Chapter 157: The Immortal Inn

"Senior... are you alright?"

The ugly man saw Han Li holding two jade slips in a daze, staring blankly for quite a while, and couldn't help but remind him.

"How many spirit stones for these two jade slips?" Han Li recovered from his reverie and asked.

The ugly man named a price, which was not expensive, and Han Li paid the spirit stones in full.

"You just said your family has been in the business of map jade slips for generations, so you must be quite familiar with the Huanglan Continent. I have some questions to ask. If your answers satisfy me, these spirit stones will be yours." Han Li turned his hand and placed another pile of spirit stones on the counter.

"Senior, please ask your questions. This junior will tell you everything I know!" The ugly man glanced greedily at the high-grade spirit stones and thumped his chest.

"Starting from Linhai City, if one wants to cross the Huanglan Continent, are there any safe methods? For instance, teleportation arrays?" Han Li asked slowly.

"Senior seems to know very little about the Huanglan Continent. Among the continents in this region, our Huanglan Continent is remote, with most areas being desolate wilderness. Even the few cities there are sparsely populated and bleak, so few cities have teleportation arrays. A border town like Linhai City certainly doesn't have one. So if you want to go elsewhere, you have to fly directly." The ugly man scratched his head and said.

Han Li frowned upon hearing this.

"Oh, it's not that you have to fly the entire way. Linhai City indeed has no teleportation array, but once you reach the central part of the continent, it's much more prosperous than here. Some factions have set up teleportation arrays in the cities, though the fees are said to be steep." Seeing Han Li's frown, the ugly man suddenly thought of something and quickly added.

"Do you know which cities have teleportation arrays?" Han Li nodded thoughtfully and asked again.

"On the map of the Huanglan Continent I just gave you, the cities with teleportation arrays are marked. Senior might not have noticed—they are the marks that look like white whirlpools." The ugly man smiled.

Han Li was taken aback. He probed the yellow jade slip with his divine sense again and soon found that some cities in the central and eastern parts of the Huanglan Continent indeed had tiny, mosquito-sized white whirlpool patterns on them.

"I see." Han Li withdrew his divine sense and nodded.

There were quite a few such cities later on; as long as he flew to the central region of the Huanglan Continent, he wouldn't need to take risks afterward.

"Senior, do you really intend to cross the Huanglan Continent?" The ugly man asked hesitantly.

Han Li pondered for a moment and nodded.

"To be honest with you, Senior, there are many dangers along the way. If traveling alone, some natural barriers might be even harder to overcome. In my humble opinion, Senior could first check out the Immortal Inn in the city." The ugly man's expression froze, and he suggested tactfully.

"Alright, thank you for your guidance. These spirit stones are yours." Han Li nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this.

Although he knew he would soon deal with the Immortal Palace after leaving the Black Wind Sea, he hadn't expected to encounter it so soon upon arriving at the Huanglan Continent.

He had learned a bit about this so-called Immortal Inn in Black Wind City. It was said to be a place set up by the Immortal Palace in various cities, where one could accept tasks issued by the Immortal Palace or post tasks of one's own.

The other party's meaning was clear: they thought crossing the entire continent at the Body Integration stage was too risky, and it would be safer to find a task heading in the same direction and travel with a team.

With his current cultivation, crossing the continent was not impossible, but he was unfamiliar with the area, and all his various magical treasures were missing, so playing it safe was the better choice.

As these thoughts turned in his mind, he nodded slightly to the ugly man and turned to leave.

There were no flight restrictions in Linhai City. Han Li flew along the main street for a while until a golden building appeared ahead.

The building was built on a low hill, gleaming with golden light as if made of pure gold. The most peculiar feature was the huge golden dragon relief carved on the roof, roaring skyward, exuding an imposing and majestic aura.

At first glance, the entire golden building resembled a mortal-world imperial palace, and the passing mortals looked at it with a hint of heartfelt reverence.

Above the golden palace gate were two ancient seal-script characters: "Immortal Inn."

After standing at the entrance for a moment, Han Li stepped through the door.

The first thing that caught his eye was a very spacious hall, at least a thousand zhang in size, crowded with cultivators in various attires. At first glance, most were mid-to-low-level cultivators below the Deity Transformation stage, with almost no cultivators above the Void Refinement stage.

On the left side of the hall was a large shop displaying various pills, magical treasures, and other spiritual materials. At first glance, the pills and treasures here seemed slightly better than those in the city's shops, attracting many passing cultivators.

On the right side of the hall, a long stone table stood at the entrance, apparently a shop specializing in acquisitions. Many cultivators were queuing there, selling various materials.

The hall and these shops were managed by cultivators in golden robes, also embroidered with golden dragon patterns. The highest cultivation among them was a Void Refinement cultivator sitting deep in the hall with his eyes closed, meditating.

The entire hall looked like a small city, much livelier compared to the desolate streets outside.

In the center of the hall stood a huge green jade wall, with faint golden light flowing over it. Lines of small text appeared and disappeared alternately, seemingly describing various tasks and rewards.

Many cultivators gathered around the jade wall, watching the tasks. Some in groups occasionally whispered to each other, as if judging whether the tasks were worth accepting.

Han Li glanced at the shops on both sides, then ignored them. He walked directly to the jade wall in the center of the hall, stood among the crowd, and looked up.

There were numerous tasks on the wall, constantly appearing and disappearing, each with different content.

However, the tasks at the very top of the wall were displayed in small golden characters and did not disappear. The other tasks, which alternately appeared and vanished, were described in small white characters.

Han Li listened to the discussions of the people around him for a while and understood.

The golden characters displayed tasks issued by the Immortal Palace, while the smaller white characters below were those issued by ordinary cultivators.

Understanding this, he calmed down and let his gaze wander over the tasks one by one.

There were indeed tasks for recruiting companions for travel, and quite a few at that; some were purely for recruiting companions to travel together, while others were escort missions to other cities.

These tasks had varying requirements for cultivation level, but generally, those covering long distances required cultivators at the Deity Transformation stage or even the Void Refinement stage and above. However, this was normal; aside from a few areas, the Barren Continent was fraught with dangers, and there were even stretches of uninhabited treacherous wilderness spanning hundreds of thousands of li between cities. If one's cultivation was insufficient, attempting to cross them would be suicide.

When he came out of the ugly man's shop, he had already decided on his next destination: a city called Mingqiu, located near the center of the Barren Continent.

It was the closest city to Linhai and also had a teleportation array.

Han Li's gaze swept around, and he quickly locked onto three targets.

One was simply recruiting cultivators to travel together, one was escorting a merchant caravan, and the other was also an escort mission, but escorting a certain individual.

"I want to accept task number two hundred and fifty-two," he said to a middle-aged man in golden robes sitting near the stone wall.

That was the escort mission for the merchant caravan; the other two tasks had departure dates that were still far off, and only this one would set out in three days.

"Show me your Immortal Token," the middle-aged man in golden robes said without looking up, flipping his hand to produce a jade slip in the shape of a book.

"Immortal Token?" Han Li was taken aback, then immediately understood; it should be something like an identity token used to accept tasks.

"What, haven't you obtained an Immortal Token yet? See that room? Go get one there," the golden-robed man frowned but still pointed to a cyan door deep in the hall.

Han Li thanked him and walked over.

His current appearance was a disguise, and he hoped it wouldn't be seen through.

He was currently wanted by the Ten Directions Tower and absolutely did not want to leave his true appearance in an organization like the Immortal Palace, which spanned the entire Northern Frost Immortal Domain.

Han Li walked to the cyan door, took a light breath, and knocked.

The door creaked open automatically, revealing a small room where a golden-robed old man sat, a cultivator at the Body Integration stage.

Seeing this, Han Li felt relieved; with the other's cultivation and divine sense, the possibility of discovering his disguised appearance should be extremely low.

"Fellow Daoist, you must be here to obtain an immortal token. Come over here." The golden-robed elder beckoned to Han Li.

Han Li cupped his hands in salute and walked over.

"State your name and place of origin." The elder deftly produced a book and a large silver brush from his sleeve, asking.

"Liu Shi, from the Black Wind Sea Region."

The elder nodded, made a few strokes with the silver brush on the jade book, then produced a golden token and shook it slightly.

A beam of golden light shot out from it, enveloping Han Li's body.

Han Li's heart tightened, but he kept his expression calm.

The golden light flashed and vanished, and an image of Han Li at that moment appeared on the token.

The elder moved the silver brush over the token a couple of times; the token glowed golden briefly, then dimmed.

"It's done. This immortal token is your identity credential for accepting tasks and collecting rewards at immortal inns in various places. Be sure to keep it safe." The golden-robed elder tossed the golden token to Han Li, instructing him.

Han Li reached out and caught it, looking somewhat startled.

That golden light just now didn't seem to have any investigative function; it merely recorded his image. The identity verification and token creation were far too lax.

Or could it be that the mask of the Wuchang Alliance had the peculiar effect of fooling the Immortal Palace's identity check?

"We in the Immortal Palace have no desire to know too much about the information of you fellow Daoists, nor do we wish to distinguish truth from falsehood," the old man in gold robes suddenly said with a wink and a hint of deeper meaning.

Han Li raised an eyebrow, nodded to the old man in gold robes, turned around, and walked out.

Looking at the bustling crowd before him, he gained some insight.

It was probably precisely because the immortal token was issued so casually that so many people had gathered here.

With the immortal token, Han Li quickly accepted a task.

As the middle-aged man in gold robes pointed his hand and a golden light flashed, a message appeared on Han Li's immortal token, instructing him to go to an inn in the city.

He was presumably to meet the person who had issued the task.

Han Li did not linger in the immortal inn; he directly strode out, spread his divine sense to discern the direction and location, then transformed into a streak of cyan light and shot into the distance.