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

by Translator: Johnchen

  It appeared that he had made the right decision in using them.

  If it weren't for the fact that those treasures had delayed the lizard and the giant, he wouldn't have been able to get away even with his Thunderstorm Wings.

  After the spirit fruits were stolen, the massive lizard and the Thousand-Eyed Giant were absolutely furious, but they were temporarily trapped by the power of the lightning beads.

  Long Dong and the others were also given a fright by the immense power of Han Li's lightning beads, but all of them then immediately unleashed movement techniques to flee the scene in elation.

  During the process, they also unleashed concealment techniques to hide themselves from view.

  Thus, everything had disappeared from the nearby area aside from the two Spatial Tempering Stage beings, which were still trapped within the explosions from the lightning beads.

  Han Li was flying as quickly as he could using his Thunderstorm Wings, disappearing into the distance after just a few flashes.

  In order to ensure safety, Han Li even threw up a mouthful of blood essence to unleash his Bloodshadow Evasion Technique, thereby further enhancing his speed.

  After expending an extensive amount of effort to break free from the explosions, the lizard and the giant let loose a string of thunderous enraged roar upon discovering that all five cultivators had disappeared, along with the bunch of Zoysia Dragon Fruits.

  Several hours later, a dull thunderclap rang out atop a mountain peak tens of thousands of kilometers away. Immediately thereafter, Han Li emerged amid an arc of azure and white lightning.

  He then took a glance behind him, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

  The task that he had undertaken had been quite dangerous and he'd been forced to expend quite a bit of energy, but he had thankfully managed to secure the spirit fruits.

  As a safety precaution, Han Li released his spiritual sense to carefully scan through the surrounding area. After ascertaining that nothing was amiss there, he descended onto the mountain's summit.

  He flipped a hand over to produce a jade vial, and he poured out two crimson pills, which he quickly consumed.

  Even though he had only used his Bloodshadow Evasion Technique for a short time, the primordial world was quite a perilous place, and it was best to constantly maintain prime condition when possible.

  After swallowing the pills, a stream of cool and refreshing energy immediately began to circulate through his meridians.

  Han Li's expression eased as he summoned a jade box, which was as translucent as ice.

  He carefully removed the lid of the box to reveal a bunch of exuberant fist-sized purple fruits.

  He appraised the spirit fruits with an unblinking gaze before gently picking up a spirit fruit between two fingers and carefully assessing it.

  After a while, Han Li exhaled and nodded to himself. These were indeed Zoysia Dragon Fruits.

  This type of spirit fruit was one of the few Spatial Tempering Stage pill ingredients that produced seeds, thereby allowing it to be nurtured and reproduced. It was a type of spirit medicine that he'd had his eyes on for a long time, which was why he had been willing to take such a massive risk for it.

  Now that the spirit fruits had been secured, a smile finally appeared on Han Li's face.

  If he could find another ingredient known as the Soaring Cloud Glue, then refine those two ingredients along with some other secondary medicines, he'd be able to produce Soaring Dragon Pills, which were extremely alluring even to Spatial Tempering cultivators.

  A flash of excitement appeared in Han Li's eyes as these thoughts ran through his mind.

  However, his brows suddenly furrowed at this moment, and he turned toward a certain direction as his expression turned neutral once again.

  Moments later, a white streak of light approached Han Li from that direction.

  After a few flashes, the white streak of light appeared above Han Li's head. The light then receded to reveal a young man; it was none other than Long Dong.

  At this moment, his suit of yellow scale armor had already disappeared. As his gaze fell on the spirit fruits in Han Li's hands, an elated look immediately appeared on his face.

  "Haha, your abilities really are quite astonishing; to think that you'd truly be able to snatch the fruits away from those two fearsome beings! Let me see if they're really Zoysia Dragon Fruits."

  As soon as Long Dong landed on the mountain summit, he began to approach Han Li.

  "There's no hurry, Brother Long; let's all take a good look when the other fellow Daoists also arrive." A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face as spiritual light flashed within his hands, upon which the jade box disappeared.

  A hint of barely detectable killing intent flashed through Long Dong's eyes upon hearing this, but a thought then occurred to him, and his expression smoothed out. "You're right, Fellow Daoist Han. I was too hasty there."

  Thus, a smile appeared on his face as he made his way over to a large rock that was over 100 feet away from Han Li, and he sat down upon it with his legs crossed.

  Meanwhile, Han Li remained standing on the spot with his hands clasped behind his back, silently awaiting the arrival of the others.

  A short while later, Xiao Hong and the white-browed young man arrived on the scene, and both of them were also overjoyed that Han Li had actually been able to secure the spirit fruits.

  However, there was still one more comrade left to come, so they could only repress their excitement and emulate Long Dong, sitting down in silent meditation.

  Fifteen minutes later, just as everyone was beginning to speculate internally about whether something had happened to Ye Ying, a ball of golden light shot forth from the distance before landing on the mountain.

  "Sorry for making all of you wait, fellow Daoists. As I was passing through a forest, I just so happened to find a Myriad Year Green Spirit Wood, and it took me some time to dig it up from the ground," Ye Ying explained with a smile.

  "Myriad Year Green Spirit Wood? That's a superb material for refining wood-attribute treasures; you sure are quite lucky, Fellow Daoist Ye." Xiao Hong was rather surprised to hear this.

  "Hehe, surely you jest, Big Sister Xiao; a Green Spirit Wood can't even begin to compare to Zoysia Dragon Fruits. Brother Han, you managed to secure the fruits, right?" Ye Ying chuckled before turning her attention to Han Li.

  "I have, indeed. Everyone can gather around and have a look." Han Li nodded before sweeping a hand over his storage bracelet. The jade box appeared once again, and he carefully removed the lid to reveal its contents.

  A faint pleasant aroma wafted through the air, and everyone immediately turned their eyes toward the bunch of spirit fruits with expressions of rapt focus on their faces, trying to ascertain its authenticity with their spiritual sense.

  "It should be real." A flash of elation appeared on Xiao Hong's face as she made her assessment first. Moments later, everyone else also withdrew their spiritual sense with satisfied nods."Seeing as we've verified that the fruits are real, let's go ahead and split them. There are six fruits in total here, so there'll be one leftover after we each take one," Han Li said in a calm voice.

  Everyone's brows furrowed upon hearing this.

  "Six spirit fruits will indeed be rather difficult to split among us, but let's set that aside for now and distribute one fruit each to everyone first." The white-browed young man was growing a little impatient.

  "You're right, Brother Li. Fellow Daoist Han, please distribute the first five spirit fruits for now," Xiao Hong chimed in with a daint smile.

  Long Dong and Ye Ying naturally had no objections to this arrangement, either.

  A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this.

  He carried the jade box with one hand and made his way over to Xiao Hong first. He plucked one Zoysia Dragon Fruits with two fingers and offered it to her.

  Xiao Hong was ecstatic and immediately produced a wooden box to accept the fruit.

  Howeve
r, Han Li refrained from releasing the fruit, and was appraising her with a meaningful smile.

  Xiao Hong faltered slightly upon seeing this before quickly coming to a realization. She immediately swept a sleeve through the air, and a small golden sword with two talismans plastered onto its appeared in her hand.

  She tore off the talismans and tossed the sword directly toward Han Li. This was none other than one of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords. Han Li opened his mouth, and the small sword disappeared down his throat as a streak of golden light.

  At the same time, he released the spirit fruit, and it fell into Xiao Hong's wooden box.

  As Xiao Hong began to appraise the spirit fruit with elation twinkling in her eyes, Han Li had already made his way over to the white-browed young man with another spirit fruit caught between his two fingers.

  After witnessing the exchange that had just taken place, the young man naturally knew what to do already. He also produced another small golden sword and removed the restriction on it before tossing it to Han Li.

  As such, after a short while, Han Li only had a pair of spirit fruits left.

  After pocketing one of the fruits, he placed the jade box onto the ground before backing away as a disinterested bystander.

  Just one of these spirit fruits was enough for him, and a second one wouldn't really benefit him much at all. However, this was naturally unbeknownst to the other four cultivators, and all of them appraised him with much friendlier expression for his willingness to back down in such a situation."There's only one spirit fruit left now; how about we hold an impromptu auction for it? Whoever can offer the most spirit stones gets to take the spirit fruit, and the spirit stones spent will be split among everyone else," Long Dong suggested.

  "Hmph, isn't that too lopsided of an arrangement, Fellow Daoist Long? Everyone knows that your Long Family is a family with immense wealth. Even the four of us combined most likely won't be carrying as many spirit stones as you are," the white-browed young man rejected with a cold harrumph.

  "Oh, then do you have a better idea?" Rather becoming enraged by the young man's blunt refusal, a smile appeared on Long Dong's face as if he were open to suggestions. "A fruit as valuable as this naturally has to be exchanged for using other items. Regardless of whether it's using pills, ingredients or materials, the one who gets to take the fruit has to offer something that is roughly equal in value to the spirit fruit, and can be split among everyone else. What do you all think of this arrangement?" Xiao Hong suggested with a seductive smile.

  The white-browed young man immediately nodded in agreement.

  Ye Ying cocked her head to the side and contemplated this notion for a while before also giving a nod of approval.

  Han Li naturally had no objections, either.

  "Seeing as Fairy Xiao's suggestion has garnered the most support, we'll do as you say." Even though Long Dong was reluctant to agree to such an arrangement, the other four had all expressed their approval, so he could only comply with a forced smile on his face.

  Two hours later, a flying azure carriage that was over 100 feet in length appeared high in the air above the mountain. It then shot forth toward a certain direction as a streak of azure light.

  Within the span of a few breaths, the carriage had covered a distance of several thousand feet, and after just a few more flashes, it had completely disappeared.

  Han Li was sitting near the rear of the carriage, fiddling with a small section of cylindrical green wood.

  This section of wood was only around a foot in length, but its surface was glimmering with faint spiritual light. Upon closer inspection, one would notice that there were indistinct silver threads flashing within the section of wood.

  This Green Spirit Wood could prove to be quite useful!

  Chapter 1368: Small Town

  Much to everyone's surprise, the final spirit fruit fell into the hands of Ye Ying.

  The treasures she offered were more extravagant than everyone else could produce, so they could only reluctantly allow her to take the spirit fruit.

  This small section of the Myriad Year Green Spirit Tree was Han Li's compensation of choice.

  This piece of wood was as light as air and immune to the effects of water and fire. It was one of the most ideal materials for carving formation spells onto, and as it aged, it would develop a certain degree of immunity toward the power of the five elements.

  As such, this type of wood was most often used to refine large treasures like spirit arks, beast carriages, and things of that nature.

  After fiddling around with the section of wood for a while, Han Li stowed it away before glancing at his surroundings.

  The flying carriage had been supplied, once again, by Long Dong, and even though it wasn't as comfortable nor as stealthy as the spirit ark that had been destroyed earlier, it was able to fly at a greater speed than the ark.

  Speaking of which, the spirit ark's concealment ability would've been next to useless in the face of powerful ancient beasts. As such, this faster flying carriage was a superior option anyway.

  If they were to encounter some minor hindrances, they could simply accelerate and shake them off.

  At this moment, the flying carriage was whizzing through the air as an azure blur, hurtling along at an incredible speed.

  Aside from Long Dong, who was piloting the carriage, everyone else was sitting in silence.

  Han Li withdrew his gaze before suddenly turning his attention to Ye Ying, upon which his eyes narrowed slightly.

  The person in the group whom he was most wary of and found to be the most mysterious was this woman, who appeared to possess the same cultivation base as he did.

  This woman appeared to be quite young and spoke in a very simple and straightforward manner, but having completely mastered the Great Development Technique, Han Li's instinctive senses had already been honed to an incredibly sensitive degree, and those senses told him that this woman was the most dangerous one among the four, even more so than Long Dong from the so-called True Spirit Family.

  Just as Han Li was contemplating these matters, Ye Ying suddenly opened her eyes and met Han Li's gaze.

  Han Li's heart jolted upon seeing this, and before he had a chance to react, Ye Ying pursed her lips with a faint chuckle.

  Han Li gave a rather awkward smile before immediately turning away. In doing so, he missed the hint of amusement that flashed through Ye Ying's eyes in response.

  During the following half a month, their journey was remarkably smooth, and they didn't encounter any trouble at all.

  Everyone was quite relieved by this peaceful spell, praying that the rest of their journey would be just as smooth and placid.

  Several days later, the scenery around them transformed as a vast expanse of desert appeared before them, sending gusts of scorching wind sweeping toward their carriage.

  A hint of a surprise appeared on the white-browed young man's face as he mused, "Could it be that we've already reached the Southern Skyline?"

  "Indeed, this place is the Great Southern Desert, and it's the simplest path through which one can reach the territory of the Wood Tribe," Long Dong replied in a grave voice.

  "I've heard many things about this place. The legends say that it's impossible to go around this desert; is that really true? There are often Wood Tribe and Shadow Tribe beings traveling through this desert; isn't it still a little too dangerous for us to go directly through it?" Xiao Hong asked with a frown on her face.

  "Fairy Xiao, the environment here certainly isn't the best, but it's much safer than the other two alternative routes we can take. As for going around the desert, that would be next to impossible. On one side of the desert is the renowned Zenith Beast Mountain Ranges, which is teeming with countless high-grade ancient beasts. Even most of the Spatial Tempering cultivators who venture into those mountain ranges never return. On the other side is the even more treacherous Wyrm Abyss Canyon. There are over 100 vicious wyrms at or above the Spatial Tempering Stage lurki
ng in there, including even several tens of Body Integration Stage Wyrm Monarchs. A few Deity Transformation cultivators like us would simply be offering ourselves up as food if we were to take either of those paths. As for skirting around even further to avoid those areas, that would lengthen our journey to an enormous degree, and it would most likely take us around a year or so to get to our destination. The war is imminent, so there's no way that Deep Heaven City would allow us to delay the completion of our mission for so long," Long Dong explained with a wry smile.

  "I see. However, I've heard that this desert seems to be a trial ground for the two tribes," Ye Ying suddenly interjected.

  "My seniors also cautioned me about this before my departure." The white-browed young man had also adopted a rather cautious stance.

  "In that case, I don't think we should continue traveling on this flying carriage; we'd stick out like a sore thumb. Let's all conceal ourselves before continuing onward. Even if everything goes as smoothly as possible, it'd still take us around a month to pass through this desert," Long Dong suggested after a brief period of contemplation.

  Xiao Hong contemplated the notion before exchanging a glance with the white-browed young man, following which she nodded, and agreed, "We'll do as you say."

  "I have no objections, either; traveling on the flying carriage really will make us stand out far too much for comfort," Han Li said with a smile.

  Ye Ying was the only one who expressed a neutral stance, willing to comply with the most popular course of action.

  Thus, after a brief discussion, everyone emerged from the flying carriage before unleashing concealment techniques to obscure themselves. Long Dong stowed the flying carriage away, and everyone ventured carefully into the desert.

  Not long after entering the desert, Han Li immediately sensed that this desert was unlike any that he'd ever seen, in that the temperatures here were simply far too high.

  Even while flying at low altitudes in the air, he could still feel the bursts of scorching heat emanating from the ground. He felt as if he were flying over a massive volcanic crater rather than a desert.