After Guan Yang moored the wooden boat near the shore by the city gates, he personally escorted Han Li to the outer entrance.
He was clearly on familiar terms with the spear-wielding Devil Realm guards at the gate. After exchanging a few brief words, he was able to bring Han Li inside without any inspection whatsoever.
Han Li stood beside the street just inside the gate and glanced over the fairly neat rows of buildings nearby. He nodded, then tossed several mid-grade Devil Stones to Guan Yang.
"Many thanks for your generosity, Senior!"
The Devil Race man caught the stones and examined them, and his face immediately lit up with delight as he thanked Han Li profusely.
Normally, for ferrying a high-rank Devil Race cultivator back and forth to Blue Waterfall City, he would receive only one or two mid-grade Devil Stones at most. Han Li's payment was three or four times that amount — how could he not be overjoyed?
Han Li waved his hand, gesturing for him to leave.
But Guan Yang hesitated for a moment, glancing left and right to make sure no one was paying attention to them, then spoke in an extremely low voice, the words coming in a quick rush: "If Senior truly wishes for this trip to succeed, you might want to pay a visit to the Guangyuan Shop. Perhaps your wishes can be fulfilled there."
Before Han Li could show his surprise and ask anything more, Guan Yang hastily bowed, turned, and hurried out through the city gate.
"Guangyuan Shop…"
Han Li murmured the name in a low voice, and the look of surprise on his face gradually faded, replaced by a faint smile.
Since the man had said as much, he really ought to go take a look.
In Blue Waterfall City, flying was naturally prohibited as well.
Han Li casually hailed a beast-drawn carriage and said he wished to go to the largest "shop" in the city. The middle-aged driver immediately said "Understood," urged his beast forward, and set the carriage in motion.
Han Li sat cross-legged inside the carriage, quietly deliberating on his next steps, while his gaze drifted casually out the window to one side.
Blue Waterfall City was noticeably more bustling than an ordinary Devil Race metropolis. The streets on both sides were thronged with people coming and going, packed and lively beyond measure.
However, Han Li noticed that although the vast majority of these Devil Race individuals were low-rank cultivators with Magical Power no greater than Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment, the proportion of high-rank Devil Race cultivators — at the Deity Transformation or Void Refining stage — was not insignificant. In fact, along the way, he had even spotted two beings at the Devil Sovereign level.
And the carriage had only traversed a handful of streets so far, not even having left the vicinity of Blue Waterfall Lake's corner.
"Huh — that person is…"
Han Li, who had been sitting peacefully in meditation, suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure, and his expression changed dramatically. The words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them.
"No — it's not her. The aura is completely different!" Han Li's gaze locked onto that graceful silhouette — its back turned to him, just stepping into a roadside shop — and he denied it himself, a flicker of disappointment crossing his face.
"Of course. Even if she had ascended from the mortal realm, she would only appear in the Spirit Realm. Why would she come to the Devil Realm? But from the back, she really does look remarkably like her. Could it be that my recent surge in cultivation has destabilized my mental state?" Han Li still felt a lingering sense of unease, but then something occurred to him and he suddenly realized what was happening. He promptly activated the Divine Essence Art, closed his eyes, and began regulating his breathing.
…
At that same moment, the elegant figure who had entered the adjacent shop under the escort of several high-rank Devil Race cultivators was none other than a Devil Race woman wearing a black veil. A thin layer of black mist roiled around her body, draping itself over her like a gossamer shawl.
This made her features even more elusive, impossible for outsiders to discern in the slightest.
Moments ago, Han Li could have deployed his powerful spiritual sense to probe her true appearance directly, but the spiritual sense fluctuations risked alerting the Devil Sovereign-level beings and above in the city, which was why he had not done so so casually.
At that moment, after the Devil Race woman — accompanied by several grim-faced high-rank Devil Race cultivators — entered what appeared to be a rather sizable shop, an elderly man dressed as a shopkeeper immediately approached with a handful of attendants. After bowing deeply, he ushered the woman into a secluded room in the back and said respectfully: "Greetings, Envoy. This old man has long since prepared everything you requested. You may collect it at any time."
"Well done. I only made the request the day before yesterday, and Shopkeeper Liao already has everything ready today. It seems that assigning you merely as a shopkeeper here is something of a waste of your talents." The black-veiled woman settled into a chair, glanced at the shopkeeper, and spoke in a calm, detached tone.
Her voice was extraordinarily pleasant, like the song of an oriole.
"I wouldn't dare presume such a thing — this old man was merely following the Envoy's orders faithfully!" Shopkeeper Liao replied with an apologetic smile plastered across his face.
"Shihuo, go bring the items." The black-veiled woman paid the old man no further attention and directed her order at a burly Devil Race man with a single horn growing from his head.
"Yes, Seventh Miss!" The horned Devil Race man acknowledged the command and followed one of the attendants out the door.