The most important matter was glossed over by Ning Fengzhi, and after that, their conversation drifted into trivialities—at least, that's how it seemed from Han Li's perspective. However, on Qian Renxue's side, she had to maintain a respectful demeanor and go along with Ning Fengzhi's charade.
There was no helping it; after all, on the surface, her teacher, the Sect Master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, was Xue Qinghe's strongest supporter.
After they forced through another quarter of an hour of conversation, Ning Fengzhi finally excused himself, claiming that he had sect affairs to attend to. He invited Xue Qinghe to visit the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect whenever he had free time before taking his leave.
After respectfully seeing off Ning Fengzhi and Sword Douluo and watching their carriage disappear into the distance, Qian Renxue returned to the room and dropped her disguise.
"I have a feeling something is off here. What do you think?"
Qian Renxue instinctively tapped the table and turned to Han Li.
"Off? What's off? Zhu Zhuqing is at my place; who knows what he's thinking?"
Han Li played dumb. Although he could tell Qian Renxue some things directly, who knows what consequences that might bring?
He still needed Tang San to take the spotlight for him, preferably to the point where the gods themselves grew bored and stopped watching him so frequently. Naturally, he wasn't eager to expose the truth just yet.
"Forget it, you're always so secretive," Qian Renxue rolled her eyes at him, giving up on her questioning.
In her mind, if Han Li didn't bring it up himself, it probably wasn't anything major.
"But if you weren't going to find Zhu Zhuqing, what were you doing at the academy? Looking for Ye Lingling?"
Qian Renxue couldn't imagine anything at Heaven Dou Imperial Academy that would interest Han Li. She had been there countless times and never found anything noteworthy.
"I was just bored, checking out what my peers were up to."
Han Li couldn't help but laugh at his excuse; even he found it ridiculous.
Qian Renxue just gave him a look that said, "Do you think I believe that?"
"Fine, I was looking for Ye Lingling," Han Li finally admitted, giving Qian Renxue a reason she could accept.
"I knew it," Qian Renxue shot him a disdainful look. Just like that, and he still had the nerve to criticize her judgment.
Han Li ignored her "I told you so" expression and continued, "Since you guessed it, why not hurry up and secure the Ye family? I can provide you with some medicinal herbs to verify the Ye family's issues and also slightly boost their strength."
"Of course, you'll need to give me something in return," Han Li added when he noticed Qian Renxue's eyes light up.
"Got it," Qian Renxue replied irritably, muttering, "You're taking my people, and I didn't even stop you, but I still have to pay? Ning Fengzhi's heart isn't as black as yours."
"That's not fair. The Ye family swearing loyalty to you and the Heaven Dou Empire isn't the same thing. Besides, I didn't take Ye Lingling away. She'll still be under your command, boosting the academy's chances in the Soul Master competition. I haven't even charged you an appearance fee yet," Han Li retorted, easily twisting the narrative.
"Fine, name your price," Qian Renxue conceded, realizing she couldn't sway him, and refocused on Han Li.
"I don't want money. I want the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud," Han Li bluntly stated his demand.
"The Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud? That national treasure? What do you want it for?"
Qian Renxue had encountered this national treasure when she was posing as Xue Qinghe and had even touched it. But despite the Heaven Dou royal family having passed it down for so many years, it was more symbolic than anything else.
"Could it be that it's something extraordinary?"
Qian Renxue asked directly, never hiding her emotions from Han Li.
"It's something like that. It's similar to the Angelic Sacred Sword passed down in your family, but it's incomplete."
Han Li didn't hide this from her; Qian Renxue knew a bit about such things, even if she hadn't yet embarked on a divine trial.
"That powerful?"
Qian Renxue was shocked. She hadn't expected the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud to be related to the gods. She had always thought it was just an ancient, broken soul tool, given its rather lackluster functions.
(It's mentioned in Douluo Dalu 1 that the technology for creating soul tools had been lost.)
"Yeah, it's useful to me. Besides, you still owe me two soul bones from before. This can cover that debt."
Han Li wasn't heartless enough to completely screw over his allies; he was finding a way to compensate her.
To be honest, with his current strength, he could easily sneak into the Heaven Dou Empire's treasury and take it without anyone noticing.
"Deal, but I'll need some time. Or you can go get it yourself—just don't make too much noise," Qian Renxue agreed.
When Qian Renxue realized that following the proper procedures would require dealing with a lot of people, she felt a headache coming on and ended up suggesting that Han Li go retrieve it himself.
Hearing her suggestion, Han Li looked at her speechlessly. Was this karma? He had pushed the task onto Qian Renxue, and now she was pushing it back to him.
"No way, I asked you to do it because I didn't want to cause a commotion."
"Forget it, how about this: you describe the appearance of the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud to me, and I'll make a fake one. Then you can swap it out later. How about that?"
Han Li seemed to have thought of something amusing, and with a slight smile, he proposed a new idea.
Hmm, that could work. And it could be used to fool others later on—two birds with one stone.
"That works, it'll save me some trouble later on."
Qian Renxue's eyes lit up, and she immediately agreed to his suggestion. Then she suddenly remembered an important issue.
Seeing her agree but then looking troubled, Han Li asked curiously, "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
"I can't draw, and using soul power to manipulate it won't be precise enough."
Qian Renxue shrugged. Whether it was in the Spirit Hall or the Heaven Dou royal family, drawing wasn't within her skill set. She knew a bit about art appreciation, but asking her to draw was asking too much.
"That's not a problem."
Han Li had thought it was a major issue, but it turned out to be just that. With a wave of his hand, he initiated mental sharing, providing Qian Renxue with a crystal-clear god's-eye view, where she could even see dust particles.
"A soul bone skill?"
Qian Renxue asked curiously as she observed everything around her in this state.
"Yeah, a new headbone skill. Pretty cool, right?"
As he spoke, Han Li also demonstrated the functions of elemental vision and soul power flow routes, with a touch of pride.
"It's really powerful."
Qian Renxue's thoughts, however, drifted, and she looked a bit frustrated.
"I was planning to spar with you soon, but now it looks like I'll have to postpone it."
She felt a twinge of envy, knowing that Han Li's strength had likely increased significantly. She wisely decided to abandon the idea of a duel for now. She was competitive, but not foolish—she had no interest in getting beaten up.
Han Li chuckled but didn't tease her further. However, he did decide to periodically reveal some of his progress to keep her motivated. After all, he wasn't doing this out of malice—he was just pushing her to improve, or so he convinced himself.
"Try recalling the appearance of the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud and use your mental power to sketch it out," Han Li instructed before leaving Qian Renxue to her task.
As soul power increases, a Soul Master's memory improves significantly. With Qian Renxue's recollection, a vividly blue gem-like object took shape in her mental space.
It was a peculiar item, entirely transparent blue, in the shape of a three-dimensional triangle.
The whole thing appeared to be carved from sapphire, about the size of a palm, with a shimmering blue light emanating from it and strange energy waves continuously radiating from within.
On this blue triangular object, wave-like patterns rippled across its surface. These patterns didn't seem carved but rather appeared alive.
"It looks about right," Qian Renxue said as she opened her eyes and looked at Han Li, asking if his plan was feasible.
"It's not too hard, actually a bit easier than I expected. Give me a moment."
As he spoke, Han Li flipped his wrist, and a sapphire the size of a human head appeared in his hand. He immediately split it in half.
He hadn't prepared this in advance; he had simply picked it up on a whim while retrieving medicinal herbs from a trade association.
After discovering that he could engrave rule patterns with soul bones to create certain effects, he began searching for alternative materials.
After all, even broken soul bones are rare and can't withstand such frequent use.
Following some simple tests, he shifted his focus to various natural gemstones. Though the effect was weaker, requiring regular energy replenishment and not exactly cheap, the cost was still far lower than using soul bone fragments.
"You're well-prepared. I'm starting to suspect that the Ye family and Ye Lingling were just excuses—you're really after the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud."
Qian Renxue couldn't help but joke as she watched him begin forging a replica right in front of her.
"Not quite. It was a spur-of-the-moment idea. If I were prepared, I wouldn't have been so polite with you earlier."
Han Li responded as he swiftly carved, still managing to refute Qian Renxue's teasing.
"I don't know about anything else, but I'm sure you've had your eye on the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud for a long time."
Qian Renxue declared with confidence.
This time, Han Li didn't deny it. Indeed, he had been eyeing it for years. Whether he'd use it or not, even if it was useless, he wanted it in his hands.
His hands moved even faster, engraving the patterns, while he carefully infused it with his soul power.
He hadn't seen the original, but with his current mastery, it wasn't hard to create a simple replica. Besides, no one would use the national treasure.
After a while, he handed the sapphire over to Qian Renxue, who was already staring in awe.
"Take a look. How is it? Could it pass for the real thing?"
Qian Renxue took the sapphire, carefully examining it for a while before saying, "It's a bit different like it's missing something, but it should be good enough."
"Great. Then the matter of the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud is in your hands."
"Oh, one more thing—don't mess around with that thing out of curiosity, or your family might get really upset."
Han Li's expression grew serious as he warned her, subtly pointing upwards.
"Okay, I understand."
Qian Renxue paused for a moment, then responded with equal seriousness.
Seeing that she had taken the warning to heart, Han Li relaxed a bit. As long as she understood the gravity of the situation, there wouldn't be a problem.
He wasn't too worried, but knowing the nature of the Sea God, if Qian Renxue did make contact, she might succeed in inheriting the Sea God's position.
If that happened, Qian Daoliu might go crazy and take up the Sacred Sword to fight Han Li.
Though for a brief moment, Han Li had entertained such a thought and was quite tempted, in the end, he suppressed that reckless impulse and buried it deep within himself.
Still, the idea of a Sea God inheritor with an angel martial soul, wielding a trident, was quite appealing.
He couldn't help but wonder—would the light shining from behind be golden or blue? In full divine gear, would it be white stockings or blue?
PS: Han Li is a man of culture...