Chapter 723: Peeping

As Hu San muttered incantations and tapped the crystal ball several times with his finger, a layer of multicolored crystalline light suddenly bloomed on the surface of the ball. With a swirl, it enveloped Han Li and the others.

After the crystalline light flickered slightly, the figures of Han Li and the others disappeared from the spot, and even their auras were completely concealed.

“Fellow Daoist Hu San, is this an illusion technique?” Han Li asked in confusion.

“You could say that. This crystalline light cannot touch the perception restrictions, or it will immediately reveal our traces. We don’t have much time; let’s move quickly.” Hu San nodded and urged.

With that, under the cover of the crystalline light, they swaggered over to the base of the black city wall.

Throughout the process, they indeed did not attract any attention from the surroundings. Those slave guards stood there stiffly, without even a flicker in their eyes.

Seeing this, Han Li felt slightly relieved.

“Is this place about right?” Hu San asked.

“Wait a moment, I need to set something up.”

As Shi Chuankong spoke, he began to take out array plates and ink-gathering demon stones one after another, arranging them on the ground.

“You can set up a formation with these things? I originally thought you bought them for that demon core,” Han Li said, slightly startled.

“Setting up a spatial formation depends on the convenience of the terrain. It’s better to use local materials. Besides, with Fellow Daoist Mo Guang here, I can teach him the activation method,” Shi Chuankong said with a smile.

With that, he continued to focus on his arrangement.

Han Li observed closely and found that the formation Shi Chuankong was setting up was very complex, somewhat similar to a teleportation formation but with clear differences. Even with his insight, he couldn’t discern much of its workings.

“Brother Shi, are you done yet? My Shadow Illusion Crystal can’t hold out much longer…” After a while, Hu San urged anxiously.

“Done. Everyone, step into the formation.” Shi Chuankong embedded the last array plate into the formation, wiped his forehead, and straightened up.

Hearing this, Han Li and the others immediately moved into the formation, a small circle just enough to accommodate the five of them.

“Activating it isn’t difficult. In a moment, try to restrain your auras as much as possible. I’ll conceal the fluctuations of the city wall formation,” Mo Guang said after listening to Shi Chuankong’s instructions on activating the formation, nodding.

Then, he raised a finger, and from its tip, rolling baleful qi flowed out, swirling like wisps of black smoke, enveloping all five of them.

Immediately after, a chanting sound came from Mo Guang's mouth, and rings of spatial ripples emerged from the formation beneath their feet, but were firmly blocked by the surrounding black wall of baleful qi, with not a trace leaking out.

"Go." A soft shout rang out, and Hu San's phantom crystal light burst at the same time.

The figures of the few people in the formation twisted simultaneously and vanished.

On the city wall, a You slave's eyelids twitched, and he sensed something, looking down at the base of the wall, where a whirlwind seemed to have stirred up a patch of gray-brown dust on the ground.

He quickly released his divine sense to sweep over the area, but found nothing unusual.

The restriction formation on the city wall also showed no fluctuations. He shook his head, his indifferent face expressionless, and returned to his original state.

On the other side, on a small path paved with bluish-gray bricks, the figures of Han Li and the others materialized, then flickered and dashed silently toward the city.

Perhaps due to the ongoing Three Realms Alliance, the Baizang District seemed even more desolate. The buildings in the city were generally low, with only some tall towers resembling fortresses standing high, each guarded by armored You slaves.

In some streets and alleys of the city, teams of patrolling You slaves could be seen shuttling back and forth, and occasionally the leaders were comparable to True Immortal cultivators.

"The security in this Baizang District is clearly tighter; we need to be more careful," Shi Chuankong said, glancing around.

"I observed just now that the situation in the Baizang District differs considerably from the map. Many watchtowers are not marked," Mo Guang said in a deep voice.

"That's not surprising. This map is likely a version from before the citywide martial law. Any later changes to the city wouldn't be shown. As long as the road layout in the Baizang District is correct, it's fine," Han Li shook his head and said.

"The roads are fine. There are three routes to the border with the Luosheng District: two lead to the city gates, and one leads to a corner tower in the northwest," Mo Guang said after a moment of thought.

"Then let's check the corner tower first. The city gate is probably like before, guarded by a Da Luo cultivator," Han Li said thoughtfully.

The others naturally had no objections.

After deciding, they avoided the watchtowers and patrolling You slaves in the city, carefully moving through the Baizang District.

As they advanced deeper into the Baizang District, the number of patrolling You slaves did not decrease but increased, and the number of watchtowers also grew, with armored You slaves keeping a close watch at all times.

The Baizang District was practically a sentry every five steps and a post every ten.

Even though Han Li and the other four were all highly cultivated, under such circumstances, they had to be extremely vigilant and advance with caution.

In the blink of an eye, over half an hour had passed, and the five finally reached the central area of the Hundred Depths District, ducking behind a tall building to rest briefly.

Han Li swept his gaze around and raised an eyebrow slightly.

He could clearly sense a sudden biting coldness in the air, with a thin layer of frost faintly forming on the ground and walls nearby.

Ordinary buildings were no longer visible here; on both sides of the road stood pitch-black, towering fortress-like structures connected to one another, forming a continuous cluster of fortresses.

Several giant chimneys rose from the fortress cluster, from which thick gray smoke billowed out from time to time, making the place look like some kind of large workshop.

The area around this fortress cluster was especially heavily guarded, with streaks of flying light passing through the air from time to time, patrolling all movements below.

"There are so many guards here—this building cluster must be no simple matter. Perhaps it hides some secret of the Netherworld Tribe," Hu San said, his eyes glinting as he looked at the fortress cluster ahead, communicating with the other four via voice transmission.

"Whatever is in there has nothing to do with us. Finding the Cleansing Pool is the top priority. Hu San, this is not like usual—don't stir up any trouble," Shi Chuankong warned immediately, his expression tense.

"I know, don't worry," Hu San said with a faint smile.

Shi Chuankong was still uneasy, keeping a close eye on Hu San as if afraid he might cause trouble.

Han Li glanced at the two, then turned his gaze toward the black fortresses. With a thought, he quietly extended a strand of divine sense to penetrate inside.

The moment his divine sense touched the fortress wall, it was immediately and unceremoniously repelled by an invisible force.

A flicker of surprise crossed Han Li's eyes, and he quickly withdrew his divine sense, not attempting to probe further.

"Kid, want to know what's in there?" At that moment, Shi Qinghou's voice sounded again in Han Li's mind.

"Looks like you know?" Han Li's brow twitched as he transmitted his voice.

"The walls are inscribed with the Netherworld Great Hidden Profound Barrier. Though it's a secret technique of the Netherworld Tribe, it's not hard to break. I'll teach you the method—see for yourself," Shi Qinghou said without answering Han Li's question, speaking as if to himself.

Then a stream of consciousness transmitted into Han Li's mind—a profound method for breaking the barrier.

"Why are you teaching me this secret technique, letting me probe inside?" Han Li showed no joy at receiving the method; instead, he frowned and asked via voice transmission.

But Shi Qinghou fell silent again, seemingly unwilling to respond.

Han Li's eyes darkened slightly. After a brief hesitation, he decided to release another strand of divine sense, once again attempting to penetrate the wall.

An invisible force immediately emerged from within the wall, blocking the divine sense's advance.

His eyes flickered, and then he activated the barrier-breaking method.

The originally resilient barrier force quickly softened and then merged with his divine sense.

With a soft "pop," his divine sense easily penetrated through, revealing the scene inside.

A faint glint flashed in Han Li's eyes, but he quickly regained his composure.

Inside the fortress he probed was a huge pool, about twenty to thirty zhang in size, filled with a grayish-white liquid that churned violently as if boiling.

Submerged in the pool were four pitch-black iron cages, holding two gray realm beasts and two horned beings of unknown race.

The two gray beasts let out miserable screams, struggling fiercely in their cages to break free, but the iron cages were exceptionally sturdy, trapping them securely inside.

The two horned beings, however, did not struggle or scream; their bodies seemed stiff, lying rigidly in the cages, with only their eyes occasionally moving, showing they were still alive, though their expressions were utterly vacant.

These two beings appeared to have been soaked in the pool for too long, their bodies taking on a grayish-white hue, looking somewhat eerie.

Additionally, two Nether Slaves stood by the pool, closely observing the situation inside.

Han Li was inwardly surprised, but he didn't dwell on this spot; instead, he rapidly extended his divine sense forward into the next fortress.

This fortress contained no pool but housed a giant furnace, beneath which rolled gray flames that emitted no heat but instead gave off waves of bone-piercing cold.

Inside the furnace hung several grayish-white Netherworld beings or gray beasts.

Streams of gray light emanated from the furnace, rapidly merging into these beings and beasts.

Their bodies quickly swelled as if inflated, with strange patterns emerging on their skin.

Han Li's divine sense lingered here briefly before continuing deeper, quickly examining over a dozen black fortresses, each containing a unique body-tempering method—some boiling, some burning, some tempering with poison.

Those gray beasts and beings were tempered sequentially in these fortresses, their bodies constantly transforming into various humanoid or beast-shaped monsters.

These monsters had far greater auras than before but had lost their minds, becoming blank-faced puppets locked in huge iron cages, piled up in the last fortress.