They wished to test their luck and acquire a few spirit medicines. Some wished to use the slaughter in the area as a means to break through their cultivation bottlenecks. To tell the truth, this served a similar purpose to beast torrents.
However, low-grade cultivators and body refiners didn’t dare to tread here as it would only mean death. Most of the life in these areas were vastly demons after all.
Under such circumstances, Han Li eventually made his way there after several years of hard travel.
Chapter 1295: Heavenly Origin Martial Equipment
“The Setting Sun Tomb!”
Demon and human alike called this place by that name.
To tell the truth, during ancient times, there weren't seven suns, but nine. But when the human and demon clans had first arrived in the spirit realm, an enormous battle swept through most of the races in the spirit realm.
Hundreds of characters with cultivation comparable to those in the Immortal realm battled throughout the spirit realm for an unknown reason.
As a result, not only did the weak perish, but vast lands, mountains, and seas underwent amazing changes, splitting the earth itself and destroying two of the suns.
It was said that one of the suns descended here, resulting in an enormous depression in the ground.
However, flying across this so-called depression would take a high-grade cultivator at least a year to fly through, even by using the full power of their magic treasures. The depressing itself contained countless mountain ranges and tens of giant lakes that spanned myriads of kilometers, not to mention anything of the forests and plains it contained.
It is said that even if ten million cultivators were to enter the Setting Sun Tomb, they would only amount to a drop in a vast ocean.
Such a large region naturally had a few human settlements on its border. One of the more well-known settlements was the cultivator controlled giant scale city “Setting Sun City”.
The city was constructed close to the Setting Sun Tomb. Although it was about the same in size to other cultivator cities, many mid and high-grade cultivators appeared there, ranking it among the top three cities in the Heavenly Origin Region. In addition to the cultivators there, there were also a large number of high-grade body refiners.
The body refiners possessed strength that was equivalent to the power of Foundation Establishment and Core Formation cultivators, but their number was at least ten times greater.
If it weren’t for the pitifully few numbers of peak grade body refiners and the Deity Transformation-stage cultivators present in the city, it would be difficult to call it a cultivator city.
But funnily enough, on the other side of the Setting Sun City in the demon lands, there was a city by the same name that was established by demon cultivators.
It was said the demon city was even larger than the human’s Setting Sun City.
High-grade demon cultivators gathered there in droves. There were even powerful human cultivators that went over to observe the city from a distance and gave honest descriptions of it.
However, Han Li held little interest towards the demon city.
At that moment, he was walking down one of the streets in the human Setting Sun City and was looking at the tidy tall stores to either side of him with an odd expression on his face.
This was just a common street in the city and the shopkeepers of these stores weren’t Qi Condensation cultivators, but low-grade body refiners.
The items being sold in this store ranged from demon beast materials to magic and spirit tools. There was a wide assortment of items, but there were no stores that specialized in selling common mortal items.
Not long after Han Li entered the gates of Setting Sun City, he walked down several streets and found a different scene each time.
This city was enormous. Even with a vast number of cultivators and body refiners, a majority of the people in the city were mortals. In fact, they lined the streets and could be spotted everywhere. However, they were all robust men and were exceptionally busy, running errands for cultivators and body refiners alike.
When Han Li turned a corner, he swept his gaze and suddenly found himself looking at a skinny man letting loose spittle on a group of people.
The man was a Qi Condensation cultivator and he was talking down to a group of common mortals. They looked miserable in the face of the cultivator’s torrent of words.
“Do you not know that this fanged beast pounced at my head as soon as it saw me. I, an Immortal master, with a mere sweep of his hand, released my Black Cloud Sword and easily lopped off its two claws. My magic tool can be exchanged for ten mid-grade spirit stones. Although it is only a low-grade magic tool, its might... Huh, who are you?” When a hand pressed on the skinny man’s shoulder, he hastily yelped and turned around, discovering a young man looking at him with a beaming smile.
Just as the skinny man thought to rebuke him, he noticed that the golden sparkling ring on Han Li’s finger. He then wore a forced smile and asked, “My name is Tiang Xing. Is there anything I can help you with?”
Body refiners that could wear spirit rings weren’t ordinary folk. They possessed power at mid-grade or higher. They weren’t someone that a trifling Qi Condensation cultivator could provoke.
“My name is Han,” Han Li calmly said, “I just saw how happy you were chatting and it seemed that you know much about the city. I hoped you could answer a few of my questions or even be my guide for a few days if that’s possible.”
The skinny man’s face lit up and he said, “So it turned out that Brother Han has just arrived in this city. Well, you found the right person! While I won’t say that I know everything about this city, I did live here for a few decades. But might I ask how you plan on employing me?”
Han Li rubbed his chin and bluntly proposed, “I’ll give you ten spirit stones for each day.”
The skinny man took a close look at Han Li and then smiled, saying, “That is too little. Please give me a bit more. I am a cultivator too. I can get that number of spirit stones by fetching spirit medicines outside.”
Han Li snorted. Although he disliked fussing over little matters, he didn’t want the skinny man to be greedy and bluntly said, “Ten spirit stones is already much. Let’s see you find some spirit medicines outside and not be afraid of being a demon beast’s dinner. I’ll give you twenty spirit stones and that will be all.”
“Alright, I agree! You lot can continue talking. This Immortal master and I will be heading out first.” Seeing that Han Li was unhappy, the skinny man quickly agreed and waved his hand to the others behind him.
When the mortals heard this, they immediately dispersed.
“May I ask where you wish to go?” The skinny man cautiously asked while attempting to guess Han Li’s strength.
Body refiners and cultivators differed. A body refiner’s cultivation depended on the hardiness of their body. It couldn't be determined with spiritual sense.
Han Li turned around and spoke without looking at him. “First bring me to the nearby spirit tool and materials shops. Give me an introduction to the city as well.”
The skinny man quickly followed after Han Li and eloquently spoke, “That will be no problem. Setting Sun City has eight main districts. Three of them are occupied by ordinary people. Five of them are the shops and quarters for body refiners and cultivators. However, there are a few differences in these five districts.
In four of them, including this one, everyone can sell and buy as they please. But in the fifth district, everyone must pay a spirit stone to be present there. It is the center of Setting Sun City.
Be it quality spirit tools or top-grade treasures, they are all exchanged in the heart of the city. Most of the large businesses in the Heavenly Origin Region are also gathered there. I heard even spirit treasures are sold there.”
“Spirit treasures?” Han Li’s heart stirred, but he maintained a calm expression, “I don’t care about those. Tell me about other things.”
“
That is so. Information on spirit treasures won’t do much for you. On the other hand, these businesses will have many top-grade spirit tools for sale. Ah yes, there is some information you might be interested in, Brother Han. I heard that one of the auction houses acquired a set of martial tools that the Heavenly Origin Sage used back when, calling them the Heavenly Origin Martial Equipment. They are preparing to bid them off.
The set has five items, each a top-grade article equivalent to a cultivator’s magic treasure. It is said that these spirit tools can be used to cultivate a body refiner’s body with a different, more powerful strength. This was before the Heavenly Origin Sage cultivated spirit roots and still managed to slay many formidable enemies. When this information spread out, many high-grade body refiners stayed in the city, preparing to join in the auction.” The skinny’s man’s words caused Han Li to stop in his tracks.
“The Heavenly Origin Martial Equipment! It truly has such wondrous abilities?” Han Li finally showed his interest.
“It should prove true. These are words that the auction released.” The skinny man pledged, slapping his chest.
After a moment of silence, Han Li asked, “When does the auction start?”
“Although they didn’t give any concrete dates, it should be in four months at the latest. The auction doesn’t dare to keep so many high-grade body refiners waiting.” When the skinny man heard this, his heart trembled. Could it be he came across a stroke of luck? The person before him was a high-grade body refiner. Although he possessed a young face, he might have preserved his appearance with a medicine pill.
As Han Li thought of this, Tian Xing became unconsciously reserved.
In the following moment, Han Li asked a few more questions about the Heavenly Origin Martial Equipment. Furthermore, he also inquired about other areas in the city.
Although feeling somewhat bewildered, the skinny man answered all of Han Li’s questions and led Han Li down several streets until they arrived at a store specialized in spirit tools and their materials.
Although he heard that the top-grade items were being sold in the heart of the city, he didn’t plan to immediately head there.
Although spirit tools and their materials were considered rare, they were still far more common than materials needed for magic and ancient treasures. It was also possible he wouldn’t be able to find suitable spirit tool materials if he looked at a place specializing in selling higher quality goods.
Of course, they would have top-grade spirit tools without a doubt.
When Han Li walked into the store, he felt his spirits roused.
Although he thought about using the dangers of the Setting Sun Tomb to see if he could break through the bottleneck of the final stage, he would need to make preparations or his life would be in danger.
He first planned on refining two top-grade spirit tools that were to his satisfaction, giving him a greater chance of victory in high battles.
But from what he heard about the Heavenly Origin Martial Equipment, he feared it would be difficult to acquire. He had many spirit stones, but he might not have an opportunity to bid on the items.
It would also attract too much attention to himself. After some further thought, he abandoned the idea of bidding for it and planned on refining his own spirit tools.
Chapter 1296: Spirit Lord Huang Liang
Han Li examined the spirit tools materials in various stores, passing through at least eight of them but finding nothing to his liking. He let out an inward sigh.
The materials in these stores weren’t bad, some could definitely be considered high quality. But with Han Li’s Vajra Arts about to reach its peak, these materials wouldn’t prove very useful to him. If he used them to refine a spirit tool, they would only amount to the level of the golden wyrm sword he made for the fat merchant.
It just wouldn’t be useful for him.
Looking at Han Li with a probing gaze, the skinny man Tian Xing quickly asked, “What? Were those materials not good enough for Brother Han?”
“I have no use for those materials.” Han Li shook his head, making no effort to hide his disappointment.
“If they aren’t good enough for you, then I will bring you to another place. There are a few peculiar items there. However, I won’t guarantee it will have what you want.” Worthy of being a local, Tian Xing immediately thought of another place.
“Oh? Go ahead.” When Han Li heard this, his interest was piqued.
The two left the street and fetched a beast carriage.
But just as Han Li set foot on it, he suddenly heard a dragon’s roar in the sky, followed by a tiger's cry.
Those two sounds overlapped and spread through the nearby air, causing an uproar amongst mortals and cultivators alike.
Han Li’s attention also turned to the source of the sound.
Han Li quickly saw a black dot shooting around in the air, quickly arriving above him.
It was a strange three-headed beast with one tiger and one dragon head. It pulled a faint azure carriage quickly through the air. The sounds of the beast quickly faded into the distance.
“Spirit Lord Huang Liang left his cave residence. How is that possible?” Tian Xing cried out.
“Who is that person?” Han Li asked.
Tian Xing was startled by Han Li’s question and couldn't help but examine Han Li with an odd gaze.
Han Li blinked and chuckled, “What? Could it be a flower bloomed on my face?”
“It appears that Brother Han has come from a place far away.”
“You mean to say this person is quite famous in Setting Sun City?” Han Li frowned.
Tian Xing excitedly explained, “Although the city master is a mid Deity Transformation-stage cultivator, the strongest cultivator isn’t him, but rather, Spirit Lord Huang Liang who lived in a nearby mountain for over ten thousand years. It is said that he is at the stage where he merged five elements, an early Spatial Tempering-stage cultivator.”
“Spatial Tempering stage!” Han Li’s heart trembled.
When he became a Deity Transformation-stage cultivator, Han Li came to understand the huge gap between Deity Transformation-stage and Spatial Tempering-stage. In the past few decades in the spirit realm, the high grade of cultivation he heard of was the Integration stage. The three human sovereigns were examples that completed that realm of cultivation.
From what he heard from mortals and other cultivators, he never heard any rumors of Great Ascension or ascension tribulation.
It was as if the highest grade existences in the spirit realm never made an appearance.
Of course, it was possible, he was interacting with the lower rungs of society where such information was sparse.
After they boarded the beast carriage, Tian Xing excitedly gave Han Li some information regarding Spirit Lord Huang Liang, but most of it was regarding his grand reputation.
Han Li listened to it with a smile but said nothing in response.
As a result, the carriage rushed through the city for several hours before suddenly stopping at the end of an unfamiliar street.
Han Li leaped off the carriage and looked around him to find a large store.
The store appeared uncommon.
The door was rather tall and was decorated with provocative gold colors. The words Sky World Pavilion was written on its sign.
The sides of the door were two three-meter-tall iron pillars. There were silver chains that chained red lizard-like creatures to the pillars.
The two creatures immediately stood up when they saw Han Li descend from the carriage and they looked at him with a hostile gaze.
“Let’s go!” Tian Xing looked at the beasts without much care, and fished out a yellow tile, waving it at the two beasts.
The two lizards then let out a strange roar and lazily crouched back on the ground, allowing the two to pass.
When Han Li arrived inside, he unconsciously frowned.
There was only a simple room that spanned over two hundred meters side.
Although a few goods were on display, most of the place was empty.
At the corner of the room, there was a staircase with a chair next to it. A sickly old man with a drooping nose sat on it, half asleep as if he weren’t expecting any guests.
“Old Xu, wake up! I brought a customer!” Tian Xing bluntly walked several steps forward and shook the old man’s shoulder.
“A customer? Where?” The old man lazily opened his eyes, appearing only half-awake.
Han Li examined the old shopkeeper and calmly said, “I heard this store had a few peculiar items so I thought to take a look.”
The shopkeeper’s gaze focused on Han Li for a long while before he broke out in a smile, “The customer wants peculiar items? That will be easy. This shop specializes in unordinary items, selling them to those who need them. What are you looking for?”
“Spirit tool materials!” Han Li calmly said.
“Yi! We don’t get many of those. However, I do have two such items. Do you want me to fetch them?” The shopkeeper smiled and then walked up the staircase.
When Han Li looked at the shopkeeper’s back, Han Li narrowed his eyes and said, “This person seems to be a body refiner and an accomplished one at that!”
Tian Xing explained, “Of course. Old Xu was a famous high-grade body refiner in the past. But a few decades ago, he encountered mishaps in the Setting Sun Tomb. There was a ferocious poison that sapped away all the strength in his body. All he could do was open this shop.”
“So it was like that!” Han Li nodded in recognition.
Tian Xing smiled and thought to ask Han Li about what he thought of the old man when suddenly they heard a beast snarl, followed by a shout, “Beasts! You’re courting death!”
Two muffled thuds sounded as if something heavy landed.
Han Li and Tian Xing astonishedly turned around to find a man and a woman standing outside. The two beasts standing guard were lying motionlessly on their backs.
Tian Xing yelled out in alarm, but when he heard the beasts whimper, he sighed in relief.
Han Li glanced at the pair that arrived.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 720