Chapter 922: Building the Star Boat Together

In the evening, Han Li and Gu Qianxun left the camp and arrived together at the entrance of the canyon.

"Did City Lord E take Lady Liuhua to meet City Lord Shaxin?" Han Li's gaze swept toward the depths of the canyon as he suddenly asked.

"That's right. Not long after we set up camp, they left together." Gu Qianxun also looked at the canyon before them and said.

"It seems they intend to use this place as a breakthrough point." Han Li pondered for a moment, then said slowly.

"The environment here is special; the spatial storms are much weaker than elsewhere." Gu Qianxun said noncommittally.

"Rumble..."

As Gu Qianxun's words fell, a sound like rolling thunder came from within the canyon.

Hearing this, both of them peered into the canyon and saw streaks of crimson flames rising from the ground, accompanied by gusts of blue wind howling out. The two intermingled, causing a violent reaction like oil splashing into water.

Under the fierce clash of ice and fire, terrifying white tornadoes emerged, sweeping outward in all directions.

Constrained by the narrow terrain on both sides of the canyon, those white tornadoes rose vertically upward, managing to contend with the spatial storms above and disperse a significant portion of them.

"Using the passage created by these tornadoes does offer a certain chance of crossing, but the risk remains high. For beings like us with flesh and blood, forcing a crossing would most likely mean death." Han Li frowned.

"Actually, you don't need to worry too much. City Lord E brought us here for a reason; he must have prepared something. He certainly won't let us cross in our physical bodies. After their meeting, the method for crossing should become clear." Gu Qianxun chuckled lightly.

"Heh, I won't bother myself with that worry..." Han Li said with a smile.

His face showed a completely relaxed expression, but his gaze passed through the weak points of the spatial storm, seeing on the other side of the black abyss a continent emitting white light.

Was that the 'Great Ruin'?

The night passed quickly. Early the next morning, as soon as Han Li and the others emerged from their tents, they were summoned to an open space.

"I believe everyone has witnessed the danger of the Black Abyss. Relying solely on the strength of our Xuan City to cross would be too difficult. Only through cooperation between the two cities can we overcome this obstacle. The greater matter takes precedence. From now on, you must restrain your behavior and avoid conflicts with the people of Puppet City. Everything else can wait until we enter the Great Ruin." E Kuai looked at the people of Xuan City and said solemnly.

Upon hearing this, although some were unwilling, they voiced no objections and echoed their agreement.

"May I ask, City Lord, how are we to cross the Black Abyss?" asked Sun Tu, the city lord of Baiyan City.

The others also looked over. Although the spatial storms above the Black Abyss were sparse here, they were still extremely dangerous.

"Heh, rest assured. I have already discussed everything with Fellow Daoist Liuhua and City Lord Shaxin of Puppet City." E Kuai smiled faintly and glanced at Lady Liuhua beside him.

"As you can see, the main dangers of the Black Abyss are its powerful devouring force and the spatial storms above. Fortunately, the special environment here makes the spatial storms much rarer. After discussing with City Lord E and Shaxin of Puppet City, I designed a Star Falcon Flying Boat. Using my expertise in starry prohibitions, combined with the puppet mechanisms of Puppet City, it will be sufficient to cross the Black Abyss." Lady Liuhua stepped forward and said.

Upon hearing this, the people of Xuan City, though not particularly impressed, nodded in agreement.

"The main body of the Star Falcon Flying Boat will be built by Puppet City, while our Xuan City will be responsible inscribing the prohibitions on the boat. From now on, all of you will follow Fellow Daoist Liuhua's instructions." E Kuai ordered.

The people of Xuan City responded in unison.

E Kuai said no more. He whispered a few words to Lady Liuhua, then left the matter aside, calling the four city lords—Chen Yang and the others—aside to discuss matters via voice transmission.

Meanwhile, Puppet City also began bustling with activity. They cleared a large open space and took out various materials to start building the flying boat.

Han Li glanced at E Kuai and the other five, then at Puppet City, his mind turning with thoughts.

But he quickly set aside his thoughts, as Lady Liuhua had begun assigning tasks.

Lady Liuhua pointed to three or four people and said, "Inscribing the prohibition arrays requires a special star liquid. You few are responsible for preparing it. The materials and preparation methods are here."

"Yes." They replied in unison.

"As for you few, handle these materials." Lady Liuhua instructed several others.

"You two..."

Lady Liuhua casually pointed and quickly assigned tasks to all the people of Xuan City, who immediately began working.

However, four people were left behind without assignments. Han Li was one of them, and Xuan Yuanxing was also among them.

Of the other two, one was a tall, thin young man with yellow hair, under the command of Baiyan City, and the other was a short, stout man from Xuan City.

Han Li was not familiar with these two; he only knew their names from the Five Cities Tournament. The one from Baiyan City was named Lü Gang, and the short, stout man from Xuan City was named Liang Fa.

"Senior Liuhua, what will the four of us do?" Han Li asked.

"I can tell that all four of you have considerable divine sense power. Your task is the most important: assist me in inscribing the prohibition arrays." Lady Liuhua scanned the four and said.

Hearing this, Han Li felt secretly pleased.

He was quite curious about the Star Falcon Flying Boat designed by Lady Liuhua and the others. Being responsible for inscribing the arrays would allow him to get closer to the flying boat, which was the core of artifact refinement.

"Senior Liuhua, it's not that I'm shirking responsibility, but I know nothing about artifact refinement. Inscribing arrays is extremely important, and I have no confidence in it. If I make a mistake, it could ruin the entire endeavor. As far as I know, there are several fellow Daoists among the group who have studied artifact refinement. Perhaps you could replace me with them." Xuan Yuanxing hesitated, then cupped his hands and said.

"Hmph! Inscribing my star arrays requires high divine sense. Do you think any random person can do it? Besides you four, probably only the four city lords have divine sense strong enough. Since you don't want this job, go and have Chen Yang from Qingyang City replace you." Lady Liuhua rolled her eyes and said with great displeasure.

"Senior Liuhua, I have no intention of slacking off. I'm truly afraid that my clumsiness might ruin your important work." Xuan Yuanxing, looking panicked, repeatedly cupped his hands and said.

"Don't worry. I won't have you inscribe complex arrays. I'll assign you only trivial tasks at the edges. With your divine sense and my guidance, you'll be more than capable." Seeing Xuan Yuanxing's nervousness, Lady Liuhua felt a bit amused, her expression softening as she said indifferently.

Xuan Yuanxing said no more, and the other two also seemed relieved.

"Your concern is not unfounded. Inscribing arrays within the Scale Abyss is different from outside; it does require some skill. Very well, come over and practice first." Lady Liuhua pondered briefly, then nodded.

She called the four aside and handed each a bone brush as thick as a finger and half a foot long.

Han Li took a bone brush. It resembled a talisman brush, with one end sharp, seemingly made from the tooth of some scale beast, and a faint hair-thin hole visible in the middle.

The other end was a transparent sac containing a silvery liquid that emitted faint fluctuations of star power.

"This brush is called the Star Ripple Brush. The liquid inside is the star liquid I mentioned. Since immortal spiritual power cannot be used within the Scale Abyss, you must use divine sense to guide the star liquid when inscribing arrays. This jade slip contains some of the simplest star runes. First, try inscribing them on these jade plates." Lady Liuhua handed each of the four a jade slip and also gave them some white jade plates.

Han Li's eyes brightened slightly. His divine sense immediately delved into the jade slip, which indeed contained some star runes. However, these runes looked quite complex, completely different from any runes he had seen before.

"My star runes differ from external arrays and are somewhat difficult to inscribe. Let me teach you some techniques." Lady Liuhua's expression turned serious as she began instructing the four through voice transmission.

The four quickly focused their minds and listened attentively.

After a full hour or more, Lady Liuhua stopped teaching.

Han Li already had a solid foundation in artifact refinement, and although the star runes were unusual, he grasped them quickly.

Xuan Yuanxing and the other two had no experience in artifact refinement, so they learned much slower than Han Li. However, as cultivators of considerable cultivation, they gradually mastered the tricks.

Under Lady Liuhua's arrangement, each of the four took a jade plate and began inscribing.

Han Li infused his divine sense into the Star Ripple Brush, activating the star liquid inside, and moved his wrist to inscribe on the jade plate.

A smooth silver line extended from the brush tip, imprinting onto the jade plate.

A gleam flashed in his eyes. Using divine sense to drive the star liquid in the brush consumed a considerable amount of his divine sense.

The Star Ripple Brush was like a small vortex, constantly absorbing his divine sense.

However, his divine sense was extremely vast, and he could withstand this level of consumption.

His expression was focused and calm, his wrist moving swiftly as if boneless. The silver lines on the jade plate gradually increased, soon forming a complete star rune.

As the final stroke was completed, the entire star rune suddenly brightened, then quickly dimmed back to normal, but one could clearly feel an invisible prohibition force flowing within it.

"Oh, finished so quickly? It seems you have some skill in artifact refinement." Lady Liuhua showed a hint of surprise.

"I have studied it before." Han Li did not hide the fact.

"This Flying Star rune you inscribed is quite good. The star power distribution is even, with no issues. You can try more complex runes now." Lady Liuhua took the jade plate from Han Li, examined it, and said.

Han Li nodded, his divine sense delving into the jade slip to study more complex runes.

Compared to Han Li, Xuan Yuanxing and the other two fared much worse. After four or five attempts, they finally inscribed a star rune.

Lady Liuhua suppressed her impatience and meticulously pointed out their shortcomings, which helped them improve rapidly.

As for Han Li, he grasped the star runes very quickly. Except for some difficult bottlenecks, he needed no guidance from Lady Liuhua, which saved her a lot of trouble.