Chapter 1777: Expulsion

A few flashes of green light later, Han Li vanished from the top floor of a stone tower outside the great hall.

"Did the Spirit-Detecting Compass show anything?" the gaunt old man asked, his face suddenly grim once he saw Han Li's escape light vanish into the distance.

"No, Sir. Senior Han is indeed a pure human!" a Cyan-Nether Guard replied.

"He has no pass, and his invalidated Cyan-Nether Guard token was never recovered. Could this person have been stranded in the wilderness for so many years? It seems he must have stumbled upon a significant opportunity; otherwise, there's no way he could have advanced from the Deity Transformation stage to the late Void Refinement stage in three hundred years. But since he's human, there shouldn't be any issues. Why should I trouble myself?" The gaunt Heavenly Guard's eyes flickered for a moment before he finally shook his head.

While successive advancements like this within a few hundred years were extremely rare, countless opportunities existed in the wilderness, so it wasn't unheard of. If the other party had never joined the Heavenly Abyss Guards before, he might have tried to recruit him into their ranks. But since he had already left Heavenly Abyss City once, the guard naturally wouldn't bother trying again.

Thus, the gaunt Heavenly Guard quickly put the matter out of his mind. He then turned his gaze towards the four scholars emerging from the same hall.

Han Li continuously scanned the area below from within his escape light.

More than three hundred years had passed, yet the architecture in Heavenly Abyss City remained almost entirely unchanged.

Numerous black and white armored guards still patrolled at low altitudes throughout the city, and many foreign cultivators were busily entering and exiting various buildings.

The entire city appeared exceptionally prosperous, showing no trace of the previous alien attacks.

This meant Han Li didn't need to trouble himself with anything. His escape light headed straight for Heavenly Abyss City's market.

This time, he had no intention of staying in Heavenly Abyss City for long.

After over a hundred years of consolidating his magic power and undergoing numerous life-or-death trials that tempered his mind, he was now fully prepared to break through to the Integration stage bottleneck. After a period of rest and recuperation, he could begin his attempt.

With the various great divine abilities he possessed, even reaching only the early Integration stage should be enough for him to contend with late Integration stage cultivators, allowing him to traverse freely among both human and demonic races.

Therefore, his next step was simply to choose a secluded location near Heavenly Abyss City, prepare for a period of isolated cultivation, and begin breaking through his bottleneck.

Before that, all other matters would be temporarily set aside and ignored.

However, after more than a hundred years of use, he needed to replenish a large quantity of auxiliary materials in Heavenly Abyss City.

Although he had managed to acquire some supplies from alien races over the years, he had only visited their peripheral regions, so he hadn't been able to truly replenish much.

If he hadn't prepared many items in advance when he left the Thunderous Continent, some of his insights and research might have had to stop midway.

Given Heavenly Abyss City's scale, it should have everything he needed.

With these materials, he could refine some magical artifacts and elixirs to assist him during his breakthrough.

Han Li had visited Heavenly Abyss City's market countless times in the past.

Half an hour later, he landed on a street within the section of buildings divided by a massive light screen.

On the other side of the light screen was the trading area for the demonic race stationed in Heavenly Abyss City.

In the center of the light screen, a grand hall served as the sole place where both humans and demons could exchange rare items.

Han Li's gaze swept over the distant grand hall, and his expression subtly shifted as the vague image of a demonic woman flashed through his mind.

Years ago, he had conducted numerous transactions with this unknown demonic woman in that very hall, exchanging items for rare spirit medicine seeds held by the demonic race.

Without this channel, he would have spent an unknown amount of effort trying to collect them himself.

However, this woman seemed to have some background; she had known in advance about the alien races' impending large-scale attack on Heavenly Abyss City and had consequently left the city early.

Han Li withdrew his gaze, glanced left and right, then calmly entered a larger material shop nearby.

"Our humble shop specializes in all sorts of refining and alchemy materials. Whatever you need, Senior, just say the word."

The shop surprisingly had five or six attendants. A handsome young man immediately approached with a smile.

"You may step back. I will personally attend to this Senior."

Before Han Li could say anything, the shopkeeper, who had been seated on a bamboo chair, suddenly jumped up in surprise after noticing an object in his hand flash intensely several times. He then spoke loudly.

The shopkeeper, who appeared to be an old man in the Core Formation stage, then scurried over to Han Li, his face filled with deference, and said:

"I was unaware of Senior's esteemed presence. This junior failed to greet you at the entrance, please forgive me."

Han Li was somewhat surprised by this.

Although he hadn't used any secret techniques to deliberately conceal his cultivation level after entering the city, a Core Formation stage cultivator should certainly not have been able to directly perceive it.

However, after his gaze swept over the disc-shaped artifact in the old man's hand, Han Li suddenly understood and nodded, saying:

"So you have a Spirit Pressure Disc. No wonder you could detect my cultivation level to some extent. Enough idle talk. I need a large batch of materials. Assemble them for me."

Han Li flipped his hand, and a white jade slip appeared in his palm, which he then tossed to the old man.

The old man took the jade slip with both hands, repeatedly assenting. However, after sweeping his divine sense through the slip, an expression of genuine shock and surprise appeared on his face.

"Senior requires such a vast quantity of materials! This humble shop can provide most of them, but for the remaining materials, I will need to procure them from other shops. Could Senior please wait for a moment?"

"Very well. I'll give you fifteen minutes," Han Li instructed calmly.

The old man was overjoyed. He hastily personally invited Han Li to sit on a chair to the side, then instructed an attendant to serve spirit tea and ordered the other few to immediately retrieve materials from the storehouse.

Afterward, he left the shop to gather the remaining materials for Han Li from familiar shops nearby.

Seeing their manager's actions, the attendants knew that Senior Han must be an extraordinary individual. They all couldn't help but gaze at him with awe.

Han Li calmly took a sip of the spirit tea in his hand, then quietly closed his eyes.

After just the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the old man returned, looking excited, with a storage bracelet prominently displayed in his hand.

At the same time, the other attendants in the shop brought out a large pile of boxes and bottles of various sizes.

To Han Li, these materials might only be common auxiliary items, but to the shop, they were still extremely rare.

After sweeping his divine sense over the storage bracelet and the boxes and bottles several times, Han Li calmly inquired about the price.

The old man, with a fawning smile, quoted a price that would undoubtedly be astronomical for an ordinary immortal cultivator.

Han Li, without blinking an eye, flicked his wrist, and a small leather pouch was instantly tossed over.

The old man took the pouch and, after a quick scan with his divine sense, found that it contained slightly more than he had asked for. He immediately expressed his profuse gratitude, delighted.

Han Li calmly collected all the items, then gracefully drifted out the door.

With a flash of his escape light, Han Li left the market directly, flying towards another side of Heavenly Abyss City.

Several hours later, he grandly departed Heavenly Abyss City, transforming into a green rainbow that streaked through the air towards an endless mountain range.

Half a month later, Han Li left the territory under Heavenly Abyss City's jurisdiction, yet showed no intention of stopping, continuing his rapid flight into the distance.

Two months later, the green rainbow finally landed on a lush, green mountain peak.

His escape light dissipated, and Han Li's figure appeared on a large boulder on the peak. After surveying his surroundings, he closed his eyes and released his powerful divine sense.

A moment later, he nodded in satisfaction.

This place possessed a decent spiritual vein. Although not large, the spiritual energy within a radius of several hundred li was abundant, perfectly suiting his needs.

However, such a spiritual vein would naturally not be unclaimed. After his earlier divine sense sweep, he found more than a dozen cultivators' immortal caves of various sizes nearby.

Some of these caves had over a dozen people gathered in one place, while others had a single person occupying a peak.

However, the highest cultivated individuals were only two Nascent Soul stage cultivators; most of the others were merely at the Core Formation and Foundation Establishment stages.

This was quite normal to consider; higher-level cultivators would not establish their immortal caves in such remote places.

Cultivators above the Deity Transformation stage could easily occupy territories spanning tens of thousands of miles.

Although the spiritual energy here was good, it couldn't accommodate extremely high-level cultivators.

However, Han Li had no intention of cultivating here long-term, so he naturally didn't care about this.

He immediately made a hand seal with one hand, a golden light flashed on his body, and his lips moved slightly without making any sound, as if he were transmitting a message.

Approximately a hundred li from Han Li's location, deep within another mountain peak, a white-haired old man in a black robe was in a heavily restricted secret chamber. Facing a three-meter-tall cauldron, he performed a hand seal with one hand, his expression exceptionally tense.

Below the cauldron, streams of blue flames swirled around it, while a rich herbal fragrance diffused from within.

Suddenly, an incredibly powerful divine sense, ignoring the numerous restrictions outside the secret chamber, descended into the chamber like a demon god.

The black-robed old man had no chance to resist. With a thud, he was instantly pressed to the ground by the immense force carried by this divine sense, unable to move even a finger.

"Ah!"

The old man gasped, his heart naturally filled with dread.

But before he could react further, a cold male voice suddenly echoed above the secret chamber:

"This Lord has matters to attend to and requires the use of this area. I do not wish for any disturbances. All who hear this message, move away from this place immediately. If anyone dares to remain nearby within one day, they shall remain here forever."

As soon as these few words ended, the powerful divine sense instantly dissipated.

The black-robed old man felt his body lighten and immediately regained his mobility.

When he tremblingly stood up again, his eyes were filled with panic.

After a moment's thought, the old man suddenly stomped his foot and, with a swift movement, rushed out of the secret chamber, not even sparing a glance for the cauldron he had previously valued so highly.

An hour later, a streak of white light soared from the mountain peak. After circling once, it shot towards the horizon.

The same scene was simultaneously unfolding across various locations within several hundred li.

Streaks of escape light flew out from all directions, hurriedly leaving this spiritual vein region.

By the end of the day, there were no human cultivators left in this mountain range, only empty, abandoned immortal caves.