Chapter 1317: Ascended Cultivators and Deep Heaven City
After walking for another three kilometers, Han Li saw his surroundings suddenly light up and he arrived in front of a giant hall that was over three kilometers wide. Nearly a hundred armored cultivators were bustling through the hall in a busy manner.
There were dozen similar roads connected to the hall that had people frequently using them.
A trace of surprise flashed on Han Li’s face, but when he looked up at the ceiling, he felt deeply shocked.
The so-called hall didn’t have a flat ceiling. Instead, there was a ring-shaped cylindrical opening, like a hollow tower. That meant the opening they arrived from was a gap in the tower wall.
This was the first time Han Li had seen such a huge stone tower, but he soon recovered from his shock and his ordinary expression returned.
The large green-eyed man leading him didn’t mind Han Li’s surprise, nor did he make any attempt to rush Han Li. He simply nodded at Han Li when he regained his bearings and led Han Li out the hall once more.
When Han Li went outside, he looked to the distance and felt his heart thump.
There were towering azure towers in a dense arrangement as far as the eye could see, numbering over a hundred at the very least. The base of the towers were surrounded by rows of pagodas attached to smaller buildings. The tallest of the pagodas were three kilometers tall, while the shortest were at least three hundred meters tall. Each building appeared ordinary apart from its size.
Having seen this for the first time, Han Li was left dumbstruck.
When the two both left the hall, they took off in streaks of light to a building below a pagoda.
The green-eyed man called out to Han Li and brought him to a pavilion that was three-hundred meters tall.
The pavilion was divided into ten stories, with an opening with each story. There was a hundred-meter-tall gate at its very center with the words, Spirit Flight Hall written in silver words.
The green-eyed man brought Han Li to the fourth floor of the hall. When they entered the small hall, he saw seven passages heading off in different directions.
The small hall had various-dressed cultivators gathered together, speaking to each other with a smile.
When Han Li glanced at them, he saw that they were early-Deity Transformation cultivators like himself.
When Han Li and the green-eyed man entered, they all turned around and looked at them.
“Yi! Well if it isn’t Esteemed Nephew Zhuo? Have you brought us a newly arrived companion?” A white-haired old man with a dark complexion asked with a smile.
As the green-eyed man was a late-Nascent Soul cultivator, he didn’t dare to be negligent.
When the green-eyed man entered the hall, his solemn expression vanished and his bearings appeared entirely changed. He answered with a respectful tone, “So it was Senior Liu. This Senior is someone that the heaven guards personally brought in from the outside. He isn’t someone that entered the city.”
An odd expression appeared on his face.
“Could it be that he is a cultivator brought in from the Spirit Flight Tower?”
“Could it be he ascended from another world?”
“Yi! How can he be at early-Deity Transformation stage? Did they say that one can only ascend with their cultivation is at late-Deity Transformation stage?”
...
When the early-Deity Transformation cultivators heard this, an uproar was raised in the room and they all looked at Han Li with an odd expression.
Han Li smiled at them and saluted the crowd, but said nothing else, thoughts quickly running through his mind.
Could it be that also ascended from a lower realm? But that didn’t seem to be the case. If they were natives to the spirit realm, why would they be here?
Didn’t the Spirit Flight Hall have something to do with ascended cultivators?
The green-eyed man quickly greeted the crowd and gave a few vague answers before leading Han Li down one of the passages and taking him to a suite connected to several rooms.
The rooms were fashioned after a small scale cave residence. Not only was there a secluded room for cultivation, but there was also room for pill and weapon refinement. Furthermore, there were a set of restrictions that sealed the rooms, which could only be opened by the person who possessed the restriction medallion.
When Han Li saw this, he nodded with satisfaction.
The green-eyed man then mentioned a few of the restricted places and immediately handed him a restriction medallion, then uttering a farewell before Han Li could flag him down.
Han Li thought to ask him some questions about the circumstances of Deep Heaven City.
As of current, he leaned back in a wooden chair in the living room and fiddled with a silver restriction medallion in his hand. He began to think about everything that had happened since his tribulation.
According to his original plan, he was going to find a hidden area with abundant spiritual Qi and cultivate. He would first enter the Spatial Tempering stage and then spend the rest of his life pursuing the great Dao.
He completely didn’t think that ascended cultivators would actually carry the aura of another world and turn minor tribulations into something fearsome.
For the first appearance of the two-colored lightning tribulation, he might’ve truly been able to protect himself, but he definitely wouldn’t be able to protect himself the second time.
Thus, he immediately followed the two Spatial Tempering cultivators to Deep Heaven City without much more consideration.
But when he arrived, he found something that was much different from what he experienced from cultivator cities. It left him completely clueless as he didn’t know much about how the city operated.
The only thing he knew was that the city had a large relation to cultivators that ascended from lower realms.
As these thoughts came to mind, he became restless.
Just as he continued to ponder about whether he should inquire about Deep Heaven City circumstances with the cultivators on the outside, as well as what they did with ascended cultivators like himself.
As Han Li’s heart stirred and had thought to take action, an old man’s voice sounded from outside the room, “Fellow Daoist, I am an old man by the name of Liu Hedao. Would you like to chat for a bit?”
Han Li paused for a moment and smiled.
He wouldn’t have to take the initiative to come out. Someone had already come over to befriend him.
“So Fellow Daoist Liu has come to take a visit. I, Han, am honored to have you!” With that said, he waved the medallion in the direction of the door.
A wave of silver mist rushed out and the large door creaked open by itself.
A man with a dark complexion and white hair stood outside the door.
“So you were surnamed Han. I hope you won’t take offense at my sudden visit.” The old man smiled and spoke with a polite tone.
“Hehe, how could I? Even if you didn’t come, I planned on heading out anyways.” As Han Li was long experienced throughout his journey of cultivation, he didn’t believe himself to be superior to this Old Man Liu and he replied with a beaming smile,
As such, the two began to chat as if they were friends for years.
“From that esteemed nephew, I heard that the heaven guards personally brought you back to the city. You must be a cultivator that recently ascended from a lower realm. Which mortal realm would that be?” Old Man Liu suddenly asked.
“Which... realm? I’m not too sure about what the spirit realm calls the many lower realms, so I don’t know how to answer that. How about this? I’ll give you an answer when I come to understand this better. Could you help me with that?” Han Li glanced at him with a smile.
He wasn’t about to easily give answers about his true origins. After all, during his time in the mortal realm, he was involved with a few superiors in the spirit realm. Regardless of whether it was the Soaring Sky Beast or the Wolf King Tian Kui that Silvermoon mentioned, they weren’t people that he could currently provoke.
Old Man Liu laughed, “How foolish of me. You’ve only entered the spirit realm recently. Of course you wouldn’t know. However, the initial generation of ascended cultivators all possess astonishing potential. Their chances of accomplishing Spatial Tempering is far greater than the descendants of ascended cultivators like me and those native to the spirit realm. They are viewed with importance by the elders. Most of them don’t need to undergo examination and are directly appointed as Dark Azure Guards.”
“Initial generation of ascended cultivators? Could Brother Liu explain that to me,” an odd expression appeared on Han Li’s face and his smile waned.
“It isn’t a secret. In truth, Brother Han will soon figure this out after only staying in the city for a bit of time.” Old Man Liu chuckled.
He continued, “The initial generation of ascended are those that enter the spirit realm like Brother Han. They are Deity Transformation cultivators that ascended from their realms. The dense otherworldly aura you carry will take three hundred years worth of Earth Cleansing Pills to cleanse. The direct descendants of ascended cultivators will carry a portion of this otherworldly aura. So long as they enter Nascent Soul-stage, they will also encounter two-colored tribulations. As for descendants like me, they would have to rush to Deep Heaven City and take an Earth Cleansing PIll to vanish their otherworldly aura, or else they will perish. Once the otherworldly aura is cleansed, you’ll be able to leave the city. About five generations after the ascended arrive, their bloodline will not longer carry the otherworldly aura and be considered the same as a native cultivator.”
Han Li blinked and asked, “In that case, Brother Liu should’ve already cleansed himself of the otherworldly aura since you’ve entered Deity Transformation-stage. Why did you stay?”
“Brother Han already sees a problem. That’s right, even if we’ve cleansed ourselves of otherworldly aura, there aren’t many that are willing to leave Deep Heaven City of their own accord. I don’t know more than a few. Not only us, but those native to this land that entered the city also aren’t willing to leave.” The old man answered with a chuckle.
“Oh? How interesting. Could you tell me why?” Han Li’s heart stirred, but he still wore a friendly smile.
The old man said with a deep tone, “It’s quite simple. In Deep Heaven City, the speed of cultivation is doubled compared to other areas. Items found in the three regions and seven lands are certain to be found here. There are even things unique to our city. Brother Han should realize what I am saying.”