Storms Rise Beyond the Seas: Heaven Star City and the Star Palace

Han Li, of course, had no way of knowing that a potential crisis had just been resolved.

Still, acting out of caution, he flew northeast day and night without rest.

Since he was now wanted, the southwestern sea region was no longer an option. But to go elsewhere, he would need a complete sea chart of the entire Starfall Sea.

All he had, however, was a chart of the southwest.

Thus, a month later, Han Li paused at a small island.

Though small, the island was located at the boundary between the southwestern sea region and the others, and it boasted a modest but thriving market.

Out of caution, Han Li had Qu Hun use a secret technique to obscure both their appearances at the same time, and each of them put on a wide-brimmed hat.

This way, unless a cultivator whose cultivation level surpassed Qu Hun’s tried to peek at their features with their spiritual sense, all they would see was a blurry reddish light.

Over the next half day, Han Li replenished a large stock of raw materials at the island market and purchased a great number of texts describing various aspects of the Starfall Sea, along with the relevant sea charts. It cost him quite a bit.

The owners of the small market stalls, delighted by the arrival of such a big spender, were very pleased.

Once his purchases were complete, Han Li did not dare linger. He left the island that very same day.

Sitting on the Divine Wind Boat, he took out one jade slip after another, carefully examining them.

After an unknown period, he let out a long sigh, tossed the jade slip in his hand back into his storage pouch, and fell into deep thought.

After this detailed reading, Han Li finally gained a general understanding of the entire Starfall Sea.

The Starfall Sea was enormous! Just how enormous, no one knew, and no one was foolish enough to attempt measuring it.

The sea charts that existed today were only a small portion of the Starfall Sea’s true extent. This was something all Starfall Sea cultivators universally acknowledged.

The explored sea region was usually called the "Inner Starfall Sea," while the unexplored peripheral regions were the "Outer Starfall Sea."

What people generally referred to as the "Starfall Sea" actually meant only the Inner Starfall Sea.

The Outer Starfall Sea had a far more terrifying name: the "Sea of Demons." There, countless immensely powerful demonic beasts were said to dwell. According to the legends, some could even hold their own against Nascent Soul cultivators, a fact that made many low-level cultivators who had never been to the Outer Starfall Sea truly stick out their tongues in awe.

The texts also stated that in ancient times, both the Inner and Outer Starfall Seas were dominated by sea-dwelling demonic beasts. Cultivators could only hold their ground on a few isolated islands.

It was only after an unknown stretch of time that the countless predecessors of the Starfall Sea eliminated the powerful demonic beasts one by one, eventually opening up the Inner Starfall Sea of today.

Currently, the entire Starfall Sea was governed by a vast power known as the "Star Palace."

This organization had existed for so long that even the texts did not give an exact founding date.

Theories about its origin were numerous. Some said it was founded by that same group of pioneering predecessors who had eliminated the demonic beasts. Others claimed it was established by a former overlord who had unified the Starfall Sea of old.

Today’s Star Palace had turned a massive island in the center of the Inner Starfall Sea into a super city, "Heaven Star City." Within it were the two city lords, known as the "Heaven Star Twin Saints," who ruled the entire Star Palace organization.

These two city lords were extremely mysterious. They never left Heaven Star City and never appeared in public. Thus, no one had ever seen their true faces.

However, all cultivators in the Starfall Sea believed these two saintly lords were either late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators or legendary Deity Transformation-tier beings.

After all, the name of the Heaven Star Twin Saints had circulated for nearly a thousand years now. What ordinary cultivator could boast such a long lifespan?

Beyond Heaven Star City, the Star Palace had also established directly governed branch islands in the eight peripheral regions and four central regions of the Inner Starfall Sea. In each region, they took the three largest islands as their administrative centers.

These were known as the Twenty-Four Outer Star Islands and the Twelve Inner Star Islands, positioned in a supporting formation around Heaven Star City.

As for the Kuixing Star Island where Han Li had once stayed, it was one of these outlying islands under the Star Palace’s jurisdiction.

Given this structure—these star islands, plus their many subordinate small islands—it was hardly an exaggeration to call the Star Palace the official power of the Starfall Sea.

What was even more curious was that the Star Palace appointed the lords of these star islands through two different methods.

The Twelve Inner Star Islands were appointed directly by the two saintly lords, each selecting six individuals from within the organization. For the Twenty-Four Outer Star Islands, a public challenge selection was held at Heaven Star City once every hundred years. The final victor would automatically become the island lord, enjoying the privileges of great regional authority.

Thus, the assembly held at Heaven Star City every century to select the lords of the outer islands was called the "Star Plucking Assembly" by cultivators eager to seize their chance for a meteoric rise. Whenever the assembly was approaching, nearly all high-level cultivators of the Starfall Sea would gather there.

Some of these cultivators came with their sights set directly on an island lord position. Others came merely to broaden their horizons and exchange insights with fellow Daoists. Still others sought to take this opportunity to trade materials, pills, or even techniques. It was a convergence of great talents and events, invariably leaving Heaven Star City overflowing with people.

But even when it was not the season for the Star Plucking Assembly, Heaven Star City was a bustling, lively, and chaotic place.

The city was extremely free. Cultivators of all grades were allowed to enter and leave as they pleased. As long as they did not start fights within the city and paid a certain amount of spirit stones monthly for long-term residence, the people of the Star Palace would interfere with nothing that happened there. Even great devilish cultivators or heretical practitioners placed on the Star Palace’s own wanted list would not be actively apprehended by Star Palace personnel as long as they did not cause trouble in the city.

The major merchant clans were extremely satisfied with this free environment. They set up permanent storefronts in the city and established their own auction houses and purchasing firms—businesses that could rake in massive amounts of spirit stones.

As a result, every year, countless rare and precious items from all corners of the Starfall Sea flowed into Heaven Star City.

Beyond all this, Heaven Star City had another major draw that brought cultivators flocking there. Within the city, the Star Palace had actually built teleportation arrays that led directly to the Outer Starfall Sea.

As long as someone was willing to pay a large amount of spirit stones, they could be teleported through these arrays to several dozen "Demonic Beast Islands" of varying sizes in the Outer Starfall Sea. These islands were isolated, spiritually imbued landmasses opened up by earlier pioneers.

Once on these islands, cultivators could hunt and kill various types of demonic beasts in the nearby waters, seize their demonic cores, and bring them back to Heaven Star City to sell for spirit stones.

Considering the value of a demonic core, a single fifth-grade core could sell for nearly a thousand spirit stones. A sixth-grade core could practically ensure that a Foundation Establishment cultivator would never have to worry about cultivation resources for the rest of their life.

Thus, the majority of cultivators who came to Heaven Star City every year were drawn by these teleportation arrays.

After all, flying out to the outer seas without using the teleportation arrays would not only take too long to travel there and back but would also be extremely dangerous, as one would be blindly wandering through the Outer Sea without direction.

Upon reading this far, Han Li made his decision without a second thought: he would head straight for Heaven Star City.

Both the safe environment there and the teleportation arrays that allowed him to hunt demonic beasts for their cores were far too tempting for him to ignore.

Of course, besides the superpower that was the Star Palace, the Starfall Sea also had other powers of various sizes—such as "Night Dragon Island," the "Four Great Merchant Alliances," the "Demon魅 Sect," the "Three Immortal Sects," and so on. Naturally, "Extreme Yin Island" and "Six Serenity Hall" could also be counted as two reasonably significant forces.

Han Li silently sorted through the information he had obtained. Then he took out a sea chart of the Starfall Sea and studied it carefully for a while.

After that, he changed the direction of the Divine Wind Boat and, together with Qu Hun, transformed into a streak of white light, tearing through the sky and away.

…

Several months later, over a certain stretch of sea, a white light streaked across the sky. Standing upon it was Han Li, whose face showed signs of exhaustion from the day-after-day, long-distance travel.

To be honest, such an extended journey was a rare experience for Han Li.

Unwilling to waste this travel time, he attempted to cultivate the Great Derivative Art while simultaneously flying his artifact, relying on his powerful spiritual sense.

At first, this technique of dual-mindedness was incredibly difficult. This was not the simple matter of using a trained Soul Divide to control a puppet.

It was genuine, true-to-form dual-mindedness. As a result, he frequently made mistakes.

Sometimes, while practicing, the Divine Wind Boat would start flying erratically. At other times, when he tried to cultivate the Great Derivative Art, he found it impossible to concentrate a portion of his spiritual sense, making no progress for days on end.

But as the saying goes, practice makes perfect.

After countless experiments and repeated attempts at splitting his focus, Han Li could now barely manage the feat of flying his artifact while calmly cultivating the Great Derivative Art at the same time.

Today, however, Han Li was not dual-minded. He was standing obediently at the front of the Divine Wind Boat, constantly gazing into the distance.

Based on the deserted island he had passed half a month ago,

he should have arrived near the massive island that housed Heaven Star City. A hint of excitement stirred within him.

After flying forward for another moment, Han Li’s expression shifted slightly.

In the distance, vague and indistinct, a massive black dot seemed to have appeared.

Without a second thought, Han Li urged the artifact beneath his feet, and its speed suddenly increased as he shot forward.