Chapter 350: Lockdown
After leaving the Heavenly Star Pagoda, Han Li made his way along the white stone plaza toward a nearby street, just like everyone else, and it wasn't long before he entered the city.
Black Wind City was the most prosperous city in the entire Black Wind Sea, and this was the most prosperous area in the entire city.
The city remained largely unchanged since Han Li's last visit, except several extremely opulent shops had opened up on the most lively and bustling crossroads in the area. Business was booming for these shops, and countless cultivators were constantly entering and exiting the establishments.
Han Li maintained a casual façade as he made his way onto a nearby street, one that was lined with materials shops, and he turned back to take a glance at the Heavenly Star Pagoda before stepping into one of the shops.
The shop wasn't very large, and there weren't many customers inside.
Han Li was immediately greeted by an enthusiastic employee, who asked, "What can I help you with today?"
Han Li began to engage in a casual conversation with the employee, but his peripheral vision was still focused on the Heavenly Star Pagoda.
An entire hour passed by, and nothing happened on the plaza outside the pagoda.
All of a sudden, a group of cultivators appeared on an obscure corner of the plaza, and they were none other than the hunch-backed elderly woman and the group of concealed True Immortals, with the late-True Immortal Stage middle-aged man bringing up the rear.
As soon as the group appeared on the plaza, they immediately rose up into the air and flew away in a certain direction, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
Han Li's suspicions were confirmed upon seeing this.
If he recalled correctly, that direction was where the island master's manor was situated.
After purchasing a few materials to keep up appearances, Han Li left the shop, then cast his gaze toward the direction that the group had flown away in with a slightly hesitant look in his eyes.
However, he then shook his head and departed in another direction.
Regardless of how these people were related to the master of Black Wind Island or what their intentions were, they most likely had nothing to do with him, so it was best for him to avoid attracting unnecessary trouble.
With that in mind, Han Li passed through several more streets, and as he emerged from a secluded alley, he had adopted another disguise, transforming into a yellow-skinned man.
With the Transient Guild mask, adopting disguises was very easy, so he took on a new appearance in virtually every single place that he passed through.
After that, he began to explore Black Wind City while replenishing some supplies.
Perhaps it was because the Black Wind Sea's ties with the outside world had been strengthened, but the city really had become a lot more prosperous than before, and various types of materials and pills that had been quite rare in the past could now be found in all of the shops.
Close to half a day later, Han Li rose up into the air as a streak of azure light before flying away into the distance.
Shortly thereafter, he descended onto the plaza in front of the island master's manor.
At a rough glance, this place hadn't changed much, either, except the manor was currently enshrouded under layers of light barriers of different colors, and there were also some cultivators patrolling nearby, indicating that security had become a lot tighter than before.
Han Li didn't linger for very long here before making his way toward the Talisman Letter Palace where missions were released.
There were many more cultivators gathered in the palace than during his last visit, and the number of missions on the stone wall inside had also increased significantly.
Furthermore, the contents of the missions had also changed drastically, and there were many more missions
There were even missions that offered rewards for killing certain Azure Feather Island cultivators, each one with its own corresponding reward.
Han Li quickly read through all of the missions on the stone wall, but he was unable to find any related to himself or even the Blaze Dragon Dao.
However, he still wasn't completely reassured.
He strolled around the hall for a while to strike up some conversations with other cultivators who were also looking at missions, and only after confirming that there were no signs of the Immortal Palace coming after him here was he finally able to heave an internal sigh of relief.
However, prior to leaving, he took on a mission to acquire a certain demon beast material in order to avoid suspicion.
After leaving the Talisman Letter Palace, Han Li took another glance at the island master's manor before flying toward the city gate as a streak of azure light.
However, halfway to the city gate, a burst of dull rumbling suddenly rang out from all over the island, accompanied by the sound of splashing waves.
Han Li hurriedly stopped in his tracks, then looked around to find that pillars of blue light had erupted into the heavens around Black Wind City, forming a fence-like structure around the entire city.
Formidable energy fluctuations were emanating from the pillars of light, causing the surrounding space to tremble and quiver.
Waves of watery light then began to surge out of the pillars of blue light, causing them to bend and converge toward the center, quickly fusing together to become interconnected.
Before long, a thick blue light barrier had taken shape, encompassing the entire city within it.
Countless ripples were surging over the light barrier, and it was clear that this was a very intricate array.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and after a brief moment of contemplation, he continued onward, quickly reaching the city gate.
There were many people gathered at the city gate, causing quite a commotion.
Han Li descended discreetly by the edge of the crowd, then made his way into the throngs of people.
At this moment, the group of cultivators at the front of the line were communicating to a black-robed city guard.
"What's going on? Why has the protective array suddenly been activated?"
"We urgently need to leave the city, would you be able to make an exception and let us through?"
"Island Master Lu has ordered for the protective array to be activated as we've just received news that some cultivators from Azure Feather Island intend to attack Black Wind City. This is just a safety precaution, and as soon as the threat is alleviated, we'll immediately deactivate the array," the leader of the guards declared to everyone as he cupped his fist in an apologetic salute.
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this.
He had already heard that the conflict between Black Wind City and Azure Feather Island was worsening by the day, but he didn't think that things were already this severe.
Judging from everyone's reactions, it seemed that they weren't overly surprised by this explanation.
Han Li pondered the situation momentarily, then turned to a red-robed elderly man beside him as he asked, "Fellow Daoist, could it be that the city's protective array is activated quite often?"
The red-robed elderly raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, and he asked, "Are you not from the Black Wind Sea?"
"I only just arrived on Black Wind Island through the teleportation array, so I'm not very familiar with the state of affairs here," Han Li replied in a polite manner.
"I see. The conflict between Black Wind Island and Azure Feather Island has been getting more and more intense. Black Wind City is the stronghold of Black Wind Island, but it's still not all that safe, and the city's protective array has already been activated many times in recent years," the red-robed elderly man explained.
"Which side has the upper hand in the conflict?" Han Li asked.
"Overall, Black Wind Island is more powerful than Azure Feather Island, but recently, Azure Feather Island has managed to recruit many islands as allies, so they're not able to stand toe to toe against Black Wind Island. I wonder when this war is going to come to an end," the red-robed elderly man sighed.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemplative look in his eyes.
Right as the crowd was abuzz with conversation, a Grand Ascension Stage middle-aged man emerged from the crowd, then asked, "May I ask when the array will be deactivated? You can't just expect all of us to wait indefinitely."
"I'm afraid I can't give you a precise answer. Perhaps it'll only be two or three days, perhaps it could be up to 10 days or half a month. If you need to leave the city for some urgent reason, you can go the island master's manor to request an audience with Island Master Lu. If you can acquire an exit token from Island Master Lu, then you'll be free to go," the leader of the guards replied.
The man's brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this, but he didn't say anything further.
Many others were also reluctant to accept this arrangement, but they clearly didn't dare to oppose the authority of the island master's manor. As for applying for an exit token, none of them actually had to leave the city that urgently, so after some more discussion, all of the cultivators gathered at the city gate quickly dispersed.
Han Li's brows were slightly furrowed as he heaved an internal sigh.
It seemed that his luck was rather bad. If he had set off just a little earlier, perhaps he would've already been out of the city by now.
He took a glance up at the blue light barrier in the sky, then bade farewell to the red-robed elderly man before returning the same way that he had come.
The activation of the protective array had caused a stir in the city, but it quickly subsided. After all, this was a fairly regular occurrence, so everyone quickly continued with what they were doing.
Before long, Han Li arrived in an inn in a secluded part of the city, where he rented a room.
Night soon arrived, and inside the secret chamber, Han Li's eyes suddenly sprang open as he rose to his feet, then swept a sleeve through the air to release around a dozen streaks of azure light that descended all around the room to form a restriction.
Immediately thereafter, he made a hand seal, and arcs of golden lightning appeared over his body before quickly spreading outward to form a golden lightning array.
The lightning array then flashed with golden light, and he abruptly vanished from the spot.
The remaining traces of golden lightning lingered momentarily in the room before completely fading away.
Meanwhile, in a secret chamber deep beneath the island master's manor.
It was quite a dimly lit room that was surrounded by rippling black light.
At the center of the secret chamber was a large blue jade platform, above which were hovering a series of blue array flags, of which there were at least 10,000.
Dazzling blue light was radiating from these array flags, forming a hemispherical blue light barrier that enshrouded the blue jade platform down below.
Engraved onto the platform was an image of a city, and upon close inspection, one would quickly be able to tell that it was none other than Black Wind City.
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