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

by Translator: Johnchen

  "Is that so?" Han Li was quite surprised to hear this. He glanced at the beings around him who were cautiously avoiding the giant balls, and he was already almost fully convinced that Jia Tianmu was telling the truth.

  Shifting his gaze elsewhere, Han Li discovered that there were many beings flying toward a massive city gate of Cloud City.

  There were several tens of guards wearing the suits of armor at the city gate, and all of them were standing on either side of the gate with serious expressions on their faces, conducting examinations on all beings that intended to enter the city.

  These thorough examinations were only aimed at cultivators looking to enter the city, while those leaving the city were completely ignored.

  All of the guards were covered head to toe in suits of armor, but it was quite apparent that they were all of different shapes and sizes, and seemed to hail from different races.

  Han Li's eyes narrowed upon seeing this, but he continued onward, and after a short while, he arrived at the city gate along with Jia Tianmu.

  There were a dozen or so other beings that also descended at this moment, and all of them seemed to be preparing to undergo examination.

  The so-called examination merely consisted of several guards holding strange-looking disks and scanning them over the unfamiliar faces that were trying to enter the city. At the same time, another being was holding another object, recording some things into that object while listening to the verdicts delivered by his companions.

  No light barriers or restrictions of that nature could be seen in the air above Cloud City. However, the sky was completely clear without anyone daring to try and fly over the city walls that were thousands of feet tall.

  On this occasion, Jia Tianmu didn't explain anything. Instead, he merely smiled and suddenly made his way directly toward the guards at the city gate.

  In the process, he was jumping the line, and all of the beings ahead of him were naturally quite displeased by his actions.

  However, most of these beings were only at the Foundation Establishment Stage or Core Formation Stage. Hence, all of them hurriedly put away their enraged expressions after discovering with their spiritual sense that Jia Tianmu was an upper race being.

  The beings in the line didn't dare to do anything, but that didn't apply to the guards at the city gates, and all of them immediately turned to Jia Tianmu with cold expressions on their faces.

  These guards all possessed comparable or even superior cultivation bases to Jia Tianmu, yet he remained completely unflustered as he swept a sleeve through the air. A palm-sized black badge instantly flew forth from within, heading directly toward one of the guards.

  The guard faltered initially upon seeing this, but he quickly recomposed himself before catching the badge and focusing his gaze on it.

  At the same time, Jia Tianmu's lips tremored slightly, and even though he wasn't saying anything, it was quite clear that he was using a voice transmission technique.

  The scenes that unfolded next left all of the beings in the line completely flabbergasted. After catching a clear glimpse of the badge in his hand, an astonished look appeared on the guard's face, and after hearing Jia Tianmu's voice transmission, he hurriedly stepped forward to return Jia Tianmu's badge to him with both hands. He then extended a respectful bow, and said, "Greetings, Master Jia of the Myriad Ancient Race; please come in. The elders of the Myriad Ancient Race have instructed us well in advance to take you to the Heavenly Dawn Pavilion to see them as soon as you arrive. Seeing as we can't eliminate the possibility that there could be Jiao Chi Race spies in the city, we'll be sending a few guards to accompany you to the Heavenly Dawn Pavilion."

  "Oh? The elders are already in the Heavenly Dawn Pavilion? I was going to go and see them anyway. As for guards, don't worry about it; with Fellow Daoist Han to accompany me, I'll be fine as long as I don't get attacked by Body Integration Stage beings. Fellow Daoist Han isn't a Heavenly Cloud being, so prepare a free identity badge of the highest level for him. I can personally vouch for him," Jia Tianmu commanded as he accepted his badge from the guard.

  "Yes, Master Jia!" The guard faltered slightly upon hearing this before immediately nodding in response.

  At this moment, Han Li also strode over in an unhurried manner.

  The guards instantly waved the disks in their hands toward him, and Han Li sensed a burst of extremely faint spiritual pressure erupt from the strange round disks. Immediately thereafter, several bursts of spiritual sense emanated from the guards' bodies before combining as one, then sweeping toward Han Li's body.

  A hint of surprise appeared in Han Li's eyes. This was the first time that he had seen a technique that allowed the spiritual sense of several people to be combined as one.

  As expected of one of the core cities of the 13 Heavenly Cloud Races; even the guards at the city gates were capable of using such an incredible secret technique.

  After examining Han Li's cultivation base, all of the guards were filled with a sense of awe and veneration.

  Seventh-tier upper race beings were quite rare, even among the 13 Heavenly Cloud Races.

  The guards were all quite relieved after verifying that their disks hadn't detected any Jiao Chi Race bloodline within Han Li's body, and one of them said, "Senior, seeing as Master Jiao is vouching for you and you've passed our preliminary examination, we'll be issuing you a high-grade identity badge right away. With this badge, you'll be able to go anywhere in Cloud City aside from a few secret and forbidden areas."

  "Thanks for your hard work," Han Li replied in a benevolent manner.

  The Deity Transformation Stage guard hurried waved his hands in response and no longer mentioned anything about sending guards to accompany Jia Tianmu.

  It was quite clear that in his mind, a seventh-tier upper race being like Han Li was more than enough to ensure Jia Tianmu's safety.

  Moments later, the guards refined a jade badge that contained some basic information about Han Li before handing it over to him. After that, the guards all stepped aside to open up a path between them, and Jia Tianmu strode into the city with Han Li following behind him in an unhurried manner.

  "Fellow Daoist Jia, what kind of secret technique did they use just then to combine their spiritual sense as one? Wouldn't such an extraordinary technique be extremely effective in battle?" Han Li suddenly asked after they'd entered the city.

  Chapter 1584: The Heavenly Cloud Races

  "That's the Spirit Condensing Technique. It is indeed quite an extraordinary secret technique created by the Azure Race, but a strict set of prerequisites must be satisfied before the technique can be cultivated. Not only do the cultivators involved have to be brothers related by blood, their cultivation arts and cultivation bases also have to be extremely closely matched before they can unleash this technique. In contrast with all of the other Heavenly Cloud Races, most Azure beings are born as conjoined siblings where it's quite common even for six or seven siblings to be conjoined as a single being. However, after they grow up a little, they'll be able to split up, and Azure beings are stationed at all four city gates of Cloud City to conduct examinations on all those seeking to enter the city. After unleashing their Spirit Condensing Technique, even beings of a far superior cultivation base to theirs wouldn't be able to hide anything from them," Jia Tianmu explained with a smile.

  Han Li was a little disappointed to hear this, but he then decided that it certainly couldn't hurt to reference such an extraordinary technique as that could assist him in his own cultivation. With that in mind, he said, "I see! Looks like my knowledge is rather lacking. I really am quite interested in that technique, though; would you happen to know how to cultivate it, Fellow Daoist Jia?"

  "The Azure Race holds the Spirit Condensing Technique in extremely high regard, so there won't be many copies of the cultivation method circulating outside their race. However, I should be able to find a way to get my hands on a copy. If you really want one, I'll get someone to secure a copy for you," Jia Tian
mu replied."You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Jia," Han Li said with a smile as he cupped his fist in a salute.

  "Haha, don't mention it. You saved my life, so this is the least I can do. I have to go and visit the elders of our Myriad Ancient Race, so I won't be able to accompany you any longer. This is the location of my cave abode; you can come and visit in a few days for the sentient puppet I promised you earlier. Truth be told, I only have two or three puppets of such a high caliber in my cave abode, and I have to secure approval from the elders before I can give one away to an outsider. However, rest assured, I have some status in the Myriad Ancient Race, so I'll definitely be granted approval with no issues," Jia Tianmu said with a smile as he handed over a stone tablet to Han Li.

  At this point, the two of them had already arrived in the city. Up ahead was a wide street that was lined with shops on both sides and filled with different types of beings. It wasn't exactly lively and bustling, but it certainly wasn't a ghost town, either. Han Li accepted the stone tablet and inspected its contents in a cursory manner using spiritual sense, then smiled as he replied, "Alright, I also have some matters to take care of, so let's part ways here."

  "Cloud City is not just inhabited by Heavenly Cloud beings, but also many foreign beings as well, some of whom have stayed here for thousands of years. As such, aside from some temporary dwellings, there are also cave abodes available to be rented. The rental fees are very high, but seeing as you're not planning to stay here for long anyway, those costs shouldn't be an issue to you. Also, make sure that you don't fight anyone or use your spiritual power in the city for no good reason. Otherwise, if you're caught doing so by the restrictions in the city, you'll be banished if you're lucky, and in worst-case scenarios, you could even have your cultivation base completely disabled. Even the elders of our 13 Heavenly Cloud Races have to abide by this rule. Alright, that's enough rambling from me; I'll be taking my leave now." After delivering some final words of caution, Jia Tianmu turned and departed.

  Han Li looked on as Jia Tianmu hailed a spirit carriage that was being drawn by a pair of deer-like spirit beasts, then got onto the carriage and traveled away. Only then did he withdraw his gaze before carefully appraising his surroundings.

  This place really did live up to its status as one of the major cities of the 13 Heavenly Cloud Races. Not only were there countless buildings lining the streets here, all of them were of different styles, and there were virtually no two buildings that were exactly the same.

  Some of these buildings were mountainous structures over 1,000 feet tall while others were only several tens of feet tall, yet all of them were extremely intricately crafted. Some of them were quite square and angular, resembling the pavilions often seen in the human race, some were like giant trees that were shimmering with green light...

  It didn't take long for Han Li to become extremely intrigued by this city.

  As the name suggested, the 13 Heavenly Cloud Races were comprised of 13 different races, yet ever since countless years ago, they'd lived together in harmony, advancing and co-existing as a single entity. If it weren't for the fact that they were objectively different beings with different bloodlines, they could almost be seen as one massive race.

  None of the 13 Heavenly Cloud Races were anywhere near powerful enough to face a colossus like the Jiao Chi Race on their own, but their combined powers were comparable with the top races of the Spirit Realm. This was why the 13 Heavenly Cloud Races had managed to exist up to this point, despite their close proximity to the territory of the Jiao Chi Race. In reality, battles would break out on the borders between the Jiao Chi Race and the Heavenly Cloud Races quite regularly.

  Either the Jiao Chi Race took over some more of the Heavenly Cloud Races' territory, or the latter recovered some of their lost land. Of course, under most circumstances, the Jiao Chi Race still came out on top. However, the 13 Heavenly Cloud Races were constantly backing up one another, so they hadn't suffered any decisive losses.

  As such, the Heavenly Cloud Races weren't surprised by the sudden attack from the Jiao Chi Race. Instead, they were able to react quickly and calmly, gathering up their powerful beings in preparation to deal their enemies a heavy retaliative blow. This information had all been disclosed whether intentionally or unintentionally by Jia Tianmu during their conversations on the way here.

  According to Jia Tianmu, the Heavenly Cloud Races had quite a vast territory, and the Jiao Chi Race wasn't the only powerful neighbor. There was also the Night Race, which was not inferior in power to the 13 Heavenly Cloud Races, as well as the slightly weaker Explosion Race. Of course, there were also many small races in the nearby area, but the only way for them to survive was to join one of the more powerful races.

  Otherwise, they would either be completely wiped out or forced to find another home far away. This gave Han Li a general understanding of the situation surrounding the races in this area.

  At present, he was examining the streets in the city while slowly advancing and contemplating about what he was going to do next.

  His target was undoubtedly to find a teleportation formation that could take him back to the Tian Yuan Continent. However, there was no way that a single being could own a teleportation formation of such a high caliber. Instead, it was most likely under the control of a certain major power. In that case, he had no choice but to liaise with the higher-ups of that major power if he wanted to use their teleportation formation. This was why he hadn't rejected Jia Tianmu's invitation to Cloud City.

  However, he was going to make up his mind about whether he was going to approach the higher-ups of the Heavenly Cloud Races after he had gathered enough information.

  His top priority now was to find a place to stay in the city, then slowly search for some leads.

  Having made up his mind, Han Li no longer hesitated any further. He glanced at the shops around him, then picked one to visit that was similar in its design to a human pavilion. The shop wasn't very large and only had two levels. From the wares being sold on the shelves, it appeared that this was a very ordinary general store.

  The shopkeeper was a green-skinned being who was sitting on a chair behind the counter, and he immediately rose to his feet with a smile on his face at the sight of Han Li. "What can I help you with, Senior? We sell several types of specialty local products from Cloud City, as well as maps, general appliances..."

  This foreign being appeared to be in his forties, and even though he was only at the Foundation Establishment Stage, he displayed no fear in the presence of Han Li. After extending a polite salute, he launched into a well-rehearsed spiel to advertise his wares.

  This wasn't particularly surprising. After all, at his lowly cultivation base, he most likely couldn't even tell the difference between a Nascent Soul and Spatial Tempering cultivator. Furthermore, there were countless beings who were far more powerful than him in Cloud City, so he was most likely already accustomed to being in the presence of beings that were unfathomably powerful to him.

  Han Li glanced at the shopkeeper before suddenly sweeping a sleeve through the air. A mid-grade spirit stone flew out from within as he said, "Get me the most detailed map of Cloud City you have. On top of that, I also have some things that I want to enquire about."

  The shopkeepers smile immediately widened with elation as he caught the spirit stone, and he brought over a red stone tablet from one of the shelves in the shop as he said, "This is the best map in my store, and I'll be sure to answer your questions to the best of my abilities, Senior."

  A short while later, Han Li emerged from the shop with a calm expression on his face. He hailed a beast-drawn carriage on the street, then gave the driver an address before closing his eyes to meditate in the carriage. The driver immediately spurred on the beast-drawn carriage to rush down the street.

  Four hours later, after passing through countless streets, the carriage finally carried Han Li to the nearest corner of the Cloud City and stopped in front of a strange massive building.

&nb
sp; Han Li tossed a few spirit stones over to the driver before disembarking from the carriage and looking up at the building in a calm manner.

  This was a tall hill-like building that had been entirely constructed from a yellow sand-like material.

  The building was over 10,000 feet; countless times taller than the other buildings nearby.

  Furthermore, there were several tens of rooms of different sizes littered all over the building, and the occasional being could be seen drifting in and out of the doors. This was like a giant wasp's net when appraised from afar!

  Han Li stood on the spot in a slight stupor for a long while before finally casting his gaze downward at a large wide-open entrance at the base of the building.

  There was a strange character inscribed on the wall on either side of the entrance, and even with the vast number of foreign languages that Han Li had mastered, he was completely unable to decipher what those characters meant. Following a brief hesitation, Han Li stroked his chin before striding toward the entrance. After making his way into the building, he found himself in an extraordinarily spacious hall. The hall was over 2,000 feet in size, and the walls and ground were all paved with beautiful green jade. There were also rows of flower pots that were several feet tall positioned along the walls, and within those pots were planted all types of vibrant spirit flowers and spirit herbs.

  At the center of the hall was a dilapidated black wooden table, on top of which was sprawled a man with snowy-white hair in a set of long grey robes. The man was lying there in a completely motionless manner, seemingly in a deep slumber. Han Li made his way over to the table, and said, "Find me one your more secluded rooms; I want to stay here for a few days."