Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 204

Han Li, unaware that he had escaped a great threat, traveled northeast day and night without rest.

Since a wanted order had been issued, he could no longer stay in the southwestern sea area. To reach another sea area, he needed a map that covered the entire Chaotic Star Sea.

Han Li, who only possessed a map of the southwestern sea area, landed on an island.

This island wasn’t large, but it was located on the border between the southwestern sea area and other sea areas, resulting in a large population and a prosperous city.

Aware of the gazes around him, Han Li used a secret technique with the Soul Puppet to disguise his appearance and wore a bamboo hat.

This way, even if a cultivator with the same cultivation level as the Soul Puppet saw him, they would only perceive a vague red light.

Over half a day, they spent a considerable amount of spirit stones to purchase raw materials, books about the Chaotic Star Sea, and sea area maps. Having gathered the necessary items, Han Li didn’t linger and immediately left the island.

Sitting on the Wind Chasing Shuttle, Han Li took out a jade book.

After a while, Han Li, having withdrawn his consciousness, put the book back into his storage pouch and fell into thought. After organizing his thoughts, he seemed to have a general understanding of the situation in the Chaotic Star Sea.

The Chaotic Star Sea was incredibly vast. However, no one knew its exact size, and no one had ever attempted to measure it.

Cultivators here knew that even the so-called sea area maps only depicted a portion of the Chaotic Star Sea. The explored area was commonly called the Inner Star Sea, while the outer area was known as the Outer Star Sea.

So, what ordinary people referred to as the Chaotic Star Sea was ultimately just the Inner Star Sea.

The Outer Star Sea was also called the Demon Sea, a sea of monsters. This area was inhabited by countless unknown demon beasts, making it dangerous even for Nascent Soul cultivators to wander carelessly.

In ancient times, both the Inner and Outer Star Seas were dominated by demon beasts. Back then, cultivators and mortals were confined to a few small islands.

Over countless years, the ancestors of the Chaotic Star Sea had defeated powerful demon beasts and developed the current Inner Star Sea.

The entire Chaotic Star Sea was now under the control of a powerful organization called the Star Palace.

The Star Palace was such an ancient force that its origins were not clearly recorded in any scriptures.

Some said it was an organization created by the ancestors who initially defeated the demon beasts and laid the foundation for the Inner Star Sea. Others believed it was a force established by a single leader who unified the entire Chaotic Star Sea.

The Star Palace was located in the super-large city of Heavenly Star City, at the center of the Inner Star Sea, and two palace masters known as the Heavenly Star Twin Sages ruled the entire organization.

Their actions were shrouded in mystery. They never left Heavenly Star City or showed their faces to the outside world, so no one knew their true nature.

According to the cultivators of the Chaotic Star Sea, the two palace masters were either Nascent Soul late-stage cultivators or had reached the legendary Transformation stage.

In any case, it had been almost a thousand years since they became known, so how could ordinary cultivators have lived for such a long time?

In addition to Heavenly Star City, the Star Palace also controlled the three largest islands in each of the eight outer regions and four central regions of the Inner Star Sea, making them their direct branch islands.

These branch islands were called the 24 Outer Star Islands and the 12 Inner Star Islands, supporting the power of Heavenly Star City.

Gwaeseong Island, where Han Li had been, was also one of the outer islands under the jurisdiction of a direct Star Island.

Considering not only these Star Islands but also the numerous islands belonging to them, it could be said that the Star Palace was the de facto ruling power of the Chaotic Star Sea.

The Star Palace used two methods to appoint the island lords of the direct islands.

The island lords of the 12 Inner Star Islands were appointed by the two palace masters, each selecting six people from within the organization. However, the island lords of the 24 Outer Star Islands were publicly recruited from Heavenly Star City every 100 years. The last winner among the challengers would become the island lord and enjoy immense power.

Therefore, the selection competition held in Heavenly Star City every 100 years was called the Star Picking Assembly by the cultivators, implying they were picking stars from the sky.

Every time this competition was held, it could be said that all the high-level cultivators from all over the Chaotic Star Sea gathered.

Some were ambitious individuals who genuinely desired the position of island lord, while others were simply there to broaden their horizons and interact with other cultivators of the same level.

There were even cultivators who gathered to trade materials, pills, and even cultivation techniques, making Heavenly Star City a hub of activity during this time.

However, even outside the Star Picking Assembly period, Heavenly Star City was a bustling and chaotic city, a place where all kinds of cultivators mingled.

Any cultivator with some achievement could freely enter and exit, and as long as they didn’t fight within the city and paid a certain amount of spirit stones for long-term residence, the cultivators of the Star Palace wouldn’t interfere with other matters.

Large-scale merchants favored this free atmosphere, so they opened shops in the city, accumulating spirit stones and trading various goods.

As a result, countless rare items flowed into Heavenly Star City from all over the Chaotic Star Sea every year.

Besides this, there was another reason why cultivators flocked to Heavenly Star City. There was a teleportation array installed by the cultivators of the Heavenly Star Palace that led to the Outer Star Sea.

For a sufficient payment of spirit stones, they could use the teleportation array to reach dozens of large and small demon beast islands in the Outer Star Sea. These were uninhabited islands that had already been explored by other cultivators and were known to have spiritual energy.

Cultivators could deal with various demon beasts on the sea surface near the demon beast islands and obtain their cores to sell in Heavenly Star City.

The value of demon cores was quite high. The core of a fifth-level demon beast was worth a thousand spirit stones, and if one obtained the core of a sixth-level demon beast, a Qi Refining cultivator could earn enough spirit stones to live comfortably for the rest of their life.

Therefore, more than half of the cultivators who visited Heavenly Star City every year gathered to use the teleportation array.

In any case, going to the Outer Star Sea without using the teleportation array would not only waste too much time but also involve too many risks.

Having learned this, Han Li decided to go to Heavenly Star City without much hesitation. It was not only safe but also offered the opportunity to kill demon beasts and obtain their cores, which was very appealing.

Of course, in the Chaotic Star Sea, besides the powerful Star Palace, there were other large and small forces. For example, the Night Dragon Island, the Four Great Merchant Alliances, the Charming Demon Sect, and the Three Immortal Gate were representative, and the Extreme Yin Island and the Six Pavilions were also quite large forces.

Han Li organized the information he had gathered and carefully examined the map of the entire Chaotic Star Sea.

After a while, the Wind Chasing Shuttle changed direction and turned into a streak of light.

* * *

Several months later, Han Li, looking tired from his long journey, appeared in the sky above a certain sea area. In fact, the long journey was a good opportunity for Han Li.

While riding the magic tool, he had been cultivating the Great衍 Technique [a powerful cultivation technique] using his powerful consciousness.

At first, it was difficult to operate the Great衍 Technique while riding the Wind Chasing Shuttle. It was a different feeling from simply using clones to move puppets.

It wasn’t about dividing his consciousness but about using one consciousness to perform two techniques, so there were many mistakes.

The Wind Chasing Shuttle wandered aimlessly, and the inability to concentrate on the Great衍 Technique was repeated for several days.

However, after countless failures and combining methods of dividing his consciousness, he had now reached the point where he could sit on the Wind Chasing Shuttle and cultivate the Great衍 Technique without moving.

Han Li wasn’t cultivating now but was simply sitting on the Wind Chasing Shuttle and looking ahead.

Considering the uninhabited islands he had passed in the past half year, he should have reached the vicinity of Heavenly Star Island by now.

He began to feel a little excited. After a while, a huge black dot was faintly visible in front of him.

Han Li didn’t hesitate to increase the speed of the Wind Chasing Shuttle and sped forward.

……

After a while, the black dot gradually grew larger and revealed a huge outline. It wasn’t yet clearly visible, but it looked like a pillar supporting the sky.

The closer he got, the more clearly he could see that it was a huge city that occupied the entire island. What surprised Han Li even more was the center of this city.

Unlike other cities, it wasn’t flat land but was built around a high mountain in the middle of the island, with various buildings circling around it.

The various buildings that stretched from the bottom of the high mountain to the outer edge of the island left no space wasted.

Without asking, it was clear that this was Heavenly Star City, the number one city in the Chaotic Star Sea.

Han Li looked down at the densely built buildings from the high sky for a long time. It was only when the Wind Chasing Shuttle was tens of miles away from the island that he regained his senses and slowed down.

This was because there were several streaks of light flying towards Heavenly Star City from other directions as well. As expected of Heavenly Star City’s reputation, even though he was still far away, he had encountered a large number of cultivators heading there.

After flying for about ten miles, the colorful lights in the sky became even more numerous, and the huge ships on the sea surface were also heading towards Heavenly Star City.

Some of them were crossing the sea on rowboats or spiritual beasts instead of magic tools, and Han Li was speechless at this sight.

He immediately increased his speed, and after a while, he finally reached the outskirts of Heavenly Star City. As he got closer, he could see that the entire city was surrounded by stone walls that were tens of feet high along the coastline.

Below the high stone walls, there were entrances of various sizes.

Some entrances were docks where ordinary people’s ships could dock, and others were designed for various spiritual beasts to rest.

However, the most numerous were the small city gates that cultivators could pass through.

Han Li also headed for one of them.

It was relatively small compared to other entrances, but when he stood directly in front of it, it was a huge city gate that was almost seven or eight feet tall.

In front of him was a woman wearing neat blue clothes who seemed to be in the mid-stage of Qi Refining.

She exchanged a few elegant words with the white-clothed cultivators below the city gate, gave them a few spirit stones, and received a navy blue ring, which she put on her finger. Then, she walked gracefully through the city gate.

Han Li and the Soul Puppet calmly approached them.

“Please stop for a moment. If you wish to reside in this city long-term…”

One of the white-clothed cultivators was about to say the same old lines that he had muttered hundreds and thousands of times without blinking an eye, but the cultivator next to him recognized the Soul Puppet’s cultivation and hurriedly pulled his colleague’s sleeve.

“Oh! You are a senior. According to the rules of this city, Core Formation seniors are exempt from long-term residence fees. Please take this ring, which proves your identity.”

The white-clothed cultivator politely took out a red ring from his pocket. The Soul Puppet opened his mouth with a slightly hoarse voice.

“This is my first time visiting Heavenly Star City. What is this ring for?”

“This is a spiritual ring that proves your identity, called a Spirit Ring. Cultivators who are temporarily staying in this city pay three spirit stones and receive a blue Spirit Ring. The red Spirit Ring is a symbol that proves permanent residence. Usually, cultivators have to pay 800 spirit stones to receive the Spirit Ring.

Therefore, the blue ring will lose its light after seven days, so the owner of the ring must leave Heavenly Star City before then or exchange it for another ring at the city gate. On the other hand, the red ring will never lose its light, and it will only emit light after a drop of blood is dripped on it to recognize its owner, so there is no fear of it being taken by others.”

The Soul Puppet nodded silently and accepted the ring. He hesitated for a moment, then dripped a drop of his blood on it and put the ring on his hand.

“Fellow Daoist, please give me a red ring as well. I plan to reside in your city long-term.”

Han Li, with a smile, took out 800 mid-grade spirit stones from his storage pouch and handed them to one of the white-clothed cultivators.

The two looked at Han Li with a slightly surprised expression, but without saying anything else, they accepted the spirit stones and handed over a red ring. He immediately put on the ring and passed through the city gate.