"Oh, I'm quite interested in these puppets. But I wonder—what would Tianjing Master be exchanging for them?" said another cultivator who appeared to be of a more advanced age, gently stroking his long beard. "Heh, the items I'm exchanging are rather rare—known in ancient times as 'spirit stones.' For each spirit stone, I offer one of my puppet beasts. These puppets were all personally crafted by ancient cultivators, and I believe there may not be any others of this high caliber in this realm," said Tianjing Master calmly. "Spirit stones?" Upon hearing this unfamiliar name, all the present cultivators looked puzzled. They had never heard of such a thing—indeed, it was quite foreign to them. Seeing this, Tianjing Master seemed fully prepared, and with a single touch to his storage pouch, a jade-green crystal about the size of a thumb appeared in his palm. At first glance, this crystal resembles a wooden-energy stone. However, upon a mere sweep of awareness, the observer immediately notices that the energy emanating from it is not the familiar wooden vitality known to most cultivators, but rather an unusual, extremely cold and mysterious fluctuation. "Perhaps some of my fellow practitioners possess this stone yet fail to recognize it. I have one here myself—would each of you kindly examine and identify it?" The elder monk gently held the crystal and continued. "Hm! This is rather odd—it somewhat resembles the energy of a spectral soul, yet it's far purer and more refined than that." A magisterial cultivator, enveloped in swirling black energy, expressed his astonishment. "I myself am uncertain what kind of essence lies within this crystal. It certainly isn't ordinary soul energy. Otherwise, why would I willingly exchange these puppets for just this single stone?" Tianjing True Person responded frankly. "Ah—indeed, that makes sense." The magisterial cultivator wisely chose not to press further. But when Han Li examined the crystal carefully, his face beneath the mask changed instantly, and his gaze flickered uncertainly. If he wasn't mistaken, this "spirit crystal" was precisely the "yinming beast crystal" he had gathered from the Yinming realm. Of course, the term "beast crystal" was merely the local name used by the people of the Yinming realm; among ancient cultivators, the true designation, as it appeared, was this very "spirit crystal." "This Tianjing True Person has not only brought forth so many puppets, but also seeks to collect such a large number of 'spirit crystals.' Considering the puppets he had seen in the Xitian Hall, each of which contained these spirit crystals within, it seems that..." Han Li began to ponder thoughtfully. Nevertheless, the 'spirit crystals' were evidently rare—only after a while did one cultivator hesitate and finally present a crystal, exchanging it for one of the beast puppets. After asking a few more questions, Tianjing True Person observed that no further visitors came. Though he had anticipated this, he still felt a certain sense of disappointment. As he was about to store the remaining puppets, another person suddenly stood up and walked toward him. This caused the elder monk to perk up, his eyes bright with surprise and delight as he said, "Esteemed friend, do you also possess a spirit stone?" The one who stepped forward was Han Li, whose plan had finally taken shape. With quiet composure, he flipped his hand, and a jade-green crystal appeared in his grasp. However, this crystal was quite large—about the size of an egg—and emitted a visible, palpable chill that far surpassed the spirit stone the elder monk had brought. The Tianjing True Person was first startled, then filled with great joy, smiling warmly and saying, "Your spirit stone is truly remarkable in size—such a large one is indeed rare. Then, how about this: from among these puppets, you may choose any two to take with you. I will not let you come out empty-handed." "Two?" Han Li replied, lightly shaking his head. "Is that not enough? Do you find it insufficient? How many would you like to exchange for?" "Master Tianjing didn't seem displeased, but kindly inquired, 'Shall I exchange this spirit stone for all of your remaining puppets?'" Anything that could instantly exchange for several rare puppets deserved special attention. Han Li remained calm, simply offering the crystal to the other party. Then, with a slight bow, he brushed his sleeve across the table, and the six puppet beasts vanished completely. However, other cultivators failed to notice that, at the moment he bowed, Han Li's lips moved slightly. The Tianjing True Person's eyes flashed with brilliance, and a fleeting expression of surprise passed over his face. By then, Han Li had already returned with the puppets to his seat. When Tianjing True Person announced the exchange session was ending, numerous cultivators began descending to leave, and Han Li and the other two joined them in departing from the Jingle Dragon Pavilion. As they left the pavilion, no one said a word. But after they had crossed two streets and moved a little farther from the pavilion, the Huo Long Child, looking somewhat weathered, spoke up. "My two friends, I have another engagement. I shall not be joining you." "If Blue Brother has matters to attend to, please go ahead. My residence is not far, and we'll certainly have plenty of opportunities to meet again." "Lü Luo smiled and said. "Ah, well, then, Lin will be off!" The Fire Dragon Child didn't hesitate. After giving a nod to Han Li, he strode off toward another street. "This Fire Dragon friend truly is a delightful person!" Han Li, watching the child's retreating figure, suddenly smiled and remarked. "Lin has always retained the appearance and physique of a child due to accidentally consuming a rare herb during his youth. Though he is straightforward and generous, he is one of the few among the dispatched colleagues with whom one can truly form a close bond. He is also the only elder at the Ancient Sword Sect who holds a friendly disposition toward our Luoyun Sect." Han Li raised an eyebrow at this, yet inwardly thought, "It seems the other elders of the Ancient Sword Sect do not hold particularly favorable views of Luoyun Sect." "By the way, what are your plans, Han brother? Shall we return to your quarters to rest a while, or shall we go exploring elsewhere?" Lü Luo glanced around and asked. "I need to purchase some special materials, so I plan to visit a few markets nearby by myself." "It's possible we might stumble upon some unexpected finds as well," Han Li said without reservation, stating it directly. "That's perfect. I've also planned to send something to the auction house. Then, I'll temporarily part ways with Han Li's younger brother." Listening to Han Li's clear intention of going alone, Lu Luo agreed without hesitation. Thus, Han Li and Lu Luo parted ways right there and immediately began their respective tasks. This also allowed him to prepare in advance for the creation of the Divine Spirit Seal he had long intended to craft, aiming to elevate his seal-making art to a new level. Although he had not yet studied the Divine Spirit Seal in depth, the power described on the bone fragment was truly remarkable—capable of saving his life at a critical moment. Naturally, he would not want to overlook it. However, the difficulty in crafting this seal was far beyond that of ordinary Five-Element scroll seals, proving exceptionally complex and challenging. To increase his chances of success, besides enhancing his own seal-making skills, he would need to replace his original seal-making brush. That brush had long been due for retirement. Unfortunately, while seal-making materials were readily available, finding a truly satisfactory seal-making brush proved difficult. Among the two preceding market shops, several sold seal-making brushes, with some even offering rare, top-tier ones. Yet, after inspecting them, he only shook his head and moved on. These script-brushes may be sufficient for crafting ordinary high-grade talismans, but they clearly fall short when it comes to drawing secret talismans such as spirit-invocation seals. As a rare magical artifact used exclusively by script-masters, script-brushes are not commonly found. Even when available, they are mostly of lower to mid-tier quality. For a script-master, if their magical energy is insufficient, forcing the use of a higher-tier script-brush not only fails to improve the success rate of crafting but actually increases the likelihood of failure. Since script-masters are often occupied in refining their script-techniques and generally have relatively low cultivation levels—many still hovering below the Foundation Stage—only a handful of full-time script-masters throughout the southern realm have achieved the Dan-Stage. As for those at the Yuan-Ying Stage, according to Han Li's knowledge, such exceptional individuals have not yet emerged. Most Yuan-Ying cultivators either begin practicing script-techniques later in life or supplement it alongside their primary cultivation, rather than dedicating themselves fully to script-making. Their individual approaches to script-techniques also vary widely. Most practitioners specialize in refining just one or two advanced talismans that serve them well. However, due to the scarcity of high-grade spirit-animal skins and high-grade animal blood, they are unable to practice these extensively, making their success rate quite modest. This results in a rather unusual phenomenon within the immortal cultivation world—where high-grade talismans sometimes command prices even higher than those of top-tier artifacts.