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.

"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.