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

by Translator: Johnchen

  One day as the sun blazed at noon, a youth in Confucian robes slowly walked down a street. The young man appeared in his early twenties and wore a package on his back that was thickly wrapped in grey cloth and covered in dust.

  As he walked down the street, he repeatedly looked around and soon spotted the Gan Clan’s glossy gate. When he read the words “Gan Estate”, he unconsciously smiled.

  When he approached the gate, he examined it for a moment before pounding the iron door.

  Thud. Thud. Hurried footsteps arrived from the other side of the gate.

  The gate cracked open to a middle-aged man wearing servant robes who had a respectful expression on his face.

  When the servant saw the youth, his respectful expression suddenly froze before quickly fading away. He stood up straight and asked with a doubtful tone, “Who is your esteemed self looking for?” He then examined the youth as if trying to make out his origins.

  The youth cupped his hands in a salute and smiled. “Is this Uncle Gan Chi’s residence?”

  After examining the quality of the youth’s clothes, his original display of contempt had disappeared. Instead, he was now greatly alarmed after hearing Han Li speak and he respectfully said, “Uncle Gan Chi? Gan Chi is the esteemed name of my master. Then young sir must be...”

  “I am Han Li. Uncle Gan Chi is a distant relative of mine. I have made this trip to pay my respects to him.” Han Li continued to smile as he spoke.

  It was now a year after he had cultivated in whole-hearted seclusion. During this time, he drawn the aid of the Heavenly Corpse Pearl and the vajra relic to refine the first layer of the Brightjade Arts. With that done, the roiling baleful Qi was mostly calmed, much to Han Li’s delight, but it still remained a priority for him to deal with. As such, he had hurried over to the Gan Clan for the next step in his plan to rid himself of the baleful Qi.

  After a moment of hesitation, the middle-aged servant said, “So it was Young Sir Han. Unfortunately, the Master had left in the morning to meet with his colleagues. Currently, the Eldest Young Master is in charge of the residence. Shall I make a report to him?”

  “Please, I must thank you for the trouble,” Han Li calmly replied.

  “Please wait a moment, Young Sir. I will immediately make the report.” The middle-aged man bowed and closed the gate before heading back.

  Han Li idly stood in front of the gate and examined the surroundings of the huge estate, occasionally catching sight of a few carriages that passed by.

  Although he hadn’t swept his spiritual sense past the city, it was clear there were a large number of cultivators in it. Furthermore, there were many areas that housed many high-grade cultivators. This was rather odd to him as he couldn’t fathom why these cultivators would have such a high interest in the mortal world.

  After the time it took to finish a cup of tea, the door creaked open to reveal an embroidered-robed youth with a refined appearance. Standing behind him was the servant from before.

  After the youth gave Han Li an appraising look, he courteously said, “You must be Sir Han. I am Gan Yu. I heard that you were a distant relative of the Gan Clan. Although I’ve never heard of this before, I cannot forget my manners. If you’d like, will Sir Han like to follow me to the living room?”

  “So you’re the Son of Uncle Gan. Since you’ve given me the invitation, I will not refuse it.” Without another thought, Han Li promptly agreed.

  With a faint smile, Gan Yu stepped to the side and welcome Han Li inside. Then, the black gates silently closed.

  ...

  Two hours later, the Gan Clan Master, a plump fifty-year-old man wearing blue noble robes named Gan Chi, returned to the Gan Estate by carriage.

  Gan Chi looked at the gatekeeper below the carriage and asked, “Has anything happened while I was away?”

  The middle-aged gatekeeper sincerely replied, “Lord, there is a young man surnamed Han that had arrived. He claims that he is your nephew and is waiting in the living room with the young lord. They seem to be having an excited conversation.”

  Just as Gan Chi stepped off the carriage and approached the estate gate, he paused and muttered, “A nephew? Surnamed Han?” A trace of doubt could be heard from his voice.

  “What? Is this person a fraud?” In his alarm, the gatekeeper hastily suggested, “Shall I call for the guards?”

  “It’s hard to say if he’s truly a fraud. I do think I have such a relative, but it has been quite some time so my memory fails me. Continue to guard the gate. There is no need to involve yourself over the matter!” Gan Chi recovered his calm and rebuked the gatekeeper before hurrying into the estate. Without even taking the time to change his clothes, he rushed into the main hall.

  Just as he entered the entrance of the main hall, he heard a cheerful and familiar voice speak, “I admire Brother Han’s deep understanding of the Confucian teachings. But with regards to those great words, my understanding is that...” The voice clearly belonged to his eldest son and he seemed to be excitedly conversing with the guest.

  When the old man heard this, his expression grew somewhat sullen and a trace of unease was betrayed from his eyes. But a short moment later, he gritted his teeth and walked into the hall.

  “Lord Father, this is Sir Han.” When Gan Yu saw his father walked in, he immediately stood up and saluted him.

  “Yes. I’ve already heard from the gatekeeper,” Gan Chi waved his arm at his son and then stared at Han Li, asking, “Then your esteemed self must be the one who claims to be my distant relative. Do you have a letter or a keepsake perhaps?”

  At that moment, Han Li stood up and couldn’t help but smile when he heard that question. Then without another word, he handed over a sparkling white jade pendant.

  When Gan Chi saw this jade pendant, his expression became moved.

  He solemnly took the jade pendant and closely examined it once through before saying, “So you must be the young descendant, Brother Han. Please follow me to my study. I wish to ask about a matter pertaining to my deceased aunt.” Gan Chi grabbed Han Li’s wrist with great excitement and pulled him out from the hall.

  Remaining behind in the hall, Gan Yu stood up in shock and muttered, “Your aunt? Was there such a relative in the Gan Clan?”

  After they entered the study, Gan Chi carefully closed the door of the study and deeply saluted, saying, “I pay my respects, Sir Han!”

  “Stand up,” Han Li said. Then with a wave of his sleeve, he shook Gan Chi’s body straight with a gust of blue light before continuing, “There is no need for you to ask about my origins. You only need to know from today on that I was sent here by the people in charge of you.”

  Gan Chi’s doubts were washed away by Han Li’s display of magic power and he respectfully replied, “Yes! So you are close to the two sirs that were related to the Gan Clan... but they disappeared since twenty years ago. Young Master Han couldn’t have come at a better time.”

  Han Li nodded and then said in a commanding tone, “I’ve only arrived at your Gan Clan in passing. I have more important affairs to attend to, but I will require assistance from your connections to the mortal world.”

  Chapter 923: Pure Revelations Academy

  Outside of Taichang City, there were many unremarkable Confucian schools, one of which was a mid-grade school by the name of Pure Revelations Academy. If there was anything notable to say about it, it was that it was constructed on the renown Jadefield Mountains.

  These mountains were a renown spirit mountain range in the Taichang Prefecture with over ten various peaks. Although it wasn’t particularly steep or imposing, it had favorable weather throughout the year and beautiful flowers blooming all over. There were also many rare spirit trees and fruits that can only be found there, causing them to be ranked as the greatest of the thirteen spirit mountains in the region.

  The Pure Revelations Academy was constructed on the Jadefield Mountains’ Illusory Cloud Peak. The academy, which could hold over a thousand people, was construct
ed across the entire upper-half of the mountain.

  It is said that this academy didn’t have the qualifications to establish themselves on such a famous mountain, as the other mountains were filled with famous and renowned temples that were clearly superior existences compared to it. But strangely enough, when the Pure Revelations Academy was constructed over a thousand years ago, the Daoist Temples in the vicinity hadn’t opposed them in the slightest. Rather, the priests and monks would treat the students of the academy with great courtesy ever since its establishment, much to the astonishment of the locals.

  Another odd thing about the academy was the disparity of the ages of the disciples they recruit, ranging anywhere from six years old to well over twenty years old. And each year, they would recruit disciples at three to four times at irregular intervals. There were times where they would go four or even eight years without recruiting anyone. In addition, many of the people that are accepted are rarely seen walking out of the front gates, adding an air of mystery to the academy.

  Of course, these were only viewed as mysteries to the mortals that inhabited the bottom half of the mountain. Since they didn’t know any better, they believed Pure Revelations Academy to be completely unremarkable as their name was hardly heard of throughout the region.

  One day, there were two people that were slowly climbing up Illusory Cloud Mountain. One of them was a middle-aged scholar with a dignified appearance and the other was a scholar around the age of twenties who had somewhat tanned skin and a common appearance. He was Han Li, who had appeared at the Gan Estate a month prior.

  The middle-aged scholar walked forward with fluttering sleeves, saying, “Esteemed Nephew Han, the Pure Revelations Academy had finished recruiting disciples two months prior, but I heard from Old Fellow Gan that you’ve learned an assortment of Daoist Techniques and know of the existence of cultivators. As such, I’ve brought you to this academy for a test. It will be up to destiny to see whether or not they will take you in. Since I share a friendship with the academy’s Senior Teacher Lu, I’ve brought you over to see him. If he finds you acceptable, you may remain at the academy.”

  “Yes, I’ve heard of your arrangements,” Han Li replied with a sincere tone, “Uncle Gan have already spoken of them. Regardless of whether the academy takes me in, my uncle will take this favor to heart.”

  At that moment, Han Li’s body released the aura of the fourth layer of Qi Condensation. Ordinary cultivators would be unable to see through his true cultivation.

  A month ago, he had requested Gu Chi, the Feng Clan’s agent, to assist him in joining any large cultivation sect, regardless of their affiliation.

  The reason why he bluntly said this was because the Feng Clan gave him past orders to particularly befriend cultivators that entered the mortal world for future use. As a result, Gan Chi was able to fulfill the request without much difficulty. But what worried Gan Chi was the possibility of Han Li holding malicious intentions and possibly implicating the Gan Clan.

  However, all the Gan Clan businesses secretly belonged to the Feng Clan. So long as Han Li took out the deeds for their properties, he could eliminate the entirety of the Gan Clan overnight. Additionally, Gan Chi felt that the origins of the Feng Clan were particularly mysterious despite knowing a few matters about the cultivation world. But after Han Li pledged that he wouldn’t cause any trouble for the Gan Clan after entering the cultivation sect, Gan Chi could only summon the courage to follow his request.

  After several days of preparation, he eventually chose a middle-aged scholar surnamed Yan to act as a bridge to have Han Li enter the Pure Revelations Academy.

  The reason why he selected this person was that Confucian schools had a far more lax policy of accepting disciples. So long as he wasn’t a disciple of a wicked or evil sect and had an innocent past, he would be taken in, even if he had a master in the past. Not to mention that Gan Chi had done the middle-aged man, Teacher Yan, a great favor. As someone who stemmed from a Confucian Sect, he viewed matters of loyalty and debt with exceptional importance and would be certain to handle this matter with his greatest effort. And while there were other methods of entry to other sects, they also had a poor probability of success.

  After all, great cultivation sects weren’t as difficult to enter as they were in the Heavenly South, but any low-grade vagrant cultivator wouldn’t be allowed to be a disciple.

  When Han Li heard the name of Pure Revelations Academy, he asked about its location and stealthily flew off on his flying magic tool to take a look at the Jadefield Mountains’ spirit vein. He was satisfied with what he found.

  Although the spirit vein couldn’t compare to the spirit well objects in his cave residence in the Heavenly South, it was far stronger than others veins near Taichang City.

  As for the matter of spirit wells, if they were moved around too often without being placed on top of a spirit vein for a long period of time, they would gradually lose their spiritual nature. As such, he only carried two spirit wells on his body, but since he couldn’t find even an unoccupied spirit vein in the Great Jin, he resorted to scheming to infiltrate into a large sect to cultivate.

  Under these conditions, Han Li assumed the identity of a distant relative of Gan Chi, a low-grade vagrant cultivator that only learned shallow magic techniques but also one that yearned for the path of cultivation. He then relied on his uncle to see if he could aid him in entering a large sect for continued cultivation.

  Following that, Gan Chi found a famed instructor of a large Confucian school, a scholar surnamed Yan. He agreed, wishing to repay Gan Chi’s past favor towards him, and brought Han Li to Pure Revelations Academy as a result.

  The middle-aged scholar, Teacher Yan, sighed and said, “It seems Brother Gan values you quite greatly. But this is no surprise as those with spirit roots are only found one in ten thousand people. It is only a pity that I don’t have spirit roots either, or I would’ve also entered the Pure Revelations Academy in pursuit of the path of cultivation.”

  Han Li smiled and tacitly remained silent.

  Afterwards, Teacher Yan spoke no further and brought Han Li forward. As they traveled up the mountain, they were able to see a mountain peak in the sky. They also heard resonant and melodious bell rings that shook the spirit of those who heard it.

  Teacher Yan paused and turned to look the Illusory Cloud Peak. He shook his head and muttered, “The Treasure Spirit Temple’s Clear Hum Bell is a truly rare treasure, but it seems the senior monk in charge of the temple is rather excessive to strike it three times in a single day.”

  A bright glint flickered from Han Li’s eyes when he heard that there was a Buddhist sect on the mountain and then wore a pensive expression. He soon realized that this so-called treasure was actually a top-grade magic tool, nothing that was particularly rare.

  He wrapped up his long sleeves and held them behind his back and proceeded to follow after Teacher Yan. Soon, the two arrived at a platform at the center of the mountain, and then, the scenery suddenly opened before them.

  They saw a verdant, lust, emerald-green forest of bamboo in front of them with sightings of red and white buildings in the distance. There were also several white stone paths that led directly into the bamboo forest.

  Teacher Yan glanced at the forest and said, “Let’s go. The main entrance usually isn’t open. Follow me to the side gate.” He then brought Han Li to the side and walked down another road.

  After many turns, Han Li and Teacher Yan appeared at a pitch-black gate that was three-meters tall. Teacher Yan sighed and lightly knocked on.

  The gate silently opened to reveal a young man in white Confucian robes.

  “Ah, so it was Teacher Yan. Have you come to find Senior Teacher Lu?” The youth had spiritual Qi fluctuations at the third layer of Qi Condensation, but he still spoke to Teacher Yan with great respect. Han Li couldn’t help but look better of Teacher Yan when he saw this.

  ‘In the Heavenly South, such a situation would’ve never happened,’ Ha
n Li thought with a cold chuckle, ‘It seemed Confucians were quite strict with their rules, causing even cultivators to bow their heads to mortals. However, this would probably only occur with low-grade cultivators. This definitely wouldn’t happen with a high-grade cultivator.’

  “Yes, I’ve come to see Brother Lu. Is he present?” Teacher Yan calmly asked.

  The white-robed youth pondered for a moment and said, “He is currently seeing an esteemed guest in his study. I will make report that you’ve come.”

  “That is fine. Sorry to trouble you!” Teacher Yan said with a smile.

  Although the white-robed youth knew that he was a mortal, he also had a deep friendship with Senior Teacher Lu and didn’t dare to slight him. After a polite word, he hastily took out a voice transmission talisman, uttered a few words into it, and sent it into the air as a streak of fiery light, soon to quickly fly off without a trace.

  Not long after, Han Li detected a powerful spiritual sense sweep past them before immediately disappearing.

  Han Li’s heart stirred, knowing that this most likely belonged to Senior Teacher Lu. From the level of his spiritual sense, he appeared to be an early-Core Formation cultivator. This had come as a surprise as he expected him to have late-Foundation Establishment cultivation at most.

  In Han Li’s point of view, the lower his cultivation, the better, as it would be less likely for him to see through his disguise.

  Soon, a spiritual Qi trembled in the air above them and a man’s voice indifferently sounded out, “Is it Brother Yan? I am currently seeing a guest. But Brother Yan may as well come in. Oh? And you may bring that young friend of yours as well.”

  Chapter 924: Royal Serenity Monastery

  When this was said, the white-robed youth led Teacher Yan and Han Li inside.

  After walking through a pathway for a short while, they passed through several courtyards where Han Li heard sounds of paper and flipping pages, exactly as one would hear of an ordinary academy. Although it was named as such, why would low-grade cultivators waste their time studying instead of cultivating Qi?