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

by Translator: Johnchen

  Although these low grade cultivators did their utmost to protect themselves with magic treasures, they were completely covered by the flying insects in an instant. After only a moment of time, the cultivators completely disappeared without a trace.

  The youth picked up the storage pouches that were left behind and disapprovingly said, “You dare to struggle for your lives with your meager cultivation? You overestimate yourselves.” He then casually picked a direction and flew off into the distance as a streak of azure light.

  A short moment later, white light suddenly flashed from somewhere in the air to reveal an early Core Formation cultivator with a pale face. He glanced in the direction that the youth had disappeared with an unsightly expression. Then with gritted teeth, he flew in the opposite direction.

  ...

  Half a month later, Han Li eventually returned to the small island in this mist. Although he hadn’t returned in many years, everything was how he had left it. This finally relieved the worry that he had always carried in the back of his mind.

  Han Li first took a few days to rest in his cave residence before arranging the many rare materials and demon cores he had acquired during his recent excursion. After organizing all of them, he then started to prepare for refining pills.

  Ten days later, when Han Li felt completely refreshed, he brought all the materials into his pill refining room.

  Years ago when he had last refined medicine pills in his cave residence in Heavenly Star City, Han Li felt he had reached a bottleneck in his pill refinement techniques. It seemed he would have to put quite a bit more effort into it if he were to break through into a higher realm of pill refinement. As such, Han Li didn’t immediately start refining grade six and seven demon beast cores. Instead, he lined up the grade five demon cores he had acquired by his side.

  In Han Li’s mind, although his talents in pill refinement were quite ordinary, his pill refinement techniques weren’t too far away from that of a pill refinement grandmaster. After all, who else aside from him had the opportunity to practice refining pills with such a luxurious amount of materials. As the Dao of pill refinement mostly relied on experience and skill, Han Li decided to first use the grade five demon cores to see whether or not he could break through his bottleneck in pill refinement techniques.

  With these thoughts in mind, Han Li gazed at the furnace before him and waved his arm, causing a grade five demon core to fly into the cauldron. At the same time, the cauldron distanced itself from him.

  Chapter 529: Uninvited Guests

  The door to the pill refinement room had been sealed for an entire three years when one day, the room finally opened with Han Li quietly emerging from within. All of his valuable demon cores had been turned into demon core pills.

  For the first two years, Han Li had used all of his time to refine grade five demon core pills.

  Although these medicine pills had no significant effect on his cultivation as of current, even a single one of these pills was immensely desired by Foundation Establishment cultivators; even a single pill would leave them in ecstacy.

  After refining these medicine pills, Han Li’s pill refinement techniques had finally ascended to a higher level. After all, even genuine pill refinement grandmasters wouldn’t have the opportunity to squander as many demon cores for practice as he did. Ordinary pill refinement masters were only able to use about forty demon cores as practice in their lifetime. Even then, it was an infrequent occurrence.

  While all the medicine pill refinement methods had their differences, they all shared a few similarities that Han Li was able to recognize. After refining so many of these precious medicine pills, Han Li was able to forcefully raise his pill refinement technique to the rumored level that existed slightly above that of a pill refinement grandmaster. As a result, this greatly increased the odds of success when refining grade six and seven demon cores into pills, much to his delight! Even Han Li was unwilling to lightly squander items as valuable as grade six and seven demon cores.

  After Han Li finished refining all of his demon cores, he spent an entire month resting. In that month, Han Li circled around his insect rooms many times, observing the differences between his tri-colored Gold Devouring Beetles and the non-mutated Gold Devouring Beetles.

  While Han Li was refining pills, he had his puppets alternate between feeding Rainbow Skirt Grass to the two groups of Gold Devouring Beetles. However, this had resulted in Han Li discovering something terrible. While the tri-colored Gold Devouring Beetles excitedly consumed Rainbow Skirt Grass as expected, it no longer induced a violent excitement in the tri-colored Gold Devouring Beetles, nor did it produce any other strange effects.

  At the beginning, Han Li had assumed that this was because the time had been too short and that the number of Gold Devouring Beetles were too many. Hence, the effects of the Rainbow Skirt Grass wouldn’t be obvious. But under further investigation, he specifically isolated three hundred black-strained Gold Devouring Beetles and fed them the Rainbow Skirt Grass, leading to this significant discovery. After consuming the Rainbow Skirt Grass several times, they hadn’t displayed even the slightest change.

  This caused Han Li to become quite gloomy. He had come to the conclusion that the Rainbow Skirt Grass could no longer be used to induce reproduction in the mutated Gold Devouring Beetles.

  Although he didn’t understand the unfathomable principles behind this, he knew without a doubt that these black-stained mutated beetles could not be replenished as they had completely lost their ability to rapidly reproduce. Every single beetle he lost would be permanent.

  Now, he could only go back to feeding the Rainbow Skirt Grass to the minority of Gold Devouring Beetles that hadn’t undergone the black-stained mutation.

  After feeding Rainbow Skirt Grass to the unmutated Gold Devouring Beetles repeatedly, they had become increasingly violent, appearing as if they would soon reproduce. With that taken care off, Han Li then entered seclusion once more with renewed clarity of mind.

  With the prepared assistance of all kinds of medicine pills, Han Li planned on first reaching the eighth layer of the Azure Essence Sword Arts before tackling the mid Core Formation stage.

  Sitting down on a straw mat in the sealed room, Han Li took out a medicine bottle from his storage pouch, and poured out a glowing red medicine pill into his hand that resembled a longan fruit.

  After Han Li swallowed the pill, he began to feel the heat of medicinal power emit from his stomach. He then silently muttered the incantation for the eighth layer of the sword art as he slowly closed his eyes.

  Han Li wholeheartedly cultivated in the cave residence while oblivious to the time that passed by.

  The unceasing consumption of medicine pills and the conversion of medicinal power into spiritual power was an extremely tedious task. Fortunately, Han Li was wholeheartedly committed to increasing his cultivation and was able to persevere without fail. But even with his stalwart resolve, Han Li began to unconsciously feel dreary.

  Sixteen years passed in the blink of an eye. Han Li had managed to eventually break through the mid Core Formation bottleneck and reached the eighth layer of the Azure Essence Sword Arts.

  Despite his excitement, he didn’t hastily leave seclusion as he still possessed a majority of the medicine pills he had started with. It was only natural to want to finish consuming them. Hence, despite having just entered mid Core Formation, Han Li forcefully calmed his heart and focused on refining the ninth layer of the Azure Sword Arts.

  The ninth layer of the sword arts proved to be much more difficult than the previous layers had been.

  As spring passed by and winter appeared with autumn leaving and summer arriving, years and years passed by with the secluded room remaining shut. A thick layer of dust began to cover everything in the cave residence as if it had become an ancient tomb!

  On yet another peaceful morning in the nearby seas, a seabird circled overhead, occasionally releasing a sharp cry. It made for a serene scene.

&
nbsp; But a moment later, a flash of light suddenly appeared from the horizon. Several streaks of azure and red radiance flew towards the direction of the sea mist in a disorderly fashion.

  A moment later, silhouettes could clearly be made out from within the light. They were a group of three women and two men. Apart from an early Foundation Establishment cultivator, a middle-aged man, the rest were all Qi Condensation cultivators. They were all youths spanning anywhere from seventeen to twenty-four years of age. They had flustered flown over in a mad rush, occasionally looking behind them as if someone were chasing them.

  Gasping for breath, a young woman amongst them said, “Martial Uncle Sun! Let’s rest for a moment in the sea mist. Otherwise, we won’t be able to persist when they come chasing after us.”

  The young woman had a round face and large eyes, bearing somewhat of a resemblance to an infant. While she would normally appear quite cute, at the moment, she was covered in sweat, and her complexion was pale as if her magic power was on the verge of exhaustion.

  “This...” The middle-aged man paused and looked at the other three Qi Condensation cultivators. Although they appeared to be in a slightly better condition, they didn’t look like they could last for much longer.

  After hesitantly looking behind them, he reluctantly agreed, “Alright, we’ll go into the mist and recover our magic power. Then we will leave immediately after. Although we are a good distance away from them, they are capable of relentlessly chasing after us, so it would be best to be careful. If they manage to overtake us, it will be impossible to survive.”

  Each of the youths expressed relief upon hearing this.

  Their cultivation was truly shallow. Being able to fly here had already reached the extent of their abilities. Although they knew it would be extremely dangerous to stop, they were unable to do otherwise.

  Hence, the party flew into the sea mist.

  Not long after the party entered the mist, a burly twenty year old youth hopefully said, “The sea mist is quite dense here. Perhaps we can wait here and conceal ourselves from their pursuit!”

  “Don’t even think about it. Although we don’t know how they’re managing to track us down, a bit of fog isn’t about to conceal ourselves from them. Everyone fly lower and see if there are any reefs we can take a rest on. We can recover our magic power faster if we sit.” The middle aged man bluntly refuted him, causing the burly youth to blush and hang his head. The others closely followed after the Foundation Establishment cultivator, not daring to be left behind.

  After a short moment, the yellow-clothed young woman suddenly shouted out in surprise, “Yi! There’s an island here!”

  Regardless of the woman’s yell, the island was clearly visible after they deeply entered the deep fog. They couldn’t help but look at each other in dismay.

  A blue-clothed woman with an ordinary appearance said with fear, “Could there be some sort of demon beast here?”

  The middle-aged man started to hesitate but he soon came to a firm resolution, “Something that unfortunate can’t occur. And even if it did, we wouldn't be able to deal with it, so there is no point thinking about it. Quickly, head to the island and recover your magic power!”

  When the others heard this, they didn’t say anything further and floated down onto the small island.

  The middle-aged man released his spiritual sense after landing on the island. He then happily pointed and said, “Let’s sit down over there! The spiritual Qi over there is quite abundant.”

  The direction that he pointed to was the sole mountain range of the island. When the party heard this, their spirits were roused.

  Afterwards, the middle-aged man led the way with the rest of the party hurrying after him. If they could recover enough magic power, they might be able to escape the oncoming calamity. They naturally weren’t going to let go of this chance.

  After a short moment, the party arrived at the green mountain range and casually sat down on the small mountain. They all held a spirit stone in hand and began to slowly meditate, absorbing the dense spiritual Qi nearby.

  Chapter 530: Azure Spirit Sect

  Apart from the wind that carried the scent of the sea, it was completely silent where the group of cultivators were recuperating. The party of cultivators became increasingly relaxed, gathering the courage to close their eyes.

  Time quickly passed by. After two hours, the party had recovered most of their magic power and their complexions had mostly returned to normal.

  The middle-aged man opened his eyes. After examining how the other four were doing, he immediately commanded, “We’re going. We can’t stay here stay longer! Those things are already in quick pursuit of us.” With that said, he stood up and led the way.

  Although the Qi Condensation cultivators were somewhat reluctant, they didn’t dare to tarry and stood up, quickly flying off on their magic tools. But at that moment, loud cries could suddenly be heard from around the island. They seemed to be coming from within the dense mist.

  “Not good!” The middle-aged cultivator yelled with a ghastly expression. The other four’s complexions paled in an instant.

  A flock of over a dozen huge grey birds emerged from the dense fog above them. These monstrous birds were three-meters-long, had red combs on their head, sharp claws and beaks, and emitted a faint azure light from their body. They made for a vicious and ugly sight.

  After they appeared, they didn’t immediately descend down to the island. Instead, they quickly circled around the island before dispersing, blocking the cultivator’s paths of escape. The birds appeared quite familiar with the maneuver.

  When the middle-aged cultivator saw this, his heart dropped.

  “Run! Quickly go into the forest. Wait until there is a chance to escape!” Experienced in dealing with bird-type demon beasts, the middle-aged man hastily ordered the others to flee into the forest. As the four were scared out of their wits, they quickly followed his orders without question.

  Their speed reached new levels with their increasing panic. In the blink of an eye, they had already arrived at the forest.

  However, a shocking scene suddenly appeared.

  Just as the five flew down to ten meters above the forest, green light suddenly flashed before their eyes. Once they recovered their sight from the dazzling flash, they were amazed to discover that the forest had disappeared without a trace, only to be replaced by an unfamiliar mountain range emitting an astonishing intensity of spiritual Qi.

  “It was an illusion formation!” The blue-clothed woman shouted out in alarm.

  “Could it be that there is a Fellow Daoist here?” The burly youth said in pleasant surprise.

  Greatly surprised, the middle-aged cultivator muttered, “It’s possible! But in any case, this is our chance at survival. Hopefully we can use to formation to evade the Hawk Kite Beasts!”

  With that said, the party couldn’t help but sweep their gazes around within the illusion formation.

  At that moment, the vicious birds suddenly lost sight of them, causing them to become restless. They cried out to each other several times before deciding to slowly fly downward.

  The middle-aged cultivator’s expression sank. “Not good! It seems the Hawk Kite Beasts will soon be unaffected by the illusion formation’s influence. Quickly climb the mountains! There is an aura of spell formations there. Perhaps that is where the Fellow Daoist is.” He then flew off toward the mountains in a streak of light.

  After the remaining cultivators mutually glanced at once another, they chased after the middle-aged man with nervous expressions.

  After they flew a short distance, a layer of white light suddenly revealed itself, blocking their way.

  When the middle-aged man saw this, he rejoiced. He immediately waved his hand and summoned a sound transmission talisman. After muttering a few words into it, he tossed the talisman before it transformed into a streak of fire, disappearing into the light barrier in the blink of an eye. The others gazed at the scene with panicke
d eyes, not daring to interrupt him.

  A short moment later, the many monstrous birds flew into the illusion formation. They quickly discovered the party of cultivators and flew towards them in a mad rush. Their wings carried a faint trace of bright azure light.

  The middle-aged cultivator grimaced and glanced at the white light barrier behind them. He gritted his teeth and muttered orders to the Qi Condensation cultivators.

  The other cultivator’s expression were also unsightly. But they still brandished their glowing magic tools in preparation to receive the demon beasts’ attack.

  But just as the Hawk Kite Beasts were about to sweep down onto the party of cultivators, something unexpected occurred.

  Over a hundred beams of various colored light suddenly shot out from the white light barrier. Although the beams were as thick as a finger, each of them were incomparably sharp. In the next instant, the descending Hawk Kite Beasts were left filled with countless holes, accompanied by the sounds of their flesh being ripped apart.

  The demon beasts breathed their last as they fell to the ground without even a scream.

  “This is...”

  The group of cultivators were elated by the developments and couldn’t help but turn around towards the light barrier.

  They were left shocked for a long while when they saw over ten huge apes on the other side of the light barrier. At first glance, they had mistaken them to be demon beasts and were left frightened, but they soon noticed something odd about them. After further inspection, they noticed that the huge apes all glowed with black light, before eventually figuring them out to be mechanical puppets. The puppets each had raised arms. It appeared the beam of lights from a moment ago should’ve all came from their hands.

  These realizations left the party completely relieved.

  Soon after, the huge apes silently lowered their arms and flickered with white light before disappearing from sight.

  As their expressions continued to change in surprise, the white barrier flashed several times before parting to create a three meter wide path.