Chapter 368: Challenge (Part 1)

Han Li examined these guards. Although there was no fluctuation of spiritual power on their bodies, each of them was agile and nimble; it seemed they had practiced some crude martial arts.

However, what made him most curious was that cylinder. These guards had no spiritual power, yet they could use this to identify cultivators; it was truly a marvelous object.

Han Li couldn't help but examine the cylinder a few more times.

All of this was seen by Wang Wang Changqing, who was beside him, and he explained to Han Li with a smile:

"That is a Spirit Disc; it allows us mortals to identify the identities of the Immortal Masters!"

"Spirit Disc?" Han Li was slightly stunned upon hearing this name, but he immediately remembered that a palm-sized jade disc was indeed embedded at one end of the cylinder, so he nodded lightly and said nothing.

Following this, under Han Li's cold observation, the beast-drawn carriage drove along a street paved with white stone toward the city center.

There were many pedestrians on the road, coming and going incessantly, and there was a trend that the further they went, the more lively it became.

The clothes of these people were mostly white, and even if there were other different colors, they were all light-colored garments such as pale yellow or micro-green; there wasn't a single person dressed in bright colors.

Moreover, among these people, there was a clear distinction between high and low status. Often, one or two people with expensive clothing walked in front, followed closely by three or four people with somewhat tattered clothes, clearly the status of servants.

In the end, because there were too many people and beast-drawn carriages, Han Li and his group had to slow down their speed to continue moving forward.

After a great deal of effort, the beast-drawn carriage finally arrived at a huge square in the city center.

This square covered dozens of mu of land and could be called a sea of people. Han Li looked at it, and everywhere were black heads of people.

And streams of people from all directions continued to pour into the square incessantly.

Along the perimeter of the square, numerous shops were open, crowded with people. In the middle of the shops were some temporary stalls, which were also packed with people. In the middle were even more people, eagerly discussing something, appearing bustling and exceptionally lively.

Han Li's eyes were somewhat straight as he watched. He estimated slightly in his heart that with the crowd standing so densely, at the very least, tens of thousands of people were crowded into this square at the same time.

Once the beast-drawn carriage arrived here, it naturally could not move forward anymore.

The Master of the Gu Manor took the lead in getting off the carriage and brought Han Li and the others to walk toward a palace-style building at the edge of the square.

This palace was about a dozen zhang high, clearly a large cut above the other buildings.

Moreover, in front of the huge palace gate stood a row of guards, holding flashing spears and guarding the place, not allowing others to approach it casually.

"Today is the market day that occurs once every three months on Kuixing Island, so there are several times more people in this 'East Stone City' than on usual days. Basically, people from more than a dozen towns in the east will come here to trade for some rare items that cannot be bought ordinarily." The Master of the Gu Manor explained all this to Han Li while walking forward.

Han Li smiled faintly and followed him to the front of the palace.

The Master of the Gu Manor went up and said a few words to the guards at the gate, and the guards waved their hands, signaling that they could enter.

Thus, the Master of the Gu Manor hurriedly greeted Han Li and Wang Wang Changqing, and they walked in together.

As soon as they entered the palace gate, it felt much cooler and quieter. In the corridor behind the gate, dozens of people who looked like they had some status were whispering to each other in groups of three or five. Seeing the arrival of the Master of the Gu Manor, they all looked over with some hostility.

But at this moment, the purple wooden door at the other end of the corridor opened, and a white-clothed youth of about twenty years old walked out from inside. This person had delicate features and was fair and clean, looking very weak and scholarly.

"Is it Mr. Gu? Everyone else has already arrived, and only the Gu family is missing. But inside, only the cultivators participating in the challenge can enter. Mr. Gu, please wait here for the results!" The youth looked at Han Li with goodwill and said to the Master of the Gu Manor in a polite manner.

The youth's cultivation base was revealed clearly under Han Li's sweep; it was about the fourth or fifth layer of the Qi Condensation stage, which was about the same as his current self.

Seeing this, the Master of the Gu Manor had no choice but to look at Han Li with expectant eyes, and then retreated to the side after saying yes.

Han Li followed the youth into the wooden door with his usual expression, and then the wooden door was immediately closed tightly.

"My surname is Wen; Fellow Daoist can call me Wen Wen Qiang. However, I see that Fellow Daoist is very unfamiliar; could it be that you are a cultivator who has just arrived on our Kuixing Island?" As soon as he brought Han Li into the wooden door, the youth turned around and asked with a smile.

"This humble one is Han Li; I only arrived on Kuixing Island last month!" After practicing for this period, Han Li finally had no problems speaking the local language.

"Hehe, I truly admire you! With Fellow Daoist's current cultivation base, you dare to venture out. Fellow Daoist truly has extraordinary courage! This humble one cannot do it; ever since I was born on this island, I haven't left Kuixing Island even once." The youth said with some envy.

Hearing this, Han Li smiled lightly and did not respond.

Then, Han Li followed the youth straight ahead and arrived at a circular hall, where more than thirty cultivators with different expressions were sitting or standing.

"It looks like everyone has arrived. Then let's start drawing lots immediately! One battle decides the outcome; only injuring is allowed, not killing, otherwise the qualification to win will be canceled." An old man with the bearing of a Daoist immortal, sitting opposite the crowd, said extremely concisely.

Among the room full of Qi Condensation stage cultivators, he was the only one at the Foundation Establishment early-stage cultivation base; it seemed he was the cultivator in charge of this matter.

And as soon as the youth surnamed Wen entered the hall, he hurried to stand behind the old man with his hands at his sides.

The old man ignored the youth and took out a green jade cylinder, which contained more than twenty bamboo slips.

"Alright, those who want to challenge, come and draw one. Those with the same number will compete against each other first; only the winner will have the qualification to challenge the representative of the original merchant."

Hearing this, most of the thirty people stared at the jade cylinder.

The jade slip suddenly emitted a layer of green light, shrouding the bamboo slips within it. The spiritual sense of the others was automatically repelled outside the green light, and some even suffered a slight impact, unable to help but sway their bodies a few times.

The other cultivators who did not use spiritual sense to probe the jade cylinder revealed expressions of gloating.

These people were the cultivators who were to be challenged. Naturally, they hoped that Han Li and the other challengers would suffer as much as possible.

With Han Li's powerful spiritual sense, forcibly breaking the green light would naturally be no problem, but he wouldn't do such an eye-catching thing.

Thus, looking at each other, Han Li and the other cultivators took turns going up to draw bamboo slips.

After Han Li drew one, he looked at it slightly and saw it was a strange silver symbol.

He couldn't help but frown; he had forgotten about this matter. He didn't know the local characters!

But Han Li remained expressionless, still putting the bamboo slip in his hand away, appearing as if nothing had happened.

"Number one," the old man said coldly.

Instantly, two cultivators holding the same bamboo slip walked out.

"You go to the platform over there to compete; a formation has been set up there, so there is no fear of damage from magic spells. As long as you can get the opponent's bamboo slip and hand it to me, you are considered the winner. I don't ask what methods or means you use. Of course, you cannot kill the opponent." The old man said without any politeness.

"Yes, Senior!" The two bowed to the old man and walked toward the open-air platform that could be vaguely seen behind the hall.

As a result, after a white light lit up on the platform, the figures of the two disappeared.

But after a while, the two reappeared on the platform, somewhat exhausted.

One of them excitedly handed the two bamboo slips to the old man, while the other walked directly out of the hall in dejection.

"Number two," the old man called out coldly.

Because the fighting methods of Qi Condensation stage cultivators were relatively simple, the outcome was decided very quickly.

There was even a pair of cultivators who had just entered, and after a moment, both came out, whether the winner or the loser, both were smiling and exceptionally happy. This made Han Li feel a little strange.

"Number seven."

A cultivator stood out immediately following the old man's voice, but the other person did not appear for a long time.

"Number seven," the old man's face sank as he called out again.

At this moment, Han Li walked out with a look of sudden realization, hurriedly apologizing:

"Senior! I am truly sorry. I misread the number just now and thought I was number nine!"

The old man didn't care what Han Li was saying at all, waving his hand impatiently, and Han Li tactfully walked toward the platform with the other person.

After the white light flashed, Han Li and the other party appeared in a white, misty world. Except for the space dozens of zhang wide in the middle, everything around was white mist.

"Your cultivation base is a full two layers lower than mine. I think there is no need to fight anymore; Fellow Daoist, just admit defeat! Save me from accidentally injuring you if I lose control for a moment later!" The middle-aged cultivator opposite said to Han Li with a face full of confidence.

Han Li looked at this "expert" at the seventh layer of the Qi Condensation stage opposite him, and seeing that he, like himself, hadn't even opened his protective barrier, he began to laugh lightly.

【End of Chapter】 ===== CHAPTER 369 =====