"Elder Zhao, thank you for your patience! This is Senior Han—the owner of that batch of monster beast materials!" The woman from the Melodious Sound Sect greeted the gray-robed elder respectfully the moment she stepped into the room.
"Oh, Daoist Han! Please, have a seat. I just brewed a pot of Ice Cloud Spirit Tea myself—why not give it a try?" The gray-robed elder raised his head, glanced at Han Li, and spoke in an indifferent tone.
Han Li furrowed his brow slightly. There was nothing remarkable about the old man's appearance, except that his cheeks were flushed an unhealthy shade of red, as if he were recovering from a serious illness. A hint of suspicion stirred in his mind.
His spiritual sense was far more powerful than that of cultivators at the same level, and in an instant he could tell that the old man was also an early-stage Core Formation cultivator.
He offered no words of refusal and sat directly across from the old man. Without betraying any emotion, he glanced at the cup of fragrant tea the elder had just poured, but made no move to pick it up.
Even though the other party didn't seem to have any ill intentions toward him, out of his habitual caution, he never drank anything in unfamiliar places.
Seeing Han Li so guarded, the old man showed no displeasure. He simply smiled faintly, poured himself a small cup, and sipped at his leisure.
In that instant, it was as though he had completely forgotten about Han Li and the others.
"Senior Han!" Fan Jingmei, the woman from the Melodious Sound Sect, barely settled into her seat before her red lips parted to address Han Li in an unhurried tone. She looked refined and dignified in the extreme. "On behalf of our Melodious Sound Sect, I've come to Senior to purchase all of your remaining monster beast materials. As for the price—there's plenty of room to discuss."
"I did have some monster beast materials in the past, but I've just disposed of the last batch. I'm afraid I've got to disappoint your honorable sect." Not knowing the other party's true intentions, Han Li had no intention of admitting so easily that he still possessed a great deal of rare materials. Without haste, he tried to shut the conversation down.
Mrs. Fan heard Han Li's polite deflection and let out a charming laugh, a warm smile playing on her lips.
"Senior Han, that's a bit of a fib, if you'll pardon me! Though our sect doesn't know exactly how many monster beast materials you still have, we believe there must be quite a lot. Otherwise, you wouldn't be so careful as to sell only to small outside merchants, in small quantities each time, always finding a different buyer."
"If our sect hadn't been gathering relevant materials all over Heavenly Star City, we never would have caught on to the pattern. Senior, you're worried about displaying your wealth, aren't you? If that's the case, Senior Han can put his mind at ease. Our sect may not be some great power, but our reputation in the Chaotic Star Sea has always been excellent. You can sell all those materials directly to me, and that saves our sect the trouble of collecting them from small merchants all over again!"
The woman rattled off this entire speech with a radiant smile, her demeanor composed to the extreme—but Han Li's eyes flashed with cold light, and a trace of anger surfaced on his face.
Anyone would be unhappy to learn they'd been secretly investigated without prior knowledge!
Perhaps sensing Han Li's irritation, Mrs. Fan suddenly shifted her tone and offered an explanation.
"Please don't blame Senior for my earlier presumptuousness. It was only because the matter was so urgent that I had to mobilize most of our sect's forces in Heavenly Star City to trace things back to you. I humbly hope Senior will help me this once!"
By this point, the woman had placed herself in a position of vulnerability. Her words and her gaze both carried a faint note of pleading.
Hearing this, the anger gradually faded from Han Li's face.
He said nothing immediately, but extended one index finger and tapped lightly on the tea table before him, his expression perfectly blank.
In truth, Han Li's mind was whirring with thoughts, rapidly analyzing the pros and cons.
Though he didn't know why this woman—or the Melodious Sound Sect—needed such a large quantity of monster beast materials, the other party had clearly concluded that he had what they wanted. Denial would be pointless and would only create an unnecessary enemy.
The Melodious Sound Sect—he had never heard of it. But judging from this Elder Zhao, their strength shouldn't be too weak.
Han Li had no desire to make an enemy out of nothing.
Moreover, he had far too many monster beast materials on hand. Piddling them out bit by bit like this, sooner or later someone would see through the pattern. He might as well seize this opportunity to use their influence and offload everything cleanly.
Besides, this was Heavenly Star City, where cultivator combat was strictly forbidden. He had nothing to fear about them pulling any tricks during the transaction.
With this in mind, Han Li fell silent for a moment, then spoke calmly.
"Since Mrs. Fan has laid it all out like this, I won't hide it anymore. I do, in fact, still have some monster beast materials that your honorable sect desires—though whether the quantity is enough to meet your needs, I'm not sure."
Hearing Han Li's admission, the woman across from him and the young girl behind her both lit up with joy. Even the old man, who had been keeping his head down sipping tea all along as though he were some transcendent sage, glanced sidelong at Han Li with a visibly relieved expression.
"How many does Senior have? I'll buy however many there are!" Mrs. Fan asked, a hint of urgency in her voice, her beautiful eyes full of anticipation.
Han Li smiled faintly and casually named a staggering number, leaving the woman flushed with delighted surprise.
She had known Han Li possessed a considerable amount—but she never expected it to be on this scale.