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

by Translator: Johnchen

  “So it was like that! That seems like a good idea, but why have you stopped here? You plan on cultivating the first layer of the incantation?”

  “I do plan on completing the first layer of the Brightjade Arts. I want to see if there are any problems with cultivating it. And I also want to take advantage of this desolate area to make that vajra barrier recognize me as its master and turn that crystalized demon core into a flying needle. But more importantly, I will have to deal with these items first.” Han Li sighed and with a flip of his hand, he summoned a white and a golden pearl into his palms. They were the Heavenly Corpse Pearl he had just acquired from King Glorious Blaze and the Snow Crystal Pearl he acquired from the Nine Immortals Palace disciple [1].

  “Needless to say, the Snow Crystal Pearl is a rarely seen ice-attribute treasure, and it has yet to recognize a master. If I manage to refine it and nurture it, it will certainly benefit the Purple Apex Flames. And since the Heavenly Corpse Pearl is so heavily desired that even mid-Nascent Soul cultivators wouldn’t hesitate to kill for the treasure, it must be valuable. Does Senior know how to use it?”

  After some thought, Monarch Soul Divergence said, “This item involves demon and ghost Dao cultivators so I don’t know too much of it, but I do know a bit about corpse pearls as a result of their large reputation. Items of these nature are something only corpse monarchs can produce from cultivation. Cultivators that rely on body refinement techniques will see this as a miraculous body purification medicine. After it is swallowed, it will slowly nurture a cultivator’s constitution and have their tempered body surge in strength. Once the pearl is completely refined, one’s body will be as durable as a corpse monarch. Given that the name of this corpse pearl is the Heavenly Corpse Pearl, its effects should be unordinary. That King Glorious Blaze most likely cultivated a body cultivation technique.”

  Han Li lowered his head to look at the golden pearl and hesitantly asked, “Swallow it? To refine this magic treasure, I’ll have to refine it inside of my body?”

  “Of course, it isn’t so simple that you can directly refine it. Corpse pearls are extremely poisonous. You will need to first prepare a kind of spirit liquid to remove the poison from it. Although the materials to create spirit milk is rare, I recall that you should already have the materials on hand. It is possible that the pearl could greatly benefit the cultivation of the Brightjade Arts. I’ll duplicate the liquid on a jade slip for you. Take a look!”

  “So it was like that. Many thanks for the trouble, Senior!” Han Li said with a smile.

  A jade slip shot out from the bamboo tube on his back and Han Li caught it, then immersing his spiritual sense into it.

  A short moment later, Monarch Soul Divergence then asked in a strange tone, “Youngster Han, haven’t you forgotten about something important ever since you escaped from the Moulan Plains?”

  Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense from the jade slip and asked with a confused tone, “Something important? What does Senior mean?”

  Monarch Soul Divergence sighed and said, “Could it be you’ve forgotten? Your Divine Spirit Treasure, that small cauldron, has something sealed inside of it!”

  “You means to say the incarnation of the Holy Endless Sky Beast?” Han Li replied with a smile.

  Monarch Soul Divergence chuckled and said, “That’s right. Ever since you put away the beast, haven’t you left it alone? Could it be that you’re overlooking it?”

  “Overlooking it? Of course not. In fact, I’ve attempted to deal with. However, I will only be able to bring out the cauldron once my magic power has recovered. It is natural that you don’t know of it.”

  “What did you do?” Monarch Soul Divergence curiously asked.

  Han Li responded with a wry smile, “What could I do? The cauldron isn’t something that I can easily take out, and the beast’s capture was far beyond what I could’ve anticipated. I was only able to use my spiritual sense to communicate with the beast.”

  “What was the result?” Monarch Soul Divergence asked with great anticipation.

  Han Li let out a gloomy snort and said, “The beast hasn’t been in this world for long and it doesn’t possess much intelligence. I cannot communicate with it.”

  Monarch Soul Divergence indifferently said, “That is normal. However, since the beast was formed from the spiritual sense of a creature from a greater realm, I reckon that its intelligence will fully develop in several years. It won’t be too late to deal with it later.”

  “Then all I can do is wait! It is a pity that the Endless Sky Saintess’ cauldron is also sealed inside of it. The might of its spirit sand makes it an extremely powerful treasure. It seems that her cauldron was an imitation of the Heavenvoid Cauldron.” Han Li said with a pitiful expression.

  “The Saintess’ cauldron doesn’t seem to be a magic treasure specialized in combat, unlike the Sevenflame Fan. If you are able to collect enough materials to form the imitation that I devised, the fan will certainly be above that of the Endless Sky Saintess’s cauldron. I can’t wait to see it!” Monarch Soul Divergence said with a cold smiled.

  Chapter 921: Treasure Possession

  “Perhaps!” Han Li had no objections over the claimed power of the altered Sevenflame Fan. Regardless of their shape or form, fire-attribute treasures were most likely specialized in attacks. After all, fire-attribute spiritual power was unrivaled in destructive power amongst the elements.

  After Monarch Soul Divergence finished speaking, Han Li said nothing else and lightly waved his sleeve, tossing the two pearls into the air and striking them both with a spell seal. Gold and white light began to glow from the two pearls as they floated motionlessly in the air.

  Han Li blinked and proceeded to slap his storage pouch, suddenly taking out an assortment of bottles and boxes and suspending a small cauldron in the air as well.

  With his hands in an incantation gesture, he pointed at the cauldron, causing it to tremble as its lid shot up into the air. The lid then flew a circle before suspending itself midair.

  Meanwhile, one of the jade boxes opened itself, revealing a pile of overflowing green dust. Han Li blew a mist of azure light onto it and in a flicker of light, about half of the powder was brushed into the air by the light and flew in a circle before entering the small cauldron.

  Then with a soft shout, a slim thread of azure flame shot out from his mouth. Despite the meager size of the flame, the small cauldron was immediately ignited upon contact, wrapping its bottom half in roiling fire. But after Han Li released this flame, his complexion paled as his strength had weakened.

  Han Li couldn’t help but wryly smile. He didn’t think that forcibly extracting a thread of Nascent flames while his magic power was still sealed would prove so challenging. Of course, this was also in part due to the grave injuries he received in the Moulan Plains that he had yet to fully recover from [1].

  Then, he pointed at a slender jade bottle and had it slowly float over to the small cauldron. The lid of the bottle opened by itself and poured a stream of green liquid into the cauldron, instantly fusing with the green powder.

  Han Li uttered an incantation and struck the azure flames into the cauldron with a spell seal, causing it to surge in strength and cover the entire cauldron.

  After only a short moment, a faint medicinal scent emitted from the cauldron.

  Han Li’s brow stirred and he waved his hand. A jade box then flew halfway into the air and a stalk of fire-red spirit grass flew out from it and directly into the cauldron.

  Then as time passed by, Han Li added more materials into the cauldron at regular intervals with meticulous control.

  A day later, the refinement process was complete.

  Han Li swept his sleeve and caused the Nascent flame lighting the cauldron to disappear. Then the cauldron slowly flew through the air and onto his hand.

  Han Li lowered his head and looked into the cauldron, seeing an extremely dense liquid that was several inches deep. It was translucent emerald green and had a
strong fragrance.

  After looking at it for a moment, Han Li saw that it was exactly the same as the jade slip described. Then he cautiously asked, “Is this spirit liquid acceptable?”

  “That is it,” Monarch Soul Divergence slowly said, “I didn’t think that your pill refinement techniques have reached such a profound level. It appears to exceed even mine when I was at my peak. I originally believed that you would fail at least two times before you could refine the spirit liquid! After you immerse the Heavenly Corpse Pearl in the liquid for an entire week, the corpse poison will be entirely extracted. Afterwards, you may consume the pearl as you wish.”

  Han Li smiled when he heard this and pointed to the golden pearl that was floating in the air. In the blink of an eye, it shot into the small cauldron and the lid soon followed it down, rigidly sealing it inside.

  Han Li placed the cauldron down at the corner of the room and paid no further attention to it.

  Refining the other pearl wouldn’t take much more effort. He muttered an incantation and summoned a small ball of purple flames with a flip of his hand. He flung the fireball onto the Snow Crystal Pearl. Then, the crystal brightly shined with white and purple light as the Purple Apex Flames merged with the pearl.

  A trace of delight appeared on Han Li’s face and he breathed out a mist of azure light to completely cover the crystal.

  The crystal pearl suddenly shrank to the size of a medicine pill and was quickly swept down Han Li’s throat. He then closed his eyes with a solemn expression and his hands formed an incantation before he peered into his body.

  The Snow Crystal Pearl was residing in his Dantian and the purple flames had wrapped around it in the form of a continuously-revolving, inch-large lotus flower. Below the pearl, there was a Nascent Soul that was sincerely meditating with its hands held in an incantation gesture. The contrast of the purple flames with the Nascent Soul made for a mysterious appearance.

  Han Li felt relief when he saw this.

  With Han Li’s Foundation Establishment cultivation, it was impossible for him to directly cultivate the pearl, but fortunately, the Purple Apex Flames were overbearing to the point that he could use the flames to take in the pearl within his body. When he recovers his cultivation, the pearl will have already been partially refined, and in case of an emergency, he would be able to forcibly control it with the Purple Apex Flames.

  With the matter of the two pearls dealt with, Han Li didn’t immediately move on to the next matter at hand. Instead, he sat down cross-legged for half a day and recovered a portion of his magic power before he took out a spirit beast pouch from his waist and flung it into the air.

  A white mist of light flew out to reveal a golden bubble suspended in the air. Inside the half-finished vajra barrier, the Weeping Soul Beast was lying down and was soundly asleep.

  When Han Li saw this, his mouth curled, at a loss of whether he should laugh or cry.

  The Weeping Soul Beast was truly too fond of sleeping. Most of the times he would summon it, it would already be asleep.

  He wryly chuckled and flicked his finger, striking the golden bubble with a small streak of azure light.

  The bubble trembled upon impact and began to bounce around, gently awakening the Weeping Soul Beast inside.

  When it saw that it was outside the spirit beast pouch, it let out a series of cries before shooting out of the vajra barrier in a streak of golden light. It flew a circle in the air before nimbly landing on Han Li’s shoulder, then proceeding to rub its soft fur against Han Li’s neck.

  After spending the past years with Han Li, it had begun to treat Han Li with great intimacy.

  Han Li smiled when he saw this and petted the monkey’s head before turning his attention back the vajra barrier floating in the air.

  With a wave of his sleeve, he sent out a gust of azure light at it and engulfed it. Then as brilliant light flickered, the light repeatedly revolved around the treasure, but the golden bubble didn’t react in the slightest.

  Han Li wore a pensive expression when he saw this and then quickly formed an incantation gesture and uttered an incantation. Streaks of spell seals followed, striking at the vajra barrier, but apart from a few ripples from the bubble, nothing had changed.

  Han Li’s expression changed when he saw this. With his current knowledge and abilities, those were the only two types of treasure possession methods that he knew of.

  After letting out a long breath, he repeatedly formed different hand incantations and his voice fluctuated in intensity as he uttered more incantations. A series of rainbow spell seals then struck the vajra barrier with flickers of his fingers, but the vajra barrier still showed no sign of change.

  “Senior Soul Divergence, what’s going on? Although my current cultivation is only at Foundation Establishment stage, I should still be able to put this treasure under my ownership.”

  Monarch Soul Divergence calmly said, “Vajra barriers are a protective treasure refined by corpse flames using Buddhist crystal relics. It was a treasure that was originally rarely seen as crystal relics and corpse flames would mutually oppose one another. It should come as no surprise that ordinary treasure possession techniques wouldn’t work. How about you try and use the incantations I gave you for possession of the vajra relic?”

  “Alright, I’ll give it a try.” Han Li agreed without another thought.

  After half a day had passed, Han Li used his newly learned spell seals to force the vajra barrier to shrink and fall into his hand, much to his relief. However, if he wished to finish the refinement process for the vajra barrier, it would prove quite troublesome.

  Not even his Nascent flames would be able to temper the vajra barrier, and Monarch Soul Divergence didn’t have any answers to this problem as well.

  According to Monarch Soul Divergence musings, the final step of the vajra barrier’s refinement process would require myriad year corpse flames.

  When Han Li heard this, he couldn’t help but roll his eyes and gloomily snort, “Myriad year corpse flames? Are you suggesting I go to the Snowmound Mountains and deliver myself to King Glorious Blaze?”

  When Monarch Soul Divergence heard this, he snorted back in response but remained silent afterwards.

  Just as Han Li felt completely helpless over the matter despite having already acquired the vajra barrier, the Weeping Soul Beast sitting on Han Li’s shoulder suddenly spat out a wisp of grey-white flames from its mouth out of boredom, striking at the vajra barrier floating in the air.

  The originally still vajra barrier then let out a series of groans as the flames engulfed it and began to fluctuate in shape within the grey flames.

  Han Li was greatly shocked by the sight of this.

  “Myriad year corpse flame!” Monarch Soul Divergence muttered in amazement.

  [1] While Han Li was in the Moulan Plains, he was ambushed by a late-Nascent Soul cultivator and have yet to fully recover since.

  Chapter 922: The Gan Clan

  At the border of the central and northern portions of the Jin Empire laid a region that was ranked among the smallest in land of the thirty-six regions of the empire but was also ranked the top five in terms of wealth. There were many fields and rivers amassing a great amount of wealth and there were many large regions of spirit mountains as well. Mortals on those mountains would even commonly see Immortals dressed in Daoist and Buddhist robes fly off into the horizon. Needless to say, Daoism and Buddhism were prevalent in the region and their temples were profusely found throughout. Regardless of one’s standing or wealth, they would always pay great respect to either of these schools.

  But in addition to these two prevalent schools, one could see the influence of many Confucian schools in the many cities and towns in the area.

  There were thirty-nine of these Confucian schools with one of the largest of these schools consisting of experts of Confucian teachings with many government officials in their ranks. On the other hand, the smallest of these schools only had ordinary Confucian instru
ctors that could only explain the most basic aspects of Confucianism. If they felt that any of their disciples were outstanding, they would be recommended to a higher school, granting poorer disciples a good opportunity to advance.

  After all, Confucian scholars that graduate from a high-grade Confucian School were welcomed to the higher echelon of the Jin Empire. Confucian scholars that stem from the highest schools are even heavily recruited by nobility of all ranks.

  The Taichang Prefecture’s capital city, Taichang City, was the location of one such of these prestigious Confucian academies.

  Although the city wasn’t ranked amongst the best in the empire, it was one of the centers of commerce in the Nan Province and was where the rich and powerful took residence. There were four families titled as nobility that resided in the city as well as countless people of every trade.

  In the Taichang City’s west side resided the Gan Clan, a clan of particularly wealthy merchants. They possessed over twenty restaurants in their prefecture’s cities. In smaller cities, they were hegemony of wealth, but in Taichang City, there were simply among the many elites that resided there.

  But even among the elite, the Gan Clan did own a particularly large estate in the district where the wealthy resided and had over forty servants in their employment.