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

by Translator: Johnchen

  Immediately thereafter, countless bursts of inky-black mist erupted from the seabed, making the seawater in an area of several kilometers extremely murky and opaque, thereby bringing visibility down to zero.

  However, that wasn't enough to stop Han Li. Blue light flashed in his eyes and his gaze instantly pierced through the black mist, allowing him to glean the situation down below.

  The massive demonic creature had already plunged deep into the ocean and was fleeing with all its might.

  Han Li harrumphed coldly, and he was just about to flap his Thunderstorm Wings to give chase when a long roar suddenly rang out from the ocean's depths. The sound was like a prolonged rumbling thunderclap that was quite dull and menacing.

  Immediately thereafter, a burst of powerful demonic Qi suddenly emerged in the ocean close to 10 kilometers away, and its power seemed to be comparable to that of a Deity Transformation cultivator.

  Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this roar. He cast his gaze into the distance in the direction where the roar had originated from, and a hint of hesitation appeared on his face.

  Moments later, the burst of astonishing demonic Qi within the ocean joined together with the octopus demon before the two continued further into the ocean without any hesitation.

  Han Li shook his head as the Thunderstorm Wings on his back vanished.

  He didn't fear any Deity Transformation Stage demon beasts, but he didn't want to enter a reckless feud with such a powerful creature having just arrived in this unfamiliar place.

  After staring out at the ocean for a while longer, Han Li abruptly turned around and flew toward the south.

  A short while later, a streak of azure light appeared over a massive set of lush mountain ranges that stretched as far as the eyes could see.

  The azure light receded, and Han Li was revealed.

  Chapter 1405: Black Mist Sea

  Looking at the mountain ranges from afar, Han Li could see that it was filled with countless tall and steep mountains that were clumped together in a dense bunch.

  Even prior to entering the mountain ranges, Han Li could sense a vicious aura emanating from it, and that was rather surprising to him.

  However, the spiritual Qi within the mountain ranges was also far more abundant than outside. Just this factor alone prompted Han Li to enter the mountain ranges without much further hesitation.

  In order to draw as little attention as possible, Han Li intentionally slowed down and flew at a very low altitude. One mountain after another flashed past and throughout this entire process, Han Li was constantly surveying his surroundings as well as unleashing his spiritual sense to encompass an area of several kilometers.

  Having flown just over 500 kilometers into the mountain ranges, an expression of surprise and elation suddenly appeared on Han Li's face.

  He discovered that this stretch of mountain ranges was riddled with spirit herbs and spirit trees. Even though most of them were low-grade spirit medicines and situated in steep and perilous locations, the sheer quantity present was still very encouraging to Han Li.

  After all, he was only passing by in a brisk manner; if he were to stop and conduct a thorough search, he would definitely reap some worthwhile rewards.

  There were presumably many high-grade spirit medicines that could be procured from these mountain ranges. Aside from spirit medicines, the number of beast packs within the mountains also exceeded Han Li's expectations.

  During his travels, Han Li had even witnessed a grueling battle between two beast packs.

  Just as he was flying over a rather flat col between two massive mountains, he was suddenly greeted by raucous ape cries and thunderous beastly roars.

  Immediately thereafter, many white-furred giant apes that were over 20 feet tall suddenly emerged from one mountain, led by a giant ape with shimmering golden fur. They were wielding wooden sticks, stone clubs, and other crude weapons of that nature as they charged directly toward the neighboring mountain.

  From the other mountain, a pack of ferocious beasts with cow heads and lion bodies emerged, and they were led by a giant beast of the same species that was around twice as large as its brethren.

  The two packs of beasts clashed, and a ferocious battle immediately ensued.

  All of the giant apes had extraordinary jumping power and immense strength while their beastly opponents possessed sharp fangs and claws, as well as thick skin and robust bodies. The two armies were evenly matched.

  What caught Han Li's attention was that the leaders of the respective armies seemed to have attained intelligence, thereby allowing them to gain influence among their packs. Both of them seemed to be third or fourth grade demon beasts, and the golden ape was able to gain a slight advantage with its superior agility, but the leader of the opposing beast pack was no slouch, either.

  After battling for over an hour, both beast packs were growing quite exhausted. In the end, their respective leaders let loose long howls, upon which the armies retreated back to the mountains where they had come from.

  However, there were many bodies strewn all over the col in the aftermath of the battle, and those bodies attracted a flock of hideous twin-headed scavenging birds that enjoyed a grand feast.

  Han Li hid high up in the sky, surveying the battle that had unfolded down below with a hint of intrigue in his eyes. The giant apes fought in a rather strategic and organized manner, and a thought occurred to Han Li upon seeing this.

  Aside from that, as Han Li continued deeper into the mountain ranges, he discovered some other strange beasts along the way. Atop the mountains with the most abundant spiritual Qi, there were even sixth or seventh grade demon beasts lurking. Han Li paid no heed to these demon beasts as they posed no threat to him anyway, and he continued to fly deeper into the mountain ranges.

  This set of mountain ranges was far larger than Han Li had anticipated. After flying for two full months, he still hadn't emerged on the other side, and that was very surprising to him. Just as he was hesitating about whether he should return the way he had come, he suddenly caught sight of a boundless black sea of mist up ahead that enshrouded countless mountain peaks.

  Han Li stopped near the edge of the sea of mist and unleashed his spirit eyes to assess the scenes within the mist with an indecisive look on his face. He could clearly see that there wasn't even a single blade of grass growing on the area enshrouded under this black mist, and even the rocks and soil on the ground were extremely dry and cracked.

  In the face of such a bizarre situation, Han Li naturally wasn't going to recklessly barge in. Instead, he made a grabbing motion toward the small tree down below.

  The tree was plucked up from the ground, and its trunk fell into Han Li's grasp. Brilliant golden light erupted all over Han Li's body as he hurled the tree through the air in a violent manner.

  The tree shot forth like an arrow, speeding toward the black mist that was situated several kilometers away.

  Bright blue light erupted from Han Li's eyes as he stared at the small tree with rapt focus.

  The scenes that unfolded next immediately made Han Li's expression darken slightly. In the instant that the small tree flew into the black mist, the entire tree wilted before instantly being reduced to dust.

  Han Li surveyed his surroundings, and after a brief pause to contemplate the situation, he suddenly flew off to the side. He was planning to try and skirt around the border of the black mist in search of a way out.

  After around half a day, Han Li appeared near a small mountain situated on the border of the sea of black mist, and he was appraising one of the faces of the mountain with a grim expression.

  This mountain was only several thousand feet tall, but the side that was facing Han Li was extraordinarily flat and smooth, as if it had been flattened by some kind of powerful technique.

  On the smooth surface of the mountain face, there were three massive crimson characters inscribed, each of which was several tens of feet in size.

  During his time in Deep
Heaven City, Han Li had diligently researched the ancient texts of both the human and demon races, as well as even the text used by several of the nearby foreign races. However, he had never seen these three characters before, so this was most likely the foreign text that the human and demon races had never come into contact with.

  Even though he couldn't understand what had been inscribed, the strokes of the characters were extremely sharp and were emanating a vastly intimidating baleful aura.

  A cultivator with an inferior cultivation base would most likely be forced into retreat at the mere sight of this mountain face.

  Of course, at Han Li's current power level, this amount of baleful aura was naturally not enough to faze him. Upon closer examination, he discovered that large sections of the mountain showed signs of erosion, and even some sections of the three characters had become rather blurry and indistinct.

  Han Li silently pondered the situation for a while before continuing to fly along the border of the black sea of mist. After flying for several days, he finally emerged from the mountain ranges. However, before he had a chance to exult, he was completely stumped by the new terrain that he found himself in.

  This was another beach with crimson seawater crashing relentlessly into the nearby rocks.

  Han Li stroked his chin and stood in mid-air, appraising the sea in silence.

  After a long while, he suddenly flew back the way that he had come, skirting around the border of the sea of black mist toward the opposite direction.

  On this occasion, Han Li arrived at another seaside cliff after over 10 days of flight. Han Li could finally confirm that he was situated on a colossal island. This was most definitely the largest island he had ever seen.

  Furthermore, this island was most likely rectangular in shape. One side was the side that Han Li was situated at, while the other side was enshrouded under that black mist.

  Initially, Han Li had attempted to fly around the sea of black mist to see what lay on the other end of the island. However, there was no sign that the sea of black mist was drawing to a conclusion even after an entire month of travel, and Han Li could only give up before doubling back.

  It appeared that this wasn't a truly isolated island. Otherwise, this island was large enough to be considered as an independent small continent. However, regardless of whether this was truly an island or not, it made no difference to him.

  Aside from the sea of black mist that was rather peculiar, there seemed to be no excessively powerful beings on the entire island. Furthermore, spiritual Qi was very abundant in these mountain ranges, so it was definitely an ideal venue for cultivation.

  However, what was really perplexing to Han Li was that there were Deity Transformation Stage demon beasts in the ocean surrounding the island, yet there were no powerful demon beasts that had actually taken over the island.

  Furthermore, that octopus demon was already an eighth grade metamorphosis stage demon beast, but it had fled in sheer horror at the sight of Han Li, leaving him quite confused and searching for answers.

  Han Li pondered this notion for a long time, but couldn't arrive at any concrete conclusions. However, in order to ensure his safety, he decided to spend some time to scour the area surrounding the island in search of powerful beings that could potentially pose a threat to him.

  Thus, during the next month, Han Li searched carefully through the close to 10,000 kilometers of the ocean around the half of the island that he was situated on.

  In the end, he discovered nothing else aside from a few completely worthless barren islands.

  There were a few powerful demon beasts in the ocean, but even the most powerful ones among them were only comparable to that octopus monster that Han Li had encountered on the previous occasion. Most of them didn't possess much intelligence, either, so there was no need for him to worry about them at all.

  As such, Han Li was feeling quite reassured as he returned to the mountain ranges on the gargantuan island, preparing to enter a period of peaceful cultivation.

  He carefully selected a mountain with the most abundant spiritual Qi to carve out a massive cave abode for himself, and set up many restrictions before moving in.

  This cave abode was quite close to the border of the mountain ranges and over 10 days of flight away from the sea of black mist. As such, even if the sea of black mist did present any dangers, they would be unable to affect him, and he would have ample time to react.

  Han Li planted all of the spirit medicines he had taken with him in the medicine garden of his cave abode, then set to work within his secret chamber.

  Han Li's storage bracelet slipped off his wrist before circling around in the air. Azure light flashed as nine Green-Eyed True Toad Beast corpses appeared on the ground before him. Two of the bodies were quite large while the other seven were relatively small, and they almost took up the entire secret chamber.

  All of the carcasses had talismans of various colors plastered onto them in order to prevent decomposition as well as to greatly nullify the effect of the spirit blood.

  Han Li took a deep breath before pointing at the storage bracelet to produce a pristine white jade bottle, which was instantly caught in his grasp. He then pointed at one of the smaller carcasses on the ground with his other hand, and it immediately hovered into the air.

  He flicked a finger gently toward it and azure light flashed as a streak of sword Qi punctured a thumb-sized hole into its body.

  Moments later, a viscous shimmering liquid began to flow out from that hole, and it was silvery-white in color.

  Chapter 1406: Arduous Cultivation

  White light flashed and the jade vial appeared beneath the hole, upon which the silver liquid instantly dripped into the opening of the vial as a silver line.

  A peculiar scene then ensued.

  As the silver liquid flowed into the vial, the frog's body began to shrink and dry out.

  There wasn't much silver liquid that flowed out from the carcass, and it ran dry in mere moments, but the body shrank almost by half.

  Han Li then opened his mouth to blast forth a silver fireball that struck the carcass, following which the body was instantly reduced to a pile of ashes.

  However, after the silver flames dissipated, many more rice-sized droplets of silver liquid appeared in the air.

  Han Li had used the Spirit Engulfing Heavenly Flames' powers of Yin and Yang to force out all of the residual blood lurking within the frog's body.

  He rustled his sleeve and a burst of azure light swept forth, bringing all of the silver droplets together to form a fist-sized silver ball before stowing it away into the jade vial.

  Han Li was unable to synthesize nor nurture the production of more spirit blood from these True Toad Beasts, so he naturally didn't want to waste even a single drop.

  Thus, Han Li repeated the process with all of the other carcasses before him, filling several jade vials with this legendary true toad blood.

  Only then did he heave a sigh of relief, seemingly quite pleased with his work.

  Even though he had extracted the true toad blood, he wasn't in a hurry to refine the true toad liquid. Instead, he had to raise his cultivation base to the pinnacle of the mid-Deity Transformation Stage and break through this bottleneck first.

  Come to think of it, his decision to walk the path of simultaneous cultivation really did seem to be the correct one.

  Due to his powerful body and the number of pills that he possessed, he should be able to easily reach that cultivation base in a mere century or even several decades, whereas it would take other cultivators several centuries to do the same. The only problem was that breaking through the bottleneck would most likely require some more time.

  Thus, after releasing a few giant ape puppets, Han Li also released his second Nascent Soul and made it responsible for nurturing and taking care of everything within the cave abode. After that, he closed the doors to his secret chamber and focused wholeheartedly on his cultivation.

  With an amp
le supply of pills and Dragon Scale Fruits, as well as the enhancement effect from the Bone Tempering Arts, Han Li's magic power became more abundant by the day, and his body was also growing steadily more powerful.

  During this time, aside from cultivating the Provenance True Devil Arts, he also refined his two hands by fusing them with the Divine Essencefused Mountain and the Unbroken Cinque Devils. After that, he began to fuse his 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword one by one into various important sections of his bone structure according to the instructions provided by the Hundred Meridian Refinement Mantra.

  If he could succeed in this process, his defensive prowess would be enhanced to an incredible level, particularly when using the Provenance True Devil Arts as well.

  Even if he were to face a direct attack from a Spatial Tempering cultivator, he'd be able to take it with his body alone and remain completely unscathed.

  Of course, the refinement of his two hands was a little different, and refining the important sections of his bone structure was naturally even more complex, so this was naturally going to be a very time-consuming process.

  Thus, the doors to Han Li's secret chamber remained tightly shut for an extended period of time. At intervals of several years, the second Nascent Soul would transform into a projection and enter through the wall to supply Han Li with some spirit medicines and spirit fruits.

  Months and years flew by one after another, and 60 years passed in the blink of an eye.

  One day, two balls of demonic Qi, one black and one yellow appeared on a small mountain less than 10 kilometers away from Han Li's cave abode. The two demonic creatures within the balls of demonic Qi seemed to be discussing something with one another.

  Within the black Qi, there was a pair of blinking silver eyes, while only a single shimmering crimson eye could be seen within the yellow Qi.

  The two demonic beings seemed to have seen through the illusionary formation that Han Li had set up outside the gates of his cave abode, and they were carefully appraising the situation from afar.