Soon after speaking the small silhouette flashed and appeared before the fat cultivator. it giggled and said, “Your soul would make a good fit in my stomach, yes?”
“No! Senior, please spare me!” Realizing that this small silhouette was an existence on par with a Nascent Soul cultivator, the fat cultivator pleaded for his life as he jumped away, wishing to flee.
However, a malevolent expression surfaced on the small silhouette’s face, and its body turned into a ball of green light that shot into the fat cultivator. An instant later, it came out of the man’s body back in its original form, except with a thumb-sized green ball of light that was intermittently twinkling.
As for the leader of the “Dual Fiends Peng Yi”, he had already collapsed onto the floor and was no longer moving.
The small silhouette didn’t bother speaking any further and simply gobbled the ball of light with a few bites. Afterwards, the silhouette’s body grew slightly more concentrated.
Han Li could no longer keep calm upon seeing this. After pursing his lips, he harshly shouted, “Are you ghost or man? You dare to directly consume a soul?!”
He had clearly felt the small silhouette’s cultivation to be similar to his own. It was only at the early Nascent Soul stage, but after it consumed the fat cultivator's soul it grew a sliver stronger, clearly demonstrating that it could increase its cultivation by directly consuming cultivators’ souls. It was inconceivable that this was the result of a technique.
The incandescent green silhouette ignored Han Li’s question and instead glanced at Han Li’s Dantian as if it were directly looking at his Nascent Soul. It wore a greedy expression and muttered, “The appetizer is done and now it is time for the banquet. After consuming your Nascent Soul, this old woman will be able to directly enter the mid Nascent Soul stage!”
“You want to swallow my Nascent Soul? I’m afraid it’d be too much for you to stomach!” Han Li furiously grinned and he clapped his hands together. A muffled explosion sounded out, followed by thick golden lightning arcing between his palms.
Ever since Han Li had entered Nascent Soul stage, he was able to directly store Divine Devilbane Lightning from his swords into his body. As a result, he was able to use the lightning as before despite having all seventy-two swords outside of him.
The green silhouette tilted its ahead upon seeing the golden lightning in Han Li’s palms and muttered, “Golden lightning? Where did I hear of this before? I can’t seem to recall it.”
Han Li raised his brow and indifferently said, “Then how about giving it a taste? I’m sure you’ll recall it then.” At that moment, the lightning in his hands transformed into a python and fiercely pounced towards the small silhouette.
For some reason, the small silhouette merely smiled and didn't bother to dodge as the python rushed forward. Instead, it opened it's mouth, and directly swallowed the python as it arrived. Afterwards, countless arcs of lightning burst from its body, and the small silhouette briefly glowed with golden lightning as its body released pangs of thunder.
Han Li narrowed his eye, lacking the slightest joy in his expression. Since the opponent dared to directly receive the Divine Devilbane Lightning, they were clearly well prepared and weren’t about to easily be dispatched.
Before the golden glow faded away, the girl’s laughter interrupted the sounds of thunder, “As I thought, is this not Divine Devilbane Lightning? Tch tch, isn’t this just great! It’s hard to believe that a mere early Nascent Soul cultivator could possess such a heavenly treasure. However, don’t think that this old woman is a devil or ghost cultivator. Using that lightning to deal with me is beyond its abilities!”
Chapter 651: Wood Spirit Nascent
The small green silhouette hadn’t taken the slightest damage from Han Li’s strike and sneered at him.
Han Li scoffed, “It’s too early to be proud. If you truly wish to devour my Nascent Soul, it’s going to take more than a few arrogant words. If I guessed correctly, you can only consume the souls of low grade cultivators. To speak of consuming a cultivator’s Nascent Soul is pure fantasy. Perhaps you might’ve been able to do this in the past, but as of current you're far too weak and are only capable of assuming that strange form of yours. Enough rubbish, let’s see how you fare against these flying swords.” These words caused the small silhouette’s expression to vastly change, revealing malice from its eyes.
At that moment, Han Li pointed to the flying swords spiraling above him, and with a clear ring, twelve of the flying swords shot forward as streaks of azure light.
The small green silhouette stood in place with a sullen expression, as the dozen of azure swordlights spiraled around it and sliced its body up into countless pieces. However, these pieces simply remained floating in the air, shimmering with faint light, much to Han Li's surprise.
Suddenly, a bewildering chuckle rang out, as the floating pieces flashed with light before joining together as the small silhouette in its original form.
“Tch tch! Not bad, not bad! Your set of flying swords must’ve been refined from Golden Lightning Bamboo. Although I don’t know how you acquired so much of it, it truly is ridiculous to think of injuring me with those swords alone. You will come to know that my words aren’t born of arrogance.”
The silhouette seemed to have been completely infuriated by Han Li’s previous words, and it formed an incantation gesture with its hands as a blinding green radiance shined forth as it was about to unleash a technique. But before it could fully finish casting its technique, bright light flashed from above its head as the twelve flying swords simultaneously pulsed with lightning and formed a dense net of golden lightning that charged towards it.
“Humph! This junior still won’t give up! Did I not say that the divine lightning has no effect on me... Wait, what are you doing?!” The girlish voice became shrill as if it grew frightened.
The net of golden lightning didn't explode as it had anticipated. Instead, the net remained firm when it caught the small silhouette, and it unceasingly tightened around its body. The small silhouette knew that this was far from good, and its body flickered with green light in its utmost attempt to resist. However, its struggle was in vain as it was soon trapped in a large golden ball.
When Han Li saw this, he couldn’t help but wryly smile.
This net of Divine Devilbane Lightning was a technique that was founded by Han Li!
Because Golden Lightning Bamboo was exceedingly rare, only one or two stalks would be used in the formation of a magic tool. On top of that, since they had a limited amount of divine lightning the lightning was only reserved as a trump card against devilish and evil techniques. Making such a large net of lightning would require over ten stalks worth of Divine Devilbane Lightning to form, as such, none could’ve afforded to do this before Han Li.
Having controlled the Divine Devilbane Lightning for so many years now, Han Li noticed that in addition to an innate ability to subdue evil and devilish techniques, the lightning also possessed the wondrous effect of restraining the five elements. Regardless of whether it was the Sacred Asura Flames or Wind Spirit Energy, they had both been actively and securely subdued. This unexpected discovery was much to Han Li’s delight.
While he was still at the Core Formation stage, he was unable to use lightning nets as he wished because of his lacking cultivation, and had rarely used them in battle. But with his current vastly strengthened cultivation and spiritual sense, he no longer had such problems.
Although he didn’t know where this little silhouette came from, he knew that it was neither man or ghost; it was more akin to a strange variation of a cultivator’s Nascent Soul. With that thought, Han Li attempted to make use of the net.
Unfortunately for the silhouette, although it had heard legends of the Divine Devilbane Lightning, it was unaware of its hidden properties. Else, it wouldn’t have so casually received the attack with its body as a Demon Nascent. In the blink of an eye, this haughty figure had been easily confined.
&nb
sp; Seeing that he succeeded, Han Li smiled and raised his hand, shooting out an azure mist to collect the golden ball into his hand.
The golden sphere faintly trembled and released furious, ear-piercing shrieks, “You dare to trap this old woman!? Quickly release me or else I will refine your soul and subject you to a fate worse than death!”
Han Li frowned and sullenly said, “Refine my soul? It seems your esteemed self still doesn’t understand your situation. Let’s talk about this again once you’ve properly calmed down.”
Claps of thunders rang out as lightning shot out from his hands again. These thin slivers of lightning wrapped layers around the golden ball, consuming nearly half of his swords’ lightning reserves. After further inspecting the enlarged golden ball, he wore a satisfied expression.
Paying no heed to the girl’s raving shouts from the golden ball, Han Li took out a white jade box from his storage pouch and shut it inside. He then took out a few restriction talismans and slapped them onto the box without any hesitation, putting a sudden end to the rant.
Han Li weighed the jade box in his hand and his expression was once again normal. After putting the jade box away, he glanced down at the soulless body of the fat cultivator and indifferently turned it to ash with a fireball before calmly flying in the direction of the small city.
A short moment later, Han Li leisurely made his way to the tavern and simply waited for the birth celebration to draw near.
Not long after, there was a shocking discovery in the State of Yuan Wu. The Duel Fiends Peng Yi, who were notorious murderers of vagrant cultivators, had completely disappeared from the country. Not a single trace of them had been found, which of course signified to many that they had died.
When this news spread, the vagrant cultivators in the country cheered. There were those that said they were disposed of by a sect they offended, while there was also word that they encountered an expert on their travels and were slayed as a result of their notoriety. For a time, all sorts of rumors flew around.
......
Tens of thousands kilometers away in the distant State of Tian Luo was the nest of the Six Devil Dao Sects. The Grand Spirit Mountains in the west of Tian Luo spanned over tens of thousands of kilometers without interruption. The mountains were steep and home to countless spirit beasts and exotic insects. It was the location of the Controlling Spirit Sect’s monastery.
In the instant that the Demon Nascent was sealed, an old man’s furious shout suddenly echoed from a pitch-black stone room, “Who is it!? Who dares to imprison the Wood Spirit Nascent! Servant quickly contact the Spirit Controlling Sect members in the State of Yuan Wu. If they are unable to find the Wood Spirit Nascent in three month’s time, then they will have to kill themselves for the sin of their failure. Also, they must act carefully not to let the Devilflame Sect catch wind of this matter.”
Although the old man was furious, his orders were concise.
“As you bid, Martial Senior. I will pass down the commands.” A man’s stern voice came out from outside the room.
The old man continued, “I’m not done! Also call for Yunzhi and Liu Yu’er to personally make a trip to the State of Yuan Wu. They both have wood attribute spiritual roots and have the most suitable bodies for the Wood Spirit Nascent, perhaps they will be able to feel something if they get closer to it. However, have the two women be careful. Whoever restrained the Wood Spirit Nascent is certain to possess great abilities. Those two won't be able to confront the culprit. So long as they find the person who imprisoned the Wood Spirit Nascent, I will personally come to deal with them.”
The man’s voice respectfully replied, “Yes, I will personally tell the two Junior Martial Sisters to go. This Martial Nephew will now take his leave.”
Soon after the man’s footsteps faded into the distance, a deep sigh filled the room and the darkness became silent once more.
......
Behind the concealment of the purple mist of the Purple Road Mountains, the Fu Clan Master Fu Tianhua, was in high spirits with a flushed face. He viewed all the juniors in his clan with a kind face, leaving his juniors feeling overwhelmed with favor. They were all used to him wearing a more stern expression.
This was of no surprise. The Marital Ancestor’s celebration of four hundred years of life was about to arrive. He was the oldest Core Formation cultivator in the clan, and even two of the Devilflame Sects’ enforcers were going to come today for his birthday celebration. This greatly increased the Fu Clan’s prestige.
The Fu Clan juniors didn’t dare to be negligent and were doing their utmost around the castle so that this birth celebration wouldn’t result in a loss of prestige for the clan ancestor.
After the Fu Clan ancestor made a round through the castle, he seemed quite satisfied. He then entered a side hall with a few juniors in tow.
The sharp-eyed, purple-robed Fu Clan Ancestor leaned against an armchair in the room and slowly said, “Qing’er! Have the honorable guests from the Devilflame Sect arrived yet? Is there something keeping them busy?” While his voice wasn’t loud, it was filled with dignity, suitable for the man who led the Fu Clan through over a hundred years of prosperity.
“Venerable Ancestor, the Devilflame Sect’s Senior Sun has sent over a disciple stating that he and Protector Mo will certainly arrive to offer congratulations. However, it will take one or two days more.” A pale forty-year-old cultivator helplessly replied in a hurry.
Chapter 652: Omen
An old man with thin-eyebrows and embroidered robes stood at the side of the pale-faced man and added on, “Even so, Martial Ancestor need not worry. The Fu Clan maintained a steady relationship with Seniors Sun and Mo for over a hundred years. They will arrive soon. As their sects’ current heights was in significant part due to our Fu Clan’s backing, we can be considered to be closely tied together. Besides, we sent two of our clans’ most outstanding female disciples as their concubines. They would be embarrassed not to come.”
The Fu Clan Ancestor twirled his long beard and a cold glint flickered from his eyes. With his previous smile vanished, he said, “Its not that I’m worried whether or not Brother Sun and Mo will come, but I merely feel somewhat ill at ease at the day of the birth celebration approaches. It seems as if something great is about to happen. It is rather worrying! Has our Fu Clan recently offended a particularly fearsome character or some larger sects?”
When this was said, the people in the hall couldn’t help but look at each other in dismay.
After a long while, the pale faced man carefully answered,” Venerable Ancestor, you should also know this. Although our Fu Clan has greatly flourished over the years, we’ve offended countless clans and small sects. But the most hostile to us are the Qin and Hu Clans. Could they be plotting something?”
“It definitely isn’t those two clans! While those two clans were able to contend with us for some time, they no longer possess many high grade cultivators. They don’t have the capability to stir up trouble.” The Fu Clan Ancestor coldly shook his head, but he soon frowned. With some further hesitation, he said, “However, if they were join hands with other small clans, they may take advantage of this opportunity to attack. They’d be able to greatly injure the clan’s strength.
After all, in order to curry favor with the Devilflame Sect, our Fu Clan killed many of the two clan’s cultivators for resisting the Devil Dao. As of current, the Qin and Hu Clans have lost their backing and are hiding away. With the hatred they holds towards us, it isn’t an impossible matter.” With that said, the Fu Clan Ancestor’s expression grew sullen.
The embroidered-robed old man cautiously asked, “What does Venerable Ancestor mean?”
In an instant, the Fu Clan Ancestor leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Then with an adamant tone, he declared, “We will be calm on the surface, but remain inwardly vigilant! Double the sentries! Have the protective formation continuously activated without pause! And be particularly mindful of vagrant cultivators with unclear background!
”
“Yes, it will be arranged!” The pale-faced cultivator immediately accepted the orders.
Seeing that the Fu Clan Ancestor appeared to be in a poor mood, the remaining Fu Clan Juniors all stood in place, even not daring to breathe too loudly.
The Fu Clan Ancestor suddenly said, “Tianyun, call over your Third Uncle. Have him take the Ironback Beast into his spirit beast pouch and bring it along with him to the birth celebration. Only he can control our Fu Sect’s sacred sect protecting beast!”
The embroidered-robed old man couldn’t help cry out, “What? Didn’t Esteemed Ancestor say that Third Uncle shouldn't be disturbed during the birth celebration because he was currently in a crucial point in his cultivation?”
The Fu Clan Ancestor coldly snorted and said, “The past is the past, the present is now! Although cultivators can’t always predict calamity as it appears, there are times where one’s instinct is particularly sharp. It cannot be helped. In order to be careful, it is better for this old man to overly suspicious than having our Fu Clan meet calamity.”
Seeing that the Fu Clan Ancestor was about to get angry, the old man obediently agreed, “Yes, Ancestor! I will now call Third Uncle out of seclusion.” He promptly left afterwards.
Not yet finished, the Fu Clan Ancestor gave many more additional orders before finally feeling at ease.
With so many preparations in place for contingencies, he felt as if matters would be taken care of.
On a barren mountain outside of Violet Road Mountain, there was a group of thirty vagrant cultivators that were pointing at the purple mist and were whispering amongst them.
Han Li was mixed among the cultivators and were examining his surroundings in silence as if he were a common recluse.
It had come as a surprise to Han Li that there were so many vagrant Foundation Establishment cultivators in the State of Yuan Wu. Only a small portion of them should’ve come to congratulate the Fu Clan Ancestor’s age. Back when he was in the State of Yue, vagrant Foundation Establishment cultivators were rarely seen.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 350