Han Li sized up the guards. Although there was no spiritual energy fluctuation from any of them, every one of them moved with agile, practiced ease—it was clear they had all trained in some rudimentary martial arts.
What intrigued him even more, however, were those cylindrical devices. The guards had no spiritual energy to speak of, yet they could still use those things to identify cultivators. That was truly something wondrous.
Han Li couldn't help but study the cylinder a few times longer.
Wang Changqing noticed all of this from the side, and with a smile he offered Han Li an explanation: "That's a Spirit Disc. It allows us mortals to identify cultivators!"
"Spirit Disc?" Han Li paused for a moment at the term, but quickly recalled that one end of the cylinder did indeed have a palm-sized jade disc embedded in it. He gave a slight nod and said nothing further.
Then, under Han Li's cool, watchful gaze, the beast-drawn carriage made its way along a white-stone-paved street toward the center of the city.
There were many pedestrians on the road, coming and going in a steady stream, and the further they proceeded, the more bustling it became.
Most of these people wore white clothing. Those who dressed in other colors chose pale yellow, light green, and similarly muted shades—not a single person among them wore anything garish or brightly colored.
There was also an obvious hierarchy among the crowd. Typically, one or two individuals dressed in fine, costly garments walked at the front, trailed closely by three or four people in somewhat worn and shabby clothes—evidently servants.
By the end, there were so many people and beast-drawn carriages that Han Li's group had no choice but to slow down in order to keep moving forward.
After considerable effort, the carriage finally arrived at a massive square in the center of the city.
The square sprawled across dozens of mu and could only be described as a sea of people. Han Li took one look and saw nothing but a dark mass of heads stretching in every direction.
Streams of people from all directions continued to pour into the square without pause.
Lining the perimeter of the square were numerous shops, all packed to the brim with crowds. Between the shops stood rows of temporary stalls, equally overflowing. And in the center, even more people milled about, engaged in eager conversation—the whole scene was bustling and clamorous beyond description.
Han Li stared until his eyes went slightly glazed. He made a rough mental estimate: given how densely packed the crowd was, there had to be at least tens of thousands of people crammed into the square at once.
The beast-drawn carriage could obviously go no farther.
Shopkeeper Gu was the first to climb down, leading Han Li and the others on foot toward a palace-like building at the edge of the square.
The palace stood roughly ten-odd zhang tall, clearly towering over every other structure around it.
A row of guards armed with gleaming long spears stood posted before the massive entrance, barring anyone else from approaching too closely.
"Today is Kuixing Island's market day, which comes once every three months. That's why Dongshi City has several times more people than usual. Basically, folks from a dozen or so towns in the eastern region all come here to trade for rare goods you can't normally find." Shopkeeper Gu walked ahead and turned back to explain all this to Han Li as he went.
Han Li gave a faint smile and followed him to the palace entrance.
Shopkeeper Gu stepped forward and exchanged a few words with the guards at the door. One of them waved a hand, signaling that they were permitted to enter.
Quickly, Shopkeeper Gu beckoned to Han Li and Wang Changqing, and the three of them walked inside together.
Once through the gate, the air immediately turned cool and quiet. Along the corridor behind the entrance, several dozen people of some evident standing stood gathered in small clusters, whispering among themselves. Upon spotting Shopkeeper Gu's arrival, they all turned to look with barely concealed hostility.
But at that moment, a purple wooden door at the far end of the corridor opened, and out stepped a young man in white, around twenty years of age. He had clean, refined features and fair skin—the picture of a delicate scholar.
"You must be Mr. Gu? Everyone else has already arrived; only the Gu family is missing. However, only cultivators who are participating in the challenge may enter inside. Mr. Gu, please wait here for the result." The young man cast a friendly glance at Han Li, then addressed Shopkeeper Gu with courtesy and poise.
The young man's cultivation level was fully exposed under Han Li's brief sweep—around the fourth or fifth layer of the Qi Refining stage, roughly comparable to Han Li's current state.
Seeing this, Shopkeeper Gu had no choice but to cast a look of hope toward Han Li before muttering an assent and stepping aside.
Han Li followed the young man through the wooden door with an unchanged expression, and the door was immediately shut tight behind them.
"My surname is Wen. You can call me Wen Qiang. But you look rather unfamiliar to me—could it be that you're a cultivator who has recently arrived on our Kuixing Island?" The moment they passed through the door, the young man turned back with a smile and asked.
"This humble one is Han Li. I arrived on Kuixing Island just last month." After all the practice over these past weeks, Han Li could finally speak the local language without any trouble.
"Heh, I'm truly impressed! To venture out into the world with a cultivation level like yours—you've got real courage. I could never do the same. Ever since I was born on this island, I haven't stepped foot off Kuixing Island even once." There was a note of admiration in the young man's voice.
Hearing this, Han Li gave a light chuckle but didn't respond.
Then, following the young man straight ahead, Han Li arrived at a circular hall where over thirty cultivators sat or stood about, their expressions as varied as could be.