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

by Translator: Johnchen

  Following the appearance of the black grains of sand, ghostly wails sounded out and the black sand rushed towards Han Li and King Glorious Blaze at their center with overbearing momentum.

  King Glorious Blaze’s expression trembled and he hastily called out to Han Li, “Not good! That old ghost Wild Sand released the entirety of his Soulfall Sand into the formation. Fellow Daoist, this isn’t something that common magic tools can block. We’ll only be able to block the sand with our own cultivation. However, his magic power will certainly be strained from controlling this much Soulfall Sand and can’t keep this up for long. So long as we endure these several attacks, nothing else will come of it.”

  Both he and Han Li were now in the same boat, and he had no wish for such a powerful ally to encounter mishap. Although Han Li had managed to scatter the black sand the first time with his golden lightning, he wasn’t sure that Han Li would be able to block an attack of this intensity.

  As Han Li floated in the air, he muttered expressionlessly, “Soulfall Sand? From the dense Yin Qi the sand possessed, it seems to be a magic treasure refined with souls. It is no wonder why they possess such might.”

  When King Glorious Blaze saw that Han Li hadn’t made the slightest move to protect himself, he found it odd, but he couldn’t afford to pay any more attention to Han Li as the black sand was approaching.

  He opened his mouth and spout out fist-sized balls of light grey corpse flames. The flames condensed together into a huge fireball and protected him from the incoming sand. He could only rely on the corpse flames he had cultivated for countless years to block the oncoming storm of Soulfall Sand.

  Shortly after, a cloud of black sand covered him. Shining black sand and grey corpse flames flickered with light upon collision and occasionally released explosions of great intensity.

  As King Glorious Blaze prepared himself, Han Li was slowly withdrawing from the center of the formation. A moment later, he found that he couldn’t move any further away and slapped one of the pouches on his waist with a raised brow, releasing a black streak of light. The black streak circled in the air before landing in front of him to reveal a black monkey that was several inches tall and wore an expression of dissatisfaction.

  It was the Weeping Soul Beast that Han Li had forcibly called out. It was in a poor mood from having its cultivation interrupted while it was still absorbing the corpse flames inside the vajra barrier.

  But after the Weeping Soul Beast sniffed at the air and swept its gaze all around, it revealed sudden delight.

  Without the need for a command from Han Li, it beat its chest and let out a low-pitch whistle. Blinding black light shined from its body and it massively grew in size, transforming into an enormous ape over thirty meters tall. The image of the ghost face could be clearly seen on its back and it moved around the Weeping Soul Beast’s body as if it were alive.

  Be it King Glorious Blaze who was striving his hardest to block the sand or the other two that were waiting for an opportunity in the distant cloud of sand, they were all shocked upon seeing the astonishing appearance of the Weeping Soul Beast.

  Just as they wondered why Han Li had summoned this mysterious spirit beast, the huge ape snorted and released a cloud of yellow light from its nose. The cloud circled in the air and spread out, enveloping both Han Li and the ape inside of it.

  The cloud of black sand eventually arrived beside them in overbearing fashion and completely surrounded them. Then, the sand immediately released a mass of dense black Qi around the cloud of yellow light.

  As soon as the black Qi was released, the previously-hidden shining black grains of sand were completely revealed from the cloud of sand. When the huge ape saw this, it couldn’t help but grin as it puffed out a beam of golden light from its nose.

  The beam of light swept past the cloud and absorbed the grains of black sand without the slightest resistance before shooting back into the large ape’s nose.

  Then in the blink of an eye, beams of golden light swept past the cloud of black sand several times and completely scattered it. The cloud’s Yin Qi was absorbed by the yellow cloud of light and wasn’t capable of approaching Han Li in the slightest. The large quantities of black sand and Yin Qi ended up being gradually replaced with yellow light.

  Hidden in the cloud of sand nearby, Master Wild Sand and Lord Heavenwind watched all of this unfold with dumbfounded shock.

  Chapter 919: Forced Retreat

  Soulfall Sand truly wasn’t an ordinary treasure. Master Wild Sand had to secretly kill many low-grade cultivators, using their primal souls, large quantities of materials, and over a hundred years of strenuous effort in order to refine it so that it could corrupt other magic treasures.

  Whenever he encountered an enemy in the past, he would simply released the Soulfall Sand and caused his opponent’s treasures to suffer a great loss in power. This was effective in many occasions, eventually earning him the grand title of “Master Wild Sand.” He was considered amongst the most illustrious figures of the Heretical Daoists.

  One of the main reasons of why he dared to provoke the illustrious evil cultivator King Glorious Blaze was his confidence in the Soulfall Sand.

  But now, this unknown cultivator entered the formation and was able to easily dissolve it without the slightest harm to himself or his spirit beast. As a result, Master Wild Sand no longer dared to use the Soulfall Sand to attack them and hastily withdrew it with an incantation gesture. Then, he began to hesitate on what he should do next.

  At that moment, Lord Heavenwind revealed his original appearance with a shriveled black face and small eyes, saying, “Brother Wild Sand, don’t you have the Bluecrystal Heavensand? Use it to deal with that person. Although we don’t know what that huge ape is, it seems to only be capable of restraining Yin Qi and soul ghosts. It shouldn’t have any power over a pure Daoist treasure like the Bluecrystal Heavensand. So long as we manage to kill this person, we will be able to advance our original plan.”

  For this plan, the two had spent a great amount of effort in order for this to succeed. They were unwilling for their plan to fail at the very last stage.

  Master Wild Sand strongly shook his head and said, “The Bluecrystal Heavensand was something I spent quite some effort acquiring. Because of my deep relationship with Madam Heavenstone, she allowed me to borrow it, but I had to repeatedly swear I would only use the treasure to protect myself. If anything happened to even a single grain of it, it would be difficult to explain.”

  “But the cultivator before us has incisive techniques and treasures,” Lord Heavenwind said anxiously, “If we don’t use it, we won’t be able to block him. All of our previous efforts will be for nothing. Let alone the other treasures, we absolutely must acquire the old devil’s Heavenly Corpse Pearl! It is a rare body cultivation treasure and is crucial for us to break through to the next layer of cultivation!”

  Master Wild Sand snorted and said, “The Heavenly Corpse Pearl is important, but so is the Bluecrystal Heavensand! This sand isn’t something that can be repeatedly used. After a single use, I will have nothing left. Madam Heavenstone might be close to me, but I won’t be able to acquire heavensand a second time. Additionally, this person’s abilities are deep and immeasurable. It might not be able to defeat him. If he manages to endure the attack, then matters will become even worse.”

  “But...” Although Lord Heavenwind felt that his words made sense, he was still unwilling to give up. Just as he thought to further persuade him, a fiery light suddenly streaked across the sky and flew a circle above the cloud before flying into Master Wild Sand’s hands.

  “This is...” Master Wildsand looked at the sound transmission talisman with surprise and sank his spiritual sense into it without any further hesitation.

  Soon, his face turned sullen and he waved his hand, extinguishing the talisman.

  “Let’s go!” Master Wild Sand coldly shouted. “Even the Bluecrystal Heavensand won’t be able to do anything now. Those useless Earthfiends and De
vilwind Seeds were broken through by the corpse soldiers under control of that concubine Jadeflower, and she’s sent large numbers of high-grade spirit corpses in this direction. It will be dangerous if we stay here any longer.”

  Lord Heavenwind’s plans were completely stifled and could only helplessly follow.

  The two hastily cast incantation gestures and flew alongside the cloud of black sand as it gathered together in the sky before taking off into the distance. During that entire time, neither Lord Heavenwind and Master Wild Sand had made another appearance.

  As Han Li stood on the shoulders of the huge ape, he stared in the distance with a cold expression.

  As his time was limited, he would’ve released the Heavenvoid Cauldron if the battle showed no signs of coming to an end. Given how the cauldron sealed the Endless Sky Saintess’ spirit sand, dealing with this cloud of sand shouldn’t have been a problem, but the main cause for concern was that the Heavenvoid Cauldron was a Divine Spirit Treasure. Although few cultivators outside of the Scattered Star Seas should recognize it, he was unwilling to reveal it to others; else if someone were to realize what it was, there would be no end to the trouble ahead of him.

  When King Glorious Blaze saw that Master Wild Sand and Lord Heavenwind make a complete retreat, he felt great relief. However, the corpse flames on his body remained ablaze as he saluted Han Li, saying, “Fellow Daoist’s abilities are vast. You were actually able to break through the Soulfall Sand. It was an eye-opening experience. I must thank you for the kindness of saving my life.”

  When Han Li heard this, he shot an appraising glance on the ten thousand year old corpse monarch and wore an expression of indifference.

  The mist of sand had quickly retreated, but the corpse monarch’s condition was far from good; the spiritual Qi released from his body was less than half of his original state. It appeared that spitting out his corpse flames to block the Soulfall Sand while he was heavily injured came at the great cost of vitality.

  Although King Glorious Blaze was an unordinary cultivator, with his heavy injuries and Han Li’s recent display of power, he couldn’t help but feel a chill in his heart as he grew more wary, fearing that Han Li would turn to attack him while he was weakened.

  As for the huge ape underneath Han Li, it stood in place with half-closed eyes ever since the mist of sand left, as if it were savoring the feeling of the large quantities of black sand in its stomach.

  At that moment, Han Li immediately sensed King Glorious Blaze’s hostile gaze and met his stare. Then, the Weeping Soul Beast opened its mouth and clicked its tongue at King Glorious Blaze, looking at him as if he were something tasty.

  King Glorious Blaze felt his blood run cold at the sight of this. After seeing the ape easily swept away the Soulfall Sand and realizing how fearsome it was, he felt a faint sense of dread. He guessed that the beast was a natural nemesis of his nature and inwardly cursed as a result.

  When Han Li had examined him, he sensed a corpse Qi that was present in the vajra barrier, and from his name “King Glorious Blaze”, Han Li managed to piece together his identity.

  The refined corpse that Jin Yuan had mentioned was actually the corpse monarch before him.

  But after forcefully using the Great Development Technique to clear his mind, Han Li pondered about how time he had left until the Soullock Seal took effect once more, the possible secret techniques that King Glorious Blaze still possessed, and the abilities he revealed in his recent display of strength. He would no longer be able to catch him off-guard, and even with the assistance of the Weeping Soul Beast, his odds of slaying him in the short time he had left wasn’t very high.

  After a moment of deliberation, Han Li forcefully stifled his killing intent, but since he ended up saving him in passing, he wasn’t about to allow this opportunity to pass him by. Breaking the tense atmosphere, Han Li’s expression relaxed and he slowly said, “Although my show of force was a result of their own actions, I did end up saving your life. Didn’t you say you were going to compensate me? I am quite interested in how you’re going to do that.”

  Han Li didn’t believe himself to be an upright man of honor, and with the baleful Qi backlash coming closer each day, he wasn’t about to spare this gravely injured corpse monarch.

  King Glorious Blaze relaxed upon hearing this and chuckled, “I don’t have much on me. Only a few spirit stones and other materials. If it is to your liking, we can return to my cave residence and I’ll be sure to pay you in full.”

  After staring at him for a while, Han Li calmly said, “There is no need to trouble you so much. However, I have taken a liking to your golden pearl. Would you be able to gift it to me?”

  King Glorious Blaze’s expression grew sullen, but after he looked at the huge ape, he forced a smile and said, “Do you mean this item?” Then he opened his mouth and spat out the golden pearl.

  Han Li indifferently nodded upon seeing it.

  “This item is called a Heavenly Corpse Pearl. It is a treasure that is formed after a corpse monarch refines the Heavenly Corpse Arts. This isn’t something that can be easily revealed to others. If I guessed correctly, the two demons of Fangjian Mountain were most likely going after this item.” King Glorious Blaze blinked and then smiled before pointing at the golden pearl in front of him, saying, “However, the pearl is no longer useful to me, so you can go ahead and take it.”

  To Han Li’s surprise, the pearl shot towards him and he reached out towards it, catching it in midair with the sudden appearance of a large azure hand.

  The old devil had simply given him the pearl?

  Han Li wrapped in the pearl in azure light and examined it with narrow eyes, finding there to be nothing wrong with it.

  When he mentioned this item, he intended only to haggle and see what King Glorious Blaze could give him. This sudden turn of events left him bewildered.

  Chapter 920: Two Pearls

  Han Li felt as if lightning struck through his mind and wore a doubtful expression.

  When King Glorious Blaze saw this, he hesitated for a moment before taking the initiative to explain, “Please don’t feel this is strange, Fellow Daoist. Although this is a Heavenly Corpse Pearl, it isn’t the one that I cultivated. When I first acquired the Heavenly Corpse Arts, I obtained this corpse pearl as well. As my own Heavenly Corpse Pearl is extremely important, I conceal it in my tomb instead of carrying it on me.”

  “So it was like that! In that case, I’ll be taking this.” Han Li nodded his head in realization, but just as he thought to ask something else, his expression stirred and he raised his head to look into the distance, then saying, “It seems your men have arrived. I will be taking my leave.”

  Before King Glorious Blaze could say anything, Han Li’s body glowed with azure light and he streaked through the sky.

  The old devil glanced at his departing figure with a wavering expression, skeptical of Han Li’s words. But soon, he heard ghost wails screaming in the distance and a green cloud that surged across the horizon.

  King Glorious Blaze was delighted to see them. Now that Master Wild Sand and Lord Heavenwind have retreated, he had nothing to fear.

  He then turned into a streak of grey light and flew off to welcome them.

  ...

  At that moment, Han Li was streaking through the sky at the speed of lightning. He didn’t dare to waste the remaining time he had left before the Soullock Seal went back into effect. He needed to shake off King Glorious Blaze and the other two heretical cultivators, or else he would face them with his cultivation sealed.

  With Han Li’s magic power temporarily restored to full strength, he was able to fly with incredible speed. By the time his magic power was sealed once more, he had arrived at a mountain range thousands of kilometers away, having changed direction several times along the way.

  Han Li sighed with relief. Having recognized his location, he then calmly took off on his flying magic tool.

  Two days later, Han Li dropped down on a small desolate
mountain. Soon after, he released several magic tools and easily carved out a cave residence. As a finishing touch, he placed down a concealment spell formation at the entrance.

  Han Li walked into the cave residence’s sealed room and sat down cross-legged.

  “You plan on comprehending the Brightjade Arts here?” Monarch Soul Divergence suddenly broke the silence.

  “What? This place won’t do?” Han Li asked.

  Monarch Soul Divergence snorted and said with an annoyed tone, “There isn’t a spirit vein here. By the time you finish cultivating at this speed, my soul will have already scattered.”

  “Hehe! Senior, please don’t be angry, I was only joking. I’ve already comprehended a portion of the Brightjade Arts along the way. Fortunately, the first layer of the technique doesn’t have large requirements for spiritual Qi. I reckon I’ll be able to cultivate it in a year, but the second layer will be much harder to cultivate and requires a large quantity of spiritual power. I will find a spirit vein when the time comes, or it will take unbearably long. And to eliminate the possibility of a baleful Qi backlash, I will have to cultivate the first two layers of the Brightjade Arts.” Han Li then continued, “Although there are many spirit veins in the Great Jin, they will all be taken, even the inferior ones. And since I plan on quickly recovering my magic power, I will require a spirit vein of appropriate quality. It would be best to sneak into a large sect and quietly cultivate the technique there.”

  “From your tone, it seems you already have a plan.” Monarch Soul Divergence said with a curious tone.

  “That’s right. I already have a target, and I won’t even have to forge an identity.”

  “Oh! That’s quite good. How about you tell me about it?” Monarch Soul Divergence asked with surprise.

  “It’s quite simple,” Han Li explained, “Among the deeds inside of the Feng Clan’s secret cave, there were a few documents mixed together, detailing a few secret affairs of the Feng Clan. It just so happened that the Feng Clan Master had prepared an escape route for the clan’s disciples many years prior, creating a completely unrelated background as a rich merchant clan in the Nan province. This wealthy merchant clan has over a dozen successful businesses, but it was actually something the Feng Clan had nurtured in secret. The clan is simply a front while all power and control belongs to the Feng Clan. Now that the Feng Clan is extinct, I’ll be able to use this wealthy clan as cover and enter a large sect in the region. In only three years, I should be able to free a majority of my strength from the baleful Qi and I’ll be able to safely search for your materials.”