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

by Translator: Johnchen

  The grey-clothed old man cold expression stirred for a long while before he briefly said, “Fine, I’ll go!”

  The white-haired old man smiled and nodded his head, saying, “The group of disciples will be headed by Junior Martial Brother Duan. Junior Martial Brother Yu and Junior Marital Sister Song of White Phoenix Mountain will be accompanying him. Once the final round has been concluded, you will meet with thirty selected disciples and give them guidance. Perhaps there will be a chance for our sect yet. After all, we have quite a few powerful candidates this time around. We should be able to give the Ancient Sword Sect and the Hundred Possibilities Sect quite the contest.”

  A sly-faced cultivator that had been hiding in the corner yelped in surprise, “Junior Martial Sister Song will also be coming along? How did I not know of this? If that’s the case, I can take the place of Junior Martial Brother Yu.” When the rest of the cultivators in the pavilion heard him, there was a brief moment of restlessness. Three of the cultivators wore an annoyed expression.

  The white-haired old man’s face grew sullen and he snorted, “Junior Martial Brother Meng, what do you mean? I’ve spoken for half a day, and you didn’t speak a single word. But now that you’ve heard Junior Martial Sister Song wishes to go, you jump at the chance. I’ll tell you the truth, Junior Martial Sister Song raised the condition that she would only accompany the disciples if I didn’t mention that she was going to begin with. Otherwise, given her temperament, why else would she depart from White Phoenix Mountain?”

  As this old man had already reached late Core Formation, the sly-faced early Core Formation cultivator didn’t dare to dispute this and lowered his head.

  There were other cultivators that were also tempted, but each of them glanced at one another in dismay, not daring to speak.

  At that moment, footsteps suddenly came from the outside. A man’s voice said, “Reporting to Master and Martial Uncles, the last round has just finished. Three Foundation Establishment disciples have been selected along with twenty-one Qi Condensation cultivators. I’ve come with the list of names.”

  The white-robed cultivator’s expression relaxed and he said, “Oh! Since that’s the case, come in. Let’s take a look.”

  “As you wish!” The man respectfully replied. Afterwards, he opened the door and entered, revealing himself to be a late Foundation Establishment cultivator with a stately appearance and a tall body.

  “Here are the names and details of the twenty-four finalists.” The man took out a white jade slip from his robes and handed it over to the old man.

  “I’ll be taking a look first!” The old man nodded his head and took the jade slip into his hand.

  “Huh?” After taking a look at it with his spiritual sense, he revealed a trace of astonishment.

  The red-clothed cultivator’s expression stirred and he asked, “What’s the matter? Is there something amiss with the list of names?”

  The others also oddly glanced at the old man.

  “It’s nothing. Junior Martial Brothers have a look!” With that said, the old man calmly passed the jade slip to the yellow-skinned old man at his side.

  After taking a look at the jade slip, he also revealed astonishment and handed the jade slip to someone else. Not longer after, everyone had looked at the jade slip and each of them had turbulent expressions.

  When the Dayspring Mountain Lord Xin read through the jade slip, his expression stirred with particular surprise.

  The middle-aged man with the thin mustache sighed and slowly said, “I truly didn’t expect that there would be six disciples from Dayspring Mountain to be selected. It seems Junior Martial Brother Xin has instructed his disciples well.”

  The sly-faced cultivator sourly said, “It seems Junior Martial Brother Xin is determined to win this Sword Trial Assembly. You must’ve spent quite some effort to cultivate these disciples!” Only three disciples from his Hidden Sword Mountain had made it on the list, which lost him a considerable amount of face.

  “No, it definitely wasn’t like that. I myself am surprised to see so many people from my Dayspring Mountain being selected. And two of them are even at the tenth layer of Qi Condensation, named Han Li and Du Dong. If I’m not mistaken, those two entered the sect just this past year. It is baffling how they managed to take a place on the list.” The middle-aged man surnamed Xin then muttered to himself for a moment and calmly said, “Martial Nephew Gao, how did they manage to acquire victory?”

  The man who had just entered the room promptly replied, “Their methods weren’t anything strange. Martial Nephew Du Dong possesses an extremely powerful ice attribute top-grade magic tool. It seems capable of both attacking and defending, and it perfectly compliments his techniques as well. As a result, once he froze the ground with his magic tool, all of his opponents were left helpless against his strikes.”

  The middle-aged man with the long mustache interrupted, asking, “Oh! What kind of magic tool is it? Can you give us a description?”

  “It is a wheel type magic tool. It has a diameter of about a foot and is engraved with a curved moon. It sparkles with white light when it is activated, can activate an ice attribute barrier in an instant, and can attack with a mist of freezing Qi.”

  The middle-aged man’s eyes flickered and he said with surprise, “That seems quite similar to the clan suppressing treasure of the Du Clan, the Ice Moon Wheel. The Du Clan was exterminated two hundred years ago. Could this Du Dong be a descendant?”

  The white-haired old man curled his beard and unhurriedly said, “En! That seems quite possible. After all, the Du Clan wasn’t a small clan. There were sure to be a few direct lineage disciples that escaped calamity and lived in concealment. They probably now believe that with so many years having passed, their enemies are no longer paying any attention to them. As such, they revealed themselves once more.”

  Chapter 625: The Weeping Soul Beast’s Reappearance

  “Senior Martial Brother’s words are reasonable. But while it is reasonable that Du Dong managed to triumph given his Ice Moon Wheel, what about the one named Han Li? Does he also have a high grade magic tool?” The thin-mustached middle-aged man asked.

  “Although I don’t know if Martial Nephew Han possesses any high grade magic tools, his methods are quite costly.”

  “What do you mean by costly?” The yellow-faced old man asked with obvious interest.

  The Foundation Establishment cultivator explained, “In the first round, Martial Nephew Han Li defeated his opponent by using several tens of fireball talismans to break through his opponent’s barrier before they could react. In the rounds afterwards, he complimented his talismans with the use of mortal martial arts and an ingenious flame manipulation technique to arduously triumph against his opponents.”

  The white-haired old man sullenly said, “The martial arts and flame technique aren’t particularly notable. There are many who use them. However, he must possess many spirit stones to be able to use so many talismans. This amount may mean nothing to us, but to a Qi Condensation cultivator it is rather extravagant. Have you investigated this disciple?”

  The Foundation Establishment cultivator respectfully replied, “I have. A few of his acquantainted disciples noted that he is skilled in talisman refinement despite being a vagrant cultivator, and he possesses quite a bit of wealth. That is how he is able to so generously use low grade talismans.”

  The white-haired old man’s expression relaxed and he muttered, “Oh, so it was like that. It seems there are no problems with the two then. However, since this person is capable of refining talismans, wouldn’t it be better to have him join Firecloud Mountain?”

  Cultivator Xin faintly smiled and said, “Senior Martial Brother Feng, that reasoning is a bit amiss. Our Dayspring Mountain also possesses disciples that are skilled in talisman refinement. They will be able to mentor him properly. Senior Martial Brother Duan, don’t tell me you actually want him!”

  The red-clothed cultivator waved his hand and grinned, �
�Hehe! Our Firecloud Mountain already possesses many talisman refining disciples. One more or one less won’t make much difference. I won’t fight Junior Martial Brother Xin over a single disciple.”

  Cultivator Xin responded with a silent smile.

  In the following moments, the Core Formation cultivators chatted about a few sect matters before bidding their farewells.

  ...

  Han Li had already returned to his cave residence and was standing outside his spirit beast room with a solemn expression. His gaze wandered as he stared into the room.

  Not long before when the disciples of Dayspring Mountain were congratulating Han Li over his victory in the final round of placements, the Weeping Soul Pearl began to burn within his body, much to Han Li’s alarm. It was about to finally awaken and complete its evolution.

  Han Li was overjoyed and hurriedly took his leave in order to return to his cave residence. But when he arrived outside the spirit beast room, he was greatly shocked by what he saw.

  For some unknown reason, the spirit beast room was completely devoid of light and was filled with ghastly wisps of black Ghost Qi, spilling an extremely icy Yin Qi out from the room.

  The Weeping Soul Beast could no longer be seen. Instead, a three meter tall cocoon had taken its place at the corner of the room. It was emitting a jet-black light and faintly released black glimmers as if it were alive.

  Han Li instantly knew that the Weeping Soul Beast was within the black cocoon, and he grew immensely excited. However, a trace of worry blossomed within his heart as well.

  Han Li wasn’t about to boldly enter the room. After some pondering, he decided to meditate outside the spirit beast room. From what he had previously read in old records, during a spirit beast’s evolution, it was best for its master to stay close and wait by its side. However, the spirit beast must be left alone during its evolution unless it failed in its transformation and suffered a grave injury.

  With apprehension lingering in his heart, Han Li felt time slowly pass by.

  Han Li originally assumed that the transformation would take several days at the very least before the cocoon was broken. But on the morning of the second day that he sat outside the spirit beast room, the black cocoon of light began to change.

  As Han Li remained cross-legged on the ground, he suddenly heard a clear explosion from the room. Although the sound was muffled, he opened his eyes with delight. He peered into the room and saw that a majority of the ghostly Qi had been absorbed into the black cocoon of light in the corner of the room.

  The black light then suddenly grew dazzling, causing Han Li to unconsciously turn his eyes away. In the next moment, Han Li felt a strange but somewhat familiar aura coming from the room.

  With raised brows, Han Li stood up without any further thought and lightly pushed open the door to the spirit beast room.

  Han Li swept his gaze through the room from the outside and saw that the black cocoon had already broken in two, and was empty as could be. But aside from the broken cocoon in the corner of the room, nothing else could be seen.

  Han Li was startled and thought to release his spiritual sense when black light began to shine from an empty corner of the room. With a low-pitched cry, a black blur shot towards Han Li.

  In his alarm, Han Li though to dodge out of the way, but after some thought, he remained in place. As a result, a small, icy object flew into Han Li’s chest, and he grabbed onto it with both hands.

  “This is?” Han Li glanced at the small object in his grasp and couldn’t help but appear shocked.

  There was currently a tiny, fist-sized monkey in his hands that should undoubtedly be the evolved Weeping Soul Beast. At first glance, there was nothing that had changed about it apart from its silver fur turning pitch-black. But after glancing at it several more times, Han Li eventually discovered two differences from before. The Weeping Soul Beast now had a slim cavity between its two nostrils. After meticulously glancing into it, he discovered nothing out of the ordinary about it.

  The Weeping Soul Beast had always relied on the soul swallowing light from its nose to suppress souls and ghosts. Did the appearance of an additional hole in its nose mean that this ability would become more powerful?

  Not knowing whether he should laugh of cry, Han Li decided to look forward to testing this in the future!

  As for the other difference in the Weeping Soul Beast, for some unknown reason a crimson pattern depicting an evil spirit had appeared on the fur of it’s back. The evil spirit on its back had a single horn and three eyes. Although it appeared rather faint, it also appeared true to life and gave any onlookers a feeling of malicious pressure.

  Silvermoon clicked her tongue in astonishment at the Weeping Soul Beast’s evolution, but she couldn’t offer an explanation on what it was.

  Because Han Li had refined the Weeping Soul Pearl, the beast had become far more affectionate with Han Li. It appeared delighted as it rubbed its small furry head on Han Li’s jacket.

  Han Li couldn’t help but smile at the small black monkey in his hand. However, he faintly felt that the monkey seemed to possess human-like emotions.

  He played with the monkey for a moment with great interest before carefully putting it away in his spirit beast pouch once he saw it yawn from fatigue.

  Once Han Li departed from the spirit beast room, he took a look at the neighboring insect room and saw that only several tens of gold-silver Gold Devouring Beetles remained. It appeared they had already finished devouring one another and were about to lay eggs.

  Han Li was satisfied to see that these beetles were all slightly larger than before. He then left the insect room and returned to his quiet room for routine cultivation.

  When he claimed victory in the selection, the judge had already told him that he was able to receive guidance from a Core Formation cultivator. However, they were to continue to bitterly cultivate before their turn came. The guidance would only last for a few sparse days, and he would be notified by voice transmission talisman once it was his turn.

  Han Li wasn’t worried in the slightest about receiving guidance from a Core Formation cultivator. He’d deal with it once he was summoned.

  Currently, he was holding the jade spirit well in his hands and was cultivating inside his quiet room. As for the artifact spirit Silvermoon, it was cultivating in the neighboring room inside of the demon fox body.

  With that being said, it was rather inconceivable that Silvermoon was able to cultivate in a possessed body.

  According to what Silvermoon said, although she had the cultivation equivalent to late Core Formation stage, once she entered the fox body, she possessed the cultivation of a low grade demon beast that had only reached grade one.

  As a result, although she could display her astonishing cultivation in the demon fox’s body, she could only maintain it for a very short time. Additionally, as an artifact spirit her cultivation was eternally stagnant. Fortunately, Silvermoon was able to slowly increase the cultivation of the demon fox body over time, making the body her future home.

  As a result, Han Li fed a few medicinal pills to Silvermoon’s fox body, allowing her cultivation to rise at an astonishing speed.

  Chapter 626: Harmonic Mind

  Three months passed by in the blink of an eye while Han Li remained in bitter cultivation in his cave residence.

  During this time, Kui Huan’s group had paid a visit to Han Li to apologetically tell him that they had informed the sect elders of Han Li’s skills in talisman refinement, hoping that he wouldn’t take offence.

  Because Han Li had already planned on using his talisman refinement techniques as a cover, he didn’t mind in the slightest. After giving a few words of forgiveness, he sent the group of Qi Condensation cultivators on their way.

  As for Dayspring Mountain, because Han Li had unexpectedly made it into the twenty-four finalists, Mu Peiling had made a trip to the medicine garden and gave Han Li a long explanation on the intricacies of the Profound Ice Arts. This surprising
action had left Han Li at a loss for words.

  Apart from those two times, no one else disturbed Han Li during his cultivation.

  One day as Han Li was strenuously cultivating the Azure Essence Sword Arts, he abruptly frowned and stood up. By the time he left his cave residence and entered the medicinal garden, a voice transmission talisman knocked against the medicine garden’s restrictions.

  When Han Li saw this, he opened the garden’s restrictions and waved his arm. A moment later, the sound transmission talisman flew into his hand in a streak of fire and soon disappeared.

  Han Li expressionlessly muttered, “White Phoenix Mountain’s Martial Ancestor Song. Isn’t that the number one beauty in the Drifting Cloud Sect? Will that woman be instructing me? If that’s the case, these coming days shouldn’t be too boring!” He then released a flying sword magic tool and directly flew in the direction of White Phoenix Mountain.

  White Phoenix Mountain was at the eastmost side of Drifting Cloud Sect and was particularly distant from the other five mountains as if it were standing proudly in solitude. Although this mountain was the shortest of the Six Marvelous Mountains, it was by far the most verdant and beautiful.

  Not long after leaving the garden, Han Li appeared near White Phoenix Mountain.

  Because this mountain was made up of mostly female cultivators, White Phoenix Mountain had a few strange rules. Ordinarily, any male cultivators arriving at the mountain were required to land at the base of the mountain and receive permission to enter. Otherwise, they would only have themselves to blame for falling into White Phoenix Mountain’s restrictions.

  Naturally, Han Li had no intention of forcing his way through and obediently landed at the base of the mountain.

  There were currently three Qi Condensation female cultivators at the mountain gate happily chatting. When they saw Han Li drop down, they couldn’t help but curiously examine the unfamiliar male cultivator.

  Han Li saluted the three female disciples and said, “I am Dayspring Mountain’s Han Li. I’ve come to accept cultivation guidance from Martial Ancestor Song. I hope Senior Martial Sisters can make a report.”