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

by Translator: Johnchen

  Several decades before, when he returned to the Drifting Cloud Sect from the Great Jin, he spent a great deal of effort before eventually refining the Returning Sun Water and taking it himself. And a few months later, he refined several more bottles.

  Because Nangong Wan was still in seclusion, he delivered one of the bottles to her cave residence with a flying sword. Then he set off to Devilfall Valley to refine the Crimson Soul Flag.

  With tensome Ghost Sifting Flags’ abundant souls and the guidance of the Soaring Sky Beast, he was able to smoothly refine it despite the time it took.

  The remnant of the Black Wind Banner had finally turned into the Crimson Soul Flag.

  As of present, Han Li had returned to the sect and began to comprehend the first two layers of the Divine Essencefused Light. After all, even with the Crimson Soul Flag in hand, he needed to be able to command the Essencefused Mountain if he wanted it to enter the flag.

  Before he entered seclusion, he suddenly thought of something and hesitated before bringing a bottle of the Returning Sun Water to the medicinal garden. Afterwards, he immediately returned to seclusion.

  The human-like puppet was placed inside the cave residence responsible for using the small mysterious bottle to nurture spirit insects and a few medicines.

  ...

  Ten years later, Han Li eventually woke from meditation with a trace of perplexion on his face.

  “As expected, the Divine Essencefused Light is incredibly difficult to cultivate. It seems without the aid of the Essencefused Mountain, cultivating the divine light is impossible. Now that I’ve finished cultivating the first layer, it seems I’ll have to go to the Star Palace and retrieve it.”

  A child’s image appeared suddenly in front of Han Li and said, “If I were you, I’d first prepare a pure metal-attributed demon core to fully complete five elemental spirit roots. Although this is the first I’ve heard of this method, This technique simultaneously contains the power of all five elements. Without the corresponding spirit roots, it would put a vast strain on your body.

  “I know, you already mentioned it. However, metal-attributed demon beasts are incredibly rare, and I will require the core from a beast that has metamorphosed. It won’t be easy to find.” Han Li sighed and he flipped his hand to produce a beautiful, glistening rainbow light in his hand.

  The child rolled his eyes and said, “Didn’t you already meet that metal-attributed flood dragon king in the Scattered Star Seas? That was a genuine grade ten demon beast. Its demon core should suffice.”

  Han Li frowned and slowly said, “Of course, but the demon beast lives in the outer seas. It won’t be easy to reach. I should first prepare several metal-type magic tools before I consider it. I recall you saying that I can use magic tools to replace spirit roots as well.”

  The boy shook his head, “Admittedly, it is true you can use tools instead of demon cores to replace spirit roots, However, it will be far slower to refine and there is a certain level of risk.”

  “With the Returning Sun Water, a bit of time doesn't matter to me. Let’s continue talking about this after I arrive at the Scattered Star Seas.” Han Li nodded and stood up, stretching his limbs before walking out of the secluded room.

  In a flash of silver light, another “Han Li” appeared in front of him.

  Han Li didn’t take it to mind and mentally exchanged a bit of information with the second Nascent Soul in his puppet. In a sudden change of expression, his face changed and he cried out, “What! The Profound Goddess’ Palm has revived!?”

  Chapter 1252: Profound Heavenly Tree

  When Han Li acquired this information from his puppet, his mind underwent a massive shock.

  Before he secluded himself, he did pour a few drops of the Returning Sun Water on the Profound Goddess’ Palm out of curiosity, but it remained as dead as ever. But with the news of its revival, he could hardly believe it.

  Han Li promptly made his way into the medicine garden.

  The Profound Goddess’ Palm was placed next to several other precious spirit medicines such as the Ninecurl Ginseng.

  When he arrived, he clearly saw the current condition of the Profound Goddess’ Palm. Despite what mental preparations he made, he was fully shocked.

  Originally, the green liquid from the small mysterious bottle only changed its color green slightly but it remained completely dry. But now, its palms spread throughout the ground and climbed up on many white jade stone pillars. It was lush, green, and filled with life. The vine emitted a faint scent that exceeded the qualities of the medicines in the garden. Even the Ninecurl Spirit Ginseng’s white rabbit incarnation felt at ease sleeping on one of the vine roots.

  When Han Li arrived near it, the white rabbit’s ears moved and its fire-red eyes opened a sliver and resumed its nap after seeing it was Han Li.

  After several hundred years of contact with Han Li, the Ninecurl Ginseng’s incarnation had begun to treat Han Li’s garden as its own. Under his protection, the rabbit hadn’t encountered the slightest danger and no longer felt any danger towards him.

  Han Li remained silent and didn’t bother it. Rather, he began to examine the vine.

  Apart from emitting an astonishing spiritual Qi, the revived Profound Goddess’ Palm appeared no different from ordinary vines. But under careful examination, one could find a few peculiar differences.

  The vine’s color was emerald green, but its surface seemed to give off a metallic sheen. Additionally, the veins of the vine’s leaves were bizarre. Each one was distinct but were somewhat familiar.

  Han Li silently gazed at the leaves and his heart stirred as something came to mind.

  The vein patterns had a faint resemblance to the silver runes on the golden jade tome.

  He frowned and examined a dozen more leaves before eventually discovering something wondrous.

  The leave patterns were written in half of the silver rune scripts as if they were written only to half completion.

  Han Li was amazed for a long while. Eventually, he brought himself to touch the leaves with his fingers.

  They were sleek and smooth as if he touched fine jade.

  He stroked his chin and began to wear a pensive expression.

  At that moment, he thought to call out to the Soaring Sky Beast and ask it a few questions related to the profound spirit trees, but he finally decided not to.

  As of current, the child was most likely cultivating inside the Heavenvoid Cauldron. He was completely ignorant of what was happening.

  Even since he returned to his cave residence, he wanted to make use of the cauldron’s power and completely severed the demon’s connection to the outside.

  So long as he remained in secluded cultivation, he wouldn’t release the demon beast to prevent any of his secrets from being made known.

  As such, the Soaring Sky Beast didn't have any knowledge of the small mysterious bottle.

  As for any rumors or legends regarding the Profound Goddess’ Palm, Han Li had already researched them.

  According to a few creation myths, when life sprung from primal chaos, the profound heavens came, being lifted with the appearance of spirit trees. Regardless of the spirit tree, it would spring flowers and grow fruit that granted inconceivable abilities that ignored the laws of the world. They were true heaven-defying treasures.

  However, these were only rumors during ancient times. He had never seen it for himself.

  However, for this to be mentioned several times in ancient records could be considered to be substantial. Furthermore, they had unique growth cycles that spanned a hundred thousand years, but their flowers would bloom and bear fruits that lasted only a few days or even a few hours.

  Under such a time, their ripeness would deteriorate quickly, meaning that it would only be wishful thinking for anyone to harvest them.

  Only the flowers and fruits of profound heavenly trees are the only ones that possess heaven-breaking abilities that can ignore the laws of the world. As for vines and wood, the
y could only be materials for tool refinement. They were nowhere near as valuable.

  Although Han Li didn’t have the child know of the small portion of the Profound Goddess’ Palm root in his possession, he didn’t plan on having him know of its revival with the Returning Sun Water Either.

  Even if the Profound Goddess’ Palm found its way into someone else’s possession, it would be of little value as they couldn't acquire its flowers or fruit. But it would tempt others nevertheless and cause huge problems. And with his small mysterious bottle, if he could use it to mature the vine, he should be able to acquire its fruits and flowers after two or three hundred years. He wasn’t about to give up on such a grand opportunity.

  If he allowed the child to know of this matter, who knows if he could get that information to his main body in the spirit realm. That was just asking for trouble.

  In any case though, the Soaring Sky Beast should know far more about the tree than he did. But with further thought, he gave up on the idea.

  Having come to his decision, he let out a long sigh and placed down several profound restrictions around the plant, causing the medicine garden to resume its original appearance.

  Three days later, Han Li left the puppet at the cave residence as he called out to Lu Luo and his other sect elders, informing them of his departure.

  He later appeared above a nameless mountain in the Scattered Star Seas and disappeared past the horizon in an azure streak.

  One night several months later, in the Star Palace temple at the top of Heavenly Star City, a beautiful woman in white palace robes was sitting down on a mat in a hidden room. Her eyes were closed, her hands were in an incantation gesture and white light roamed across her body as if she were cultivating something.

  As the spiritual light flickered continuously a trace of pain appeared on the woman’s face.

  The white light pulsed in brightness and just as it appeared to lose control, the woman ceased her incantation gesture and halted her cultivation.

  Following that, the white light from her body eventually dissipated.

  She let out a sigh and opened her eyes, unconsciously looked around her.

  The woman was immediately frightened and shock appeared on her face.

  Sitting at the corner of the room was a person with their arms behind his back. He was looking at her with a mysterious smile.

  “Brother Han, so it is you.” The woman relaxed after clearly seeing his face and sweetly smiled. But through the depth of her beauty was a faint trace of fear.

  This was an important area for the Star Palace. There were over thirty layers of restrictions present but he was able to sneak in without alerting her.

  “Fellow Daoist Ling, in the years we haven’t seen each other, your grace remains strong. However, your cultivation technique seems unsuitable.” Han Li spoke with a slight smile.

  “As you’ve said, there must be a problem with my cultivation. I’ve been meaning to seek some guidance from an expert. Now that you’re here, I’ll have to make a request.”

  Han Li chuckled, “Oh? Guidance will be out of the question, but I’ll give you my thoughts after you speak. But before that, I want to retrieve the Essensefuse Mountain.”

  Ling Yuling was stunned and hesitantly asked, “Of course, it was something you left in our care after all. However, how do you intend on moving it?”

  “I have a way, but I don’t know if it will truly work. I can only give it a try.” Han Li slowly replied.

  With surprise briefly appearing on her face, she answered, “In that case, I’ll guide you there.”

  “Thank you for your trouble, Fellow Daoist Ling!” Han Li nodded with satisfaction.

  Two hours later, the two arrived in a passage underneath the mountain, arriving in front of a large jade door.

  Ling Yuling released the seal on the door with the command medallion in her hand and it slowly opened.

  Han Li let out a sigh and slowly walked in.

  Ling Yuling followed after some hesitation.

  The past scene appeared once more.

  As they walked past the gate, the elemental power immediately immersed them and violently stirred the spiritual power in their bodies to rush out.

  However, Han Li was now at the peak of late-Nascent Soul stage with far denser and purer magic power than before. He wasn’t about to allow his spiritual power to be absorbed.

  He immediately circulated his cultivation art and suppressed the oddities occurring in his body. Then with his hands held in an incantation gesture, he slowly focused on the center of his chest.

  A crackle sounded. An egg-sized ball of light appeared, glowing with five-colored light that roamed across its surface.

  Suddenly, nearby elemental light coiling around Han Li immediately dimmed by a third.

  Standing behind him, Ling Yuling could sense the changes of elemental power and smiled, “Congratulations Brother Han, you’ve completed the first layer of the Divine Essensefuse Light.”

  “If I hadn’t refined the light to this point, I wouldn’t have been able to shift the mountain,” Han Li casually replied with a chuckle.

  Ling Yuling couldn't help but urge, “Although you only cultivated the first layer of the Divine Essensefused Light, you can move the mountain. But I fear it won’t be an easy matter to take it. If Brother Han’s method isn’t effective, wouldn’t it be better to join our palace? You have my guarantee that no one will disturb your cultivation and that you will have priority over our resources.”

  Han Li glanced at Ling Yuling and indifferently said, “Fellow Daoist Ling doesn’t need to mention it again. If I intended on entering the palace, I would’ve already done so. As for whether my method will work, I’ll have to give it a try first.”

  Chapter 1253: Island Ambush

  Han Li tossed the ball of spiritual light in his hand which is suspended itself in midair.

  He reached to his waist with his other hand, summoning a small flag that was several inches long.

  The flag was entirely crimson and released bursts of scarlet light that contained ghostly wails.

  Ling Yuling glanced at the item in surprise and shot an odd glance at Han Li.

  However, Han Li had no intention of explaining anything. He simply muttered to himself and tossed the flag above him.

  Light flashed and a small flag massively surged in size, turning three meters tall in the blink of an eye. The surface of the flag glistened crimson as if it were coated with blood.

  When he pointed at the huge flag, it spread open, emitting a mist until it was only a crimson cloud, and rushed to the top of Essencefused Mountain.

  The cloud roiled as it stopped over its destination and began to slowly expand, covering most of the top and filling the air with a stench as if blood were mixed into the air.

  Ling Yuling swept her spiritual sense through the cloud and sensed an unfathomable amount of Yin souls. In a start, she hastily withdrew her spiritual sense, a sense of dread lingering in her mind.

  At that moment, Han Li took large steps towards the Essensefused Mountain and waved his hand into the air.

  A ball of light flashed and shot towards the small mountain, vanishing from sight.

  Han Li waved his hand again, this time reaching his hand out and grabbing at the air.

  The small mountain flickered with rainbow light and swayed several times. Its rumbling shook the air, and it eventually lifted off from the ground, slowly floating up to the blood cloud.

  Lin Yuling looked on in astonishment. The mountain entered the cloud and vanished.

  Han Li then released a spell seal from his hand.

  The blood cloud roiled before it eventually shrunk and returned to its form as a crimson banner several inches large. It fell back into Han Li’s hand only a moment later.

  The mountain was now as empty as could be as if the Essensefused Mountain was never there.

  “A spatial treasure!”

  Ling Yuling eventually regained her bearings, shock still
clear on her face.

  “The treasure does have some spatial abilities, and it seems I’ve given you quite a show!” Han Li smiled in satisfaction, having swept his spiritual sense through the Crimson Soul Banner.

  Ling Yuling gasped in surprise and let “It has spatial abilities and can even take in the Essensefused Mountain. I fear only a few exist in the mortal world. How fortunate that Fellow Daoist Han was able to acquire one.”

  Back when the Star Palace Sages left behind the method to control Han Li, they believed that cultivating the Divine Essensefused Light would’ve kept him tied to the Star Palace. But now, Han Li rendered her completely powerless with this ingenious move.

  The woman inwardly sighed, finally giving up on having Han Li joined the Star Palace.

  Crimson light flashed from his hand and the small flag disappeared. Following that, Han Li pondered to himself for a moment and smiled at her, “I can stay at the palace for a short amount of time, exchange a few cultivation insights with you, and take a look at what is causing you problems with your cultivation. But during this time, I still have something I need your help with.”

  Although Ling Yuling blanked for a second, she immediately replied with a smile, “Brother Han has already treated out palace with much kindness. It is only natural for us to help you as best we can. There is no need to be so polite.”

  “It is a small matter. I want to know the most recent whereabouts of the golden wyrm in the outer seas. The more accurate its position, the better.” Han Li calmly spoke as if it were a trivial matter, but Ling Yuling was astonished upon hearing him. Her eyes grew wide.

  With a hesitant tone, she muttered, “Brother Han wishes to know the whereabouts of that old demon? Could it be you...”

  Han Li shot a glance at the girl and raised his eyebrow, “Of course I have reasons for finding the Golden Wyrm King. You don’t need to think too much as to why. I will not involve your palace. Or do you mean to say the matter is too difficult?”

  Ling Yuling shook her head and replied with a solemn expression, “Brother Han has shown much kindness to the palace. Even with a more difficult request, I still wouldn’t decline it. However, these past few years the palace has completely withdrawn our men from the outer seas. And as the golden wyrm is a grade ten demon cultivation, I fear it will take more than just a few days to find its whereabouts.”