Chapter 537: Departure

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye, and soon the day of the ferry's departure arrived.

Han Li left the Misty Smoke Garden early in the morning, turned Gold Boy into a golden ring that he fastened on his finger, and headed straight for the West City Gate.

In Primordial Wasteland City, the twice-yearly ferry departure ceremony was a fairly notable event, so besides the cultivators boarding the ship, a considerable crowd of onlookers had gathered at the city gate.

By the time Han Li arrived, he saw that at the entrance of the black hall inside the city wall, several hundred cultivators in various attire and builds had already assembled, forming a long line, each holding a black spirit talisman serving as a ticket, waiting for verification.

After joining the queue, Han Li briefly surveyed the people around him and found that only a minority were True Immortals, while the vast majority were Great Vehicle cultivators.

He was not surprised by this, as past history had long proven that the survival rate for cultivators below the Great Vehicle stage entering the desolate wilds was extremely low, even in areas already explored. But even for Great Vehicle cultivators active in these regions, the chance of falling was not small.

Yet even so, the reason they were still willing to take the risk was naturally to seek opportunities and overcome the ascension tribulation that loomed over their path of cultivation.

Although the line was long, there was little conversation among the crowd. Even those who had come together deliberately lowered their voices or simply communicated via telepathy, so the atmosphere before the hall was rather solemn.

After about half a quarter of an hour, the morning sun finally rose above the city wall, casting its first rays at the base of the wall. A heavy bell toll then rang out from atop the wall.

"Dong..."

As the bell sounded, an old man in a black robe walked out from the entrance of the black hall, shouted "Enter the hall and board the ship," and began checking the tickets of these people, allowing them into the hall.

The cultivators ahead filed in one by one, and soon it was Han Li's turn.

After handing over the black spirit talisman, the old man in black turned his palm over, took out a white jade token, and pressed it against the talisman.

A dark light enveloped the white jade token, and the black spirit talisman seemed to ignite, turning into a wisp of black smoke that seeped into the white jade token.

Immediately after, the characters "First-Class Cabin, Room Thirteen" appeared on the token.

After taking the token, Han Li touched it with his palm and found that there were many grain-sized characters on the back.

He walked into the hall while turning the token over to examine it.

At the very top of the token's back were engraved the two characters "Prohibitions," and below that were recorded all the actions prohibited for boarding cultivators.

The first item was: "On the ferry, for any reason, fighting is forbidden. Violators will die."

Following closely, the second item was: "On the ferry, for any reason, leaving the ship's body is forbidden. Violators will die."

All the prohibited actions amounted to a total of seventeen items, generally covering clauses such as not leaving the ferry without permission and not damaging the ship's hull. The consequence for violators was mostly one word: "death."

Once inside the hall, Han Li saw that behind the hall, against the city wall, there was a stone staircase slanting upward, leading to the top of the wall. Many people were climbing the stairs.

He followed the crowd up and arrived atop the majestic city wall.

The entire wall was even thicker than it appeared from below, with a horse path wide enough for a hundred people to walk side by side.

All the huge black stone blocks used to build the wall were covered with mottled traces of time.

Han Li looked out and saw, on the battlements facing the desolate wilds, dozens of huge yellow tower ships, each over a hundred zhang high, bulging in the middle and tapering at both ends, spindle-shaped overall.

Their surfaces had few decorations, only being entirely wrapped in a special metal material, densely engraved with strange runes, giving a rather primitive and rugged feel.

Almost all of these ferries bore various scars on their surfaces—some light, just large abrasions; others severe, with not only the metal cladding torn but also exposed keels showing conspicuous cracks.

On and around these ships, black-robed cultivators holding circular formation plates were using special techniques to repair the ferries.

As Han Li looked along, he saw that the most common injuries on these ships were long, narrow tears and large conical holes, seemingly all caused by one or two types of desolate wild beasts.

While he was pondering, a purple figure caught up and walked beside him.

"These wounds are the work of sandthorn snakes and man-faced scorpions. One has a tail sharp as a blade, the other pincers like awls. They are the two most common demon beasts in the sand sea. Their attack power is average, but they are numerous and easy to encounter," the newcomer volunteered.

"Fellow Daoist Shi, you've arrived too." Han Li frowned slightly and spoke.

The newcomer was none other than the demon clan man Han Li had seen in the arena, Shi Chuankong.

"Indeed, for this ferry, I've been waiting in Yuanhuang City for over three months, almost bored to death," Shi Chuankong said casually, without any formality.

"With so many arenas for gambling fights in the city, Brother Shi doesn't seem like someone who would be bored," Han Li said with a smile.

"Hehe, a little gambling is just for fun, just for fun... Eh? Where's that young lady in red?" Shi Chuankong showed a hint of embarrassment and deliberately changed the subject.

Before Han Li could answer, a black whirlwind howled onto a beacon tower on the north side of the city wall, from which emerged a middle-aged man with a gold-patterned black robe and a short black beard on his chin.

A gold token hung at his waist, inscribed with the words "Yuanhuang City," revealing his identity as someone from the city lord's mansion.

"This is the escort envoy sent by the city lord's mansion, responsible for order on the ship and handling emergencies. In the past, it was occasionally staffed by several late-stage True Immortals, but since the accident eight years ago, it has been exclusively staffed by Golden Immortals," Shi Chuankong said, looking at the man on the beacon tower.

Han Li knew that the accident he mentioned was likely the disastrous event with heavy casualties that the woman in palace attire had spoken of.

"Let's go, time to board..."

Shi Chuankong turned around, deliberately or not glancing at the gold ring on Han Li's hand, and said with a smile.

As soon as he finished speaking, the escort envoy, a Golden Immortal at the early stage, flickered and flew down to a ferry not far away. Shortly after, a cultivator who looked like a steward appeared at the bow, urging everyone to board quickly.

Under his repeated urging, all the cultivators boarding the ship got on the ferry.

After everyone was on board, the steward reiterated the rules of the ferry, nothing more than what was recorded on the white jade token, nothing new.

After the steward finished and announced "set sail," most of the cultivators dispersed, returning to their own cabins.

"It's always the same old talk, boring, makes my ears grow calluses. Brother Li must be boarding for the first time, right? The scenery of the sand sea is quite nice; you can enjoy it. I've seen it too many times and am already sick of it, so I won't keep you company," Shi Chuankong said, cupping his hands to Han Li.

"Please go ahead," Han Li returned a slight bow.

Shi Chuankong was taken aback, then laughed: "Hehe, we're acquaintances, why be so formal? How about calling me Brother Shi?"

Han Li just smiled and said nothing.

Shi Chuankong made an indifferent expression, waved his hand, and swaggered back into the cabin.

Han Li didn't linger on his retreating figure but turned his gaze elsewhere, pondering about this fellow who seemed deliberately trying to get close to him.

After all, they had known each other for too short a time, and he couldn't see anything unusual yet, but he still felt it would be better to keep his distance from this person.

As he was thinking, Han Li suddenly felt a tremor under his feet; the ferry was slowly rising into the air, leaving the battlements of the city wall.

After swaying out of the city wall's range, the ship didn't continue hovering but slowly descended, flying out of the cliff area and down toward the vast sand sea below.

Just as the hull was about to land on the endless yellow sand, the runes carved around the ship's sides all lit up.

Then, a pale yellow halo suddenly expanded from a certain position in the center of the cabin, forming a huge yellow light screen that enveloped the entire ferry.

At the same time, a strange, primeval aura emanated from the ship.

"No wonder it can avoid most primeval beasts—it uses the beast core of some powerful native primeval beast as the center of a protective formation, disguising itself as a creature of the primeval realm..." Han Li muttered to himself in realization upon sensing that aura.

Just then, the bottom of the ferry seemed to finally touch the bottom of the sand sea. After bobbing slightly for a moment, it steadily hovered above the sand.

Han Li went to the side of the ship and looked down, seeing that the metal wrapping the hull seemed to have a special magnetic property that repelled the sand sea, keeping the ship suspended without tipping over.

Before he could finish marveling, the ship's hull suddenly shone brightly, and like a vessel riding the wind and waves, it sped across the sand sea.

Han Li slowly withdrew his gaze and looked into the distance outside the ship. The vast yellow sand was utterly still, with no movement or sound, appearing lifeless.

The jade token explicitly forbade cultivators from releasing their divine sense to probe the sand sea, lest they disturb certain primeval beasts with extremely sensitive perception, a point the steward had repeatedly emphasized.

Han Li didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble, so he naturally refrained from doing so.

The journey to the primeval continent would take at least half a year. After watching the desert sand sea for about an hour, the monotonous and silent scene became somewhat boring, so he turned and went back to the cabin, heading to his own quarters.