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

by Translator: Johnchen

When Han Li used Feng Yue’s jade pendant to contact Shopkeeper Feng, he had informed the Kong Clan members in turn, hoping to acquire merit with them.

  As a result, the old man rejoiced at the appearance of the long lost Young Master of the Feng Clan and didn’t dare to release this opportunity. He set up a trap and personally set off to deliver the supposed Feng Yue to an ambush.

  But when Han Li left the restaurant, he was able to see through the old man’s poor concealment techniques at a glance and asked Shopkeeper Feng a knowing question. Unfortunately, there were too many mortals nearby and he couldn’t directly take action. As such, he decided to follow them and later investigate the matter. Eventually, he was led into an ambush of Foundation Establishment cultivators, each of them posing as much of a threat to him as an ant.

  He had an idea this was going to happen. Even if Core Formation cultivators laid in ambush for him, it would still prove to be a laughable matter.

  As Han Li scoured through the old man’s soul, he made an astonishing discovery.

  After the three noble clans of Guanning concluded their joint trade fair, it was discovered that the Kong Clan Ancestor had his soul devoured and that his corpse was possessed by a devil. As a result, the other two clans joined together to request assistance from the sects backing them, leading to the possessed Ancestor being struck down.

  With this, the Kong Clan suffered a massive drop in strength, turning from the strongest to the weakest clan in the region. This had also foiled the plan of King Glorious Blaze who was hidden deep into the Snowmound Mountain Range. Furious, he directly raised his tomb and released several thousands of Foundation Establishment-grade undead soldiers, brazenly forming an Underworld Ghost Formation to destroy all human life in the mountains.

  The high-grade cultivators backing the three clans had a massive battle against the three corpses of the ancient tomb. Many of the refined corpses and low grade disciples had perished, with the disciples’ souls consumed by the ghost formation.

  As for the Nascent Soul-grade cultivators, they found themselves at a massive disadvantage as they fought against the tomb’s three corpses inside of the Underworld Ghost Formation, with one of these cultivators even suffering heavy injuries out of negligence. After the battle, cultivators of the three clans were trapped on the mountain where the grand auction had been held by the ghost formation, which spanned fifty kilometers around them. They could only rely on the grand formations that were previously established on the mountain to survive with much difficulty.

  In truth, these Nascent Soul cultivators had heavily injured King Glorious Blaze in their ambush and had underestimated him as a result. They had believed that since he had been crippled, he should’ve been easy to deal with. But they hadn’t known that King Glorious Blaze had the strength equivalent to a late-Nascent Soul cultivator with the support of his tomb, and with the addition to two other early-Nascent Soul grade corpses, the mortal cultivators became completely overwhelmed in terms of might.

  Had things continued, the cultivators would’ve been wiped out, but such bold movements over the span of the month had eventually alerted a late-Nascent Soul cultivator of a nearby Daoist sect. In a display of amazing strength, this eccentric scared the three corpses back into the depths of the Snowmound Mountains.

  The late-Nascent Soul cultivator showed no intention of pursuing the corpses after forcing them to retreat. And after the three clans were rescued, they didn’t dare to remain in the vicinity and withdrew from the mountain range, giving the corpse monarch free reign over the land and an opportunity for him to rise again with greater strength.

  However, King Glorious Blaze and the other two corpses were also fearful towards the late-Nascent Soul cultivator and didn’t dare to rashly emerge from the depths of the mountain.

  Naturally, Han Li understood the old man only knew a portion of the truth, but he was able to draw a connection with the heavily injured King Glorious Blaze he had seen. After coming up with his own conclusions, he couldn’t help but click his tongue in astonishment.

  This King Glorious Blaze was a rather fearsome character. He was already heavily injured when he fought against Master Wildsand, but only needed a short while to recover before raising a large scale assault against the nearby cultivators.

  But as someone who consumed countless medicines, Han Li clearly knew that it was impossible to fully recover one’s vitality from such grave injuries so quickly no matter what medicine they took. Han Li had yet to fully recover his peak cultivation, for example, despite the number of medicines at his disposal. As such, the only possibility of King Glorious Blaze’s sudden recovery in strength was that his techniques as a myriad year corpse monarch were immensely powerful to begin with or his techniques had a unique property allowing for a miraculous recovery.

  As Han Li pondered about the abilities of the corpse monarch, he recalled the Heavenly Corpse Pearl he set aside within his body. He drew much support from the pearl’s powerful effects to cultivate the Brightjade Arts. He was even unsure whether he would’ve been able to cultivate the technique to the second layer solely with the vajra relic.

  The effectiveness of the pearl was perhaps the reason why King Glorious Blaze was able to recover his strength at miraculous speed.

  Han Li calmly pondered the matter for a moment more before tossing it to the back of his mind, setting his thoughts on making future plans in the Jin Capital.

  Needless to say, he wouldn’t be able to stay at this courtyard for long. Someone would likely come to investigate the disappearance of Shopkeeper Feng, which would be quite troublesome. It would be better for him to rent a room at a monastery or temple for a time as it would be much quieter than an inn.

  Additionally, he would need to pay a visit to the cultivator markets in the Jin Capital to investigate the details of the upcoming great auction.

  Having made certain of his plans, he departed from the residence, leaving no trace of him behind.

  Chapter 939: Hidden Fortune Pavilion

  After some time, Han Li found a small unremarkable monastery inside the city. The Daoist priest at the monastery was a mortal that completely lacked magic power.

  Han Li was quite satisfied with the location and gave some silver as alms to the priest, having decided to reside there for the time being.

  Following the arrival of the next morning, he left the monastery and discovered an academy with the presence of a cultivator.

  Since the academy opened in the Jin Capital, it couldn’t be considered to be small and was certain to have some backing. It was likely associated with a Confucian sect.

  However, Han Li didn’t seem to care about this. After he snuck inside, he approached an elderly Confucian scholar and released the immense aura of his Nascent Soul-stage cultivation.

  When the old scholar sensed this, he felt the entirety of the magic power in his body freeze. Realizing Han Li’s vast cultivation, he took a half step forward with a calm expression and saluted him, “Your presence honors the academy, Senior. Is there anything I may help you with?”

  Han Li smiled and leisurely said, “You are quite tactful. I’ve sought you out for a few minor matters. Could you tell me about the markets in the Jin Capital and a few things about the upcoming auction? You should know quite a bit considering you’re a native cultivator.”

  When the old scholar heard this, he promptly replied, “The location of the markets won’t be a problem, I will immediately make a map for you. However, I don’t know much about the auction. Is there anything specific Senior would like to know?” As he spoke, he took out a white jade slip from his storage pouch and began to inscribe the locations of the nearby markets onto it.

  Han Li’s smile faded away and he calmly said, “I’d like to know about the date and location of the auction as well as any particularly rare materials that will appear.”

  With a sincere tone, the old scholar answered, “The time and place won’t be a problem. In nine days, the auction will take place in the we
stern market’s Treasureshine Pavilion. There will be two separate auctions for Core Formation and Nascent Soul cultivators held at different times. While Nascent Soul-stage cultivators may participate in the Core Formation-grade auction, Core Formation cultivators may not do the same. But, I’m afraid I cannot answer what materials will be up for bid. The auction is far too great in scope as it is being hosted by many great clans. How could an outsider know what will be up for bid? But according to past auctions, there should be over a hundred incredibly rare items. Additionally, a few seniors may also put up a few of their own rare items up for bid, extending the duration of the auction for up to a week.”

  Han Li lowered his head and muttered, “So it was like that... The Treasureshine Pavilion!”

  “Senior, I’ve already finished making the jade slip. Please take care of it.” The old scholar then offered the jade slip with both hands.

  Han Li took it without another word and gave a cursory sweep of it with his spiritual sense before nodding with satisfaction.

  “Very good. And you’d better keep quiet about seeing me. Otherwise...” After letting out a sinister chuckle, Han Li glowed with azure light before suddenly disappearing without a trace.

  The old scholar widened his eyes and fell into the chair as he sank into deep contemplation.

  After a long while, he swept his spiritual sense past the room and discovered that there was no one else there. He then let out a long sigh and wryly smiled.

  ...

  After Han Li left the academy, he looked through the white jade slip and made his way to the West Jin Market.

  This market was located in a remote street in the western portion of the Jin Capital and was hidden by a superior concealment spell formation.

  When Han Li arrived at the entrance, he easily walked through the hidden restrictions and arrived at a desolate street. Of course, it was only perceived as a desolate street by mortals. As for Han Li, he saw several hundreds of cultivators at the very least that were enter and leaving a few stores on the street.

  Han Li didn’t sweep his spiritual sense through the street. As the auction was close at hand, there were certain to be Nascent Soul-stage cultivators overseeing the market. Organizing such a large auction wasn’t something that wasn’t a laid back affair after all.

  With that in mind, he slowly walked down the street and swept his gaze to either side.

  The West Jin Market was clearly different from what he saw in the southern portion of the Jin Capital. The buildings inside consisted of two or three stories as if in a display of wealth. It seems like all the powerful businesses of the Great Jin cultivation world established a storefront in the capital to display themselves.

  In that case, Han Li had no need to carefully choose which ones to browse. He promptly brought out a list of materials and began to ask about them at each of the stores.

  Of course, all the materials that he had yet to acquire were all incredibly rare. In fact, Han Li didn’t have high hopes of easily finding theses materials and was only doing this in passing. He actually had different business to attend to in the market.

  Participating in the auction would certainly take up a large number of spirit stones. While Han Li originally possessed a great number of spirit stones, after he purchased a good number of materials as the masked cultivator, he had spent away most of them. Now that a large-scale auction appeared before him, he found himself short on spirit stones.

  Han Li had planned on finding a large shop to sell a few rare materials for spirit stones as he would receive the most spirit stones from a wealthy store.

  At that moment, he arrived in front of a three-story building and narrowed his eyes. The store was clearly much larger than its neighbors and it was receiving quite a few visitors.

  Han Li then caught sight of the large sign that hung on its gates, writing the words “Hidden Fortune Pavilion” in large golden characters. It was the store that was known for its Hidden Fortunate Rooms [1].

  He hesitated for a moment before walking inside.

  The first floor of the building was quite spacious and was over a hundred meters wide. There were sixty handsome Qi Condensation servants that were welcoming guests and introducing a few of their wares to potential customers.

  When Han Li entered, a young servant walked up to him with a smile and was about to greet him.

  But then, a white-robed middle-aged man sitting at a corner of the room had taken notice of Han Li’s cultivation. He immediately placed down the cup of tea he was drinking and hastily shouted, “Step down, I will be taking care of this Senior.”

  Afterwards, the middle-aged man tidied his clothes and saluted Han Li, respectfully saying, “We are honored to have Senior at our Hidden Fortune Pavilion. Since the first floor won’t have anything that will interest you, would you like to follow me to the third floor?”

  Han Li’s gaze flickered and he answered, “Yes, I came here to look for someone in charge in the first place.” Then, he calmly followed the middle-aged man upstairs.

  When the customers on the first floor saw this, they raised an uproar, realizing Han Li was a Nascent Soul cultivator.

  “This is the first time I’ve seen a Nascent Soul-stage senior, but why does he look so young?”

  “Tch tch, looks like the Hidden Fortunate Pavilion is getting some big business.”

  Shouts of praise and surprise continued to sound out below.

  The third floor of the pavilion was small, but it was quite elegantly arranged and had two beautiful female cultivators waiting. When they saw the middle-aged man bringing up a guest, they immediately prepared a pot of tea.

  The middle-aged man waited for Han Li to sit down and waved his hand at the table with a smile. “Senior, please have a taste. This is the Mistrain Spirit Tea that our pavilion had acquired at a steep price. It had quite a unique flavor.”

  Han Li ignored the tea and swept his sleeve past the table, placing a green jade slip on top of it. He calmly said, “There is no rush to taste the tea. Let’s first see if you have any of the materials I wish to purchase. To tell the truth, I’ve already been to many stores and I wasn’t able to find anything that I wanted. I’m not particularly hopeful that your Hidden Fortune Pavilion will have any of them either.”

  “Since Senior is in a hurry, I’ll go ahead and have a look. Since you weren’t able to find them elsewhere, they must be quite rare.” The middle-aged man smiled and summoned the jade slip into his hand before he immersed his spiritual sense into it.

  Soon, his expression had changed with surprise, but Han Li’s expression had remained unchanged. He had seen this reaction several times already when he showed the list to the other store owners. He wanted materials that were rarely ever seen in this world and were rarely heard of as well.

  The middle-aged man withdrew his spiritual sense from the jade slip and wryly smiled. “It is no wonder that Senior wasn’t able to find these materials from the previous stores. They are beyond the grasp of ordinary stores. As for our pavilion, we only have a small Thunderspirit Crystal."

  Having expected more disappointment, Han Li wore an expression of delight when he heard this and said, “You have a Thunderspirit Crystal?”

  The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment and then explained, “That’s right. Senior has come at a fortunate time. Our pavilion had just acquired the Thunderspirit Crystal, but there will be a bit of trouble as it doesn’t belong to us. Rather, a Nascent Soul cultivator with good relations to our pavilion has placed it in our care to exchange it for other materials. If the crystal isn’t exchanged for other materials, it will be put up in the coming auction.”

  [1] Magic tools that are capable of expanding in size to create mansions and rooms. They’re also capable of having spell formations placed inside of them.

  Chapter 940: Hidden Fortune Mansions

  When Han Li heard about the conditions to acquire the Thunderspirit Crystal, he rubbed his chin and asked, “An exchange? I actually have a few materia
ls on hand that could be traded for it.”

  When the white-robed middle-aged man heard Han Li, he handed over a jade slip that was previously prepared. “The materials and medicine pills that the crystal’s owner wants in exchange are in here. Although it might be more common than some of the materials that Senior wishes to collect, it’s still difficult to find in this world. Otherwise, the Thunderspirit Crystal would’ve already been exchanged as it’s an ideal material for creating lightning-attribute magic treasures.”

  Han Li took the jade slip and immersed his spiritual sense into it without another thought.

  The middle-aged man carefully examined Han Li’s expression, hoping to see through some of his thoughts, but his expression hadn’t betrayed the slightest change or emotion. Rather, his calm demeanor disappointed the shopkeeper and even caused him to feel apprehensive.

  ‘Just where did this Senior Han come from? Not only is his appearance young, but the materials he’s looking for are incredibly rare. Although there are many Nascent Soul cultivators with young appearances, most of them are female, and this man doesn’t particularly appear to care about his clothes and appearance. Could he be a newly ascended Nascent Soul cultivator?’

  Although the middle-aged shopkeeper could sense that Han Li was a Nascent Soul cultivator, he wasn’t able to determine his precise cultivation. He could only determine that his presence was stronger than that of other early Nascent Soul cultivators he met before.

  As a result, he was attending to Han Li personally with great care. With the powers backing the Hidden Fortune Pavilion, he didn’t need to treat ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators with excessive effort.

  A moment later, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense from the jade slip and handed it back over. He then said, “I do have a few items that this Fellow Daoist needs. However, I’ll need to see the Thunderspirit Crystal before making the exchange. If the quality of the crystal is too lacking, I will not trade for it.”

  With some thought, the shopkeeper smiled and said, “Of course, so how about this? Since this is a high-value trade, I will send a sound transmission talisman to Senior Fu, the owner of the Thunderspirit Crystal, and you will be able to conduct the trade in person. He is currently residing nearby this market.”