Chapter 207: Swapping the Imperial Heir Sea God Qian Renxue?
The most pressing matter was smoothly sidestepped by Ning Fengzhi, and after that, his conversation with Xue Qinghe drifted into meaningless chatter at least, from Han Li's perspective, it was utterly pointless.
Meanwhile, Qian Renxue had no choice but to maintain a polite and respectful demeanor, humoring Ning Fengzhi.
There was no way around it on the surface, her so called teacher, the leader of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, was the strongest supporter behind "Xue Qinghe."
The two dragged out their conversation for another fifteen minutes before Ning Fengzhi found an excuse about needing to tend to sect affairs. Before leaving, he invited Xue Qinghe to visit the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect whenever he had time.
After politely seeing Ning Fengzhi and Sword Douluo out of the palace, Qian Renxue watched their carriage disappear into the distance before finally returning to her room and dropping her disguise.
"There's something strange about all of this. What do you think?"
Qian Renxue absentmindedly tapped her fingers on the table before turning to Han Li.
"Strange? What's strange? Zhu Zhuqing is literally at my house. Who knows what he's thinking?"
Han Li played dumb.
He could have told Qian Renxue the truth, but who knew what kind of chain reaction it would cause?
He still needed Tang San to act as a lightning rod for the gods' attention ideally, until they got so bored they gave up watching altogether.
There was no way he was going to expose the truth so soon.
"Forget it, you're always so secretive."
Qian Renxue rolled her eyes, giving up on pressing further.
To her, if Han Li didn't bring something up himself, it probably wasn't that important.
"But since you weren't planning to find Zhu Zhuqing, what were you doing at the academy? Looking for Ye LingLing?"
Qian Renxue couldn't think of anything else in Heaven Dou Academy that would interest Han Li.
She had been there countless times and never found anything particularly special.
"I was bored, so I went to observe my peers."
Han Li barely finished his sentence before laughing out loud. Even he found his excuse ridiculous.
Qian Renxue stared at him, her expression clearly saying, "Do you think I'm an idiot?"
"…Fine, I went to find Ye LingLing."
Han Li gave up the act, choosing an excuse she could actually accept.
"I knew it."
Qian Renxue gave him a look of disdain and this guy had the nerve to say her judgment was bad?
Han Li ignored her "I saw this coming" expression and continued, "Since you already guessed, you might as well finalize things with the Ye family. I can provide a batch of medicine to test Ye LingLing's abilities and slightly enhance their overall strength."
"Of course, you'll need to trade something for it."
Seeing Qian Renxue's eyes flicker, Han Li immediately reminded her that nothing came for free.
"…Fine."
Qian Renxue glared at him, muttering under her breath, "You're taking my people, and I didn't even stop you. Now I have to pay you for it? Even Ning Fengzhi isn't as black hearted as you."
"You're twisting things. Swearing loyalty to you and swearing loyalty to Heaven Dou Empire aren't the same thing. Besides, I'm not even taking Ye LingLing away. She'll still be competing under your banner in the Spirit Master Tournament. I should be charging you for her entry fee instead."
Han Li wouldn't fall for such cheap manipulation if anyone was better at word games, it was him.
"…Fine, name your price."
Realizing she couldn't talk her way out of this one, Qian Renxue gave up and looked at him.
"I don't want money. I want the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud."
Han Li finally revealed his true objective.
"The Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud? That imperial treasure? What do you want that for?"
Qian Renxue had touched it before while disguised as Xue Qinghe, but for as long as the Heaven Dou Imperial Family had held onto it, it had been nothing more than a symbolic artifact.
"Don't tell me it's actually some incredible treasure?"
She asked directly. If she didn't understand something, she'd just ask.
"It's decent, kind of like your family's Angelic Holy Sword. But it's incomplete."
Han Li wasn't hiding this part Qian Renxue still hadn't started her godly trials, but she still knew some secrets about divine artifacts.
"…That powerful?"
Qian Renxue was genuinely surprised. She had never expected the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud to be connected to the gods.
She had always assumed it was just a damaged soul tool from ancient times after all, its abilities were pretty lackluster.
"Yeah, it's useful to me. And since you still owe me two spirit bones, I'll count this as part of your debt repayment."
Han Li wasn't so black hearted that he'd completely scam his teammates.
In fact, this was just a way to subtly compensate her.
To be honest, with his current abilities, he could have snuck into Heaven Dou's treasure vault and taken it without anyone noticing.
"Deal. But I'll need some time… unless you just go take it yourself? Just don't make too much noise."
Qian Renxue frowned, already feeling headaches forming at the thought of all the bureaucratic nonsense she'd have to deal with if she followed the proper procedures.
If Han Li just stole it quietly, that would actually be less of a hassle.
Han Li looked at her in disbelief.
Was this karma?
He had dumped the Zhu Zhuqing mess onto Qian Renxue, and now she was dumping the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud mess onto him.
"…No. I don't want to make a scene, that's why I'm asking you to handle it."
"Forget it. Here's an idea describe its appearance to me, and I'll make a fake one for you to swap it with."
Han Li suddenly had an interesting thought.
Yes… this could work.
And later on, he could use the fake one to mess with people.
Two birds with one stone.
"That's actually a good idea. It'll save me a lot of trouble."
Qian Renxue's eyes lit up, and she immediately agreed.
Then, just as she was about to finalize the plan, a sudden realization struck her.
As she first agreed but then hesitated, Han Li curiously looked at her and asked, "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
"I can't draw, and using soul power to manipulate images isn't that precise either."
Qian Renxue spread her hands helplessly. Neither the Spirit Hall nor the Heaven Dou Imperial Family had ever trained her in artistic skills. She could appreciate fine art, but drawing it herself? That was asking too much.
"That's not really a problem."
Han Li had thought it was some major issue, but it turned out to be something this trivial. Without hesitation, he activated spiritual sharing, instantly creating a god's eye view so detailed that even specks of dust could be seen in Qian Renxue's mind.
"Soul bone skill?"
Qian Renxue, like a curious child, observed everything around her in this state and casually asked.
"Yeah, a new skull ability I obtained. Pretty neat, huh?"
As he spoke, Han Li also showed off elemental vision and soul power flow tracking, making sure to flex his new skills just a little.
"It really is impressive."
Qian Renxue, however, was thinking about something else entirely and her expression looked a little frustrated.
"I was planning to challenge you to a sparring match soon… but now it seems I'll have to delay it again."
She was slightly envious, but she also understood just how much Han Li had improved. She wasn't stupid she liked competition, but not getting beaten up for no reason.
Han Li chuckled but didn't provoke her further.
Still, he decided that every now and then, he'd reveal small increments of his progress, ensuring she never lost her drive to catch up.
Of course, it wasn't to mess with her. It was just to help her grow… yes, purely for her own good.
"Think back to what the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud looks like and try to project its image with your spiritual power."
Han Li instructed her and then stopped speaking, allowing her to focus.
With their level of spiritual enhancement, a Soul Master's memory was exceptionally sharp. As Qian Renxue recalled the artifact, a brilliant blue gemstone like object appeared within their shared mental space.
It was a strange artifact, crystal clear and entirely blue, shaped like a three dimensional triangle.
It seemed to be carved from sapphire, small enough to fit in one's palm. Its surface shimmered with an ethereal glow, emanating a mysterious energy pulse.
Across its surface, ripple like patterns flowed like living waves not engraved or painted, but moving naturally, as if alive.
"This is about right."
Qian Renxue opened her eyes and looked at Han Li, asking if his plan was feasible.
"Not too difficult actually, it's easier than I expected. Give me a moment."
With that, he flipped his wrist, and a head sized sapphire appeared in his hand, which he immediately split in half.
He hadn't prepared this in advance he had simply picked it up from the merchant guild while collecting herbs.
Ever since discovering that he could carve rules into soul bones to create special effects, Han Li had been searching for alternative materials.
After all, even damaged soul bones were valuable and hard to come by. He couldn't just waste them on experiments.
Through testing, he found that natural gemstones were a decent substitute. Though not as powerful, requiring periodic energy replenishment, and not exactly cheap, they were still far more affordable than soul bones.
"You planned this too well. Now I'm convinced Ye LingLing and the Ye family were just your excuse. You came for the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud from the start."
Qian Renxue watched as he casually began forging a counterfeit and couldn't help but call him out.
"Not at all. It was a spur of the moment decision. If I had actually planned this, I wouldn't have even bothered asking you first."
Han Li carved quickly while still having the mental bandwidth to banter back.
"I don't know about the rest, but one thing is certain you've had your eye on the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud for a long time."
Qian Renxue spoke with absolute certainty.
This time, Han Li didn't deny it.
Of course, he had! He'd been thinking about it for over a decade.
Whether he needed it or not, it was better in his hands than anywhere else.
His carving speed increased as he engraved intricate runes onto the stone, channeling soul power into it little by little.
He had never seen the original, but with his understanding of essence based constructs, recreating a convincing fake wasn't too difficult.
Besides, who actually used Heaven Dou's national treasure?
After a while, Han Li examined his work with satisfaction and handed the blue gemstone to a completely stunned Qian Renxue.
"Take a look does it pass?"
Qian Renxue studied the gemstone carefully before finally speaking.
"It's… slightly different, like it's missing something. But it should be good enough."
"Great. Then you can handle swapping the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud."
"One more thing whatever you do, don't play around with that artifact out of curiosity. If you do, your 'family' up there won't be happy."
Han Li's expression turned serious as he subtly gestured upward.
"Alright, I understand."
Qian Renxue froze for a moment before responding equally seriously.
Seeing that she understood the gravity of the situation, Han Li sighed in relief.
He wasn't worried about himself he was worried about what might happen to her.
After all, if she actually interacted with the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud, given the way Sea God operates, she might just end up inheriting the title of Sea God instead.
And if that happened…
Qian Daoliu would absolutely lose his mind and probably drag out his Holy Sword to kill Han Li on the spot.
For one brief moment, Han Li had been tempted it was honestly a hilarious scenario.
But in the end, he forced himself to let go of that dangerous thought.
…Still.
A Sea God inheritor with six angelic wings and a divine trident?
That was a hell of an image.
Would the light behind her be golden or blue?
And in her divine outfit, would it be white stockings or blue stockings?
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