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

by Translator: Johnchen

  Of course, there were also those that had no fear of their reputation, and such an example had appeared in a streak of crimson.

  “Get lost! I am going to enter.” The person who said this was an old man who spoke with an arrogant tone.

  When they saw that a Nascent Soul cultivator had appeared, one of the disciples helplessly said, “Senior, our sect found this first. Our Martial Uncles are nearby, Senior should-”

  The old man coldly laughed and said, “Even if Hua Tianqi was here, I would still enter.” He then raised his hand and a blinding red light lit up from his palm.

  Chapter 1001: Master Scatterwind

  “Is that so? I don’t know what my disciples did to offend you, Brother Zheng Wei, but could you defer their punishment to me?” Before any further action could take place, an indifferent voice sounded out, followed by various-colored streaks of light heading in their direction. In the blink of an eye, the Sacred Poison Sect Elders appeared before them.

  The one who spoke faced against the silhouette in the red light.

  Much to the surprise of those present, the overbearing cultivator from before chuckled upon seeing their arrival and said, “So Brother Hua actually was here. It seems I’ve been lacking in manners. It was merely a jest towards your sect disciples, how could I truly bully them?” His attitude had changed dramatically.

  Wild laughter came from the side, and five white silhouettes suddenly appeared in a brilliant flash. “So it was Fellow Daoist Zheng Wei, the illustrious Master Scatterwind. Now that I see you in person, your reputation is well deserved!”

  “The Unbroken Cinque Devils, so it was the Yin Sifting Sect’s Brother Qian!” The cultivator coated in red light spoke out in great alarm.

  “You flatter me, Brother Zheng. Your reputation is no lesser than my own!” Old Devil Qian spoke with a cackle.

  Those words were true, Master Scatterwind was a famous figure in the Great Jin.

  However, his fame wasn’t the result of anything good. He was known as a moralless deceiver as treacherous as they came. When faced with weaker opponents, he would act like an unsensible fiend and take advantage of them.

  Such a character naturally offended many. Even a few Nascent Soul cultivators bore resentment towards him. Unfortunately, he was an early-Nascent Soul vagrant cultivator who used an easy cultivation technique to ascend to his current realm. But in the past, he happened upon an ancient grand treasure, the World Flying Boots. When fully used, he can escape even late-Nascent Soul cultivators.

  In addition, he later cultivated many strange secret techniques focused on survival and avoided offending any cultivators at mid and late-Nascent Soul stage. As a result, he was able to travel freely despite being one of the most notorious figures in the Great Jin.

  The Sacred Poison Sect’s Grand Elder Hua Tianqi had nothing good to say about him, but Old Devil Qian seemed quite interested.

  In the face of the Yin Sifting Sect’s Grand Elder, Master Scatterwind smiled and began to slowly retreat like a mouse when faced against a cat.

  When Old Devil Qian saw Scatterwind’s meek attitude, he lost interest and instead spoke again to Hua Tianqi with an oddly cheerful tone, “Brother Hua, could it be your sect is guarding this place to bar outsiders from entering?”

  Hua Tianqi paused before replying with a flickering gaze, “Brother Qian must be joking. Our Sacred Poison Sect wouldn’t dare to block you, or any other sect for that matter. I merely wished to dissolve the formation covering this area to allow everyone else to head inside. This was to avoid having any Fellow Daoists fall prey to this malicious formation.

  Old Devil Qian coldly chuckled and said, “Oh, I do apologize. It seems I’ve misunderstood your sect’s good intentions. However, this mere illusion formation is nothing against me. Do you mind if I head in right away?” As he spoke, his cinque devils slowly moved closer.

  Hua Tianqi quickly replied, “It will be no problem. If Brother Qian can make it through, I will not block you.” He waved his hand and indicated for his sect disciples to clear a path.

  Although the other sect members felt puzzled by this, they trusted him and said nothing in opposition. As a result, the Core Formation disciples obediently stood to the side.

  “Then I will go on ahead.” Old Devil Qian let out a cacophonic and roaring guffaw before his cinque devils shot into the white light barrier. In the blink of an eye, blue light shined out and the colorless silhouettes disappeared into the void.

  When the barrier calmed once more, Hua Tianqi turned to the surrounding cultivators as the green marks twisted on his face and he slowly said, “If there is anyone else who wishes to follow, I will not stop them.”

  His actions had caused the aggressive group to look at each other in dismay. Even the devious Master Scatterwind now hid amongst the crowd and didn’t dare to accept their offer.

  They felt resentment towards the Sacred Poison Sect for monopolizing the opening, but now that there was a late-Nascent Soul cultivator already inside, they hesitated.

  Regardless of how quickly the illusion formation can be broken, if they entered and Old Devil Qian was to strike at them, they wouldn’t be able to protect themselves in the slightest.

  When Hua Tianqi saw that no one had accepted, he sneered and no longer paid them any attention. He then turned around to his disciples and commanded, “You will no longer be guarding this location, so go ahead and return to the surface. The other elders and I will be heading in first.”

  “Yes, Grand Elder!” The eight Sacred Poison Sect Core Formation disciples bowed and tunneled back up.

  With a shout, the four Sacred Poison Sect cultivators then entered the illusion formation and disappeared without a trace.

  Afterwards, an uproar broke out.

  A majority of them didn’t belong to a group. At most, they came in groups of two or three Core Formation cultivators, but none were in nearly great enough force to head in.

  As for the lone Nascent Soul cultivators, they all revealed a pensive expression as well.

  Now that the entrance was unobstructed, the situation had become awkward.

  Master Scatterwind discovered a bulky man in the crowd and said, “Fellow Daoist, how about we head in together.”

  “Together? Please excuse my refusal. However, it is a joy to meet you, given your grand reputation!” The large Nascent Soul cultivator rolled his eyes and spoke with a sarcastic tone.

  Master Scatterwind didn’t take his refusal to heart and pleasantly said, “Fellow Daoist doesn’t need to be so distant. In addition to us two, there should be three other vagrant Nascent Soul cultivators gathered here. How about we head in together? That way, we won’t have much to fear from the others already inside.”

  The large man felt tempted, but Scatterwind’s reputation was far too damaging. He snorted and said, “How about you gather the others first before asking me again?”

  “That’s fine, they will be sure to agree,” he slapped his chest in a pledge and flew over to an old man glowing in purple light, much to the bewilderment of the large man.

  Before the old man could react, Scatterwind wore a beaming smile, “Fellow Daoist, would you like to head in together? I’ve already come to terms with the other Fellow Daoist to find three more people. Are you willing to join us?”

  The old man frowned and coldly glanced at him before turning to look at the large man with a curious gaze.

  When their eyes met, he suddenly realized something and he faintly smiled.

  Not long after, the five unacquainted vagrants entered the illusion formation together and disappeared from sight.

  ...

  Han Li was currently looking around him with blue light shining from his eyes.

  He now found himself trapped in an illusory space where he was surrounded by various colored clouds. Besides these, nothing else existed here.

  “This wicked place is far too strange. I can’t fly out, nor can I discover any restrictions. It doesn't seem to be an illusory fo
rmation. Could it be that I am truly trapped here?” Han Li muttered with a sour face.

  Several days prior, his party discovered a boulder on the side of the stairs with a rare medicinal herb growing on it. Old Man Fu eager went out to pick it, but had stirred up a restriction of some kind. As a result, Han Li saw his surroundings light up before he appeared in this place alone.

  The other two were nowhere to be seen.

  Although he wasn’t on the same level as a spell formation grandmaster, he had done quite a bit of research on strange ancient formations and wasn’t very fearful at the start.

  But it didn’t take long for him to have a change of mind.

  He wasn’t even sure if this was an illusion. He only knew that no matter how far he flew, everything remained entirely the same. He had also made extensive use of his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, to no avail.

  As for attacks from his treasures, he had used them all, but the strikes traveled incredibly far before disappearing. It seemed there was no use in trying even stronger attacks.

  After spending so much time floating here, Han Li hadn’t made the slightest progress and eventually decided to stop for the time being.

  He closed his eyes and sank into meditation as the many ancient spell formations he studied appeared in his mind, attempting to find a restriction that was similar to this one.

  As time slowly passed by, his figure remained motionless. Eventually, he slowly opened his eyes to glare at the bright clouds that surrounded him.

  He wore an odd expression and clicked his tongue, muttering, “So it was like that.”

  Chapter 1002: A Chance Encounter

  Han Li slowly stood up and reached out to a nearby red cloud. Suddenly, a large azure hand materialized in the air and grabbed ahold of it.

  He stared at the hand and suddenly formed a strange hand gesture before muttering an incantation.

  The large hand trembled momentarily before closing a fist around the cloud.

  Azure light brightly shined from the hand and it soon took the shape of a ball.

  He then spat out a thread of blue Nascent flame and had it wrap around the ball before quickly submerging it in an inferno.

  Han Li then ceased casting spell seals and expressionlessly looked at the ball of light in silence.

  After an unknown amount of time, the corner of his mouth twitched and he shook his sleeve towards the blaze and swept it away, revealing a faint red pearl.

  “So I was right! Such brilliant transformation concealment methods can only be accomplished by ancient cultivators. Even then, there could only be a few cultivators that knew how to do this even during ancient times. It is fortunate that Xin Ruyin[1] mentioned a similar restriction in the jade slip she gave me long ago or I would truly be at a loss. It seems I’ll have to continue reinforcing my spirit eyes in the future. If I continue to use the Brightsight Spirit Water for another hundred years, I should be able to see through even top grade illusion transformations.” Han Li sighed, feeling somewhat gloomy that he wasn’t able to see through it.

  He no longer paid any attention to the red pearl floating in the air and looked around him before a blue cloud caught his eye. Then, he reached out for it and began to envelop it in Nascent flames.

  This time, the cloud disappeared in the blink of an eye.

  Han Li didn’t appear surprised and simply reached out for another one.

  After two more failures, he eventually came into possession of a blue pearl.

  Half a day later, he acquired a yellow, azure, and gold pearl.

  He solemnly raised his hand to these pearls and had them fly high into the air.

  He then pulled his hands at them and had them slowly revolve, gradually accelerating them until it formed a ring of rainbow light.

  Han Li raised his brow at the sight and softly shouted, “Go!”

  He stopped his fingers and the rainbow ring scattered, flying off in various directions at a profound trajectory.

  In the blink of an eye, they flew to seemingly unrelated points and revolved in place, pulsing in size as they underwent a strange alteration.

  He was forced to narrow his eyes from the blinding eruptions as the balls now were more akin to five blazing suns.

  They converged together and the world began to blur around him. Soon, light surged and Han Li found himself back at the stone steps next to the huge boulder.

  “Fellow Daoist Han!”

  “Brother Han!”

  Bai Yaoyi and Old Man Fu shouted out in alarm when they saw him. The two stood ten meters away, and the distress on their faces quickly turned to delight.

  “So you two were also trapped?” Han Li asked.

  “It must’ve been Brother Han who broke through that bizarre restriction. I’ve never seen such a fearsome spell formation before. I thought that I would be trapped in there until I perished,” Old Man Fu spoke with lingering fear.

  It was clear he had suffered much in this time. Both his magic power and spirit had been damaged in his attempts to escape.

  With a trace of appreciation on her face, Bai Yaoyi wryly chuckled, “My circumstances were about the same. Many thanks to Brother Han for breaking the restriction.”

  Han Li smiled and said, “It was nothing. I have only heard about similar restrictions by chance and was able to dispel it. These types of ancient restrictions are truly rare. If I am correct, that spiritual herb Brother Fu grabbed should’ve been a transformed magic tool. I’m afraid you’ve been tricked.”

  “That can’t be. It was clearly a- Yi! What’s this?” Old Man Fu doubtfully took out a jade box and opened it to reveal an ordinary jade scepter.

  He was immediately dumbstruck by the sight.

  “In truth, we were already in the illusions grasp when we approached the huge stone. Fellow Daoist had only activated the most fearsome of the restrictions upon grabbing the ‘spiritual herb.’ How about we take another look at it?” Han Li then pointed in the direction of the rock.

  The other two looked over and saw a plant with purple berries growing on it.

  “Those ancient cultivators are truly devious to put such a trap here. What were they thinking?” The old man flusteredly said.

  Bai Yaoyi curled her lips in amazement.

  “There’s no need to be so amazed,” Han Li indifferently spoke, “This ancient restriction needed to be activated by those who entered it. It is only natural for its appearance to change. However, it was only dissolved and not completely destroyed. We only have a limited amount of time.”

  “This mountain is unlike its reputation as the Immortal spirit mountain. It’s more like a dragon’s lair!” Old Man Fu appeared resentful at having been tricked.

  Han Li’s eyes flickered and he said with a deep voice, “Let’s be more careful. This place isn’t just an old ruin. I only managed to dispel that restriction out of luck. I’m not certain I’ll be able to next time, so let's avoid stirring up any calamity.”

  Old Man Fu let out an embarrassed laugh, “I’ll be sure not to act so rashly in the future.”

  Bai Yaoyi pensively nodded.

  “Since Fellow Daoists understand, let’s head on our way. The noise ahead has already come to a stop. Over the past few days, they might’ve already arrived at the top.” Han Li looked at the top of the mountain and set off up the stairs.

  The other two closely followed suit.

  Several hours later, the three flew past several huge cliffs, eventually arriving at the stone pavilion where the Ye Clan had rested previously, and where Xiang Zhili had disappeared.

  When they saw the site, Han Li sighed and the three stopped, looking at the pavilion from a distance.

  Old Man Fu and Bai Yaoyi both couldn't help but look over, having also noticed something off.

  There were shallow footsteps in the loose dirt surrounding the area. If someone wasn’t paying attention, they could’ve easily missed it.

  Bai Yaoyi tensed her brow and said, “Others have been here already.”

 
Old Man Fu muttered to himself for a moment and pointed to an object at the side of the pavilion, “Take a look at that stone as well!”

  There was a deep, narrow groove scathed the surface that was ten meters long. One could easily tell it was the mark of an incredibly sharp sword Qi. It had been unintentionally left behind by the Ye Clan’s Seventh Uncle during their battle with the Lion Hawk.

  Bai Yaoyi’s eyes lit up, “This mark is new. It seems that something else had attacked them. Could it have been the Silver-winged Nightfiend?”

  With exceptional calm, Han Li said, “Perhaps, but in any case, they made their way up. It should save us some trouble.”

  When Old Man Fu heard this, he smiled and thought to say something, but was interrupted by a sudden flash of white nearby, followed by the appearance of a colorless screen. A bleached silhouette emerged and could clearly see the three.

  Han Li and Bai Yaoyi both rejoiced as they had found the exit they longed for.

  However, Old Man Fu lost all the blood in his face when he saw the figure, shouting, “The Unbroken Cinque Devils? Those are Old Devil Qian’s incarnations!”

  When Han Li heard this, he was stunned. He felt as though he had heard of them before and of the name Old Devil Qian, but before anything came to mind, he noticed Bai Yaoyi’s face had blanched as well.

  With several puffs, five similar white silhouettes emerged.

  These indistinct silhouettes appeared abreast in a line. Their statue gazes all focused on Han Li and then his companions.

  ‘The Grand Elder of the Yin Sifting Sect!’ When Han Li finally recognized the five strange beings, his expression instantly turned unsightly.

  “So it was Fellow Daoist Fu, what a coincidence! It is no wonder why I wasn’t able to find you! So it turned out you had entered here first. And from this woman’s strange attire, she should be a cultivator from North Night Palace. I can be considered old friends with your palace’s Madam Liu. As for this last Fellow Daoist, tch tch, could it be Brother Han from the Heavenly South? You’ve had both my sect and the Endless Sky Temple search long and hard for you!” Old Devil Qian’s voice was amazed at first, but then it slowly broke out into wild laughter.