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

by Translator: Johnchen

  The old man coldly chuckled and sinisterly said, “Be at ease! From the beating he received, what do you think his true cultivation is now? From forcefully drawing magic power in his injured state to using the Mileshed Line, he will certainly be gravely injured without any further action.

  Even if he spent the next hundred years restoring his vitality, he won’t be able to preserve his mid Nascent Soul stage cultivation. Moreover, when did I ever say I didn’t have a way of tracking him down.”

  With roused spirits, the tan man suddenly asked, “Brother Yun means...”

  The old man readily said, “Since I planned to kill him, it is only natural that I prepared for this ahead of time. So long as he isn’t able to move a hundred-fifty kilometers in a single stretch, I will be able to find him. But given the current state of his body, he won’t be able to sustain the Mileshed Line for long. When that time comes, we’ll track him down and dispose of him.”

  The old woman’s expression relaxed and she sighed, “That’s good. This is greatly reassuring. Were it not for the black jade lotus that Fellow Daoist Wang gave to me and the promise of sharing the secrets of Devilfall Valley with us, I definitely wouldn’t have braved such dangers. Becoming enemies with a mid Nascent Soul cultivator isn’t a wise decision.”

  The tan cultivator also appeared relieved and he said, “We’ve spent quite a bit of effort for the secrets of Devilfall Valley! However we didn’t expect that Fellow Daoist Yun was actually an elder for the Ghost Spirit Sect. How surprising! Could it be that the Six Devil Dao Sects have so many hidden elders?” Once he finished speaking, a complicated expression appeared on his face.

  The white-clothed old man shook his head and insipidly said, “Although I came from the Ghost Spirit Sect in my youth, I wasn’t very involved with sect affairs. Thus, only a few know of my true identity as a Ghost Spirit Sect elder. I didn’t truly have the intention to deceive any others. To tell the truth, Marquis Nanlong was a descendant of Master Cang Kun and had been my friend for many years. I didn’t wish to kill him. But it is a pity that I discovered he stealthily formed friendships with the elders of the Righteous Dao Heavenpeak Sect and grew interested in joining their sect. I urged him to change his mind, but his mind was unchanged. Furthermore, he planned to draw support of the Heavenpeak Sect to enter Devilfall Valley. As such, I couldn’t just standby and allow the Righteous Dao to grow in power. I had no option but to deal with him.”

  Chapter 705: Nascent Soul Combustion

  With a slight surprise, the old woman asked, “Marquis Nanlong has ties with the Heavenpeak Sect? Fellow Daoist Yun, you didn’t mentioned this matter before!” As for the tan cultivator, he appeared furious.

  The white-clothed old man surnamed Yun smiled and calmly said, “I didn’t mention the matter? You just carelessly overlooked the matter. However, Marquis Nanlong truly hasn’t yet entered the Heavenpeak Sect. If you are feeling worried, you can join my sect and become elders. That way, the Heavenpeak Sect won’t be able to touch you!”

  The old woman coldly snorted, “Given my age, I have no interest receiving further constraints.”

  The tan cultivator frowned and indifferently said, “I am accustomed to being without responsibilities and also have no interest in joining your sect.

  “That is truly a pity! If you were to join our Ghost Spirit Sect, our prestige would soar,” the old man didn’t mind their refusals and changed the topic, “I won’t insist on having you two join. So long as Marquis Nanlong is killed here, the Heavenpeak sect won’t take the initiative to make any trouble on behalf of a dead man. It is just unfortunate that despite being friends with him for a hundred years, he hadn’t told me his intentions with regards to Devilfall Valley. I only knew that there was a secret cave residence here and that there was a map of Devilfall Valley that was left behind by Master Cang Kun. As such, we won’t exterminate his Nascent Soul when we capture him. I will first use a soul scouring technique and see if he possesses any useful information.”

  Wang Tiangu worriedly said, “If by chance the map was in the box that Youngster Han made off with, wouldn’t we be helpless?”

  Old Man Yun slowly said, “That can be dealt with. If this comes to happen, we’ll leak this matter to all the sects in the Heavenly South.When that time comes, even the Heavenly Dao Alliance will wish to pursue this matter, let alone the Righteous and Devilish Dao, creating an opportunity for us to profit in the chaos. Let’s see how a sect as trifling as the Drifting Cloud Sect deals with the greed of wishing to monopolize the gains from Devilfall Valley. In addition to the map, I am also interested in any information Marquis Nanlong may have on Devilfall Valley. With this information, we’ll be a step ahead even if the method of entering Devilfall Valley became widespread.”

  After a moment of thought, Wang Tiangu proposed, “If it somehow turns out that way, that will be all we can do. But before that, he could try trading for the map. After all, even if he bears great resentment against us, there are few matters in this world that can’t be traded for.”

  “Hehe! Junior Martial Brother Wang’s proposal is preferable to my own,” The old man then sighed and muttered, “Nevertheless, the youngster’s abilities are truly bizarre. Is he truly around the same age as Junior Martial Nephew Wang? From that last battle, the cunning he displayed was greater than even ours, and he was even able to defeat Fellow Daoist Long. If I were to fight him alone, I too doubt my own ability to hold against him.”

  Wang Tiangu’s eyes flickered and a trace of vexation appeared on his face, “I asked Wang Chan about him before. It seemed this person was an ordinary Yellow Maple Valley cultivator. At the time, he was truly but a Foundation Establishment cultivator. His vast accomplishments in cultivation and ability are something of a mystery. Were it not for his abilities being contrary to expectation and his meddling, we would’ve been able to easily dispose of Marquis Nanlong.”

  When the old woman and the others heard this, they could only wryly smile.

  Wang Tiangu suggested, “With that being said, let’s first head back and free Fellow Daoist Long. With his cultivation, he should be able to survive being frozen. Also, I am concerned for my nephew. Before that Youngster Han departed, he released a blood-red light that appeared similar to the Devilblood Cleave that I personally cultivate. I don’t know how well Chan’er was able to receive it.”

  The old man replied, “That’s fine. Since we don’t have any method of detecting him for the time being, let’s go take a look at them. We’ll carry out the pursuit once Marquis Nanlong’s is no longer capable of carrying out the Mileshed Line.”

  In the next moment, the party flew back into the mountain.

  The party arrived at the ruins of the Jadepier Pavilion once more to see a bewildered Yan Ruyan. She was crouching near Wang Chan who laid motionlessly on the floor.

  When Wang Tiangu saw this, his asked with an icy tone, “What happened? Were any of Chan’er’s vitals struck?” Even now, Wang Tiangu still displayed exceptional calmness.

  Wearing a slightly anxious expression, Yan Ruyan hesitantly replied, “No, but his leg...”

  Wang Tiangu took several steps forward and tensely frowned. He saw that both of Wang Chan’s legs were missing from below their knees, but strangely enough, there wasn’t a hint of blood.

  Yan Ruyan helplessly said, “Lord Husband and I had joined hands to cast the Blood Spirit Art’s blood mist, but we were instantly attacked by some sort of strange technique. The blood mist was incapable of blocking it and my Lord Husband had dodged too late. His legs were...”

  Wang Tiangu gloomily asked, “Since this is the case, then why aren’t you using any techniques to recover his legs? You should know such a technique.”

  With a tense brow, Yan Ruyan timidly said, “I’ve attempted to restore his legs several times now, but the techniques aren’t responding in the slightest. Although his wounds didn’t shed any blood, a black Qi condensed around the wound and it can’t be driven off! It could be the reason why the
healing technique failed and why he is unconscious.”

  Wang Tiangu’s expression relaxed and he began to concentrate his gaze on Wang Chan’s wounds, “It can’t have been a common attack that struck you. Let me take a look.”

  Wang Chan’s wounds were covered in faint black Qi as expected. Wang Tiangu lifted his hands and his fingers flickered with black light as he grabbed the harmful Qi from one of the legs, gathering it into a pea-sized black ball on his finger.

  He thought to dispose of the harmful Qi with true fire, but after some thought, he slapped his storage pouch and wrapped the ball of black Qi with spiritual power before placing it in a jade bottle. Once it was properly taken care of, he casually placed it away.

  It seemed Wang Tiangu planned on examining this item for further understanding of Han Li’s techniques. When Yan Ruyan saw that Wang Tiangu paid her no heed, a complicated expression momentarily appeared on her face before disappearing without a trace.

  Once Wang Tiangu took care of the black Qi on the other leg, Yan Ruyan silently made another attempt to restore his limbs.

  Wang Tiangu nodded his head with satisfaction and turned his attention to the other side.

  The white-clothed old man and the others were at a loss as they stood around the iced clad body of the stern-faced cultivator.

  Wang Tiangu walked towards them and bafflingly asked, “What? You Fellow Daoists aren’t able to free him?”

  A trace of fear appeared on the old woman’s expression. She muttered, “Free him? How? This ice is far more insidious that we could have imagined!”

  The old man simply kept silent as he wore a gloomy expression on his face.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Wang Tiangu turned his gaze to the ice-clad body and began to ponder.

  “Brother Wang, take a good look.” The tan cultivator suddenly raised his hand and flung a fist-sized chunk of jade towards the ice-clad body.

  Blue light flashed upon impact and the jade chunk was instantly covered in blue ice before dissolving into countless specks of fading glitter.

  The tan man remained still as he stood three meters away and pointed at the ice-clad body. Scorching white true fire shot towards the ice from his finger, but in the moment the true fire touched the blue ice, it disappeared in a flash of light as if it were absorbed.

  Wang Tiangu felt his breath turn cold!

  The old man sighed and asked, “This blue ice is vicious. It seems that Fellow Daoist Long’s body has long died. It seems we can only have his Nascent Soul manifest and find a suitable body to possess. Didn’t Fellow Daoist Long already possess a body once before?”

  The tan man appeared to be familiar with the stern-faced cultivator and sullenly said, “No, this was his original body.”

  The old man nodded his head and said, “That’s good. Now we just need to have Fellow Daoist Long manifest his Nascent Soul.”

  As if having heard this, the stern-faced cultivator’s body shined with white light. Then with a muffled bang, his entire body turned to ash and faded away. All that remained in the blue ice was an inch large Nascent Soul. It was clasping onto a thumb-sized jade ornament in his hand and its face was filled with resentment.

  It opened its small mouth and spouted out fire-red vital Nascent flames onto the jade ornament in its hands. It then raised it above its head and suddenly surrounded its body in red-white flame. Without any further delay, he attempted to charge straight out.

  “Wait...” The old man seemed to think of something and hastily attempted to stop this, but he spoke too late. The Nascent Soul passed through the ice.

  What resulted afterwards sent chills down their spine. The formidable white-red flames had seemed to have been set alight by the ice, engulfing both the white-red flames and the Nascent Soul in blue fire.

  The white-red flames were instantly consumed by the blue fire, resulting in the deathly wail of the Nascent Soul. It turned frantic as it charged through the air. After flying about fifty meters away, it attempted to roll and exterminate the flames as it wildly howled in pain.

  A short moment later, the screams came to an abrupt stop and the Nascent Soul was refined in a ball of light that faded away. The cultivator surnamed Long was now dead in both soul and body.

  Chapter 706: The Jade Box's Treasure

  Through use of lightning movement, Han Li was able to travel fifty kilometers in a single stretch. He then paused for a moment before gaining his bearings and swapped to using the blood-red cloak before continuing on his flight as a streak of crimson light.

  After flying five hundred kilometers out, he spotted a Moulan Tribe that consisted of tens of thousands of mortals. He stopped with faint excitement brimming in his heart.

  While he was at the Drifting Cloud Sect, the topic of the war with the Moulan spell warriors and Heavenly South cultivators had come up during a conversation with his fellow sect elders. Although the ordinary mortals from the Moulan tribes couldn’t cultivate spirit techniques, during times of war the Moulan spell warriors would organize many temporary parties of mortals to seize the spirit stone mines and material sources that the Heavenly South cultivators were too occupied to attend to.

  As such, the Moulan spell warriors wouldn’t return empty handed once they eventually retreated.

  Of course, the Nine Nations Union were well aware of the looting, but they couldn’t afford to look after these resources as war was waged. If they had too few cultivators to guard these areas, it was possible that they would be wiped out by any high grade cultivators that the Moulan would send.

  If there were too many cultivators, it would be to the detriment of the main battlefield. The only feasible option was to wait until after these areas were seized and recapture them afterwards. The Moulan mortals would be defenselessly slaughtered.

  It was unfortunate that the Moulan didn’t mind the deaths of mortals. Once a group was exterminated, they would immediately send another, exchanging mortal lives for these precious resources. Additionally, they would occasionally set up traps and inflict heavy losses on cultivators attempting to reclaim these resource areas.

  With the loss of these many cultivators, the Nine Nations Union had turned a blind eye to these locations. Regardless, the Moulan mortals wouldn’t be able to harvest many materials or mine much spirit stones. So long as they repelled the spell warriors as quickly as they could, the Moulan mortals would obediently follow them back.

  Han Li now saw large ranks of oxen carts making their way to the Heavenly South with many young men and women accompanying them. They should be the mortal division that was sent to gather materials in the Heaven South for the time being.

  Han Li remained in the air above them and swept his immense spiritual sense past them, spotting one Foundation Establishment stage and three Qi Condensation stage spell warriors.

  Han Li lowered his head in thought for a moment before suddenly forming an incantation gesture with his hands. His figure then blurred and reappeared in front of a dilapidated Moulan cart. It was filled with tattered oxen skins along with a few hoes and other tools.

  With a wave of his arm, Han Li turned the cart’s interiors into a pile of ash and then sat down inside it without any qualms.

  From his musings, he concluded that boldly returning to the Heavenly South while the Moulan spell warriors were attacking in full force would be rife with trouble. Although he wouldn’t be in danger unless he encountered several top ranked spell warriors, the possibility was still there. This time, he wouldn’t be accompanied by a party of eight Nascent Soul cultivators.

  Not only did he need to be wary of spell warriors, but he also had to avoid Wang Taingu and the others to avoid any deadly confrontations. Now that he was hidden amongst a party of mortals, he should be able to make it out safely of the Moulan Plains in a few days.

  Few would pay any notice to a group of mortals. And given his current cultivation, so long as a late Nascent Soul stage spell warrior didn’t inspect the army, his existence was safely hidden. Onc
e he entered the deserts beyond the plains, he would be outside the influence of the Moulan tribes and he would be able to return to the Heavenly South.

  As Han Li meditated inside the carriage, the conversations of the Moulan mortals outside could be clearly heard.

  The dialect of the Moulan differed from that used by the people of the Heavenly South, but Han Li had already learned their language from a few related jade slips. With his immense spiritual sense, he had managed to comprehend most of this knowledge in only a couple of days, and was able to clearly listen to what was being said outside.

  Their conversations was mostly about whether or not they would be able to impress the grand sages from the resources gathered, giving them the opportunity to stand out from their peers.

  From their words, the Moulan mortals seemed to worship the spell warriors with admiration and reverence as if they were a kind of god. They even believed it to be extremely honorable even if they died in service to these spell warriors.

  When Han Li heard this, he inwardly sighed and swept his hand, sealing off the interior of the cart from the outside with a barrier of faint azure light. The voices of the Moulan came to an abrupt stop.

  “Silvermoon, how about you talk about what you have gained. From your excitement, you should’ve acquired many good items!” Han Li’s sleeve began to stir and a small white fox flew out from the cuff, circling once in the air before landing in front of him

  The small fox laid down on the ground and chuckled, “I’m not too sure how valuable these items are, but Master should know. There were many ancient treasures on the first floor, but because I wasn’t capable of concealing their spiritual Qi as I used my movement techniques, I didn’t take any of them. However, there were six ancient boxes on the second floor and I took half of them.”

  “Hehe! I initially thought to take away most of them, but if there were too few of them, it would attract too much suspicion, so I only ended up taking three.”