang said as he slowly began to rein in his own aura.

Han Li and Gu Qianxun also withdrew their auras upon seeing this.

"I'll admit that I wasn't able to follow through on my promise of finding a solution to the Black Tribulation Centipedes in your bodies, so how about this? Once I've gotten rid of all of Du Qingyang's residual forces, I'll be sure to address this matter within a month, and if I still haven't found a solution by then, then each of you can state a different request for me. Is that alright?" Chen Yang asked.

Han Li and Gu Qianxun communicated briefly with one another through voice transmission upon hearing this, following which the former's expression eased slightly as he said, "Alright, we'll do as you say."

Having just killed Du Qingyang and the gray-robed elderly man, they now had an irresolvable vendetta against all of Du Qingyang's forces, so their only two options were to leave Green Goat City right away or continue working with Chen Yang.

Even though they hadn't found a way to remove the Black Tribulation Centipedes in their bodies, obtaining the Black Tribulation Stone ensured their safety for at least the near future, so this was already quite a good outcome.

"Thank you for your understanding, fellow daoists. As compensation for my failure to fulfill my promise to you, I can allow each of you to select two treasures from this vault to take with you," Chen Yang said with a warm smile, and it was as if the earlier confrontation hadn't happened at all.

Han Li was rather apprehensive of Chen Yang's drastic shift in demeanor, but at the same time, he was also quite tempted by the offer.

While searching through the vault, he had spotted many precious items, and in particular, there were many bodily refinement cultivation arts here that were very appealing to him.

"Alright, in that case, don't mind if we do," Gu Qianxun said with a smile.

"Go ahead and take whatever catches your fancy, but we don't have much time left, so do hurry," Chen Yang said with a smile of his own.

With that, Han Li and Gu Qianxun departed to search for the items that they wanted to claim.

Han Li strode over to one of the cabinets that was laden with cultivation arts, and after briefly hesitating between several of them, he quickly made his decision, picking out one.

He had briefly read through these cultivation arts earlier, but not in any fine detail due to the time constraints.

Right at this moment, Daoist Xie's voice suddenly rang out in his mind.

"Don't choose any of those cultivation arts, take that black statue instead. It contains a bodily refinement cultivation art."

Han Li swung around with a startled expression upon hearing this, only to discover Daoist Xie standing by the entrance of the vault with his eyes cast downward like a loyal servant, paying no heed to the trio inside.

A contemplative look appeared in Han Li's eyes upon seeing this, and he waited in silence for further elaboration from Daoist Xie.

However, Daoist Xie didn't provide any further information.

On the other side, Gu Qianxun had already completed her selection, claiming a book and a length of golden beast bone that seemed to be the spine of a certain scaled beast.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he gave Daoist Xie a subtle glare before putting down the book in his hand to pick up the black statue instead.

A pleased look flashed through Daoist Xie's downcast eyes upon seeing this.

After claiming the statue, Han Li turned his gaze elsewhere.

At the moment, he didn't require anything urgently aside from cultivation arts. No ores or materials were appealing to him, and things like weapons and armor weren't very useful to him, either.

All of a sudden, a thought occurred to Han Li, and he strode over to another cabinet tha twas laden with beast cores, all which were glowing radiantly with starlight.

Seeing as he didn't need anything else anyway, he may as well select a high-grade beast core. Even though Chen Yang had promised him a steady supply of beast cores to support his cultivation, he certainly knew much better than to place his trust in Chen Yang.

Furthermore, the more advanced the caliber of a beast core, the more precious it was, not just because high-grade beast cores harbored more starpower, but also because they were particularly helpful when it came to opening profound acupoints. Even now, Han Li still clearly recalled the pivotal role that the B tier beast core had played in opening his profound acupoint in the star pond.

Du Qingyang had arranged the beast cores in order of descending quality from left to right, seemingly for ease of access.

Hence, Han Li made his way straight to the left side of the cabinet, where there was a white jade box with a series of patterns engraved upon it.

Han Li gently opened the jade box to reveal a fist-sized white beast core that was glowing as radiantly as the sun.

It was so bright that it was almost impossible to look at, and it was giving off astonishing starpower fluctuations.

Han Li's eyes immediately lit up at the sight of the white beast core.

At this point, he had already become very familiar with beast cores, and he could tell that this beast core couldn't even be compared with the one that Gu Qianxun had given him, meaning that it went beyond the realm of B tier beast cores.

A faint smile appeared on his face as he closed the jade box again, then made his way back to Chen Yang's side.

"I would like these two things, Fellow Daoist Chen. Is that alright?" he asked as he raised the jade box and the black statue.

Chen Yang took a glance at the two items that he had selected, and he didn't pay much heed to the black statue, but a slightly pained look flashed through his eyes at the sight of the white jade box, and he replied, "Of course. However, you seem to have selected an A tier beast core.

“The higher the grade of a beast core, the more difficult it is to refine, and due to the immense amount of starpower contained within an A tier beast core, you could easily suffer backlash from it if you're not careful, so do proceed with caution."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li said with a faint smile.

Chen Yang took another reluctant glance at the white jade box, then said, "Let's go."

Chen Yang picked up the black jade box full of Black Tribulation Centipedes as he spoke, then made his way out of the vault, followed closely by Daoist Xie.

Han Li and Gu Qianxun exchanged a surprised glance at the sight of Chen Yang picking up the black jade box, following which the two of them left the vault as well.

With Chen Yang leading the way, the group quickly arrived in a side hall in the city lord's manor, and upon entering the hall, a slightly solemn look appeared on Chen Yang's face as he said, "Please wait here for me for a moment, fellow daoists. Right next to this room is the main hall where Du Qingyang used to hold all of his meetings.

“I'll find a way to assemble all of his residual forces there, and if things go smoothly, then I won't require your assistance. However, if things go not so smoothly, then I must ask you to lend me your help."

"Right now, we're all in the same boat, and if the boat sinks, all of us go down with it, so of course we're willing to lend you our full support," Gu Qianxun said with a smile.

"Fellow Daoist Gu is right, so just rest assured and do what you need to do, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li agreed.

Chen Yang gave a slight nod upon hearing this, then departed with Daoist Xie, leaving only Han Li and Gu Qianxun behind.

"Come and have a seat, Fellow Daoist Li. Given Fellow Daoist Chen's powers and cunning, I don't think our services will be required at all," Gu Qianxun said as she beckoned to Han Li after taking a seat next to a stone table in the hall.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he also sat down at the table, then asked, "How much do you know about Chen Yang?"

"There's far more to him than meets the eye, and if anyone dares to take him lightly, they'll only suffer an even worse fate than Du Qingyang," Gu Qianxun replied.

Han Li fell into deep thought upon hearing this.

A hesitant look appeared on Gu Qianxun's face, following which she said, "Fellow Daoist Li, there's something that I feel like I need to tell you."

"You want to talk about what happened with the Heart Pitting Insects, right? I'm assuming you were the one who instructed Scarface to do it?" Han Li asked.

"You already knew?" Gu Qianxun exclaimed with a surprised expression.

"I only guessed that to be the case after some recent events. After all, there's no incentive for Du Qingyang and Chen Yang to kill me, and it appears that you have no incentive, either, but in reality, there's a hidden incentive for you beneath the surface," Han Li said.

"Looks like you're even smarter than I thought. What is this hidden incentive of mine?" Gu Qianxun asked with a faint smile.

"Du Qingyang is a sworn enemy of yours, and he's already far more powerful than you to begin with. You must've been worried that he would become even more powerful after absorbing my true spirit bloodlines, thereby making revenge an even more unattainable goal, and that's why you wanted to kill me in advance, right?" Han Li said.

"That's right. At the time, Chen Yang and I had already hatched a plan, but it wasn't to use your true spirit bloodlines to inflict backlash upon Du Qingyang. Instead, we were plotting an assassination.

“However, after you survived the Heart Pitting Insects, I was forced to see you through new eyes, and Chen Yang and I later adjusted our plan to tamper with the Sinha Blood Array instead after hearing about Du Qingyang's plans for you," Gu Qianxun replied with a nod.

"Why have you suddenly decided to come clean to me about this?" Han Li asked.

"Seeing as we're working together, I thought it was best that we be as open and candid with each other as possible. After all, Chen Yang is no easier than Du Qingyang to deal with, and if we don't have full trust in each other, then we'll eventually die by his hands as well," Gu Qianxun sighed.