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

by Translator: Johnchen

  The handsome youth unconsciously frowned upon seeing the yellow-robed cultivator. Regardless, he calmly replied, “So it turned out to be Senior Martial Brother Yan! These people still need to be examined with truth techniques and be introduced to the sect master before they become official disciples. They are still only candidates."

  The yellow-robed cultivator chuckled and said, “So its like that. However, Junior Martial Brother should know that my talisman refinement division still needs disciples. Do you think you could send two of these cultivators to me?"

  At that moment, his eyes focused on the group behind the young man.

  Han Li's expression was calm, but he felt quite disgusted from the gaze. From the way he looked at them and the tone he used, he certainly wanted to work them to the bone.

  When the other cultivators heard him, their expressions slightly changed. It seemed they also didn't have a favorable impression of him.

  "Senior Martial Brother Yan, that is not something I can decide. You should know that the allocation of disciples is decided by the sect master. If Senior Martial Brother feels that he doesn't have enough disciples for his talisman refinement division, you may bring it up with the Sect Master. Since Senior Martial Brother Miao is still waiting for me at the acceptance residence, I can't keep you company any longer." The youth surnamed Yu seemed to understand the yellow-robed cultivator's deceitful nature and immediately refused his request. After uttering an excuse, he stomped on his magic tool and brought the group of cultivators down to the pavilion below.

  The yellow-robed cultivator thought to further hold him back, but after hearing the youth mention Senior Martial Brother Miao, he revealed slight hesitation and allowed him to go.

  After watching the youth and company enter the pavilion from a distance away, his expression fluctuated. After lowering his head in thought for a moment, he coldly snorted and flew off to a different mountain in a streak of yellow light.

  At that moment, the group had already arrived on the first floor of the pavilion and were meeting with an unfamiliar man.

  He was a shriveled youth glancing through a bamboo scroll with keen interest as he sat in a sandlewood armchair. The man only appeared to be thirty years of age, but his cultivation had already reached the late Foundation Establishment stage. Although he had only reached late Foundation Establishment and hadn't yet consolidated his cultivation, he truly was a rarely seen talent. Having reached so far at his current age, he had great hopes of rising to the Core Formation stage. Could it be because of this man's name that the annoying yellow-robed cultivator didn't dare to trouble Junior Martial Brother Yu any further?

  When the other cultivators witnessed the shriveled youth's cultivation, they glanced at each other with expressions of shock.

  At that moment, this person had already folded up the bamboo scroll and glanced at the youth. He said with a soft voice, "Junior Martial Brother Yu, I've put you through a bit of trouble. Did Junior Martial Brother Yan block you just now?"

  “Since Senior Martial Brother already knows of it, there should be no need to ask. However, did that person come again to bother Senior Martial Sister Peiling?" The valiant-looking youth asked with disgust.

  "That person? Even if Junior Martial Brother Yan is somewhat excessive, he is still a fellow disciple of our Drifting Cloud Sect. Your words are inappropriate. Please take note of it in the future, else if the master notices, punishment is unavoidable." The sickly youth's words may have been meant to rebuke him, but his tone was completely flat, lacking even the slightest anger.

  But all the same, the Junior Martial Brother Yu's heart trembled and he hastily said, "Senior Martial Brother is correct. This younger disciple will certainly pay attention to it in the future." Seeing that the youth admitted his error, Senior Martial Brother Miao nodded his head and smiled. He then turned his gaze to Han Li and the others as he began to examine each of them.

  He seemed to be looking at them quite thoroughly, slowly examining them from head to toe. This had aroused quite a bit of anxiousness among those present. Possibly due to a misconception, Han Li felt that his gaze momentarily paused on the large fully bearded man before quickly turning to another person. Although it was impossible for Han Li's true cultivation to be seen through by him, Han Li felt slightly uneasy.

  After a short moment, Senior Martial Brother Miao withdrew his gaze and calmly patted at his waist and took out a talisman that sparkled with silver light.

  "It’s good that only about seven have come as I had expected. Otherwise, I wouldn't have enough True Heart talismans for all of you. Junior Martial Brother Yu, take these talismans and place them on their body. After they take effect, bring them to my study." Senior Martial Brother Miao spoke with a serene tone and handed the talismans to the youth. He then stood up from his chair and walked to the second floor without paying them any further attention.

  However, when the shriveled youth slowly turned the corner, he suddenly bent down and began to rapidly cough. It sounded quite painful, but soon after, he managed to stand up and head towards the stairway underneath the bewildered gazes of everyone there.

  A trace of astonishment flickered in Han Li's eyes but it quickly disappeared.

  Junior Martial Brother Yu revealed a trace of anxiousness and sighed before turning towards Han Li and the others. "These are True Heart talismans. I'm sure you know what they do, so I'll save my breath. If you harbor any sinister designs or conspiracies, it would be best for you to take the initiative to leave. Otherwise, if you're discovered, don't blame our Drifting Cloud Sect for being ruthless."

  With that said, a cold glint flickered from the youth's eyes as he glanced at the seven before him. Although his tone was quite fearsome, nobody took the initiative to leave.

  As a result, the youth nodded with a relaxed expression and tossed the silver talismans towards the seven with a wave of his arm. They all placed beneath each of their right shoulders. The youth then casually sat down without any regard for the other seven and closed his eyes.

  The others glanced at each other in dismay. Although they all had their own thoughts in mind, none of them dared to tear off the truth talisman. They could only wait.

  At that moment, Han Li tilted his head and glanced at the silver talisman near his shoulder. For a very brief moment, he smirked. Not long after, the talisman began to shine with silver light before it soon faded away.

  When the youth felt something happen, he opened his eyes and glanced at Han Li before emotionlessly saying, "Go to the second floor. Senior Martial Brother Miao is waiting for you!"

  When Han Li heard that, he glanced at the talisman and wordlessly climbed up the stairs.

  The second floor was quite empty with nothing apart from two prayer mats. The shriveled youth was sitting cross-legged on top one of them. When he saw that Han Li had arrived, he pointed to the other prayer mat and smiled, "Please sit down! There is no need to be nervous. It will be over quickly. The interrogation technique isn't anything like a soul bewitchment technique. It only determines whether or not your answers are truthful. Although it doesn't hold completely certainty, it will be correct most of the time. As such, I will ask you ten questions. If three or more are judged to be false, you will not be accepted into the sect. Do you understand?"

  Han Li nodded his head and sincerely said, "Junior understands." He then sat down on the prayer mat in front of the youth. Regardless, Han Li inwardly sneered. As if the True Heart Technique could ever reveal his true intentions!

  "Alright, let's start. Where were you born..." Seeing that the talisman on Han Li's shoulder was flashing with silver light, he began to ask questions.

  ...

  Han Li and the others flew off from the pavilion and headed straight towards the largest mountain. All of the cultivators had passed the shriveled youth's cultivation without problem. As such, once the Drifting Cloud Sect Master recognized them and had recorded their names, they would become official disciples of the sect.

  C
hapter 602: Gold Forged Constitution

  The main peak of the Six Marvelous Peaks was also the largest, standing at over ten kilometers. Many other mountains surrounded it like stars surrounding the moon with Dayspring Mountain being among them. The top half of this mountain was also enveloped in a faint purple fog, concealing everything in a mysterious haze.

  Conversely, the bottom half of the mountain was bustling with activity. There were countless buildings of all sizes that covered the mountain spanning from crude stone rooms to expansive hundred meter tall palace halls, and there were a mess of countless scattered limestone roads throughout.

  Among these roads were stalls of all sorts with people selling and buying various goods. Many Drifting Cloud Sect disciples were included among them as they haggled over the various items with the stall owners.

  When Han Li and the other cultivators saw this, they were left dumbstruck.

  The youth surnamed Yu was already accustomed to the sight and paid it no attention as he moved his flying magic tool forward. They shot about kilometer into the air and flew into a stone hall.

  The stone hall was made of huge slabs of limestone that reached about a hundred meters tall. Each side of the hall was connected to smaller side rooms that were only about twenty meters wide. There were very few cultivators that entered and left the halls.

  Cultivator Yu then landed the alms bowl in front of the hall and had all of them get off. Afterwards, he formed an incantation gesture and had the alms bowl quickly shrink before he put it away into his storage pouch.

  "Wait here for a moment, I have to report to the Sect Master first. I'll call for you afterwards." The youth then walked into the hall with large strides.

  The many Qi Condensation door keepers clearly recognized Cultivator Yu and merely saluted him with respect as they watched him walk into the hall.

  After the youth disappeared from sight, the guards curiously glanced at Han Li and the others. They seemed to have already guessed who they were.

  A while later, a streak of white light towards the palace hall before fading away. The light was revealed to be a huge embroidered scarf carrying the pale-faced youth surnamed Liu along with the four other young cultivators that had left before them.

  The pale-faced youth gazed at Han Li's group of seven and revealed a trace of surprise. But soon after, he landed his flying magic tool nearby and proudly entered the stone hall, leaving the four young cultivators behind.

  In the next moment, Han Li's group and the group of four young gifted cultivators glanced at one another.

  For some unknown reason, the atmosphere appeared somewhat amiss despite the fact that both groups were going to enter the sect at the same time. There seemed to be a trace of hostility between them. But as they were about to enter the Drifting Cloud Sect, the two sides could only keep silent and behave themselves.

  After the time it took to finish a meal, cultivator Yu finally walked out from the hall. When he appeared, he immediately beckoned to Han Li's group and then turned towards the four gifted youths, "You four will be coming in with us. The Sect Master wishes to accept you all as disciples at the same time." With that said, the youth turned around and reentered the hall.

  The two groups didn't dare to delay and hastily followed after him.

  Following the youth, they passed through a short corridor before entering a hundred meter wide hall. There were eight cultivators sitting in chairs, whispering about something as they each wore different expressions.

  After the disciples were brought inside, the seated cultivators immediately ceased talking and began to examine Han Li's group.

  At that moment, Han Li appeared sincere as he displayed deference to them. But at the same time, he had released his spiritual sense and inspected the appearances and cultivations of the seated cultivators.

  There was a late Foundation Establishment cultivator, two mid Foundation Establishment cultivators, and the rest were only at early Foundation Establishment. Senior Martial Brother Qiu and the pale-faced cultivator were sitting amongst them.

  The blue-robed late Foundation Establishment cultivator waved his hand at the youth and smiled, “We've troubled Junior Martial Brother Yu! Please, take a seat." This person was the Drifting Cloud Sect Master, Wei Yiming.

  He had an ordinary appearance with two small eyes. However, each of his movements gave off an exceptionally imposing presence; it appeared he wasn't a simple character.

  “Many thanks Senior Martial Brother!" The youth cupped his hands and directly sat down in the chair at the side.

  At that moment, the seated cultivators finished examining Han Li's group and had finally moved on to the four talented youths. Each of the youths' gazes revealed a trace of fervent excitement and their bodies straightened upon being examined.

  As Han Li took all of this in with a trace of surprise, he heard the sect master speak.

  After examining the new disciples, the sect master glanced at the other seated cultivators and slowly said, "Yes! These disciples are suitable enough to enter the sect. They are suitable. After all, we haven't taken in a batch of disciples since several years ago. Junior Martial Brothers, how do you wish for the disciples to be allocated?"

  "Naturally, we wholeheartedly agree that the final decision will lie with Senior Marital Brother Wei." An old man with grey hair twirled his short beard and spoke with an exceptionally respectful tone. His voice then changed as he smoothly said, "My Hidden Sword Mountain has no need for any external affair disciples. However, for inner sect disciples, my own Hidden Sword Mountain only recruited two disciples the last time around and is lacking in manpower. My mountain should have a disciple this time around. I have no need for the other disciples, except for the disciple with the Gold Forged constitution.”

  After the old man said this, he pointed to the tall and sturdy youth. When the youth heard him, he couldn’t help but reveal surprise.

  A deathly-pale middle-aged man was unable to stay sitting upon hearing the old man, and bluntly retorted, “Humph! You might’ve received fewer disciples the last time around, but you also received a disciple with dual-attribute spiritual roots. Needless to say, our Fire Cloud Mountain must be the ones to claim the disciple with the abnormal constitution.”

  When the grey-haired old man heard this, he chuckled and shook his head, “Your Fire Cloud Mountain mainly relies on fire attribute cultivation arts, but cultivators possessing the Gold Forged Constitution possess metal attribute spiritual roots. Junior Martial Brother Yang, your position is lacking.”

  “Even if your hidden sword mountain possess metal attribute cultivation techniques, our Fire Cloud Mountain’s Senior Martial Uncle Li’s Metal Tempering Arts are renowned throughout the entire State of Xi. Why can’t this disciple cultivate his techniques?” The middle-aged man didn’t reveal the slightest intention of backing down.

  “You...”

  The sect master frowned and interrupted, “Enough, I’ve already heard your thoughts. There is no need to further speak of them.”

  Senior Martial Brother Liu smiled and mediated, “That’s right. Senior Martial Brothers’ dispute will have no end. It’s better to have Sect Master decide. After all, regardless of which mountain receives him, he will still be a disciple of our Drifting Cloud Sect in the end. There is no reason to fight.”

  The old man and the deathly-pale middle-aged man glanced at each other, but the old man rushed to say, “Junior Martial Brother Qiu’s words holds reason. Our Hidden Sword Mountain will hold no complaint if the Sect Master makes the decision.”

  When the middle-aged man heard this, he hesitated for a moment before agreeing.

  The sect master’s expression relaxed and after a moment of thought, he turned to Han Li’s group and calmly said, “These disciples are particularly special so we should handle them last. Let’s distribute these other disciples. After all, our six mountains of the Drifting Cloud Sect have never turned away good help. Let’s first distribute these seven external affair disci
ples.”

  Two hours later, Han Li and the fully bearded man stood on a huge alms bowl and were being brought back to Dayspring Mountain by Cultivator Yu.

  They’d already changed into the attire of blue robes for low grade disciples and had been distributed to Dayspring Mountain.

  Cultivator Yu brought the two out of the stone hall once the distribution was finished without the slightest complaint.

  As for the tall and sturdy youth that was in high demand, he was unexpectedly assigned to Illusion Stone Mountain. Although the grey-haired old man and the middle-aged man were both dispirited, they could only concede the matter. But fortunately, they were each given an inner sect disciple and ended up with something for their troubles.

  “Although you’ve only entered the sect as external affair disciples, it is quite fortunate for you to be distributed to our Dayspring Mountain. Because of our Martial Ancestor gentle and kind-hearted, we won’t treat you too harshly. You only have to finish your assignments within the given time. The rest of your time you will be free to do as you wish.”

  “If you have the opportunity to acquire great merits, perhaps the Martial Ancestor will even bestow a Foundation Establishment Pill to you. After all, external affair and inner sect disciples receive the same treatment in name. However, the inner sect disciple’s main assignments are to cultivate. Because of your poor aptitudes, you are assigned to other various tasks such as medicine and talisman refinement. The attainments of the many Martial Uncles in these fields are quite profound.” Because Han Li and the fully-bearded man were already disciples of Dayspring Mountain, Cultivator Yun spoke to the two with a much more gentle tone as he gave them an explanation of sect matters.

  Chapter 603: Affiliation