Han Li could naturally only proclaim that those were never his thoughts.
The rest of the process was quite simple. The armored warriors departed at Qian Jizi's behest to gather more of their comrades to this place, temporarily placing the area in a radius of several kilometers into a state of lockdown. As for this inn, it was naturally also isolated as the epicenter of the incident.
Thus, a completely oblivious and stunned Xiang Zhili was summoned to the room, and Han Li could only appraise the situation with a resigned smile.
After that, Han Li and the elderly man departed from the inn while the Vast Glacial Badge remained there with countless armored warriors guarding the place.
Bai Yue and Cang Ying didn't remain in this place for much longer before taking their leave.
However, Han Li and the elderly man didn't travel through the city via flight. Instead, there was a carriage being drawn by a pair of giant golden lion spirit beasts waiting on the side of the street beside the inn.
The elderly man invited Han Li onto the carriage, and the giant lions rose up several feet above the ground before charging along at an incredible speed.
Qian Jizi didn't have any intention to engage in an in-depth conversation with Han Li inside the carriage. He merely made some small talk before closing his eyes to meditate.
Han Li's expression remained unchanged, but countless thoughts were racing through his mind as he considered just why he was being taken.
The elderly man had assured him that he was only trying to repay Han Li for saving Jia Tianmu, but he certainly wasn't going to allow himself to be convinced by that.
Even if he had saved Jia Tianmu, the favor had already been repaid by the sentient puppet that had been given to him.
However, it appeared that they required his assistance to enter this so-called Vast Glacial Realm, seeing as his blood essence had activated the Vast Glacial Badge.
In that case, he could perhaps use that as leverage to see if he could be granted access to use the super teleportation formation.
Thus, he was still useful to the Heavenly Cloud Races, so they definitely wouldn't plot against him right away. With that in mind, he was feeling a lot more reassured.
The beast-drawn carriage that he was currently riding in was significantly faster than the other carriages he'd ridden in before, and it didn't take long for the carriage to reach the Eight Cloud Mountains.
Han Li cast his gaze out the window at the eight massive mountains in the distance, and a peculiar look flashed through his eyes. Was this Qian Jizi taking him back to his cave abode?
A short while later, just as the beast-drawn carriage was approaching one of the eight mountains, it suddenly changed directions and skirted around the mountain, flying toward the area behind it instead.
Han Li was a little surprised by this, but after the beast-drawn carriage traveled around the mountain, he discovered that there was a small fortress that was several kilometers in size beyond the mountain.
The fortress wasn't very large, but there were seven or eight layers of city walls around it. Each successive layer of the city walls was taller than the previous one as they approached the fortress, and just the outermost wall was already over 1,000 feet tall, while the innermost wall appeared to be close to 10,000 feet in height.
From a distance, it appeared to be a fortress, but it was probably more accurate to call it a giant tower.
Through the use of his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, Han Li could clearly see that there were silvery-white statues situated atop the city walls as intervals of just over 1,000 feet.
These statues all differed in appearance with some being carved to resemble beasts while others were more humanoid in shape. The largest of these statues were over 1,000 feet tall, and even the smallest were 700 to 800 feet tall. All of them were completely stationary, but there was an indescribable menacing aura emanating from their bodies.
There were also rows of azure-armored guards wielding long halberds standing atop the city walls. All of them were patrolling the walls in a uniform manner, yet none of them were actually living creatures; they were all humanoid puppets.
There was a tall pillar situated on each of the four corners of the fortress, and these pillars were respectively, yellow, blue, red, and green in color. All of them were quite translucent, and they reached all the way up into the clouds. There were countless large runes flashing over their surfaces, giving them an extremely mysterious and eye-catching appearance.
Just as Han Li was taking in the scenes before his eyes with a hint of awe in his heart, the beast-drawn carriage flew into the air above the fortress, then descended before a strange green hall that was situated at the center of the fortress.
After disembarking from the carriage, Han Li glanced up at the hall to find a plaque that was several tens of feet long hanging from it. The words "Sentient Hall" were inscribed on the plaque in large golden letters, and Han Li immediately thought of his own sentient puppet.
Could it be that this hall was somehow related to sentient puppets or was this just a pure coincidence?
Just as these thoughts were running through Han Li's mind, Qian Jizi chuckled, "Please come in, Fellow Daoist. This is an important place to our Myriad Ancient Race, and very rarely will we ever invite outsiders into it."
"Thank you for giving me this honor, Senior," Han Li replied with a respectful bow.
In the face of this immensely powerful being, Han Li didn't dare to show any disrespect as nothing could come from a show of dissent.
A hint of a smile appeared on Qian Jizi's face, and he waved a hand before walking on ahead.
There was a white-robed guard standing on either side of the palace gates, and he remained completely expressionless as the elderly man strode toward the gates, as if he couldn't even see anything.
Han Li was rather perplexed by this, and he took an extra glance at the guard, following which his expression abruptly changed slightly.
"Looks like you've figured it out, Fellow Daoist Han; those two guards are a pair of sentient puppets, both of which are ninth-tier upper race beings, and they can guard this palace day and night. Aside from a few special people who can take people into the palace, they'd everyone else who approached the palace without any hesitation," the elderly man explained without even turning his head.
Han Li drew a sharp breath as he turned to the two white-robed puppets with a hint of awe in his eyes.
These two puppets were equivalent in power to beings at the pinnacle of the Spatial Tempering Stage. If a normal cultivator were to have these two puppets in accompaniment, they'd essentially be invincible below the Body Integration Stage. It was a massive waste to be using such puppets to guard a hall like this!
Han Li clicked his tongue with wonder internally as he glanced at the two expressionlessly puppets one final time.
At this point, Qian Jizi had already made his way into the hall, so he could only follow him in through the gate.
The exterior of this Sentient Hall appeared to be quite out of the ordinary, but the interior was actually quite simple. Aside from the main hall, there were only two side halls, one on the left, and one on the right.
Within the main hall, there were no other eye-catching features aside form several dozens of thick metal pillars.
Qian Jizi strode directly over to the two rows of chairs situated at the center of the hall before sitting down in the main seat.
"Take a seat, Fellow Daoist Han. The Vast Glacial Badge is quite an important item, so I've already invited the other two elders of our race to gather here. The three of us are responsible for making all of the decisions in the Myriad Ancient Race here in Cloud City," Qian Jizi said with a smile.
"I see. Looks like this Vast Glacial Badge is far more significant an item than I'd expected," Han Li replied with a nod.
He hadn't seen Qian Jizi do anything out of the ordinary on the way here, but he'd somehow already notified the other two elders. This only further accentuated the gap between Spatial Tempering Stage and Body Integration Stage beings.
"You're not from the Thunder Continent, are you, Fellow Daoist?" Qian Jizi suddenly asked.
Han Li's heart stirred upon hearing this, but he then immediately relaxed as he nodded, and truthfully replied, "Indeed, I come from another continent. Has Fellow Daoist Jia already disclosed my intention to use the super teleportation formation to you, Senior?"
"Master Jia did indeed mention this to me, and on top of that, there's no way that you wouldn't recognize the Vast Glacial Badge and activate it without a second thought if you were from the Thunder Continent," Qian Jizi chuckled.
"Is the Vast Glacial Badge supposed to be extremely renowned? I haven't seen any records of it anywhere; would you be able to enlighten me, Senior?" Han Li asked with a wry smile.
He didn't blame Jia Tianmu in the slightest for informing Qian Jizi of his intention to use the super teleportation formation. Instead, he would've found it quite strange if he hadn't done so.
"It's no surprise that there are no records of the Vast Glacial Badge. It's quite a renowned object on our Thunder Continent, but it can't be used by any single being. Without the power of an entire race acting as support, even if one were to obtain the Vast Glacial Badge, it would be impossible for them to enter the Vast Glacial Realm. However, many beings of the upper race have heard about this badge," the elderly man explained with a smile.
"Using the badge requires the power of an entire race? This Vast Glacial Realm must be quite an extraordinary place," Han Li mused as he stroked his chin.
"It's not just extraordinary; some of the things that can be obtained from the Vast Glacial Realm could even determine the fate of an entire race. Of course, such monumental treasures are exceedingly rare, even in the Vast Glacial Realm. The main aspects about the realm that make it very attractive are that the richness of the world's origin Qi there is over 10 times that of our Spirit Realm, and there are also many spirit medicines and spirit fruits there that ware extremely difficult to find in the Spirit Realm," the elderly man explained with a smile.
"How can there be a place with such rich spiritual Qi?" An incredulous look appeared on Han Li's face upon hearing this.
"Hehe, what kind of place do you think this Vast Glacial Realm is, Fellow Daoist? A spatial rift or a small subsidiary realm to the Spirit Realm?" Qian Jizi chuckled as he stroked his beard.
"Please enlighten me, Senior," Han Li replied in a respectful voice.
The elderly man's smile faded, and he paused for a moment before continuing, "This has not been completely confirmed, but we are almost entirely sure that the Vast Glacial Realm is a damaged subsidiary space to the True Immortal Realm."
"A subsidiary space to the True Immortal Realm!" Even with Han Li's steadfast nature, he couldn't help but be stunned by this revelation.
"Indeed. It should be a now-defunct space in the True Immortal Realm. Those who have entered this space in the past have found cave abodes and even remains that are suspected to have once belonged to immortals. However, no one has ever seen a living immortal in there," Qian Jizi confirmed with a nod.
Han Li was left speechless as he sat on his chair with a blank expression on his face.
"There's no need to be so shocked, Fellow Daoist. At present, this is only mere speculation, among the cave abodes, remains, and treasures discovered within the Vast Glacial Realm, we've yet to discover anything that's actually useful, so it's not like anyone can just go in and come back out with extraordinary treasures that defy the natural order. Even the spirit medicines and spirit fruits I mentioned are mostly hidden in obscure locations that require extensive efforts to find," the elderly man said with a smile.
