Just as he created more distance between him and the tribulation cloud, the huge tri-colored lightning dragon reappeared, but its entire body soon dissolved. Countless tri-colored lightning jumped across the clouds and a roll of lightning shook the air. In the blink of an eye, the incredibly dense tribulation clouds turned sparse and beams of sunlight began to shine through in the spans of a few breaths.
This minor tribulation had actually been broken.
Before Han Li showed his joy, he first retrieved the Divine Essensefused Light and Mountain, then turning to face the golden boat.
From the distance, the golden board, calmly drifted closer and soon the two gold-armored cultivators could be clearly seen.
Han Li frowned, faintly sensing that trouble had come knocking on his door.
He stood still in place and quietly waited.
The golden boat appeared at ease, but it was still deceptively swift. It silently arrived before Han Li in the span of a few breathes as the two gold-armored cultivators closely examined Han Li.
The pale thirty-year-old cultivators eventually spoke with a neutral tone, “You’re a cultivator that ascended from a lower realm? It is quite strange for early-Deity Transformation stage cultivators to do such a thing. Regardless, it is your good fortune that we’ve arrived. Follow us.”
“What do you mean, Senior? Where will we go?” When Han Li heard that they mentioned he came from the lower realms, his heart skipped a beat, but he maintained a calm face.
The pale cultivator’s lip twitched and he calmly replied, “What do I mean? When you ascended, there were problems. Since you didn't appear that the Spirit Flight Tower or serve Deep Heavens City, a spatial storm appeared during your tribulation as someone that ascended through a spatial tear.”
“Spirit Flight Tower?” Han Li was initially confused when he heard this, but a trace of surprise soon appeared on his face.
The older of the two cultivators then smiled and explained, “That’s right, there are over a thousand people that ascended to the spirit realm from the lower realm. Each lower realm has a special Spirit Flight Tower for them. Normally, cultivators that ascend immediately appear at Deep Heaven City. However, there are rarely those like yourself that encounter mishaps during their ascension and land in other areas. Because these people haven’t taken any Earth Cleansing Pills, they will encounter two-colored lightning during their first tribulation and perish. Fortunately, you came across us while we were on business and waved your life.”
Chapter 1316: Dark Azure Guard
The older golden-armored cultivator explained, “You haven’t consumed the Earth Cleansing Pill and cleanse your body of the aura of the lower realm you came from. It will cause your minor tribulation to become two-colored. Even if you are vastly powerful, there will be no way for you to survive it. This time, we’ve helped you disperse of the tribulation, but as a result, the next tribulation will come over a hundred years earlier than it otherwise would. So long as you consume an Earth Cleansing Pill every year, it will change your aura to one native to the spirit realm, preventing your tribulation from becoming two-colored. Our Deep Heaven City gives one to every ascended cultivator each year. If your tribulation remains two-colored, it will become a third greater in power than the last.”
Han Li blinked and asked, “Senior, does that mean I will have to live the rest of my life at Deep Heaven City?”
The pale cultivator insipidly said, “Of course not, so long as you consume the Earth Cleansing Pill for three hundred years, you’ll cleanse yourself of the aura from your lower realm, and be freed of Deep Heaven City.”
“Deep Heaven City may be a place where ascended cultivators gather, but you can’t be giving away the pills for free. What are we tasked to do?” Han Li asked without further delay.
The older cultivator stroked his beard and smiled, “Fellow Daoist is quite intelligent. Although the Earth Cleansing Pill is quite useful to ascended cultivators, it requires rare materials that are found in the wildlands. You will have to purchase the pills for a price. However, this matter is best explained when you are in the city. First, you should follow us. If you refuse, we won’t force you, but you should understand what will happen to you.”
When Han Li heard this, his face slightly changed.
He muttered to himself for a moment and looked at the cloudless skies in the distance. He then took another look at the boat and boarded it in a blur.
The two gold-armored cultivators smiled at the obvious result. Having witnessed the fearsomeness of the two-colored lightning tribulation, there was only once choice left. Furthermore, he was only an early Deity Transformation cultivator, so it was quite a miracle for him to last long enough for them to arrive.
When Han Li arrived on the board, he looked around and discovered a small scale spell formation at the center of the boat.
Just as he was examining it, the two gold-armored cultivators stepped into it and called out to Han Li.
After some brief hesitation, Han Li joined them.
The two then struck the formation with a spell seal and it let out a drone, lighting up in dense light and enveloping the three of them.
Afterwards, the older cultivator flipped his palm and produced a golden plate. The plate had many silver rune characters on it.
He then slapped the plate on the top of the board, and golden light began to shine from it, along with dazzling silver talisman characters.
Meanwhile, the golden boat trembled, suddenly releasing streaks of milky white mist. The mist wrapped around the bottom of the golden board and began to circle around it, eventually forming the light formation Han Li saw from before.
The entire spell formation flared blindly and the boat disappeared with a tremble.
The spell formation then scattered without a trace.
This was all seen from a distance by Elder Huo and the Core Formation cultivators. Ever since the two golden-armored cultivators appeared, they completely kept silent and even their breaths turned quiet. When the golden boat eventually disappeared, they let out a large sigh, glancing at each other with happiness.
The yellow-robed youth hesitated and eventually said, “Elder Huo, it seems the Deep Heaven Guards aren’t as fearsome as the legends say. It seems they are exaggerated.”
Elder Huo hesitated from a moment and said, “What do you know? In the three human regions and the seven demon lands, the sole city free from the jurisdiction of the three human sovereigns and the seven demon kings is Deep Heaven City. Those gold-armored soldiers are among the highest existences in the city. Each of them can freely travel through any region without restriction. Furthermore, they can openly slay any human or demon they deem to be a threat. Their vast authority even inspires some dread in the three sovereigns. Furthermore, in their wars against the other tribes, the three sovereigns and seven kings first seek to dispatch the Deep Heaven City’s elders.”
“So it was like that.” The yellow-robed youth widely opened his eyes in shock. Then after a pause, he said, “I’ve only heard from my master to never offend a Deep Heaven Soldier no matter what. I think a while back the Deep Heaven Guard spent an entire month butchering over a hundred cultivator clans. However, nobody knew what caused it and the three sovereigns turned a blind eye to it.”
“That is so. But I don’t have much information regarding Deep Heaven City. However, the city’s cultivators don’t normally appear in the demon and human territories. They are specialized in dealing with great foreign enemies. Furthermore, even if they appear in the territories of the two clans, they would only be the gold-armored Deep Heaven Guard.”
As the two chatted, the other Core Formation cultivators listened in. They didn’t know much about the city and could only look at each other in dismay.
...
At that moment, Han Li was inside a nameless city’s secret teleportation formation.
The two gold-armored cultivators jumped off the golden boat and replaced several of the formation’s glittering
spirit stones. Then they struck the boat with more spell seals and activated the spell formation once more.
When Han Li looked at the crystals, he felt his heart jump. They were extremely valuable high-grade spirit stones. Just as his thoughts churned through his head, the golden boat was engulfed in white light. They teleported to another area. It was clearly an underground cave with a similar teleportation formation underneath the golden boat.
The two cultivators did the same again, and the boat teleported once more.
As Han Li indifferently observed them, the boat continued to teleport another twenty times.
In the past, Han Li only used a mid-grade spirit stone to deliver him from the Heavenly South to the Scattered Star Seas. By using high-grade spirit stones so many times, they were travelling a distance that Han Li found difficult to imagine.
Woosh. The golden board teleported once more, but this time, Han Li looked around and felt his heart tremble. He immediately realized that they’ve finally arrived in Deep Heaven City. This time the teleportation formation was set on an altar-like platform that was over thirty meters tall. There were four black-armored cultivators surrounding it.
The black armor appeared cruder than the armor of the two golden-armored cultivators, but silver characters still shined from their surface.
The platform was in a huge hall over three hundred meters wide and over fifty meters tall. Outside the huge platform, the surrounding space was empty. There were no other objects inside of it.
In the instant the golden boat appeared, the four black-armored cultivators immediately wore a vigilant expression. But when they saw the golden-armored cultivators, their expression relaxed, but they floated up to the platform.
Among them, a large green-eyed man immediately stepped forward and respectfully kneeled, “We pay our respects to the Elder Heaven Guards!”
When Han Li looked at them, his face stirred.
The four appeared to be Nascent Soul cultivators of varying cultivation: one at peak stage, one mid, and two early.
“Stand up. This is a newly ascended cultivator. I recall your squad is missing a Dark Azure Guard. Hehe, perhaps he will become your squad leader. Bring him to the Spirit Flight Hall to rest for a night. We will report our mission to the elders and see to him later.”
“Yes!”
When the large man saw that Han Li was a Deity Transformation cultivator, he showed no surprise at hearing the Deep Heaven Guard. He simply bowed to Han Li.
The pale cultivator then said, “Go ahead followed them. We’ll talk about other matters tomorrow.”
Han Li nodded.
The three then descended from the platform and arrived at the hall gates. Han Li took note that the large green-eyed man was the only one following after them. The other three were sincerely guarding the platform.
It seemed that the spell formation and the golden boat was very important as four Nascent Soul cultivators were guarding it.
When they left the hall gate, they appeared in front of a huge road that was twenty meters wide.
Grey stone walls were raised to either side, but every interval of the wall had a portion that was engraved with silver talisman characters, giving them an air of mystery.
The road was circular and made a shallow incline.
Han Li raised his brow, but he didn’t have any detailed thoughts.
The two gold-armored cultivators then went off to a different direction and the black-armored guard led Han Li away.
Every kilometer along the huge road, there would be identical gates that appeared, but some were shut while others were open.
For the open gates, Han Li could clearly see within them.
They had identical boats, platforms, and teleportation formations, along with several Nascent Soul cultivators guarding the location. They were also just as empty.
As for the halls that were shut, Han Li swept his spiritual sense past them, but he discovered that the silver inscriptions on the wall blocked him.
Occasionally, he would see other cultivators on the road. A vast majority of them wore black armor and were at Nascent Soul stage, but he did come across several cultivators wearing dark azure armor. They possessed Deity Transformation-stage cultivation and were the so-called Dark Azure Guards.
When these cultivators saw Han Li, an outsider, they gave him a curious glance, but didn’t ask him any questions. They simply marched on their way as if out of training.
When Han Li saw this, he frowned.
Chapter 1317: Ascended Cultivators and Deep Heaven City
After walking for another three kilometers, Han Li saw his surroundings suddenly light up and he arrived in front of a giant hall that was over three kilometers wide. Nearly a hundred armored cultivators were bustling through the hall in a busy manner.
There were dozen similar roads connected to the hall that had people frequently using them.
A trace of surprise flashed on Han Li’s face, but when he looked up at the ceiling, he felt deeply shocked.
The so-called hall didn’t have a flat ceiling. Instead, there was a ring-shaped cylindrical opening, like a hollow tower. That meant the opening they arrived from was a gap in the tower wall.
This was the first time Han Li had seen such a huge stone tower, but he soon recovered from his shock and his ordinary expression returned.
The large green-eyed man leading him didn’t mind Han Li’s surprise, nor did he make any attempt to rush Han Li. He simply nodded at Han Li when he regained his bearings and led Han Li out the hall once more.
When Han Li went outside, he looked to the distance and felt his heart thump.
There were towering azure towers in a dense arrangement as far as the eye could see, numbering over a hundred at the very least. The base of the towers were surrounded by rows of pagodas attached to smaller buildings. The tallest of the pagodas were three kilometers tall, while the shortest were at least three hundred meters tall. Each building appeared ordinary apart from its size.
Having seen this for the first time, Han Li was left dumbstruck.
When the two both left the hall, they took off in streaks of light to a building below a pagoda.
The green-eyed man called out to Han Li and brought him to a pavilion that was three-hundred meters tall.
The pavilion was divided into ten stories, with an opening with each story. There was a hundred-meter-tall gate at its very center with the words, Spirit Flight Hall written in silver words.
The green-eyed man brought Han Li to the fourth floor of the hall. When they entered the small hall, he saw seven passages heading off in different directions.
The small hall had various-dressed cultivators gathered together, speaking to each other with a smile.
When Han Li glanced at them, he saw that they were early-Deity Transformation cultivators like himself.
When Han Li and the green-eyed man entered, they all turned around and looked at them.
“Yi! Well if it isn’t Esteemed Nephew Zhuo? Have you brought us a newly arrived companion?” A white-haired old man with a dark complexion asked with a smile.
As the green-eyed man was a late-Nascent Soul cultivator, he didn’t dare to be negligent.
When the green-eyed man entered the hall, his solemn expression vanished and his bearings appeared entirely changed. He answered with a respectful tone, “So it was Senior Liu. This Senior is someone that the heaven guards personally brought in from the outside. He isn’t someone that entered the city.”
An odd expression appeared on his face.
“Could it be that he is a cultivator brought in from the Spirit Flight Tower?”
“Could it be he ascended from another world?”
“Yi! How can he be at early-Deity Transformation stage? Did they say that one can only ascend with their cultivation is at late-Deity Transformation stage?”
...
When the early-Deity Transformation cultivators heard this, an uproar was raised in the room and they all looked at Han
Li with an odd expression.
Han Li smiled at them and saluted the crowd, but said nothing else, thoughts quickly running through his mind.
Could it be that also ascended from a lower realm? But that didn’t seem to be the case. If they were natives to the spirit realm, why would they be here?
Didn’t the Spirit Flight Hall have something to do with ascended cultivators?
The green-eyed man quickly greeted the crowd and gave a few vague answers before leading Han Li down one of the passages and taking him to a suite connected to several rooms.
The rooms were fashioned after a small scale cave residence. Not only was there a secluded room for cultivation, but there was also room for pill and weapon refinement. Furthermore, there were a set of restrictions that sealed the rooms, which could only be opened by the person who possessed the restriction medallion.
When Han Li saw this, he nodded with satisfaction.
The green-eyed man then mentioned a few of the restricted places and immediately handed him a restriction medallion, then uttering a farewell before Han Li could flag him down.
Han Li thought to ask him some questions about the circumstances of Deep Heaven City.
As of current, he leaned back in a wooden chair in the living room and fiddled with a silver restriction medallion in his hand. He began to think about everything that had happened since his tribulation.
According to his original plan, he was going to find a hidden area with abundant spiritual Qi and cultivate. He would first enter the Spatial Tempering stage and then spend the rest of his life pursuing the great Dao.
He completely didn’t think that ascended cultivators would actually carry the aura of another world and turn minor tribulations into something fearsome.
For the first appearance of the two-colored lightning tribulation, he might’ve truly been able to protect himself, but he definitely wouldn’t be able to protect himself the second time.
Thus, he immediately followed the two Spatial Tempering cultivators to Deep Heaven City without much more consideration.
But when he arrived, he found something that was much different from what he experienced from cultivator cities. It left him completely clueless as he didn’t know much about how the city operated.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 733