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

by Translator: Johnchen

  With azure light glinting from his ring, the black spear trembled and flew into his hand.

  The huge ape then dropped down from the tree.

  With the spear in hand, Han Li blurred as he headed deeper into the forest.

  A moment later, silence returned to the area.

  A long while later, azure light flashed from a nearby tree to reveal a ball of green light. Past the light was the form of an inch-large person.

  This small person wore a long green robe, a curved body, and a picturesque face. This miniature person was clearly a beautiful woman.

  She looked in the direction that Han Li left and frowned.

  A yellow light slowly rose from one of the bushes to reveal an old man the same size as the green light. As he held a white crutch in his hand, he turned to the woman and grumbled, “Tian Ying, why didn't you attack. He was only a high-grade human body refiner. He should be easy for the two of us to take on.”

  The green-robed woman glanced at the old man and indifferent answered, “Huang Shi, we didn’t come here to kill humans and demons. We came here to hunt the rebel and take back their divine blood. We’d best not occupy ourselves with other matters.

  The old man shook his head and said, “That person has the power of a Nascent Soul-stage cultivator at most. If we attacked him together, it shouldn’t take much trouble to deal with him. Our spirit clans are great enemies with humans and demons. We should take all measures to weaken human forces when we can.”

  After a moment of silence, the woman explained, “If I was certain we could kill that person, I wouldn’t have hesitated. But there was something odd about him, so I thought it’d be best to avoid provoking anything hidden.”

  “Something odd? Tian Ying, what did you discover?” Huang Shi hastily asked.

  The woman’s gaze flickered and she asked, “Do you think that person is truly a body refiner?”

  Slight confusion appeared on his face. “What do you mean? That person used spirit tools to kill a Core Formation-level demon beast, but I still wasn’t able to sense any spiritual power from him. What is he if not a body refiner?”

  The woman slowly said, “As you should know, I am a tree spirit. I am able to see through things that others cannot. That person’s spiritual sense was immensely powerful, about the same level as ours. According to my knowledge, body refiners can’t possess spiritual sense of that level. It is possible he is a Deity Transformation cultivator.”

  Huang Shi wore an expression of astonishment, “An immensely strong spiritual sense? You mean to say that person isn’t a body refiner, but a Deity Transformation-stage cultivator?”

  The woman solemnly said, “I didn’t say that. I can’t sense the existence of spiritual power in his body, but that doesn’t rule out the possibility. After all, human techniques are no less inferior than spirits like us. It isn’t rare for there to truly be such a secret technique. Our objective this journey is to hunt down the rebel and retrieve their divine blood. We don’t want to do anything dangerous and mistakenly arouse trouble.”

  “That is reasonable. If he truly was a Deity Transformation cultivator, we definitely wouldn’t be able to kill him. And even if we were to run away, it would still be considered a loss. In that case, humans are actually quite sly. High-grade demons that come across that human will encounter great misfortune. Who would think that a Deity Transformation cultivator was disguising himself as a body refiner. Even similar-grade existences would suffer from being caught off guard.” The yellow-robed old man spoke with a trace of schadenfreude.

  After a moment of thought, the woman thought of something and asked, “Ah yes, Tie Li and Chi Mie should’ve already entered this place. If something happened to them, our elemental spirit clans should’ve sent more people. Do you think they sent a spirit from the water clan?”

  “That is unclear. The water spirit clan is the most mysterious of the five elements, and divine blood is the most important to them. It wouldn’t be odd for them to send someone.” Huang shi chuckled.

  “That is so. However, I heard that the artifact spirit clan is sending men to meddle with this matter.” The woman said with a hesitant expression.

  Anger suddenly welled on Huang Shi’s face. “The artifact spirit clan?” They have the face to send men? The rebel were originally from their clan.”

  “If those words are true, then the tool spirit clan believes that have a greater responsibility to kill the rebel.” The woman gently replied.

  Huang Shi coldly snorted and angrily said, “That is nice to hear, but they’re really just after the divine blood.”

  “Enough. Regardless of what is said, the artifact spirit clan understands humans and demons the most. They will be useful in killing the rebel. I reckon that dared to come here because of some relation they have with the humans. I reckon that the human clan have sent men to receive them. We must retrieve the divine blood before they meet.” The woman solemnly said.

  Chapter 1299: Moths

  “That’s true. We’ve already heavily injured the rebels and have their tracks. So long as we guard the entrance to the human realm, they won’t be able to escape. When reinforcements come, it will be impossible for them to escape.” Huang Shi said.

  The green-robed woman nodded in agreement.

  The two spirits continued their discussion for a moment more and their lights flickered before they disappeared from the tree.

  At that same moment in a hidden room in Setting Sun City, there were several people of unordinary bearing sitting around a table.

  A skinny monk wearing a necklace of black prayer beads turned to the white-robed middle-aged man and asked, “City Lord Lan. You say that these spirit clan men are trapped in the Setting Sun Tomb and that we must recuse them?”

  The white-robed man sullenly said, “That’s right. I just received this information. As they fled, they were heavily injured by pursuers from the spirit clan. With more spirit clan pursuers close on their tail and their grave injuries, they won’t be able to make it to the city. We will need to receive them.”

  A dark-skinned man built like iron suddenly asked, “Brother Lan, what are these spirit clan men carrying? Now that matters are so close, tell us the truth. Not only did you call for us, but you also invited Senior Huang Liang out from seclusion. You would only do this for something of grave importance.”

  The last of them, a pale man wearing wide yellow robes heard his name mentioned and said, “Fellow Daoist Jin is right. I rushed over here at the city lord’s request while my recent efforts still remain unstable. I am also quite interested in what the spirit clan men are carrying. Can City Lord Lan shed some light on this?”

  The pale man was the renowned Spirit Lord Huang Liang, and the white-robed man was the Setting Sun City Lord!

  The city lord wryly laughed and said, “Senior Lu, Fellow Daoist Jin, if I knew what they were carrying, I wouldn’t have kept silent. However, I have received orders from the Sage Sovereign’s palace to receive them.”

  “Orders from the Sage Sovereign?” The monk and the large man revealed alarm, and a glint lit up from the city lord’s eyes.

  The monk said with a doubtful tone, “Then this matter must be personally related to the sovereign.”

  City Lord Lan respectfully said, “I don’t know, but even if the sovereign didn’t personally issue the command, it still came from the palace, so there may as well be no difference. Furthermore, when the palace issued the order, they sent a special envoy to our city. Considering the vast distance from Heavenly Origin City and the many lands with unstable spatial tears in between, it should take them quite some time to arrive. We will need to protect the spirit clan men and ensure they aren’t harmed, so the envoy can see them.”

  Huang Liang smiled and said, “Since they are orders from the sovereign's palace, there is nothing to discuss. However, I am quite interested in what those spirit clan fellows are carrying.”

  The monk and the large man exchanged a glance but kept silent.<
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  “Since Senior Lu and you Fellow Daoists have no objections, let’s head into the Setting Sun Tomb within two days and find those spirit clan members. They have concealed themselves...”

  “Who is there!” When City Lord Lan was about to speak of the spirit clan rebels’ location, Huang Liang yelled and swept at a wall.

  Boom. A yellow crystalline hand appeared outside and flew out.

  In a flash of grey light, something was caught from the outside. Soon after, the object in the crystalline hand exploded into countless grey strands, scattering off in every direction.

  “Not good! Myriad Ghost Threads!” Huang Liang shouted out. He waved his sleeve and released a yellow mist concealing his body.

  When the others heard this, they were also vastly alarmed.

  The monk quickly grabbed the prayer beads on his neck and turned them into black clouds that covered his body. As for the large dark-skinned man, he snorted, taking out a black iron shield to block his front.

  The city lord spat out a crystalline ice lotus. In a flare of blue light, he disappeared from sight.

  Just as the men were preparing to deal with this surprise attack, the overflowing threads suddenly flashed and disappeared.

  The men were stunned in the following moment.

  “An illusion!”

  Spirit Lord Huang Liang was the first to react and he waved his arm.

  The yellow crystalline hand flew back to him.

  Under closer inspection, the hand held a trace of silver dust that faintly sparkled.

  Huang Liang extended his finger and rubbed it on before bringing it to his eye.

  A short moment later, the silver dust turned red, then yellow, and eventually disappeared.

  Huang Liang wore an icy expression and said, “It was a mature Illusion Flame Moth doppelganger that detonated. The spirit insect was able to turn its body formless for a short time and sneak into this place, and a trace of its spiritual sense should’ve been able to escape during the distraction. I am certain its true body must be near Setting Sun City. I suppose it heard much of our conversation. Ah yes, the moth dust possessed the Qi of other demons. The insect should’ve been nurtured by the demon clan.”

  When City Lord Lan heard this, his expression turned unsightly.

  Without hesitation, the city lord announced. “We will head out tomorrow. We cannot allow the demons to seize them first.”

  Two hours later, on a small nameless mountain fifty kilometers away from Setting Sun City, a delicate youth sat cross-legged on a boulder, meditating with his eyes shut. On his head sat a fist-sized colorful moth. It was fluttering its wings and releasing gorgeous specks of light.

  There was a slender palace-robed woman that stood behind the youth. She had sharp eyes, thick eyebrows and carried a baleful aura. She was the black phoenix demon cultivator that Han Li encountered outside Yu Yuan City.

  This proud woman was now obediently standing behind the youth and was respectfully waiting in silence.

  When the sound of tearing air whistled, a thin grey strand returned to them and disappeared into the moth on the youth’s head.

  The youth then opened his eyes to reveal a clear intelligence.

  He waved his arm above him and extended a fair white finger.

  The moth gracefully flew off and landed on the youth’s finger.

  Soon after, light began to pulse from the moth’s body as it intermittently changed color.

  After the time it took to burn a stick of incense, the moth’s light abruptly stopped and it returned to normal.

  With an odd expression on his face, the youth muttered, “Old Huang Liang’s emergence to the city was related to a matter involving the spirit clan. In addition, a person has been sent by the Sage Sovereign. It appears those spirit clan rebels are carrying something important. It seems that I haven’t spent my Illusion Flame Moth’s doppelganger in vain.”

  After a moment more of silence, he had the moth fly back onto his head before being climbed off the boulder.

  “Niece Xiao, I heard the young girl you brought back to the Black Phoenix Clan possesses a variant of the True Phoenix Clan’s blood, an astonishing talent. I heard she’s already broken through to be a grade five demon. Is this true?” The youth asked the woman behind him.

  “It is true, Senior Huan. That young girl Dai’er possesses some talent!” The young woman respectfully replied.

  “Hehe, as it so happens, our Jasper Mouse Clan also acquired a talented youngster. Wouldn’t it be fine for the two of them to marry?”

  The woman was momentarily stunned before replying with a smile, “This... I would agree to Senior’s deeply favorable suggestion, but Dai’er is the granddaughter of a clan elder. She is not someone I can make a decision for.”

  “Of course, I am simply asking you to relay the message to Brother Gongsun. The youth I mentioned possesses an equivalent status, so I had made the suggestion.” The youth said.

  The woman let out an inward sigh of relief and immediately said, “Yes, I will be sure to send the message.”

  “Good. So long as Brother Gongsun agrees, I’ll send over people to your clan when the time comes to officialize the marriage. You should’ve heard me mention that a spirit is seeking shelter from the humans. It seems they carry a precious treasure that even stirs the Sage Sovereign.

  While I don’t know the details, I cannot allow those humans to acquire this item. With your phoenix clan’s spatial abilities, you should be able to conceal yourself in the Setting Sun Tomb. Gather our fellow demons and inform them that they must find this spirit before the humans get their hands on them. I will secretly follow old Huang Liang.”

  “Yes, I follow your orders!” The woman said with a respectful tone.

  Soon after, she waved her hand in front of her and a white arc flashed in front of her.

  The woman blurred, then disappearing from sight.

  The youth stood in his original place and muttered to himself for a long while. Then, yellow light lit up from his body and he slowly sank to the ground, the mouth still on him.

  Soon, those of the demon and human clans received orders from the higher echelons to find the spirit hidden inside the Setting Sun Tomb no matter what the cost.

  Both sides were dumbstruck by the reward that was offered. They included spirit pills that massively raised one’s cultivation as well as an astronomical number of spirit stones. They even included a bottle of Huang Liang’s precious Heaven Heart Pills.

  As the Setting Sun Tomb became restless from the heavy reward, everyone began to frantically search for the spirit.

  Originally, when the humans and demons encountered one another and felt their strength was too similar, they would peacefully go on their own way out of fear.

  Now with heavy rewards being offered, battles began to erupt between both sides.

  But there was one person that was completely ignorant of this, Han Li.

  At that moment, he found himself in his first dangerous battle since entering the Setting Sun Tomb.

  Chapter 1300: Ice Arrows, Silver Hand

  When Han Li looked at the small beast over a hundred meters away, he let out a deep sigh. He panted for a short moment before his breath returned to normal.

  However, his eyes didn’t leave the beast for a moment.

  The leopard was the same size as a common cat, but it possessed a shocking speed.

  Even Han Li’s Shifting Smoke Steps still paled in speed.

  As a result, a few swipes managed to land on his azure robes during the battle, revealing the grey armor and golden flesh underneath.

  Not only was the beast’s speed astonishing, but its claws were incredibly sharp as well.

  There were varying degrees of scars on his armor. Even his cultivated hardy body had blood drawn from the feline’s claws.

  Fortunately, under the effects of various medicines, fruits, and treasures, his flesh had become as hardy as an ordinary magic treasure and possessed shocking regenerative ab
ilities. In a short moment, Han Li was able to heal his wounds.

  Even so, Han Li still felt quite gloomy.

  When he first encountered the leopard, it appeared soundly sleep on top of a nearby tree and appeared harmless.

  At that time, Han Li’s mind welled with a child-like curiosity and thought to pet the small beast.

  But he hadn’t expected at all that he would startle the beast and send it flying into a ferocious rage.

  In a few leaps, it would surround him with a dozen after images attacking him.

  As he was unable to release his spiritual sense, he was unable to grasp its location even with his spirit eyes and suffered much from it.

  Eventually, the small beast was forced to retreat with minute scars covering its body.

  Helpless, Han Li could only use the Smoke Sifting Steps to its maximum level and circulate the enormous power of his body into his arms, flicking his spear until it became a cloud of black light.

  As the spear shadow whistled, it inspired fear in the beast, stalling off its attacks.

  But no matter how powerful Han Li may be, he couldn't sustain his attack for long.

  As the spear in his hand somewhat slowed, the leopard swept through spear mist and swiped at Han Li’s throat.

  In Han Li’s furious alarm, he desperately exerted a speed greater than before and quickly turned the spear to block the leopard’s claw.

  The small beast was greatly alarmed and jumped ten meters away. Then it cautiously stared at Han Li with a pair of green eyes.

  Han Li and the leopard found themselves in a deadlock.

  The beast was extremely gloomy to find a strange character such as Han Li who possessed immense strength and impenetrable flesh.

  With the formation of the stalemate, Han Li used this opportunity to thoroughly examine the leopard with narrowed eyes.

  Soon, Han Li let out a sigh.

  Apart from its small size, it appeared to be an ordinary leopard. After searching through his memories of the records he read in Setting Sun City, he wasn’t able to think of what this ferocious ancient beast could be.