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

by Translator: Johnchen

  As a result, the massive worm was struck by inexplicably excruciating pain, aking to have thousands of tiny blades slicing through its body.

  It was driven insane by its agony, squirming into the ground before flying into the air over and over again. However, no matter how much it struggled, it was unable to shake off the golden beetles.

  A short while later, just as it had flown into the air and was convulsing spasmodically, its body suddenly completely stiffened before crashing onto the ground, where it lay, completely stationary.

  Han Li heaved a faint sigh upon seeing this before directing his gaze toward the Endless Sky Beast.

  Arcs of heavenly lightning were still falling incessantly for the sky above, and Han Li's Thunderstorm Wings were also flashing relentlessly with arcs of azure lightning. Any lightning nets that drew close would be swatted aside by the Thunderstorm Wings, so none of them could come into contact with Han Li's body.

  Compared to the beginning of the eighth wave of lightning strikes, there were significantly fewer lightning nets in the sky. The Endless Sky Beast had finally withstood the eighth wave on its own, and it seemed to be time for Han Li to step in.

  However, prior to doing so, Han Li hurriedly raised his head as blue light flashed within his eyes. He was staring up into the sky with an intense unblinking gaze, as if he were searching for something.

  When the lightning strikes completely ceased, a peculiar fragrant scent came wafting from within the dark clouds. Immediately thereafter, the dark clouds tumbled and surged, and a massive full moon with the appearance of a jade plate suddenly appeared.

  The full moon was extremely pristine and was emanating a faint white light. That fragrant scent also seemed to be emitting from none other than that moon.

  Chapter 1194: Obtaining the Liquid

  Han Li took a deep breath upon seeing this, and the Thunderstorm Wings on his back flapped gently as he abruptly disappeared on the spot.

  In the next instant, he appeared on the border of where the formation once was, then immediately waved a hand toward the three container treasures on the ground below.

  The gourd, jade vial, and round bowl immediately flew into the air before circling in the air above Han Li's head.

  Right at this moment, the full moon in the sky tilted slightly, and a burst of peculiar silver light shone down directly upon the Endless Sky Beast from the moon.

  The fragrant scent in the air became even more pronounced as a layer of rippling watery light suddenly appeared o the surface of the moon. It was as if something were about to drip down from the moon.

  Han Li's body immediately swayed without hesitation as he rose up into the sky as a streak of azure light with his three container treasures in accompaniment.

  At this moment, a fist-sized ball of white liquid finally came dripping down from the moon. However, as soon as it detached itself from the moon's surface, it transformed into specks of white light, which slowly flowed toward the Endless Sky Beast along the ray of silver light. What was peculiar was that those specks of light could only exist within the ray of silver light; as soon as they left that area and drifted into the outside world, they would instantly cease to exist.

  The white spots of light immediately disappeared one by one after coming into contact with the demon beast's body.

  The Endless Sky Beast was in a rather feeble state from withstanding the lightning tribulation, but as soon as it absorbed a few spots of white light, it was immediately completely reinvigorated. A burst of demonic Qi was expelled from its mouth, catching all of the specks of white light falling from above before sucking them into its mouth. This process seemed to be providing some form of stimulus for the demon beast as its body was expanding drastically once again.

  The light over the surface of the moon rippled, and another ball of liquid slowly dripped down before also transforming into countless specks of white light.

  At this moment, a streak of azure light hurtled toward the full moon within the dark clouds. However, when it was still over 1,000 feet away, the silver light in the surrounding air suddenly flashed, and countless arcs of silver lightning abruptly appeared within the clouds amid a burst of loud rumbling. The silver lightning arcs flashed wildly as they came crashing down toward Han Li in unison.

  All of a sudden, it was as if countless silver snakes were throwing themselves at Han Li at once, creating quite a formidable sight to behold.

  Despite all of the tumultuous storms that Han Li had weathered in the past, he was still given a fright by the scenes unfolding before his eyes.

  Thankfully, the Endless Sky Beast had mentioned such a phenomenon during its voice transmission, so even though he was rather surprised by the ferocity of the attacks being directed at him, he was prepared well in advance. He flipped a hand over and a shimmering green object appeared over his palm; it was none other than his spirit treasure, the Eight Spirit Ruler!

  Just as the countless arcs of silver lightning were about to strike him, Han Li waved his wooden ruler through the air.

  Silver lotus flowers began to appear all around him, each of which was roughly the size of a palm, creating a watertight barrier around him.

  The silver arcs of lightning struck the lotus flowers amid booming thunderclaps as countless thin arcs of electricity flashed over the surface of the barrier.

  The lotus flowers were vanquished in quick succession by the vast number of lightning arcs, but another barrier of silver lotus flowers immediately surged forth in its place. It was as if there was no end to these lotus flowers, and they really were able to keep the fearsome lightning strikes at bay.

  The azure streak of light flashed through the air, and was only over 100 feet away from the full moon.

  As the second ball of white liquid dripped down from the moon, Han Li suddenly faltered for an instant, as if he had abruptly found himself in a restricted area, and countless lightning arcs came surging toward him from all directions.

  This wave of lightning strikes seemed to be even more concentrated than the previous one.

  However, Han Li's entire body was enshrouded by countless silver lotus flowers, and he paid the lightning arcs no heed as he pointed toward the three container treasures before him.

  The gourd, the jade vial, and the bowl immediately flew toward the silver moon as three balls of spiritual light.

  As soon as they shot forth through the air, countless arcs of lightning surrounded Han Li.

  On this occasion, the lightning strikes were even more ferocious and as they exploded around him, Han Li was like a small raft caught within a turbulent sea. Despite the seemingly limitless supply of lotus flowers being churned out by the Eight Spirit Ruler, the barrier surrounding Han Li's body was struggling to keep the fierce barrage at bay.

  The area that the lotus flowers encapsulated was quickly shrinking while countless arcs of silver lightning were rapidly converging toward Han Li.

  However, he paid his perilous situation no heed as he focused his attention entirely on his three container treasures and flew slowly toward the full moon.

  That's right, he was flying slowly toward the moon!

  For some reason, as soon as the three container treasures reached a distance within 30 feet away from the moon, all of them became impossibly heavy, as if they had triggered some kind of restriction. As such, they could approach the moon at an agonizing snail's pace.

  At this point, the full moon had already secreted its second drop of liquid, yet it was slowly becoming blurry and indistinct, as if it were about to disappear at any moment.

  At the same time, the dark clouds in the sky began to tumble and surge again as a burst of spiritual pressure that was quite astonishing, even to Han Li, was slowly taking shape. This was clearly a precursor for the ninth wave of lightning strikes.

  The container treasures were still several feet away from the full moon, yet they were still moving as if they were trudging through a swamp, and Han Li knew that he had to do something.

&
nbsp; He suddenly let loose a loud cry as he gathered his spiritual sense, and abruptly unleashed a Spirit Stun Thorn toward the full moon.

  A burst of enormous power swept toward the full moon, carving a rift into the watery light shimmering over its surface. The three container treasures just so happened to pass through the rift, and immediately sped up appreciably.

  Han Li opened his mouth without any hesitation upon seeing this, expelling a mouthful of blood essence, then flicking his 10 fingers toward the blood essence in quick succession.

  The blood essence instantly transformed into a cloud of blood mist before disappearing in a flash.

  A peculiar scene then ensued!

  The three container treasures were originally of different colors, yet as soon as the blood mist disappeared, all three began to emit a crimson glow.

  They tremored and broke through the restriction in unison, disappearing into the full moon in a flash.

  Almost at the exact same moment, the indistinct moon completely vanished, leaving only the three container treasures hovering in mid-air.

  Even Han Li wasn't sure whether the treasures had managed to store something from the moon or were still empty.

  A booming thunderclap erupted, and all of the lightning arcs that were attacking Han Li in a maddened frenzy disappeared into the dark clouds in a flash.

  As opposed to becoming more relaxed and relieved upon seeing this, Han Li adopted a grim expression instead.

  He waved a hand through the air and the three container treasures immediately flew back toward him. Azure light radiated from Han Li's body, and the treasures appeared before him the blink of an eye. His hand shot forth like lightning as he grabbed onto the yellow gourd hovering in the air. He took a glance inside the gourd before flipping his hand over, upon which the gourd abruptly disappeared.

  As for the other two treasures, he didn't even inspect them before stowing them away into his storage pouch.

  Throughout this entire process, Han Li's expression remained completely unchanged. However, the faint fragrance emanating from within the container treasures indicated that his efforts had not been in vain.

  The Endless Sky Beast paid no heed to what Han Li was doing. At this moment, its attention was entirely focused on the lightning tribulation in the air above. The erratic arcs of lightning in the sky had completely disappeared, but the demon beast could sense immensely powerful fluctuations proliferating from the spot in the dark clouds directly above it, and it didn't dare to let its focus waver in the slightest.

  The silver demonic Qi around its body had completely disappeared, leaving it standing at the center of the formation in a completely vulnerable manner. It wasn't even emitting any more of its original greyish-white demonic Qi as it seemed to be certain that none of this would help it in the slightest in the face of the upcoming lightning tribulation.

  A smile appeared on Han Li's face, and he was just about to say something to the demon beast when an extremely dull thunderclap rang out from above.

  A gigantic arc of silver lightning as thick as a water tank surfaced beneath the dark clouds. The arc of lightning was over 200 feet in length and following several flashes of silver light in quick succession, it came crashing down violently toward the Endless Sky Beast like a massive silver wyrm. The incandescent silver light radiating from the giant wyrm's body had virtually illuminated the entire sky, and it was descending with truly astonishing might.

  The Endless Sky Beast's expression changed drastically upon seeing this, and it opened its mouth without any hesitation. A grey bead shot forth from within before rotating incessantly above the demon beasts head. That bead was none other than its demon core!

  However, before the silver wyrm managed to strike the demon beast, Han Li finally sprang into action.

  He raised a hand, and a small silver shield flew through the air before transforming into a silver barrier of light that encapsulated the Endless Sky Beast within. Han Li then looked on from down below with a calm smile on his face.

  The Endless Sky Beast immediately heaved a long sigh of relief upon seeing this.

  The silver wyrm crashed into the silver light barrier amid a burst of thunderous rumbling as piercing silver light radiated in all directions. However, the silver light barrier beneath it merely tremored erratically before settling again, as if nothing had happened.

  The silver lightning wyrm's attack had been thwarted, yet it didn't immediately dissipate. Instead, it began to circle around the light barrier.

  Rumbling thunderclaps erupted over and over again, yet with each passing strike, the silver wyrm's body would shrink a little. Following a dozen or so consecutive attacks, the silver wyrm had been reduced to around half of its original size.

  "That's enough, Fellow Daoist Han. You can withdraw your treasure; I can handle this on my own now," the Endless Sky Beast suddenly yelled.

  Han Li pointed a finger toward the center of the formation upon hearing this, and the silver light barrier disappeared in a flash.

  Prior to coming here, the Endless Sky Beast had told Han Li that external assistance could be recruited by a demon beast during their metamorphosis stage lightning tribulation, and they could even request for help in partially nullifying the power of the lightning tribulation. However, they still had to withstand close to half of the power of each wave of lightning tribulation on their own.

  Otherwise, the waves of lightning strikes would continue to repeat themselves. As such, the Endless Sky Beast was only asking Han Li to nullify most of the power from the final three waves of lightning tribulation.

  As such, Han Li wasn't surprised by the demon beast's request, and immediately withdrew his silver shield.

  Without the protection of the silver light barrier, the lightning wyrm immediately pounced toward the Endless Sky Beast, only to be kept at bay again by that greyish-white demon core.

  The enormous arc of lightning struck the core, causing it to tremor slightly, but it remained firm and resolute, easily withstanding most of the power from the lightning strike.

  After that, no matter which angle the silver wyrm attempted to attack the Endless Sky Beast from, the demon core was always one step ahead. Thus, the silver wyrm continued to be whittled down following a string of loud explosions.

  Han Li stroked up his chin as he looked on from below.

  It appeared that it would be no issue for him to buffer the remaining two waves of lightning tribulation. After all, this was only the tribulation for an eighth grade demon beast, and no matter how fearsome it was to the demon beast itself, the tribulation ultimately wasn't all that formidable in his eyes. The key would lie in whether the demon beast would be able to withstand the remaining might of the lightning strikes.

  Chapter 1195: The Realm Transcending Bead and the Nine Gale Transformations

  The final two waves of lightning strikes progressed as Han Li had expected; after nullifying most of their power with his silver shield, the Endless Sky Beast's demon core was able to take care of the rest, albeit with a certain degree of difficulty.

  Following the conclusion of the final wave of lightning tribulation, the dark clouds in the sky disappeared just as quickly as they had first materialized, and the light of the sun came seeping through in the blink of an eye. Before long, there was not a single cloud to be seen in the sky.

  At this moment, the Endless Sky Beast's was situated at the center of the formation, enshrouded within layers of greyish-white demonic Qi. It was as if the demon beast had been encapsulated within a massive cocoon, and the surface of the cocoon was squirming and writhing gently.

  Han Li was not surprised to see this at all.

  After withstanding the lightning tribulation, the Endless Sky Beast was reconstructing its body and adopting a human form. Generally speaking, this transformation was outside of the demon beast's control. It was just like the birth of a human; no one could determine their looks from birth as that was predetermined by genetics.

  However, the appear
ance of a demon beast's human form was somewhat dependent on their true form. For example, demon beasts like demonic foxes would usually undergo metamorphosis to become handsome men and beautiful women, while demon beasts with hideous forms to begin with usually had ugly human forms as well. A thought suddenly occurred to Han Li, and he cast his gaze toward the distance. There, the carcass of the mutated Narwhal Worm had been completely engulfed into nothingness by the Gold Devouring Beetles. At this moment, the swarm of beetles was buzzing incessantly as they hovered in mid-air.

  Han Li let loose a long cry, and the golden swarm of beetles immediately flew toward him before being stored away in his spirit beast pouch.

  He then sat down with his legs crossed and closed his eyes as he awaited the conclusion of the Endless Sky Beast's metamorphosis.

  A day and a night passed.

  When Han Li opened his eyes again, a dull thump suddenly erupted from within the gigantic cocoon. A fair and tender arm punched through the surface of the cocoon, and the familiar voice of a small child sounded from within. "I've finally succeeded. Thank you for your efforts, Fellow Daoist Han."

  Han Li smiled upon hearing this before slowly rising to his feet...

  Several days later, Han Li returned to the interconnected peaks on the Dreamcloud Mountains. At present, he was situated within the secret chamber of his cave abode, holding the shimmering golden horn in his hand with the three container treasures placed before him. A large azure cauldron that was around 10 feet in size was hovering in the air before him, and a small child in yellow robes was sitting atop the cauldron. The small child was currently reading an aged hide book in his hands that it was holding in its hands.

  This child was naturally none other than the Endless Sky Beast in its human form. It wasn't exactly identical to the projection that it had manifested in the past, but it bore a strong resemblance to that projection.

  That made sense, seeing as the demon beast's true body in the Spirit Realm had already undergone metamorphosis once, so it would naturally have a rough idea of what its human form would look like. That was why it was able to manifest a projection with roughly the same appearance.