Han Li was only at the early-Deity Transformation Stage, and he had been feigning weakness this entire time, so his words naturally came as quite a surprise to everyone.
Even the perpetually expressionless purple-robed man turned to Han Li with a hint of surprise on his face.
A cold light flashed through the eyes of the man with the sharp eyebrows.
"You're a brave one! It's been several hundred years since I've met someone who dared to talk to me like this despite having an inferior cultivation base. In that case, we won't have to hold back in the battle for the Spirit Land in three days," the man said in a menacing voice.
"I'll be sure to take everything you throw at me when the time comes. I'll be taking my leave now." In response, Han Li gave a nonchalant reply before extended a slight bow toward the purple-robed man and departing from the second floor.
The man with the sharp brows looked on at Han Li's departing figure with a dark expression.
…
Not long after that, the fatso and the man with sharp brows appeared in the air high above the Heavenly Jade Pavilion, and the two of them were discussing something through voice transmission.
"Brother Xian, what use do you have for that Spirit Land that you're fighting for? You couldn't disclose this information in there, but you can tell me now, right?" the fatso asked with a benevolent smile.
"I spoke the truth earlier; it is indeed to cultivate a type of secret technique that necessitates a switch of cave abodes. Otherwise, why would I go out of my way to find someplace with such sparse spiritual Qi?" the man with sharp brows replied with a faint sigh.
The fatso chuckled with a disbelieving expression.
The man with sharp brows was quite resigned to see this, and he put on an expression that said "I can't do anything if you don't believe me".
"So be it. Regardless of what objective you have, there must be some circumstances involved that make you unwilling to disclose your goals. Are you really planning not to hold back in the battle against that Han brat?" The fatso suddenly changed the subject.
"Why do you ask? Could it be that you have some ties with him, Fellow Daoist Jin?" The man with sharp brows was rather displeased to hear this question.
"How could I share any ties with him? I just wanted to tell you that he's a cultivator who's only recently ascended to Deep Heaven City," the fatso cautioned.
"A recently ascended cultivator? So what? A new cultivator will ascend to our Deep Heaven City once every two or three years. Do you think I'll lose to an early-Deity Transformation cultivator, Brother Jin? I was wondering why this man dared to be so arrogant; he must've dominated whatever lower realm he came from, and he's taken that cocky demeanor all the way here to the Spirit Realm." The man with sharp brows gave a cold chuckle in response.
"Haha, this man's cultivation base is naturally not noteworthy at all. With your powers, even I wouldn't dare to say that I can defeat you. No matter how powerful an early-Deity Transformation cultivator is, there's no way that he'd be a match for you. However, the ascended cultivators in the city always like to look after one another, so just teach him a lesson and don't actually kill him. Otherwise, even with Senior Ming as a backer, things could become quite troublesome for you if those guys become aware that you killed one of them," the fatso cautioned in a meaningful and heartfelt manner.
"This man has been far too arrogant, so I'll naturally be teaching him a good lesson. As for whether I'll actually be taking his life, we'll see when the battle comes." A cold light flashed through the man's eyes.
"Alright, in that case, I have nothing else to say. In three days, I also have to go and fight those four guys. I don't even know if I'm going to be able to win my own battle." A concerned look appeared on the fatso's face.
"You're being far too modest if you say that, Brother Jin. I heard that Brother Jin recently obtained a primordial treasure that possesses incredible abilities, and it's no less powerful than a spirit treasure." A peculiar smile appeared on the man's face.
The fatso's expression changed upon hearing this before he quickly recomposed himself.
"I didn't think that you’d heard about that already, Brother Weng. Indeed, I did obtain a rather powerful treasure recently, but to say that it's as powerful as a spirit treasure is a bold exaggeration. It simply has some protective properties." The fatso waved his hands in response.
"Oh really?" A hint of a smile appeared on the man's face.
After that, the two of them conversed for a while longer, each of them harboring their own ulterior motives, before the fatso departed as a streak of red light.
The man with the Weng surname looked on with a dark expression and harrumphed coldly.
"Hmph, he's trying to anger me and make me strike up a vendetta against those ascended cultivators. What a devious plan!"
"That man knows a lot about you and is already beginning to suspect you, so you should be more careful from now on. He's not anything to worry about, but his grandfather is someone whom even I'd rather not face." Another man's voice suddenly sounded above him.
Spiritual light then flashed there, and a green jade-like wyrm that was around a foot in length appeared.
The man immediately extended a respectful bow toward the green wyrm as he said, "Don't worry, Master. As soon as I obtain the Spirit Land, I'll completely seal it off immediately. Unless that fatso knows anything concrete, he won't be able to do anything."
"I trust that you'll do a good job. This is quite an important matter and if it weren't for the fact that I'm at a critical juncture in refining my spirit treasure, I definitely wouldn't just be deploying an avatar here. I hope you won't disappoint me." The wyrm nodded in response.
"I'll be sure not to disappoint you, Master," the man vowed before a hesitant look appeared on his face.
"But Master, are we sure that the information we have is accurate? The spiritual Qi there really is quite sparse; it doesn't appear possible that that man would've passed away there."
"Of course we're not completely sure, but with that person's identity, we have to give it a try even if there's only the slightest sliver of a chance. If it's true, then we'll be able to obtain that person's treasures and cultivation arts. In that case, not only would I not have to worry about my upcoming tribulation transcendence, it's quite possible that you'll be able to reach the Spatial Tempering Stage as well. Hence, defeat is not an option for you in three days. If the opponent does indeed prove to be quite troublesome, then there's no need for you to hold back; just kill him on the spot. The aftermath may be a little troublesome, but it's nothing compared to that person's treasures and cultivation arts." The wyrm's voice suddenly cooled significantly.
The man's heart jolted upon hearing this, but he immediately replied, "I understand, Master."
"All ascended cultivators have different tricks up their sleeves, so make sure you don't get complacent. Even though this man is only at the early-Deity Transformation Stage, I'll lend you my Thousand Soul Bell just in case. You'll have three days to refine it, and that should be enough for you to temporarily use the treasure. With that treasure, your victory will be assured." The wyrm opened its mouth after a brief period of contemplation, following which a ball of Yin Qi was expelled from within its body. A black bell that was around an inch in size was enshrouded within the Yin Qi, and there were countless runes visible on the surface of the bell.
The man was ecstatic to hear this, and he hurriedly extended words of gratitude toward the wyrm. He then rustled his sleeve, and a burst of blue light shot forth to accept the bell.
After that, the wyrm gave him a few more instructions before disappearing up his other sleeve.
Only then did the man turn around and fly toward another direction as a streak of blue light.
Han Li was naturally oblivious toward these exchanges, and nor could he have imagined that someone really did intend to kill him.
After departing from the Heavenly Jade Pavilion, he didn't immediately return to the Flying Spirit Palace. Instead, he flew for over half a day according to the annotations on the map, finally settling in the air before looking down at the city in the distance with his brows furrowed in contemplation.
Come to think of it, it was more accurate to call this place the State of Tian Yuan rather than Deep Heaven City. The area governed by this city was comparable to a small state in the human world.
However, the Deep Heaven City wasn't actually all that vast in a strict sense; it was only several tens of thousands of square kilometers in area, and had been sealed off by massive city gates. The city itself was trapezoid in shape with city gates on the front and rear, while the thick mist from massive immortal formations obscured the remaining two sides. Even True Spirit level beings wouldn't be able to barge their way through the mist. The wall that facing the primordial world was the narrowest one at less than 100 kilometers in length, yet the watchtowers that had runes carved into them stretched for several tens of thousands of feet into the sky, striking the onlooker with a sense of awe and fear.
Outside this massive wall, there was a large number of human and demons patrols guarding this area day and night, and all types of restriction formations were also constantly activated.
Within the city wall, there was an army of over 1,000,000 humans and demons that was permanently situated in the city.
Such meticulous defensive measures ensured that Deep Heaven City had never been successfully invaded by foreign races ever since the day of its founding.
In comparison, the city wall on the other side was nowhere near as imposing and well-guarded. However, it stretched for over 500 kilometers, and there were many humans and demons who would access it to enter and exit the three regions and seven territories. Most of these beings were planning to go on adventures in the primordial world while the rest were coming to buy and sell things in Deep Heaven City. As such, the city was an extremely lively and bustling place.
After exiting the boundaries of Deep Heaven City, there was a vast stretch of mountain ranges and the occasional small mortal settlement. However, there was definitely no second cultivator city.
On one hand, these mortal settlements provided some essential supplies for Deep Heaven City and on the other hand, they provided a constant supply of low-grade cultivators and body refinement warriors. Of course, in the areas that had been assigned to the demon race, there were also countless beasts and low-grade demon beasts, thereby providing replenishments to the demons in the city.
The humans and demons were forced to join forces and guard Deep Heaven City together here in this Spirit Realm, but the inevitable truth was that the two races did not see eye to eye. As such, in order to prevent interracial conflict, the entire city was split in half using a massive light barrier, with each race governing one half of the city.
As for the area outside the city, there was also an unnamed no-man's-land acting as the border while each race governed half of that land.
The only place where humans and demons could coexist was the elder tower at the center of the city.
Not only was this tower several times thicker than other massive towers, it was also where the most powerful beings in the city were gathered. Among them, there were a dozen or so Body Integration Stage elders from both races who made decisions on important matters.
As such, this tower appeared extremely mysterious in the eyes of the city's residents.
