"How did you know, Senior? Could it be that you've also visited the Tian Yuan Continent before?" Han Li's calm facade finally cracked as his heart thumped violently.
"Hehe, I haven't just been to the Tian Yuan Continent; I have a few friends among your human race whom I became acquainted with through battle. Overall, the human race isn't a very powerful one, but there are a few abilities that are passed down from generation to generation that are not to be looked down on. It's just that the conditions required to cultivate them are very rigorous, and are therefore beyond the reach of the average human," the young man chuckled.
"In that case, there's nothing for me to hide. I am indeed a human from the Tian Yuan Continent who ended up here completely by chance." Han Li could only admit the truth.
"Hehe, I'm glad you're coming clean, Fellow Daoist. What is your relationship with Fairy Ice Soul? Why do you have her Spiritvoid Cauldron within your body?" The young man smiled and asked another question that had Han Li feeling rather taken aback.
"Spiritvoid Cauldron? Could you be referring to this treasure?" Han Li blinked in a surprised manner before opening his mouth to expel a ball of azure light, within which was a miniature cauldron; it was none other than the Heavenvoid Cauldron.
"So you really do have it. I haven't seen this treasure for many years, but it still gives off about the same aura as it did back then," the young man said in a slow voice as he inspected the cauldron through narrowed eyes.
"I do indeed know of Fairy Ice Soul, but this is the Heavenvoid Cauldron, not the Spiritvoid Cauldron," Han Li corrected with a wry smile.
"Heavenvoid Cauldron?" The young man was rather taken aback to hear this, following which a thought suddenly seemed to have occurred to him, and he made a grabbing motion toward the miniature cauldron.
The cauldron's connection with Han Li was immediately severed before being drawn into the young man's hand in a flash.
Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, but it then quickly reverted back to normal.
The young man held the cauldron in his hand and began to carefully appraise it.
After a while, the young man's brows furrowed slightly, and he mused, "Upon closer inspection, this does appear to be somewhat different from the Spiritvoid Cauldron. The refinement method is a bit less sophisticated, but it's not a replica, either. If I had to give my verdict, I'd say that it's an experimental predecessor to the Spiritvoid Cauldron."
"An experimental cauldron?" A contemplative look appeared on Han Li's face.
"So be it. This may be the wrong treasure, but it definitely still came from Fellow Daoist Ice Soul, so I'm sure you're somehow related to her. I asked you to stay behind as I want you to track down Fairy Ice Soul when you get back to human territory and give her an item and a letter from me," the young man said as he released the miniature cauldron with a nonchalant smile.
"Truth be told, I only came across this treasure by chance, so I don't actually know Fairy Ice Soul personally, nor do I know if she's even still alive anymore," Han Li hurriedly countered as he drew the Heavenvoid Cauldron back into his body.
He had first heard about Fairy Ice Soul back in the human world, and if she had really ascended to the Spirit Realm and lived to this very day, then she would most likely be comparable in power to the young man before him already. As such, he didn't want to accept this potentially troublesome errand for no reason.
"It's alright even if you don't recognize her. With her significant reputation, I'm sure you'll be able to track her down once you return to the human race. If Fellow Daoist Ice Soul is indeed no longer of this world, then you can pass on these items to her descendants as well," the young man replied in a nonchalant manner. He then flipped a hand over to produce a jade box and a blue jade slip, which he tossed toward Han Li with a flick of his wrist.
Seeing as this was an unavoidable task, Han Li could only heave an internal sigh before catching the two items and taking a glance at them.
Each of the items had a shimmering golden talisman plastered over them to seal them tightly.
"I refined those two talismans myself, and aside from Fairy Ice Soul herself or a descendant of hers who bears her bloodline, anyone else who tries to tear off those talismans will make them explode on the spot, so please keep that in mind. I won't ask you to do this for me free of charge; here are some precious materials that can only be found on the Thunder Continent as repayment for your efforts.
“Also, Qian Jizi and the others have already promised you access to the super teleportation formation, but due to this ongoing battle, all of the teleportation formations in the nearby cities have been sealed. The super teleportation formation just so happens to be situated within a secret hall in Concealed Wyrm City, and it's also been sealed. I'll pass down an instruction for them to allow you to use the formation once. Of course, prior to this, I'll have you swear a vow on your inner demons that you'll carry out the duty I entrusted to you before I issue this instruction," the young man said.
"I hardly have any choice in the matter, do I?" Han Li could only concede with a wry smile before making a hand seal and swearing a vow as he was told, then placed the two items into his storage bracelet.
These vows weren't overly binding back in the human world, but ever since he had entered the Spirit Realm and reached the Spatial Tempering Stage, the effects of these vows had become so potent that the inner demons resulting from them would pose the most fearsome obstacle in one's breakthroughs.
Hence, these types of vows were extremely binding to high-grade cultivators.
After quickly assessing all of his other options, Han Li swore a vow as he was told, promising that he would deliver the two items to Fairy Ice Soul or one of her descendants.
The young man nodded in a pleased manner upon seeing this, then pulled out three more jade boxes before tossing them over to Han Li. These boxes naturally contained the aforementioned materials, and Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, accepting the boxes with a burst of azure light without even inspecting them.
"Alright, you may leave now," the young man instructed in an expressionless manner.
Han Li heaved an internal sigh of relief upon hearing this, and after extending a respectful salute, he also departed from the hall.
The young man looked on at Han Li's departing figure with a contemplative look on his face.
When Han Li emerged from the Sentient Hall again, he was rather surprised to find a giant silver flying carriage waiting outside.
The carriage was over 200 feet in length and was rectangular in shape. The patterns on its surface were extremely intricate, and it was being drawn by six massive praying-mantis-like spirit beasts.
Fairy Yue and the others were all standing on the carriage already, while the burly man with the dark complexion was standing patiently at the front of the carriage.
Everyone immediately turned their eyes toward Han Li as soon as he emerged, and they all wore different expressions on their faces, but they all seemed to be waiting for him.
"Get on the carriage, Fellow Daoist Han; we're about to set off," the burly man said with a smile.
"Thank you, Senior." Han Li cupped his fist in a grateful salute before his body swayed, and he instantly appeared on the carriage. He then made his way over to a corner and sat down with his legs crossed in a completely expressionless manner.
The burly man let loose a low cry, and the six giant beasts drawing the carriage suddenly revealed pairs of wings before flying into the sky with the carriage in tow.
In the instant that the flying carriage rose up into the air, a green light barrier appeared around it, and it flew away as a ball of green light.
Chapter 1750: Chance Encounter
The Jiao Chi Race army had reached Cloud City, but the area beyond Cloud City was still devoid of Jiao Chi presence for now. As such, the flying carriage didn't encounter any mishaps as it flew away from the direction the battle was being waged at.
Over half a month later
, Han Li caught sight of the other major city of the Heavenly Cloud Races, Concealed Wyrm City, in the distance.
In contrast with Cloud City, which hovered high up in the air, this city was nestled within a set of boundless mountain ranges.
Close to half of the city wall was constructed from a series of interconnected mountains, and there were also thousands of mountains of different sizes within the city.
There were buildings of different sizes littered all over the city, regardless of whether it was on or between the mountains, and a series of spiral paths could be seen winding down the mountains, creating quite an interesting sight to behold.
Concealed Wyrm City had clearly also been impacted by the Jiao Chi Race army, and even from several tens of kilometers away, one could sense a tense atmosphere from the city.
Not only were there bursts of restriction fluctuations proliferating from the city, there were also armored warriors who were constantly patrolling the nearby area, split up into groups ranging from a dozen or so to over 100.
Even though the giant flying carriage that Han Li was on clearly bore the Heavenly Cloud crest, it was still stopped on several occasions to be checked by the armored warriors.
However, after verifying the authenticity of an identification badge that the burly man produced, all of them backed away and allowed the flying carriage passage into the city without any impediment.
Thus, the flying carriage landed in front of the city gate, and a Spatial Tempering Stage armored warrior conducting checks at the gate immediately identified the burly man, upon which he hurriedly greeted in a respectful manner, "Welcome, Senior Bing. These are the fellow Daoists who have just returned from the Vast Glacial Realm, right? The elders of Cloud City have already notified us of your arrival in advance, so I'll take you to the Starcloud Pavilion right away to see them."
The burly man wasn't surprised at all by this arrangement, and he nodded at the armored warrior before turning to Fairy Yue and the others. "In that case, all of you can enter the city. I still have some matters to attend to, so I'll be returning to Cloud City."
Everyone else naturally agreed, and after extending respectful words of gratitude toward the burly man, they all disembarked from the flying carriage.
The burly man let loose a low cry, and the six spirit beasts immediately rose up into the air before quickly vanishing into the distance along with the flying carriage.
After Han Li and the others entered through the city gates, they immediately discovered that the city was extremely lively and bustling, but everyone wore anxious and concerned expressions.
This made sense considering Concealed Wyrm City was the closest major city to Cloud City. Most of the Heavenly Cloud beings who had been evacuated from Cloud City had gathered here, thereby resulting in such high population density.
They hailed two snowy-white beast-drawn carriages on the street before instructing the drivers to take them to the Starcloud Pavilion, and the carriages quickly flew toward a certain spirit mountain in the city.
Han Li sat beside one of the windows of the beast-drawn carriage and looked out at the passersby and buildings on the streets in an expressionless manner, seemingly in deep thought about something.
All of a sudden, his expression changed slightly as he caught sight of a certain figure on the street.
This was a man in a set of grey robes with a head of white hair. He had a slightly sickly complexion about him, and he was currently speaking with someone in front of a materials shop.
The other person wore a set of yellow robes and his skin was of a light purple color. He had a menacing look on his face, and Han Li's brows furrowed slightly at the sight of him.
After a brief moment of hesitation, he suddenly said, "Stop the carriage. I have something that I need to do here; I'll join all of you at the Starcloud Pavilion soon."
Everyone else was rather taken aback to hear this, but they naturally had no excuse to stop him.
Thus, the coach driver stopped the carriage as he was told, and Han Li drifted down from it.
The two people on the side of the street were clearly arguing about something, and their argument was quite loud.
"You have to repay the spirit stones you owe me within three days. Otherwise, don't blame me for turning on you," the purple-faced man said in a threatening manner.
"I'm sure you know about my situation, Fellow Daoist Huang; there's no way I can gather so many spirit stones in three days." The elderly man with the sickly pallor shook his head in a troubled manner.
"I don't care. I'm sure you know what consequences await you if you don't repay the spirit stones. If I don't get my spirit stones in three days, hehe..." the purple-faced man chuckled coldly.
The elderly man's expression changed slightly, and he was just about to say something when a hint of bewilderment suddenly appeared in the eyes of the purple-faced man standing before him.
A calm male voice then rang out from behind the elderly man. "How many spirit stones does Senior Martial Brother Xiang owe you? I'll repay you in his stead."
The elderly man's heart jolted upon hearing this. The voice seemed to be coming from right behind him, but why couldn't he sense the person who had spoken when they were clearly so close to him?
He hurriedly turned around to find a young azure-robed man standing around 10 feet away from him. This was a man with a set of ordinary facial features, and he had a hint of a smile on his face. It was naturally none other than Han Li.
"Junior Martial Brother Han?" An elated look immediately appeared on the elderly man's face at the sight of Han Li.
"Long time no see, Senior Martial Brother Xiang!" Han Li said with a smile.
Indeed, it had been many years since Han Li had last seen Xiang Zhili in Cloud City.
"I see you've come to Concealed Wyrm City as well, Junior Martial Brother. Prior to leaving Cloud City, I tried to find you, but I was unable to find any information on your whereabouts," Xiang Zhili said with a smile.
"I've indeed been in a rather secretive place of late; my apologies for making you go through so much trouble, Senior Martial Brother Xiang. How many spirit stones do you owe him?" Han Li asked.
The purple-faced man was at around the same cultivation base as Xiang Zhili, so he was only at the Core Formation Stage, and his spiritual sense was completely unable to identify Han Li's unfathomable cultivation base. As such, his face immediately paled, and he hurriedly extended a deep respectful bow toward Han Li. "I wouldn't dare to ask for spirit stones from you, Senior! I didn't know that Fellow Daoist Xiang had such connections. Please accept those spirit stones as an offering from me to you, Senior."
"Hehe, do you take me for someone who threatens people into waiving debts? Tell me how many spirit stones he owes!" Han Li insisted in a cold voice.
"It's not much, only..." The purple-faced man's heart immediately jolted as he hurriedly revealed a number that was completely insubstantial to Han Li.
Thus, he flipped a hand over to summon a leather pouch, which he tossed toward the purple-faced man. "There's your spirit stones; you can leave now."
The purple-faced man hurriedly bowed several times in a panicked manner before fleeing the scene.
"I am truly embarrassed to show you such a sorry state and make you pay for my debts, Junior Martial Brother Han," Xiang Zhili said as he cupped his fist with a wry smile following the purple-faced man's departure.
Han Li raised a hand to conjure up a grey light barrier, then smiled as he said, "It's alright, those spirit stones aren't of any consequence to me. I'm truly surprised to see you here, Senior Martial Brother Xiang. I recall that you asked me to come and meet you before I return to the Tian Yuan Continent; you can tell me what you have to say now."
With the temporary restriction set up by the Divine Essencefused Light, no one would be able to eavesdrop on them.
Xiang Zhili was naturally unaware of what kind of ability Han Li was using, but he clearly had great confidence in it, so Xiang Zhili
naturally knew that this was quite a powerful restriction. His eyes immediately lit up with excitement, and he asked, "Are you saying this because you can return to the Tian Yuan Continent, Junior Martial Brother?"
"Indeed. I did some things for the Heavenly Cloud Races not long ago, so they've granted me permission to use their super teleportation formation once. I'll be leaving the Thunder Continent soon," Han Li said in a calm manner.
"That's great to hear! However, the item I wanted to entrust to you isn't on me right now, and this isn't a suitable place to discuss these matters anyway. How about this? Can you go and wait for me on the Azure Wyrm Peak close to 100 kilometers outside of the city? We can discuss things in greater detail there," Xiang Zhili said in an elated manner.
A barely detectable hint of surprise flashed through Han Li's eyes upon hearing this before he nodded in response. "Azure Wyrm Peak? In that case, I'll meet you there."
"Then it's settled. By the way, you've made significant strides in your cultivation base again, haven't you? I can't identify your exact cultivation base, but from the pressure I'm sensing from you, you've clearly become more powerful than last time!" Xiang Zhili exclaimed.
"I only made a minor stride in my cultivation," Han Li replied with a nonchalant smile.
Thus, the two of them chatted for a while longer before the Divine Essencefused Light barrier was withdrawn, and Han Li departed on another beast-drawn carriage.
Meanwhile, Xiang Zhili remained standing on the spot, looking on at the departing carriage with a slightly unnatural smile on his face...
Concealed Wyrm City was quite a massive city, but it was still slightly smaller than Cloud City.
After only around an hour, the beast-drawn carriage that Han Li had taken arrived at the foot of a mountain, and on that mountain was a set of interconnected buildings that surrounded the entire mountain peak.
Han Li followed the coach driver's instructions and traveled up the mountain path, but many armored warriors suddenly emerged in a cautious manner halfway up the mountain.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 1006