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

by Translator: Johnchen

  This was to be expected, black-tainted Gold Devouring Beetles were nowhere as durable as the purely golden beetles, and the strengthened Elder Devil’s devilish soundwaves destroyed them completely.

  Then, the Sovereign Devil Corpse raised its other hand.

  The devil’s expression grimaced in impatience and he blurred from sight once more, suddenly appearing behind the Sovereign Devil Corpse and easily punched forward with his jet-black hand.

  These actions appeared slow but just as the corpse puppet turned around, the fist had met its face. In that same moment, foot-long jet-black spikes of bone shot out from the fist and pierced through the corpse puppet’s head. It trembled before completely ceasing its movements.

  The Elder Devil sinister smiled and black flames suddenly spread across from the spikes of bone. He then pulled out the bone spikes and the corpse puppet swayed several times before falling to the ground, completely covered in black flames.

  The devil then charged into the Gold Devouring Beetles and began to swipe with the spikes emerging from his fist.

  When Han Li saw the Elder Devil arrive near him and his Sovereign Devil Corpse charged to meet him, he instantly thought to retreat and increase the distance between them.

  At that same time, he pointed to all of the golden sword lights that were revolving around him and launched a successive series of spell seals at the swords, creating a golden wave formed from layers upon layers of sword afterimages. Han Li’s expression stirred and thought to use them to suppress the devil, but he didn’t think that the devil would defeat his Sovereign Devil Corpse so quickly.

  Han Li felt a chill run down his spine and bitterly cursed in his mind as he felt his heart ache. This was the first time he had made use of the Sovereign Devil Corpse since he had refined it and it was easily defeated by the Elder Devil. It was unknown whether or not the corpse puppet managed to survive, but either way, it wouldn’t be of any use for the rest of the battle.

  With that thought, Han Li began to control tiger demon puppets that were standing in front of him and had them charged towards the devil in flashes of white light.

  As for the huge tortoise puppets, they remained at Han Li’s side and continued to shoot ice-attribute beams of light from their mouths. As for the sword blurs above Han Li’s heard, they all rumbled as they moved to envelop the Elder Devil.

  The devil coldly snorted when he saw this and he waved his four arms, jutting out differently-sized bone spikes from his fists and elbows. There were those that were crooked and straight, but they all glinted with a cold ominous light as if they were incredibly sharp. Before the tiger demon puppets could even approach, the devil had disappeared in a blur.

  Having lost sight of his target, he couldn’t help but cease his attacks. At that moment, black light flashed and the devil appeared close behind one of the tiger demon puppets. The devil swiped his four arms with ease. The puppet then sparkled with black light before promptly collapsing into a pile of scrap.

  His figure blurred and the devil disappeared once more. Then a puppet to the right sparkled with black light before being pierced through the chest by a dense bone spike, and it immediately went limp. Han Li watched this with furious alarm and he commanded to golden swordstreaks to pursue the devil.

  However, the devil disappeared once more and a moment later, he appeared in an unpredicted area. The joined concealment and movement techniques of the strengthened Elder Devil was seamless. And with each reappearance, another tiger demon puppet collapsed. They weren’t able to block him in the slightest.

  Han Li had always been prideful of how he was far stronger than most of the cultivators that he encountered, but now that he saw the Elder Devil’s abilities, he felt blood run cold. All of his previous battles were nothing in comparison to the enemy he now faced. Even with the full use of the Brightsight Spirit Eyes, he wasn’t able to keep track of the devil.

  As fear lingered in his mind, the Elder Devil eventually made his way to the last tiger demon puppet and withdrew his arm from the puppet’s neck. He then set his eyes on Han Li, his icy gaze causing Han Li’s hair to stand on end.

  Ever since he formed a Nascent Soul, he had never felt this unsettled until now. Han Li took a deep breath and made his utmost attempt to stay calm.

  It seemed that with the Elder Devil’s strange teleportation-like movement, it would be quite difficult to place down the Aureate Sword Formation. It seemed he would have to use another method to buy himself time.

  With that thought, Han Li pointed to the wave of sword Qi and had it return above his head in a series of clear rings. The golden wave formed from the swordlight then enveloped Han Li within it.

  Soon after, Han Li formed an incantation gesture and sounds of thunder erupted from his body. Dense arcs of lightning then emerged from his body and began to weave together to form clothes of lightning on his body. They continuously flickered with golden light in a blinding display.

  At that same time, he opened his mouth and shot out a glaring ball of purple light. With a crackle, purple flames expanded from the ball and a piercing cry sounded out. The ball of light transformed into a foot-long bird of purple flames. It continuously fluttered around Han Li, leaving behind flickering purple embers all around him in a gorgeous display.

  This was the entirety of the Purple Apex Flames that Han Li had refined until now.

  Han Li’s chain of actions had drawn the Elder Devil’s attention. A hostile expression appeared on the devil’s ghost place and he remained still for a moment as if to examine what Han Li was doing before launching another sudden attack.

  Han Li expressionlessly glanced at the devil’s sister bearing and flipped his hand to summon a small crimson sword in his hand. It was only several inches long, but its body was a translucent crimson and glowed with the color of blood. A thread of black Qi wandered around the sword as well. This was the Blood Devil Sword that Han Li had acquired from Nangong Wan’s Senior Martial Sister.

  The small crimson sword appeared in front of Han Li and began to tremble before he even used it, releasing a bloody scent in the air.

  Han Li knew that rashly using this sword would bring consequences, but he on was the verge of life and death. He spat a mist of blood essence onto the small sword and it brilliantly glowed, expending to about a foot long as it floated in place.

  Han Li solemnly grabbed the sword’s handle and glanced at it, suddenly feeling a large quantity of his body’s true essence flow into the sword. He quickly let go in alarm and severed the connection to the sword, feeling apprehension from the sword’s wicked nature. After resolving himself, Han Li grabbed the sword once more and looked at the Elder Devil across from him.

  A surprised expression appeared on the Elder Devil’s face when he saw Blood Devil Sword and his gaze focused on it.

  Han Li felt bewildered when he saw the Elder Devil’s expression.

  After a moment of thought, the Elder Devil confirmed what the sword was and a happy expression appeared on his face. He said, “Very good. I didn’t think that we left behind sacred tools from our realm. If you agree to hand over that sacred tool to me, I will spare your life and allow you to leave.”

  Amazed, Han Li frowned and asked, “Sacred tool? This is a magic tool from the Elder Devil Realm?”

  The Elder Devil snorted and glared at him, speaking with an icy tone, “The matters of the Holy Realm does not concern you. I am simply asking if you agree or not!”

  “If you were a human cultivator, there is no harm in agreeing in order to save my own life. You, on the other hand, hehe...” Han Li then wore a mocking expression.

  Chapter 851: Black Blade

  When the Elder Devil heard this, he squinted eyes in surprise as Han Li hadn’t displayed the slightest fury. He swept his gaze several times past the sword blur in front of Han Li, the purple flame bird and the Blood Devil Sword before he gloomily stared at Han Li once more.

  Han Li silently returned the stare and the Thunderstorm Wings slowly
unfolded from his back as magic power began to quickly circulate throughout his body.

  At that moment, a huge explosion sounded in the distance, and the two couldn’t help but turn their attention to it.

  They saw a brilliant flashing light. Several various-colored balls of light were pounding against the black light barrier, dissolving it in the blink of an eye to reveal a ring, a small sword and a spell flag: the three of the devil’s devilfied treasures. However, their devilish light had grown thin appearing to have received heavy damage.

  As the Elder Devil was completely focused on Han Li, he had completely overlooked Senior Martial Brother Cheng’s party.

  Although these three cultivators were all early Nascent Soul cultivators, they possessed much battle experience and employed their own secret techniques to break through the restrictions constraining their treasures.

  But when they saw the Elder Devil’s strange shifting movements from a moment ago, they felt their hearts tremble. Rather than take the initiative to draw close to Han Li, they simply directed their treasures to attack the devil from a distance, hoping that it would provide a distraction. But the three clearly understood that Han Li would be the main force in dealing with him; if Han Li were to fall, the three would be left helpless.

  Han Li was delighted that the three were able to provide some assistance at this time. It would be fantastic if they gave him enough time to place down the Aureate Sword Formation.

  With that thought, Han Li took another look at the Elder Devil and saw that he took another look at Han Li as the treasures streaked towards him. The ghost head’s eyes flickered and he sinisterly smiled before disappearing in a series of afterimages.

  Han Li’s heart stirred and he quickly swept his Brightsight Spirit Eyes around him. He revealed shock by what he saw.

  “Not good! Be careful!” Han Li shouted and immediately commanded his huge tortoise puppets to successive shoot beams of blue light near Senior Martial Brother Cheng’s party.

  The three were terrified and could only bitterly curse once they realized the Elder Devil abandoned his fight with Han Li for the time being and was heading for them.

  After having seen the many moves that Han Li had displayed, the Blood Devil Sword in particular, the Elder Devil felt that he wouldn’t be able to defeat Han Li in a short amount of time. Since the harassment from the three other cultivators would only serve to make things more troublesome, he decided to change course and get rid of the minor hindrance before dealing with his main opponent.

  Over ten thick beams of light erupted around the three Nascent Soul cultivators, filling the air with a cold icy Qi.

  A black silhouette flickered thirty meters near the three cultivators, followed by the appearance of the Elder Devil. Although the cultivators had already prepared themselves, they couldn’t help but lose some of their composure from witnessing his abnormal speed.

  Fortunately, the three acted with great skill. Senior Martial Brother Cheng and the other old man raised their arms, summoning a fire-red fox and a large talisman. As for Daoist Heavencrystal, he clutched his hands in an incantation gesture and his two malevolent puppets shot out of the group’s barrier in a blur. Under the talisman’s protection, the red fox charged alongside them.

  The talisman flew out of the barrier and erupted several times, producing a cloud of flames. The fox then leapt into the cloud and fused with it, instantly disappearing from sight. It appeared to be a rare spirit beast skilled in fire movement techniques.

  When the Elder Devil saw that the two puppets possessing an unordinary aura pounce at him, he expressionlessly clapped his four hands in pairs and they howled with sounds of tearing space as blinding black radiance appeared in his palms.

  The four hands grabbed onto the black light and each split off a portion, producing balls of brilliant black light into each hand before transforming into four strange black light blades.

  These blades of light were only about two feet long, and their tips were thick and warped like a dagger. But what was particularly strange was how the blade’s body continued to vibrate and released an unending piercing screech as if warping the nearby space.

  In the instant the black blades took form, the devil’s human head appeared anguished and his face grew deathly pale as if his body’s blood essence had been vastly consumed. As for the devil’s ghost head, his expression turned harsher as the black light blades trembled. Then in a gust of wind, he shot forward to the blue malevolent puppet.

  Of course, the puppet felt no fear. It spat out a large mist of grey Yin Qi and swept it forward like a wave. The other puppet raised its arms and azure light flashed, shooting out over ten threads of ice from its hands and disappearing into the mist in the blink of an eye. As for the scarlet puppet, it spat out Yin Qi as well and it released scarlet drills of light from its hands, launching another attack at the Elder Devil.

  At that moment, the roiling fire cloud had surged above the Elder Devil’s head. The devil was now being attacked from three sides.

  The Elder Devil effortlessly waved his four arms, sending four twirling crescents from his blades. Then, the crescents overlapped to form two crosses and shrieked through the air, each heading towards a different puppet.

  As the Elder Devil was occupied with these attacks, a meter-large claw formed from the cloud of flames and quickly grabbed at the devil’s ghost head with its long incisive nails.

  The azure threads of ice and scarlet drills emerged past the other side of the Yin Qi and made their way to the Elder Devil’s body.

  The Elder Devil’s four arms stirred and the blades of light grew indistinct as they layered several waves of light together, creating a huge surging orb of black radiance. When the puppet’s attacks contacted the orb, it immediately sucked in the attacks with a wail. In the blink of an eye, azure and red light burst as they were churned and shattered.

  When this happened, the claw of flame suddenly stopped in alarm and attempted to withdraw, but it was already too late. A whip of black light flashed by and completely blew away the claw. A mournful cry soon followed from the cloud of flames.

  A savage expression appeared on the ghost head and his black-purple tongue hung from his face, dripping with blood. Then with a low shout, the Elder Devil’s body disappeared from sight and he appeared at the heart of the flame cloud. The flame cloud roiled, and soon, limbs and flesh of the fire-red fox scattered through the air.

  The three cultivators gaped when they saw the fire-red fox slain in an instant. Its master, the unfamiliar old man, appeared particularly pained at the sight of this.

  The Elder Devil wore an odd expression and his body disappeared once more. Then, black radiance flickered from the clouds of grey Yin Qi, followed by two successive explosions.

  Daoist Heavencrystal’s expression dropped and he turned deathly pale. Without another thought, he swept his sleeve and blew away the Yin Qi in a gust of wind. He found that his two puppets had shattered into pieces, leaving no trace of the Elder Devil behind.

  At that moment, none of the three could afford to mourn over their losses and could only glance around them in terror. They all took out additional treasures from their storage pouches and prepared themselves.

  They heard a series of spatial movements nearby where a black hundred-meter-tall mountain appeared, Han Li’s Thousand Fold Mountain. It then fiercely smashed down. After seeing that the situation had turned desperate, he summoned it near them to temporarily provide them aid.

  Before the mountain fell onto the land below, a flicker of black light appeared underneath it, revealing the Elder Devil wearing an icy expression.

  He raised his four arms towards the sky and the four blades of light condensed into a ball before taking the form of a three-meter-tall black blade with an edge that roared with thunder. Holding the blade with two hands, he chopped towards the bottom of the mountain and a thin black crescent of light silently shot out from the black blade.

  The bottom of the mountain erupted i
n blinding light and the entire mountain wavered. A sleek and glossy crack began to appear at its center. The crack gradually spread upward until the entire mountain was split into two. The two halves then fell, off from its mark.

  The Elder Devil didn’t stop there. He glanced at the cultivators’ multi-layered barrier with a hostile expression and raised his huge black blade. He waved it and released another thin black crescent.

  The three cultivators had turned completely pale and exchanged a glance of terror with one another. It was clear that the barrier wouldn’t be able to endure such a formidable attack. Their bodies began to glow with light and they took off in different directions, leaving the barrier behind.

  Senior Martial Brother Cheng flew straight towards Han Li. As for Daoist Heavencrystal and the other old man, they flew towards Wei Wuya’s side.

  ‘Not good!’ Given the terrifying speed of the Elder Devil, Han Li knew that things would not end well.

  But since he was currently using this opportunity to complete the final steps to lay down the Aureate Sword Formation, he wasn’t able to personally save them.

  As he quickly released a syringe of spell seals around him, all he could do was command his dozen tortoise puppets to shoot out icicles from their back. They wouldn’t be able to injure the Elder Devil, but they would be able to obstruct his path and give the three cultivators an opportunity to escape.

  Chapter 852: Wreaking Havoc

  The black crescent of light sliced through the multi-layered barrier as if it were chopping through grass, resulting in the barrier to burst into specks of dust. When the Elder Devil saw the three escaping from the barrier, he looked at them with derisive mockery.

  As the thousand icicles from Han Li's tortoise puppets pelted the surrounding area, the Elder Devil swung the huge blade with a blur of his hands, forming another ball of blinding radiance and splitting it to release two three-meter-long black lances. He successively threw them into the air, sending one towards the unfamiliar old man while the other made its way to Senior Martial Brother Cheng.