Chapter 1417: Spiritseal Tower
The Tian Peng youth Hua Yu waited for Han Li to take in the huge city and said, "Sir, please follow me!"
Han Li nodded and unfolded the wings on his back. Then he followed the youth to the closest pillar.
On the way, the youth took the initiative to explain, "My lord should be careful not to stray far from the heavenly pillars. The gaps in the city barrier only span a hundred fifty kilometers around the pillars. The city's Tian Peng restrictions are famous among the seventy-two races of the Flying Spirit Tribe. With these restrictions alone, we can withstand enemies that outnumber us several-fold. Since ancient times, the city restrictions have allowed us to escape extermination time and again."
The youth spoke with a tone of pride.
Although Han Li didn't examine the city's restrictions, the fearsome spiritual pressure of the barrier made him feel the youth's words were true.
After a blue light flashed wildly from Han Li's eyes, he began to notice a few remarkable areas.
Deep in the glaring white light above them, he could faintly see floating silver and azure threads of light.
They appeared exceptionally thin, but most of the fearsome spiritual power the barrier was emitting seemed to be coming from these threads.
Han Li took several deep looks at them before following the youth past the side of a huge pillar.
A short moment later, the two appeared inside the huge city.
At a glance, the various buildings in the city greatly differed from human buildings.
The city buildings were all in the shape of cylinders with conical roofs. Their heights all varied with the tallest of them reaching over three hundred meters in height while small ones were only ten meters tall. However, the reach of the buildings had several semicircle arced doors and windows.
What particularly surprised Han Li was that nearly half of the buildings were constructed out of mountain cliffs. There were even caves built out of steep mountain walls that resembled a beehive.
The youth respectfully said, "Sir, the honored guest lodges are spread throughout various areas of the city. Would you like to stay at the closest one? It should be empty."
"It makes no difference. Let's do as you say," Han Li answered indifferently.
"Yes," the youth uttered a word of acknowledgment and led Han Li at a low altitude, allowing him to take on the many sights in the city. They also brushed past many winged men and women.
Two hours later, they arrived at a large group of buildings and landed on a platform nearby.
The platform was connected to a circular three-story building.
When the two dropped down, two young women with white wings rushed out and saluted them.
"So it was Big Brother Hua Yu. Will this lord be staying at the honored guest lodge?"
When Hua Yu recognized the maid, he solemnly said, "Bai Cui, this is Lord Han. He is an honored guest of Spirit Feng Xiao. Attend to him properly."
A trace of astonishment appeared on her dainty face and she respectfully answered, "A guest of Spirit Feng Xiao? I will definitely treat this lord well!"
Han Li took a glance at the young woman and noticed that her weak aura was Qi Condensation-grade. He simply nodded and walked into the building.
The young woman lowered her head and closely followed after him.
Hua Yu didn't dare to enter and simply waited outside for the time being.
A moment later, Han Li's voice sounded from inside, "This place is to my lacking. You may leave."
The youth felt some relief and uttered a word of farewell before flying off.
On the third floor of the building, Han Li was standing behind a semicircle window and narrowed his eyes as he watched the youth slowly depart. The maid named Bai Cui was standing ten meters behind him in a helpless manner.
Without turning his head, Han Li uttered, "How many people are there in the holy city?"
After a pause of surprise, the woman hastily answered, "The holy city is extremely large. Although there haven't been detailed accounts, there are at least forty million people."
"Forty million? That few?" Han Li uttered with a tone of doubt.
The woman hastily explained, "Only those that can cultivate to the point they can take spirit form can enter the city. The clansmen that have lesser cultivation and can't transform don't have the qualifications to enter. Although we are one of the weaker branches of the Flying Spirit Tribe, we still total over a billion in number."
"So it was like that!" Han Li said with a tone of realization.
She stole a glance at Han Li and hesitated for a moment before asking, "My lord, is this your first time in the holy city?"
"Are there many honored guests like me that have entered the holy city for the first time?" Han Li indifferently asked.
The woman carefully explained, "My lord must be joking. Very few people check into the honored guest lodge in the first place, and If they aren't outer tribesmen that checked in for the first time, they are outer tribesmen that have come to the holy city on business."
"There is nothing to be surprised about. This is my first time returning to the clan. I've always cultivated overseas," Han Li calmly said. He then asked, "Are there any maps of the holy city on sale? If there is, tell me where and I'll buy one."
The maid respectfully said, "There is no need for my lord to head outside and buy a map. There is a particular map that is prepared for the honored guests that reside in the lodge. Its detail is far beyond what is sold."
Han Li felt surprised, but he promptly commanded, "Oh? That is very good. Go ahead and give me one."
"Yes, my lord." The maid took two steps back and swiftly wend downstairs.
Han Li stood in his original place by the window and began to ponder about his plans moving forward.
He wanted to infiltrate the Tian Peng Race so that he could acquire the rare materials that the Flying Spirit Tribe had. As for their treasures and tools, Han Li hadn't given them much thought. Although he only saw a battle involving the Flying Spirit Tribe, they didn't seem to rely on treasures and tools too much in combat. It was unknown if they were skilled in tool refinement, or if the high-grade existences in the Flying Spirit Tribe didn't draw assistance on common tools. The grand treasures like the Devil Trapping Net and the Fire Dragon Pearl only seemed to have an auxiliary nature. However, these still didn't catch much of his interest. So long as he could acquire some useful materials, the trip here would've been worth it.
As for the quarrel between the Tian Peng and the other branches of the Flying Spirit Tribe, he had no interest in involving himself.
While Han Li mulled over these thoughts, the maid returned to the third floor with an emerald-green bamboo tube that was only several inches long. Despite its size, a luster glinted from its surface.
Feeling somewhat shocked, Han Li promptly reached out to the tube that was offered to him.
In a gust of wind, a green streak shot out and arrived in his hand.
Afterwards, he waved his arm at her and she promptly descended after a swift salute.
Alone, Han Li fiddled with the bamboo tube in his hand with great interest. He then sank his spiritual sense into it and saw a huge man clearly etched on the interior of the tube.
The tube was mostly similar to a jade slip, but it was still quite peculiar to produce something similar to a jade slip with refined bamboo. It appeared the Flying Spirit Tribe wasn't lacking in tool refinement and had their own uniqueness.
In any case, Han Li's spiritual sense quickly focused on the tube's interior and concentrated on the image of the map.
In the time it took to finish a meal, he let out a sigh and withdrew his spiritual sense from the tube entirely before wearing a pensive expression.
The holy city was a bit smaller than he expected. It was comparable to a human city that housed a hundred million people. In any case, the city was still astonishingly large. It would take most of a day to fly from one end of the city to another.
Han Li wasn't very interested in buildings apart from the largest trading hall in the city.
The hall was constructed on a huge mountain at the side of the city. The mountain was where people traded items. It was about the same as a human or demon market.
Apart from this building, Han Li was also curious in a place called the Spirit Transmit Hall. It was where the Tian Peng Hall specialized in supplying a few high-grade cultivation arts to their clansmen.
The map also marked a few forbidden areas. Han Li took note of them and had no interest in pursuing them further.
He then closed his eyes and committed various parts of the map to memory. After going through the information once more, he unfolded his wings and wrapped himself in azure light. He then silently flew out the window directly towards the large trade hall.
The Tian Peng Race wasn't in a stable situation.
He was unwilling to stay in this place for more than half a month. It'd be best if he gathered the materials he needed and left as soon as he could to save himself from being involved in anything troublesome.
However, Han Li didn't wish to attract too much attention, so he flew at a slower speed that matched other Tian Peng beings in the city.
Because the trading hall was located at the edge of the city, Han Li only traveled halfway in a quarter hour. At that moment, he spotted a huge tower not far from his front.
It was over two kilometers tall and it wasn't a commonly seen cylinder. It appeared to be in the shape of an octagon with each side appearing flat and smooth apart from a few particular talisman designs on each side.
These designs emitted a faint black Qi that gained Han Li and familiar feeling. The top of the tower had several three-meter-tall crystals that emitted seven-colored light that covered the tower.
The black Qi was trapped in the rainbow light barrier, preventing it from escaping.
Han Li stroked his chin in surprise.
If he remembered correctly, the tower should be a forbidden area in the city. It was the so-called Spiritseal Tower and was given no description.
There wasn't a single Tian Peng being that dared to fly three hundred meters within range of the tower.