Chapter 1601: Cloud City (Wishing All Readers a Merry Christmas)

A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality

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"Is this Cloud City?" Han Li, enveloped in a faint green light, looked up at the distant sky, his expression turning unusually peculiar.

"Indeed, as the name suggests, Cloud City is the Spirit Realm's second type of floating dwelling, surpassed only by Sky Island," Jia Tianmu replied proudly, twirling a few short whiskers on his chin as he stood beside Han Li. "While it cannot drift slowly with the wind like Sky Island, it can freely adjust its altitude with the changing seasons."

Currently, the two of them stood on the peak of a small mountain, while high in the sky, hundreds of miles away, a gigantic city hung motionless.

The city was suspended tens of thousands of feet above the ground; not only was it surrounded by white clouds, but its entire structure was built from some unknown white material.

Its location at such a high altitude, coupled with its immense size, caused anyone seeing it for the first time to feel an overwhelming sense of shock.

Another striking feature was the dozen or so abnormally white, colossal spheres encircling the enormous city. From a distance, each seemed relatively small. However, upon closer inspection, it became clear that they were immense objects, tens of thousands of feet in diameter.

As for the exact number of these spheres, Han Li was unable to make an accurate judgment since only one side of Cloud City was visible.

"What are those?" Han Li asked, unable to contain his curiosity after his initial shock, as he pointed at the spheres.

"Fellow Daoist Han, you're referring to the Cloud City Guards!" Jia Tianmu replied with a mysterious smile. "They are a masterpiece created through the combined efforts of our Myriad Ancient Tribe and the Stone Cocoon Tribe, and one of Cloud City's ultimate defensive trump cards. You'll find out the specifics once you enter Cloud City and make a few inquiries. Haha, allow me to keep you in suspense for now!"

Hearing this, Han Li was a bit speechless.

However, he didn't intend to press the matter further. Instead, filled with curiosity about this city in the clouds, he activated his escape light and ascended into the sky as a streak of green.

Jia Tianmu also followed closely, enveloped in white light.

When they were still hundreds of miles away, they didn't have a clear concept of the city's true size. But once they truly approached within a hundred miles, the sheer enormity of Cloud City made even the well-traveled Han Li gasp in astonishment.

Seen from such a close distance, Cloud City almost obscured half of the sky ahead.

Along the way, they also began to see the escape lights of other foreign cultivators from a distance, as well as various flying magical artifacts such as beast-drawn carriages and spirit boats.

As they drew closer to the city, the number of foreign cultivators steadily increased.

By the time Han Li could clearly see one of the gigantic spheres in his direction with his naked eye, the number of escape lights coming and going nearby was so immense that they filled the sky as far as the eye could see.

However, for some reason, almost everyone, upon approaching the gigantic spheres, obediently took a detour, with no one daring to pass through the area near them.

Seeing this, Han Li naturally couldn't resist looking closely for a few moments.

With blue light flickering deep within his pupils, everything on the surface of the sphere appeared almost as if it were right in front of him.

It was evident that the external material used for these colossal objects was the same as that of Cloud City. However, upon closer inspection, it was revealed that the spheres' seemingly smooth, abnormally white surfaces were covered with faint, crack-like patterns.

It was as if these spheres were assembled from countless pieces of material. On almost every piece of the assembled material, faint golden and silver runes flickered continuously, making each sphere appear incredibly mysterious.

Han Li frowned and unceremoniously swept his spiritual sense over the sphere.

The moment his spiritual sense touched the sphere's surface, it was immediately repelled by a powerful restrictive force, unable to penetrate even slightly into the sphere.

Han Li, however, wasn't surprised. For something so mysterious, if he could so easily discern its inner workings, that would have been truly astonishing to him.

"Fellow Daoist, remember, if you are carrying metal-type treasures or materials, you absolutely must not approach within a thousand zhang of them," Jia Tianmu warned, seeing Han Li continuously observing the distant spheres. "Otherwise, all metallic objects will be forcibly absorbed and devoured by them. And Cloud City will not compensate for any losses incurred as a result."

"There's such a thing?" Han Li said, somewhat surprised. He glanced at the many others passing nearby and found himself believing most of it.

Many of the nearby escape lights changed direction, heading towards one of Cloud City's colossal city gates.

At this city gate, dozens of guards, clad in unified battle armor, stood solemnly on both sides, meticulously inspecting everyone who wished to enter.

This careful inspection was indeed only for cultivators wishing to enter the city; those wishing to exit were not questioned at all.

The battle armor worn by these guards completely enveloped them from head to toe. However, their body sizes varied greatly, with huge discrepancies, suggesting they were not all of the same race.

Seeing this, Han Li narrowed his eyes, but his escape light did not stop. In a moment, he and Jia Tianmu finally arrived at the city gate.

At this time, some nearby escape lights were continuously descending, with about a dozen cultivators preparing to undergo inspection.

In fact, the so-called "inspection" merely consisted of several guards holding peculiar-looking magic plates, continuously scanning them over the unfamiliar faces. At the same time, another guard quickly picked up a different item and, while listening, inputted some information into it.

In the high skies above Cloud City, no restrictive light shields or similar barriers appeared. Yet, the air above Cloud City was completely empty, with no escape light daring to directly fly over the hundreds-of-zhang-tall city walls and enter the city.

This time, Jia Tianmu didn't say anything. After a slight smile, he suddenly walked past the several foreign cultivators who were waiting for inspection.

This act, similar to "cutting in line," naturally caused some dissatisfaction among the others.

However, most of these foreign cultivators were around the Foundation Establishment to Core Formation stage. As soon as their spiritual senses swept over Jia Tianmu and they realized he was from a noble tribe, they immediately fell silent, not daring to show even a hint of anger.

However, Jia Tianmu's actions naturally caught the guards' attention, and several sharp, cold gazes swept over him simultaneously.

The cultivation levels of these guards seemed to be no lower than Jia Tianmu's.

But facing this scene, Jia Tianmu unhurriedly flicked his sleeve, and a palm-sized, jet-black token flew out, shooting towards the guard who appeared to be in charge.

The guard's gaze momentarily froze, but he quickly reacted, snatching the token and intently looking down at it.

At the same time, Jia Tianmu's lips moved slightly, but no sound was emitted; he was actually performing a voice transmission technique!

But then something happened that completely astonished these foreign cultivators.

The leading guard first looked at the token in his hand, his eyes revealing a look of shock. Then, upon hearing Jia Tianmu's voice transmission, he instantly cast aside all doubt. He immediately took a few steps forward respectfully, returned the token to Jia Tianmu with both hands, and bowed, speaking with extreme deference:

"So it's Master Jia of the Myriad Ancient Tribe! Master, please enter quickly. Several elders of your tribe have already given instructions: if Master returns safely to Cloud City, please proceed immediately to the Heavenly Dawn Pavilion to meet them. Oh, and given that there might be spies from the Horned Chi Tribe infiltrating the city, I will immediately dispatch a few guards to escort Master directly to the Heavenly Dawn Pavilion."

"Oh, the elders are all at the Heavenly Dawn Pavilion!" Jia Tianmu said in a commanding tone after taking the token. "Even if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have gone to see them immediately. As for the guards, they won't be needed for now. With Fellow Daoist Han accompanying me, unless it's an ambush by an Integration stage cultivator, we should be perfectly safe. You may continue with your duties. By the way, Fellow Daoist Han is not from our Sky Cloud people; please prepare a highest-level free identity token for him. I will be his guarantor."

"Yes, Master!" The guard was momentarily stunned by these words but immediately agreed wholeheartedly.

At this moment, Han Li unhurriedly walked over.

Several guards immediately simultaneously waved their magic plates at him.

Han Li felt extremely faint spiritual pressure emanating from the peculiar circular plates. Immediately afterward, several streams of spiritual sense suddenly emanated from these guards and surprisingly converged and merged into one, sweeping over Han Li.

Han Li's heart skipped a beat, and a look of surprise flashed across his eyes.

A cultivation method that could merge the spiritual senses of several people was something he had truly never seen before.

Cloud City truly deserved its reputation as the core city of the Thirteen Sky Cloud Tribes. Even a random gate guard possessed such an incredible secret technique.

However, once those guards finished probing Han Li's cultivation, all of them instantly felt a chill in their hearts.

A seventh-tier existence of an upper race was naturally extremely rare, even within a racial alliance like the Thirteen Sky Cloud Tribes.

The leading guard, after glancing at the magic plate in his hand, which showed no reaction indicating a Horned Chi Tribe bloodline, immediately relaxed and said to Han Li:

"Senior! Since Master Jia is acting as your guarantor and you have passed the initial scan, we will immediately forge a high-level identity token for you. With this token, you will have unrestricted access to all areas within Cloud City, except for certain highly confidential locations."

"Then I shall trouble you!" Han Li, for his part, appeared exceptionally amiable.

This Soul Transformation stage guard politely insisted that it was no trouble at all.

And the matter of sending guards to escort Jia Tianmu, which the guard had previously mentioned, was naturally no longer brought up. It was clear that he also believed that with a seventh-tier upper race existence like Han Li present, there was no need for him to send anyone else.

The rest was simple. In a moment, the guards had forged a jade token containing Han Li's basic information and handed it to him. Then, the leading guard waved his hand, immediately clearing a path.

Jia Tianmu did not hesitate and immediately strode into the city. Han Li unhurriedly followed behind.

"Fellow Daoist Jia, what kind of secret art was that cultivation method earlier, which merged the spiritual senses of several people?" Han Li suddenly asked the moment they stepped inside the city gate. "If such a miraculous secret method exists, wouldn't it be a top-tier weapon against enemies!"