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Chapter 537: Setting Off
Chapter 537: Setting Off
Chapter 537: Setting Off
Half a month flew by in a flash, and the day that the ship was set to depart quickly arrived.
Han Li left the Faint Smoke Garden early in the morning, then traveled straight to the western city gate with Jin Tong sitting on his finger as a ring.
The biannual ship departures were considered to be important events in Primordial Origin City, so aside from the cultivators traveling on the ship, many spectators had also gathered at the city gate.
By the time Han Li arrived, he discovered that there were already hundreds of cultivators that were lined up at the entrance of the black hall on the inside of the city wall, holding their ship tickets for examination.
Upon joining the line, Han Li briefly scoured through the surrounding crowd to find that only a small number of them were True Immortals, while the vast majority of them were Grand Ascension cultivators.
This wasn't all that surprising to him. After all, past experience had already shown that the chances of survival for cultivators below the Grand Ascension Stage entering the primordial land were simply far too low, even when it came to the already charted areas. However, even for Grand Ascension cultivators traveling through the same charted areas, their chances of survival also weren't very high.
Despite this, they were still willing to take the risk for the chance of being able to secure opportunities that could allow them to ascend to immortality.
Even though the line was very long, there was barely anyone speaking, and even some of the cultivators who were here in groups were conversing with one another in hushed tones or through voice transmission, so the atmosphere was rather solemn.
A few minutes later, the sun finally rose over the city wall, and the first ray of sunlight shone down upon the foot of the city wall, while the toll of a bell rang out from above.
As the bell toll rang out, a black-robed elderly man emerged from the entrance of the black hall, then announced that the ship was ready for boarding before beginning to examine the tickets and allowing the passengers into the hall.
The cultivators up ahead entered the hall one after another, and before long, it was Han Li's turn.
As he offered up his black spirit talisman, the black-robed elderly man flipped a hand over to produce a white jade badge, which he pressed against the talisman, and the latter instantly turned into a wisp of black smoke that seeped into the white jade badge.
Immediately thereafter, the words "A-grade cabin 13" appeared on the badge.
Han Li accepted the badge from the black-robed elderly man, upon which he discovered that there were many tiny characters engraved onto its back.
As he made his way into the hall, he flipped the badge over to see what was inscribed on the back, and at the top of the badge was inscribed the word "Rules", and the rules of the ship were laid out down below.
The first rule was that fighting was strictly prohibited on the ship, regardless of what purpose it was for, and breaking this rule was punishable by death.
The second rule was that no one was allowed to leave the ship for any reason, and this transgression was also punishable by death.
Overall, there were 17 rules in total, and death was the consequence for breaking most of them.
Upon entering the hall, Han Li caught sight of a stone staircase at the back of the hall that led up toward the top of the city wall, and there were currently many people making their way up the staircase.
Han Li did the same, and it didn't take long before arrived at the top of the majestic city wall.
The city wall appeared even wider than it from down below, so wide that 100 people could easily walk along it side by side.
The giant slabs of black stone that were used to pave the city wall were riddled with marks that had been left behind by the passage of time, and at the moment, there were dozens of giant yellow louchuans hovering above the city wall.
These louchuans had bulging centers and tapered tips, and there weren't any fancy decorations on them.
However, they had been completely encased in some type of special metallic material that was riddled with strange runes, giving them a rough and antiquated appearance.
Furthermore, almost all of the ships were riddled with gashes that varied in depth and severity, with some that barely scratched the surface, as well as some that tore through the layer of metal casing and even cut deep into the exposed dragon bone down below.
Groups of black-robed cultivators holding disk treasures in their hands were gathered around the ships, using some type of special secret technique to repair them.
From Han Li's observation, he could see that the most common types of damage displayed on the ships were long and thin gashes and giant conical holes, seemingly having been inflicted by one or two types of primordial beasts.
Right at this moment, a purple figure caught up to him from behind, then began to walk alongside him as they introduced, "That's the handiwork of Sandthorn Snakes and Man-faced Scorpions. One possesses tails as sharp as blades, while the other possesses spike-like pincers. They're the two most common types of demon beasts in the sea of sand, and their offensive prowess is rather ordinary, but they're very abundant in numbers."
Han Li's brows furrowed ever so slightly as he greeted, "Welcome, Fellow Daoist Shi."
The purple-robed figure was none other than Shi Chuankong, who Han Li had previously encountered in the arena.
"It's good to see you here, Fellow Daoist Li. I've already been waiting for over three months in Primordial Origin City to take this ship. If I had to wait any longer, I would've died of boredom!" Shi Chuankong chuckled.
"I don't think you would've been bored with all of the arenas in the city," Han Li said with a smile.
"I was only doing a little bit of gambling to pass the time," Shi Chuankong replied with a slightly embarrassed expression. "By the way, where's the little girl who was with you last time?"
Before Han Li had a chance to reply, a gust of black wind suddenly blew onto the scene from a beacon tower to the north, and a middle-aged man wearing an embroidered black robe emerged.
The black-robed man had a golden badge hanging from his waist, upon which were inscribed the words "Primordial Origin City", clearly indicating that he was from the city lord's manor.
"He's the ship overseer sent by the city lord's manor, and he's responsible for maintaining order on the ship and dealing with unforeseen mishaps. In the past, this duty was occasionally assigned to several late-True Immortal cultivators, but ever since the incident from eight years ago, it's been solely Golden Immortals who have been assigned with this task," Shi Chuankong explained.
"It's time to board the ship," Shi Chuankong continued as he took a subtle glance at the golden ring on Han Li's finger.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the early-Golden Immortal Stage ship overseer descended onto a nearby ship, and shortly thereafter, what appeared to be an administrator emerged from the ship before commencing the boarding process.
It didn't take long for all of the passengers to board the ship, following which the administrator laid out the rules of the ship, which were identical to the ones inscribed onto the white jade badge.
After that, the administrator declared for the ship to depart, and most of the passengers quickly dispersed, returning to their own cabins.
"They say the same things every single time, I'm starting to develop calluses in my ears from hearing this spiel so many times! This is your first time traveling on a ship like this, right, Brother Li? The scenery in the sea of sand is quite spectacular, but I've already grown sick of it after seeing it so many times, so I'll leave you to appreciate the scenery on your own," Shi Chuankong said as he cupped his fist in a parting salute.
"Go ahead, Fellow Daoist," Han Li replied as he returned the salute.
Shi Chuankong smiled as he said, "Surely there's no need to be so cold and distant. How about you refer to me as Brother Shi from now on?"
Han Li merely smiled and offered no response to this.
Shi Chuankong shrugged in a nonchalant fashion, then casually strolled back to his cabin.
Han Li watched him depart for a moment, then turned his gaze elsewhere, but he was still pondering the motives of this excessively friendly demonic man.
It didn't seem like he harbored any sinister intentions, but Han Li decided that it would be best to keep his distance.
As these thoughts were flashing through his mind, the ship gradually began to ascend, rising up from the dock on the city wall.
After flying away from the city wall, the ship commenced a gradual descent, flying down the sheer cliff face toward the boundless sea of sand down below.
Right as the ship was about to descend into the vast sea of sand, all of the runes inscribed onto the ship lit up in unison.
Immediately thereafter, a burst of faint yellow light suddenly erupted out of the ship, forming a giant yellow light barrier that encompassed the entire ship.
At the same time, a peculiar primordial aura also began to emanate from the ship.
An enlightened look appeared on Han Li's face upon sensing this.
Now wonder the ship can avoid the detection of the majority of primordial beasts, it's using a protective array with the core of a powerful primordial beast as a foundation to disguise itself as a primordial being...
Right at this moment, the underside of the ship seemed to have finally come into contact with the bottom of the sea of sand, and after bobbing up and down slightly for a moment, it continued onward in a smooth and stable fashion.
Han Li made his way over to the railing of the ship, then looked down to find that the layer of metal that the ship was encased in seemed to possess a special type of magnetism that repelled the sea of sand, allowing the ship to hover just above the sea of sand as it glided along.
All of a sudden, the light radiating from the ship brightened considerably, and it accelerated drastically, shooting forward like a speeding arrow.
Han Li cast his gaze into the distance, and all he saw was a vast and peaceful expanse of yellow sand. There was no sound to be heard, and it seemed that the entire sea of sand was completely desolate and lifeless.
One of the rules on the jade badge was that cultivators weren't permitted to release their spiritual sense to examine the sea of sand in case they alerted some particularly sensitive primordial beasts, and the administrator had also emphasized the importance of abiding by this rule.
Han Li didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble, so he was happy to follow the rule.
It was going to take at least half a year to reach the primordial land, and after watching the sea of sand for around two hours, Han Li also grew bored of the monotonous scenery, so he returned to his cabin as well.