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

by Translator: Johnchen

  The middle-aged man felt his breath run cold and he spoke out in furious alarm, “They would actually treat us like cannon fodder? How will we handle this?”

  “It is quite simple,” the woman said, “Didn’t we already look through the area? There is no need to go any further. Since we can report back to our superiors, there will be no further exposure to danger. If someone else has found the foreign cultivator, that will be fine. And it won’t matter if no sighting of him was found either. Then when the Day of Spirit Release arrives, all Immortals will be heading to the temples to pay their respects. We will be summoned there as well.”

  After a moment of hesitation, he decisively said, “From your words, you mean to say that while the Venomous Dragon Pill is valuable, I am more likely to lose my life in the process. Many thanks for the explanation, Immortal Xiu.”

  The woman smiled and said, “Good! Since that has been resolved, let’s go rest at the temple encampment for a bit. In the past few days, many tribes had brought forth their tributes. Perhaps, we’ll be able to find something we need ahead of time. Then we can conduct another search periodically every few days as we look through the tributes.”

  Of course, the middle-aged man raised no objections.

  Soon after, the red and white streaks of light flew directly south.

  Chapter 884: Insect Demon Corpse

  In a completely sealed room, there was a three-meter-tall offering table surrounded by a dozen of various-colored formation flags. The flags glowed with light and formed a temporary spell formation. On the table, there was a dark-green formation plate surrounded with waves of green Qi. The figure of a Nascent Soul could be faintly seen sitting cross-legged within the smoke and appeared to be breathing the smoke in and out as if it were cultivating something.

  At the corners of the sealed room, there were four old men sitting cross-legged who each held a dark green spell flag in their hands. The flags were all pointed at the circular plate at the center of the room and they released faint threads of green smoke that slowly spread towards the plate.

  This strange scene almost appeared as if painted. The room was completely silent.

  After an unknown amount of time, the four old men appeared to have grown tired and the Nascent Soul within the green mist became more stable and clearer to see.

  The red-haired old man sitting in one of the corners put away the flag and stood up, cupping his fist to the other three in the room. “I can’t thank you Fellow Daoists enough for your hard work. After a few more days, Junior Martial Brother Gui will be able to recover.”

  Once this was said, the other three also put away their spell flags. The pale beardless old man among them hastily returned the salute and chuckled, saying, “There is no need for Brother Hun to appear overly courteous. I’ve known Brother Gui for many years. Using a bit of my strength for him is only natural.”

  The red-haired old man then took a brief glance at the Nascent Soul sitting cross-legged and sincerely said, “Regardless of how it is said, my Junior Martial Brother and I will always remember this kindness.”

  The pale old man chuckled and said, “Don’t be so formal, Fellow Daoist Hun!”

  The red-haired old man’s expression sank and he sullenly said, “That’s right. We’ve been trapped here since the very beginning to assist Immortal Gui over the loss of his Nascent Soul. We don’t yet know if there was more information on the foreign cultivator. We all know how incredibly rare it is for Gold Devouring Beetles to lay eggs. It is truly hard to believe there are others in this world capable of controlling over ten thousand of them. Since I was late to arrive, I didn’t join the battle to trap the foreign cultivator. He must’ve been fearsome since he took down three Nascent Soul stage Immortals.”

  When he said this, the other three exchanged a glance and revealed faint dread on their faces.

  The pale old man sighed and said, “How could there be such a fearsome person? In addition to his Gold Devouring Beetles, he can also release purple flames and golden lightning. Of the first group of Nascent Soul Immortals to block his path, there were two who perished as a result of these two techniques. The golden lightning trapped one of the Immortal’s Nascent Soul and the purple flame easily destroyed it. As for the second Immortal, he would’ve died no matter how careful he would’ve been.”

  “Not only that, but he also controls fearsome magic treasures,” the plump old man added on with a fearful expression, “He has a strange set of gold-azure flying swords that number around sixty or seventy, all of them incredibly sharp. There were many treasures destroyed by those swords. Not to mention that wicked pair of wings on his back that are capable of lightning movement without an incantation, making him nearly impossible to catch. Brother Hun may jest over the matter, but when the seven of us surrounded him at the time, we felt our backs drenched in sweat from an immense fear of death. Just as we were on the verge of retreating for the time being, one of the Grand Elders fortunately responded to our summons on time and he launched a sneak attack on the foreign cultivator and heavily injured him with the Elemental Immortalwrest Palm. After the foreign cultivator was injured, he instantly transformed into a crimson blur and broke through the encirclement. We attempted to use our spiritual sense to find him, but we couldn’t find a single trace of him. The Grand Elder explained that this person has already fled hundreds of kilometers away and we were unable to pursue him as a result.”

  The red-haired old man wore an unsightly expression and asked, “Could it be this person is actually a famous top grade cultivator from one of the grand sects of the Great Jin Empire? It is no wonder that only one of Junior Martial Brother Gui’s Six Essence Soul Divisions was barely able to escape him.”

  “There is no need for Brother Hun to worry. You should know the might of the Elemental Immortalwrest Palm. Even if that person escaped from this land, the strike should’ve greatly damaged his cultivation. There is no need to fear him. Furthermore, the guest that accompanied the saintess from the Great Jin is residing in a nearby Endless Sky Temple. If that person is a cultivator from the Great Jin, the guest should know of his strange abilities. We will be able to better deal with this cultivator after we figure out how to deal with him. Even if this person is truly a cultivator from a powerful sect from the Great Jin, the Grand Elders won’t let him go after killing so many of our Nascent Soul Immortals. Besides, his methods of breeding such a vast number of Gold Devouring Beetles must also be investigated.” The pale-faced old man spoke with a tone of resentment. It appeared he had suffered quite a bit in his battle with Han Li.

  “I hope that is the case,” the red-haired old man muttered, “But fortunately, the cultivator’s Gold Devouring Beetles haven’t yet fully matured. Otherwise, he would’ve forced even the four Great Elders to retreat if he would’ve released ten thousand of them.”

  When the other old men heard this, they exchanged a glance and could only bitterly smile. As Soaring Tribes Immortals, they naturally knew the might of fully mature Gold Devouring Beetles.

  Just as the old men in the room felt at ease, the Nascent Soul sitting cross-legged in the green mist suddenly let out a piercing shriek and its hands held its head as it rolled around in great anguish. Its body appeared as if on the verge of dissipating.

  “Not good! Everyone, quickly take action!” The red-haired old man immediately shouted in alarm.

  When the other old men saw what was happening, they knew matters had turned for the worse and they quickly summoned the spell flags once more. Under the control of their spell seals, four clouds of green mist shot towards the center of the room and enveloped the Nascent Soul in an attempt to restore it.

  Time slowly passed by as the four old men mustered their might and the screaming from within the green mist lessened. After a moment more, the Nascent Soul was calmly sitting cross-legged once more as it attempted to absorb the green mist with all of its strength.

  After an unknown amount of time, the Nascent Soul softly spoke as if attempting to
catch its breath, “Many... Many thanks for your great assistance. I am fine... now... You may stop.”

  When the four old men heard this, they felt a wave of relief and ceased their casting. To tell the truth, they had been straining themselves after doing this for so long. Although they were still able to push themselves to continue, their vitality and strength would suffer as a result.

  The pale old man couldn’t help but ask, “Brother Gui, what caused your Nascent Soul to disperse once more? This is extremely dangerous.”

  The Nascent Soul gritted its teeth and said, “Fel-... Fellow Daoists, please don’t worry. Nothing else will happen. It’s just that... my link with my Gold Devouring Beetle was severed. My spirit... spiritual sense was affected.”

  The red-haired old man felt his heart drop and he asked in alarm, “What?! The Gold Devouring Beetle had perished? How had he done this? Mature Gold Devouring Beetles are nearly invulnerable. How could they be easily destroyed?”

  After a moment of thought, the pale old man said, “This isn’t anything odd. Without Brother Gui to personally command them, their destruction was inevitable. After all, there are a few top grade Devil Dao techniques able to directly strike at their souls without striking at their body.”

  “Oh? In that case, this person must be a Devil Dao cultivator,” the fourth shriveled old man hesitantly said, “But when we first fought against him, a majority of his techniques didn’t appear to come from the Devil Dao.”

  When that was said, the many cultivators looked at each other in dismay as silence filled the room.

  ...

  Meanwhile in a faraway place, Han Li was taking a deep breath inside the carriage. He felt quite a bit of relief in his heart. After half a month of continuous effort, he eventually managed to wipe away the soul in the mature Gold Devouring Beetle and absorbed it into the Yin Sifting Banner. During this time, the Grey Heron Tribe didn’t disturb him even once, much to Han Li’s unexpected delight.

  Of course, he was completely ignorant that he had nearly exterminated the owner of the Gold Devouring Beetle in the instant he destroyed the souls.

  He waved his hand and grasped at the black devilish Qi in front of him. In a gust of wind, a small black flag flew out from the mist and into his hand. The remaining black mist roiled and transformed into a black-green Nascent Soul. It was holding a huge sparkling golden beetle in its hand. Below the Nascent Soul was a white jade box with all of its seals removed.

  Han Li fiddled with the small flag in his hand and swept his gaze past the golden beetle. The beetle was half a foot long and had a pair of vicious inch-long fangs along with a fiendish appearance. It was several times larger than Han Li’s own Gold Devouring Beetles.

  However, the beetle was completely soulless and lacked any vigor.

  After some thought, he reached out to the Yin Sifting Banner and a fist-sized ball of green light flew out, revolving once in front of him before dropping down.

  The soft green light appeared exactly the same as the mature Gold Devouring Beetle, but it was smaller and its body was tainted black with shining scarlet eyes.

  “Go!” Han Li pointed at it and the Gold Devouring Beetle’s soul shot into its original body in a streak of black light.

  Crimson light immediately flashed from the huge golden beetle and it unfurled its wings before flying around Han Li’s second Nascent Soul.

  With a happy expression on his face, Han Li muttered, “If I guessed correctly, it should be fine if I treat this insect as a refined demon corpse. Although its power is far less than the original, it should still be exceptionally powerful. If I wish to truly control it, I will have to refine it with devilish Qi once through.”

  Chapter 885: Simian Vultures

  Under these current circumstances, being able to unleash such a ferocious insect will be very useful in protecting his life. As Han Li’s heart stirred, the small flag in his hand grew several times in size and the matured Gold Devouring Beetle revolved once around him before landing on the banner. Black Qi surged around the banner and then the beetle disappeared without a trace.

  Soon after, Han Li unceremoniously tossed the banner towards his black-green Nascent Soul and it opened its mouth with a laugh, absorbing the Yin Sifting Banner into its body. Then in a flash of light, the Nascent Soul flew onto the top of Han Li’s head and disappeared from sight.

  Han Li took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He began to comprehend the incantation to dissolve the Pestilence Demons Soullock Seal in case of future mishaps, but then his expression stirred and he turned his head to the sky.

  Although his cultivation was sealed, this hadn’t affected Han Li’s powerful spiritual sense. If he were correct, a Soaring Tribes cultivator had flown above the Grey Heron Tribe’s escort once more.

  He found this quite interesting. This Soaring Tribes cultivator was clearly looking for him. Over the last two weeks, they would fly above the carriage every three days or so, but they would rush away each time. They didn’t ask any questions to the mortals in the escort either, saving Han Li the effort of using any of the concealment techniques he prepared.

  Although he felt puzzled by this, Han Li was happy with their search methods and promptly closed his eyes once more.

  At that moment, Ying Lu loudly shouted to the rest of the escort, “Muster yourselves! In two days, we’ll arrive at the designated temple encampment. When we get there, we can rest safely for a few days.”

  ‘Temple encampment?’ When Han Li heard this, his heart stirred. After muttering to himself for a moment, he paid this no further mind and focused again on comprehending the incantation.

  Half a day later, Han Li sensed a nearby escort from another tribe. The escort didn’t appear very large but they did have a dozen more members than the Grey Heron Tribe’s escort. From the direction they were heading in, they should meet with the Grey Heron Tribe in about two hours, but because they appeared harmless, Han Li hadn’t mention it to Ying Lu.

  About two hours later, the two escorts ran across one another, causing quite the disturbance. Both sides scrambled into formation, but it turned out that Ying Lu and the leader of the Red Wolf Tribe’s escort were old friends. The two were overjoyed by their meeting and decided to travelled together.

  The Red Wolf Tribe’s leader, a large man with a full beard, glanced at Ying Lu’s carriages and curiously asked, “Brother Ying, do you have an Immortal with your tribe? Is he on a carriage?”

  Ying Lu didn’t answer but asked, “Your tribe’s Immortals aren’t on your carriages? Did you bring them on the journey?”

  “Immortals?” The large man glanced at Ying Lu with slanted eyes and muttered, “There was only one and he was an unaffiliated Immortal that I only acquired by abandoning my pride and paying him at great cost. Could it be that you have two Immortals?” As the two were friends, he spoke without reserve.

  “Two?” Ying Lu sighed and said, “I only have one of course. I’ve only managed to barely have him agree to protect us on this journey as well.” The two then bitterly laughed with a sense of mutual suffering.

  Ying Lu then added on, “Alright. We are now only a day away from the encampment and nothing else should happen. But after that, we will pass by the territory of a large tribe along the way. It will be best to be a bit careful. How about we travel together with a few other small tribes along that way? It will be safer, not to mention that we have an Immortal in our ranks.”

  The large man hesitated for a moment and asked, “Can I give this some thought? The last time I joined together with many small tribes, I was drawn into trouble because one of the tribes was carrying some incredibly precious goods.”

  “Brother Ba’s fears are something that rarely ever happens,” Ying Lu shook his head in disapproval and said, “The odds of small tribes like ours to carry something precious are far lower than our chances getting robbed regardless.”

  “Fine, I’ll give the matter some further thought.” Tribe Leader Ba replied.

  At t
hat moment, the two tribe’s escorts were travelling together and were having friendly chats with one another. The particularly beautiful women of the two tribes were being crowded around by the young men and they would occasionally give off a clear laugh.

  Since these women were picked to present the tribute, they were naturally among the most beautiful in the tribe. It was no surprise that the men amongst them were filled with excitement.

  When Ying Lu heard the laughter, he couldn’t help but shake his head and thought to tell them to quiet down for fear that they would offend the Immortal in the carriage. But then, a strange shriek cried out from above and was clearly heard by everyone in the two parties.

  When Ying Lu heard this, his expression vastly changed and he turned to glance at Tribe Leader Ba at his side. The large man’s expression appeared unsightly as well and was filled with terror.

  “Everyone, get down from your horses and hide!” Ying Lu hurriedly cried out, “They are Simian Vultures! Quickly call for Immortal Han to come out!”

  At that moment, Tribe Leader Ba loudly cried out to his own tribe, “Hide in the carriages! Quickly call out Immortal Feng to deal with these demon birds.”

  At the very name of the Simian Vultures, the tribes were thrown into a flurry. All of them dismounted from their horses in terror with some even tumbling down from their horse. Then they lied on their stomachs or hid into the carriages as they looked to the skies with pale complexions.

  There were three black dots in the sky that grew larger to the eye as time passed by. In nearly an instant, they could be made out to be three demon birds.

  They had the head of an ape and the body of a bird. Their wings spanned six meters long and they had a pair of fur-colored ape arms on their body. They loudly bellowed with blood-curdling screams, inciting terror in anyone who heard them.

  Although Simian Vultures were only grade two demon birds, they were far more cruel and intelligent than other demon beasts of their rank. Not only were they extraordinarily strong and capable of splitting metal with their claws, but their bewitching cries were effective even against early Foundation Establishment cultivators, let alone any mortal. Normally, it was rare for one to appear in the plains, but now that three have appeared, the mortals in the escort had completely lost themselves to fear.