Chapter 124: Grand Earth Fruit and Sea Condensing Crystal
"Just as there are disparities in the quality of cultivation arts, the same naturally also applies to materials that contain the power of laws. Hence, the number of items required to exchange for my cultivation art will depend on the quality of the items offered," the man said with a smile.
Han Li paused for a moment, then flipped a hand over, and one of those strange walnuts with human-face-like patterns etched on their surface appeared on his palm.
As soon as the item was summoned, it immediately began to release a powerful earth-attribute aura.
"Would something like this be satisfactory to you, Fellow Daoist?" Han Li asked as he took a glance at the man.
The man faltered slightly upon seeing this, and he reflexively took a half step toward Han Li, but then immediately caught himself, putting on a nonchalant smile as he said, "This Grand Earth Fruit does indeed contain a hint of earth law powers, but it's not very abundant at all, so if you want to exchange this for my cultivation art, then I'll be requiring at least 10 of them."
Grand Earth Fruit, eh? So that's what it's called...
Han Li's expression remained unchanged as he filed this tidbit of information away in his mind, and he was in no hurry to respond. Instead, he merely watched the man in an expressionless silence.
The man heaved an internal sigh upon seeing this, thinking that the reflexive half-step he had taken toward Han Li just now had already exposed his desire for the fruits, and he amended, "If you have Grand Earth Fruits of a higher caliber than this one, then I can accept five instead."
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face upon hearing this, and he raised two fingers as he bartered, "Two."
"That's a little unreasonable of you, is it not, Fellow Daoist? This Black Sea Heavy Water Tome is indeed a slightly flawed cultivation art, but it's still a genuine high-grade Earthly Immortal cultivation. There's no way I can trade it for just two Grand Earth Fruits," the man said as he waved his hands insistently.
"While this is indeed a high-grade Earthly Immortal cultivation art, I would think you know better than anyone that it's not just 'slightly flawed'. Due to its limitations, this cultivation art is next to useless for the vast majority of people, so surely two Grand Earth Fruits will suffice in exchange for it," Han Li countered.
The man contemplated Han Li's words for a moment, then said in a hesitant manner, "I'm afraid I can't accept two Grand Earth Fruits. How about you add one more and make it three instead, Fellow Daoist?"
Han Li paused momentarily upon hearing this, then said, "I can throw in another one, but you have to answer a question for me first."
The man was rather taken aback to hear this, and he asked, "Answer a question? That's all I need to do?"
"That's right, I'm sure you know the answer to this question, Fellow Daoist," Han Li said with a smile.
After some contemplation, the man nodded and prompted, "Go ahead, Fellow Daoist."
"Truth be told, even though I managed to secure several Great Earth Fruits by chance, I don't know anything about what they do, and I was hoping you would be able to tell me, Fellow Daoist," Han Li said.
The man faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a wry smile appeared on his face as he replied, "You've asked the right person, Fellow Daoist. This fruit is a very special wood-attribute spirit fruit, and it requires 100,000 years to grow into a seedling, 1,000,000 years to develop into a tree, and 10,000,000 years to bear fruit that contains the power of earth laws. It's an exceptional material for refining high-grade immortal treasures and weapons."
"Thank you for enlightening me, Fellow Daoist. Let's complete this trade now," Han Li said with a faint smile.
The man didn't say anything further, merely nodding in silence.
The two of them each raised a hand at the same time, and an object emerged from each of their palms, then flew toward the vortex at the center of the array plate.
What was different was that Han Li had released a human-faced walnut that was giving off earthy yellow light, while the man had released an ancient book.
As soon as the three fruits flew into the vortex, they immediately vanished without a trace.
Shortly thereafter, a burst of light arose from the array plate, and an ancient book with a dark azure cover slowly flew out of the circular vortex.
Han Li reached out to catch the book, then gave it a brief inspection with his spiritual sense, and only after verifying that there was nothing amiss about the book did he turn his gaze back to the man.
At this point, the man just finished examining the three Great Earth Fruits as well, and he cupped his fist in a salute toward Han Li, then vanished on the spot.
An amused smile appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this. He knew that the man was feeling a little angry that he had gotten the short end of the stick, but he didn't care. After stowing the cultivation art away, he turned his attention back to the array plate again.
He now had a high-grade Earthly Deity cultivation art, but he was still missing the materials required to refine an Earthly Deity Avatar.
Han Li had originally intended to use these Great Earth Fruits as the main material to refine his Earthly Deity Avatar, but now that he had decided to cultivate the Black Sea Heavy Water Tome, he had to find a material that contained the power of water laws, so he couldn't use those fruits anymore.
Given his current situation, this should've been a rather simple task.
He raised a hand toward the "Exchanges" section of the array plate, then put up his Great Earth Fruits in exchange for a material that contained water law powers.
Given his observations up to this point, he could tell that even though the Transient Guild was quite a mysterious organization, its operations clearly weren't limited to just the Black Wind Sea, and it had to have quite a high number of guild members. Otherwise, there was no way that such a massive intraguild exchange platform could've been established.
Seeing as there were so many people trading things on the exchange platform, Han Li was confident that it wouldn't be a difficult task to exchange his Great Earth Fruits for a material that contained the power of water laws.
After doing all of that, Han Li did away with the projection of the array plate with a sweep of his hand, then sat down with his legs crossed and pulled out the Black Sea Heavy Water Tome for a thorough reading.
Just as he anticipated, several people contacted him through his mask over the course of just seven or eight days, offering items to trade for his Great Earth Fruits.
However, Han Li didn't immediately accept any offer. Instead, he waited another few days, then carefully compared all of the dozen or so offers that he had received before deciding on a material known as the Sea Condensing Crystal.
The material contained an immense amount of water law powers, and it was extremely suitable to be used with the Black Sea Heavy Water Tome. Apparently, just this fingernail-sized piece of crystal alone contained the essence of a region of sea tens of thousands of kilometers in radius. Hence, it was far more precious than Great Earth Fruits, and Han Li had to exchange virtually all of his remaining Great Earth Fruits and some other spirit materials for that tiny piece of crystal.
Once everything was prepared, Han Li immediately went into seclusion.
The seasons changed, and over a year passed by in the blink of an eye, as was often the case in the True Immortal Realm.
During this time, Han Li continued to nurture the Soulbirth Flower using the green liquid produced by the vial while also studying the Black Sea Heavy Water Tome day and night, making final preparations for the refinement of his Earthly Deity Avatar.
On this day, on a certain region of the seabed around 10,000 kilometers away from Dark Veil Island.
The terrain of the seabed here was rather uneven, forming a series of rocky structures that resembled an underwater mountain range.
These rocky protrusions were dark red in color with bumpy and uneven surfaces, and they were formed by cooled magma.
A series of dark holes could be seen on the seabed here, and it was unknown where these holes led to.
This was a cluster of underwater volcanoes that erupted very often, so the general area was very rarely frequented.
On a certain flat section of the seabed was a massive hemispherical blue barrier that kept out the surrounding seawater, and it was impossible to see what was going on inside from outside the protective barrier.
Seated at the center of the array with his legs crossed was none other than Han Li.
There were around a dozen massive stone pillars standing around him, while at the center was a fire-attribute array engraved out of crimson runes.
A long while later, he slowly opened his eyes, and there was a solemn look on his face as he began to chant something.
The crimson array beneath him immediately sprang to life, and the dozen or so stone pillars around him began to glow with dazzling crimson light. Even through the blue protective barrier, the surrounding seabed in a radius of several kilometers was completely illuminated.
As he made a hand seal, the ground around him began to rumble and quake.
Moments later, he let loose a low cry, and a series of cracks abruptly appeared on the ground at the very center of the array. That area was around 10 feet in size, and there were no engravings on the ground there. All of a sudden, the cracks fell away to reveal a huge hole.
Within the hole was a vast expanse of bright red, and from there, one could clearly see waves of churning magma not far beneath the ground, as well as the scorching flames burning on top of the magma.
These flames were of a faint reddish-golden color, and it wasn't normal magma groundfire. Instead, it was a type of special fire known as deepsea groundfire, and not only was it capable of mixing and coexisting with seawater, it was many times more powerful than normal groundfire.
Extraordinary waves of heat were radiating out of the huge hole, causing the surrounding seawater to boil and churn.
All of a sudden, Han Li appeared near the opening of the hole, then sat down once again with his legs crossed before flicking his fingers through the air in quick succession.
The surrounding array immediately began to operate a little faster, releasing bright red light that was flowing incessantly into the hole.
The magma underground also began to ripple and flow toward the hole's opening.
A pillar of light golden flames abruptly erupted out of the hole in the ground, and it rose up in a corkscrew fashion 70 to 80 feet up into the air, like a violent fiery geyser that could explode at any moment.
A serious look appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, and he sped up even further with his output of incantation seals. As a result, the surrounding array began to glow even brighter, and wisps of red light surged out of the array to envelop the golden groundfire.
The violent groundfire instantly became more docile, as if it were a wild stallion that was slowly being tamed, taking on all types of different forms at Han Li's behest.
Only then did Han Li's serious expression ease slightly, and with a wave of his hand, a selection of materials of different colors appeared beside him.
Given his current level of magic power, it was impossible for him to refine these materials, so he had developed the bright idea to use this deepsea groundfire to do the job for him.
With a wave of his hand, a piece of white crystalline ore shot through the air before plunging into the groundfire, and the flames enveloped the piece of ore at his behest.
After an indeterminate period of time, the material slowly melted into a ball of semi-transparent white liquid.
Following a brief inspection, he swept his hand through the air again, and another material flew into the flames...
A month passed by in the blink of an eye.
At this point, almost all of the materials around Han Li had already been refined within the groundfire, and they had mixed together to form a millstone-sized blue ball that was slowly rolling in the fire.
His complexion was a little pale, and he flipped a hand over to summon a Cloud Crane Herb that he promptly devoured, and his complexion began to slowly improve. At the same time, he raised a hand to produce a dark blue crystal.
The crystal was glittering and translucent, and the blue radiance contained within it was clearly visible from the outside. The light was rippling gently like water, and tremendous power of water laws were radiating out from within.
This was none other than the Sea Condensing Crystal.
Han Li took a long look at the crystal, and after taking a deep breath, he tossed it into the groundfire before him.
The groundfire enveloped the crystal at his behest, and right at this moment, a layer of watery blue light suddenly appeared on the surface of the crystal, surging incessantly, making the entire crystal resemble a small ball of glittering water.
The deepsea groundfire was capable of melting metals with ease, yet it was completely kept out by this unremarkable-looking layer of faint blue light.
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