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

by Translator: Johnchen

  What was even more curious was that despite the fact that they were in such a narrow space, there were occasional gusts of stiff winds that blew toward them from up ahead, and those winds were quite chilly.

  Of course, these winds couldn't harm Han Li and the others, who were all at the Deity Transformation Stage, and they were able to easily shield themselves with spiritual light.

  Even though many holy disciples had set off before them, most people didn't take the same path. Instead, many of them intentionally looped around in a large circle before advancing from another direction. This was to avoid encountering the holy disciples from the other branches prior to entering the earth abyss, thereby potentially leading to conflicts.

  Han Li had also done the same.

  After flying for just over 50 kilometers, he led the other two holy disciples to stray away from their original trajectory, choosing to forge ahead from another direction instead.

  A distance of over 5,000 kilometers wasn't all that far at all for holy disciples like them.

  As such, even though they'd intentionally slowed their speed, they still arrived at their destination after two hours.

  The scenes up ahead had undergone a change. The sea of mist that had originally hung quite low in the air had risen to a higher altitude here, and the frosty winds sweeping toward them were much fiercer here. The color of the winds had also turned into a dark grey, and as it buffetted their bodies, layers of black ice and frost instantly materialized on their spiritual light barriers.

  Of course, these winds were still unable to pose any threat to Han Li's trio, but all of them thickened the layer of protective spiritual light around their bodies.

  A while later, all of them had emerged from those strange black winds, and they appeared in an unfamiliar place.

  This was a flat space with an indeterminate radius, and their surroundings were enshrouded by those frosty black winds. There was still the same grey mist hanging in the air, but its altitude had risen to over 10,000 feet, and it was tumbling and surging erratically, creating a vastly different sight from the sea of mist they witnessed during the previous parts of their journey. However, none of that caught the attention of Han Li's trio. Instead, all of them were looking down below.

  The black land down below had completely disappeared, and a gargantuan bottomless abyss stood in its place. There was black mist wafting throughout the entire abyss, and gusts of frosty black winds would occasionally billow out from within.

  Han Li scanned his eyes downward to discover that he was unable to determine the dimension of this abyss, just as he'd been unable to ascertain the dimensions of the space they were currently situated in.

  The three of them hung in mid-air by the abyss, and in the face of this vast space and colossal abyss, they were as insignificant as mere ants.

  "This appears to be the gate of the earth trial. Let's descend, but be on your guard. Even though it's unlikely that we'll encounter earth abyss demons right away, it's still better to be safe than sorry." After appraising the abyss for a short while, Han Li issued a calm instruction for flapping his wings and plunging into the abyss, disappearing into the black mist following a few flashes.

  Bai Bi and Lei Lan immediately followed suit.

  Han Li slowly descended into the abyss with azure light flashing all of his body, and seven or eight fist-sized moonlight stones hovering around him. These stones were radiating white light that illuminated everything within an area of over 300 feet.

  Looking around at the tumbling mist nearby, Han Li heaved a faint internal sigh.

  The mist hadn't been very dense when he had first descended into the abyss, and he was able to clearly survey his surroundings even without using his spirit eyes.

  However, after descending for tens of thousands of feet, the mist immediately became several times denser.

  With Bai Bi and Lei Lan following close behind him, he naturally wasn't going to use his spirit eyes unless the situation absolutely demanded its usage, so he summoned these moonlight stones instead.

  As such, he was able to see his surroundings with relative clarity.

  However, it was just as he'd expected; this earth abyss gate was extremely vast, and even though they were so deep within the abyss already, they were still yet to encounter any demons.

  This was naturally something that Han Li really liked to see.

  After descending for a while longer, the mist down below suddenly became more sparse, and the black winds that had appeared from time to time had also disappeared.

  Han Li and the others stirred upon seeing this. They knew that they were about finally about to reach the first level of the earth abyss.

  A short while later, Han Li peered through the thin mist down below with narrowed eyes, and finally saw something different.

  A black and yellow stretch of land had appeared before his eyes, and it as quite a lush land with massive trees growing on it and even a few strange-looking grey birds circling around in the air.

  As soon as Han Li and the others emerged from the mist, Bai Bi murmured, "This should be the world of the earth abyss. It doesn't look like anything special."

  "The first level of the earth abyss has been corrupted by the aura of darkness for a long time, but it's the most shallow of the seven layers. As such, aside from some demon beasts of the lowest caliber, there are also large numbers of normal beasts residing here. However, all of these beasts are extremely violent, and the vast majority of them are ferocious carnivorous beasts. The most powerful ones among these beasts are not inferior in power to low-grade demon beasts," Lei Lan explained.

  Han Li remained completely expressionless, as if he were looking at but not seeing the scenes that lay before him. In reality, he had instantly swept his spiritual sense across an area with a radius of over 1,000 kilometers, and didn't discover the presence of any holy disciples or other powerful beings. It appeared that this place was definitely safe.

  "Let's go down," Han Li instructed before descending.

  Lei Lan and Bai Bi naturally followed along behind him.

  An unsettling cry erupted as the grey birds down below discovered the presence of Han Li's trio, and they immediately pounced without any hesitation.

  Han Li narrowed his eyes, and only now did he catch a clear glimpse of these strange birds. Their beaks were long and thick, and were filled to the brim with sharp fangs. There wasn't a single feather to be seen on their bodies, and all of them had strange grey skin as well as a bent single horn growing on each of their heads.

  Han Li harrumphed coldly as he flicked a few fingers through the air.

  Several streaks of golden sword Qi shot forth in a flash, instantly puncturing the bodies of these birds. Blood rained down from above as these birds plummeted toward the ground.

  However, before their carcasses had even fallen into the forest, a few thunderous roars erupted, following which the ground below began to tremor violently. It appeared that there were many massive beasts fighting over something.

  A hint of surprise flashed through Han Li's eyes as he cast his gaze toward the source of the commotion. He then descended to an altitude of just over 1,000 feet and flew toward a direction that he'd decided on in advance.

  "According to the holy disciples who'd participated in these trials in the past, there are many entrances from the first to the second level. However, there are only a dozen or so entrances among those that are relatively safe. It's almost impossible to find Infernal Flame Fruits on the first level, so let's head straight to the second level. The entrance that I've chosen is one that's quite secluded. Even though it'll take us more time to get there, we'll be able to avoid the ambushes set up by the enemies of our race," Han Li explained as he flew through the air.

  Bai Bi's brows furrowed slightly, seeming opposed to Han Li's proposed course of action, but refrained from saying anything. Meanwhile, Lei Lan simply didn't really care.

  Han Li smiled upon seeing this, and he didn't say anything further.
Just because he was providing an explanation didn't mean he was discussing the matter with them. Seeing as the Tian Peng Race had asked him to protect these two holy disciples and ensure their success in this trial, then he naturally had to lead the way. The two holy disciples' cultivation bases were far inferior to his, so he wasn't afraid that they'd go against orders.

  Thus, the three of them flew wordlessly at a low altitude, heading straight for the entrance to the second level.

  Chapter 1442: Yin Spider Wasps

  It was said that the earth abyss had seven levels, and each successive level was far more vast than the previous one. Even so, the area of the first level was certainly nothing to be scoffed at. As such, it would take around four to five days for Han Li's trio to reach the entrance they were heading toward.

  The journey was quite smooth on the first day. They flew over a dense forest the entire time and occasionally encountered a few groups of suicidal beasts, but no mishaps occurred.

  However, on the morning of the second day, all three of them were suddenly struck by the feeling that their surroundings had darkened significantly.

  Han Li looked up with a surprised expression to find that the grey mist in the air above, which had been emanating faint light, had disappeared. It had been replaced by a vast expanse of black rocks that were situated in the air at altitudes of over 100,00 feet, and there were stalactites hanging from them.

  There were even some lush patches of moss and vines growing along the surface of these rocks.

  They'd flown out of the area encompassed by the gate of the earth abyss and finally officially arrived in the first level of the underground world.

  Thankfully, the trees here all glowed with a faint light, perhaps due to the fact that they'd been growing in darkness for long periods of time, and there were unknown minerals on the ground that were also shimmering faintly.

  As such, their surroundings weren't entirely pitch-black, and they could still see many things even from a distance.

  It was just that the feeling in the air had completely changed in that surroundings seemed to have become more sinister and menacing.

  Furthermore, the occasional clouds of black mist and gusts of frosty winds that swept toward them further contributed to this harrowing sensation.

  However, what was especially worthy of note was that not long after they'd flown into this dark area, Han Li felt his spiritual sense being restricted, and he could only release it out of his body for several hundred feet.

  He had mastered the Great Development Technique, so his spiritual sense was far superior to cultivators of the same cultivation base. As such, Bai Bi and Lei Lan were most likely only able to release their spiritual sense for several tens of feet at most.

  With that in mind, Han Li cast his spiritual sense behind him, and sure enough, both of the holy disciples were wearing grim expressions on their faces.

  However, none of them were all that surprised by this occurrence.

  Prior to departing from the holy city, the Tian Peng Race elders had warned them about this.

  Not only did intruders like them have their spiritual sense handicapped, even the native dark demon beasts of the earth abyss were also afflicted by this. However, these demon beasts had been dwelling in the earth abyss for a long time, so they were already accustomed to this handicap. In contrast, the beings of the Flying Spirit Race were naturally yet to acclimatize to this, and it was quite an unsettling experience for most.

  In spite of this, Han Li remained completely unfazed. After all, it wasn't the first time that he'd encountered a situation where his spiritual sense had been restricted, so he was quite experienced.

  After flying onward for several more hours, Han Li's brows suddenly furrowed. He raised a hand and quickly pointed a finger toward the moonlight stones hovering up ahead.

  All of these moonlight stones immediately exploded and disappeared into nothingness.

  The azure light flashing from Han Li's body also faded as he came to an abrupt halt.

  Their surroundings had become blurry and indistinct, and even the black winds sweeping toward them seemed to have cooled even further.

  Bai Bi and Lei Lan had also reflexively faltered in their flight, but neither of them knew why Han Li had stopped.

  A curious look appeared on Lei Lan's face, but before the two of them had a chance to raise any questions, a gentle buzzing sound suddenly rang out from their surroundings. This sound then gradually intensified, following which countless green specks of light appeared before rapidly converging toward the three of them.

  "Yin Spider Wasps!" Lei Lan immediately exclaimed with alarm.

  Bai Bi's expression also changed drastically upon hearing this.

  "Indeed. These low-grade demonic wasps are the most troublesome to deal with among all of the low-grade demon beasts of the earth abyss. They like to attack all moving and glowing objects, so they must've been attracted by the moonlight stones," Han Li said in a calm voice.

  Even without that introduction from Han Li, Lei Lan and Bai Bi were well aware of the behavioral patterns of these wasps.

  Within the balls of green light, there were countless tiny sinister creatures with the upper bodies of spiders and the lower bodies of wasps. Their bodies were entirely green in color with an exception of a series of yellow rings, and they gave off a very sinister appearance.

  From a rough visual estimation, it appeared that there were over 10,000 of these demonic wasps hanging in the air around them.

  As such, even early-Spirit Generals like Bai Bi and Lei Lan were forced to regard the situation with caution.

  It wasn't that they were fearful of these mere demonic wasps. It was just that with their vast numbers, killing all of them would expend quite a bit of energy, and they had only just entered the first level, so they didn't want to engage in any unnecessary battles.

  However, these demonic wasps didn't appear to be willing to let them leave without a fight, so they could only prepare for battle.

  One of them spread open their wings, which were crackling with thin arcs of silver lightning while the other made a hand seal, and faint golden threads of light appeared behind around their body.

  Han Li glanced at the two of them before opening his mouth to expel a ball of silver flames.

  The fireball transformed into a fist-sized silver Fire Raven in a flash.

  The Fire Raven spread its wings before self-detonating on the spot, transforming into over 100 silver sparks that spilled forth in all directions.

  An incredible scene then ensued.

  As soon as the silver sparks entered the surrounding specks of green light, the latter was instantly snuffed out.

  Even though there were only just over 100 of these silver sparks, the green specks of light in the surrounding area were completely unable to bypass them en route to Han Li's trio.

  Bai Bi and Lei Lan were quite astonished to see this.

  Yin Spider Wasps were renowned for being extremely troublesome to deal with, so they naturally weren't that easy to destroy. These wasps were actually manifestations of a type of dark impure energy, so it was very difficult to kill them with normal attacks. Even if they were slain by physical attacks, they could draw upon the aura of darkness around them to recover to full health in a very short time. The only way to completely eradicate them was to completely destroy their bodies, leaving no trace behind.

  That was why these demonic wasps were so renowned as troublesome obstacles despite the fact that they were only low-grade demon beasts. Of course, these demonic wasps only posed such a major hindrance in a place like this that was rife with the aura of darkness. If they were to appear above the ground, then they'd immediately lose this ability.

  In fact, many other demon beasts in the earth abyss were significantly more powerful in this environment, and would be severely debilitated if they were to be taken out of their natural habitat.

  This was also the main reason why the Flying Spirit Race was able to seal off t
he entrance to the earth abyss so effectively. If the earth abyss demon beasts didn't possess this glaring weakness, then the Flying Spirit Race wouldn't be able to restrict them so easily.

  The Spirit Engulfing Heavenly Flames appeared to be drifting through the air in a gentle and harmless manner, but in reality, every single spark completely incinerated a Yin Spider Wasp as soon as contact was made, and even the aura of darkness within their bodies was completely engulfed.

  As such, there was naturally no way for these wasps to recover.

  Furthermore, the Spirit Engulfing Heavenly Flames possessed traces of spiritual nature, so they could attack enemies of their own accord even without instructions from Han Li's spiritual sense.

  As such, Han Li merely stood in mid-air for a while with his hands clasped behind his back, and all of the Yin Spider Wasps were completely eradicated.

  He then waved a hand through the air in a casual manner, and all of the silver sparks converged to form a fist-sized Fire Raven again, which disappeared into his body in a flash.

  "Let's go," Han Li prompted before flying ahead as a streak of azure light.

  Lei Lan and Bai Bi could only forcibly repress the astonishment in their hearts as they followed along in silence.

  Regardless of how conceited they were or what they thought of Han Li, after that display of power, they no longer expressed any signs of opposition to Han Li's orders.

  Thus, the three of them travel through this humid forest for a day and a night before finally emerging on the other side.

  The scenes up ahead changed drastically, and the trio was greeted by the sight of a strange silver desert. From afar, it appeared that every single grain of sand in the entire desert was emanating a cold light, creating an extremely bleak and barren sight.

  "Is my memory playing tricks on me? According to the annotations on the map, this should be a large river; why is it a desert instead?" Han Li hovered in mid-air as he carefully inspected a formation plate with a hint of surprise on his face.