Chapter 2052: Blood Crow City

Volume Ten: Battle in the Demon Realm

Hours later, Han Li floated high in the air, gazing at the faintly visible, blood-red city walls in the distance. He murmured to himself, "Is this Blood Crow City? It certainly doesn't look very big."

"While this city isn't large, it's built from stones found near Bloodlight Crystal mines, which are said to possess certain disruptive effects. If attacked directly with magic, the power would be somewhat weakened," Ancestor Long of the Long family, who was nearby, said with a faint smile.

"In that case, this city also has some ability to resist the Butterfly-tailed Beasts. It seems our decision to stay here was wise," the feather-robed girl said with a sweet smile.

"When I previously sealed the memories of those two demons, I took the opportunity to scan them briefly. I found that although this region frequently experiences various beast tides, attacks on Blood Crow City are quite rare. It appears this place isn't as simple as it looks. However, this city genuinely doesn't have any enchantments designed to neutralize Pseudo-Demon Beads. When we enter later, we only need to suppress our cultivation levels to the Deity Transformation or Void Refinement stage; we shouldn't attract too much attention," Ancestor Long said to everyone without hesitation.

The others nodded, expressing no objections.

Ancestor Long immediately flicked his sleeve, and a surge of demonic energy erupted from him, sweeping the group away. They shot towards the distant, blood-red city wall.

A moment later, as the demonic energy dissipated, Han Li and the others found themselves before a dark city gate.

At the gate, thirty to forty demon guards in green armor scrutinized them with extreme vigilance.

However, when Ancestor Long snorted and released his immense aura of the Void Refinement stage, the expressions of these demon guards, most of whom were at the Nascent Soul stage, instantly changed to awe.

A demon commander, who appeared to be at the Deity Transformation stage, hurried forward to greet them. After asking a few careful questions, he immediately waved his hand, ordering the guards to open the gate, allowing Han Li and his companions to stride confidently into the city.

After all, for a small city like this, a Void Refinement stage cultivator was an existence not to be offended. The guards' initial inspection was merely due to the current state of martial law.

Under normal circumstances, given the diverse populace of demons moving in and out of Blood Crow City, even this brief questioning would likely not have occurred.

However, the moment he stepped through the city gate, a faint blue light flashed in Han Li's eyes as he scanned the array formed by several demon runes inscribed on the dark gate, though he showed no expression on his face.

He didn't know about the enchantments elsewhere, but those at the city gate were extremely ordinary and nothing to be wary of.

Upon entering the city, rows of buildings of varying heights immediately came into view. Most were predominantly black and red, with occasional buildings of other colors that clearly appeared to be temporary constructions.

Wide streets, capable of accommodating three beast-drawn carriages abreast, crisscrossed among these rows of buildings.

Overall, the city was clearly not as vast as the typical cities of the Spirit Realm, which often boasted populations in the hundreds of millions. Although described as a small city, upon closer inspection, it was more like a large walled town, housing at most five to six million demons.

However, the city had activated a flight-restriction enchantment. Apart from a few patrolling guards exempted from the restriction, no other demons were flying in the air.

After walking for a while, Han Li and his companions found that while Blood Crow City wasn't exactly overflowing with people, it was certainly bustling at the moment.

The streets were filled with demons of various appearances, including ferocious, beast-like demons, and those whose looks were indistinguishable from ordinary humans.

Buildings lining the streets were mostly diverse shops and some common structures resembling inns.

Many demons constantly moved in and out of these buildings, appearing busy.

Most of these demons had not weak cultivation levels, predominantly Nascent Soul and Core Formation stages, with a small portion at the Deity Transformation realm. As for Void Refinement cultivators, they only encountered two or three occasionally after walking for quite a distance, and even those were at the early stage of cultivation.

After walking for some time, Han Li and the others could see a small, hundreds of zhang high stone mountain occupying a corner of the town in the distance.

Along the mountain's edge, gray and white buildings resembling stone towers were constructed, tightly enclosing most of the small mountain.

Between these stone towers, armored elite demons could be faintly seen patrolling back and forth.

Halfway up the mountain stood a black and red stone palace, which they presumed was the residence and cultivation place of the Demon Venerable "Bing Qianren."

Han Li gazed at the stone palace from afar, his eyes slightly narrowed in thought.

At this moment, Ancestor Long, who was leading the group, suddenly stopped at a crossroads. Turning his head, he said to everyone, "Let us disperse here. I imagine most fellow Daoists prefer to act alone. Once the Butterfly-tailed Beasts disperse, we can regroup here and resume our journey. After all, this city isn't large, so it will be easy to contact each other if anything happens."

"That works. I actually just saw some interesting things, so I'll go ahead," the feather-robed girl said with a light chuckle, to everyone's surprise, being the first to agree.

She then bowed slightly to the group and, without hesitation, headed back the way they came.

Saintess Qianqiu and her companions exchanged glances before quietly excusing themselves and walking off.

From their demeanor, it seemed they intended to act together.

"Brother Long, then I shall take my leave as well," Han Li said, bowing to Ancestor Long, his expression unchanged.

"Brother Han, safe travels!" Ancestor Long returned the bow without delay.

Han Li nodded, then turned and walked towards a nearby street.

Ancestor Long remained in place, watching Han Li's receding figure until it disappeared with a flicker at another intersection. Only then did the smile on his face gradually faded. He turned to the disheveled-haired man from the Lin family and asked faintly, "Fellow Daoist Lin, regarding the cooperation I previously suggested, what have you decided? Can you give this old man an answer now?"

The disheveled-haired man, who had not left, his pupils slightly contracted upon hearing this, hesitated slightly before replying, "Brother Long, this matter is of great importance. I still need some more time to consider."

"Hmm, it is indeed a significant matter. No wonder Brother Lin is so cautious. But it's fine; this journey is long anyway, so Brother Lin can take all the time he needs to consider," Ancestor Long replied with a faint smile, showing no surprise.

"Then I, Lin, thank Brother Long," the disheveled-haired man said politely, his expression shifting slightly.

After that, the Lin family's Grand Elder and Ancestor Long conversed for a few more moments, then the Grand Elder also departed.

"Brother Long, judging by his demeanor, he might not necessarily agree to our invitation. Why don't we switch targets and sound out the Ye family instead? After all, according to our original plan, the Ye family members seem more suitable for our objective," the black-robed man, who had been silently standing beside Ancestor Long, suddenly said coldly.

"The Ye family won't do! They are too wary of our Long family, and they seem to have sensed something. They won't agree. Instead, it might expose more things!" Ancestor Long shook his head without hesitation.

"But this Lin fellow is clearly just humoring us. I'm afraid that even if he agrees later, he likely won't cooperate sincerely with us," Elder Hui said with a frown.

"As long as he agrees, this old man won't allow him to back out. Alright, this isn't the place for discussion; we'll talk about this later. Let's first visit a material shop in the city and see if they have the materials we need," Ancestor Long said with a strange smile flashing across his face, waving his hand.

"A material shop is indeed where we should look first. I imagine most of the others have gone to similar places. Let's head in a different direction so we don't run into them," the black-robed man agreed.

"That's exactly what this old man had in mind. Let's go!"

Ancestor Long chuckled softly, then led the black-robed man forward.

Saintess Qianqiu and the other Spirit Race members walked slowly along another street, conversing rapidly in secret.

"Zhishui's situation isn't good. His seal seems to be subtly loosening. It must be reinforced immediately," Saintess Qianqiu said with a trace of solemnity through a spiritual message.

"Impossible, wasn't the last enchantment applied not long ago? How could it lose its suppressive power so quickly?" the figure in the white light asked in a deep voice.

"I'm not entirely sure, but it's likely because we're currently in the Demon Realm. Elder Bai knows that the origin of that thing is somewhat connected to the Demon Realm. It seems the large amount of demonic energy here is significantly stimulating it, causing the seal to loosen," Saintess Qianqiu replied with a soft sigh.

"Zhishui must not have any problems; he is our ace in the hole. Find a place to stay immediately. Then, a few of us will guard while you immediately reinforce the seal," the figure in the white light said coldly without hesitation upon hearing this.

"Yes, that's what I was thinking too."

Saintess Qianqiu nodded and, after walking a bit further with her companions, turned into an alley ahead.

At the end of the alley, a tall building resembling an inn stood prominently, and several dust-covered demons were striding confidently inside.

In a crimson demon shop, the feather-robed girl was receiving a piece of unknown, entirely green ore from a pale-skinned demon.

She allowed the demon before her to talk voluminously, and after sweeping her divine sense through the ore, a smiling expression appeared on her face.

At the same time, Han Li was walking down a narrow street, its sides densely packed with stalls of various sizes.

Behind each stall, a demon of varying appearance was either sitting or standing.

Despite the somewhat chaotic nature of this place, numerous demons with considerable auras lingered before these stalls, and occasionally, individuals engaged in unusually heated arguments with the stall owners.

Han Li looked at the somewhat familiar scene before him, a slight smile playing on his lips.