"Please go ahead, Senior; we'll definitely tell you everything that we know," the burly devilish man immediately replied.
The elderly devilish man also nodded eagerly with an obedient and respectful expression.
"How far away from this place is Blood Crow City, and how far away is the nearest city to Blood Crow City? Also, what is the name of your city lord and what's his cultivation base?" the Long Family patriarch asked.
He was posing many questions all at once, but none of them were taboo or related to confidential information, so the burly devilish man immediately replied, "Blood Crow City is around 50,000 kilometers away from here, and the closest city to it is Night Asura City, but it'll take at least two months to get there. As for our city lord, his name is Bing Qianren, and he's a mid-stage devilish lord."
"A mid-stage devilish lord, eh? That's not bad. What's the current situation in Blood Crow City like? Are there any teleportation formations in the city that lead to other cities? Alternatively, is there any way to skirt around the beast tide in the east?" the Long Family patriarch continued.
The burly devilish man hesitated momentarily before replying, "In order to ensure that the city is prepared for a sudden attack from the Butterflytail Beasts, we're in a state of total lockdown, but we'd be more than happy to have you. Unfortunately, our city is too small to facilitate teleportation formations. There is naturally a way to skirt around the beast tide, but it would take far more than half a month to do so, so I suggest you all wait in the city until the beast tide passed before continuing onward."
"Regardless of how long it's going to take, I still want to know how we can skirt around the beast tide; I'll be the one to decide whether that option is suitable for us or not. Also, you have a map of this nearby area, right? Make a copy for me," the Long Family patriarch instructed.
"Yes, Senior; please forgive me for jumping to conclusions in your stead! The beast tide in the east covers a very large area, so if you want to skirt around it, you'll have to travel through the Withered Leaf Forest to the south or the grassland to the north..." The burly devilish man immediately revealed everything that he knew, and at the end, he pulled out a black crystal that he handed over to the Long Family patriarch.
The Long Family patriarch accepted the black crystal before replicating its contents into a white crystal. These crystals were similar to the jade slips of the Spirit Realm, and the Long Family patriarch had collected some prior to entering the Elder Devil Realm.
Their functions and method of usage were similar to those of normal jade slips, but devilish Qi was required to activate them.
This was naturally no issue to Han Li, who was using a devilish cultivation art, and everyone else was also able to use these crystals by drawing upon the power of their Devilfeign Beads.
In order to not arouse suspicion, all of them had prepared some commonly used items from the Elder Devil Realm for themselves.
After the Long Family patriarch replicated the map, he tossed the crystal to everyone else for them to make copies as well.
With a map of the nearby area, they were naturally able to examine the options they had for skirting around the beast tide, but after examining the map, none of the options proved to be very attractive.
Just as Han Li was pondering the situation, the Long Family patriarch's voice suddenly sounded beside his ears. "Fellow Daoist Han, it looks like we really won't be able to skirt around that Butterflytail Beast Tide; how about we wait in the nearby area for some time and continue after the beast tide is over? A delay of around half a month won't be of much consequence to us anyway. As for that Blood Crow City, I think we should stay out of it as a safety precaution."
As a late-Body Integration cultivator, Han Li was naturally the first person the Long Family patriarch turned to for discussion.
Han Li was silent for a moment before replying, "It is indeed not worth the risk to venture into the beast tide when we could just wait half a month instead, but I think we should make a trip to this Blood Crow City."
"Oh? Why is that, Brother Han?" The Long Family patriarch was rather taken aback to hear this.
"I understand that you're reluctant to enter the city as you're concerned that our covers could be blown, but Blood Crow City is only a small city that doesn't even have any teleportation formations, so it won't have any powerful restrictions, either. As such, our disguise should be safe. The main reason I'm suggesting we go to Blood Crow City is because it's very likely that we'll be staying in the Elder Devil Realm for up to several decades. During such an extended period of time, it's inevitable that we'll have to come into contact with some devilish beings. The Devilfeign Beads can indeed disguise our auras, but our severe lack of knowledge of this realm could expose us sooner or later. On top of that, aside from the Spirit Cleansing Pond and Clean Spirit Lotus, there are some spirit medicines in this realm that are very difficult to find in our Spirit Realm; don't you want to collect some of those as well, Brother Long?" Han Li replied in an unhurried manner.
The Long Family patriarch seemed to have been swayed by Han Li's suggestion, and he replied, "That does sound appealing, Brother Han. I'll discuss this with Fellow Daoist Thousand Autumns and the others before we decide how to proceed."
"Of course, I'm guessing Fairy Thousand Autumns is even more eager to enter Blood Crow City than we are," Han Li chuckled in a meaningful voice.
The Long Family patriarch faltered slightly upon hearing this before also chuckling in response. "Hehe, that's true; there are a few extremely precious materials for the Spirit Race that can only be found en masse in the Elder Devil Realm." He then turned and transmitted his voice to Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns, and judging from her reaction, she was clearly very receptive toward the Long Family patriarch's proposal.
Their conversation was very brief, and Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns didn't even discuss the matter with the other Spirit beings before giving the Long Family patriarch a very clear answer. It was clear that the Spirit beings had already made a decision among themselves.
Thus, it was decided that they were going to travel to Blood Crow City, and the Long Family patriarch informed the woman from the Ye Family and the man from the Lin Family of this decision as well.
Neither of them had any objections, and a consensus was quickly reached.
The two devilish beings could naturally see that Han Li and the others were discussing something, and they waited patiently and obediently without uttering a single word.
Half a day later, a streak of black light approached them from afar; it was Elder Hui who was returning from his scouting trip.
As soon as Elder Hui landed on the ground, the Long Family patriarch approached him with a smile, and asked, "Did you manage to verify whether there's a beast tide, Brother Hui?"
"There are indeed countless Butterflytail Beasts gathered in the east. I didn't dare to approach them and only looked on from afar for a while before returning to deliver the news," Elder Hui replied with a wry smile.
The Long Family patriarch had already anticipated this to be the case, and he asked a few more questions before he lowered his head with a contemplative expression. All of a sudden, he flicked a finger, and two streaks of golden light shot forth like lightning before vanishing into the bodies of the two defenseless devilish beings in a flash.
Never did the two of them think that this "devilish lord" would suddenly launch a surprise attack against them, and they both slumped to the ground almost as soon as the streaks of golden light entered their bodies.
Everyone else aside from Han Li was rather bewildered by this.
"Why did you do that, Brother Long? Don't we need them to take us to Blood Crow City?" Zang Xing asked.
"We already know the location of Blood Crow City, don't we? We can just get there ourselves. Besides, I didn't kill them; I merely knocked them unconscious," the Long Family patriarch replied.
Zang Xing was also a wily old fox who had lived for countless years, and an enlightened look
immediately appeared on his face. "Oh? Could it be that you're planning to..."
"Indeed. If I were to kill them, that would most likely attract the attention of that Blood Crow City Lord. There's no need for us to fear a mid-stage devilish lord, but it's naturally best if we avoid trouble as much as possible. I'm planning to unleash a soul seal technique on them to temporarily seal away their memories before releasing them. As for us, we'll just enter the city disguised as ordinary devilish beings; I'm sure the devilish beings in the city won't pay us any heed then," the Long Family patriarch explained.
"That's a good idea, but is your soul seal technique reliable, Brother Long? It would be very troublesome for us if the city lord were to see through it," the man from the Lin Family said in a concerned voice.
"Hehe, this is a secret technique passed down by an unfathomably powerful being; unless a Sacred Ancestor were to examine the two of them in person, there's no way anyone would discover anything amiss," the Long Family patriarch assured.
Everyone was naturally instilled with a lot of confidence upon hearing this.
Thus, the Long Family patriarch made a grabbing motion to draw the elderly devilish man toward him, then expelled a ball of purple light out of his mouth, which completely encompassed the devilish man's entire face.
After that, golden light flashed within his eyes as he looked into the devilish man's eyes while chanting an incantation.
Chapter 2031: Blood Crow City
Several hours later, Han Li hovered high up in the air, looking at a crimson city wall in the distance. "So this is Blood Crow City? It doesn't appear to be very big at all."
"Hehe, it's indeed not a very big city, but its walls are paved with rocks from near the Bloodlight Crystal mine, and apparently, they possess some properties that allow them to weaken magic power attacks," the Long Family patriarch said with a faint smile.
"So that means this city will also be able to resist Butterflytail Beasts to a certain extent; it looks like we made the right decision to come here," the woman from the Ye Family said with a smile.
"I examined the memories of those two devilish beings earlier, and it seems that all types of beast tides frequently appear in this area, but very rarely would they attack Blood Crow City, so the city doesn't seem to be as simple as it appears. Having said that, there are no restrictions in the city that can undo the effect of our Devilfeign Beads. Once we enter the city, we'll just have to disguise our auras to the Deity Transformation and Spatial Tempering Stages, and we should be able to avoid excessive scrutiny," the Long Family patriarch said.
Everyone else nodded in agreement to this.
Thus, the Long Family patriarch swept a sleeve through the air, and devilish Qi erupted from his body, sweeping everyone up before hurtling directly toward the crimson city wall down below.
Shortly thereafter, the devilish Qi faded, and Han Li and the others appeared in front of an inky-black city gate, where 30 to 40 green-armored devilish guards were appraising them with wary expressions.
The Long Family patriarch harrumphed coldly and released his immense Spatial Tempering Stage aura, upon which expressions of awe and veneration immediately appeared on the faces of the guards, most of whom were at the Nascent Soul Stage.
The leader of the guards was Deity Transformation Stage devilish being, and he hurriedly approached Han Li's group. After carefully asking a few questions, he immediately waved a hand, upon which the guards opened the city gate to grant Han Li and the others passage.
For a small city like theirs, a Spatial Tempering Stage being was not someone they could afford to offend, so Han Li's group was allowed passage with minimal questioning. In fact, under normal circumstances where there were no beast tides, the questioning process would've been skipped altogether.
In the instant that he entered through the city gate, blue light flashed through Han Li's eyes as he swept his gaze over a formation engraved on the city wall that was comprised of several devilish patterns. He didn't know what the other restrictions in the city were like, but this one was very ordinary and not worthy of concern.
Upon entering the city, everyone was greeted by the sight of rows of buildings of different heights, most of which were black and red in color. There were occasionally some buildings of different colors, but they were all clearly temporary structures.
There were a series of streets between the rows of buildings that were wide enough to fit three beast-drawn carriages side by side, and overall, this city was more of a larger town than a city, and it was home to 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 devilish beings at most.
There was a flight restriction in the city, ensuring that no devilish beings were flying over the city aside from the patrolling guards, and the city wasn't exactly packed to the rafters, but it was definitely very densely populated during this special time.
There were all types of devilish beings walking along the streets, including ferocious-looking ones who resembled devilish beasts, as well as some who looked identical to humans.
The streets were lined with all types of shops and some buildings that appeared to be inns.
Many devilish beings were entering and exiting these buildings in a hurried manner, and they were all quite powerful, with the majority of them at the Core Formation and Nascent Soul Stages, and the occasional Deity Transformation Stage devilish being could be seen as well.
As for Spatial Tempering Stage beings, Han Li and the others had only encountered two or three thus far, and all of them had only been at the early-Spatial Tempering Stage.
After walking for a while, they caught sight of a small mountain that was several thousand feet tall in the distance.
Around the mountain were a series of grey stone pagodas, which were being patrolled by elite armored devilish beings.
Halfway up the mountain, there was a black and red stone palace, which was presumably where the city lord, Bing Qianren, resided.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the stone palace with his eyes narrowed slightly in contemplation.
Right at this moment, the Long Family patriarch suddenly stopped at a crossroads, and said, "Let's split up here, everyone. I'm sure all of us prefer to be alone, and we'll gather here again to continue our journey once the Butterflytail Beast Tide recedes. This city isn't all that big anyway, so we'll be able to easily contact one another if something happens."
To everyone's surprise, the woman from the Ye Family was the first to express her approval as a faint smile appeared on her face. "That's a good idea. I did see some things that piqued my interest earlier, so I'll be taking my leave now."
Immediately thereafter, she extended a salute toward everyone before departing.
Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns and her companions exchanged a few glances before also taking their leave; it seemed that they were going to stick together.
"I'll be taking my leave as well, Brother Long," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a parting salute.
"Go ahead, Brother Han." The Long Family patriarch also returned his salute.
Thus, Han Li nodded before making his way toward a nearby street.
The Long Family patriarch looked on at Han Li's departing figure, and only after he had disappeared around a corner did his smile gradually fade. He then turned to the long-haired man, and asked, "Fellow Daoist Lin, are you ready to give me a response to the collaboration I proposed to you?"
The long-haired man's pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this, and he replied in a hesitant manner, "This is quite an important matter, so I'll need some more time to think about it, Brother Long."
"Indeed, this is something that requires careful consideration. We have a long journey ahead, so you'll have plenty of time to consider the offer," the Long Family patriarch replied with a smile, seemingly completely unsurprised by this response.
"You have my thanks, Brother Long," the long-haired man said as his expression eased slightly.
After that, they chatted for a while longer before the long-haired man also depart
ed.
"Brother Long, it looks like he may not accept our invitation; how about we try to recruit that woman from the Ye Family instead? After all, according to our original plan, someone from the Ye Family would actually be more suitable for our needs," Elder Hui suddenly said in a cold voice.
"That's out of the question! She's far too wary of our Long Family, and she seems to have sensed something already, so there's no way she'll agree. If we were to ask her, we'd only risk exposing our plan," the Long Family patriarch immediately replied with a shake of his head.
"But that man is clearly just placating us; I'm concerned that even if agrees, he won't truly be willing to collaborate with us," Elder Hui said with furrowed brows.
A peculiar smile appeared on the Long Family patriarch's face as he chuckled, "Hehe, once he agrees, I won't allow him to go back on his word. That's enough about this matter; this isn't the right place to be discussing something like this. Let's go to the materials shops in this city to see if there are some materials that we need."
"The materials shops in this city are indeed worth visiting. I presume everyone else is most likely visiting the materials shops in the city as well, so let's go in a different direction to avoid running into them," Elder Hui suggested.
"My thoughts exactly! Let's go," the Long Family patriarch said with a smile before departing from the crossroads.
......
Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns and the Spirit beings were slowly walking along a street while quickly communicating with one another.
Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns transmitted her voice to her companions with a concerned expression. "Zhi Shui's seal is displaying signs of coming undone; we have to find a place to renew the seal right away."
"Surely not! The last restriction was cast not long ago; how is it coming undone already?" the figure enshrouded within white light asked.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 1171