Night lay deep as Han Li returned to his quiet chamber in the Tide Listening Pavilion, the icy touch of the jade slip Yuan Yao had given him still lingering on his fingertips. He did not examine it immediately. Instead, he first laid down layer upon layer of restrictions, then sat cross-legged to regulate his breathing, carefully turning over every word and every glance from their meeting in his mind.
"Yuan Yao..." Han Li opened his eyes, a cold gleam flickering within them. This woman planned meticulously, and her methods were unfathomable. She seemed candid, yet every sentence concealed a blade. She had dangled the Water Mansion in the Star Vortex and the Ancient Teleportation Array as bait, pointed out the collusion between the Island Lord's Residence and the Black Skeleton Pirates, and even invoked Lei Wanhe's name to pressure him-all to force him into cooperating and use his strength to achieve some purpose of her own. The Water Mansion was very likely a trap, but if it truly held clues to an Ancient Teleportation Array, it was worth investigating, no matter the danger. The key was to seize the initiative in this contest and avoid becoming a pawn.
He picked up the pale green jade slip and sank his spiritual sense into it. It contained neither a cultivation technique nor a map, but an encrypted message of spiritual thought that could only be deciphered through fluctuations at a specific frequency. After a moment's contemplation, Han Li mobilized a thread of his newly formed water spiritual power and made his spiritual sense oscillate along a mysterious pattern.
Buzz-the jade slip flashed faintly, and information streamed out. Han Li's gaze sharpened at its contents. It described in detail the location of a hidden spatial node near the Star Vortex and the