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

by Translator: Johnchen

  The fact that there were cultivators who clearly belonged to neither the Star Palace nor the Starfall Coalition participating in the battles seemed to indicate that the Star Palace really was at the end of the road. After all, none of the other major powers would step in unless their intervention was absolutely mandatory.

  Of course, Han Li wasn't just going to plunge headfirst into the conflict between the Star Palace and the Starfall Coalition without doing some research first. However, it was difficult to acquire any useful information from low-grade cultivators as they simply didn't know much themselves. As such, even though he encountered many Foundation Establishment cultivators along the way, he didn't stop to interrogate any of them.

  On that day, he was hurtling through the air as a streak of azure light when all of a sudden, his expression changed slightly, and he turned toward a certain direction in the distance.

  He stalled briefly in his flight before flying toward that direction.

  With Han Li's current cultivation base, it only took him several flashes while flying at full speed to cover a distance of over five kilometers.

  There, he cast his gaze downward, and a hint of a smile appeared on his face.

  In the air at a lower altitude down below, there was a black-robed elderly man and an intimidating burly man locked in a fierce battle with one another, while manipulating a shimmering yellow flying sword and an azure ring treasure respectively.

  Coincidentally, these two were both at the mid-Core Formation Stage, and their treasures seemed to be roughly comparable in power as well. As such, they were completely evenly matched.

  If neither of them had any other treasures or trump cards up their sleeves to vanquish their opponent in one fell swoop, Han Li estimated that it would take them at least most of a day to reach a decisive result in their battle. Furthermore, it didn't appear as if either man would be capable of killing the other, so the battle would most likely conclude with one side fleeing following a close defeat.

  Han Li's sudden arrival naturally came as quite a surprise to both the elderly man and the burly middle-aged man. They reflexively stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to Han Li with wary expressions on their faces.

  Both of them swept their spiritual sense toward Han Li, upon which their expressions changed drastically.

  In order to draw less attention to himself, Han Li had concealed his cultivation base to only the early-Nascent Soul Stage. However, that was already enough to intimidate two Core Formation cultivators.

  The two of them waved their hands through the air almost in unison to stow away their respective treasures, immediately following which the elderly man hurriedly extended a respectful bow toward Han Li, and said, "I am Bi Xun of Fallen Spirit Island. May I have the honor of knowing your esteemed name, Senior?"

  The middle-aged man also extended a respectful bow to Han Li with a fawning expression on his face as he asked, "Do you require our assistance, Senior?"

  Han Li crossed his arms with an indifferent expression, and said, "You don't need to know who I am. I haven't been here for many years, so I have some things to ask the two of you."

  The two men were very relieved to hear that Han Li was merely coming to them for information, and the elderly immediately said, "We'll be sure to tell you everything we know, Senior!"

  Han Li nodded upon hearing this, and immediately began to inquire about the events that had taken place in the Scattered Star Seas during the past century.

  The two men naturally regarded Han Li as a Nascent Soul Stage senior who had been in an extended period of seclusion, and they hurriedly offered launched into a recount of the past events.

  Over 100 years ago, the demon beast of the outer seas took over many islands inhabited by humans, and delivered an ultimatum for all human cultivators to vacate themselves from the outer seas. A battle between the humans and the demon beast naturally erupted as a result.

  Strangely enough, neither the Star Palace nor the Starfall Coalition deployed many cultivators to participate in this battle. Instead, many itinerant cultivators and disciples from smaller sects who were benefitting directly from those islands gathered on a large island where teleportation formations had been set up, and engaged in a fierce battle with the demon beasts.

  To call it a battle would actually be inaccurate as in reality, it was just a bunch of human cultivators on a few islands, desperately trying to keep the demon beasts at bay by making use of some of the restrictions on the islands.

  Cultivators who dared to participate in this battle possessed Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation bases at a minimum. It was said that tens of thousands of cultivators were gathered, and even when split up, there were still around 5,000 to 6,000 human cultivators on each island.

  However, as soon as the battle began, all of the islands were completely surrounded by countless low-grade demon beasts, thereby severely denting the morale of the human cultivators, who had initially been brimming with confidence. In the end, the human cultivators only lasted about half a month before all of the islands were conquered by the demon beasts.

  Apparently, not even a single high-grade metamorphosis stage demon beast had participated in the battle. All of the restrictions on the islands had been vanquished by low-grade demon beasts, of which there seemed to be an almost infinite number, and just their efforts alone were enough to conquer all of the islands.

  In the outer seas, the human cultivators were no match for the demon beasts, so they had no choice but to retreat back to the Inner Seas, then destroyed all of the teleportation formations leading to the outer seas, and temporarily relinquishing everything they had established there. At that point, the Outer Star Seas had once again become the domain of the demon beasts.

  Of course, the human cultivators hadn't actually completely given up on the Outer Star Seas. After a few centuries or perhaps even a few millennia of recuperation, the humans were most likely going to return to the outer seas. After all, the countless demon beast in the outer seas provided a virtually endless supply of demon cores to be harvested, and that was simply far too important of a resource for the cultivators of the Scattered Star Seas to abandon.

  Another piece of information that Han Li took note of was that the Heavenly Star Sages had passed away several decades ago.

  However, prior to their deaths, they had invaded the main base of the Starfall Coalition, using the might of their Divine Essencefused Light to kill several Starfall Coalition Nascent Soul cultivators. The Archsaint of the Six Paths and Wan Sangu were in a secret chamber, discussing some important matters at the time, and they were forced to emerge and face the Heavenly Star Sages in battle.

  The two of them had thought that the Heavenly Star Sages were bound to Heavenly Star City as they couldn't distance themselves from the Divine Essencefused Mountains, which was why they had been caught completely off guard by this surprise attack.

  After that, a series of events that stunned the entire Scattered Star Seas unfolded.

  The Heavenly Star Sages had no intention of engaging the Archsaint of the Six Paths and Wan Sangu in a prolonged battle. Instead, they unleashed some type of secret technique from the get-go, detonating all of the Divine Essencefused Light that they had arduously cultivated for several centuries at once, creating a doomsday-like explosion that had razed the entire main base of the Starfall Coalition to the ground.

  The Archsaint of the Six Paths and Wan Sangu were situated closest to the epicenter of the explosion, and even their Nascent Souls didn't get a chance to escape before they were instantly reduced to nothingness.

  As such, the most powerful beings of the Star Palace and the Starfall Coalition had been wiped off the face of the world in the blink of an eye. In comparison, the Starfall Coalition had been reduced to a far inferior state compared to the Star Palace.

  After all, the Archsaint of the Six Paths and Wan Sangu weren't the only ones who had perished during the attack. At the time, there were several elders and a
high number of Core Formation cultivators present at the main base as well, and they had also been killed.

  As expected, in the following two to three decades, Ling Yuling took over the Star Palace and forced the Starfall Coalition into a steady decline, making the latter lose a lot of territory in the process.

  All of the sects that were a part of the Starfall Coalition had been placed on the Star Palace's hit list, so they had no choice but to grit their teeth and try to weather the storm. Otherwise, it was quite possible that the Starfall Coalition would’ve been disbanded a long time ago.

  Just as it appeared as if the Starfall Coalition were about to be vanquished, an astonishing event suddenly took place, heralding the resurgence of the Starfall Coalition.

  The Sect Master of the Myriad Gates of Enlightenment, Wan Tianming, progressed to the late-Nascent Soul Stage amid the crisis, becoming the newest great cultivator on the Scattered Star Seas.

  As such, the Starfall Coalition was immediately able to turn the tables. As a late-Nascent Soul cultivator, Wan Tianming was able to unite the entire coalition, becoming the undisputed coalition leader. After that, he slew several Star Palace elders in battle, and forged a resounding reputation for himself.

  In the following few decades, the Star Palace was no match for Wan Tianming's aggressive assaults as they had no great cultivators to stand against him. Thus, the Starfall Coalition stormed back with a vengeance, recovering all of their lost territories, then claiming some more. Soon, the Star Palace had been plunged into an even more perilous situation than when the Archsaint of the Six Paths and Wan Sangu were still alive. Not long ago, the Starfall Coalition had opened up a pathway into the Heavenly Star City, and sent out a batch of their Ghost Crests again. All sects and powers that received the crests had to confirm to whom they pledged their allegiance. If they didn't join the Starfall Coalition in their assault against the Star Palace, then they would be regarded as enemies of the Starfall Coalition, and would be eradicated as a result. The Starfall Coalition was all set to attack the Star Palace, and were taking no prisoners.

  Sure enough, Wan Tianming backed up his threat by actually destroying a few sects that were allied with the Star Palace, and the entire Scattered Star Seas was completely riled up as a result.

  The sects that had pledged their allegiance to the Star Palace and the Starfall Coalition, as well as the sect that simply wanted to take a neutral stance, were all forced to take action. Some of them completely shut off their sects and hid within their restrictions, some of them fled to the Heavenly Star City for refuge, and there were many that took this opportunity to expand by taking over abandon territories.

  In any case, the Scattered Star Seas was in complete turmoil.

  The Starfall Coalition's army of cultivators took this opportunity to gather on a few islands near the Heavenly Star City, and it appeared that they had deployed all of their most powerful cultivators in preparation for the final battle.

  it appeared that Wan Tianming didn't want to prolong this battle any longer. He simply wanted to destroy the Star Palace and end this conflict once and for all.

  However, when was the battle going to commence? And how many cultivators had been gathered on the islands near Heavenly Star City?

  Neither the elderly man nor the middle-aged man could provide answers to those questions.

  Most of the cultivators in the Scattered Star Seas wanted nothing better than to avoid this battle altogether, but many of them were simply unable to do so and were forced to take a side.

  As for whether they had joined the Star Palace or the Starfall Coalition, that was only something that they themselves knew.

  As such, there were spies all over the place trying to ascertain which side everyone was allied to, plunging the area around the Heavenly Star City into complete turmoil.

  Furthermore, it only became more and more chaotic as one approached the Heavenly Star City.

  Han Li had heard all of the information he wanted to hear, and he fell into deep thought, sparing the two Core Formation cultivators from further interrogation.

  Chapter 1205: Battle at the Star Palace (1)

  After hearing the information provided by the two Core Formation cultivators, Han Li was feeling a lot more assured.

  It was quite clear that Ling Yuling had requested for his help through the use of the Myriad Distance Talisman so he could oppose the Sect Master of the Myriad Gates of Enlightenment. Speaking of this Wan Tianming, Han Li had actually seen him in the Heavenvoid Hall before.

  This man had left him with a rather negative impression, and he always appeared as if he were plotting something. However, Han Li was quite surprised to hear that this man was able to reach the late-Nascent Soul Stage.

  The Heavenly Star Sages, who had perished along with the Archsaint of the Six Paths and Wan Sangu, would clearly have been unable to anticipate this. In their minds, the Star Palace would've surely already defeated the Starfall Coalition and reigned supreme over the Scattered Star Seas again, so there would be no need to request any external assistance.

  However, Han Li really didn't see this Wan Tianming as much of a threat.

  This Sect Master Wan had progressed to the late-Nascent Soul Stage even later than he had, so there was no way that he was a match for Han Li. Following his period of seclusion, Han Li had further bolstered his cultivation base, and his spiritual sense had also become vastly more powerful. Even if he were to come up against a Deity Transformation cultivator, he had the resources to ensure self-preservation, albeit just barely.

  With that in mind, Han Li's thoughts quickly turned to the Divine Essencefused Light, as well as that legendary Divine Essencefused Mountain.

  The Divine Essencefused Light cultivation art wouldn't be difficult to obtain. Apparently, this cultivation art wasn't exactly a well-guarded secret, so he would most likely be able to find a copy somewhere in the Scattered Star Seas. Even without recruiting the assistance of the Star Palace, he would also be able to find it as long as he was willing to expend some time.

  However, the Divine Essencefused Mountain was an extraordinary object, and it was difficult to say whether there would even be another mountain of a similar nature in the human world.

  He didn't know whether this mountain was a mandatory element for cultivating the Divine Essencefused Light, but many high-grade cultivators in the Scattered Star Seas were aware that the Heavenly Star Sages had only begun using this cultivation art after discovering the Divine Essencefused Mountain. As such, this mountain was at least very helpful to those cultivating the Divine Essencefused Light. Otherwise, as aforementioned, this cultivation art was not that difficult to obtain, and far more people would be using it, but that was clearly not the case.

  With these thoughts racing through his mind, Han Li nodded absentmindedly toward the two Core Formation cultivators and left some parting words of gratitude before flying away as a streak of azure light.

  Throughout this entire process, he hadn't asked anything about why the two were fighting, nor which of the two sides they had pledged their allegiance toward.

  The two of them stood on the spot and looked on with respectful expressions at Han Li's departing figure. Only after the azure streak of light truly disappeared into the distance did they turn to each other in unison, upon which hints of animosity reappeared in their eyes.

  However, after Han Li's interruption, neither of the two were in the mood to fight anymore, and after trading a few verbal insults, both of them departed in a rather sheepish manner.

  At this point, Han Li was already over 50 kilometers away.

  ...

  Over the surface of the ocean several tens of thousands of kilometers away from the Heavenly Star City, there were a dozen or so streaks of light hurtling toward the city.

  This group consisted of cultivators who varied in age, but all of them wore identical attire, so it was quite apparent that they belonged to the same sect or power.

  Perhaps it was due to the fact
that they had gotten close to Heavenly Star City, but hints of complacency had crept onto their faces, and some of them had even begun conversing through voice transmissions.

  Right at this moment, a sudden turn of events abruptly unfolded.

  Brilliant white light erupted from the surface of the ocean beneath the group of cultivators, following which a dozen or so pillars of white light shot forth from down below. Following a string of rumbling explosions, all of the cultivators were struck aside from the three Core Formation cultivators with the highest cultivation bases, who had barely managed to evade the surprise attack just in the nick of time.

  Howls of anguish immediately erupted as these people were reduced to nothingness amid the pillars of white light.

  The three remaining Core Formation cultivators were naturally shocked and infuriated upon seeing this, and they immediately summoned their respective treasures as they hurriedly cast their eyes downward.

  Right at this moment, seven or eight streaks of light emerged from within the ocean, rising up into the air before surrounding the three Core Formation cultivators.

  One of the remaining elderly cultivators seemed to have recognized one of the people that they had been surrounded by, and a resentful expression appeared on his face as he cussed, "Starfall Coalition dogs!"

  A middle-aged man with a set of sinister features chuckled coldly as he asked, "Hehe, If it isn't Brother Lu of the White Water Sword Sect? Going by your logic, doesn't that make the three of you Star Palace dogs? Also, hasn't your sect declared itself to be completely neutral? Why are you heading to the Heavenly Star Island?"

  "Hmph, why do you insist on asking a question you already know the answer to? Our White Water Sword Sect has always been a branch of the Star Palace, so it's naturally our duty to provide the Star Palace with our assistance during its time of need. That's enough chit-chat; let's go!" The elderly man aimed a vicious glare at the opposing middle-aged man before barking an instruction to the two Core Formation cultivators beside him.