Undercover?

Lin Xuan stepped forward and said, "Let me have a look."

The young man in blue carefully took out a golden insect egg about the size of a fist. It was marked with several purple stripes.

"Are you looking to trade these eggs or sell them?" Han Changming asked, his interest piqued.

Some idle cultivators had compiled various rankings of the cultivation world's spirit treasures, spirit herbs, spirit insects, and spirit beasts. The spirit insects on the Heaven and Earth Exotic Insect Ranking all possessed formidable abilities. The higher their ranking, the more powerful their abilities.

The Han Clan had a Spirit Beast Hall, which specialized in raising spirit beasts, spirit insects, and spirit birds. Its hall master was Han Deguang. He had several Purple-Striped Fire Centipedes, which had been cultivated by two generations of the clan and had reached the Second-Rank Mid-Grade. The Purple-Striped Fire Centipede ranked 135th on the Heaven and Earth Exotic Insect Ranking. The Ghost-Faced Scorpion ranked even higher, so its abilities were sure to be more formidable.

"I'm looking to trade. I'm stuck at a bottleneck, and ordinary first-rank pills won't help me break through. I'd like to trade for second-rank spirit fruits, spirit water, or spirit liquid."

Lin Xuan shook his head and said, "These eggs have been stored for too long. To hatch them, you'd have to place them on a spirit vein rich in spiritual energy or soak them in spirit liquid or spirit water. Even then, the odds of hatching them are low. If they were that easy to hatch, you wouldn't need to trade them away. You could spend some time hatching them and then sell them for a fortune in spirit stones."

Han Changming thought Lin Xuan made sense. If they were easy to hatch, the young man in blue could have spent some time hatching them and then sold them for a fortune. He couldn't claim he had no time. Hunting demon beasts to earn spirit stones was dangerous, but would hatching spirit insect eggs really be more dangerous than that?

Lin Xuan carefully examined the five golden insect eggs and found that the life force in each one was extremely weak. They would be difficult to hatch.

Someone immediately took out jade slips and books to look up information on the Ghost-Faced Scorpion.

"The books say the eggs should be golden. Why do these have purple stripes? Could they be fakes?"

Ye Yufeng voiced her doubts. Some rogue cultivators liked to cheat and deceive, earning the scorn of other cultivators.

"Absolutely not. I, Chen Bin, am not that sort of person. You can all examine them carefully. As for the purple stripes, they might have been stained by some liquid, or perhaps the eggs mutated."

Lin Xuan shook his head and said, "Mutated? It might be believable if one egg had mutated, but all five? That doesn't add up. They must have been stained by some kind of liquid. Fellow Daoist Chen, if you were the sort to cheat, Brother Yunxiao wouldn't have invited you to this exchange gathering."

Mu Yunxiao had organized the gathering. If Chen Bin were a fraud, it would reflect poorly on him as well.

"Fellow Daoist Chen and I have known each other for many years. I trust he's not that sort of person. Still, the life force in these five spirit insect eggs is so weak that they might not hatch. Anyone who wants to trade for them should be prepared for that."

Mu Yunxiao naturally wouldn't admit that Chen Bin was faking anything. That would be a slap in his own face, and besides, there was no proof.

"I don't have any second-rank spirit fruits, but I do have half a bottle of diluted Green Mulberry Spirit Liquid. It can help ease bottlenecks. Would you trade the five eggs for it?"

Lin Xuan took out a pale silver porcelain bottle and pulled out the stopper. A stream of pure spiritual energy drifted out.

"Five is too many. I'll give you two at most. These are Ghost-Faced Scorpion eggs, not ordinary insect eggs."

"Two is too few. How about three? Green Mulberry Spirit Liquid is an exclusive spirit liquid of our Azure Cloud Sect."

Chen Bin hesitated briefly, then agreed.

"I have a bottle of first-rank spirit water here. It should help with cultivation. How about I trade it for two of your eggs?" Han Changming took out a blue porcelain bottle and handed it to Chen Bin.

The bottle contained diluted spirit water. He had diluted it in a one-to-three ratio and used it to feed his Alligator Turtle Beasts. Diluting it meant he could feed them several times, making it easier for them to absorb, since they were still very weak.

If Chen Bin hadn't brought out the Ghost-Faced Scorpion eggs, Han Changming wouldn't have offered up his diluted spirit water.

Chen Bin opened the bottle, took a look, and shook his head. He was only willing to trade one egg for it, and Han Changming agreed.

The others also brought out items to trade, but Chen Bin wasn't interested in any of them. Lin Xuan took out a first-rank, high-grade Ice Cloud Talisman and traded it for the last egg.

After Chen Bin finished trading, he returned to his seat. The others went forward to trade one after another.

Lin Xuan could trade for anything that caught his eye, always producing something of value. He was clearly loaded. Of course, the main reason he could make these trades was that he was the only son of the Azure Cloud Sect's leader, and everyone wanted to get on his good side.

More than an hour later, the exchange gathering ended. The cultivators gradually left, each heading home.

"Ninth Brother, where did you get the spirit water?" Han Changshuo asked curiously.

First-rank spirit water was available on the market, but it wasn't very effective. Since Chen Bin had been willing to trade for Han Changming's spirit water, it had to be better than what was sold there.

"I found it at the Loose Cultivator Plaza. I meant to use it to make Cinnabar. I was just trying my luck, and didn't expect the trade to work out."

The explanation made sense, and Han Changshuo didn't press him further.

Back at his lodgings, Han Changming carefully examined the Ghost-Faced Scorpion eggs.

Lin Xuan was the Azure Cloud Sect leader's son and was well-informed. His advice was probably reliable.

Han Changming first placed a restriction on the eggs, then put them and the Spirit Gathering Stone in a cabinet to wait for the Ghost-Faced Scorpions to hatch.

He had plenty of Cinnabar and had also stored up a batch of spirit water—enough to last him. The Alligator Turtle Beast eggs had hatched in a little over a month, so the Ghost-Faced Scorpion eggs probably wouldn't take too long either.

Han Changming took out his talisman-making tools and began crafting talismans.

His current task was still to make talismans and save up spirit stones, preparing for the day he began learning alchemy.

He had gathered a batch of first-rank spirit herbs and books on spirit herbs as well, also as preparation for the future.

At the Hundred Refinements Pavilion, Han Dehai was talking to Han Deling.

"Seventh Sister, this is information Changming bought from a rogue cultivator. A group of Green-Eyed Fish Demons has been spotted."

Han Dehai handed a green conch to Han Deling.

"Leave this matter to me. You don't need to concern yourself with anything else. Tell Changming to keep it secret and not talk about it everywhere." Han Deling took the green conch and reminded him, still a little worried.

Han Dehai nodded and said, "I've already warned Changming. He won't talk about it."

After chatting for a few moments, Han Dehai left.

Han Deling took out a Communication Disk and made a series of gestures.

A while later, she left the Hundred Refinements Pavilion and strolled along the street.

A quarter of an hour later, she entered a teahouse and asked for a private room.

The room was simply furnished, with a landscape painting hanging on the wall.

Han Deling closed the door, took out the green conch, and stuck it underneath the tea table. Anyone who entered without knowing about it wouldn't notice the conch's presence.

An hour later, Han Deling left the teahouse.

Customers came into the private room one after another, but none of them noticed the green conch. Who would think to check under the table for something hidden there?

The next morning, a middle-aged man of average build walked in.

After closing the door, the middle-aged man hurriedly retrieved the green conch from under the table.

He read the message on the conch and looked delighted.

A little over half an hour later, the middle-aged man left the teahouse.

"Fellow Daoist Chen, long time no see." Someone greeted the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man smiled and nodded in reply.