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Chapter 109: Exploring Red Moon City
Chapter 109: Exploring Red Moon City
Chapter 109: Exploring Red Moon City
"They were already like this by the time we discovered them. We speculate that they were most likely killed by the same Layman Immortal that ambushed us," Wyrm 9 said as he withdrew his gaze from the bodies on the ground.
"After hearing about what happened to your group, Wyrm 8 and I also arrived at our destinations, and as expected, all of the guild members who infiltrated the island before have already disappeared," Wyrm 3 said in a grim voice.
"On the way here, we didn't discover anything abnormal aside from the deserted cities, where the residents supposedly traveled to the holy city for the pilgrimage. As for the pilgrimage itself, the results of our investigation are much the same as what Wyrm 9 and the others found; it's most likely just a way for Gong Shuhong to collect the power of faith," Wyrm 8 said after a brief moment of contemplation.
"Did you also hear that the so-called most devout followers out of the people attending the pilgrimage will be chosen, and that those chosen ones won't return to the cities that they once lived in?" Han Li suddenly asked.
"We did indeed hear about that as well. Apparently, they'll be taken to another city with more fertile land. Perhaps that's just a method that Gong Shuhong employs to increase the level of devotion that his followers feel toward him," Wyrm 8 replied in a nonchalant manner, then changed the subject as he continued, "On the way here, neither Wyrm 3 nor my group was ambushed by the enemy, so it seems that Gong Shuhong has already been wary of our Transient Guild for quite some time. In light of that, I believe it's necessary for us to reassess the accuracy of the information that the guild has previously received about Red Moon Island,"
"Indeed. Perhaps Gong Shuhong is already aware that we're on Red Moon Island, and he intentionally spread false information to lure us to the wrong places. However, it seems that he underestimated our overall power. Setting aside everything else for now, I think it's safe to conclude that Gong Shuhong definitely won't be at any of the six or seven places annotated on the map.
“Instead, there may actually be a chance that he's in Red Moon City right now, so we might as well go and take a look there. Perhaps we'll be able to find something," Wyrm 9 suggested.
"Speaking of that, Red Moon Island has a total of 28 provinces, and almost every one of them has a city by the name of Red Moon City," Wyrm 8 said with a shake of his head.
"Really?" Wyrm 9 was very much taken aback to hear this.
"There's a place by the name of Red Moon City marked on the map that we received, but as we were passing through a certain city, we discovered by chance that the Red Moon City that they were referring to was somewhere else entirely. Initially, we didn't really take it to heart, thinking that they had merely misspoken, but that wasn't the case.
“Even though we only passed through several provinces, we made sure to keep an eye out, and we discovered that each of the provinces that we passed through has a Red Moon City," Wyrm 8 said as he swept a sleeve through the air, releasing five jade slips that flew toward Han Li and the others.
Everyone caught the jade slips before injecting their spiritual sense into them.
There were many more annotated locations on the map in the jade slip than the previously obtained, and sure enough, aside from the originally marked-out Red Moon City, there was another Red Moon City annotated in each of the provinces that Wyrm 8's group had passed through.
Each province was extremely vast, so if the high-grade cultivators in those provinces intentionally kept this a secret, there was no way that any mortals or even low-grade cultivators would’ve been able to find out the existence of the other Red Moon Cities.
"The cities that we passed through on the way here only sold maps of certain areas, but there are no maps of the entire island being sold, and it seems that this was entirely by Gong Shuhong's design.
“His subordinates most likely have some type of special restriction placed upon them, making them unable to disclose this matter to anyone. I think it's even reasonable to speculate that the map that we originally obtained was intentionally leaked to us by Gong Shuhong," Wyrm 9 mused.
Everyone fell silent upon hearing this.
Given all of this new information that had come to light, Gong Shuhong's whereabouts had become a complete mystery, making it very difficult for them to proceed with the mission.
All of a sudden, a thought seemed to have occurred to Han Li, and he pressed the jade slip against his own forehead again as a peculiar look flashed through his eyes.
"Seeing as we have no other leads, let's begin by investigating those Red Moon Cities. Mobilize everyone and check out those Red Moon Cities one by one," Wyrm 3 instructed.
Wyrm 9 faltered slightly upon hearing this, then asked, "Are you not going to come with us, Wyrm 3?"
"I'll act on my own. If you find out anything, then just convey the information to me through voice transmission," Wyrm 3 replied, following which a burst of red light emerged over his body, and flew up into the sky before flying toward a certain direction, making no attempt to conceal his aura.
"Looks like Wyrm 3 intends to openly search for Gong Shuhong. Let's follow his instructions. We're currently in the Wave Province, and we're not too far away from the Red Moon City in this province," Wyrm 8 said.
Thus, everyone immediately adopted different faces using their masks, then mingled into the crowd before leaving the city.
As they were passing by a certain street, Han Li suddenly said, "Please wait here for me for a moment, I have some errands that I need to run. My apologies for the inconvenience."
He then quickly made his way into the shop that sold all types of books before anyone had a chance to respond.
Everyone faltered slightly upon seeing this, but they all exchanged a quick glance with one another and didn't say anything.
It didn't take long before Han Li emerged from the shop with a few books in his hand, and they seemed to be books on the geographic environment of this island.
"Sorry to keep you all waiting," Han Li said as he stowed the books away in front of everyone.
The group quickly departed from Dragon Lake City, then made their way to a secluded place before rising up into the sky.
Wyrm 9 released that translucent blue flying ark once again as a mode of transport for himself, as well as Wyrm 16 and Han Li, attracting a great deal of attention from Wyrm 8 and the others.
Han Li stood on the spirit ark as he took a glance down at a river near Dragon Lake City, then sat down with his legs crossed and pulled out the books that he had just purchased before carefully reading through them.
Wyrm 16 was rather perplexed by Han Li's actions, but he paid Han Li no heed as he continued to recover from his injuries.
Han Li quickly read through the books that he had purchased, and after some contemplation, he pulled out the jade slip that Wyrm 8 had given to everyone earlier before injecting his spiritual sense into it.
At this point, the sky was gradually beginning to darken, and some stars had appeared up above.
The group of seven traveled for close to an entire day before stopping in front of a large city.
This city was none other than the Red Moon City of the Wave Province, and it was even larger than Dragon Lake City, with a huge river that was several thousand feet wide flowing through it.
The entire city was enshrouded under an enormous blue restriction that occasionally rippled with surges of translucent light, presenting a rather mysterious sight to behold. Through the blue light barrier, only a faint outline of the city could be made out.
However, there were openings in the restrictions corresponding with the locations of the four city gates situated in the north, south, east, and west, allowing people to enter and exit the city.
Blue-robed cultivators were situated at each of the four city gates, examining the people who wished to enter or exit the city.
"If I'm not mistaken, this should be the vastly renowned Thousand Light Illusory Ripple Restriction. The restriction's defensive properties aren't very remarkable, but it's extremely sensitive to spiritual sense," Wyrm 8 mused as he inspected the restriction.
"If this city is so heavily guarded, is there a chance that this is the Red Moon City that we're searching for?" Wyrm 21 speculated as an elated look appeared on his face.
Everyone else's eyes also lit up upon hearing this.
"Regardless of whether it is or not, let's go in and take a look first. Make sure to be on your guard at all times and rein in your spiritual sense as much as possible so you don't trigger any arrays or restrictions," Wyrm 8 instructed.
A hint of displeasure flashed through Wyrm 9's eyes upon hearing this, clearly discontent with taking orders from Wyrm 8, but he didn't say anything.
The seven of them descended upon a secluded spot outside the city, then made their way into the crowd of people who were entering the city.
There were Deity Transformation cultivators stationed at the city gate, but they were naturally unable to see through the disguises adopted by Han Li and the others, and the seven of them successfully entered the city.
The ground in the city was paved with large slabs of bluestone in a neat and orderly fashion, and the streets were lined with shops, presenting a thriving sight to behold.
The four city gates were connected by a pair of wide roads, which split up the entire city into four areas. At the center of the city was a massive plaza, at the center of which stood a huge statue.
At this moment, the city was absolutely packed with people, as were the massive plaza at the center of the city and all of the streets and roads. At the very least, the city had to have been holding several million people.
All of those people were currently reverently worshiping the statue at the center of the plaza, and the entire city was filled with a solemn atmosphere.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing, and he, along with everyone else, quickly realized what was happening.
This was most likely the so-called pilgrimage that they had been hearing about.
Blue light flashed through Han Li's eyes as he inspected his surroundings, following which his brows immediately furrowed slightly.
There was a massive number of people in the city, but most of them were mortals who possessed no magic power. There were some cultivators among them, but they were all low-grade cultivators ranging between the Qi Condensation Stage and the Core Formation Stage.
There were also some blue-robed cultivators in the city, but none of them possessed advanced cultivation bases, either. Just like the cultivators stationed at the city gates, these blue-robed cultivators were all at the Nascent Soul Stage or the Deity Transformation Stage, and there wasn't even a single Spatial Tempering cultivator among them.
It seemed like this wasn't the place that they were searching for.
At this point, everyone else had clearly also noticed this, and their expressions immediately darkened slightly.
"In any case, we should examine this city thoroughly. Perhaps we'll be able to find some leads," Wyrm 8 proposed.
Everyone else nodded in agreement, and after a brief discussion, they decided to split up.
The city was too massive, and Han Li and the others couldn't just use their spiritual sense to scour large areas at once. In any case, everyone was in the city, so even if there were any enemies lurking in ambush, they would've been within sufficiently close proximity to one another to provide reinforcements.
Thus, the decision was made, and everyone quickly split up.
Han Li made his way along a certain street, inspecting everything in the surrounding area with blue light flashing within his eyes.
His body had taken on a semi-tangible form, allowing him to blend into his environment.
All of the people on the street were worshiping the statue, so he would've stuck out like a sore thumb walking along the street on his own, and that was why he had decided to employ this concealment technique.
Moments later, Han Li appeared in front of a shop on the side of the street, and it was another bookshop.
At the moment, the entire city was observing the pilgrimage, so even though the shop was open, there weren't any customers inside, only a middle-aged manager looking after the shop.
Han Li flew into the shop, then re-emerged moments later.
After that, he made no further stops and began to carefully explore the city.
Due to how massive the city was, it took the seven of them close to half a day to examine the entire city, following which they gathered back together in a secluded area in the city.
Unfortunately, none of them were able to dig up any useful information.
It seemed that this city was completely unremarkable aside from its enormous size.
"Looks like this isn't the Red Moon City that we're looking for. In that case, we shouldn't waste any more time here..."
Right at this moment, Wyrm 25 suddenly spoke up to interrupt Wyrm 8. "Hold on a second, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 8, there's something rather strange underground here."
At this moment, Wyrm 25 was crouched down onto the ground, and a series of yellow ripples that were visible to the naked eye were emanating from his body before vanishing into the ground down below.