“Hehe, that’s fine! I am already completely grateful for Brother Han’s words.” The red-faced old man appreciatively thanked him several times. Afterwards, he had a quick chat with Han Li before tactfully taking his leave.
Han Li stood by the building’s entrance as he watched the old man walk away before weighing the bone case in his hand. It was light; there didn’t seem to be anything profound about the bone case itself.
Mei Ning, who had been silently standing behind him, couldn’t help but ask, “This is the first time I’ve heard of this Spirit Subjugation Talisman. Could it truly be powerful?”
Han Li smiled at Mei Ning and said, “I don’t know, but I reckon it is unordinary at the very least!” Soon after, he sat down beside the table in the room and started to look through each of the bones.
“Yi!” After a mere glance, Han Li yelped in shock.
“What? Is there a problem with the talisman refinement method?” Mei Ning sat down across from Han Li and glanced at him with bright curiosity. Ever since their kiss, they’d become somewhat more familiar with one another and their original awkwardness had disappeared.
“It’s nothing. It’s just that the materials required to refine the Spirit Subjugating Talisman are truly extraordinary. It was no wonder that the Heavenly Talisman Sect didn’t dare to refine this talisman.” After looking through all of the bones, he casually closed the bone case aside.
Mei Ning curiously asked, “What are these materials that Brother Han find so extraordinary?”
Han Li grabbed a bone shard and smiled, saying, “It’s primary materials can’t be considered much. But there is one extraordinary material that can’t be bought with spirit stones: the soul of a metamorphosis stage demon beast. Wouldn’t you say that is extraordinary?”
“The soul of a demon beast at metamorphosis stage?” Mei Ning gasped in astonishment.
However, Han Li’s mysterious expression as he grasped the bone shard had completely escaped her notice.
Having rested for the night, Han Li and Mei Ning left the village without notifying anybody else, much to the astonishment of the village guards.
...
Han Li found himself standing on yet another pile of rocks as he gazed into the yellow desert in front of him. After getting their bearings, Han Li and Mei Ning headed towards the nearest village.
Han Li’s plans were quite simple: find the elder brother of Mei Ning. If he was alive, he was certain to be found in another village, and when he was found, Han Li would bring him and Mei Ning to Stormwind Mountain. Mei Ning felt that this plan was reasonable and followed his lead without complaint.
Then in the blink of an eye, the two faded away into the endless sand.
...
In an expanse of blood-crimson soil, there were a dozen young grey-robed men and women with bone pikes stealthily climbing up a tall mound and slowly surrounding it.
At the top of the mound, there were many green beasts with short and thick necks who were currently curled up in their sleep.
These were umbra beasts by the name of Jade Yin Toads. Their bodies were small and covered in lumps. While they appeared as if they were just enlarged toads from the mortal world, they didn’t possess an ounce of poison on their bodies and were one of the few umbra beasts that were edible to humans.
These people had naturally come to hunt the Jade Yin Toads to ease the crisis of their village’s food shortage.
The group’s actions were nimble and silent. By the time they had completely surrounded them, a Jade Yin Toad suddenly opened its red eyes and saw that there were humans about a hundred meters away.
“Attack!” As soon as that was shouted, the beast began to croak in warning, but in the blink of an eye, over a dozen sparkling white bone pikes were shot towards the beasts.
As a result, a majority of the Jade Yin Toads had leapt away, and only two had met the barrage of spears. However, these two were the most vigorous of the toads and they managed to dodge out of the way, ending up with only scrapes from the spears.
The Jade Yin Toads were among the weakest of umbra beasts. Apart from being able to spout a few mouthfuls of Yin Qi, they had few other powerful attacks. However, they were particularly adept at using their powerful jumps to escape with astonishing effectiveness.
The remaining two Jade Yin Toads took large breaths and spouted out large clouds of black Yin Qi. Afterwards, they jumped twenty five meters into the air and broke the encirclement. Although the group had continued to use their pikes without reserve, they were clearly too slow, and were incapable of catching up to the two Jade Yin Toads.
After the two Jade Yin Toads leapt towards a strange expanse of stone in the distance, a flash of azure light sparked, resulting in the two toads falling to the ground with their throats gouged.
Green blood painted the red ground.
This scene caused the dismayed youths to look on with astonishment.
Chapter 592: Absorbing Souls
With gusts of winds, two azure streaks flew out from the umbra beast corpses towards a nearby bolder. Afterwards, a man and a woman clothed in blue beast leather appeared on top of the boulder with a blur.
The man’s appearance was ordinary in contrast to the woman’s heart-swaying beauty, but a vast intelligence shined within his eyes. These two individuals were Han Li and Mei Ning. Han Li held two inch-long daggers in each of his hands. There was semi-transparent string wrapped around both of their hilts which appeared to be made from a slim beast tendon.
Han Li walked over and glanced down at the umbra beast carcasses before turning his gaze to the vigilant crowd. He smiled and amiably said, “I hope you won’t take offense. I saw that two Jade Yin Toads were about to escape and I couldn’t help but take action. But regardless, I have no desire towards these Jade Yin Toads; I merely wish to ask you a few questions.”
One of the older party members doubtfully asked, “You truly do not want the beast carcasses?” It seemed he was the leader of the group of youths.
Han Li nudged a beast carcass with his foot and affirmatively replied, “Of course I don’t. I already have plenty of food.”
Although the man felt this was somewhat strange, he felt that there was nothing to lose and he eventually nodded his head, “Alright, go ahead and ask.”
Han Li nodded, satisfied to see his tactful response, and calmly asked, “Are you natives to this land?”
The man frowned and replied, “That’s right. We are villagers of Red Soil Village.”
“That’s good. We arrived here to make some inquiries. Have there been any new arrivals that have joined your village? We are searching for someone.”
After a moment of thought, he hesitantly said, “New arrivals? None. However, after the appearance of the last spacial tear, we spotted several remains of both men and women in the umbra beast lair. By the time we spotted them, umbra beasts had already cleanly devoured them until nothing but bones were left.”
Standing behind Han Li, Mei Ning grimaced and said, “Bones?”
In the past month, the two had already visited three villages. Although there were a couple of cultivators that had narrowly survived the spacial tear, there was no sign of her brother.
Seeing that Han Li only wished to find someone, he relaxed and openly said, “That’s right. We’ve already buried their remains, but we have their possessions. They were placed in a village warehouse. Would you like to take a look?”
Han Li glanced at the silent Mei Ning before nodding, “That’d be good. We’ll have to trouble you.” If her brother’s possessions happened to be among them, then the search would be over. He had to confirm them just in case.
After calling out to those behind him to deal with the carasses of the toads, he cordially chatted with Han Li, “Hehe! From your tone, it seems you’re quite cultured. I could tell you’re an outsider. Have you just arrived in this land?”
Han Li beamingly smiled in response.
The two then followed the group for a coupl
e of kilometers before arriving at an unfamiliar village.
This village was far smaller than the others. Although they also had stone walls surrounding them, they were only about twenty meters tall and appeared worn out as if it from long neglect.
From the size of the village, it seemed there were only about a hundred inhabitants at most.
After entering the village, their leader pointed at a relatively large stone room and apologetically told the two cultivators to head to the building by themselves. As the toad carcasses were vitally important, the villagers had to deal with them first.
Han Li didn’t mind this and spoke a few words of thanks before heading there with Mei Ning. ……
Han Li glanced at the torn, bloody robes and asked with slight surprise, “These truly belonged to your brother?”
Han Li truly didn’t expect that as soon as they entered that Mei Ning would immediately spot her brother’s remnants. Her face had immediately grown pale at the sight and her eyes had become completely dispirited.
Mei Ning stared at the remnants with red eyes and muttered, “How could I possibly mistake these clothes? I personally made them for him. The storage pouch also has our sect’s insignia.”
Not knowing what to say to console her, Han Li could only hesitate for a moment before patting the woman’s shoulders and quietly slipping away from the stone room. He knew that it would be better for her to be alone for the time being.
Just after he left, he began to hear faint sobs from the room. Han Li let out a sigh and then looked to the sky in silence.
A while later, Mei Ning left the room with swollen eyes. She calmly said, “Let’s go. Since my brother has passed, there is no longer any need to visit the other villages. Let’s head straight to Stormwind Mountain!” It seemed she had stifled the pain from the loss of her brother.
Han Li calmly replied, “Before we head off to Stormwind Mountain, there is still something I must do. I need to acquire a few umbra beast gems.”
Mei Ning was stunned for a moment before asking in surprise, “Beast gems! What use is there in collecting them? They’re quite difficult to come by.”
“I have my own reasons for collecting them. I reckon that in the entire world, the umbra realm is the only place where one can find umbra beast gems. Even if one could find them elsewhere, they would likely be extremely scarce. Gathering umbra beast gems would’ve been incredibly difficult if we wished to acquire them when we had first arrived. However, we won’t be the ones handling the umbra beasts. It will be this one.” Han Li suddenly shook his sleeve and a green flash of light appeared before him.”
Mei Ming glanced at the small monkey that had suddenly appeared with suspicion, “This one?”
With a certain expression, Han Li said, “Of course!”
Because Han Li used the safer routes on his journey to find other villages, he was able to handle the low grade beasts by using only his flying swords. However, this didn’t result in him acquiring any umbra beast gems. Knowing that they had some relation to the puppets of Heavenvoid Hall, Han Li naturally wanted to collect a few.
At that moment, he called out to Mei Ning and had the Weeping Soul Beast return to his sleeve. He would spend the night at Red Soil Village before setting off and testing the efficacy of the Weeping Soul Beast on umbra beasts.
...
A twenty meter tall clawed beast leisurely walked out of a valley. Its huge claws were overpowering and its mouth was filled with vicious fangs. As the hegemon of the area, it had no fear of any high grade umbra beasts suddenly attacking it.
But at that moment, its dull ears suddenly heard something moving, and it turned its head with a malicious light glinting in its eyes. About a hundred meters away, a foot tall monkey had unknowingly appeared.
The small monkey was currently staring at the colossal beast with immense excitement.
When the huge beast caught sight of the small monkey, it merely snorted several times, wishing to scare it away. However, the monkey actually attacked, shooting out a yellow mist that enveloped it with fantastical speed.
After the mist of yellow light enveloped it, the colossal beast released a world-shaking roar, but the yellow mist quickly dimmed and shot back into the small monkey’s large nose, carrying streaks of black Qi.
The small monkey chewed with great relish before patting its bulging belly. Its face appeared completely satisfied as if it just had a delicious meal.
At that moment, Han Li leisurely walked out with a relaxed expression. A flabbergasted Mei Ning followed after him.
The woman found this entire scene absurd. She had witnessed the enormous beast turning into a shriveled corpse in the blink of an eye. Another wave of disbelief suddenly crossed her mind when she faintly recalled the legend of a certain fearsome spirit beast.
As Mei Ning recovered from her shock, Han Li had already arrived in front of the beast’s head. With a wave of his sleeve, a sparkling silver dagger appeared in his hand.
He expressionlessly chopped down, splitting the beast’s skull like a watermelon. Soon after, a thumb-sized green gem fell out from the remains.
Han Li smiled at the sight of it and bent down to pick it up. Han Li then turned his head to the west and assuredly said, “There should be many more powerful umbra beasts about three kilometers west. Let’s take care of them along the way.”
Chapter 593: Stormwind Mountain
Stormwind Mountain was a huge mountain located in the northeast edge of the umbra realm. One could only see the bottom half of the mountain from the distance as the rest of it was densely covered in Yin clouds.
The mountain was made up of bare black stone and lacked any kind of vegetation. Additionally, it was over four kilometers high with storms of fierce Yin winds blowing around it. If common men were to climb it, they would only add to the many black ice sculptures already decorating the mountain.
The treacherous conditions of the mountain also caused its surroundings to become particularly gloomy. With endless thunder ringing from the skies and cold howling winds scattering stone and sand, it seemed as if the area was truly haunted.
Since places with dense umbra Qi were beloved by powerful umbra beasts, it was only natural for many fearsome demon beasts to occupy the nearby land. But today, there were some uninvited visitors paying a visit to Stormwind Mountain.
A beast carcass that was over a hundred meters tall fell onto the ground in a flash of silver light. The carcass then shriveled in an instant as the silver light flew away into the distance carrying an expanse of black Qi.
A moment later, a huge world-shaking roar filled the air.
Following a series of heavy thuds on the ground, a thirty-meter-tall silver ape appeared at the side of the umbra beast carcass. The huge ape’s appearance was malevolent and vicious with each of its movements exuding an astonishing pressure. However, Han Li and Mei Ning were sitting on its back.
Han Li swept his gaze over the beast carcass and pushed off against the ape before deftly landing on the carcass’s skull. In the instant he landed, a cold glint flickered in his eyes and the carcass’s skull split open, revealing nothing at all.
Han Li revealed a trace of disappointment, but his face soon turned back to normal.
As of current, he had accumulated over a hundred umbra beast gems. Although he knew there was a small chance that the groups of low grade umbra beasts could result in an umbra beast gem, he didn’t have the time to hunt every single one of them down. He had to climb Stormwind Mountain before the next spacial tear appeared.
Mei Ning had also jumped down from the huge ape’s shoulder. A second later, the huge ape flashed with silver light and shrank to a delicate foot tall form.
Han Li turned around to look at the Weeping Soul Beast’s transformation and couldn’t help but smile.
When he had left Red Soil Village, he had brought the Weeping Soul Beast to many various places to exterminate powerful umbra beasts. After absorbing large quantities of umbra beast soul esse
nce, the weeping soul beast had suddenly gained the ability to transform into a huge ape, and not long after, its fur soon turned an eye-catching silver.
These changes had come as a great surprise to Han Li. According to the slip that Yuan Yao had given him, the Weeping Soul Beast shouldn’t have the ability to enlarge itself, and its fur should’ve turned pitch-black upon advancing instead of silver.
It appeared that this peculiar evolution was a result of two aspects that had coincidentally met: umbra beast soul essence that greatly differed from the soul essence commonly found in the outside world, and the fact that the beast wasn’t completely refined in the first place.
It wasn’t as miraculous as the commonly known variant spirit beasts, but its peculiar transformation was absolutely the first of its kind.
Although he didn’t know whether or not this transformation resulted in strength greater than true Weeping Soul Beasts, Han Li was quite content after seeing these changes continue. After all, the refinement method of a true Weeping Soul Beast was a bloody affair. Although Han Li wasn’t a soft person, he would’ve found it difficult to refine it according to the methods that he was given.
At that moment, the Weeping Soul Beast shot into Han Li’s sleeve with a flash of white and silver light and deep breaths of sleep could be heard.
Han Li faintly smiled in response, but soon his face grew solemn when he gazed at Stormwind Mountain in the distance.
That previous umbra beast had been the last remaining giant umbra beast near Stormwind Mountain. They were now free to climb the mountain without obstruction.
Han Li took a deep glance at the distant mountain and slowly said, “Let’s go! We have to climb to the top of the mountain before the next spacial tear appears. Otherwise, we’ll be stuck here several more months.”
Mei Ning agreed, “Of course! According to the native’s method of predicting these intermittent spacial tears, the next tear should appear in about two weeks. If we were to miss it, we’d have to wait another half year.”
Han Li faintly smiled and took the lead towards the huge mountain.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 319