Chapter 2031: Blood Crow City
Several hours later, Han Li hovered high up in the air, looking at a crimson city wall in the distance. "So this is Blood Crow City? It doesn't appear to be very big at all."
"Hehe, it's indeed not a very big city, but its walls are paved with rocks from near the Bloodlight Crystal mine, and apparently, they possess some properties that allow them to weaken magic power attacks," the Long Family patriarch said with a faint smile.
"So that means this city will also be able to resist Butterflytail Beasts to a certain extent; it looks like we made the right decision to come here," the woman from the Ye Family said with a smile.
"I examined the memories of those two devilish beings earlier, and it seems that all types of beast tides frequently appear in this area, but very rarely would they attack Blood Crow City, so the city doesn't seem to be as simple as it appears. Having said that, there are no restrictions in the city that can undo the effect of our Devilfeign Beads. Once we enter the city, we'll just have to disguise our auras to the Deity Transformation and Spatial Tempering Stages, and we should be able to avoid excessive scrutiny," the Long Family patriarch said.
Everyone else nodded in agreement to this.
Thus, the Long Family patriarch swept a sleeve through the air, and devilish Qi erupted from his body, sweeping everyone up before hurtling directly toward the crimson city wall down below.
Shortly thereafter, the devilish Qi faded, and Han Li and the others appeared in front of an inky-black city gate, where 30 to 40 green-armored devilish guards were appraising them with wary expressions.
The Long Family patriarch harrumphed coldly and released his immense Spatial Tempering Stage aura, upon which expressions of awe and veneration immediately appeared on the faces of the guards, most of whom were at the Nascent Soul Stage.
The leader of the guards was Deity Transformation Stage devilish being, and he hurriedly approached Han Li's group. After carefully asking a few questions, he immediately waved a hand, upon which the guards opened the city gate to grant Han Li and the others passage.
For a small city like theirs, a Spatial Tempering Stage being was not someone they could afford to offend, so Han Li's group was allowed passage with minimal questioning. In fact, under normal circumstances where there were no beast tides, the questioning process would've been skipped altogether.
In the instant that he entered through the city gate, blue light flashed through Han Li's eyes as he swept his gaze over a formation engraved on the city wall that was comprised of several devilish patterns. He didn't know what the other restrictions in the city were like, but this one was very ordinary and not worthy of concern.
Upon entering the city, everyone was greeted by the sight of rows of buildings of different heights, most of which were black and red in color. There were occasionally some buildings of different colors, but they were all clearly temporary structures.
There were a series of streets between the rows of buildings that were wide enough to fit three beast-drawn carriages side by side, and overall, this city was more of a larger town than a city, and it was home to 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 devilish beings at most.
There was a flight restriction in the city, ensuring that no devilish beings were flying over the city aside from the patrolling guards, and the city wasn't exactly packed to the rafters, but it was definitely very densely populated during this special time.
There were all types of devilish beings walking along the streets, including ferocious-looking ones who resembled devilish beasts, as well as some who looked identical to humans.
The streets were lined with all types of shops and some buildings that appeared to be inns.
Many devilish beings were entering and exiting these buildings in a hurried manner, and they were all quite powerful, with the majority of them at the Core Formation and Nascent Soul Stages, and the occasional Deity Transformation Stage devilish being could be seen as well.
As for Spatial Tempering Stage beings, Han Li and the others had only encountered two or three thus far, and all of them had only been at the early-Spatial Tempering Stage.
After walking for a while, they caught sight of a small mountain that was several thousand feet tall in the distance.
Around the mountain were a series of grey stone pagodas, which were being patrolled by elite armored devilish beings.
Halfway up the mountain, there was a black and red stone palace, which was presumably where the city lord, Bing Qianren, resided.
Han Li cast his gaze toward the stone palace with his eyes narrowed slightly in contemplation.
Right at this moment, the Long Family patriarch suddenly stopped at a crossroads, and said, "Let's split up here, everyone. I'm sure all of us prefer to be alone, and we'll gather here again to continue our journey once the Butterflytail Beast Tide recedes. This city isn't all that big anyway, so we'll be able to easily contact one another if something happens."
To everyone's surprise, the woman from the Yu Family was the first to express her approval as a faint smile appeared on her face. "That's a good idea. I did see some things that piqued my interest earlier, so I'll be taking my leave now."
Immediately thereafter, she extended a salute toward everyone before departing.
Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns and her companions exchanged a few glances before also taking their leave; it seemed that they were going to stick together.
"I'll be taking my leave as well, Brother Long," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a parting salute.
"Go ahead, Brother Han." The Long Family patriarch also returned his salute.
Thus, Han Li nodded before making his way toward a nearby street.
The Long Family patriarch looked on at Han Li's departing figure, and only after he had disappeared around a corner did his smile gradually fade. He then turned to the long-haired man, and asked, "Fellow Daoist Lin, are you ready to give me a response to the collaboration I proposed to you?"
The long-haired man's pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this, and he replied in a hesitant manner, "This is quite an important matter, so I'll need some more time to think about it, Brother Long."
"Indeed, this is something that requires careful consideration. We have a long journey ahead, so you'll have plenty of time to consider the offer," the Long Family patriarch replied with a smile, seemingly completely unsurprised by this response.
"You have my thanks, Brother Long," the long-haired man said as his expression eased slightly.
After that, they chatted for a while longer before the long-haired man also departed.
"Brother Long, it looks like he may not accept our invitation; how about we try to recruit that woman from the Ye Family instead? After all, according to our original plan, someone from the Ye Family would actually be more suitable for our needs," Elder Hui suddenly said in a cold voice.
"That's out of the question! She's far too wary of our Long Family, and she seems to have sensed something already, so there's no way she'll agree. If we were to ask her, we'd only risk exposing our plan," the Long Family patriarch immediately replied with a shake of his head.
"But that man is clearly just placating us; I'm concerned that even if agrees, he won't truly be willing to collaborate with us," Elder Hui said with furrowed brows.
A peculiar smile appeared on the Long Family patriarch's face as he chuckled, "Hehe, once he agrees, I won't allow him to go back on his word. That's enough about this matter; this isn't the right place to be discussing something like this. Let's go to the materials shops in this city to see if there are some materials that we need."
"The materials shops in this city are indeed worth visiting. I presume everyone else is most likely visiting the materials shops in the city as well, so let's go in a different direction to avoid running into them," Elder Hui suggested.
"My thoughts exactly! Let's go," the Long Family patriarch said with a smile before departing from the crossroads.
......
Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns and the Spirit beings were slowly walking along a street while quickly communicating with one another.
Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns transmitted her voice to her companions with a concerned expression. "Zhi Shui's seal is displaying signs of coming undone; we have to find a place to renew the seal right away."
"Surely not! The last restriction was cast not long ago; how is it coming undone already?" the figure enshrouded within white light asked.
"I'm not sure; it's most likely because we're situated in the Elder Devil Realm. As you're aware, this thing's origins stem from the Elder Devil Realm in the first place, and the vast amount of devilish Qi in this realm seems to be impacting it quite significantly," Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns sighed in response.
"Zhi Shui is our trump card, so we have to make sure that no issues arise with him. We'll find some lodging right away and keep a lookout while you fortify the seal," the figure within the white light immediately replied without any hesitation.
"That would be best." Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns nodded, and the group made their way along the street for a while longer before turning into an alleyway up ahead.
At the end of the alley was a tall building that resembled an ill, and they strode into the building one after another.
......
In a crimson devilish shop, the woman from the Ye Family was accepting an unknown piece of green ore from a pale-skinned devilish being.
The devilish being was delivering a long spiel about this piece of ore, while the woman was injecting her spiritual sense into the piece of ore with a smile on her face.
......
Meanwhile, Han Li was walking along a narrow street, on either side of which were all types of stalls of different sizes.
Behind each stall sat or stood a devilish being, and there were many devilish beings with powerful auras walking along the same street.
Some of them were engaged in heated arguments with the owners of the stalls, and a faint smile appeared on Han Li's face at the sight of this familiar scene.