Chapter 1562: Trapped
Han Li hurriedly cast his gaze around him, and what he saw came as quite a surprise to him.
He was situated at the edge of a massive plaza that was tens of thousands of feet in size. The plaza had been paved using some kind of white stone, and there were countless beings situated on top of it.
Most of these beings were humanoid in nature and wearing different types of armor.
Some of them had extraordinarily long rabbit-like ears, some had black fur all over their bodies, some were as tall and broad as massive apes, and some were completely encapsulated in suits of shimmering golden armor that made it impossible to glean their appearance. There were even some humanoid beings with serpentine lower bodies; these were clearly beings from the Nag Race.
The most common demographic among them was a type of green-skinned foreign beings. All of them wore suits of green armor and wielded shimmering red halberds.
Despite the diversity in the species among these beings, one thing remained constant, and that was that all of them wore extremely concerned looks on their faces.
There were some beings among them who were emanating magic power fluctuations, but most of them were at around the Foundation Establishment Stage or the Core Formation Stage. There were Nascent Soul Stage and Deity Transformation Stage beings among them as well, but those beings totaled only around 100. All of them were gathered in groups of varying sizes while discussing something, and Han Li quickly swept his spiritual sense throughout the plaza to discover a group consisting of three Spatial Tempering Stage foreign beings, a discovery that came as quite a surprise to him.
According to Qing Xiao, he should have been teleported to a small city inhabited by several small races, and generally speaking, the most powerful beings here would normally only be a handful of Deity Transformation cultivators.
Under normal circumstances, there would only be around 4,000 to 5,000 cultivators in the entire city, but at present, there were tens of thousands of cultivators gathered on this plaza alone, among which were several that were of the same cultivation base as him, so how could he not be surprised?
Could it be that this Green Light City had undergone some kind of drastic transformation during the thousands of years that the teleportation formation had been in disrepair?
Furthermore, his spiritual sense could detect faint restriction fluctuations over the entire plaza, and everyone standing on the ground with not even a single being rising up into the air, so there was clearly a flight restriction in place.
Han Li took a deep breath before slowly making his way toward the bustling crowd.
Just as Han Li was about to inquire someone about the situation, a dwarven Spatial Tempering Stage foreign being with a disproportionately large and complete hairless head suddenly pulled out a wooden disk with a confused look on his face.
The disk was flashing with specks of spiritual light, and there were some unfamiliar runes hovering over its surface.
"What is it, Brother Yuan?" a nearby green-skinned foreign being asked.
"A third-tier upper race being has suddenly appeared here. If I recall correctly, all of the teleportation formations in the city have been cut off by the Jiao Chi Race; how could anyone have possibly been able to teleport here?" the big-headed being mused with a perplexed look on his face.
"Is that so? Could it be that the Jiao Chi Race became complacent and neglected to cut off a certain teleportation formation? In that case, let's find that being and ask them about this," the green-skinned being said with an elated look on his face.
"That's impossible. I inspected all of the teleportation formations in person a few days, and none of them are functioning." The big-headed being shook his head as he stared at the wooden disk in his hand.
"Let's hurry up and find that being so we can get some answers from them. Brother Yuan, you should be able to easily track down this being using your Spirit Light Disk, right?" a being enshrouded under fiery red light suddenly interjected.
"Hehe, that being has just appeared, and they're currently on this very plaza. I've already used the restriction to track them down."The big-headed being pointed toward Han Li as he spoke.
The other two beings naturally turned toward the same direction.
There were many people on this plaza and Han Li had used a secret technique to conceal his cultivation base, but he still stuck out like a sore thumb amid the group of low-grade beings around him, so the trio of Spatial Tempering Stage beings were immediately able to find him.
Han Li could sense those beings looking at him, and he also cast his gaze toward them.
At the same time, a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes at how they were able to find him so quickly. However, after a brief hesitation, he voluntarily made his way over to those three beings.
Moments later, he had arrived before the group of Spatial Tempering Stage beings.
"You must be new here in Green Light City, right, Fellow Daoist? May I ask you name?" the big-headed being asked in a calm manner as spiritual light flashed from his hand, following which the wooden disk abruptly disappeared.
"My surname is Han, and I've indeed just arrived in this city. What's going on here? Are you all going to war?" Han Li asked in an indifferent manner.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Fellow Daoist Han. You must've teleported here from a very faraway place, right? Otherwise, there's no way that you'd be unaware of the feud between our 13 Heavenly Cloud Races and the Jiao Chi Race," the big-headed being said with a peculiar look on his face.
"The Jiao Chi Race?" Han Li's expression changed drastically upon hearing this.
This race was one of the top 10 most powerful races in the entire Spirit Realm!
"We'll fill you in on everything else later, Brother Han. For now, please tell us how you were able to teleport to Green Light City; all of the teleportation formations should've been cut off by the Jiao Chi Race already," the green-skinned being asked.
"I teleported here from the other side of the ocean," Han Li replied in a truthful manner.
"The other side of the ocean? Are there such teleportation formations that lead to a small city like this one?" the being enshrouded under red light exclaimed in a surprised manner.
"There are indeed two such formations, but they'd been destroyed many years ago. Which teleportation formation did you use to get here, Fellow Daoist Han?" A hint of surprise also appeared in the big-headed being's eyes.
Countless thoughts were racing through Han Li's mind, but he merely gave a simple and concise response. "The Flame Coral Islands."
"I see! If I recall correctly, that teleportation formation had been destroyed thousands of years ago; would you be able to explain how you were able to use that formation to get here, Fellow Daoist Han?" A skeptical look appeared on the big-headed being's face upon hearing this.
"Sure..." Thus, Han Li provided a brief recount of how he'd gotten to this city. However, he refrained from revealing any details of his past, so everyone naturally formed the false impression that he was a cultivator from this region of the sea rather than someone who had come from a faraway continent.
"Even though I managed to recover the Spatial Cloud Crystal, a mishap occurred during the repair process of the teleportation. Perhaps the recorded method of repair was incorrect or perhaps the Spatial Cloud Crystal underwent some changed during its time spent in the sea beast's body. In any case, only one person can use the teleportation formation at a time, and at least seven days have to pass between one bout of teleportation and the next. Otherwise, the formation would instantly be destroyed," Han Li explained in a gloomy manner.
Due to those constraints, it would impossible for him to try and leave this city using the teleportation formation.
The three beings were all quite excited to hear the first part of Han Li's story, but the excitement in their eyes gradually faded after hearing about the constraints of the teleportation formation.
"So that means we won't be able to use the teleportation formation until seven days have gone by," the green-skinned being said in a disappointed manner.
"That's right," Han Li sighed in response.
The three foreign beings glanced at one another before the big-headed being said, "It's not that we don't trust you, Fellow Daoist Han, but this is an extremely important matter, so we'll have to verify your claims for ourselves. You don't mind, do you, Brother Han?"
"Of course no," Han Li replied with a smile.
"Brother Hong, you stay here for now; the two of us will go and assess that teleportation formation," the big-headed being said in a solemn manner to the being enshrouded under red light.
"Alright." The being enshrouded under red light hesitated momentarily, but nodded in agreement in the end.
Thus, his two companions were led toward the edge of the plaza by Han Li.
Moments later, the three of them arrived back at the hall that Han Li had first emerged from.
The green-skinned being swept his spiritual sense through the hall before remarking, "I can sense faint residual traces of spatial fluctuations, so someone has indeed just used the teleportation formation here."
Meanwhile, the big-headed being made his way into the teleportation formation and carefully inspected it before making a hand seal to cast a burst of green light onto the formation.
A buzzing sound instantly rang out from the teleportation formation, and a layer of faint white light also appeared.
The green-skinned being's eyes immediately widened with elation upon seeing this.
However, the buzzing sound suddenly cut off in the next instant, and the white spiritual light also fizzed out as the teleportation formation fell completely silent again.
"No good. The formation on the other side is very unstable and has already been closed," the big-headed being said as a grim look appeared on his face.
The same expression also surfaced in the green-skinned being's eyes.
"Is the situation in the city really that dire? Would you two be able to tell me about the situation concerning the Jiao Chi Race?" Han Li asked in a calm voice.
"What more needs to be said? As you saw, tens of thousands of cultivators have gathered at this small city, and most of them fled to this city from the nearby region so they could use the teleportation formations here to make their escape. However, the Jiao Chi Race acted extremely quickly, and all of the teleportation formations connecting this city to other cities have been disabled. Either those cities have already been conquered, or all of the teleportation formations in this city have been cut off by the Jiao Chi Race. Seeing as you were able to arrive in this city, the former is the likeliest of the two scenarios. The initial forces of the Jiao Chi Race have already arrived at the city, and they're awaiting the arrival of the main army. We've gathered everyone here and are planning to abandon the city so we can get away from here before it's too late. However, it's yet to be seen whether we'd even be able to escape from this place. At the very least, they definitely wouldn't allow high-grade beings like us to escape without a fight," the big-headed being explained with a wry smile on his face.
Han Li's expression immediately darkened upon hearing this.