A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248

by Translator: Johnchen

  Han Li froze in shock after hearing the news; this was outside of his expectations.

  “We shouldn’t care about the number of attackers; it would be best to meet up your young beloved and underlings and leave here under the cover provided by the chaotic battle.” Han Li was quite collected as he made a rational suggestion.

  Li Feiyu quickly indicated his consent, as this plan suited his needs.

  “And that fellow, how did you handle him?” Han Li suddenly asked

  “I killed him. Are you saying that we should have brought him along?” Li Feiyu coldly replied.

  After hearing this, Han Li let out a small smile as he put one hand on the ground and sprung up from his sitting position.

  “Let’s go! We should try to avoid any enemies. If we are unable to do so, kill all those who discover us; there is no need to show mercy.” Han Li had spoken lightly, but his words contained boundless killing intent and bloodlust.

  A few li away from God Hand Valley, Elder Li’s courtyard was currently swamped with people. There were males and females, all young and old. They appeared to know not the slightest bit of martial arts and were discussing something in low voices with frightened expressions on their faces.

  Two black-robed figures, equipped with swords and sabers, were nearby the courtyard, guarding vigilantly. Compared to the people inside the courtyard, they were extremely eye-catching.

  In the living room of one of the residences, two people were in the middle of a discussion.

  “I object to sending people outside. Our defensive position here is not that strong; if I still send people out, wouldn’t our position weaken further? No, absolutely not!” A middle-aged fatty with a huge pot belly sprayed saliva all over the place as he shook his head rapidly, objecting with determination.

  “But we have no idea what’s going on out there. If we don’t send people to scout, wouldn’t that be akin to blinding ourselves? This is too passive.” The person who was arguing against the fatty was none other than Ma Rong—Elder Li’s cherished disciple.

  “Passive? So be it. The things that happen out there have nothing to do with me, and to me, safety is most important. This is the best place to be in this situation. Don’t tell me you are going to defy my orders?” The fatty blinked his small eyes and suddenly took out a golden yellow tablet from his robes, shaking the command medallion in front of Ma Rong as a look of insufferable arrogance appeared on his face.

  Ma Rong glanced at the fatty before looking at the command medallion. Sighing, he cupped his hands and replied, “The little me does not dare. I shall follow your esteemed orders.”

  Chapter 80: Encountering the Enemy

  This command medallion was equivalent to having Sect Leader Wang’s personal authority. To possess the medallion enabled one to command all the disciples with a rank lower than an Elder. This fatty happened to be Sect Leader Wang’s trusted aide, who was rumored to be Sect Leader Wang’s close cousin. Therefore, any orders or messages that Sect Leader Wang had would be communicated through this man.

  Not long ago, Sect Leader Wang had granted this command medallion in a hurry, relying on the fatty to ask Elder Li, who was up on the mountaintop, to discuss certain matters. However, after this fatty finished relaying orders, he felt that immediately hurrying back after sunset would be too exhausting. By taking advantage of the dutiful trust bestowed on him, he stayed at Elder Li’s mansion to take a moment of rest before returning down the mountain.

  Elder Li helplessly accommodated him because he did not dare to offend him. He arranged for Zhang Xiuer and several other disciples to take him down the mountain as soon the sun set.

  After a short amount of time, however, momentous changes occurred on the mountaintop due to the Feral Wolf Gang’s assault. This fatty’s cowardice was incomparable, so naturally, he was unwilling to return alone.

  However, the people in the courtyard were the many family members of the disciples belonging to the Seven Mystery Sect. Most of them did not know any martial arts, and because of their inability, they lost their heads from fear once the sound of chaos reached them. What could they possibly do?

  Fortunately, Ma Rong was quite decisive. He promptly requested help from the twenty disciples that Li Feiyu left under his control and gathered all of them together. Since they were all rounded up, they were prevented from running amok in the night and encountering any mishaps.

  Because this place was quite remote and built on the mountain pass, these people would not understand anything that was going on. Even if they had heard the alarm and the loud battle cries, in the end, all the noise belonged to affairs that happened outside—they wouldn’t understand what was happening.

  Thus, after Ma Rong had quickly finished analyzing the situation, he planned to dispatch a few people to go outside and ask around for news. At this time, the fatty, who was incapable of even the slightest ability in martial arts, acted under false pretenses. Not only did he prevent them from scouting for information, he also relied on the command medallion to snatch away Ma Rong’s authority over these Outer Sect junior disciples. After that, he planned to secure the location and bury his head in the sand.

  Ma Rong knew the importance of having accurate information about the enemy. He tried discussing this matter of importance several times with the fatty, but the fatty was too scared to care. Because the fatty was abusing the authority of Sect Leader Wang’s command medallion, Ma Rong wasn’t even allowed to personally scout around. It seemed apparent that the fatty thought Ma Rong was his personal guard for the preservation of his life.

  As such, Ma Rong was inside the living room, as anxious as a cat on a hot tin roof, and walked around in circles. Nevertheless, he still followed this ignorant fatty. In the Seven Mysteries Sect, harsh discipline was given to those who disobeyed orders and took actions without permission.

  Light offenses were punished by the destruction of one’s cultivation and expulsion from the sect. However, it would be difficult to preserve one’s life if he or she had committed a heavy offense because the only punishment available was beheading the offender. Ma Rong was fully aware that the world-shaking events occurring outside could likely be a matter of life or death for the sect, but he was unable to move a single step.

  At this moment, Ma Rong wished that he could slap this so called “superior” to death. Meanwhile, Han Li and Li Feiyu did not have the slightest knowledge about what was happening, so they were hurrying to Elder Lil’s residence as a result.

  On the journey there, they met several bandits and had to either avoid or dodge around their enemies. They also hid their tracks as frequently as possible. When they were only a li away (half a kilometer) from Elder Li’s residence, they ran directly into a group of black-clothed people and thus were unable to conceal their presence. This was their first encounter with the enemy.

  Currently, there were over ten black-clothed people holding steel sabers. They surrounded Han Li, Li Feiyu, and Crooked Soul from every direction.

  From examining their footwork, it seemed to Han Li that those who had a single line of white embroidery on their sleeves were the weakest of the group as well as the majority of the members. The martial artists with two white lines embroidered on their sleeves were a little stronger, but the strongest opponents were the ones with three white lines. It was clear that the man with scars on his face was the leader of this group.

  As the scar-faced leader carefully sized up the men whom he had surrounded, he secretly felt somewhat baffled.

  It was not surprising that the scar-faced leader felt this way. Standing in the middle of the trio, Li Feiyu had disheveled hair, and his appearance was dirty and worn; he looked as if he were a cook from the mountains. Han Li’s eyes were emotionless, while his skin was dark like a farmer who did not know martial arts. However, their lofty builds had produced greater pressure. They also wore bamboo hats. Besides them was a bloodstained Crooked Soul.

  Standing together, these three seemed out of place as they s
tood together. Even though the scar-faced leader had plenty of experience in Jiang Hu, he was somewhat puzzled.

  He sent a gaze toward his subordinates, signalling at them to not let their guard down. He then loudly yelled toward the opposing party, “Regardless of who you are, the Seven Mysteries Sect has already fallen. Surrender and your lives will be spared!”

  Han Li smiled, turned his head to Li Feiyu, and said, “Who will handle this? Or would you rather have Crooked Soul take care of this?”

  As Li Feiyu heard his words, his eyes flashed with an ominous glint. He sternly replied, “From these people’s clothes, they should be low level disciples of the Broken Water Sect. I’ve hunted and killed bandits from the Feral Wolf Gang for a long time. Let me vent my resentments onto them. Besides, it just so happens that I have a use for their weapons.”

  By the time Li Feiyu had finished talking, the enemy forces were fanned out like a rainbow. In a blink of an eye, Li Feiyu was already in front of the closest man dressed in black.

  The man in black was surprised and almost forgot about flourishing his steel saber. However, he found that the saber in his hands were suddenly in the hands of his enemy. He hastily recoiled in panic, but it was already too late. A line of light flashed, separating his head from his body.

  With a series of movements that were neat, nimble, and as quick as lightning, Li Feiyu had already killed many of the Broken Water Sect disciples with the stolen saber before they could react against him.

  The complexions of the people who remained began to greatly change, especially the leader with the disfigured face. Because his martial arts were far greater than the others, his heart had sunk the furthest. He clearly remembered encountering disastrous experts in the past. Back then, he couldn’t contend against them in the least; therefore he decisively commanded, “Everyone, retreat! Scatter! Quickly send out the signal and call the experts for reinforcements.”

  This sentence caught the attention of the other men in black clothes, and they quickly fell back. Because of their original positioning in a circle, they scattered in all directions, fleeing rapidly. Some had run to the side, grabbing something from their bosom. They seemed to have fished out the so-called signal.

  A black-clothed man with two embroidered lines ran the fastest. With just a few steps, he had already fled several zhang.

  (TL: 1 zhang is equal to 10 chi, or 3.58 meters)

  He secretly rejoiced, thinking that there was some hope in fleeing for his life. However, he failed to notice a cool feeling on the back of his neck. A half-inch point pierced through his adam’s apple and then immediately disappeared without a trace. Seeing this, he couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with shock. He wanted to yell at the top of his lungs, but suddenly he couldn’t feel his body. Losing all his strength, he stared helplessly at his body as he slowly collapsed, his back limp on the floor. He was no longer capable of moving even a single step.

  At this moment, he realized that a sword had unexpectedly penetrated his throat.

  This black-clothed person felt unresigned. He had obviously escaped the furthest, so how could he have died so quickly?

  With great effort, he turned his head to the side. Facing death’s door, he saw in his final moments an intermittent shadow that had appeared behind the second furthermost distant black-clothed man. With a slash as light as a feather, the shadow flashed and faded away. After that, another fellow sect disciple appeared, and a similar white light flashed. The sword pierced the throat of a fellow sect disciple yet again. Like him, their bodies fell onto the meadow with blood leaking from their throats.

  After witnessing the shadow’s assassinations, this black-clothed man smiled and accepted his death because he knew he would not die alone. Soon he would be accompany by many others. That shadow was like a demon, and it was unlikely that a single one of the black-clothed disciples could slip away from this demon’s grasp.

  Chapter 81: Jia Tianlong

  At this moment, “Golden Wolf” Jia Tianlong appeared smug. Because of the excitement, his normally pale and gloomy face had a slight flush.

  It was no wonder that he had such an expression. After all, the Seven Mysteries Sect was Feral Wolf Gang’s archenemy. Under his elaborate scheme, all those who were still alive would fall before him. As the Commander of Feral Wolf Gang, he had the right to be arrogant.

  He stood halfway between the base of the mountain and Setting Sun Summit. As it turned out, there were around fifty to sixty red-clothed members of the Feral Wolf Gang’s Iron Guard surrounding the sentry post on the border of Seven Mysteries Sect. Jia Tianlong had spent a substantial amount of painstaking effort to meticulously groom his army. Not only were they all highly capable in martial arts, they also had undying loyalty to Jia Tianlong.

  He had always regarded this army as a precious asset and would not normally utilize it in ordinary battles. However, at this moment, he brought the entire army with him just to completely intimidate the small and mid-sized gangs that were beginning to stir up trouble. The chiefs of Metal Spear Association and Broken Water Sect, who had been planning to rebel, were forced to obediently listen to his orders.

  After all, the smaller gangs did not wish to see Feral Wolf Gang standing alone. They all hoped that the two great powers would forever be in the midst of a struggle, creating cracks in which the smaller gangs could exist.

  Jia Tianlong did not have a decisive personality. Had it not been for the fact that Jia Tianlong had kidnapped the children of the gang chiefs as well as promised the smaller gangs a profit for helping the Feral Wolf Gang in this endeavor, the smaller gangs would have changed sides a long time ago.

  At this thought, Jia Tianlong involuntarily turned his head back to glance at several of the gang chiefs that were standing nearby.

  All of the people present were downcast. Seeing Jia Tianlong gaze towards them, they either glared back at him or avoided looking at him in the face.

  Looking at this situation, Jia Tianlong laughed coldly in his heart. Returning his attention to his front, he started thinking of a plan to annex all these small gangs after he took down the Seven Mysteries Sect.

  In front of Jia Tianlong, there were close to a thousand men present, all wearing different kinds of clothes and holding different weapons. They attacked the Seven Mysteries Sect’s sentry posts like a swarm of bees. Because there was no formation due to the neglect of cooperation between these people, there were a lot of casualties.

  However, Jia Tianlong did not care because the people who were currently attacking were not from his Feral Wolf Gang. They were people that belonged to the Metal Spear Association and the Broken Water Sect. In the first place, he did not place any hope in their ability to take over Setting Sun Summit. He only wanted them to waste the sentries’ energies, so that his elite troops and crossbows could easily pick off the remaining exhausted sentries.

  Thinking of those military-grade rapid-fire crossbows, Jia Tianlong’s calm expression revealed a trace of delight.

  This time, the Feral Wolf Gang easily gained a winning advantage through the killing machines that were used by the gang’s troops.

  Otherwise, it would have been impossible to annihilate the opponent’s troops. Even if a dozen of the Setting Sun Summit’s sentry posts were taken down, the Feral Wolf Gang’s troops would suffer a great loss in strength, making it very detrimental for his future plan to annex the smaller gangs.

  Jia Tianlong did not spend a slightest bit of effort on the military-grade crossbows; instead, they appeared out of nowhere in his home.

  Every time Jia Tianlong recalled that matter, he would immediately feel at ease.

  This happened three months ago when he was at his headquarters, planning an assault on the Seven Mysteries Sect. Out of the blue, there was an officer claiming to be his relative who wanted to see him. Jia Tianlong felt somewhat astonished and met with that person. It turned out that the person was truly his older cousin from his father’s side. Apparently, around ten years ago, when F
eral Wolf Gang was still a group of horse-mounted bandits, a portion of the gang had been ordered by the Jing Province’s imperial court to enlist in the army in return for amnesty. This cousin was among that group of men. As years went by, his cousin was unexpectedly landed the position of Deputy General in the army. Coincidentally, when his cousin was on the road escorting some goods across Jing Province, he had heard of Jia Tianlong, Commander of Feral Wolf Gang. He naturally had to come and visit this cousin of his.

  When the two people had met, they exchanged some rueful greetings. Then, they both had talked about their experiences over the years. As Jia Tianlong mentioned the recent skirmishes against the Seven Mysteries Sect, his cousin off-handedly proclaimed that their resistance would quickly fall if he provided Jia Tianlong with a hundred rapid-fire crossbows of good quality. Jia Tianlong would be able to kill everyone in the Seven Mysteries Sect until there was no one left.

  Though his cousin might have mentioned it casually, Jia Tianlong listened with intent as his heart skipped a beat. He tried asking his cousin if it was possible to give him the hundred crossbows. His cousin slightly laughed and told Jia Tianlong honestly that the goods he was transporting were exactly these rapid-fire crossbows. It was not that he could not give Jia Tianlong any, but rather that he could not give away too many. He only had to bribe the government officials receiving the goods with a few taels of silver.

  Jia Tianlong rejoiced at what his cousin said and spent the two silvers at once, exchanging them for three hundred rapid-fire crossbows from his cousin. Jia Tianlong entrusted them to his trusted subordinates to utilize them well, resulting in the recent series of victories.

  “Their defense has been broken!”

  “There’s a breach!”

  ……

  A burst of earthshaking sounds rang out, startling Jia Tianlong from his thoughts.

  He was somewhat shocked and hastily raised his head to look towards the mountain peak, only to see that the Seven Mysteries Sect’s sentry posts had really been breached and were jam-packed with people from the smaller gangs.