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

by Translator: Johnchen

  Upon seeing this, the other four grew vigilant and nervously grasped the formation flags in their hands.

  The white fox didn’t glance up at the five. After seeing that there was nothing strange in its surroundings, it grew slightly more courageous and it began to silently walk in the direction of the Huangjing.

  However, when it arrived about thirty meters away from the Huangjing, it suddenly stopped and its small pink nose suddenly sniffed the air. A trace of doubt flickered in its eyes as if it had discovered something.

  This scene had caused Senior Martial Wang to lose his calm and he loudly shouted, “Now!” His formation flag dropped to the ground in a streak of yellow light. When Han Li and the others heard this, they threw down the formation flags without hesitation and each uttered several incantations.

  Five different lights began to shine from the flags as soon as they touched the ground. A large expanse of yellow mist then enveloped the field, sealing it from every direction. The Five Elements Obscure Track Formation had taken effect.

  When the Snowcloud Fox saw this, it naturally knew that it was trapped. It immediately released several panicked howls and turned into a white blur as it shot into the yellow mist in an attempt to escape.

  The group of cultivators appeared somewhat relieved upon seeing this, but they didn’t relax just yet. The illusion formation merely changed the direction of the white fox so that it turned in circles and stayed within the formation. The cultivators naturally wished to exhaust the beast first before they set to capturing it.

  The group of people beamingly smiled as if this operation was a success. After the small fox ran around inside the yellow mist, it suddenly blurred several times before collapsing to the ground. It no longer stood up.

  When the others saw this, they couldn’t help but feel frightened and looked at each other in dismay.

  Senior Martial Brother Wang’s face grew sullen and he calmly said, “Do not release the restriction. We will continue to maintain it. Junior Martial Brother Ma, go down and see what is happening. The Obscure Track Formation is only able to trap, it does not cause harm. From the fox’s sly nature, it is most likely pretending to be dead.”

  The others were greatly relieved upon hearing him and the youth surnamed Ma wordlessly descended.

  Han Li faintly smirked at the scene and glanced down with a mysterious smile.

  The short and stout Senior Martial Brother Ma was rather fast. After a short moment, he had entered the yellow mist and was several steps away from the fox.

  He carefully grabbed the white fox tail and boldly shook it several times. The white fox was unresponsive as if it were truly dead.

  As a result, the youth surnamed Ma felt slightly panicked and immediately pressed his ear against the beast’s chest.

  Soon after, Senior Martial Brother Ma flusteredly shouted from within the mist, “Senior Martial Brother, quickly come down, the demon fox’s body is ice-cold. Perhaps its heart has stopped from fright!”

  “Impossible!” Senior Martial Brother Wang couldn’t help but change his expression.

  Kui Huan nervously said, “Senior Martial Brother, let’s release the spell formation and take another look. Our spiritual power cannot sustain the restriction for much longer.”

  The cultivator surnamed Xi remained silent but a trace of worry appeared in his eyes. The demon beast wouldn’t be worth much if it were dead.

  After a moment of hesitation Senior Marital Brother Wang nodded his head and said, “Fine! We’ll release the spell formation since Junior Martial Brother Ma has already grabbed onto the spirit beast.”

  When Han Li heard this, he calmly rubbed his chin, but he didn’t display the slightest opposition.

  Suddenly, the cultivators began to mutter some words and point to the ground, causing four of the flags to shoot back into their hands as streaks of light.

  In the instant the yellow mist dissipated, a short and stout youth placed his finger on the small beast’s nose as if he were testing something.

  The three dropped down with sullen expressions. However, Han Li remained standing in his original position as he glanced at the white fox down below. His face revealed an odd expression.

  Chapter 609: The Chase

  Before Senior Martial Wang and the other two descended, the youth surnamed Ma had already placed his finger on the white fox’s nose and angrily cursed, “Damn! This thing isn’t breathing! Don’t tell me that it died for nothing.”

  With that said, he raised his head to the three and was about to say something more with an angry face.

  The three that were descending suddenly had their expressions greatly changed as they shouted, “Careful! The demon fox is alive! It was only playing dead!”

  The three all shouted different words, but their meanings were all the same.

  The short and stout youth was rather quick-witted, and his expression abruptly changed upon hearing them. His hand instantly blurred and a white talisman appeared between his fingers. He fiercely slapped the talisman onto the fox’s tail.

  However, his actions were clearly too slow. As soon as he extended his hand holding the talisman, he felt a sharp pain coming out from the hand that held onto the fox.

  He loudly shouted as he unconsciously released his grip. The fox slipped away and rolled onto the ground.

  In the blink of an eye, the fox’s tail had become erect and its fur became the same as needles. The youth’s hand was now filled with holes and dripping with blood.

  When the other three saw this, they flew towards the small beast in furious alarm.

  The white fox wasn’t about to easily be captured. It scuttled away and turned into a white streak as it shot forty meters away. With several hops, it fled back into the shrubbery.

  In a moment of desperation, Senior Martial Brother Wang and the other two surrounded the bush and released their magic tools as they slowly combed through it.

  But after a short moment, the three revealed astonishment. Apart from a pile of stones, there was nothing else in the bushes. The white fox had clearly disappeared without a trace. The three then despondently stood in place.

  Kui Huan unconsciously turned his gaze to the sky and shouted in alarm, “Yi! Where is Junior Martial Brother Han going?” At that moment, the others also discovered that Han Li was quickly flying off into the distance.

  Han Li’s voice transmission soon arrived at their ear, “There is no need for Senior Martial Brothers to be so flustered. That fox slipped away using a vision obscuring technique and dug into the earth. Right now, I am using a magic tool to track it down. Once it comes back up, I’ll capture it alive.” With that said, Han Li flew off towards the edge of the marsh.

  When Senior Martial Brother Wang heard him, he grew delighted and called out to the others before impatiently chasing after Han Li. The other three were close behind him.

  As they hurried along their way, Senior Martial Brother Wang turned his head around and asked, “Junior Martial Brother Ma, how is your hand?”

  The short, stout youth was at the very rear. He muttered with a shameful expression, “It’s still good. Fortunately, the fox’s tail didn’t have any poison. It’s merely a superficial wound.” After all, it was his carelessness that had resulted in the fox’s escape. Additionally, the issue had been called to attention by someone, causing him to feel quite embarrassed.

  Senior Martial Brother Wang forced a smile and said, “That’s good. Let’s quicken our pace. Although I don’t know what kind of magic tool Junior Martial Brother Han is using to track the underground movements of the demon fox, we should hurry after him.”

  Kui Huan turned around and repeatedly nodded his head in agreement. With an odd tone, he said, “Nevertheless, the intelligence of this evolved Snowcloud Fox is truly too much. Even Senior Martial Brother Ma couldn’t tell that the beast was playing dead. It was quite a shock.”

  Grabbing onto his wounded hand, the cultivator surnamed Ma deeply blushed.

  Fortunately
at that moment, Senior Martial Brother Wang spoke up for him, “We cannot blame Junior Martial Brother Ma. Even if I had been the one to check, things might’ve ended up the same. It’s just that the Snowcloud Fox was too sly.”

  Having heard that, the youth surnamed Ma shot an appreciative glance at Senior Martial Brother Wang and felt much better.

  As the three were talking, the youth surnamed Xi suddenly wore an incredulous gaze and suddenly shouted, “Everyone, quickly look! Junior Martial brother Han drilled through the stone wall. Wh-what should we do?”

  The others glanced ahead in alarm and discovered that the marsh’s end lie ahead of them. A kilometer ahead of them, there was a mountain so huge that its peak couldn’t be seen. There was a cliff that faced them that had its black walls cut through with a sword.

  Furthermore, Han Li was nowhere to be found. The four stood in front of the cliff and glanced inside the opening that had been cut with dumbfounded expressions.

  Han Li had truly gone inside the mountain.

  At that moment, he was holding a jade scepter with a wolf’s head that enveloped his body in a faint yellow radiance. There was a meter long yellow wolf in front of him that was opening a path with an earth movement technique.

  As the artifact spirit continued forward, the earth parted as if there was nothing there. Han Li followed after the wolf with a pensive appearance on his face.

  Underneath the scope of his spiritual sese, Ha Li saw the white fox strive its hardest to continue forward as it blurred a hundred meters beneath him.

  With his profound abilities, it was only natural for him to see through the Snowcloud Fox’s act. He even saw how the fox took advantage of a stone vein in the shrubbery to slip away.

  If this were a common low grade demon beast, Han Li would’ve naturally warned the disciples as a favor. But Han Li was quite surprised to see that when the spirit fox revealed itself, it possessed spiritual Qi fluctuations that felt quite familiar to Han Li.

  In his astonishment, he carefully examined it and found that the beast faintly carried the same spiritual Qi fluctuations as the Ninecurl Spirit Ginseng’s incarnation, the white rabbit.

  Han Li was delighted, believing that he had discovered another incarnation of a spiritual object. But after he examined the white fox once more, he grew somewhat puzzled.

  The spiritual Qi fluctuations of the fox were far too small in comparison with the Ninecurl Spirit Ginseng. The difference between them could be said to be as wide as heaven and earth. Moreover, upon deeper inspection, he found that the Snowcloud Fox possessed a true flesh body, not that of a spiritual incarnation. Otherwise, the trifling Obscure Track formation wouldn’t have been able to contain it.

  Although the small fox wasn’t a spiritual incarnation in the end, Han Li was still deeply curious about it. He was certain that this pure spiritual Qi had something to do with how this ordinary beast was able to turn into a demon beast.

  Having decided to investigate this fully, he allowed the fox to escape from the Qi Condensation cultivators and slowly followed after it, wishing to investigate the secrets of the fox.

  When the fox had arrived in front of the cliff, it had turned into a ball of white light and blurred into the ground without hesitation. As a result, Han Li summoned the earth attribute artifact spirit from the jade scepter and had the wolf silently open a path. Else, if he were to use a flying sword to cut into a mountain, the fox would be scared away.

  The mountain was obviously large. Han Li followed the white fox for at least a kilometer before it stopped, appearing inside what seemed to be a stone room.

  Han Li rejoiced and hastily ordered the yellow wolf to hurry and clear a path. At the same time, Han Li increased the power of his spiritual sense and began to examine the inside of the room.

  However, as soon as his spiritual sense neared the room, it was repelled by a strange force and he was unable to move it any further.

  “Yi!” Han Li shouted out in surprise. His rush came to a stop and he suddenly grew careful.

  At that moment, he felt his body grow still and heavy as if it were bearing the weight of Mount Tai itself. He then heard an insipid voice, “Since a guest has come, there is no need to be overly cautious. Don’t tell me that you’re waiting for this elder to invite you in?”

  Just as this was said, countless yellow lights began to appear around him as a huge force pushed him forward.

  Han Li merely saw a flash of light before he found himself inside the stone room. He was greatly alarmed and instantly waved the jade scepter, covering himself in a red-yellow barrier of light. At the same time, he opened his mouth and spat out a dozen streaks of azure light that hurriedly revolved around him outside the barrier.

  It was only after this that Han Li could finally feel secure enough to look around.

  Chapter 610: Black-clothed Young Woman

  Without much effort, Han Li spotted the owner of the voice. About forty meters in front of him, there was a young, black-clothed woman sitting cross-legged on a stone platform.

  The woman had a graceful appearance, but her complexion was deathly pale and her luminous eyes seemed to glow with sparkling light. Han Li was shocked to see that one of her sleeves was empty. She was missing an arm.

  Before Han Li said anything, the young woman revealed shock upon seeing Han Li release his magic treasures.

  The young woman chuckled and her bright eyes stirred. “So it turned out that your esteemed self wasn’t a Qi Condensation Junior, but a Core Formation cultivator. Your Qi Restraint Technique is truly impressive. It even tricked me for a moment.”

  As she sat, the Snowcloud Fox was comfortably sitting in her lap and was curiously examining Han Li with an intelligent gaze.

  After sweeping his spiritual sense past her, Han Li’s heart trembled. “So it turned out that this was Senior’s hidden cultivation area. I am truly lacking in manners.”

  She appeared to be rather open and allowed his spiritual sense to easily sweep past her. He wasn’t able to discover the slightest spiritual Qi fluctuations. From what he had gathered based on her abilities and tone, this indicated that her cultivation was truly too great, not that she had some sort of cultivation concealing treasure.

  Han Li grew greatly vigilant.

  As Han Li pondered over how to deal with the situation, the young woman raised her flawless pale hand and caressed the Snowcloud Fox. She leisurely said, “It appears that your age is quite young yet you’ve already reached late Core Formation stage. That is quite exceptional.”

  Han Li took a deep breath and calmly said, “Senior flatters me. Junior was only able to reach this stage through sheer luck. Might I know Senior’s esteemed name?”

  The young woman sighed and said, “My name isn’t anything special. If I said it, you wouldn’t know of it. Let alone you, even this generation’s Nascent Soul cultivators wouldn’t know of it.”

  When Han Li heard this, he felt a bitter taste in his mouth. Could it be that this young woman was an old eccentric that had remained isolated in her cultivation?

  Although Han Li’s heart grew cold, he didn’t reveal the slightest trace of panic. After all, he now possessed a great number of secret techniques, especially the recently learned Bloodshadow Evasion Technique. With this, Han Li no longer held much fear towards Nascent Soul cultivators. Of course, Han Li knew he’d be no match for one in a fight, but he was confident he could escape. However, the aftermath of igniting a large quantity of blood essence would force him to remain in secluded cultivation for many years.

  That being said, Han Li had no idea why this mysterious character had hidden herself beneath the three sects. Was it because she had some sort of plot in mind, or was she like himself, only wishing to cultivate in a place with dense spiritual Qi?

  Han Li swept his gaze around the stone room and astonishedly discovered that this room inside the mountain was sealed, and lacked any doors or passageways. Additionally, apart from the stone platform that the young woman was sittin
g on, there wasn’t any other furniture. The room’s emptiness gave an extremely icy impression.

  Han Li also discovered that the room’s walls were extremely crude, unlike the common clean cuts of a blade. Rather, these uneven surfaces seemed to come from the wanton swings of a huge axe.

  As soon as he saw this, a strange expression flickered in his eyes. As if having seen through Han Li’s confusion, the young woman suddenly smiled and said, “Since Fellow Daoist is puzzled, why not touch the stone walls and dispel your doubts?”

  When Han Li heard this, his heart stirred. He was truly curious. His recent scan with his spiritual sense discovered nothing strange. The room’s walls appeared no different than ordinary stone. “Since Senior has raised the topic, I won’t be restraining myself.”

  He slowly reached his left hand towards the stone wall. But to be careful, Han Li continued to observe the young woman with his spiritual sense, fearing she would launch an attack out of greed. Although she hadn’t shown any malice, Han Li had lived through many years of hardship and had grown to become extremely careful.

  When Han Li felt the stone wall, he noticed nothing strange. Then after some thought, he extended his finger and had a streak of azure swordlight emerge from the tip of his finger.

  Han Li stabbed his finger into the wall and shockingly discovered that the stone wall had completely blocked the attack. All that had resulted was a crackle when the light touched the wall.

  Han Li was dumbstruck, but at the same time, a trace of disbelief arose in his mind. His spiritual power surged as he suddenly struck the stone wall with a foot long swordstreak.

  As a result, the wall remained completely unharmed without even the slightest scratch.

  Han Li remained silent as an odd expression flickered across his face. He then pointed to one of his flying swords and had it strike the wall as an azure streak. Afterwards, it flew back with a clear ring.

  The strike had left an inch deep cut but the wall started to slowly smooth itself. After a short moment, the cut had disappeared without a trace.