A few hours later, Han Li hovered high in the air, gazing at the distant, faintly visible blood-red city walls, and murmured to himself: "So this is Blood Crow City? It really doesn't look very large."
"Heh heh, although this city isn't big, it was built from stones near the Blood Light Crystal mines. Apparently, it possesses a certain anti-magic effect. If you were to attack it directly with spells, the power would be partially weakened." The Ancestor of the Long clan beside him smiled faintly as he spoke.
"In that case, this city should have some ability to resist the Butterfly-tail beasts. Our decision to stay here was indeed a wise one." The feather-robed young woman smiled sweetly.
"When I sealed the memories of those two demons earlier, I did a casual sweep and found that although beast tides frequently erupt in this region, attacks on Blood Crow City are quite rare. It seems this place isn't as simple as it appears on the surface. However, this city truly hasn't set up any formations that could break through Pseudo Demon Beads. When we enter the city shortly, just suppress your cultivation to the Deity Transformation or Void Refinement stages. Don't attract too much attention." The Long Clan Ancestor addressed the group without hesitation.
The others nodded, having no objections.
The Long Clan Ancestor then swept his sleeve, and thick demonic energy immediately surged from his body, enveloping everyone as they soared toward the distant blood-red city walls.
After a short while, when the demonic energy dissipated, Han Li and the others found themselves standing before a pitch-black city gate.
At the gate, thirty or forty demon guards clad in green armor eyed them with extremely vigilant expressions.
But when the Long Clan Ancestor let out a cold snort and released his enormous Void Refinement-level aura, these demon guards—mostly at the Nascent Soul stage—immediately changed their expressions, replacing their wariness with reverence.
A demon commander who appeared to be at the Deity Transformation stage hurried forward to greet them. After carefully asking a few questions, he waved his hand and ordered the guards to clear the way, allowing Han Li and the others to stride into the city with broad steps.
After all, for a small city like this, a Void Refinement cultivator was already someone not to be offended. The only reason these guards had bothered to check them at all was because of the martial law. Under normal circumstances, given the mix of demons coming and going through Blood Crow City, this level of questioning probably wouldn't have occurred at all.
However, the instant he passed through the gate, Han Li's eyes flashed with a faint blue light as he scanned several demon rune formations inscribed on the dark gate, though his face betrayed no expression.
He might not know about the restrictions elsewhere, but the ones at the city gate were completely ordinary—nothing worth being cautious about.
Once inside the city, rows upon rows of buildings of varying heights immediately came into view. Most were predominantly black and red, with a few in other colors that were clearly temporary constructions.
But between the buildings, wide streets ran in a crisscross pattern, each broad enough for three beast-carts to travel side by side.
On the whole, this city was obviously not as massive as the cities of the Spirit Realm, which typically housed hundreds of millions of inhabitants. Although called a small city, upon closer inspection, it was essentially a large town surrounded by walls—housing perhaps five or six million demons at most.
However, the city had activated its anti-flight restriction. Apart from some patrol guards who were exempt from the restriction, no other stray demons were flying about in the sky.
After walking for a while, Han Li and his companions found that Blood Crow City couldn't be called overcrowded, but it was certainly bustling with activity.
The streets were filled with demons of all appearances—some were fierce-looking demon folk resembling beasts, while others looked indistinguishable from ordinary humans.
The buildings lining both sides of the streets were almost entirely various shops and ordinary structures resembling inns.
Numerous demons were constantly entering and exiting these buildings, moving about in a hurried fashion.
Most of these demons possessed considerable cultivation, predominantly at the Nascent Soul and Core Formation stages, with a smaller portion at Deity Transformation. As for Void Refinement cultivators, one had to walk for quite a stretch before encountering two or three, and even then they were all at the early stage.
After Han Li and the others had been walking for some time, they could make out a small stone mountain several hundred zhang tall looming over one corner of the city.
At the mountain's edge, a series of grayish-white buildings resembling stone towers had been constructed, surrounding most of the small mountain so tightly that not even water could leak through.
Between these stone towers, elite demons in full armor could be seen patrolling back and forth.
Halfway up the mountain stood a hall built entirely of black and red stone—that should be the place where the Demon Lord named "Bing Qianren" resided and cultivated.
Han Li gazed at the stone hall from afar, narrowing his eyes in thought.
Just then, the Long Clan Ancestor, who had been walking at the very front, suddenly stopped at a crossroads and turned to address the group: "Let's part ways here. Heh heh, I imagine most of you would prefer to explore on your own. Once the Butterfly-tail beasts disperse, we'll regroup here and continue on our way. The city isn't large after all, so if anything truly comes up, it'll be easy for everyone to get in touch."
"That works. I actually spotted something rather interesting earlier, so I'll go ahead first." Somewhat unexpectedly, the feather-robed young woman was the first to agree, letting out a light laugh.
She gave the group a slight bow and then, without the slightest hesitation, headed back the way they had come.
The Holy Maiden Qianqiu exchanged a glance with her companions, then calmly bid farewell and departed as well.