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

by Translator: Johnchen

  As such, the other body refinement warriors and soldiers could focus solely on combating the normal python beasts, and their jobs were made a lot easier.

  Unfortunately, the other sections of the city wall didn't have a fearsome warrior like Han Li among their ranks.

  Amid birds of loud hissing and violent tremors, one mutated giant python after another clambered onto the city wall, destroying large sections of the wall with reckless abandon using their massive powerful tails. Aside from some body refinement warriors who were wielding heavy weapons, no one else could withstand so much as a single strike from these insanely powerful brutes, and the battle became extremely arduous for them.

  However, the ease with which Han Li was killing giant pythons seemed to have attracted the attention of the swarm of pythons down below. All of a sudden, a series of crimson figures shot into the air, and three giant pythons appeared on the city wall at once. As soon as they descended, all of them pounced toward Han Li with unbridled ferocity.

  Han Li raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise, but a cold smile then surfaced on his face as he hurled his saber toward one of the oncoming pythons.

  In the face of an ordinary saber like this one, a giant python normally wouldn't even need to take evasive measures as there was no way that he blade could slice through its armor-like scales. However, Han Li had hurled the saber with astonishingly immense force, making it just as destructive as the most powerful spirit tools. The saber flashed through the air as a streak of cold light, sinking into the python's head before emerging from its tail, slicing the python cleanly in half lengthwise!

  Han Li's body then swayed, and he suddenly manifested two humanoid figures, as if he had used a doppelganger technique, and both of them rushed toward the other two giant pythons.

  A series of dull thumps rang out in rapid succession. Golden light radiated from the humanoid figures in unison, completely inundating the massive bodies of the giant pythons.

  The two humanoid figures then suddenly combined as one again, and the golden light also faded thereafter.

  The two giant pythons were revealed, slumped to the ground, unable to move so much as a single inch.

  In that split second, Han Li had shattered every single bone within these pythons' bodies into dust, thereby completely immobilizing them.

  All of the nearby soldiers immediately rushed over to land the killing blows upon seeing this.

  After losing three mutated giant pythons to Han Li at once, the swarm of pythons knew better than to target him again. As such, no more giant pythons appeared on their section of the city wall.

  Not only did everyone else in that section heave a collective sigh of relief, Han Li was also happy to be left to his own devices. Thus, he slowly strode over to the spot where he had previously been standing before looking up at the battle taking place overhead.

  At this point, the impasse between the cultivators and the Leocon Beasts had finally been broken.

  All of a sudden, the stream of demonic feathers erupting from the green mist came to an abrupt halt, thereby indicating that those projectiles were not actually in unlimited supply.

  The human cultivators were ecstatic upon seeing this. However, before they had a chance to attack with their treasures, the expanse of demonic mist up ahead suddenly began to surge violently amid a sharp cry, following which the mist began to manifest into a certain form. In the blink of an eye, it had transformed into a gargantuan Leocon Beast with its entire body covered in green feathers and a ferocious expression its leopard head. It spread open its wings before rushing toward the group of human cultivators with devastating might.

  All of the cultivators were very alarmed to see this. Even with two False Core cultivators among their ranks, they didn't dare to oppose this enemy head-on as they had no idea how powerful it was.

  Thus, everyone temporarily dispersed and withdrew their treasures to better protect themselves.

  However, a startling turn of events then unfolded.

  After rushing past the group of cultivators, the giant Leocon Beast made no effort to attack any of them. Instead, it plummeted rapidly toward the city wall down below like a shooting star.

  "Dammit, we've been had! Hurry up and stop that thing!" The brocade-robed man from the Golden Jade Sect flew into a thunderous rage upon seeing this.

  All of the other cultivators also came to their senses as they activated their treasures to pursue the giant Leocon Beast.

  However, the gargantuan beast down below completely disregarded the attacks being launched at it, and it was intent on flying toward the city wall at full speed.

  A short while later, a section of its body had been scattered by the pursuing treasures, but they had also reached close to 100 feet away from the city wall. The gusts of gale-force winds being swept up by its gigantic wings were threatening to throw the normal soldiers direct off the city wall.

  Han Li looked up at the giant beast up above, and his calm expression finally cracked.

  It turned out that this massive Leocon Beast was descending directly toward the section of the city wall that he was defending.

  In the face of such a devastating attack, even mid-grade cultivators would be unable to take it head-on, let alone normal body refinement warriors.

  Even though he had mastered the fourth layer of the Vajra Arts, he wasn't fully confident that he would be able to emerge unscathed in the face of this attack.

  As such, he immediately rustled his sleeve to produce an inky-black bead. However, a hesitant look then appeared on his face.

  The Immortal Vanquishing Beads were the only protective treasures he had for combating powerful enemies, and it would be a waste to use one of them now.

  Furthermore, by his estimations, he would definitely be able to survive this attack, having mastered the fourth layer of the Vajra Arts, and he would only be severely wounded at most.

  After processing this train of thought in the blink of an eye, a grim look appeared on Han Li's face as he stowed away the bead in his hand again. At the same time, he showed no intention of taking evasive measures in the face of the colossal beast descending from above. Instead, he took a deep breath and clenched his fists, following his entire body took on a shimmering golden hue.

  He then let loose a loud cry before crouching down slightly, then aiming a devastating punch into the city wall underfoot.

  Even though this was an extremely powerful strike, it was almost entirely inconsequential in the face of the massive Leocon Beast. Before the attack had a chance to unleash its power, Han Li had already been inundated by a sea of green mist.

  The massive Leocon Beast crashed heavily into the city wall.

  An earthshattering boom rang out, and even though the city walls had been fortified through a special construction method, there was no way that they could withstand an attack comparable to one from a Core Formation cultivator.

  Thus, the city wall was immediately shattered, the entire structure completely crumbled.

  As for the ordinary soldiers and body refinement warriors on the city wall, they didn't have to worry about this as they had already been crushed into mincemeat by the descending massive Leocon Beast.

  However, even though the giant Leocon Beast was dispersed after crashing into the wall, waves of suffocating green mist began to spread in all directions. As soon as a human was swept up in this mist, they would immediately let loose bloodcurdling cries before falling to the ground. Before long, they would be transformed into a series of green corpses.

  As such, all of the human soldiers who had originally intended to provide reinforcements were hurriedly backing away in horror instead.

  Almost at the exact same moment, a loud cry erupted from within the glacial mist, and large hordes of Leocon Beasts poured forth from within, joining all of their crimson python beast allies. The crimson python beasts seemed to be immune to the effects of the green mist, and they swarmed into the city through the section of the city wall that had just been d
estroyed. An army of crimson pythons flooded into An Yuan City, and there were hundreds of mutated giant pythons among them.

  An Yuan City had been breached, just like that.

  The human cultivators in the air above were horrified to see this, yet that bald False Core cultivator was unwilling to give up. He raised his ax treasure high above his head, and roared, "Seal up that opening! We can still save this city!"

  "Forget about it! It's already too late, Brother Wang. Even if the city wall hadn't collapsed, An Yuan City was already a lost cause anyway. It was only a matter of time before their defenses were breached," the False Core cultivator from the Golden Jade Sect suddenly interjected before casting his gaze toward the city with an indifferent look on his face.

  "What do you mean by that? Huh? What are those things?" The bald man faltered initially upon hearing this, but he quickly caught sight of something, upon which his expression became extremely strained.

  In the distance behind the swarm of crimson pythons, a vast expanse of yellow mist had appeared. A loud rumbling sound akin to that of countless thundering horse hooves could be heard coming from within the mist.

  "Th... Those are Sandbug Beasts! They must've come from the Azure Sifting Desert. An Yuan City is being attacked by four waves of demon beasts at once; there really is no hope for them," a more experienced and knowledgeable cultivator exclaimed.

  All of the other cultivators' expression darkened upon hearing this.

  Even a large city would struggle to cope with such a devastating assault, let alone a small city like An Yuan City.

  "It's impossible to save the entire city, so let's focus on other objectives instead. I have someone that I need to save, so I'll be taking my leave now." The brocade-robed man suddenly cupped his fist in a salute to everyone, then called the young female and male cultivator to from the Golden Jade Sect to him, before all three of them flew toward the city.

  "I didn't think that a seventh city in our Heavenly Origin Region would be conquered so quickly by these Beast Torrents. There will definitely be people sent from Heavenly Origin City to ask about what happened here. Once they arrive, just tell them the truth. I'll also be taking my leave." The bald man delivered a few instructions with a wry smile on his face before also departing. However, he was traveling away from the city.

  All of the other cultivators glanced at one another before also dispersing.

  Some of them were returning to the city to save their loved ones while others flew away from the city like the bald man.

  At this moment, the yellow mist in the distance had also reached An Yuan City, and a series of massive Sandbug Beast each around 10 feet in size emerged from within. All of them had pairs of vicious crimson eyes and sets of sinister facial features.

  Chapter 1286: The Little Girl

  In the face of the combined attacks from these four types of demon beasts, An Yuan City was completely razed to the ground.

  A small proportion of mortals managed to escape under the protection of some body refinement warriors, but most of them ended up in the bellies of the demon beasts.

  However, the hordes of beasts only wreaked havoc within An Yuan City for about three to four days before departing.

  The Beast Torrent had officially come to a conclusion.

  It wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence for small cities of this scale to be destroyed by Beast Torrents, but the high-grade cultivators of Heavenly Origin Cities were still alerted in the end, and a large group of people was deployed to assess the incident.

  Of course, all of that was only going to happen further down the track.

  Two days after the departing of the beast hordes, spiritual light flashed in the distance, and several cultivators descended upon the section of the city where the city wall had been destroyed.

  The spiritual light receded to reveal three cultivators; they were none other than the cultivators from the Golden Jade Sect, and the trio was led by the brocade-robed man with the Qin surname.

  The three of them were currently scouring the landscape down below as if they were searching for something.

  "That man is most likely already dead. You saw how powerful the combined attack from the Leocon Beasts was, Senior Martial Brother, why do you still insist that this man could be alive?" the young man from the Golden Jade Sect couldn't help but ask.

  "You may be unaware of this, but the Vajra Arts is vastly different compared to normal body refinement techniques. After mastering the third layer of the Vajra Arts, even a mortal would be able to cleanse their essence and bolster their bodies to such a degree that they would be able to withstand a full-force attack from a low-grade treasure. The attack from the swarm of Leocon Beasts was indeed powerful, but it wasn't solely directed toward him, so if he had activated his Vajra Arts in advance, there's a good chance that he would've survived. What we're trying to do now requires the assistance of a powerful mortal like him. If it weren't for the fact that I was too far away from him at the time, I would've definitely stepped in to save him." The brocade-robed man shook his head with a grim expression in response.

  The young male cultivator was still rather skeptical, but he didn't state any further objections.

  However, the female cultivator among them suddenly broke her silence. "Even if that man did survive, this place as been ravaged by those beasts for such a long time; he's most likely been eaten already. How could he possibly still be alive?"

  The brocade-robed man's lips twitched as a wry smile appeared on his face, and he replied, "That's also a possibility. It's just that it's really difficult to find a suitable candidate for the task we're about to undertake, so I don't want to give up any opportunity, no matter how slim the chances are."

  "Oh? May I ask what you need me to do for you, Immortal Qin?"

  An indifferent voice suddenly rang out from beneath a pile of rubble down below, followed by a resounding boom as the rubble was forcibly scattered in all directions. After the dust and debris settled, two humanoid figures, one tall and one short, was revealed.

  The three cultivators in the sky faltered initially upon seeing this before the brocade-robed man exclaimed with elation, "Han Li!"

  The two humanoid figures down below were none other than Han Li and a little girl who appeared to be around four or five years old. Even though her clothes were rather dirty and ragged, it was still quite apparent that they had been made from luxurious and expensive materials.

  The little girl was very adorable with porcelain-like skin and a pair of large black eyes. However, those eyes were filled with a hint of horror as she grasped tightly onto Han Li's robes with her little hand and pressed her own body against Han Li's leg.

  "I'm glad to see you're alive and well, Brother Han. May I ask who that little girl is?" the brocade-robed man asked with a smile before the three cultivators descended together.

  "I don't know who she is, either. On the day that the city was destroyed, she and a few body refinement warriors fled to this place, but were surrounded by a pack of wolf beasts. Everyone else perished to those wolf beasts, but I couldn't bear to see this little girl die, so I saved her on a whim." Han Li looked back at the little girl with a resigned expression

  Even though he had taken a direct attack from that massive Leocon Beast, he had shattered the city wall below him in advance, thereby allowing him to fall and buffer the impact. As expected, with the defensive properties of the fourth layer of the Vajra Arts, he only sustained some minor injuries.

  However, due to the immense impact of the attack, he unintentionally managed to break through the bottleneck in his Vajra Arts.

  Back when he was in the human world, he was unable to advance any further in the Vajra Arts, and this was exactly because of that bottleneck.

  However, he could sense that he would only have to cultivate for around half a year now before mastering the fifth layer of the Vajra Arts.

  As such, he decided to hide beneath the rubble and only emerge after the crisis had been averted. As
such, he encountered this little girl, and was drawn into saving her. However, the events thereafter weren't as simple as he made them out to be.

  At the time, in order to avoid having the location of his hiding spot revealed, he killed over 100 beasts in the surrounding area, making sure that there were no beasts left in the general vicinity before returning to his hiding spot beneath the rubble with the little girl. The entire process had been a rather arduous one.

  Furthermore, if it weren't for this little girl weighing him down, he could've already departed from the city a few days ago. He was confident that he would be able to sneak past the hordes of beasts if he were on his own, but the little girl was like a beacon that was sure to draw widespread attention from the hordes of beasts in the city, so he decided to continue waiting beneath the rubble.

  The aura of mortals was very strong in this city, so it was enough to obscure the aura of the little girl.

  The commotion in the city had died down a couple of days ago, but Han Li decided to wait for a while longer as a safety precaution. He was just about to emerge from his hiding spot when the three cultivators from the Golden Jade Sect arrived on the scene, and he had overheard the entirety of their conversation.

  As such, he decided to reveal himself, and the three cultivators were given a massive fright during the process.

  After all, it appeared that Han Li was completely unscathed when all of them had thought that he would at least have been severely wounded, if not dead. The brocade-robed man was naturally ecstatic to see this, yet he was also quite alarmed by Han Li's power. Without even realizing it himself, he had unconsciously adopted a polite tone of voice, clearly regarding Han Li as an equal.

  "You're a very kind man, Brother Han. Seeing as this little girl had a personal squad of body refinement warriors to protect her, she's most likely not just some ordinary little girl. Have you tried asking about her origins, Brother Han?" The brocade-robed man inspected the little girl with a rather intrigued expression.