Chapter 199: Big Dipper Heavenly Star Plate
After stowing the golden ball away, a contemplative look appeared on Han Li's face.
He carefully sorted through all of the information that he had obtained up to this point in his mind, but he still couldn't identify any leads that could've been connected to the mastermind behind all of this.
A long while later, he gently exhaled as he shook his head.
Whoever, the this formidable foe was, the fact that they were able to force him into such dire straits back then was an indication that he was most likely no match for them as he currently was, so the best course of action to take for the time being was to avoid this enemy at all costs.
Seeing as even Fang Pan was able to find him, this even more powerful mastermind who was pulling the strings behind scenes had to have been capable of tracking him down as well. The only potential saving grace for Han Li was that this enemy perhaps wasn't aware that he had returned to the Immortal Realm.
In any case, he had to attain more power as quickly as possible in order to deal with all of the unforeseen circumstances that could arise.
In order to accomplish this objective, there was something that he had to address.
With that in mind, he flipped a hand over to summon his Twin Starshift Plate.
The Blaze Dragon Dao was an immeasurable distance away from the Black Wind Sea, and the connection between the pair of array plates had become extremely tenuous, making it impossible to transfer any further heavy water.
Not only was this affecting the rate at which his Earthly Deity Avatar was deriving heavy water, he was also running out of an important resource required to refine more Heavy Water Veined Lightning.
Both of these things were very important to him, so he had to find a way to get them back on track.
Ever since arriving on the Ancient Cloud Continent, this was a problem that had always been on his mind, and now that he had settled into the Blaze Dragon Dao, he finally had a chance to address it.
Thus, he immediately put on outer garment to conceal his elder robes, then summoned his Transient Guild mask before putting it on.
He had purchased the Twin Starshift Plates from the Transient Guild, so he had to turn to the Transient Guild for a solution to this problem. Back in the Spirit Realm, he wouldn't even have bothered to consider the idea of transferring treasures over such massive distances, but this didn't seem all that far-fetched of a notion in the Immortal Realm.
The main reason for this had to have been related to the power of laws. Treasures of this nature would inevitably draw upon the power of space laws to a certain extent, or relied on spirit materials that contained the spatial power.
An azure light screen was released from the mask, and countless diagrams and lines of text of different sizes appeared on its surface.
Han Li immediately turned to the item exchange section before conducting a thorough search.
It didn't take long before he spotted what he was looking for, and he pointed at a spot on the light screen, then began to wait in silence.
Only after a full hour had passed did a burst of azure light emerge from the light barrier, then took on the form of a projection of a male figure wearing an azure feathered robe and a tiger mask.
The tiger-masked man looked at Han Li for a moment, then said, "May I ask... Ah, I remember who you are, you once purchased a set of Twin Starshift Plates from me, right? Have they served you well?"
"They've been alright," Han Li replied in an ambiguous manner.
"Could it be that you encountered some type of problem while using the plates?" the tiger-masked man asked.
"The function of the array plates is just as you describe, but you never told me about their distance limitations," Han Li said as a hint of displeasure crept into his voice.
"Ah, my forgetfulness got the better of me and I forgot to tell you that the array plates can only work across a distance of roughly one continent. If you go beyond that, the teleportation function of the array plates will be significantly diminished or even disabled altogether," the tiger-masked man replied in an apologetic voice.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he said, "It's fine. I contacted you today to ask if there's a way to increase the effective teleportation distance of the Twin Starshift Plates."
It was clear that the tiger-masked man had intentionally withheld this information, but at the same time, he failed to ask about this matter. Now that the transaction had already been made, there wasn't much that could be done.
"I'm afraid not. A distance of one continent is the limit of the Twin Starshift Plates' teleportation capabilities. However, there are other ways through which you can teleport items over longer distances," the tiger-masked man said.
"Would you care to elaborate?" Han Li asked.
"This pair of array plates was a replica refined by a good friend of mine based on an immortal treasure, and it's only around 1% to 2% as effective as the original. After many attempts since then, he's been able to craft a replica that's one tenth as effective as the original immortal treasure, and he's named them the Big Dipper Heavenly Star Plates. Is that something that interests you, Fellow Daoist?" the tiger-masked man asked.
Han Li nodded in response, then asked, "How much will those plates cost?"
If these new plates really were five to ten times as effective as the Twin Starshift Plates, then they would be sufficient for his current needs.
"I can sell them to you for 6,000 top-grade spirit stones," the tiger-masked man replied.
"What a preposterous price! That's more than 10 times the price of the Twin Starshift Plate!" Han Li said as a cold look appeared on his face.
"You can't compare them like that. The Big Dipper Heavenly Star Plates are indeed rather expensive, but you're definitely getting more value for your spirit stones," the tiger-masked man chuckled.
Han Li was silent for a moment, then said, "I can't scrounge together so many spirit stones at once right now. This is already the second time we've done business together, so can you give me a discount?"
"Well... I don't mean to be cold, but this is truly an extremely precious treasure. If it wasn't for the fact that this friend of mine is in urgent need of spirit stones right now, he wouldn't even be selling them," the tiger-masked man replied with a shake of his head.
After some more rounds of bartering, Han Li was able to negotiate the price down to 5,300 top-grade spirit stones, but after that, the tiger-masked man refused to go even a single spirit stone lower.
In the end, Han Li heaved a faint sigh, then asked, "Can I get back to you in seven days?"
"Sure," the tiger-masked man replied with a smile and a nod, then instantly vanished from the spot.
Han Li removed his mask, and the light screen around him faded as a contemplative look appeared on his face.
Moments later, he injected his spiritual sense into the storage bracelet on his wrist.
Everything inside the storage space had already been split up into roughly a dozen categories, including demon beast materials, spirit plants, ore, spirit stones, pills, treasures, cultivation arts, and scriptures.
Prior to leaving the Black Wind Sea, he had sold virtually everything that he owned for spirit stones, so most of these things had been pillaged from Fang Pan's storage bracelet.
At the moment, he had roughly 3,200 top-grade spirit stones, which was still over 2,000 spirit stones under the asking price, so he naturally had to sell a lot of things to make up the gap.
He didn't dare to sell Fang Pan's belongings carelessly in case they fell into the wrong hands and exposed him to be Fang Pan's killer. However, such qualms weren't necessary if he were to sell these things in the Transient Guild.
Originally, the majority of the items in Fang Pan's storage bracelet had been unfamiliar to him, and he was only able to recognize a small portion of them. Thankfully, he met Sun Ke on the way to the Ancient Cloud Continent.
While on the lightning boat, he had indirectly enquired Sun Ke about all of the things that he didn't recognize, and he was able to figure out what most of them were.
As a mid-True Immortal cultivator who had managed to grasp the laws of speed, Fang Pan had managed to amass a decent fortune, and there was no lack of precious items in his storage bracelet. If Han Li were to sell everything, then he would've most likely been able to acquire sufficient spirit stones for the Big Dipper Heavenly Star Plates and still have some leftover.
Thus, he immediately emptied most of the contents of the storage bracelet with the intention of selling them in batches over the coming few days. Right as he was about to withdraw his spiritual sense out of the storage bracelet, a thought suddenly occurred to him, and he pulled out a pair of boxes, one larger than the other.
The larger one of the two boxes was crafted from jade and contained a huge white egg. Due to the fact that the jade box was able to continuously provide spiritual qi, the egg was still very much alive.
The other smaller box was around 10 feet in length, within which were three arrow-like azure feathers that were glowing faintly with azure light, giving them a rather mysterious appearance.
Both of these things had been carefully stored in Fang Pan's storage bracelet, and it was clear that they were no ordinary objects.
Even Sun Ke failed to identify these two things, so Han Li decided to release an appraisal mission in the Transient Guild to see if anyone could tell him what these things were.
……
Seven days later.
Inside his secret chamber, Han Li had donned his Transient Guild mask, and he swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up the azure light screen before immediately contacting the tiger-masked man.
"Have you gathered the required spirit stones, Fellow Daoist?" the tiger-masked man asked with a smile.
Han Li pulled out a storage pouch as he replied, "Here are the 5,300 top-grade spirit stones you asked for. Do you have the array plates with you right now?"
The tiger-masked man's eyes immediately lit up as he nodded in response. "Of course."
The transaction was quickly completed, and Han Li received a pair of new array plates for his 5,300 spirit stones.
The array plates were of a bright blue color and were giving off a watery blue glow. Furthermore, their surfaces were riddled with patterns that were far more complex than the ones on the Twin Starshift Plates.
On each array plate were seven eye-catching white dots that formed the Big Dipper constellation.
Embedded into each array plate were eight Starshift Stones of a significantly darker color than the ones on the Twin Starshift Plates, and the light that they were giving off was also more radiant, indicating that they were Starshift Stones of a higher caliber.
A pleased look appeared on Han Li's face at the sight of the two array plates, but his brows then immediately furrowed slightly.
While he had obtained the new array plates, the fact of the matter was that he was still an immeasurable distance away from the Black Wind Sea, so how was he supposed to send one of these Big Dipper Heavenly Star Plates to his Earthly Deity Avatar?
"Is there something wrong with the array plates, Fellow Daoist?" the tiger-masked man asked with a perplexed expression.
"No, but there's something else I'd like to ask you. Is there really no way to increase the teleportation distance of the Twin Starshift Plates? Even just once?" Han Li asked.
The tiger-masked man took a glance at the pair of array plates in Han Li's hands, and he quickly understood what Han Li's intentions were. "It looks like you want to send one of the array plates elsewhere. There is a way to accomplish your goal."
"What is it?" Han Li immediately asked.
"It's very simple. All you need to do is fit the Twin Starshift Plate in your possession with second-grade Starshfit Stones, then forcibly activate the array plate, and you'll be able to temporarily increase its teleportation distance several times over. However, you'll only be able to use the Twin Starshift Plate like that once before it's destroyed," the tiger-masked man explained.
"What are second-grade Starshift Stones?" Han Li asked.
"They're the Starshift Stones on the Big Dipper Heavenly Star Plates. The ones on the Twin Starshift Plates are only first-grade Starshift Stones," the tiger-masked man replied.
Han Li nodded in response. As long as he could teleport one of these Big Dipper Heavenly Star Plates back to the Black Wind Sea, it didn't matter if he had to sacrifice his Twin Starshift Plate.
Thus, he purchased some second-grade Starshift Stones from the tiger-masked man, leaving him with some leftover as backup in addition to the ones required to power the Twin Starshift Plate.
New n𝙤vel chapters are published on f(r)e𝒆webn(o)vel.com