"My head feels so heavy!" This was Han Li's first sensation after regaining consciousness.
After he and Qu Hun began teleporting within the yellow light, he suddenly felt immense pressure appear all around him. Fortunately, the Great Shift Token in his hand emitted a faint blue light in time, immediately relieving the pressure. However, the spiritual power within his body began to drain wildly into the token.
Han Li had already anticipated this and was not particularly alarmed. These changes had been mentioned in the texts he had read about the "Great Shift Token."
In an instant, the artifact stopped absorbing spiritual power, and the yellow light dissipated. He and Qu Hun had already appeared in a pitch-black place.
The light was too dim for Han Li to see his surroundings clearly. But it was completely silent, suggesting no one else was present, which eased his mind. He lifted a leg to step out of the teleportation formation.
However, the moment he stepped out, he felt a sudden dizziness, his legs went weak, and he sat down on the ground, almost retching from the discomfort.
Han Li knew this was the discomfort caused by long-distance teleportation. His strong reaction was entirely due to his current low cultivation level.
But he couldn't attend to that now. Instead, he quickly ordered Qu Hun to destroy the teleportation formation.
Qu Hun, expressionless, drew the silver greatsword Han Li had given him and hacked away at one corner of the teleportation formation, reducing it to ruins.
Seeing this, Han Li finally felt at ease.
Han Li sat on the ground for a while, resting until he adapted to the darkness.
At this point, he faintly sensed that this place seemed to be an abandoned room—pitch black and filled with a strong scent of decay.
He casually reached down and touched the ground, finding a thick layer of dust.
This actually made Han Li feel more secure. At least for the moment, there was no danger.
After a while, when the discomfort subsided, he pushed himself up with one hand and slowly stood.
Then, Han Li took out a moonlight stone from his storage pouch, and the room became clearly visible.
Just as he had guessed, this place was a stone chamber that hadn't been visited in a long time. It was empty except for a stone door blocking the way ahead.
Han Li glanced back at the destroyed teleportation formation, hesitated for a moment, then walked a few steps to the stone door and pushed it lightly.
To his surprise, the stone door opened easily.
"What is this place..." Han Li showed a look of surprise.
Before him lay a long green stone staircase, gradually ascending upward, its length unknown. The staircase was also covered in dust, clearly untraveled for a long time!
Han Li turned back to look at the room he had just left and realized that the so-called stone chamber was actually just a small cave in the rock.
After a moment of contemplation, Han Li shook his head with a self-deprecating smile and began walking slowly up the staircase. Qu Hun followed closely behind him, never leaving his side.
The staircase appeared quite long, but in reality, after passing a corner, Han Li saw the exit.
A massive boulder blocked the circular opening.
Han Li frowned slightly and, without hesitation, ordered Qu Hun:
"Split it open."
After speaking, Han Li took a step back.
Qu Hun strode forward, raised the silver sword in his hand, and hacked the boulder into several pieces as if it were tofu.
Immediately, dazzling sunlight shone in from outside, accompanied by fresh, slightly humid air.
Han Li took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
Since he had teleported here and detected the strange odor in the air, he had held his breath the entire time, not daring to breathe. Now he could finally let go.
However, he was a bit puzzled—why was the air here somewhat humid and slightly salty? This was very different from the air he was used to!
With this question in mind, Han Li walked a few steps past Qu Hun, squinted slightly against the blazing sun high above, and looked around.
The sight before him froze Han Li in place.
All he could see was an endless expanse of blue water, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Han Li was stunned for a long moment before finally coming back to his senses.
"Could this be the legendary sea?" Han Li thought to himself, feeling a mix of surprise and excitement.
He knew that the largest body of water Han Li had seen before was merely a river dozens of zhang wide in Lanzhou.
Such a vast, boundless ocean surface was something he had only occasionally read about in books. But now that he was witnessing it with his own eyes, the feeling was entirely different, and he was truly awestruck.
After gazing for a while, Han Li finally looked down to observe his current location, a hint of confusion crossing his face.
He was standing on a fairly high cliff. Not far below the base of the cliff was the shoreline, where massive waves crashed against the rocks one after another.
Seeing this, Han Li stroked his chin and fell into deep thought.
Judging by the color of the seawater, it was completely different from the legendary Boundless Sea. Instead, it matched the description of a normal sea in books. It seemed he had truly been teleported out of the Tianan region—though he had no idea which part of the coast he was near.
But then again, place names didn't really matter to him. After all, once he left Tianan, he was completely lost and couldn't recognize any routes.
After thinking this through, Han Li didn't immediately fly out on his artifact. Instead, he closed his eyes and slowly released his spiritual sense to see if there were any cultivators nearby.
After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense, a strange expression appearing on his face.
Without a word, he summoned the Divine Wind Boat, flashed onto it, and shot straight up into the sky without any concealment.
After reaching an altitude of several dozen zhang, Han Li stopped the Divine Wind Boat, stood at the front of the artifact, and looked around.
In every direction, all he saw was the same deep blue shimmer. The sparkling, undulating seawater made Han Li's eyes a bit dazzled.
Directly below him was an isolated island about ten li in diameter. The cliff he had flown from was merely a small protruding stone mountain on this island.
Han Li touched his nose and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
This was a real problem!
Although there didn't seem to be any danger here, he couldn't exactly cultivate on this island. The spiritual energy here was extremely thin!
Even if he wanted to cultivate spirit herbs, he would need a place with decent spiritual energy. Otherwise, even if he applied the green liquid, the spirit herbs would still die the next day. Moreover, the more precious and spiritually potent the herb, the higher the requirement for spiritual energy, which left Han Li feeling quite helpless.
Han Li piloted the Divine Wind Boat in a large circle around the island. He finally confirmed that there were no coastlines or other islands visible nearby. On this small island, aside from rocks, trees, and a few small snakes, there wasn't a single living animal.
He could only sigh and fly back to the cave.
Upon returning to the cave, Han Li immediately collapsed and slept soundly at the entrance.
After all, several days and nights of sleepless restoration work had left him completely exhausted. All his troubles would have to wait until he was refreshed after a good sleep.
So, under Qu Hun's watchful guard, Han Li slept soundly for a day and a night.
But after waking up, Han Li once again stood alone atop the stone mountain, gazing out at the sea in a daze.
After an unknown amount of time, Han Li flew down from the mountain top on his artifact, his face expressionless. Then, he found a roughly matching boulder near the base of the cliff and sealed the cave entrance again.
Next, he flew around the area with Qu Hun for a while, then set his sights toward the direction of the setting sun and flew off without looking back.
In Han Li's reasoning, since someone had set up a teleportation formation on this island, there must be other islands or land nearby. Otherwise, who would go to the trouble of building such an expensive ancient teleportation formation on a deserted island?
Of course, Han Li didn't know which direction was correct. But he had already made up his mind—he would fly in this direction for several days and nights. If he found no trace of cultivators or mortals, he would simply change direction and try again.
Although this method was extremely foolish, it was Han Li's only option on this unfamiliar sea. Besides, he had plenty of spirit stones in his storage pouch, so he didn't need to worry about running out of spiritual power.
Perhaps Han Li's luck was indeed quite good. He had only been flying for a little over half a day when he spotted a massive ship on the sea.
Han Li was overjoyed.
After all, dealing with some mortals was much safer than negotiating with cultivators!
But what struck Han Li as a bit strange was that this giant ship looked rather peculiar—it didn't have a single mast or sail.
At the bow of the ship, more than a dozen enormous fish, unlike any Han Li had ever heard of, were pulling the ship forward at great speed.
Although these giant fish were all massive and covered in sharp teeth, Han Li could clearly sense that they possessed no spiritual energy whatsoever—they were not sea monsters.
Otherwise, Han Li wouldn't have dared to approach the giant ship so easily!