Chapter 180: Sensing

There were over two hundred people who disembarked alongside Han Li at this spot, most of whom were humans, with some appearing to be foreign races. Among these humans, there were also a few mortals.

In truth, these people were not ordinary mortals; rather, like the body cultivators of the Spirit Realm, they followed a path of tempering the physique to enhance martial power.

The crowd followed the mountain path from the ferry inward, passing through the tall gate of the pass, and entered a very spacious hall.

The hall was quite empty, with almost no furnishings. Only in one corner was a three-foot-long purple sandalwood table placed, upon which sat an incense burner emitting curling smoke.

Through the thin smoke, Han Li saw a purple-robed elder with snow-white hair and beard reclining in a taishi chair behind the table. His eyes were half-closed, and his head swayed slightly, making it impossible to tell whether he was meditating or dozing off.

Judging by his cultivation aura, he was a Mahayana-stage cultivator.

Just as Han Li's gaze was about to shift away, the elder suddenly opened his eyes and looked sharply at him.

At the same time, an aged voice suddenly sounded in Han Li's mind:

"Esteemed senior, you possess True Immortal realm cultivation yet intentionally suppress it to the Combined Stage level. I will not ask why. But since you have set foot on the territory of our Candle Dragon Sect, you must abide by its rules."

"I would be glad to hear them," Han Li replied via voice transmission, looking at the elder.

He did not find the other's outwardly polite but warning words inappropriate, but he was somewhat puzzled as to how the other, with only Mahayana-stage divine sense, could see through his cultivation.

"Our Candle Dragon Sect has the magnanimity to accommodate external cultivators; rest assured on that point. But you must remember: as a True Immortal, you must not interfere in worldly disputes, disrupt the order of mortals, or kill mortals indiscriminately," the purple-robed elder transmitted.

"Thank you for the advice. It should be so," Han Li replied directly.

"Then I wish you all the best, senior." Upon hearing this, the elder's tone became somewhat more polite.

Han Li nodded slightly in acknowledgment, then turned and walked out with the others through the hall door on the opposite side.

Outside the hall was a vast white square, where many strange beast-drawn carriages were parked—some capable of running through mountains, others of flying through the sky, mainly provided for mortal body cultivators.

On the distant mountain ridges, a layer of white frost covered them like a jade belt, reflecting dazzling light in the morning sun.

After entering the Ancient Cloud Continent, Han Li clearly noticed that the temperature here was much lower than in places like the Barren Flood Continent, and the climate was colder and more humid.

He paused briefly, gazed into the distance, then flipped his wrist to produce a jade slip and immersed his divine sense into it.

Inside the jade slip was the tracking map he had obtained from the Everlasting Union. The terrain shown in the map was still only partial, but it was much more detailed than when he had checked it in the Black Wind Sea.

Another notable difference was that the map now displayed a very conspicuous red line, starting from Eagle's Sorrow Ferry, where Han Li was, and leading directly to a place called "White Kite City" in the northeast.

According to the map, White Kite City was located within a country called Baiyou, at a considerable distance from here.

To be safe, he planned to travel at a speed befitting his current Combined Stage cultivation, which would take about ten more days.

Unlike the Barren Flood Continent, the Ancient Cloud Continent far surpassed it in both the density of spiritual energy in the air and the distribution of spiritual veins. Thus, there were many more major sects here, and the dangers along the way were naturally much fewer.

After determining the direction, Han Li put away the jade slip, and with a flash of遁光, he transformed into a streak of light and shot into the sky.

After flying for about seven or eight days, while passing over a snow-covered dense forest, Han Li's expression suddenly changed. He immediately halted in midair, his face shifting between light and shadow.

Just then, a faint disturbance arose deep in his soul, and he actually sensed the presence of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and Crab Daoist.

However, both sensations were very weak, and if his soul were not strong enough, he would not have noticed them at all.

After a moment's deliberation, he swept his gaze around and then flew straight down toward a hidden snow valley.

Landing in the valley, Han Li moved swiftly, leaping like a mountain monkey through the silent valley, finally stopping on a large, flat rock deep within.

He casually waved his sleeve, clearing all the snow from the rock, then sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began to rapidly form hand seals while silently reciting an incantation.

In his sea of consciousness, waves surged. A faint soul connection, like a thin silk thread, wound and swam through the void, following the weak link to seek the traces of the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and Crab Daoist.

However, just as his mental connection began to grow clearer, the soul thread swimming in the void suddenly snapped, and even the faintest soul sense was completely cut off, as if someone had deliberately isolated it with a spell.

He frowned slightly, changed his hand seals, and focused his divine sense to try to recover the connection.

But after a moment, he helplessly opened his eyes, spread his hands, and sighed to himself, "It seems finding you won't be so easy..."

After this incident, Han Li felt somewhat disheartened. He sat quietly in the secluded valley for a while longer, organizing his thoughts, then flew up again and sped toward White Kite City.

Three days later.

Outside a white city standing at the confluence of two rivers on a plain, a cyan figure's遁光 converged, and he descended from the sky.

He was tall, with a protruding forehead and a ring of curly beard on his face, giving him a rough appearance, but his eyes were very bright, which seemed somewhat incongruous.

This person was naturally Han Li in disguise.

Before entering the city, he had changed his appearance again using the Everlasting Union mask. This time, he completely suppressed his aura, appearing as an ordinary mortal, and swaggered on foot into White Kite City.

There was no snow near White Kite City, but the temperature was similarly cold. There were not many pedestrians at the city gate, most wearing thick cotton clothes.

On both sides of the gate, a team of guards was stationed, mostly Foundation Establishment cultivators. They did not conduct much inspection of passersby, seemingly only responsible for maintaining order.

At first, Han Li found this strange, but he soon understood.

White Kite City was just a remote small town in Baiyou Country, where most of the inhabitants were ordinary mortals, so its management was likely more secular.

After entering the city, Han Li checked the map in the jade slip again.

This time, the markings were even clearer and more detailed, directly guiding him to a tavern in the eastern part of the city.

Following the city's roads, Han Li twisted and turned until he saw the tavern's banner and sign in a not-so-bustling alley.

At the tavern entrance, Han Li smelled a strong odor of grain liquor brewed by mortals. Perhaps because it had been so long, it seemed somewhat different from his memory.

He remembered that when he was a child, Uncle Old Zhang would bring some homemade liquor whenever he visited, and at the table with simple farm fare, he would always drink some with Han Li's father.

Han Li was young then and had never drunk it; every time he smelled it, he found it a bit pungent.

Thinking of this, Han Li was momentarily distracted, then shook his head with a self-deprecating smile, stepped over the threshold, and entered the tavern.

At this time, according to secular habits, it was past lunch but not yet dinner. Coupled with the alley's remoteness, most tables in the shop were empty. Only two loafers sat at a table by the wall, eating salted peanuts and drinking small cups of liquor, smacking their lips.

A waiter with a towel over his shoulder saw Han Li enter and quickly put on a familiar smile, coming forward to greet him.

But before he could speak, his shoulder was grabbed, and he was pulled aside.

"This is an old acquaintance. I'll take care of him; you go about your business," said a portly middle-aged man who stepped out from behind him, his face full of smiles.

"Old acquaintance? I don't recall..."

The waiter watched the fat shopkeeper lead Han Li upstairs, scratched his head, muttered a few complaints to himself, then stretched and leaned against a stool to slack off.

Without a word, Han Li followed the fat shopkeeper up the creaking wooden stairs to the innermost private room at the end of the corridor.

Upon entering, the fat shopkeeper stepped aside to let Han Li into the room, then turned and closed the door.

Then, he waved his hand in the air, and a faint layer of light lit up on the room's inner walls, sealing off the sounds inside.

"Fellow Daoist, please sit."

After doing this, the fat shopkeeper made a gesture of invitation, and the smile on his face gradually faded.

Han Li sat down and glanced around, noticing that the isolation array was not very sophisticated. For a cultivator of his level, if they wished to investigate, they could see clearly from ten miles away.

However, this place was remote and not easily noticed, making it the best concealment.

"Fellow Daoist, you should have a token with you, right? May I see it for verification?" the fat shopkeeper said directly, sitting opposite Han Li.

Han Li said nothing, flipped his wrist, and produced the jade slip recording the mission and tracking map, placing it on the table in front of him and sliding it toward the shopkeeper.

The latter took it, closed his eyes to inspect it, then nodded and said,

"The token is fine. It seems you are indeed a fellow Daoist from the Everlasting Union."