Chapter 535: Lost
Han Li stood at the entrance of the street, looking up at the white palace in the sky with a thoughtful expression.
According to the book that he had read, the palace had been created by the city lord of Primordial Origin City, and those inside it could oversee everything that happened along the entire street.
Due to the fact that Primordial Origin City was situated on the border of the immortal region, it had a reputation for being somewhat chaotic, but this street was always a very peaceful place. The reason for this was that battles were strictly prohibited here, and anyone who went against this rule would be severely punished, even killed on the spot in some cases.
Over time, this floating palace became a symbol of power and a beacon of authority in the eyes of Primordial Origin City's cultivators.
Han Li quickly withdrew his gaze, then began to inspect the street around him.
Even though there were many streets branching off from the plaza, it didn't appear messy or cluttered in the slightest. Instead, everything had been arranged in an orderly fashion, and it was clear that the layout of the streets had been set out by experts in the field. Furthermore, all of the shops on each street specialized in only selling one type of merchandise, whether that be materials, or spirit treasures, or pills.
After observing his surroundings for a moment, Han Li made his way down one of the wider streets. All types of spirit plants were being sold in the shops on this street, and it was quite a lively and bustling street.
He began making his way toward one of the larger shops on the street, yet right as he was about to step into it, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, then turned around to look behind him with furrowed brows.
As it turned out, Jin Tong had suddenly vanished.
Han Li released his spiritual sense to search for Jin Tong, and as it turned out, she had rushed over to the nearby food stalls again.
Han Li shook his head in exasperation, but didn't summon Jin Tong back to his side.
Even though her powers still didn't quite place her at the very top of the Northern Glacial Immortal Region, he was confident that there was no one in Primordial Origin City capable of harming her.
With that in mind, he made his way into the shop, which was quite large, spanning several thousand feet, and there were many shelves in the shop that were laden with spirit plants and materials.
At this moment, there were many other cultivators already in the shop, and Han Li was immediately greeted by an azure-robed employee.
"How can I help you, esteemed customer? We have the widest range and the cheapest prices that you'll find in Primordial Origin City."
"I'll take a look on my own," Han Li replied as he waved a dismissive hand.
The employee gave an affirmative response, but didn't walk away. Instead, he continued to trail along some distance behind Han Li.
Han Li swept his gaze over the surrounding shelves as he gave an internal nod.
Due to its location, Primordial Origin City was rather isolated from the rest of the Northern Glacial Immortal Region, but the materials here were very much eye-opening for Han Li. They were all very rare items in other places, and in particular, most of the spirit beast materials here were unidentifiable to Han Li, so they most likely came from outside of the Northern Glacial Immortal Region.
Fortunately, all of the wares being sold in the shop had signs beside them that laid out their names and how they could be used.
It didn't take long before Han Li had explored the entire shop, and he was looking a little disappointed.
While it was true that the materials in the shop were quite rare, none of them were of a very high caliber, and most of them were only useful to cultivators below the True Immortal Stage.
The azure-robed employee noticed Han Li's expression, and he rushed over to Han Li before pointing at a staircase in the shop as he said, "Are you looking for some better materials, esteemed customers? The first floor only holds the ordinary spirit materials, while all of the high-grade materials are on the second floor."
"Alright, I'll take a look," Han Li replied with a nod.
"Please come with me."
The employee led the way forward, and it didn't take long before they arrived on the second floor.
In contrast with the first floor, there were only seven or eight shelves on the second floor, but they had clearly been constructed with better materials and design.
Han Li's gaze roamed over the materials on the shelves, and his eyes quickly lit up.
These materials were far more abundant in spiritual power than the ones downstairs. Almost all of them were meant for True Immortal cultivators, and there were even a few that could be used by Golden Immortals.
As Han Li walked along the shelves, his eyes suddenly lit up as he stopped in his tracks, and his gaze settled on a red vine.
"This is a length of Heavenly Siphon Vine. It's a very rare material, and we only recently secured it from a primordial hunter," the employee explained.
"Let me take a closer look at it," Han Li said.
The employee pulled out a badge to dispel the transparent restriction around the shelf, then carefully pulled out the red spirit vine before handing it to Han Li.
Han Li accepted the spirit plant, and an elated look appeared in his eyes following a closer inspection.
The Heavenly Siphon Vine was one of the main materials for refining Heavenly Luster Pills, one of the pills in the Huanan Pill Scripture, so it seemed that he was in luck.
"I'll take this vine. How much is it?" he asked.
Even though he had already gathered all of the ingredients required to refine Infernal Azure Pills, it naturally couldn't hurt for him to refine as many of the pills on the Huanan Pill Scripture as possible.
"Heavenly Siphon Pills are useful even to cultivators above the True Immortal Stage, and this one is over 100,000 years old, so it'll cost 350 Immortal Origin Stones," the employee replied after a brief hesitation.
350 Immortal Origin Stones was quite a large sum, even for a late-True Immortal cultivator, but Han Li didn't even hesitate as he replied, "I'll take it."
At the moment, he had over two million Immortal Origin Stones in his possession, so 350 was but a trifling sum.
The employee was ecstatic.
Han Li continued to browse through the wares on the shelves, but was unable to find any more materials that were useful to him.
Shortly thereafter, he left the shop with the Heavenly Siphon Vine.
However, instead of leaving this street, he made his way into another nearby shop.
Before long, almost an entire day had passed by, and Han Li had explored all of the materials shops in the area, securing many useful materials in the process.
Even though Primordial Origin City wasn't as large as some of the major cities in more prosperous parts of the Northern Glacial Immortal Palace, its location meant that there were many types of precious materials here, so it was no wonder that the Northern Glacial Immortal Palace wanted to seize control of the city.
Unfortunately, he was only able to find a few ingredients required for refining Heavenly Luster Pills, and there were still many missing.
The reason why he had been able to source all of the materials required for refining Infernal Azure Pills was because Xiao Jinhan had almost completed the entire list for him.
Han Li wasn't overly concerned or dismayed by this. He would just have to keep searching for Heavenly Luster Pill ingredients after he entered the primordial land.
After that, Han Li departed from the street of shops selling materials, then made his way onto a street lined with variety stores. He made his way into the largest shop on that street, then quickly emerged with a gray jade slip in his hand.
The jade slip contained a map of the primordial land, but according to the shopkeeper, the map had been created based on information purchased from primordial hunters.
The primordial land was fraught with peril, and a variety store like this one certainly didn't have the ability to verify the information that they had been supplied by these primordial hunters, so the shopkeeper didn't dare to vouch for the accuracy of the map.
In other words, it could only be used for reference purposes, and Han Li was both amused and exasperated to hear this.
Having explored countless places and purchased countless maps, this was the first time that he had heard something so irresponsible.
However, given the perils of the primordial land, all of the maps being sold in the variety stores in the city suffered from the same pitfall.
Han Li inspected the jade slip for a moment, then injected his spiritual sense into it.
The map inside the jade slip was split up into two sections, a small section that was white in color, and a far larger section that was gray.
All of the white areas were quite close to Primordial Origin City, and there was very detailed information presented in those sections, including what demon beasts resided in those areas and what types of materials could be found there.
As for the gray areas, they represented the unknown.
According to the shopkeeper, those white areas were ones that had been explored extensively by people sent out by the city lord, so they were essentially official maps that were very reliable.
As for the gray areas, the annotations on them had been made using information supplied by some primordial hunters, and it was impossible to verify the validity of the information.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Han Li summoned another white jade badge, this one given to him by Wyrm 3, containing the map of the safe route through the primordial land.
The route began at Primordial Origin City and led all the way to the Black Mountain Immortal Region, but there were only some sparse pieces of information presented on the areas that the route passed through, while the other areas had been left completely empty.
Han Li compared the contents of the two maps to find that Wyrm 3's map and the official map supplied by Primordial Origin City were virtually identical.
However, outside of the official map, the gray areas displayed some rather significant differences compared with Wyrm 3's map, and it was impossible to tell which one was more accurate.
A contemplative look appeared on Han Li's face as he made his way into another shop.
Before long, he had visited dozens of shops and purchased a large collection of maps.
There had to be some accurate information on these maps, and it certainly couldn't hurt to have more of them for his upcoming journey into the primordial land.
By the time Han Li emerged from the final variety shop, night had already arrived.
All of the streets in this area were lined with a type of white crystal that gave off a gentle white glow in the night, illuminating the area and giving it an air of wonder and opulence.
At this moment, Han Li's brows were slightly furrowed. He had just verified Jin Tong's location using their spiritual connection, and she was still in Primordial Origin City, but for some reason, her spiritual sense was trembling slightly, a situation that generally only arose whenever she was in a state of heightened excitement while in battle.
Han Li immediately set off for Jin Tong's location, quickly arriving in front of a huge dome-shaped palatial building.
The entrance of the palace was over 100 feet wide, and it was packed with people.
This was one of the arenas in Primordial Origin City, and there were restrictions set up nearby, making it impossible for someone to sense what was happening inside the building from the outside.
Han Li was rather perplexed to see this, and he immediately made his way into the arena.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢