Chapter 158: Departure

Linhai City, White Cloud Inn.

This was a large inn with nothing special about it, like most inns in the city, serving both mortals and cultivators.

Of course, the majority of cultivators who rented such inns were not of high cultivation, and for safety's sake, often appeared as mortals. This was actually an unwritten rule, for if one knew that the neighbor next door was an 'immortal' capable of flying through the sky and summoning wind and rain, they would likely be too frightened to sleep at night.

Today, the White Cloud Inn was somewhat bustling, because the entire inn had been booked by someone several days ago, and the original innkeeper and staff had been temporarily sent away. Now, from top to bottom, everyone in the inn was extremely busy.

From the front hall to the back courtyard, large chests were placed everywhere, filled with all kinds of goods.

Outside the courtyard, horse-drawn carts were parked, the most common type of transport vehicle in the Huanglan Continent, also loaded with various goods.

A somewhat portly middle-aged man was constantly moving about, supervising his subordinates as they organized the goods, carrying them from the animal carts onto a white flying boat parked in the courtyard.

Amidst the bustle, the portly middle-aged man occasionally revealed a smile.

As the person in charge of this region for the Chengquan Chamber of Commerce, one of the three major chambers of commerce in the Northern Cold Immortal Domain, he had acquired several rare spiritual materials unique to the nearby area over the past century. Due to the dangers of this continent, as long as they could be safely transported to Mingqiu City in the central part of the continent, the profits would immediately multiply several times.

The only slight drawback was that among these goods, a large batch of spiritual materials required extremely high freshness and had to be kept alive, so they could not be stored in storage artifacts and had to be transported using this flying boat.

Now, his only concern was the safety of the journey.

He had traveled across this continent more than once and knew the risks along the way were considerable. Recently, the chamber of commerce had encountered many incidents across the continent, and even a Nascent Soul stage guest elder had fallen, making him even more cautious.

He was only a Deity Transformation stage cultivator. Although the chamber of commerce had many guest elders, only two of them were at the Body Integration stage. After much deliberation, he decided to spend a large sum of money through the city's immortal inn to recruit two Body Integration stage cultivators to accompany him.

At that moment, a beam of green light descended from the sky and landed at the inn's entrance, revealing a dark-skinned, bearded man—Han Li in disguise.

The portly middle-aged man noticed the commotion outside and turned to look at Han Li.

He slightly sensed Han Li's aura, his round eyes immediately widening. A bright smile spread across his face as he quickly walked out and cupped his hands in greeting: "Hehe, may I ask how this senior is called? Have you accepted my escort mission?"

"I am Liu Shi. Are you Fellow Daoist Kou?" Han Li looked at the portly man and said indifferently.

"Yes, that's me."

The portly man nodded and eagerly invited Han Li into the inn, ordering a subordinate to serve a cup of spiritual tea.

"Although it's a bit presumptuous... may I first take a look at senior's immortal token?" the man said hesitantly after sitting down across from Han Li.

Han Li said nothing, flipped his hand, and produced the immortal token, handing it over.

The man surnamed Kou checked and confirmed it was correct, his smile growing a few degrees warmer. He said, "I've troubled you, Senior. We depart in two days. Senior Liu can rest in the inn's superior room for now."

Han Li nodded and did not decline.

The man surnamed Kou then ordered someone to lead Han Li to a superior room on the second floor of the inn.

He set up a formation in the room, then sat cross-legged on the bed, flipped his hand, and took out several thick tomes.

These were books introducing the Huanglan Continent that he had just bought in the city. He slowly began to leaf through them.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

Late at night, a white flying boat hovered silently in midair above the inn. All the cargo had already been loaded inside.

On the front and rear decks of the flying boat stood over a dozen cultivators each, and Han Li was among them.

Most of these people were from the merchant guild run by the man surnamed Kou. Apart from two Body Integration cultivators, the rest were not highly cultivated.

Han Li stood at one side of the deck, sweeping his gaze to the other side, his eyes flickering slightly.

On the other side of the deck, near the bow, a graceful woman in a red dress leaned against the railing.

Based on his observation, this woman was none other than the female cultivator who had been teleported together with him from the Black Wind Sea. However, she now wore a red veil covering her face.

Unlike before, when he could not discern her cultivation, the aura she now emitted was clearly that of the early Body Integration stage.

But because he had altered his appearance, she did not seem to have noticed that he was also someone teleported from Black Wind Island.

"Two Seniors, and everyone else, I entrust this journey to you all," the man surnamed Kou said, his heart growing more uneasy as departure approached. He clasped his fists in salute.

Han Li and the others nodded slightly.

The man surnamed Kou glanced toward Han Li and the woman in red, feeling somewhat reassured. He waved his hand, and immediately countless white spiritual patterns appeared on the hull of the flying boat. With a brilliant flash of light, it spewed out a mass of white mist, completely enveloping the entire flying boat.

From the outside, the flying boat looked like a white cloud floating in midair, very inconspicuous.

With a "whoosh," the white cloud shot into the sky, taking advantage of the hazy night to fly off into the distance at considerable speed.

"Regarding the itinerary for this journey, I have arranged it as follows: the two Seniors and the two honored guests of our guild will be divided into two groups. One group will guard the flying boat, while the other rests, rotating every half month. What do you all think?" the man surnamed Kou said.

"We'll follow your arrangement," Han Li said with a nod. The woman in red silently nodded as well.

The other two, being honored guests of the guild, naturally had no objections.

"Good. For the first half month, let the two seniors rest. We'll have to trouble you two to work hard first." The man surnamed Kou nodded to the other two cultivators at the Combined Apex stage.

Without another word, the two sat down cross-legged on the left and right at the front of the flying boat.

Han Li and the woman in the red dress, under the arrangements of the man surnamed Kou, each took a room on the boat.

The room was not small, complete with a living room, a bedroom, and a small secret chamber.

Han Li had no particular requirements for this. He waved his arm, and dozens of streaks of green light shot out, landing in various places in the room, forming a green light barrier.

After doing this, he came to the secret chamber and sat down cross-legged.

It would still be half a month before his turn on duty, and he couldn't waste this time.

He pondered for a moment, then suddenly beckoned with one hand.

A lump of black heavy water flew out from the True Water Pouch at his waist and suspended before him.

Han Li's expression turned solemn. He formed hand seals with both hands, and streaks of silver lightning emerged from his palms, sinking into the heavy water.

The black heavy water, as if stimulated, suddenly expanded, constantly changing shape as if about to burst, but it was forcibly restrained by the green light emitted from his hands.

His ten fingers moved swiftly like playing a zither, and streams of spell seals shot out.

The silver lightning in the heavy water immediately became docile, transforming into strands of silver lightning threads. Watery light also flew out from the heavy water, and the violently churning black heavy water gradually calmed down, the two beginning to merge...

After an unknown amount of time, the lump of heavy water in Han Li's hand had vanished, replaced by a black sphere the size of a fist, its surface flickering with silver lightning patterns—it was a Heavy Water Lightning Sphere.

Han Li let out a light breath. He was now quite skilled in refining Heavy Water Lightning Spheres. He toyed with it for a moment, then turned his hand and put it away.

Then, with a single hand gesture, a lump of heavy water flew out and landed in his hand.

Silver lightning emerged in his hand and merged with the heavy water...

Although the power of this Heavy Water Lightning Sphere was not yet great, if enough were accumulated, it would still be a formidable force.

The dangers ahead were unknown, and he had to prepare for the worst.

Unnoticed, a month passed, and a round of duty watches had gone by. During this time, everything was calm.

In the secret chamber, Han Li's face showed signs of fatigue, but his eyes were full of joy.

Through this period of accumulation, he had refined part of his heavy water into Heavy Water Lightning Spheres, amounting to seven or eight of them.

One lightning sphere had little power, but if enough were combined, it would be an immensely powerful force. If detonated simultaneously, it would likely be impossible even for a late-stage True Immortal to escape unscathed.

With this thought, he put the black sphere in his hand into his storage bracelet, then turned his hand and took out a medicinal pill, swallowing it. After a long while, he opened his eyes, and the fatigue on his face had completely vanished.

Then, he turned his hand and took out a black formation plate, which was the Star Shift Mother-Child Plate.

A month ago, he had just transmitted a crystal grain over, and today was the day for the Earthly Spirit Incarnation to send heavy water.

He waved his hand and sent out a spell seal. The Star Shift Mother-Child Plate immediately emitted a large amount of black light, buzzing and vibrating.

Han Li pointed again with his finger, and the formation plate spun continuously, the black light it emitted growing even stronger.

"Eh..." His expression changed slightly.

Although the formation plate was shining with black light, the center was empty, and no heavy water appeared as usual.

Could something have gone wrong with the Earthly Spirit Incarnation?

Han Li stood up abruptly.

At that moment, black light swirled in the center of the formation plate, and a small lump of heavy water slowly emerged.

Seeing this, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, sat down cross-legged again, and waved his hand to put away the small lump of heavy water.

This time, black light swirled on the black formation plate, and it took a full moment before another small lump of heavy water appeared.

Han Li's expression, which had just relaxed, turned serious again. His gaze fell on the Star Shift Mother-Child Plate as he pondered.

Judging by this situation, it didn't seem to be a problem with the Earthly Spirit Incarnation, but rather with the Star Shift Mother-Child Plate itself. For some reason, transmitting heavy water had become much more difficult than before.

Thinking this, he carefully examined the black formation plate in his hand but found no problems.

In the center of the formation plate were embedded eight bluish-black spirit stones. These were called Star Shift Stones, containing spatial power, and were the source of power for the operation of transmission formation plates like the Star Shift Mother-Child Plate.

The eight Star Shift Stones flickered with faint bluish-black light, and their internal energy was not insufficient. The Star Shift Mother-Child Plate on the Earthly Spirit Incarnation's side should also be fine.

Why was this happening?

Han Li frowned in deep thought.

But before long, he suddenly looked up, thinking of a possibility that could cause this anomaly—distance.

At this moment, he had taken a teleportation array to leave the Black Wind Sea, arrived at the Barren Continent, and continued eastward. He was now an unknown distance from the Earthly Spirit Incarnation. Could it be that the Star Shift Mother-Child Plate had a distance limit when transmitting items?