Chapter 896: The Holy Beast’s Cast Body
The Endless Sky Saintess gradually sped up her incantations and extended her finger at the cauldron, ordering its lid to launch into the air in a streak of azure light. Then, sparkling grains of sand flew out from the cauldron and enveloped the altar, entrancing all the spectators present.
When the Saintess saw this, she stopped her incantations and pointed to the chained bison on the altar. In a flash of light, the silver chains constricted, tightly digging into the beast’s flesh until they cut through it like a thousand blades, splitting the beast into over a hundred pieces and filling the air with the scent of blood.
The azure sand began to stream onto the silver chains and densely cover the altar. Then, the bison’s corpse began to pulse in azure light as the sand gradually consumed its flesh, much to the shock of those watching.
A ball of green light suddenly flew out from the bison’s corpse and directly shot into the air. It was the primal soul that the Azure Wind Bison had strenuously cultivated for many years. But before it could travel far, several bolts of azure light streaked out from the altar and struck it down, submerging it into the streams of sand below.
After the time it took to finish a meal, the huge beast’s corpse had completely disappeared. The entirety of its flesh and bones had been consumed by the azure sand with each grain containing a trace of its blood.
When the Saintess saw this, she calmly waved towards the huge white python and the chains tightened around it, silently bringing it to the top of the altar.
A similar sacrifice occurred with the python. With the flesh and souls of the two grade seven demon beasts consumed, the azure sand transformed into a cloud of blood above the altar and floated there motionlessly.
Then, the Saintess used an incantation gesture to will the huge cauldron to slowly float from the altar in a series of trembles.
She turned to the two late Nascent Soul cultivators behind her and respectfully said, “I am going to start summoning the holy beast. Please lend me your power.”
The elegant youth smiled and calmly said, “Of course. We will do our utmost.”
The purple-haired woman pursed her lips in a smile as well.
The Saintess nodded and raised her hands. She flicked her fingers and repeatedly struck the surrounding spell formation with spell seals. Soon, it began to shine with bright light in activation.
Both the huge cauldron on the altar and the spell formation underneath began to pulse azure light in synchronization. The azure flame on the cauldron also weakened.
The Saintess walked half a step forward and raised her head, uttering a cryptic incantation. Then the two Grand Immortals placed a hand on the Saintess’ shoulders and slowly channeled spiritual power into her body.
The Saintess’ body glowed with silver light and the pattern of a flood dragon with an ox head appeared on her forehead. She pressed her hands together and then opened them to release two beams of pure spiritual power at the cauldron.
As the cauldron spun, it absorbed the white light without end. And soon, it began to spout out a mist of azure light that soon condensed into a head-sized ball of light above the cauldron. As time went on, more of the mist concentrated in the ball and glowed with blinding light.
The Saintess’ expression turned grim when she saw this, and the beams of light in her hand fluctuated in size as if attempting to control the cauldron.
The two Grand Immortals continued to pour in spiritual power into the Saintess’ body, not daring to stop or neglect their task.
As time slowly passed by, the ball of light grew more dazzling and began to release a sharp shriek. At that moment, the spell formation surrounding them began to hum and continuously release beams of various-colored light towards the ball.
The Saintess’ expression grew stern with caution and she began to quicken her incantation.
A while later, the ball of light shrunk before rupturing into a blazing azure sun. It faded away to reveal an egg-sized azure hole floating in the air. The hole only existed for a short time before fading away.
Soon, a scarlet light shot out from the hole and charged into the cloud of blood above.
The scarlet light was a magnet to the bloody grains in the cloud, drawing the sand towards itself in a rush and tightly covering it in a squirming foot-large crimson cocoon. The Soaring Tribe Immortals watching this were dumbstruck by the sight.
The Saintess silently pointed at the huge cauldron, causing countless azure threads to shoot out from it, wrapping around the crimson cocoon and dragging it into the cauldron. Then, its lid slammed down onto the cauldron and sealed it.
Azure flames surged to ten meters in height around the cauldron, completely submerging it. The spell formation below the altar then began to flicker with light and condense an astonishing spiritual Qi that slowly poured into the flames.
When the Saintess saw this, she sighed with relief.
The Saintess turned around and spoke with a clear voice, “The ritual was finished smoothly. However, we will need to wait a month before we can see the result of the Holy Beast’s incarnation. Of course, even if the Holy Beast incarnation can’t remain long in our mortal realm, it will last at least a week. This will be more than enough time for the Holy Beast to find the foreign cultivator. After the Holy Beast completes its sculpted body, the two Grand Immortals and I will lead the hunt for the foreign cultivator. Before this, everyone should rest and prepare yourselves.”
Naturally, the Soaring Tribe Immortals didn’t raise any objections to this and they all departed. However, a few were curious and couldn’t help but take a few more glances at the huge cauldron.
Not long after, only the Saintess and the two Grand Immortals remained in the restricted area.
“Fellow Daoist Xu, Immortal Sun!” The Saintess called out to the two late Nascent Soul cultivators and said, “I must trouble you two to guard the cauldron for two days to prevent anything unexpected from happening.”
“Of course,” the purple-haired woman immediately replied, “We don’t wish for our ten years of effort to fail while we’re on the verge of success.”
The elegant man nodded and said nothing else.
The Saintess relaxed when she heard this, but then, a series of thunderous growls faintly shook the cauldron and caused her expression to freeze. Soon after, the three cultivators present exchanged a glance and promptly sat cross-legged around the altar.
...
Two days later, the sounds of a bell repeatedly rang throughout the Endless Sky Temples. The many low-grade cultivators and tribes that still remained at the temples looked at them with astonishment.
Afterwards, over a dozen streaks of light tore through the sky and flew south without any intention of stopping. Although the streaks of light traveled quickly and no one could see who was flying inside them, it was obvious that none of these streaks of light could’ve belonged to low-grade cultivators, much to the shock of those who saw them.
...
Three days later, an azure streak flew past the southern end of the Heavenly Water River, the Endless Sky Plains’ largest river. It flew a large circle on the river’s surface, revealing itself to be a crimson flood dragon with an ox head.
The flood dragon was only a dozen meters long and a layer of faint azure light covered it, obscuring its precise appearance. The Endless Sky Saintess was floating above its head, as she examined the surface of the water.
A moment later, several streaks of light flashed from the sky and two Grand Immortals had appeared.
“Fellow Daoist Lin, has the Holy Beast found him?” The purple-haired woman asked.
The Saintess answered, “Definitely. Since this person is carrying so many Gold Devouring Beetles, he won’t be able to conceal himself from the Holy Beast. He shouldn’t be far from the surface of the water. This person is truly cunning to flee when the Holy Beast submerged. It was how he was able to conceal himself from us so many times. Let us go.”
“Good,” the
elegant man coldly replied, “I also wish to see whether or not he is truly a Yin Sifting Sect Elder. He was already struck by Brother Hu’s Elemental Immortalwrest Palm, but he is still able to safely evade us. I truly wish to see what he is capable of.”
“I heard this person’s appearance wasn’t very tall and he seemed young. I also wish to see who is this powerful character,” the purple-haired woman said.
“Since you two are so eager, let’s go.” The silver-robed woman chuckled and then a silver mark appeared on her forehead. By using some sort of ancient language, she spoken to their holy beast beneath her with a respectful tone. Afterwards, the holy beast snorted and took off in a streak of azure light.
When the other cultivators saw this, they hastily followed after her.
They followed the river for over two hundred kilometers before finding a section of narrow river channels. Afterwards, a faint crimson streak emerged from the water and streaked far into the distance before suddenly disappearing.
The Saintess waited for her two companions to catch up and said, “Not good! The foreign cultivator had sensed something and used a secret evasion technique to run. He is now over a hundred kilometers away. It will be troublesome given how powerful this person’s spiritual sense is. The others are too slow. Let’s go ahead and block his path. Otherwise, it is going to be hard to track him again.”
The two Grand Immortals didn’t raise any objections. They promptly raised their hands and sent a voice transmission to the few cultivators following them. Then the three quickly followed the foreign cultivator’s track with all their speed.
Although they were so far away and weren’t able to lock their spiritual sense onto the foreign cultivator, the incarnation of their holy beast possessed profound and great abilities. The three were right on his tail.
The chase continued for an entire day. Although Han Li would use the Bloodshadow Evasion Technique to separate from them by a huge distance, they would soon track him down and give chase once more.
Han Li was forced to unseal his cultivation three times, and now that he was still unable to shake them off, his heart grew sullen.
Chapter 897: Splitting the Enemy
“Senior, I’ve already shaken off these Soaring Tribes cultivators three times and left a large distance between them each time, but they were always soon to catch my trail. Could it be there is some spiritual sense strengthening technique that is beyond the Great Development Technique? How can they catch sight of me so far away?” Han Li asked, his complexion deathly pale from strain.
At that moment, Han Li had already lifted the Soullock Seal and was flying through the air in an azure streak. He had done this three times already to make use of the Bloodshadow Evasion Technique each time, bringing Han Li’s body to the brink of crisis.
If he wasn’t using several high-grade secret techniques to forcefully suppress his baleful Qi backlash and his use of a dozen drops of Myriad Spirit Milk to make up for the blood essence requirement of Bloodshadow Evasion, he feared he wouldn’t be able to press on.
And under such strain, he had already lost three years of his cultivation. If it weren’t for the many medicine pills he had taken, it was quite possible that he would’ve dropped to an entire level of cultivation.
With his body pushed to its limits and the late-Nascent Soul cultivators pursuing him, he found himself in dire crisis. But before he figured out how the Soaring Tribes Immortals were tracking him, he couldn’t rashly make use of the Bloodshadow Evasion Technique. Otherwise, he’d be ruining himself only for them to eventually track him down.
Monarch Soul Divergence coldly snorted and said, “Although I am completely confident in my Great Development Arts, I don’t dare to boast it as the number one spiritual sense technique in the cultivation world. There aren’t many who possess aptitude greater than mine, but they do exist. The possibility of them possessing a particularly powerful technique is miniscule.
However, those chasing you aren’t tracking you down through an immensely powerful spiritual sense. Instead, they are tracking you through inhuman means.”
When Han Li heard this, he came to a sudden realization. “Inhuman means? You mean that demon beast?”
“That’s right. Didn’t you sense something similar to a demon beast behind you? Its appearance is exactly the same as what the Soaring Tribes mortal described of their patron god, the Endless Sky Beast. Those people from the Endless Sky Temples most likely summoned the beast to deliberately reclaim the face they lost from having their Nascent Soul Immortals killed by you. It isn’t odd for something not from this world to be able to track you down.”
Han Li frowned and hesitantly asked, “The Endless Sky Beast? I’ve made note of it, but this particular beast only possessed magic power around the level of a grade seven demon beast, far inferior to the Moulan’s sacred bird. How can it possess such abilities?”
“Hehe, I’ve heard you speak of your continent's war against the Moulan and how they summoned a projection of their sacred bird with the assistance of a treasure. It merely possessed an illusory body and emerged in this world from nowhere. From what I sensed, the demon beast following you should have a genuine body. If that’s the case, the Endless Sky Beast seemed to use an ability similar to the Elder Devil’s possession through the use of some other beasts as a medium to bring itself into this world. Do not underestimate the abilities this incarnation possesses. If you give it enough time, it will grow into a fearsome existence. To the best of my knowledge, there are several other similar incarnations that descended into this world, but they are all fearsome to behold. And they are rarely ever seen by common cultivators.”
“There are such kind of beings in our mortal world? However, there is no time for me to further discuss this matter with you. Regardless of whether this is a demon beast or a holy beast, does Senior have a method of escaping its pursuit? It will be greatly troublesome if the seal continues to be lifted.” As Han Li swept his spiritual sense behind him, he spotted three cultivators and a demon beast in the distance behind him and grew apprehensive as a result.
Monarch Soul Divergence answered, “There are countless strange beasts in the upper realms. Who knows what kind of amazing abilities it is using to track you. Your Qi restraining abilities are quite to my satisfaction as well. It appears there are no good methods apart from slaying this beast. However, I can instruct you on a simple method of feigning death, capable of extinguishing all signs of life from your body, but I do not know how useful this will be. After all, the demon beast might not be tracking you down through your aura.”
Han Li grew silent and then a cold glint flickered from his eyes. He fiercely said, “Fine, then I will kill this beast.”
Monarch Soul Divergence said with alarm, “I fear you won’t have the opportunity to kill that beast. It is being accompanied by two Grand Immortals and that masked mid-Nascent Soul stage woman should be the Endless Sky Saintess. Her abilities shouldn’t be anything to underestimate either.”
“If I don’t take the risk, there will be no opportunities. I will have to treat my second Nascent Soul as a disposable resource if I am to succeed.” Han Li said with an icy tone.
Silvermoon then said, “Master, if you plan on doing that, I also wish to help you.”
After hearing her, Han Li asked, “How are your injuries? Will you be able to persist in drawing their attention away as an artifact spirit?”
Silvermoon smiled and said, “I am the artifact spirit of Master’s magic treasure. No matter how severe my injuries may be, so long as Master’s flying swords aren’t destroyed, I will not die. Master doesn’t need to worry much on my behalf. At most, I will only remain asleep in Master’s magic treasure for a few years.”
After some consideration, Han Li sighed and said, “Alright. Since our current situation is far from good, I will have to trouble you.”
Afterwards, Han Li learned the incantation for feigning death from Monarch Soul Divergence. With that memorized, he then immed
iately placed his hand on the top of his head.
His second Nascent Soul appeared in a flash of black light and spat out the Yin Sifting Banner from its mouth. It then shook the flag without end and leaped into the air. In the blink of an eye, black clouds gathered around them in a storm, darkening the sky for a whole kilometer and filling the air with devilish Qi.
“Take this. If the Endless Sky Saintess chases after you with the beast, use this sword to strike it down.” Han Li said with an imposing tone. Then with a wave of his hand, he summoned a small crimson sword and tossed it into the black clouds. It was the Blood Devil Sword.
Afterwards, a piercing shriek echoed from the clouds and the sword flew off with astonishing momentum.
Han Li glanced at the devilish cloud in the distance with a sullen expression. Then, he summoned a small bottle with a flip of his hand and poured a drop of Myriad Year Spirit Milk into his mouth.
His body brightly glowed with spiritual light and he tore through the sky in an azure streak.
...
“What’s going on? If I’m not mistaken, the foreign cultivator’s Nascent Soul materialized and fled on its own?” When the purple-haired woman saw this, she couldn’t help but yelp in astonishment.
The elegant man shook his head and said in a grave tone, “That can’t be right. If an ordinary Nascent Soul materializes, its body cannot move on its own. However, that person is now fleeing in a different direction from his Nascent Soul. Could it be he cultivated something similar to the Three Corpse Soul Technique?”
The purple-haired woman wore a pensive expression and said, “If he’s trying to use a doppelganger technique in an attempt to escape us, he won’t succeed. The Nascent Soul won’t be able to escape us either so long as we pay attention to its whereabouts. Now that an intact Nascent Soul has fled, it shouldn’t be something like the Six Soul Divisions Technique that Fellow Daoist Gui cultivates. Could it be this is a legendary second Nascent Soul?”
The Saintess frowned and felt a wave of alarm.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 485