Han Li took the ring and without hesitation slipped it onto one of his fingers.
The old man smiled faintly at the sight.
“Alright, you may enter the city. You’ll have a few hours of free movement during the day, but for the rest of the time, the entire city will be under strict martial law. When the war begins, the ring will naturally transmit a message summoning you. Just wait in your cave residence.” After saying this, the old man slowly closed his eyes and said nothing more.
Han Li took a deep look at the old man before heading straight into the city.
Inside the city gates, the streets of Heavenly Star City were nearly empty, with only an occasional cultivator or two flying overhead. Most mortals had taken refuge in their homes, leaving the city looking desolate.
Han Li’s expression remained calm, but inwardly he felt a wave of relief. Given the situation, it was almost certain that the city’s marketplaces were closed. If he hadn’t prepared the necessary items in advance on Nanming Island, he would surely be facing a major headache now.
He let out a soft chuckle and transformed into a streak of azure light, soaring into the sky and heading straight for his cave residence on Sacred Mountain.
As he passed by the marketplace at the foot of Sacred Mountain, Han Li couldn’t help but glance down. Sure enough, all the shops were closed, with not a soul in sight. He shook his head slightly and, without lingering, flew up to the thirty-ninth level of Sacred Mountain.
The moment he entered the Sacred Mountain area, Han Li keenly sensed that the security here was even tighter than in the outer city. At least a dozen hidden spiritual senses scrutinized him, but fortunately, as soon as they detected the yellow ring on his finger, they withdrew without anyone appearing to question him.
What made Han Li frown, however, was that one of those spiritual senses belonged to a Core Formation late-stage cultivator.
Pretending not to notice, Han Li flew straight to his cave residence. The restrictions outside were exactly as he had left them, unchanged in any way.
Yet, after standing outside the restrictions for a while, Han Li let out a long sigh. Although his time away hadn’t been particularly long, he had faced life-and-death situations multiple times and was even forced to abandon this cave residence he had called home for nearly a century. The thought filled him with a tinge of melancholy.
Using his restriction token, he silently deactivated the defenses and slowly stepped inside. Everything inside remained exactly as he had left it.
Han Li first headed to the insect room, his primary concern. Seeing that all the Gold Devouring Beetles were safe and sound, he finally felt truly at ease. Without delay, he gathered all the beetles into a spirit beast pouch he had prepared earlier. He then made his way to the medicine garden, harvesting all the spiritual herbs and storing them in his storage pouch.
With these tasks completed, Han Li breathed a temporary sigh of relief and walked slowly to his bedroom. Lying down on the bed, he began to carefully ponder his plans for the future.
To use the teleportation array to the Outer Star Seas, he had to kill a cultivator of equivalent rank from the Inverse Star Coalition. This condition wasn’t particularly difficult for him. However, Han Li worried that before the war even began, the Star Palace might learn that the Void Heaven Cauldron could be in his possession. After all, he had no way of predicting when those old monsters would emerge from the Void Heaven Hall. If they leaked this information, he would undoubtedly be facing certain death.
Besides this, he had another concern. Although unlikely, he feared that even if he met the condition, the higher-ups of the Star Palace might play some trick, leaving him unable to use the teleportation array despite his efforts.
After all, if the higher-ups went back on their word, what could cultivators like him possibly do about it?
Thus, although he had calmly agreed to the Star Palace’s conditions at the city gate, from the very beginning, he had no intention of obediently waiting for their summons.
He planned to scout the security around the teleportation array to see if he could slip through unnoticed. If the defenses were indeed lax, he would naturally seize the opportunity to escape.
As for whether this would thoroughly offend the colossal Star Palace—well, since he was bound to attract the attention of those Nascent Soul old monsters sooner or later, it seemed he had little left to lose.
Comforting himself with these thoughts, Han Li drifted into a deep sleep on the bed. After all the twists and turns, both his body and mind were utterly exhausted.
The next day, Han Li woke up refreshed and full of energy.
The sky was bright, and he slowly stepped out of his cave residence, flying into the air to survey his surroundings. Although the number of cultivators was still far fewer than usual, it was a world of difference compared to when he had entered the city the previous day. It seemed this was the time period when free movement was permitted.
Without hesitation, Han Li took to the skies, first circling the area to ensure no one was watching or paying attention to him. Once satisfied, he headed straight for the fiftieth level.
The security along the way appeared relaxed on the surface but was tight underneath. It didn’t take long for Han Li to reach the air above the Star Palace, where the teleportation array was located. Without stopping, he pretended to be merely passing by, swiftly flying over the hall. In that brief moment, however, Han Li’s spiritual sense stealthily probed the interior of the hall.
At first, it went smoothly, penetrating most areas of the outer hall without any hindrance. But as his spiritual sense approached the inner hall, it suddenly encountered a barrier of cyan and yellow restrictions. Fortunately, Han Li reacted quickly, withdrawing his spiritual sense before it could trigger the restrictions.
Simultaneously, his expression darkened. Although he estimated that these restrictions wouldn’t be able to fully block his spiritual sense if he forced his way through, doing so would undoubtedly alert the cultivators inside. Han Li wasn’t foolish enough to make such a mistake.
High in the air, he furrowed his brows.
Due to the restrictions, he couldn’t determine the number or cultivation levels of the cultivators stationed inside. However, it was unlikely that any Nascent Soul cultivators would be present. At most, there might be a few Core Formation mid or late-stage cultivators. After all, compared to other critical locations, the Star Palace wasn’t likely to pay excessive attention to this teleportation hall.
After flying a sufficient distance away, Han Li made a wide arc, slightly altering his original route before circling back.
As he passed by the side of the Star Palace this time, he reluctantly released his spiritual sense once more, hoping to find some flaw in the hall’s restrictions. While he didn’t detect any weaknesses in the barriers, a coarse voice suddenly reached his ears.
“Fellow Daoist Zhang, how did it go? What did the guy guarding the teleportation array say? Is three thousand spirit stones per person still not enough? This is the maximum we can offer.”
Hearing this, Han Li was initially startled, but then an idea sparked in his mind. His gaze swiftly turned to two cultivators flying at low altitude in the distance, and he immediately slowed his flight.
The two cultivators were a middle-aged man with a dark face and gray robes, and a sallow, emaciated man. Both were at the mid Foundation Establishment stage. The words he had just heard were spoken by the dark-faced man, who seemed anxious as he questioned the thinner man.
The two were being cautious, whispering in a secluded area with no one else around. However, under the cover of Han Li’s powerful spiritual sense, every word reached him clearly.
“Shh! Be careful. Let’s discuss this through voice transmission,” the thinner man said nervously, glancing around. Han Li, however, had already swiftly concealed himself and entered a state of suppressed aura, making it impossible for the man to detect him. At the same time, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense from other areas and focused it entirely on these two, preparing to forcibly eavesdrop on their voice transmission.
This was only possible because Han Li’s spiritual sense far surpassed theirs. Otherwise, even other Core Formation cultivators would need to rely on rare top-tier secret techniques to intercept a voice transmission.
“Although he’s a distant relative of mine, letting someone slip through to the Outer Star Seas still carries significant risk. He said unless it’s five thousand spirit stones per person, there’s no chance. And this is only because we’re Foundation Establishment cultivators, insignificant to the Star Palace. If it were a Core Formation cultivator, no amount of spirit stones would make him let even half a person through,” the thinner man transmitted with a bitter smile, his tone helpless.
“Five thousand? He really thinks we’re fat sheep ready for slaughter! We’re just rogue Foundation Establishment cultivators—where are we supposed to get that many spirit stones?” the dark-faced man retorted angrily, though he at least had the sense to use voice transmission.
“But staying in the Inner Seas is too dangerous. We rogue cultivators could be dragged into this great calamity at any moment. If we lose our lives, what use are spirit stones? We’ve already deduced that the Star Palace and the Inverse Star Coalition are evenly matched. This war could drag on for years, even decades. I don’t want to spend my days hiding in constant fear. As for the spirit stones, we all have some rare materials tucked away, right? We could barely scrape together enough to offer him in lieu of spirit stones. He’d still give me that much face,” the thinner man sighed, trying to persuade him.
“No way! Just to teleport to the Outer Star Seas, we’d have to bankrupt ourselves? I refuse to agree to this,” the dark-faced man shook his head stubbornly, like a miser clinging to his wealth.
“Fine, let’s see what the others decide,” the thinner man replied, sounding equally troubled and unwilling.
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