Han Li took the ring. The elder smiled slightly. "All right, you may now enter the city. During the daytime, you'll have half a day of free time; at all other times, the entire city will be under martial law. When the great battle begins, the ring will automatically send a message to summon you. Simply wait at your cave." With that, the elder slowly closed his eyes and said no more. Han Li gazed at the elder steadily for a moment, then walked directly toward the city. Upon entering the city gates, the streets were sparsely populated. Only now and then did one or two cultivators pass overhead, gliding through the sky. Most commoners had taken refuge at home, leaving the city in a state of quiet desolation. Han Li's expression remained calm, though he silently breathed a sigh of relief. From the current appearance, it seemed certain that the city's markets and markets were completely closed. If he hadn't prepared the necessary supplies in advance on Nanming Island, he would surely have been in serious trouble now. Han Li emitted a soft, gentle laugh, then transformed into a streak of emerald light, soaring upward toward the heavens and swiftly heading for the sacred mountain's abode. As he passed through the market district beneath the sacred mountain, he glanced down at the shops. Indeed, all of them were closed, with not a single ghostly figure in sight. Han Li shook his head slightly, made no further停留, and continued his flight toward the thirty-ninth level of the sacred mountain. Once within the sacred mountain's territory, Han Li immediately sensed that the vigilance was even more stringent than in the outer city. Numerous subtle divine perceptions—over a dozen—were actively monitoring him. Yet fortunately, upon detecting his yellow ring on his hand, these perceptions automatically withdrew, and no one approached to question him. What caused Han Li to furrow his brows was the presence of divine perceptions belonging to late Jin Dan stage cultivators. Han Li acted as though unaware, and continued his flight all the way to his abode. The protective seals outside his abode remained unchanged from when he had departed. But Han Li stood outside the seal, gazing silently for a while, then sighed deeply. Though this outing had not lasted long, he had repeatedly found himself in life-or-death situations, even being forced to abandon the cave sanctuary he had inhabited for nearly a century. This truly stirred a sense of melancholy within him. With a quiet resolve, he used the seal token to release the seal and slowly stepped inside. Everything within the sanctuary remained unchanged. First, Han Li visited the chamber where the golden-eating insects were kept, and upon seeing that all of them were safe and sound, he finally felt at ease. Yet immediately, he transferred all the golden-eating insects into a specially prepared spirit-beast bag. Then he made a trip to the medicinal garden, harvesting all the medicinal herbs and storing them in his storage bags. After completing these tasks, Han Li took a deep breath, and slowly made his way to the bedroom, where he lay down to carefully consider his future plans. He would need to eliminate one of his peers from the Inverse Star Alliance in order to activate the teleportation array and reach the outer stellar sea. This condition wasn't particularly difficult for him. However, Han Li was concerned that perhaps before the great battle even began, the people of Xing Gong would already know that the Xutian Ding might be within his body. After all, he couldn't predict when those elders would emerge from the Xutian Pavilion. Should they reveal this information at that moment, he would be completely at the mercy of fate. Moreover, he had another concern. Although it was unlikely, he feared that even if he fulfilled the condition, the senior leadership of Xing Gong might devise some unexpected plan, rendering him powerless to use the teleportation array. After all, if the senior officials changed their minds, what could these cultivators possibly do against them? Therefore, although he had calmly agreed to Xing Gong's terms at the city gate, he had never intended to remain passive and wait patiently for their summons. Instead, he planned to investigate the level of vigilance around the teleportation array, to see whether he could sneak out quietly. If the guards truly proved relaxed, he would naturally seize the opportunity to make his escape. As for whether he would thus completely offend this massive entity, the Star Palace—after all, he'd eventually be noticed by those ancient, Yuan婴-period immortals—he seemed to have grown genuinely concerned about it. Comforting himself with this thought, Han Li drifted off to sleep on the bed, drowsy and weary. After all the ups and downs, he truly felt drained. Yet in that brief moment, Han Li's consciousness quietly penetrated into the hall. Initially, the process went smoothly, with almost no resistance as it extended into most of the outer hall. However, as his awareness approached the inner hall area, it suddenly encountered a layer of incense-yellow barrier. Fortunately, Han Li reacted promptly and, without fully triggering the barrier, swiftly withdrew his consciousness. At the same time, his expression grew serious. Although he had estimated that this barrier should not withstand the force of his conscious intrusion, doing so would inevitably draw the attention of the resident cultivators within the hall—something he certainly would not undertake. In the air, his brows furrowed tightly. Due to the barrier, he was unable to detect the number or cultivation levels of the cultivators stationed inside. Yet he expected no Yuan婴 cultivators to be present here. The hall likely housed only Jade or Late Jade stage cultivators—something quite exceptional. After all, compared to other key locations, the Star Hall was not particularly under the close watch of the higher echelons of the Star Palace. After traveling a sufficient distance, Han Li made a large loop, slightly deviating from his original path, before returning once more. As he passed by the side of the Star Pavilion this time, he again extended his divine awareness, hoping to detect any flaw in the pavilion's defensive array. Though he found no obvious weaknesses in the array, a rough, hoarse voice suddenly reached his ears. "Master Zhang, how is it going? The guard at the teleportation array says that even three thousand spirit stones per person aren't enough—this is the maximum we can offer." Upon hearing this, Han Li was first startled, then his mind quickly stirred with new thoughts. He quickly glanced at the two cultivators flying below at a distance, and immediately slowed his flight speed. These two cultivators—one a middle-aged man with a dark face and gray robe, and the other a thin, pale man with a sallow complexion—both held the mid-stage foundation cultivation level. The sentence just now was spoken by the middle-aged man with a dark face, asking the slender man with some urgency. The two of them appeared cautious and spoke softly, privately, in a secluded spot where no one else was present. Yet, under the strong awareness of Han Li, every word was clearly heard without a single syllable being missed. "Hush! Be careful. It's still about the transmission of voice." The slender man glanced around nervously, while Han Li, with exceptional alertness, instantly concealed his form and immediately entered a state of silent breath control—something the slender man naturally failed to notice. At the same time, Han Li swiftly redirected his awareness from other areas, fully concentrating it on the two figures, preparing to forcibly eavesdrop on their whispered conversation. This was only possible because Han Li's awareness genuinely surpassed that of the two men. Otherwise, other Jin Dan stage cultivators would have needed to cooperate with several rare, top-tier secret techniques to even have a chance of hearing their transmission. "Though the other party has a distant connection with us, sending us out to the alien sea on their own initiative still entails considerable risk. He stated that unless we each paid five thousand spiritual stones, we'd have no chance at all. Even this generous offer is made considering that we are both foundation-stage cultivators—merely marginal to the Star Palace's needs. Should we be condensation-stage cultivators, he would absolutely refuse to let any of us go, no matter how many stones he offered." The slender man chuckled, his tone one of resignation as he transmitted his words. "Five thousand—indeed, he's treating us like easy prey. We're just ordinary foundation-stage independent cultivators; where would we even find that many spiritual stones?" The middle-aged man with a stern face growled, his expression grim, though he managed to convey his message through inner transmission. "Staying in the inner sea would also be too dangerous. As independent cultivators, we're always at risk of being caught up in this great calamity. If we lose our lives, what good would the spiritual stones be? After all, we've already assessed the situation—Star Palace and the Inverse Star Alliance are roughly equal in strength, and the conflict might well last I don't want to be constantly on edge, hiding and darting from one place to another. As for the spiritual stones, we should all still have quite a few rare materials stashed away. We can manage to pool them together and use them as equivalent payment. That way, the other person will still give me some face. The thin man sighed and offered this reassurance. This won't do! Can we really afford to go to the outer star sea and end up selling everything we own? I've made it clear—I absolutely won't agree to that. The middle-aged man with a stern expression shook his head vigorously, as if he were a true miser. Well then. This matter, we'll just let others decide. The thin man seemed equally troubled, and spoke with a touch of reluctance.