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

by Translator: Johnchen

  Fairy Violet Spirit’s expression changed several times before her eyes wandered onto the golden flames, indecision lingering in her heart. During her moment of indecisiveness, streaks of light began to fly over from the distance. As they grew nearer, Fairy Violet Spirit and Wen Tianren recognized them to be the female cultivators and their carriage.

  When Wen Tianren saw this, he was greatly elated while Fairy Violet Spirit could only bitterly laugh in her mind.

  These Foundation Establishment women hadn’t been of any use at the start, but now they would be of pivotal importance.

  Before Fairy Violet Spirit could wryly smile, she spotted their panicked expressions as they approached Wen Tianren the moment they arrived.

  They looked at the current scene in astonishment and then quickly saluted Wen Tianren. They appeared extremely restless, but still remained silent.

  Wen Tianren appearance was harsh and a hostile expression appeared on his face. He coldly chuckled and thought to say something when his face contorted in bewilderment upon looking into the distance.

  When the others saw this, they were baffled and curiously turned their heads to look.

  “What in the world is that!?” One of them shouted out upon seeing it.

  They all saw wisps of black quickly emerge from the ocean at a frightening speed, leaving them all at a loss for words.

  “The ghost mist?” After a moment, one of the woman shouted out in terror and immediately flew deeper into the island. At that moment, the others had clearly seen the black wisps. A pitch-black fog had emerged from the sea and was rushing towards them as if it were alive.

  Suddenly, the rest of the Foundation Establishment cultivators present had been shocked senseless and fled in complete panic.

  Wen Tianren and Fairy Violet Spirit were both aghast at the sudden developments.

  Fairy Violet Spirit then stomped down and streaked away while enveloped in red light.

  Wen Tianren nervously stared at the golden flames, unsure of what to do. After a cold glint appeared in his eyes, he gritted his teeth and spat a mouthful of blood essence into the flames, instantly causing them to intensify.

  Afterwards, he flew into the distance in a flash of golden light while his many maids closely followed after him.

  An inconceivable event then occurred before them as the cultivators closest to the ghost mist fell onto the island like downed birds.

  This occurred with all cultivators that had drawn too close to the ghost mist. They suddenly lost their bearings in mid-flight and dropped down with deathly pale complexions.

  Even their magic tools had been completely deprived of their spiritual nature.

  As for Fairy Violet Spirit and Wen Tianming, they were only able to fly for a short amount of time and barely reach the other edge of the island before their lights had disappeared and they fell into the ocean.

  At the time, the golden flames that had remained in the distance wavered for a moment before fizzling out. The eight small mirrors had also returned to their original forms, revealing the silver barrier of light within.

  But just as the light barrier was revealed, it dispersed into specks of starlight, revealing an astonished Han Li from within.

  Han Li had already seen what had happened with the others, but before he could come overcome his shock and come up with a countermeasure, he felt the magic power in his body become restricted and he began to helplessly fall from the sky.

  Chapter 578: Encounter in the Dark

  Shock was clear in Han Li’s eyes as he fell towards the rocks a hundred meters below him. He abruptly twisted his body and bent his waist at a strange angle before kicking his feet out behind him. This caused him to shoot towards a large tree nearby before steadily coming to stand on one of its branches.

  Han Li’s head was lined with cold sweat after his near fall. Fortunately, the Shifting Smoke Steps didn’t require any spiritual power to use. Otherwise, he would’ve just met his end by falling to his death. If a Core Formation cultivator were to actually die by falling, they’d become a laughingstock! Of course, many of the nearby Foundation Establishment cultivators weren’t as fortunate as Han Li and were certain to have suffered.

  When Han Li finally regained his bearings, he heard a series of clangs from the distance. He quickly turned his head in that direction with a changed expression. Sure enough, the clangs came from the two sets of Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that he hadn’t taken into his body. Not far to their side were the eight sided mirrors, the ancient flower basket, and the small silver bell. At the moment, they were all completely devoid of life as if their spiritual nature had disappeared.

  Han Li’s heart trembled and he hastily tried to release a thread of spiritual sense to inspect the treasures, however his heart immediately grew cold. No matter how hard he tried, his immensely powerful spiritual sense now remained motionless within his body.

  Han Li’s blood ran cold as both his magic power and spiritual sense were now incapable of being used. He was now no different than an ordinary mortal. Let alone his magic abilities, his storage pouch and his spirit beast pouches were now useless as well.

  He turned around and paled upon seeing that the overflowing black mist had already filled the nearby skies.

  With his current speed as a mortal, there would be no chance of him outrunning the ghost mist. After reflecting on the current situation with a gloomy expression, he gritted his teeth and his body blurred. He then appeared beside the lifeless treasures and frantically gathered them all into his arms.

  Because he currently had no way of using his storage pouch, he could only hold the items close to his chest. Fortunately, they weren’t too large, otherwise Han Li would’ve been incapable of carrying all of them.

  At the same time that Han Li was gathering up the treasures, the endless black fog suddenly descended onto the small island.

  Han Li felt an immense attractive force coming in the direction of the mist, and before he even realized what was happening, he was already being sucked in.

  Han Li was overwhelmed by shock and shifted his body several times, hoping to use his Shifting Smoke Steps to escape, but it proved completely ineffective. A moment later, he had been absorbed into the pitch-black mist and found himself among several flashes of black lightning that instantly wrapped around his body.

  With several muffled booms, Han Li flickered with black light and disappeared without a trace into the fog.

  Han Li heard a torrent of countless, strange sounds pour into his mind as the entire world around him blurred and was replaced with absolute darkness.

  He felt his body suddenly come to a stop and then fell onto some kind of ground with a muffled thump. The ground was soft and thick, leaving him without the slightest injury, relieving Han Li of his most pressing worry.

  He took the opportunity to glance around and found only an expanse of darkness, but he did manage to smell a strong, fishy scent.

  Han Li wordlessly ran his hands over his body to find it sticky and wet with several things poking into him. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that he was lying on a pile of live, squirming fish and prawn.

  Han Li frowned and slowly tried to stand up when his head suddenly broke out in pain. At that same time, he felt his limbs turn soft and he became overwhelmed with a sense of vertigo.

  Han Li inwardly cursed. Without any magic power protecting his body, he was being subjected to the full aftermath of teleportation. It was likely that he wouldn’t be able to stand up for quite a while.

  Since this was the case, Han Li emotionlessly lied down on the pile of fish and prawn, saving his strength until he could move his limbs once more.

  But right then, yet another ball of black lightning appeared appeared about ten meters above him.

  That faint flash of light allowed Han Li to see strange pointed rocks about thirty meters above him, and he was able to make out that this place seemed to be an underground cave. As for the strange lightning, there seemed to be something within
it.

  Han Li’s heart stirred as he gazed at it. After wildly flashing several more times, it disappeared and dropped a pitch-black object straight onto Han Li.

  Han Li was startled and wanted to move out of the way, but his body was powerless. He could only watch on as the object fell onto him.

  As a result, a soft woman’s body fell onto Han Li with a muffled grunt. It seemed she had also been teleported there.

  The woman was clearly rattled, and not only did she not realize that Han Li was beneath her, she also crawled on him, grabbing onto Han Li’s hair.

  Han Li smirked and let out a faint breath of pain.

  “Huh?” The woman now realized that there was another person beneath her, an unfamiliar man. She cried out in alarm and hastily tried to stand, but her body swayed several times before she weakly fell back down.

  As a result, she ended up falling onto Han Li once again with her upper body resting on Han Li’s stomach. From her look of fright, she seemed to be somewhat young.

  “Who are you?” The woman asked with a trembling voice. Her heavy, thumping heart, could be clearly heard in the silent darkness.

  The woman’s voice was quite pleasant, but since he didn’t know the woman and couldn’t clearly make out her appearance, Han Li jokingly replied, “Just some guy!”

  “Hmph.” A trace of resentment appeared within her eyes as she fiercely glared at Han Li. But because her limbs were in pain, she could only raise her neck and turn her head towards Han Li just a bit, as this action didn’t seem to take much effort.

  However, her pleasant fragrance did reach Han Li’s nose, arousing a strange feeling in him. With the addition of her soft, ample body pressing against him, a certain area was unconsciously aroused.

  “What are you doing!” The woman immediately felt the change in Han Li’s body, and she fiercely glared at him with a shameful expression. However, Han Li saw this action to be quite adorable.

  Han Li bitterly laughed and said, “It isn’t something that I can control. I have lost my magic power and spiritual sense. While I would like to control my body with my cultivation and calm down my little lord, I’ve returned to become an ordinary man. I am helpless to do anything about the reaction.”

  The woman snorted. Although she didn’t say anything, she seemed to have heard him. Fortunately, she couldn’t move just like Han Li and could do nothing about it, despite her angry humiliation.

  The darkness became silent once more, broken only by the breaths of the two.

  Han Li felt this experience to be completely unprecedented. There were countless fish and prawn flailing about underneath him, and an unfamiliar, fragrant woman laying on top of him. This situation couldn’t be described as anything but absurd!

  The woman suddenly broke the silence and asked, “Were you among the fellow cultivators that entered the island?”

  “Seems likely, right?” When Han Li heard her, he immediately recalled the dozens of cultivators that had rushed to the small island. It seemed like this woman was one of them.

  Doubt flickered within her eyes and she snorted before suspiciously asking, “What is that supposed to mean?”

  Han Li smiled and thought to brush off her question with a vague response when disorderly footsteps suddenly sounded as several torches soon appeared in the distance and floated nearby. There appeared to be shadows that were faintly visible beneath the flickering torchlight.

  Han Li’s heart trembled! There seemed to be people here and they didn’t appear to be the other cultivators that had been devoured by the ghost mist.

  An instant later, the torches had drawn close to them.

  Han Li’s eyes narrowed and he was able to clearly see the black silhouettes behind the flames. They were five exceptionally large men that were each at least a whole head taller than Han Li, and appeared to be about forty years of age.

  They wore green robes and held a sword-like weapon in their hands with huge leather bags on their backs and were hastily travelling forward in large strides.

  When Han Li saw them, his heart was shaken by fear. As he was guessing the identity of these men, a strand of black hair swept past his face. The woman had turned her head to gaze at them as well, and seemed to be ill at ease from her trembling..

  Han Li furrowed his brow and began to move his fingers as a trace of strength had returned. It appeared that he was recovering his strength rather quickly.

  Chapter 579: A Place With No Name

  A moment after Han Li realized he was regaining control of his body, the torches had grown closer to them, allowing him to see with greater clarity.

  The nearby surroundings had been brightened enough to reveal large piles of fish and prawn everywhere. Han Li and the woman happened to be on one of the comparatively larger piles.

  The areas further away from them were still pitch-black and couldn’t be seen, but the cave appeared exceptionally spacious as no walls could be seen.

  When the men carrying torches were about a hundred meters away from Han Li, they stopped and quickly placed their bags onto the ground. With the exception of one person that vigilantly stood guard, the rest of them began to wildly stuff the fish and prawn into their bags.

  Han Li was surprised to see this while woman on top of him couldn’t help but gasp in surprise, but the men hadn’t heard her because of how soft her voice was. Han Li unconsciously turned his gaze to the woman and discovered in the faint glow of red light that the woman had a beautiful face.

  The woman immediately noticed Han Li’s gaze, and seemed to blush. She turned away, and her face was once again hidden in the darkness. However, her bashful eyes still glinted in the darkness.

  Han Li couldn’t help but find her actions humorous.

  This woman was somewhat odd. When they had yet to see each other’s appearance, she was outspoken, direct, and even a bit unruly. Now that he could see her, the initial harshness has disappeared and she immediately grew timid and bashful.

  In that instant, they heard a cry of alarm in the distance.

  The man on guard suddenly turned around and harshly whispered, “Not good! Scatter! The Firescale Beast is about to arrive!”

  Suddenly, the men that were gathering the fish immediately tossed the bags onto their backs and madly scrabbled in another direction. All that was left behind were the flickering torches illuminating the darkness.

  At that moment, several hisses could be heard from within the darkness as if something had discovered the men. Several quick thumps then sounded out.

  Several fire-red, meter-long silhouettes leapt from the darkness and quickly disappeared with a blur.

  For a instant, Han Li was able to clearly see the appearances of the Firescale Beasts. The beasts had a sinister appearance with red scales and a mouthful of razor sharp fangs.

  In the blink of an eye, silence once again covered the cave.

  Han Li let out a long breath of relief as it seemed that the strange beasts hadn’t discovered the two of them, providing a silver lining for an otherwise dismal situation.

  Not long after the beasts disappeared, Han Li could weakly form a fist with both hands. Soon he finally recovered control over his body and could move well enough to hold onto the woman and slowly stand up.

  While being held in his arms, the woman whispered with a blush, “Re... Release me. I will recover soon enough.”

  Han Li glanced at the woman and indifferently said, “If you don’t mind squirming around with the fish on the ground, I’ll let you go.”

  When the woman heard this, she lowered her head and glanced at the squirming fish on the ground with a trace of hesitation. In the end, she chose to remain silent.

  At that moment, Han Li jumped off the pile of fish with the woman in his grasp and walked in the direction of the abandoned torches. Although he didn’t know what or where this forsaken place was, it would prove rather troublesome if they didn’t have any light.

  Han Li crouched down and picked up a torch, and wore a pensiv
e expression after glancing around.

  A short moment later, the blushing woman whispered, “Please release me. I can move now.”

  When Han Li heard this, he silently relaxed his arm and the woman gracefully landed on her feet. After quickly patting down her clothes, she also pick up a torch and examined their surroundings.

  After a moment, Han Li suddenly headed off in the direction that the group of men had arrived from.

  When the woman saw this, she was alarmed and hastily asked, “Where are you going?”

  Han Li replied without turning his head, “I’m not going to wait here for the beasts to return. It would be better to find somewhere safe for now.”

  When the woman heard this, she wore an expression of fright and quickly followed after Han Li.

  Han Li remained silent when he heard this and continued on his way.

  After only walking a few steps, Han Li stopped and used the torch to illuminate the ground, revealing the men’s footprints.

  The woman was caught off guard and nearly ran into Han Li. She was left slightly bewildered and whispered, “What’s wrong?”

  Han Li didn’t answer her. Instead, he crouched down and brought a handful of sand to his nose. He revealed an odd expression after taking a sniff.

  “There’s a dense smell of blood. This isn’t a good sign!” Han Li expressionlessly said this before continuing to follow the men’s footsteps.

  The woman was startled by what he said and quickly followed after Han Li.

  After the time it took to finish a meal, they eventually spotted a glitter of blue light in the distance.

  Han Li narrowed his eyes at the sight and quickened his steps.