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

by Translator: Johnchen

  The stone room had a large, half-open door. Through its opening, faint chatter could be heard from the outside, and the occasional silhouette could be seen passing by.

  While Han Li looked around the room in curiosity, the others walked out of the formation while minding their own business. But suddenly, an aged Core Formation cultivator with a face as red as ripe jujubes suddenly turned around and asked, “Are you Fellow Daoist interested in joining hands with us? We’ll split the spirit stones evenly after selling off the demon cores.”

  “There is no need. My Martial Nephew and I have different plans. Please take care of yourselves!” Crooked Soul’s ugly face remained expressionless while declining the proposal.

  The old man revealed slight disappointment at the refusal and sighed, saying, “That is truly a pity! If Fellow Daoist were to join me, we’d have no problem hunting grade six demon beasts.”

  “Since it appears that this is the first time you two have visited a Demon Beast Island, I’ll give you two a word of advice. Not only must you be wary of high grade demon beasts here, but you should also be careful of ambushes from evil cultivators. If that happened, it would be better to be traveling in a group. If you have a change of heart, we will happily welcome you.”

  Han Li remained silent for a moment before bringing Crooked Soul out of the room with a chuckle.

  ‘What’s this?’ Han Li looked around in astonishment.

  It wouldn’t be wrong to say that this place had small streets everywhere, because there were businesses of all kinds scattered about, selling talismans, magic tools, assorted goods, or even purchasing depots. Each of the stores also had a shopkeeper lazily sitting inside.

  These stores were also quite crudely constructed. They weren’t built with stone but with wooden logs instead. As they were truly simple as can be Han Li doubted whether the stores would still be standing after a strong gust of wind.

  Moreover, these so-called streets spread outwards with the transportation formation's stone room as the center. They were carelessly arranged and scattered in every direction, leaving orderly observers feeling unwell upon sight.

  Chapter 394: Cultivators and Demon Beasts on a Small Island

  (TL: Four Great Merchants Alliance -> Four Elements Merchant Alliance)

  The most puzzling thing to Han Li was the silence that spread throughout the streets. There wasn’t a single person outside of the stores.

  After murmuring to himself for a moment, he silently smiled. How could he have forgotten! This place wasn’t nearly as leisurely as the Inner Star Seas. The courageous new arrivals to these islands were at mid Foundation Establishment at the very least. They should all be out hunting demon beasts!

  Han Li then lifted his head and looked around, discovering that this place was actually built with its back to a small mountain.

  Han Li pondered for a moment before walking towards the general goods store built from rubble.

  “Are there any new sea maps of the nearby area?” Before Han Li arrived, he had learned that the sea maps of the Demon Beast Islands were constantly being replaced and that the newest maps were the most useful.

  “We do! We have general maps and detailed maps. Which type would Senior like?” The shopkeeper of the general goods store was a middle-aged Qi Condensation cultivator. He gave an enthusiastic reply after they came over and asked him a question.

  “The detailed map!” Han Li answered instantly.

  “The detailed map costs one hundred spirit stones!” The middle-aged man stated boldly.

  “One hundred?” Han Li felt that he had misheard, but his face soon darkened and revealed fury. Although he didn’t intend to provoke any problems, he wasn’t going to allow himself to be swindled by a low-grade cultivator.

  “Senior shouldn’t misunderstand. This price wasn’t decided by me, but by my superiors. I am only obeying orders. In addition, other cultivators sell us the new maps at a high price as well!” In response to Han Li’s gloomy expression, he gave an explanation with his own complaints rather than expressing fear.

  “Your superiors? What merchant union do you belong to?” Han Li asked with a frown after his anger had somewhat subsided. He clearly understood that small shops weren’t capable of conducting business on the Demon Beast Islands. This might even be a branch of the Four Elements Merchant Union.

  After a short pause, the middle-aged man replied with a smile, “Hehe, Senior sure is knowledgeable. Junior is an underling of the Lavish Cheer Merchant Union.”

  “The same Lavish Cheer Union that established the Lavish Cheer Auction House in Heavenly Star City, and is a member of the Four Elements Merchant Union?”

  “That’s right, Senior!”

  Without any further bickering, Han Li bluntly threw a mid-grade spirit stone his way. The shopkeeper then let out a chuckle and handed a jade slip over to Han Li.

  Han Li glanced at the other shops before taking the jade slip and moodily asking, “Are the other stores also part of your Lavish Cheer Merchant Union?”

  “How could that possibly be? Apart from the purchasing depot in the west, the other businesses were all established by different merchant unions and have no relation to ours.” The middle-aged man glanced at the other stores and spoke with slight hostility.

  Having heard this, Han Li turned around and left with Crooked Soul without any further words.

  Just as he thought to fly off on his Divine Wind Boat, a streak of green light fell from the sky and landed in front of the purchasing depot. The light faded away to reveal a tall and burly Core Formation cultivator.

  “Youngster Fan, you’ve got business!” The large man loudly yelled towards the store after arriving. He then took out a storage pouch from his chest and threw it on the floor. With a whirl of rainbow radiance, the ten meter corpse of a monstrous fish appeared on the ground.

  Although it was said to be a fish, the only fish-like thing about it were the green scales on its body. It had a python’s head and huge claws on its abdomen, and there was a bloody hole on its upper back; it seemed its demon core had already been ripped out.

  “Ah! Senior Hao has arrived! This Jadescale Demon Fish is quite hard to kill. Only Senior’s truly remarkable skill would be able to kill it!” A Qi Condensation youth quickly ran out from the store and examined the demon corpse with quick eyes and clever mind. As he incessantly praised the large man, the large man heartily laughed. The man seemed to be a heroic figure.

  He suddenly turned around to face Han Li and Crooked Soul. After examining them for a moment, he candidly yelled out to them, “Your faces are unfamiliar! You must’ve just arrived! Do you wish to hunt demon beasts together?”

  Seeing that the large man was so cordial, Han Li silently smiled but had Crooked Soul shake his head in refusal.

  The large man revealed a trace of disappointment, but enthusiastically continued, “ I am Hao Yuantian and am somewhat well-known on Deep Jade Island. If you change your mind, come find me.” With that said, the large man took a pouch of spirit stones from the youth and looked at it before energetically flying off in a streak of green light.

  Han Li stood in his original spot while silently pondering.

  Both the red-faced Core Formation cultivator as well as the large man surnamed Hao had invited him to join them. Quite a number of Core Formation cultivators had arrived on Deep Jade Island and formed their own groups; even Core Formation cultivators traveled in groups so that they may hunt demon beasts in safety. Han Li had already known about this from his research. If he didn’t have his own plans in mind, it was likely he would’ve agreed to one of their invitations.

  Han Li carefully looked through the map on the jade slip he just bought while he flew his Divine Wind Boat towards the edge of the island.

  Deep Jade Island wasn’t very large, and after a short moment, Han Li had already arrived at the island’s edge.

  Han Li swept his gaze across his surroundings while standing at the front of his Divine Wind Boat. His eyes fla
shed with spirit, and he chose a direction as he flew deeper into the endless seas.

  Han Li didn’t dare to travel too close to the water as it was home to demon beasts with deep cultivation. Although those beasts concealed themselves at the seafloor, they would occasionally feed on any lifeforms that passed by above them. If any cultivators were to alarm one, they would almost certainly be consumed as well. As such, Han Li was extremely careful.

  But in contrast, one couldn’t fly at too high an altitude in the Outer Star Seas as the sea beasts weren’t the only occupants. There were also bird-type demon beasts that habitually patrolled the seas from up above. Allowing oneself to enter their range of vision was extremely dangerous.

  Of course, this wasn’t always the case. Each of the sea territories had slightly different circumstances, and one's safety was never absolute. Every year, cultivators teleport to the Demon Beast Islands with dreams of hunting demon beasts for their cores, but a significant number of them never returned. There were even rumors of high grade demon beasts overcoming their Core Formation hunters and devouring them instead.

  While there were clearly enormous profits to be had by hunting demon beasts in the Outer Star Seas, there was an equally high level of danger involved. As such, all cultivators who arrived on these islands would voluntarily form groups with their acquaintances and hunt together with the increased safety.

  However, gathering together in large numbers to hunt was a taboo. Previously, all the cultivators on the Demon Beast Islands had hunted together. They were successful for a while before they had attracted the attention of a large group of demon beasts that were all grade seven and higher. Not only was the death toll terrifying, but the island was completely destroyed as well.

  After these events repeated two additional times, no one else dared to gather together in groups past a certain size. Nowadays, they would gather together in groups of at most a dozen, creating many smaller groups around the island where high level cultivators were often roped in to join them.

  With the previously mentioned information in mind, Han Li’s expression immediately became sullen after flying from Deep Jade Island.

  Not only did Han Li release his powerful spiritual sense, surrounding his body in a hundred meter radius, but he also propelled his Divine Wind Boat at its greatest speed and quickly flew through the air in a streak of white light.

  Every six hours, Han Li would stop and confirm his direction as he was deeply fearful of getting lost and being unable to find his destination.

  Han Li’s luck was surprisingly quite good. On his way, he didn’t encounter any trouble aside from an easily avoided grade five demon beast that was romping around in the distance.

  After flying with periodic stops for three days, he eventually spotted a small fire-red island.

  As he flew closer, he saw that the island was created from an accumulation of scarlet coral. With the addition of the sparkling reflection of sunlight, it made for quite a beautiful sight!

  Han Li stopped above the island and revealed a face of happiness.

  Chapter 395: Rainbow Skirt Grass

  “Red Coral Island! So this is the nearest coral island!”

  Han Li stood on the Divine Wind Boat and muttered to himself for a moment. Afterwards, he flew in a large circle around the island and made sure that the coral island didn’t have any cultivators or demon beasts nearby before slowly descending with Crooked Soul.

  The small ring-shaped island was composed of coral rings of differing sizes.

  Han Li stood on a smooth surface and ground his shoes against the ground to make fine, dark-red grains of dust. He then lifted his head to examine the topography of the island. A short moment later, he narrowed his eyes in contemplation.

  Ordering Crooked Soul to stand guard near him, he suddenly set off to walk around the island.

  Under Crooked Soul’s protection, Han Li made a thorough inspection of the island’s west and east coral rings. After making a full examination of the island, he even dove into the sea in the center of the island and didn’t emerge until half a day later.

  On the third day, Han Li completed his investigation and finally came to a decision.

  He ordered Crooked Soul to place down his three great formations— the Five Elements Reversal Formation, the Fierce Heavenly Wind Formation, and the Illusory Heavensifting Formation— at his selected locations. The three formations all covered the center of Red Coral Island.

  After placing down the three formations, Han Li additionally set up several small scale magic formations at the center of the Red Coral Island. With every direction sealed off from the center, it created an inescapable net.

  Having done all of this, Han Li carefully examined his work and ensured that there was nothing he had overlooked. Then, he took out a jade box from his storage pouch and gently stroked it.

  Han Li revealed a mysterious smile and slowly opened it, revealing a large medicinal herb that had thirteen leaves on its stalk. The leaves were completely curled up, making it appear quite peculiar.

  Even more noteworthy was the white mist the plant carried that faintly released a rainbow light, making for a magnificent sight. It seemed to be of supernatural nature.

  This was Han Li’s greatest trump card, the “Rainbow Skirt Grass”.

  Although the herb wasn’t common, it couldn’t be considered a rarity either. This item was able to be found on coral reefs in the Scattered Star Seas. However, if one attempted to plant this in ordinary soil, it would cause its surroundings to shine with color for one or two days before dying off. It was quite interesting.

  What was most fascinating was that the color which shined would be the same as the environment it grew in, altering the color of its current location, whether it be blue, red, or any other color.

  However, it didn’t possess any significant medicinal effects for cultivators. Apart from its attractiveness, common cultivators would only view it as an ingredient used in some low grade medicine pills. However, “Rainbow Skirt Grass” had another name, “Demonlure Grass”, and had previously caused a large amount of uproar in the cultivation world of the Scattered Star Seas.

  At the time, an unknown cultivator had unexpectedly discovered that every hundred years, one of the thirteen curled leaves of this extremely beautiful medicinal herb would gradually unfold. Upon fully unfolding, it would release a strange scent that lasted an entire week.

  The scent didn’t have any effect on cultivators, but to the many demon beasts in the sea, it was an extremely enticing aroma. With the slightest smell, the demon beasts would instantly search for it, racing to be the first to find and devour its source.

  In addition, the older the Rainbow Skirt Grass, the farther its scent traveled, and the more powerful the demon beasts it would attract.

  It was said that a Nascent Soul expert had previously found a stalk of thousand year old Rainbow Skirt Grass in the depths of the Outer Star Seas that had just unfolded its eleventh leaf. As a result, this expert had personally seen several tens of grade six and grade seven demon beasts mount a simultaneous charge towards it, forcing the expert to flee.

  When this was later made known in the cultivation world, many cultivators had thoughts of using this herb to lure demon beasts for easy hunting, as high grade cultivators would often go months in the Outer Star Seas without encountering a single demon beast.

  Towards a majority of cultivators, grade five demon beasts were the best targets, as hunting grade six and seven demon beasts posed too great a risk of death. As for any demon beasts grade eight and higher, only old Nascent Soul eccentrics wouldn’t flee at the sight of them. Anybody else would merely become demon beast food.

  The number of demon beasts in the Outer Star Seas were truly great. However, they were truly difficult to find as they rarely ever left their concealment from the deep seas. Unless high level cultivators flew thousands of kilometers day by day over the ocean or possessed remarkable ability for searching the sea with their spiritual sense,
roaming the Scattered Star Seas for half a year without encountering a demon beast was a very common occurrence.

  After all, the Outer Star Seas were truly vast and the various demon beasts each had their own methods of concealment. It was quite easy to overlook them even when searching with spiritual sense.

  When it was discovered that Rainbow Skirt Grass could attract demon beasts, it caused quite an uproar. For a time, well-aged Rainbow Skirt Grass was quite precious.

  However, it was soon discovered that this idea was but a mere fantasy. First of all, there was no method to predict the exact moment its leaves would uncurl. It is said to uncurl one of its leaves every hundred years, but there was often a variance of three or two years. As such, there was no way for cultivators to effectively make use of it while they were at sea.

  Secondly, there was the depressing discovery that Rainbow Skirt Grass lost its ability to uncurl its leaves and release its unique scent a hundred years after being picked.

  As such, any thoughts of transporting it to the Outer Star Seas were extinguished. As for its name as “Demonlure Grass”, it was quickly discarded, and it returned to being called “Rainbow Skirt Grass”.

  When Han Li found this mocking, understated record in a jade slip, his eyes flashed with inspiration. The small bottle’s ability was just waiting to be combined with the spiritual herb!

  He immediately purchased a stalk of Rainbow Skirt Grass from the city market and experimented with it in his cave residence. As a result, the Rainbow Skirt Grass gradually uncurled its leaf over the course of five days under the effects of the green liquid. Afterwards, it released a strange scent that couldn’t be described as either pleasant or foul, but it did leave quite the impression.

  Doubtfully, Han Li placed his two Bloodjade spiders into the medicine garden. As a result, the two demon beasts immediately leapt towards the Rainbow Skirt Grass and completely devoured it without the slightest hesitation.