Shortly after Xiao Huo left, two figures entered the hut's range.
Li Yuan immediately recognized that they were Gu Ling'er and Liu Feng.
'Don't you two have anything else to do than follow Xiao Huo?', Li Yuan complained inwardly.
He didn't say those words out loud though and continued having an unfathomable expression.
"How is it little friend? Did you find the 2 Monster Cores?", he asked with a smile.
Gu Ling'er's expression froze and there was a hint of awkwardness in her eyes, but she quickly hid it.
"Hmph, finding two Monster Cores doesn't prove anything.", she said with some annoyance.
Gu Ling'er still didn't believe Li Yuan.
She guessed that he already knew the two Monster Cores' location and just pretended to deduce it.
Li Yuan didn't care about her attitude and smiled slightly.
"As long as you continue buying information, the truth will one day come to light."
Gu Ling'er wanted to retort, but Liu Feng patted her on the shoulder and took a step forward.
"Fellow Taoist, don't mind my clan's Young Lady. It's just that she values Xiao Huo very much and doesn't want him to be harmed."
Li Yuan waved his hands.
"It's okay, it's normal to have some doubts. I believe that one day both of you will come to believe me."
Seeing Li Yuan's calm look, Gu Ling'er became angry.
"If you are so capable, why don't you deduce an opportunity for Uncle Liu Feng to break through."
Gu Ling'er said and praised her wit.
The resources needed for a Saint to break through were very rare and valuable. No matter what, she didn't believe that Li Yuan could find them.
"Do you really want me to?", Li Yuan asked and turned his head to Liu Feng.
After seeing his nod, Li Yuan called the system.
'System, deduce opportunities suitable for Liu Feng to break through."
[There are currently 12 suitable opportunities.]
[Origin Energy. Price: 5 Billion HS Points.]
[Quasi-Emperor Corpse. Price: 900 Million HS Points.]
[Elemental Stone. Price: 500 Million HS Points.]
[...]
[Saint Pill. Price: 10 Million HS Points.]
Looking at the Saint Pill at the bottom of the list, Li Yuan sighed at the price needed for the resources suitable for a Saint to break through.
He didn't know that there was something wrong with this world and the laws of the world were lacking.
In this era, after a cultivator reaches the Saint Realm, they will be almost unable to advance their cultivation any further.
Even if they exhausted their lifespan, unless they obtained precious opportunities of had a strong background, they would most likely be unable to break through the Saint King Realm.
That's why Saint cultivators were so rare to meet. They were either sealed, or cultivating in special places.
Even though he didn't know this, it didn't prevent Li Yuan from guessing the importance of Saint cultivators.
After he pinched his fingers, he turned his head and looked at Liu Feng.
"Fellow Taoist should know how difficult it is for cultivators in the Saint Realm to increase their strength."
"There is currently a Saint Pill in the Dark Mirror Forest, but the price you have to pay is very high..."
"...Unless, you're willing to make a deal with me. If you do, I'm willing to assist you by suffering some of the Will of Heaven's backlash."
As he said these words, Li Yuan's eyes flickered.
If his plan were to come true, he would finally be able to get some new customers for his little store.
Gu Ling'er and Xiao Huo were fine for now, but in the future, they would be unable to meet his needs.
Only by developing new customers could Li Yuan increase his strength and leave this damn place.
'This time I'll only make 5 times the profit. Sure enough, in order to gain something, you have to lose something.'
Gu Ling'er and Liu Feng were surprised.
They didn't expect that the young man in front of them could sound even more unreliable.
"What's the deal that Fellow Taoist is talking about?", Liu Feng asked with a strange expression.
***
On the other side, Xiao Huo didn't know that his childhood sweetheart, who had been following him secretly, was being cheated by Li Yuan.
Instead, he was currently filled with some doubts.
"Master, what do you think is the reason that the Pavilion Owner is staying in this forest?", he asked.
"I don't know, but it isn't very strange. In the Xuan Continent's 7 Forbidden Areas, no matter how strange something seems, it can happen."
"Even as a Saint cultivator, I'm nothing in front of the Forbidden Areas.", his master's, Lao Yang's voice sounded in his ears.
Xiao Huo couldn't see his master's expression, but he could picture him shaking his head.
"Are the 7 Forbidden Areas so strange?"
Xiao Huo was surprised.
Even Saints were unable to find the Forbidden Areas' secrets?
For the current Xiao Huo, Saints were almost omnipotent and omniscient.
He knew that the Dark Mirror Forest was dangerous, but because he hadn't met any danger so far, he had somewhat underestimated it..
Lao Yang seemed to notice Xiao Huo's thoughts.
"Actually, although the Forbidden Areas are dangerous, this danger is mostly for powerful cultivators. It can be said that a powerful cultivator and an ordinary person have the same chance of getting out of the forest alive."
"This is because Forbidden Areas have a common special characteristic: they have their own independent rules."
"For example, this forest is called Dark Mirror Forest because every time a cultivator uses an ability in this place, the forest will store it and project it at later times."
"'Later times' may be 1 second later, or even thousands of years later."
"This means that when you are in the Dark Mirror Forest, if you are unlucky, you might meet the projection of an Emperor's blow at any time."
Even though it sounded complicated, Xiao Huo understood what his master meant.
In simple terms, it's as if the forest copied the cultivators' attacks, saved them and then materialized them again in random places at random times.
Hearing this, Xiao Huo felt some cold sweat running down his back.
His eyes widened and he turned his head to look around, fearing that a random attack would come at any time and turn him into ashes.
"It's not only the Dark Mirror Forest that has such strange rules."
"On the other side of the Xuan Continent, there is the Dream Abyss Sea."
"Every time the sun sets in this sea, every cultivator in its vicinity will be teleported to another world."
"No one knows what that world is and how to get out of it and even the people that managed to escape had their memories wiped out."
"According to the legend, the Dream Abyss Sea is actually the dream of a Great Emperor."
Lao Yang explained all of these things, hoping to motivate Xiao Huo.
He had previously noticed that his disciple was starting to get a little carried away by his rapid increase in strength.
As a Saint, he knew that although he seemed strong, in front of the real powerful cultivators, he was just an ant.
Even those famous Great Emperors were just a little ant in front of the Will of Heaven.
No matter how strong you are, there is always someone stronger than you.
In Lao Yang's opinion, the Sun Empire was just a small place in this massive Xuan Continent.
Lao Yang didn't want his disciple to become too confident and waste his talent.
Xiao Huo saw his master's worries and comforted him with a confident expression.
"Don't worry Master, how could I be willing to stay in this little Sun Empire? My dream is to become a Great Emperor!"