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

by Translator: Johnchen

  The valley was lush and verdant. Apart from its natural beauty, there didn’t seem to be anything else there.

  The azure streak circled in the air and suddenly dropped down onto the valley.

  The light faded and Han Li appeared a hundred meters above a stone wall.

  He took a look around and found nothing out of the ordinary. Then with a wave of his sleeve, he released a golden talisman that vanished into the wall.

  Han Li quietly waited.

  A short moment later, something suddenly changed.

  A layer of grey light appeared from the surface of the wall and a six-meter-tall passage appeared before him.

  The passage was in the shape of a square and was made of grey stone that shined with a faint light.

  Han Li smiled and head downward.

  After walking over a hundred and fifty meters, he came across the white jade door covered in light.

  Without any hesitation, he formed an incantation gesture and muttered an incantation. The light trembled and split open to form a passage that Han Li leisurely walked through.

  Behind the door, there was a hundred-meter-wide hall. Apart from twenty-some stone chairs and a large stone desk at the center, there was nothing else.

  Furthermore, there were already nine cultivators sitting on the chairs. There were men and women, all of them in different attire, but each of them with cultivation at Deity Transformation and above.

  When these cultivators saw Han Li enter, a few of them smiled and called out to him.

  “Brother Han had also come!”

  “You’ve come quite early.”

  “I heard Brother Han managed to capture a green shadow alive. Tch tch, he is the pride of us ascended cultivators!”

  Han Li smiled and saluted them. He then went to the corner of the hall and looked for a stone chair.

  The other cultivators that didn't call out to him remained calm or ignored him entirely.

  Han Li paid no attention to them either and simply closed his eyes.

  Not long after Han Li took a seat, more cultivators began to enter the hall and he uttered a greeting to his acquaintances.

  Four hours later, there were sixteen cultivators in the hall. No further cultivators entered after a long while, but nobody had any private discussions. There were all quietly waiting in their seats.

  A long while later, a man’s voice sounded out from the large hall. It appears that everyone that planned on coming has arrived, or they are occupied with a mission. Brother Zhao, let’s start.”

  “Yes, just about everyone has arrived. Let’s do as you say, Brother Wen!”

  The voice sounded quite familiar. As his heart stirred, he opened his eyes.

  Two middle-aged men walked into the hall. One of them was white-robed and had a smile. The other had a pale hairless face and was expressionless.

  It was Cultivator Wen who gave Han Li his merit bade not long before and Zhao Wugui who brought him to the city.

  When the two Spatial Tempering cultivators entered the hall, they began to stir. It was clear most of them recognized them.

  Zhao Wugui swept his sights past them and indifferently said, “Originally, it should’ve been Fellow Daoist Wen who would take charge over the meeting of newly ascended cultivators. Because an important matter occurred, we’ll be taking over. I hope there are no objections.”

  The cultivators felt their hearts tremble and they remained silent.

  When the white-robed middle-aged man saw this, he wore a pleasant expression, “Originally, only Fellow Daoist Zhao was supposed to take charge, but recent affairs have become somewhat peculiar so there are a few important matters I must discuss with you all. That is why I am here.”

  An old man with a red nose suddenly asked, “Does the peculiar matter Senior Wen mentioned have to do with a possible attack on the city by foreign tribes?”

  When the others heard his question, they felt their hearts trembled and they all stared at the two Spatial Tempering cultivators, waiting for an answer.

  Zhao Wugui coldly said, “We’ll be talking about that matter later. In accordance to common practice, we’ll first host the trade meeting and then share cultivation experiences at the end. If anyone has any difficulties in cultivation, we can offer some guidance. But like Fellow Daoist Fan, it will come at considerable cost. Finally, if you believe there is any interesting information, you may report it to us. If it is useful, we’ll be rewarding you with spirit medicines such as Earth Cleansing Pills.”

  Chapter 1356: Ascended Cultivators

  When they heard Zhao Wugui, all the cultivators raised no objections.

  Zhao Wugui and Cultivator Wen took a glance at each other and promptly walked to the large stone table in the middle of the hall.

  The nearby cultivators promptly stood up and respectfully opened a few seats for them.

  The two nodded and they promptly took two of the seats.

  After the two Spatial Tempering cultivators sat down, they began the trade meeting without a hitch.

  Han Li used Myriad Year Profound Jade to trade for several rare talismans.

  As of current, his attainments in talismans were at a crucial point. Although these talismans didn’t have any silver runes, they were still quite distinct. He may experience some insight from them under careful studying.

  With all trading finished, everyone began to speak a bit about their cultivation insights or their unique experiences with secret techniques.

  Although almost everyone spoke in simple or vague terms and a few spoke in detail, any crucial points were deliberately omitted. Those that were interested wouldn’t urge them on but send them a voice transmission afterwards. The two would then conduct an exchange for their own techniques or insights.

  The two Spatial Tempering cultivators paid no mind to this.

  Having recently delved into the Dao of Talismans, Han Li merely spoke of a few shallow areas of his understanding.

  However, it was clear there weren’t many ascended cultivators in the hall that were interested in talismans. They didn’t particularly pay much attention to him.

  But when Cultivator Wen and Zhao Wugui heard Han Li mention something related to silver rune talismans, a trace of astonishment briefly appeared on their faces.

  Although there were many high-grade cultivators that comprehended silver runes, it would be incredibly difficult to study talismans without direct instruction.

  After the group of cultivators finished speaking of their experiences, there were a few people that impatiently raised a few difficulties they experienced in their cultivation to Zhao Wugui and Cultivator Wen.

  However, Cultivator Wen only offered a few brief words in response and faintly smiled. As for Zhao Wugui, he gave them a few words in voice transmission.

  Whether they nodded or shook their head, the cultivators immediately sat back down and asked nothing else.

  These newly ascended cultivators more or less experienced difficulties in their cultivation. Apart from Han Li, all of them were unwilling to abandon the opportunity.

  Furthermore, Han Li was cultivating the dual body magic cultivation art, the Provenance True Devil Arts. Although there were areas he didn’t understand, no one had cultivated it before, so he was disinclined to ask questions about it. He simply sat at the side.

  Two hours later, everyone finished speaking and they began to trade their information to them for medicine pills.

  With this, all one would expect from an ordinary meeting was finished.

  At that moment, Cultivator Wen sighed and he slowly stood up.

  “Alright, since we’ve finished all minor affairs, we’ve brought a few orders from Elder Lei Luo. Listen well.”

  The other cultivators felt their hearts tremble and their faces turned grave.

  Deep Heaven City had five human elders. Master Lei Luo and Monk Jin Yue were two of them.

  The two were Body Integration cultivators of profound ability and were both ascended cultivators. However
, Jin Yue didn’t bother with external affairs and spent most of his time in secluded cultivation. Master Lei Luo became the leader of the city’s ascended cultivators as a result. He had an unrivaled prestige amongst ascended cultivators.

  However, Han Li had yet to see either in person ever since he’s arrived at the city. He’s seen the other three human elders during their lectures at the Deep Heaven Hall.

  Zhao Wugui’s cold voice sounded through the hall. “Elder Lei Luo gave a command not long before. He’s finally acquired some concrete information. Within ten years, Deep Heaven City will most likely be besieged by various foreign tribes. There is a slight possibility it will be an attack by three or more foreign tribes. Although the odds are next to nothing, there is a slight chance that there will be a repeat of the Hundred Tribe War.”

  Although many in the hall already anticipated what Zhao Wugui had said, their hearts still sank upon hearing them. Most even turned pale when they heard the mention of the Hundred Tribe War.

  Although it had only been about a hundred years since these cultivators ascended from a lower realm, they were still familiar with the legends of the ancient war.

  It was a threat that nearly resulted in the extinction of humans and demons.

  According to the last war, the fighting took ten thousand years to finish and was cruel beyond imagination.

  Sitting in the corner of the room and having spoken little this entire time, Han Li let out a long sigh and wryly smiled.

  It appeared these circumstances were far words than he expected. He’d have to think of a plan to save himself.

  Otherwise, if a large war was about to erupt, a Body Integration stage cultivator would have difficulty surviving, let alone a trifling Deity Transformation cultivator.

  A barefoot man stood up with a salute and respectfully asked, “Why did Senior tell this information to low cultivation people like us? Wouldn’t this secret information leak?”

  Zhao Wugui coldly said, “Fellow Daoists, you all cultivated in lower realms with sparse spiritual Qi until you reached this stage. You prevailed against every difficulty to ascend to the spirit realm. Your wisdom is unordinary. So I will make it clear. In these coming years, all ascended cultivators holding positions as dark azure guards will be placed in important positions. If a dangerous matter appears, the panel of elders will choose us to first deal with it. Although an ascended cultivator joins us every several years, most of the high-grade cultivators that died for Deep Heaven City were ascended cultivators like us. In truth, the number of ascended cultivators doesn’t even amount to a tenth of the total number of high-grade cultivators in the city. The cultivators native to the spirit realm hold safer positions. Over the past few years, you should’ve come to realize this. A few of you should’ve carried out orders for extremely dangerous missions. You might now know this, but your current status is a result of the solidarity of ascended cultivators and the painstaking effort of Elder Lei Luo. Before Monk Jin Yue and Elder Lei Luo entered the panel of elders, it is said that the treatment of ascended cultivators like us was even worse. A small half of ascended cultivators would often perish in the line of duty.”

  All of the cultivators wore stiff expressions upon hearing this.

  All the cultivators felt these worse to be true. Over recent years, they personally witnessed how ascended cultivators were often assigned to extremely dangerous missions where death was likely.

  If this weren’t the case, there would be more of their number in the hall.

  Han Li remained expressionless.

  Ever since he became a dark azure guard, he was assigned to the Floating Dawn Swamp and other dangerous areas. And of the squads accompanying him, most of their leaders would also be ascended cultivators.

  He long felt suspicion over this.

  As a result, when Zhao Wugui sought him out to participate in this meeting, he readily agreed.

  As for the native cultivators, he was able to sense a trace of fear they felt towards ascended cultivators. Otherwise, when Old Eccentric Ming and the others failed to acquire the treasure from his spirit land, they wouldn’t have left so easily. All the more reason to accept the invitation, when a pillar of support came to find him.

  Of course, after he joined these meetings, no other matters sought him out and no different missions were forced on his small squad. Naturally, this was also because the Floating Dawn swamp was already a dangerous area.

  Cultivator Wen then said, “The reason why we’re telling you this information is that Elder Lei Luo wishes to provide an opportunity to preserve the strength of ascended cultivators before he undergoes greater tribulation.”

  A woman in azure palace robes and a headscarf felt a spark of joy and said, “Does Senior mean that Elder Lei Luo has a method for us to leave Deep Heaven City and avoid the war?”

  A cold light glinted from Zhao Wugui’s eyes and he solemnly said, “The attack on the city is related to the survival of the human race as a whole. We may have some conflict with the other cultivators, but we cannot be negligent in our duty against the foreign tribes. If one dares to flee the city and abandon their duties against the foreign tribes, the enforcement squad won’t come to find you. We will personally execute you.”

  All cultivators in the hall were startled.

  The palace-robed woman was still brave. After some hesitation, she asked, “Then what did Senior mean?”

  Cultivator Wen chuckled, “Fellow Daoists, don’t misunderstand. Elder Lei Luo definitely won’t evade his duties. But he also doesn’t wish for all of us, the ascended cultivators, to die off either. As such, after some consideration, we’ve finally come up with a way to preserve our numbers. Although this method is quite dangerous, we’ve gathered you here to tell you about it. You may choose to participate in this plan.”

  Discussion quickly spread through the hall and the cultivators couldn't help but look at each other in dismay.

  Han Li frowned and narrowed his eyes.

  One of them slowly asked, “Before we make a choice, can Senior explain the plan?”

  Zhao Wugui coldly smiled, “It’s quite simple. Recently, Elder Lei Luo issued comparatively longer term assignments with heavy merits. These missions are extremely dangerous, so native cultivators won’t likely accept them. But if you complete these assignments, you will acquire great merits and justifiably avoid the war. If the war doesn’t happen, you can return to Deep Heaven City. If your cultivation isn’t enough and war does break out, you’ll be far from the war and preserve your life as one of our ascended cultivators. Hehe, let’s get the ugly talk out of the way first. According to our plans, those on assignments will have a fifty percent chance of survival. Whether or not you will accept them will be entirely up to you. After all, there will only be two choices when the foreign tribes attack. You can carry out the assignment or most likely die in the war. If you try to avoid both and flee the city, you should know what will happen next.”

  Chapter 1357: Spirit Insects Completion

  When the cultivators heard the two Spatial Tempering stage cultivators speak, they all felt a chill run down their bodies and their faces all changed.

  A coin flip for death. This assignment was just too dangerous, but it was only a likely possibility for the foreign tribes to invade. And if it were only an attack by a single tribe, they were confident they would survive.

  When that came to mind, the assignment seemed far more dangerous.

  Of course, a decision regarding one’s own life couldn't be considered simple. They needed to put much consideration over it.

  For a time, silence filled the hall.

  Cultivator Wen added, “Fellow Daoists, don’t need to immediately make a decision. These assignments will continue to be issued for a year. Furthermore, so long as you take the assignment, we’ll find someone to take over your original office in the guard. Don’t worry if you’re on regular assignments.”

  Han Li raised his head and said, “Senior Wen, even if we finish that assignm
ent, how will the matter of the Earth Cleansing Pill be resolved. Even if we complete the mission, we’ll perish to two-colored tribulation.”

  Zhao Wugui replied, “So it is Nephew Han. You don’t need to worry about that. These dangerous missions were meant to be putting everything at stake. Naturally, we will give you all the Earth Cleansing Pills you need, but they will be placed under a restriction.

  If you don’t truly attend to your mission, these Earth Cleansing Pills destroy themselves, so do not abandon your mission. You should understand the consequences.”

  “So it was like that. Thanks for the explanation, Senior.” Han Li nodded and calmly sat down.

  When several people in the room heard this, their faces remained unchanged, but they wryly smiled in their minds.

  The last of their hopes were annihilated.

  “We’ve already mentioned this all to you. The first wave of missions will be issued in half a month. If you do plan on taking the assignment, it will be best to prepare. Although Elder Lei Luo chose those assignments for you all in particular, if there are other cultivators that take them, nothing can be done about it.

  The meeting is now over. Everyone, return and think well about your choice.” With that said, Cultivator Wen ended the meeting with a smile.

  He then stood up with Zhao Wugui and they took the first steps out of the hall.

  The other cultivators remained still for a moment before heading out as well. Most of them frowned as if heavy thoughts weighed on their minds.

  Han Li wasn’t in a hurry to leave. Instead, he remained in his seat as his mind wandered.

  A short moment later, there were sparsely few in the hall.

  “Oh? Is Brother Han tempted to take the assignment?” One person walked up and asked Han Li with a friendly face.

  Han Li’s expression stirred and he looked at the person who approached him. He beamed and answered, “So it was Fairy Xuan. I am somewhat tempted. The Seniors arranged this choice so it was a method of self-preservation. It is only a bit too dangerous.”

  The woman in azure palace robes who approached Han Li was a mid Deity Transformation cultivator.