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

by Translator: Johnchen

  The city gates appeared quite desolate. Apart from the tens of white clothed cultivators standing guard outside of it, there was no one else present. In addition, as Han Li came closer to the city, he discovered that the walls and the gate were glowing with faint white light as if they were under the effects of a restriction.

  After the sallow-faced cultivator landed on the gate, he headed straight towards an old man that was reclining in a bamboo chair. He had a short beard and whiskers all over his face.

  He saluted the old man and spoke with a respectful tone, “Enforcer Yu! This is the Exquisite Sound Sect’s Elder Han. I’ve already inspected his identity and command medallion, and I’ve found no problems. I must trouble Enforcer Yu to explain the procedure for entering the city. I cannot stay much longer as I must continue on my patrol.”

  Han Li’s gaze fell onto the old man and he immediately put his guard up. It was no wonder that the sallow-faced cultivator was so polite to him. He was a mid Core Formation cultivator.

  The old man slowly opened his eyes as if he were still half asleep, “Exquisite Sound Sect?”

  After a moment of hesitation, he somewhat reluctantly added on, “That’s right, and he righteously assisted Junior Martial Brother Ling as well.”

  A cold glint flickered in the old man’s eyes, faintly revealing a spirited energy before it immediately disappeared. Then with a powerless voice, he lazily said, “Oh, that is strange. Alright, I understand. Fellow Daoist Zhao may return.”

  The sallow-faced cultivator seemed to not mind the old man’s mannerisms and saluted him before flying off, paying Han Li not the slightest heed.

  Han Li calmly stood in place and silently looked at the old man.

  “I’ve seen the Exquisite Sound Sect’s Young Girl Violet Spirit many times before. She truly is a fine beauty. I’ve heard of you, Exquisite Sound Sect Elder, but unfortunately, I’ve never had the chance to meet you before. It seems from your youthful appearance, that you also cultivate a technique that halts the aging of your appearance, much like our Fellow Daoist Ling. To the best of my knowledge, these cultivation techniques are all extreme Yin in nature. There are little benefits if a man were to cultivate it.”

  With serene calm, Han Li asked, “Do your words mean that Fellow Daoist Ling is a man? As for my appearance, that is the result of a Face Setting Pill that I took long ago, not a cultivation technique.”

  The old man let out a muffled chuckle before speaking with an impressive lack of speed, “Even our Star Palace is unsure of whether Fellow Daoist Ling is a male or female, let alone me. However, it is undoubtable that he cultivates a technique that halts his appearance. Haha, it seems Fellow Daoist Han’s luck is quite good to come across an opportunity to consume a rare medicine pill.” Han Li felt astonished.

  The old man continued, “Alright, I won’t dwell on the matter. Since your identity has already been examined, this old man won’t bother to do so. However, as the times are unordinary, the rules will be as well. Fellow Daoist, listen well to what I have to say.”

  Han Li raised his eyebrows and remained silent.

  The old man’s expression grew sullen and he said with an icy tone, “Right now, Fellow Daoist has two options. You can join the Star Palace for the time being if you are willing to assist us in our fight. In this case, your movements will be unrestrained within the city. And each time you carry out any missions, you will be heavily rewarded. There is no way we would allow anyone’s efforts to be in vain. If you are unwilling to fight in the war and wish to stay idly in the city, we won’t force you to fight, but as the city is currently under martial law, no one is allowed to casually leave their residence unless it is during a specified time. Our enforcement squads in the city will slay anyone who does not follow these rules. Fellow Daoist Han can now tell me his choice.”

  A strange expression flickered from Han Li’s eyes. For a time, he silently sunk into contemplation.

  When the old man saw this, he didn’t rush Han Li. He only narrowed his eyes, revealing a slightly crossed expression.

  After muttering to himself for a moment, Han Li solemnly asked, “After I enter the city, would I be able to use the Outer Star Seas transportation formation?”

  “Originally, it would’ve been fine so long as you paid the spirit stone toll. However, it will no longer do. If you wish to go to the Outer Star Seas, you will have to do something for us.” The old man didn’t appear surprised as if he had already anticipated Han Li’s question.

  Although Han Li already guessed what it would be, he still frowned and asked, “What would that be?”

  The old man faintly smiled, and lightly said, “It’s quite simple! As soon as the battle starts, you will get an assignment from the Star Palace to eliminate a Starfall Coalition cultivator at the same rank of cultivation as yourself.” His smile seemed to resemble a smirk.

  Having heard this, Han Li bitterly laughed in his mind. It seems the upper echelons of the Star Palace intended to coerce cultivators that wished to leave the city. Even if the Star Palace couldn’t control them, they would be required to spill the blood of Starfall Coalition cultivators. On the one hand, it would weaken the might of the Starfall Coalition. On the other, it would prevent those cultivators from ever joining the enemy.

  Using a single breath, Han Li quickly said, “I’ve already killed similar ranked cultivators on my way back with Fellow Daoist Ling. Does that count?”

  “You’ve already killed one?” The old man appeared quite moved.

  “That’s right,” Han Li nodded his head without hesitation.

  “Unfortunately, that won’t count. It must happen after the battle has started. There is no point if you kill any of them beforehand.”

  Han Li stroked his chin and pensively asked, “When does Fellow Daoist reckon that the battle will break out?”

  The old man was slightly surprised by Han Li’s question and took another look at Han Li before calmly replying, “It should be as soon as the next few days, I imagine. The Starfall Coalition don’t plan on attacking the inner island, but rather aim to take over Heavenly Star City in an ambush in the quickest time possible!”

  Without further deliberation, Han Li calmly said, “I will enlist. I’ll be wanting to use the Outer Star Seas transportation formation after I kill a cultivator of the same rank.”

  The old man patted down his body before fishing out a sparkling yellow ring. He then indifferently handed it over to Han Li and said, “Good! Put this ring on. It represents that for the time being, you will be a member of the Star Palace. When the battle comes, the ring will give you an assignment.”

  Chapter 507: Light in the Darkest Hour

  Han Li received the ring and put it on without hesitation.

  The old man smiled and said, “Good, you can now enter the city. During the day, there will be free movement, but there is an enforced curfew at night. When the battle starts, the ring will notify you. You can wait in your cave residence until then.” After he finished speaking, he slowly closed his eyes once more and appeared to drift off.

  After taking a deep glance at the old man, Han Li entered the city.

  Not only were the streets of the city desolate, but he only occasionally caught glimpses of other cultivators in flight. The empty city made for dreary scenery.

  Han Li’s expression remained calm, but he inwardly rejoiced. From the apparent circumstances, the city market must certainly have been shut down. Had he not taken the time to make his preparations in Southclear Island, he would’ve surely suffered quite the headache.

  Han Li softly chuckled before flying through the air towards his cave residence on Sage Mountain.

  As he passed by the market city, Han Li glanced down to find that all the shops were closed as he had expected. There wasn’t a single person in sight. Han Li lightly shook his head and quickly flew towards the thirty-ninth layer of Sage Mountain.

  Upon entering Sage Mountain, Han Li keenly felt that the security on the mountain was far de
nser than the outer city. He was able to notice over ten different ripples through the air with his spiritual sense alone. But with the yellow ring on hand, the ripples in the air made way for Han Li. Despite all of this, there were no guards who appeared to question Han Li.

  But what made Han Li frown was the late Core Formation cultivator that swept his spiritual sense past him.

  Han Li feigned ignorance of this as he flew towards his cave residence. When he arrived, he examined the restrictions to find that nothing had been changed.

  However, Han Li blankly stood outside the restrictions for a moment before letting out a sigh. He hadn’t been gone for long, but he had encountered many close brushes with death, and now, he had no choice but to discard his cave residence of nearly a hundred years. This caused Han Li to feel somewhat sentimental.

  He used his restriction control medallion to open the restrictions and slowly walked in, finding that everything was the same as he had left it.

  Han Li first attended to the most important matter at hand, the Gold Devouring Beetles. After making certain that the Gold Devouring Beetles were sound, Han Li felt genuinely relieved. He immediately placed all of them in a spirit beast pouch that he had prepared earlier, and turned towards his medicine garden and placed everything into his storage pouch.

  After this, Han Li decided to relax for the time being and slowly walked to the bedroom. He laid down on the bed and started to ponder about his plans for the future.

  He was required to kill a Starfall Coalition cultivator of the same rank as him if he wanted to use the transportation formation to the Outer Star Seas. While this condition wasn’t difficult for him to fulfill, Han Li was worried that before the battle started, the Star Palace would somehow learn that the Heavenvoid Cauldron had fallen into his hands. After all, he had no way of knowing when those Nascent Soul eccentrics would leave Heavenvoid Hall. If one of those old eccentrics where to divulge this information, it would be disastrous for him.

  In addition to this, he had other misgivings. It was possible that after he fulfilled their condition, the upper echelon of the Star Palace would make up a frivolous reason to shamelessly deny him access to the transportation formation.

  After all, what could the recruited cultivators possibly do, even if the Star Palace reneged on their agreement?

  Although he had calmly agreed to the Star Palace’s agreement at the entrance, he never intended on sincerely awaiting the Star Palace’s orders.

  He prepared to explore the surroundings of the transportation formation, and see whether or not he could stealthily use it. If the security was lacking, he would seize the first opportunity to use it.

  As for whether or not he offended the collosal Star Palace, he didn’t care in the least. In the end, he would still be pursued by those Nascent Soul eccentrics.

  With those reassuring thoughts in mind, Han Li dozed off to sleep. The numerous surprises on the past excursions had left Han Li quite fatigued.

  On the next day, Han Li awoke with roused spirits.

  He slowly walked out from the cave residence underneath a clear and bright sky, before flying into the air and examining his surroundings.

  Although there weren't as many cultivators outside compared to during peacetime, it was completely different from yesterday. It seemed that this was the time where free movement was allowed.

  Han Li first flew around his surroundings in a circle. After seeing that no one was monitoring him or paying any attention, he shot towards the fiftieth floor of Sage Mountain without any hesitation.

  Security was tighter as he went deeper into the mountain. Soon, Han Li arrived above the Starry Sky Palace, where the transportation formation was located. However, he merely passed over it. Instead, he pretended to visit another hall instead, and used that short instance to quietly sweep his spiritual sense over the hall.

  It went quite smoothly. The hall was nearly entirely devoid of any obstructions, but when he swept his spiritual sense past the inner portion of the building, he was blocked by a blue-yellow restriction. Fortunately, Han Li noticed it quite quickly and was able to retrieve his spiritual sense before touching the restriction.

  His expression then sank. Although he reckoned he was able to force his spiritual sense past the restriction, it would alert any of the cultivators inside the hall. There was no way he would willingly do something so foolish.

  At that moment, he unconsciously frowned.

  Because of the restriction, Han Li was neither able to see the quantity of cultivators within the inner halls nor their level of cultivation. However, there was no reason for any Nascent Soul cultivators to appear there. In the most extreme case, there would only be late Core Formation cultivators present. After all, the Starry Sky Palace didn’t hold any critical value towards the Star Palace’s upper echelon.

  After flying a far enough distance, Han Li flew in a circle and returned along a slightly different path.

  When Han Li was on his way back, he indignantly released his spiritual sense to see whether or not there was a gap in the restrictions. While his exploration found no faults in the restrictions, he did hear a raspy voice.

  “Fellow Daoist Zhang, how were the terms? Three thousand spirit stones per person on the transportation formation. This is the greatest amount we could offer.”

  When Han Li heard this, his heart began to stir. His sights quickly fell onto two cultivators beneath him, and he immediately slowed down.

  One of the cultivators was a dark-skinned, middle-aged man while the other was a shriveled man with a sickly appearance. Both of them were mid Foundation Establishment cultivators. The one who had nervously spoken was the dark-skinned man.

  The two were being careful, whispering at a place where no one else was present. But that didn’t matter when Han Li’s enormous spiritual sense enveloped them; he could hear everything they said with perfect clarity.

  “Shh! Be careful. Let’s talk about this through voice transmission.” The shriveled man nervously glanced around, but Han Li managed to perceptively hide himself in an instant, entering a state of Qi restraint. At that same moment, Han Li’s spiritual sense was immediately withdrawn from other areas and was completely focused on the two in preparation of eavesdropping on their voice transmissions.

  As Han Li’s spiritual sense far surpassed theirs, he was able to do this with the utmost secrecy. Were other Core Formation cultivators to attempt this, they would require an appropriate top grade secret technique to accomplish the same result.

  “Although we may be distant relatives, it is extremely dangerous to secretly release people into the Outer Star Seas. He said that anything less than five thousand spirit stones per person, and he will have to decline. And this is considering that the Star Palace doesn’t care about us Foundation Establishment cultivators. Were a Core Formation cultivator to hand over even more spirit stones, he definitely wouldn’t be allowed through.”

  With an unsightly expression, the dark-skinned man roared, “Five thousand!? Are we filled with money! How are rogue Foundation Establishment cultivators supposed to come up with that many spirit stones!?” Even while outraged, he had still remembered to use voice transmissions.

  The shriveled cultivator sighed and attempted to placate him, “It is far too dangerous to continue to live within the Inner Star Seas. Us rogue cultivators could fall victim to any calamity that appears. When that happens, our lives will be forfeit; what use will spirit stones have then? After all, we all reckon that the forces of the Star Palace are nearly equal to that of the Starfall Coalition. It is very likely the war will last several years if not several tens of years. I don’t want to spend my days flying around while fleeing and hiding in fear. As for spirit stones, we all possess no small amount of rare materials we’ve been keeping in reserve. We should be able to use them to pay the remaining amount of spirit stones. In that manner, they would be willing to agree and give us face.”

  “Impossible! Are we going to pour out our entire fortunes to
go to the Outer Star Seas? Absurd!” The dark-faced man shook his head in a miserly fashion.

  The shriveled man was also distressed and bitterly said, “Fine, let’s go back and see what the others think.”

  Chapter 508: Deciding on a Plan

  After that was said, their conversation ended with sullen expressions as they quickly flew down Sage Mountain on their magic tools.

  Han Li didn’t closely follow after them as it would’ve been too obvious. Instead, he coiled a sliver of spiritual sense around the shriveled man and watched them fly off with a detached expression before following them from a distance.

  The two of them were quite slow compared to Han Li. After two hours, they finally reached the fourth layer of Sage Mountain and entered an extremely ordinary courtyard residence.

  Soon after, Han Li appeared above the residence.

  The scenery here was quite serene. In addition to a few other similar residences in the distance, there was also a small green forest of bamboo nearby.

  Han Li’s eyes became bright when he gazed at the residence. It was unremarkable, but there was a small Flowing Water Formation placed outside. Although it would prove to be of little use against any cultivators that truly wished to intrude, it would allow for an early warning.

  However, the formation spell was of little use against Han Li, a Core Formation cultivator who possessed some understanding towards formation spells. Han Li had complete confidence he could slip in without alerting its owner. In fact, that was precisely what he planned to do.

  His hands formed an incantation gesture before his figured distorted, disappearing in a haze of azure light. Not long after, Han Li reappeared in the courtyard without a sound. As his magic power had been completely restrained from circulating, there was no way a Core Formation cultivator could detect Han Li, let alone a Foundation Establishment cultivator.