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

by Translator: Johnchen

  Therefore, the spirit stones had become the best option for cultivators to gain the upper hand and win from a position of weakness. They were also the best strength recovery tonic after magic power was greatly depleted, and would increase one’s chances of survival during a fight by leaps and bounds.

  Spirit stones have so many uses and amazing effects, so naturally, the value for a spirit stone rose as well.

  But because of the vast consumption of the spirit stones, along with the excessive exploitation and continuous decline of their ore veins, spirit stones had gradually became a precious luxury good in the present day of the cultivating world. In short, it became a cultivator’s optimal safeguard for business transactions and the only circulating monetary currency. Furthermore, there was even a collaborative decision on the detailed differentiation on a spirit stone’s specifications and grade.

  Spirit stones were grade into four grades according to the amount of spirit power they contained. The four grades comprised of low-grade spirit stone, mid-grade spirit stone, high-grade spirit stone and top-grade spirit stone. In addition, according to the different attribute of spirit power spirit stones stored, they could also be categorised into the five elements: Metal spirit stone, Wood spirit stone, Water spirit stone, Earth spirit stone, and Fire spirit stone. Moreover, there are also rarely seen spirit stone attributes such as Wind (?) spirit stone and Thunder spirit stone. But those spirit stones were very rare.

  These kind of extremely precious items like spirit stones, Han Li don’t even possess a single piece of it.

  He admitted that he did not have any sort of goods on him to use for an exchange. Hence from the start, he had intentions to widen his horizon, so he looked around without any restraint and continued his journey.

  Even though Han Li’s appearance was indifferent and calm, the items at the vendors’ stalls made his heart stir and greatly envious.

  Ignoring the rest of the items, even the plain white talisman paper that every vending stall offered was subject to his attention. Despite the fact that this object was very common, it was currently what Han Li needed the most.

  Even though Han Li still did not know the meaning of the level or grade of this talisman paper and what specific difference it had, he knew that with his present power, the elementary low-grade talisman paper was definitely enough for him to fully execute the Soul-Lock Talisman.

  Therefore, if he could acquire a few talisman papers, he could immediately use one more type of magic spell, instantly increasing his strength quite a bit.

  Of course other than the talisman paper, there was a rich variety of spirit talisman such as “Thunder Fire Talisman”, “Fire Dragon Talisman”, and the “Huge Force Talisman”. All of these caused Han Li to be rather tempted.

  While Han Li was still standing in front of an unassuming vendor’s stall, he saw a spirit talisman that was exactly the same as the Daoist paper talisman that released a golden barrier, which he owned. Beside it, a signboard clearly wrote: “Guardian Talisman, metal elementary mid-grade defensive spirit talisman, worth nine low-grade spirit stones”.

  Han Li had shopped at many vending stalls, so he had come to understand the prices of these Daoist paper talisman. One low-grade spirit stone could buy a dozen elementary low-grade plain white talisman paper. But fully refined elementary low-grade Daoist paper talismans, depending on the different types of magic spell, were sold separately for two pieces of low-grade spirit stones.

  As for the elementary mid-grade spirit talisman, promptly translating a few could sell for six to ten spirit stones. Moreover, defensive spirit talisman were more expensive than offensive spirit talisman.

  As Han Li himself had the same type of object, he naturally wanted to take note of it.

  After carefully examining stall’s Guardian Talisman, Han Li discovered the other talisman’s Spiritual Qi was much better than the one he kept in his bosom. It was clearly a new product that has not yet been used, but he reckoned that his worn and old product could only be sold at one third of its price at best.

  Coming to this conclusion, Han Li laughed bitterly. It seemed that among cultivators, he was still a pauper. He couldn’t help but to touch the article he had on him. Suddenly, he jolted when he remembered that he had a spirit talisman inscribed with a picture of a small sword in his bosom.

  Although he still didn’t know the name of the talisman, Han Li believed that this talisman was worthed more than the Guardian Talisman.

  When he thought of this, Han Li began to pay close attention to every vendor, taking note to see whether the same Daoist paper talisman with the picture of a small sword was being sold.

  Unfortunately, after going around so many stalls, he still did not see a similar product. Instead, at an area with five to six cultivators gathering around, Han Li found someone selling an elementary high-grade spirit talisman.

  The signboard beside the spirit talisman wrote: “Soaring Sky Talisman, Wind-attribute elementary high-grade flying-type spirit talisman, price is at 30 low-grade spirit stone or exchange for consolidation-type pill medicine of equal value”.

  The moment Han Li saw the signboard, his heart was startled.

  After going around many stalls, this was the first elementary high-grade spirit talisman that Han Li had seen. He couldn’t help but to attentively view it. As expected, that spirit paper talisman’s Spiritual Qi was astonishingly rich unlike all the previous low-grade and mid-grade spirit talisman he inspected in the other stalls.

  A huge barefooted horsefaced man, who was standing around and viewing the talisman, was unable to restrain himself and asked, “20 pieces of spirit stones, are you willing to exchange?”

  The stall’s owner was a capable and vigorous youth. He used his hand and pointed to the signboard, then paid no heed to that person any longer.

  “It’s only a flying-type talisman. It’s not even an offensive or defensive spirit talisman. 20 pieces is more than enough!” The horsefaced man made a bid mentioned, dissatisfied.

  “Hmph! If it was really an offensive or defensive spirit talisman, you think I would still settle for only 30 pieces? If you don’t have 50 pieces, I won’t even let you have a look! If you want to benefit at the others’ expense, go to other places! I don’t welcome it here.” The youth finally said coldly. But the moment he opened his mouth, he made the huge man’s face turn entirely red.

  “Good lad! I, Qin Yeling’s Ye Bao, will remember you. After this gathering ends, let’s compare skills with each other.” The horsefaced huge man said exasperatedly.

  (TL: ‘Ye Bao’ (??) means ‘Leaf Leopard’)

  “Qin Yeling.” Originally Han Li was beaming happily as he viewed by the side, but after suddenly hearing the name of this place, he grew alarmed.

  “Isn’t that the birthplace of the dwarf I killed? Although the midget’s words might not have been true, I must still be careful of this huge man who claims to be from the Ye Clan.”

  Thinking up until here, Han Li subconsciously retreated back a few steps, quietly left the area, and went to the next vendor. But he already kept in mind the exchange of consolidation-type pill medicine written on the signboard.

  Han Li remembered that he still had a lot of unfinished Yellow Dragon Pellets and Gold Essence Pills, but he didn’t know if those were the types of pills that the youth was requesting for. When there were less people around, he would go again and ask! If he was really successful, then he would have some capital and would be able to exchange for some necessary items.

  After Han Li considered this, he turned his head to glance at the youth’s stall and discovered that Ye Bao had unknowingly left to go somewhere else and was no longer there. Among the remaining people left, there was another person who fished out a bottle and handed it over to the youth.

  The youth opened the bottle and smelled it a bit, but he then shook his head and returned the bottle to the owner. The owner of the bottle could only leave the place with a face full of regret. The others seemed to have com
e together with that person and also left shortly afterwards. Currently, there was no one in front of that stall.

  Seeing this, Han Li was delighted and slowly returned to the front of the youth’s stall. When the youth saw Han Li, he smiled distractedly, clearly recognising the person who came by once just now.

  Han Li did not care that the youth laughed and said, “I have two types of medicine. Can we see if they are suitable for your request?”

  After speaking, he took out two small porcelain bottles, one green and one blue, and placed it in front of the youth.

  Instead of speaking nonsense, the youth reached his hand out to take the two porcelain bottles and opened the lid one by one. He then brought the bottle openings closer to his nose and smelled hard at both bottles separately. Afterwards, his face revealed a thoughtful expression.

  The youth muttered to himself for a while and did not immediately return to normal. Instead he gently pushed the porcelain bottles towards Han Li.

  “What is it?” Han Li blinked and asked.

  “To tell you the truth, the pill medicines in both bottles were better than the ones I saw from the previous few people. But to me, they still not enough.” The youth hesitated for a moment, but he still shook his head and refused.

  Chapter 132: The Harvest

  When Han Li heard this, he was greatly disappointed, but it also did not surprise him. After all, the Yellow Dragon Pellet and Gold Essence Pill were mortal spiritual medicines. To ordinary people these may be miracle medicines, but to Immortal cultivators, these were indeed lacking.

  Since the youth did not look up, Han Li also did not want to be long-winded, so he reached out to take the porcelain bottles back.

  “Although these pill medicines are indeed a bit lacking, if you have more bottles, I will exchange with you!” The youth suddenly spoke, looking quite sympathetic.

  After hearing the youth’s words, Han Li’s arm that was reaching out was immediately withdrawn. He laughed lightly.

  “Did I say that I only have two medicinal bottles?” Han Li spoke slowly as he narrowed his eyes to focus on the youth.

  “You have more?” The youth was slightly surprised, but he immediately revealed a cheerful expression.

  “Of course, but if you want too many, I would still need to consider whether to agree with this transaction.” Han Li said noncommittally, as he was afraid that the youth might take advantage of the situation.

  “That’s great! I don’t need a lot, just three bottles will do. It will be enough to allow me to break through the bottleneck in a short period of time.” The youth cheered up, appearing very passionate, which was very different from his previously cold demeanor.

  This wasn’t surprising. Who would bear to part with any consolidation pill medicine that was able to improve one's cultivation? There wasn’t even enough to use on oneself! This was also the main reason why the youth had not exchanged the flight talisman these past few days.

  Han Li’s Yellow Dragon Pellet and Gold Essence Pill were not considered top-notch spiritual medicine to Immortal cultivators, but thanks to the advantage of quantity, it was sufficient to allow the youth to break through to the tenth layer after being stuck at the peak of ninth layer for so long, thus increasing the youth’s power drastically.

  However, only Han Li, a rascal who ate this type of medicine as mere snacks, could afford to use pill medicine for the exchange. Even so, Han Li was fully aware of the reason behind not exposing one’s wealth. Han Li didn’t want to the youth to have the impression that he could easily take out huge amounts of pill medicine without having any regrets.

  Hence, Han Li touched his chin, making an appearance of pain as well as reluctance to part with his belongings.

  “Is that so? Isn’t it too many? I have to exchange all the medicine I have on me!” Han Li intentionally muttered softly.

  “This isn’t a lot! After all, this is an elementary high-grade spirit talisman. Think about it, if you had this spirit talisman with you, when you meet any dangers, you can immediately soar far into the sky. You can even fly faster than most of the birds. It’s equivalent to having another chance to live! Furthermore, as long as the talisman’s Spiritual Qi doesn’t disperse, it can be used repeatedly many times. It is truly a useful spirit talisman!” The youth saw Han Li looking like he was going to give all his pill medicine, so he strongly promoted the advantages of his Soaring Sky Talisman and flourished the smile on his face even more, afraid that Han Li would be unwilling and back out of the transaction.

  “If we want to exchange, then fine. Give me a dozen of those talisman papers as a treat. That book too!” Han Li added when saw that the youth really wanted his pill medicine, so he straightforwardly pointed at a dozen slips of plain white talisman paper and an old book titled “Manual of Basic Incantations”.

  The youth was shocked for a moment, but when he saw Han Li pointed to the low-rank talisman paper and an incantation book that was impossible to sell off, he was immediately delighted and agreed to it.

  So this was how Han Li obtained Soaring Sky Talisman and even managed to acquire a dozen slips of talisman paper as well as the incantation book that he had his eye on from the very beginning.

  Han Li flipped through the old book. In the book, there were all kinds of most basic elementary incantations, including seven to eight low-grade magic techniques and an elementary mid-grade “Earth Thrust Technique”.

  To other Immortal cultivators, this kind of book was worthless, but it made Han Li extremely satisfied.

  This was because Han Li was currently lacking in these types of basic incantation techniques. Even though the stall in front of him sold manuals that were better and more complete, their prices were astonishing.

  One manual titled “Comprehensive Collection of Elementary Incantations of the Five Elements” was priced at 90 pieces of low-grade spirit stones, and another called “Fundamental Water Incantation Talisman Techniques” was priced at 60 pieces of low-grade spirit stones. Although all these books were thick and contained more incantation techniques, the current Han Li really couldn’t buy them at all.

  (TL: “Five elements” refer to the Five Phases: Wood (? ), Fire (? ), Earth (? ), Metal (?), and Water (? ))

  After obtaining these goods, Han Li felt a little tired and was not in the mood to continue strolling, so he directly exited the plaza and headed towards the pavilion.

  Not long after leaving the plaza, Han Li turned his head to look and discovered that there were even more people within the plaza. It seemed like there were many of those night owl-like Immortal cultivators who prefered the nighttime.

  When Han Li got closer to these palace-type buildings, he discovered that the towers were actually built using extremely precious paulownia wood and large pieces of limestone. Not only was every floor carved with a picture of dragons and phoenix and was very refinely constructed, there was even a faint fluctuation of spirit power coming from one of the nearby towers. Perhaps it was the restraining technique that Daoist Priest Qing Wen mentioned.

  Han Li walked around for a lap, and and after finally finding the pavilion he was looking for, he walked towards it.

  But about three meters away from his destination, Han Li suddenly felt like he slammed into something after an invisible immense force abruptly pushed him and forcibly forced him to retreat far back.

  Han Li was somewhat startled yet excited. It appeared that there was a lot of things he still didn’t know about in the cultivation world, and he desperately wanted to learn everything.

  As Han Li thought about this, his heart beat faster. He used the Heaven’s Eye Technique and gazed towards the small building.

  In the end, Han Li saw a faint layer of green light in front of him, obstructing the way. The whole pavilion was covered in the same green light, as if a huge bowl had been overthrown and was covering it.

  Han Li stepped forward once again, extended a finger, and lightly jabbed the green light. There was a soft and extremely elastic fe
eling. Using a bit more strength, there was a faint force that bounced back. The defense power of the green light was quite effective.

  Since Han Li managed to understand the effect of the green light, he stopped investigating it. He took out the talisman that Daoist Priest Qing Wen gave him and walked closer towards the light screen. In the end, the green coloured light screen immediately cleared away in ripples. A round hole soon appeared for Han Li to pass through.

  Han Li kept the talisman properly and strided in unceremoniously towards the tower. At this moment, the round hole slowly became smaller until it finally closed fully, returning the light screen back to its normal appearance.

  The tower in front was not considered to be very big. There were only two stories and was about 33 meters tall. But from the looks of the area of the land, there was plenty of space to spare for ten or more people to live.

  Han Li smiled and lifted his leg to enter the building. Upon entering the first floor’s hall, other than the two large eight-seat square table, there were ten wooden chairs with simple and elegant upholstery. There was even a few Immortal cultivators.

  The small Buddhist Monk Ku Sang was sitting on the floor at the corner of the hall with his head lowered. His eyes were shut and he was chanting Sanskrit, looking like he was a senior monk. As for the other people, Han Li has not seen them before.

  “Master Ku Sang, is Daoist Priest Qing Wen not back yet?” Han Li asked politely as he walked towards the Buddhist monk.

  The small Buddhist monk paid no heed to Han Li and continued to mutter some words, until Han Li became impatient with waiting. The Buddhist monk opened his eyes and said to Han Li with a look of apology, “Almsgiver Han, please do not blame me. I was reciting the Diamond Sutra up to a crucial point, so I was unable to reply to your question immediately. Please do not get mad at me!”