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

by Translator: Johnchen

  However, the immortal zoysia merely smiled in response, and its aura suddenly changed as the light emanating from its body changed from purple to a vibrant green color.

  A burst of rich wood-attribute spiritual Qi radiated from its body, and after coming into contact with this spiritual Qi, the white rabbit suddenly faltered in its menacing display. After taking a whiff of the air around it with its little pink nose, its expression eased significantly, and there even seemed to be a hint of affection in its eyes as it cast its gaze toward the immortal zoysia again.

  "Come here, little guy." The immortal zoysia clapped its hands together before opening its arms in an inviting manner.

  The white rabbit seemed to be able to comprehend what the immortal zoysia was saying, and after a brief hesitation, it really did jump into the immortal zoysia's arms.

  The immortal zoysia was elated, and began carefully stroking the white rabbit's head.

  The white rabbit's eyes narrowed with enjoyment in response, and it stuck out its little red tongue to lick the immortal zoysia's fingers.

  As the immortal zoysia stroked the rabbit's head, it turned to Han Li with a serious look on its face, and said, "This is splendid! Looks like it's not far away from attaining intelligence. Fellow Daoist Han, seeing as this brethren of mine is able to move around so freely in your medicine garden, it's quite apparent to me that you're taking great care of it. In that case, you wouldn't mind if I assisted it in attaining intelligence and taught it some things, would you?"

  "You can help it attain intelligence?" Han Li was rather surprised to hear this.

  "Indeed. I am a spirit medicine that has attained intelligence, and there are some abilities and cultivation arts that I've mastered that can only be inherited by my brethren. If it could learn everything that I want to teach it, it'll be able to avoid making a lot of the mistakes I made in the past. If it can also manifest a human form like me, I'm sure it'll be of great assistance to you in the future," the immortal zoysia replied in a slow voice.

  After looking at the immortal zoysia for a long while, Han Li finally nodded, but he also stated some conditions of his own. "I can allow you to do that, but my puppet has to be present to supervise whatever you do to it. On top of that, this puppet will be accompanying you closely at all times."

  "No problem at all. There's nothing secretive or malicious about what I want to do," the immortal zoysia immediately agreed.

  "Alright, then I have no further issues either. You can rest here for the next year or so, and if you have any requests, just notify my puppet," Han Li said as he waved a hand through the air, and Doll immediately stepped forward to join him.

  "From this day forth, stay with this fellow Daoist at all times, and don't leave him unattended for even a single moment," Han Li ordered in a serious manner.

  The sentient puppet didn't possess a very high level of spiritual nature, but it was naturally able to understand such simple instructions.

  As such, Doll nodded in an expressionless manner to acknowledge Han Li's commands.

  The immortal zoysia chuckled upon seeing this, and it flicked a wrist to send forth a streak of purple light that carried the white rabbit gently back onto the ground.

  After that, it made its way over to a spot that was several tens of feet away from the Ninecurl Spirit Ginseng, then spread its feet apart. Green light flashed all over its body again, and its four limbs reverted back into their purple root form before burrowing straight into the ground.

  At this moment, the immortal zoysia's entire body took a translucent green hue.

  Han Li stood on the spot and appraised the immortal zoysia for a while before departing from the medicine garden with a faint smile on his face.

  Even though he was very curious about the mysterious uses of the immortal zoysia, there was something else that he had to attend to for now; the date that Xian Xian had agreed to repair his suit of Heavenly Devilish Armor was about to arrive. Han Li was also very much looking forward to this.

  As a safety precaution, Han Li released his Leopard Kirin Beast and second Nascent Soul, then activated all of the restrictions in his cave abode before departing.

  Several hours later, the beast-drawn carriage that he had hailed arrived before Xian Xian's shop. The doors of the shop were tightly-shut, and it seemed to not be accepting any customers.

  Han Li raised a hand upon seeing this, and a burst of fiery light suddenly flew out of his sleeve before disappearing through the doors in a flash.

  After that, he continued to wait patiently outside.

  Moments later, the doors opened amid a gentle creak, and Xian Xian's soft voice sounded from inside.

  "You sure are punctual, Brother Han; half a month has only just passed, and you've already come to visit me."

  "Hehe, I'm quite eager to get this armor repaired; my apologies if I come across as a little impatient," Han Li chuckled as he strode into the shop.

  The doors closed behind him on their own, and Xian Xian stood at the center of the shop as she turned to Han Li with a smile on her face.

  As soon as Han Li made his way over to her, Xian Xian made a hand seal to activate her formation plate.

  Spiritual light flashed, and both of them abruptly disappeared from the shop, having been teleported directly into Xian Xian's spatial rift.

  Han Li made his way out of the teleportation formation before looking around, and his gaze immediately settled on a certain corner of the space.

  There, a large formation with a radius of over 100 feet had been set up. The entire formation was inky black, and there were a dozen or so black crystals embedded into the ground all around it.

  At the very center of the formation was an azure copper cauldron that was around five feet tall, and there were complex runes carved all over its surface, as well as faint white mist emanating from it.

  Several feet in the air above the cauldron was a fist-sized object that was enshrouded in white mist. The object was hovering in a completely stationary manner and radiating dazzling black light.

  Han Li's eyes narrowed upon seeing this.

  The object above the cauldron had changed slightly in appearance, but there was no mistaking the frosty devilish Qi emanating from it; it was none other than the holy-grade devilish core of that devilish ape.

  At this point, the devilish core had completely crystallized, giving it the appearance of a shimmering black crystal.

  Xian Xian also made her way out of the teleportation formation, and smiled as she said, "What do you think, Fellow Daoist? I certainly haven't been slacking off these past few days. I had to expend a lot of effort and precious materials to completely wipe away all traces of the holy-grade devilish ape's soul from this devilish core, and also make the devilish Qi it contained less volatile and difficult to control."

  "Oh? From the sounds of it, you're preparing to completely refine this devilish core rather than embed it into the suit of armor," Han Li mused as he stroked his chin.

  "I didn't think you'd be so knowledgeable in tool refinement as well, Brother Han. Indeed, that is my intention. Embedding the entire devilish core into the suit of armor will repair the largest few cracks on it, but I won't be able to address the smaller and finer cracks then. I'm sure you wouldn't want to wear a suit of armor with glaring chinks in it, right, Brother Han?" Xian Xian explained with a rather surprised look on her face.

  "I only know a little about tool refinement, so I'll leave everything to you, Fellow Daoist. I'm very confident in the tool refinement techniques of the Crystal Race," Han Li said with a smile.

  Xian Xian merely smiled upon hearing Han Li's modest response, and she continued, "While I'm repairing this suit of armor, I'll have to activate the restriction in this space, and I may also need you to lend me a hand. If everything goes smoothly, we should be able to complete the repairing process in about three days."

  "Three days is certainly not a long time, and this treasure is being repaired for me, so it's only right that I lend you m
y assistance." Han Li had no objections whatsoever.

  "In that case, let's begin right away." Xian Xian didn't seem to want to keep wasting time with words, either, as she raised a hand into the air. The formation plate that she was carrying rose up into the air, then rotated on the spot above her head.

  Spiritual light flashed as incantation seals of different colors swept forth from the formation plate, then disappeared into various locations in the spatial rift.

  In the next instant, fierce winds suddenly swept through the air up above, and oppressive dark clouds surged forth in a frenzy. At the same time, a dull ringing sound rang out from the walls of the space before layers of grey Qi began to surface.

  Thus, the entire space was immersed in complete darkness so potent that one couldn't see their fingers even if they were to hold them up to their face. It was as if this space had been plunged into a devilish realm.

  Han Li swept a sleeve through the air upon seeing this, and an egg-sized ball of white light flew out of his sleeve before revolving around him, thereby making the surrounding area a lot brighter.

  At this moment, Xian Xian was already making her way toward the large formation. Han Li didn't say anything upon seeing this, but his body swayed as he took what appeared to be two slow and measured steps.

  However, he then suddenly appeared behind Xian Xian in the next instant, as if by instantaneous teleportation.

  Xian Xian seemed to be completely oblivious to what was happening behind her, and she merely raised a hand to cast an incantation seal toward the formation up ahead.

  A low buzzing sound instantly rang out, following which the entire formation activated amid a swirl of black light.

  Han Li's expression changed slightly at the sight of the scenes unfolding before his eyes. He had yet to decipher the purpose of this formation, but the bursts of devilish Qi emanating from the formation were very pure indeed. Thus, he was left feeling rather curious about where Xian Xian had sourced so much devilish Qi from.

  Right at this moment, Xian Xian suddenly began to chant something, following which brilliant azure light erupted from her body. An azure Kirin projection that was several tens of feet in size then suddenly appeared behind her.

  Initially, the Kirin projection remained completely still, but as Xian Xian's chanting gradually grew more urgent, the protection finally slowly opened its mouth to expel a head-sized ball of flames.

  The fireball was quite peculiar in that it was both black and azure in color, and it struck the copper cauldron at the center of the formation in a flash.

  A layer of scorching black and azure flames immediately surfaced all over the cauldron as a result.

  Chapter 1669: Inter-realm Devilish Intent

  "Bring out your devilish armor, Brother Han," Xian Xian said as she turned to Han Li with a solemn look on her face.

  Han Li naturally had no objections to this. As such, he flipped a hand over to produce a jade box that was around a foot in size, upon which were plastered a pair of restriction talismans.

  He swept a sleeve over the box, to remove the talismans and its lid, and a burst of black Qi immediately surged forth from within in a frenzy.

  Within the black Qi, a suit of purple armor that was around half a foot slowly emerged.

  Not only was it extremely sinister in appearance, there were several spikes protruding from the shoulder and knee sections of the armor. On top of that, its entire surface was filled with black patterns, and it was emanating immensely powerful devilish Qi. However, there was a large hole on the chest of the suit of armor, and the surrounding area was riddled with cracks, clearly indicating that it had been severely damaged.

  Xian Xian's expression changed slightly at the sight of the black Qi surging forth from the suit of armor, and she waved a hand through the air to conjure up a translucent light barrier before pointing a finger at the box from afar.

  The purple suit of armor drifted slowly toward the formation at her behest, seemingly having been summoned by some kind of invisible power.

  Before the suit of armor reached the center of the formation, Xian Xian raised a hand to cast a silver incantation seal, which disappeared into the copper cauldron in a flash.

  A dull clang akin to the toll of a large bell instantly rang out from within the cauldron, and the black and azure flames burning around it instantly swelled to sweep up the suit of armor and draw it into the cauldron.

  Immediately thereafter, a string of rumbling booms akin to thunderclaps rang out from within the cauldron, following which the intricate black patterns on its surface began to flash and glow.

  At the same time, black Qi began to surge throughout the entire formation down below, and faint silver runes emerged from various locations all over the formation. As soon as these runes appeared, they surged toward the cauldron in a frenzy before vanishing into it.

  After that, Xian Xian began to chant something in a low voice again while making a hand seal. The ground near the formation began to tremor violently, and piercing yellow light suddenly flashed from its four corner, following which a yellow stone platform emerged from each corner.

  These platforms were around 10 feet tall each, but all of them were extremely smooth, and there was a small black flag standing on each of them.

  Around the flags were containers of all shapes and sizes, and Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this before quickly reverting back to normal.

  As Xian Xian continued to chant her incantations, the four flags swelled to 50 to 60 feet in size, and only then did Xian Xian withdraw her hand seal as she turned to Han Li, and said, "Let's begin, Fellow Daoist Han. During this repair process, all you have to do is listen to my instructions and inject your magic power into those four devilish flags in a timely manner."

  "No problem," Han Li immediately replied with a quick nod. A pleased smile appeared on Xian Xian's face upon hearing this, and she pointed a finger up at the formation plate hovering in mid-air again. A long cry immediately rang out within the formation plate, following which countless incantation seals surged forth, all of which disappeared into the dark clouds up above. The grey Qi emanating from the walls also began to permeate through the air, and within mere moments, Han Li and Xian Xian were both inundated by this grey Qi. Time passed by slowly, and three days flew by in the blink of an eye.

  The doors of Xian Xian's shop were abruptly flung open, and a humanoid figure strode out from within before hailing a beast-drawn carriage and departing in an unhurried manner.

  At this moment, within the spatial rift in the shop, Xian Xian was standing at the edge of the formation, staring blankly at the copper cauldron up ahead.

  The surface of the cauldron was riddled with countless thin cracks, and the formation down below was also in a very sorry state with a small section of it having been completely destroyed.

  The black crystals embedded into the ground around the formation had all been reduced to powder, and in the air above Xian Xian, the Kirin projection had shrunk down to only around a foot in size.

  Both Xian Xian and the Kirin wore contemplative looks on their faces, seemingly in deep thought about something.

  After a long while, the Kirin projection finally sighed, "That suit of devilish armor most likely has some history behind it; there's no way that something like that would've happened when repairing a suit of armor belonging to a normal Heavenly Devilish Monarch."

  "Indeed. After the suit of armor was repaired, it drew the spiritual sense from a devilish being of another realm, and that being almost manifested a devilish body using the devilish Qi gathered here," Xian Xian replied as a hint of lingering fear flashed through her eyes.

  "It's a good thing that Han brat possesses Divine Devilbane Lightning and was able to disperse the devilish Qi that was gathering. Otherwise, we'd be in a lot of trouble," the Kirin projection mused in a grim manner.

  "Seeing as that devilish being was able to force its spiritual sense through to this realm from an alternate realm, it m
ost likely possesses powers comparable to a true spirit being. Could it be that there's more than meets the eyes with this suit of armor? But after repairing the suit of armor, I didn't discover anything amiss with it," Xian Xian said with furrowed brows.

  "There wasn't enough time for me to identify anything, either. If we'd known this earlier, you should've never given this suit of armor away. After repairing it, you could've fabricated an excuse to keep it, then use some other treasures to reimburse him instead," the azure Kirin projection suddenly said.

  "I did indeed want to do that. However, even though he seemed quite calm when dispersing that devilish Qi, I could sense that if I were to refuse to hand the suit of armor over to him, he would've most likely killed me on the spot without any hesitation. His powers are virtually comparable to that of holy race beings, and I've used up almost all of my life-saving treasures in the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges, so there's a very good chance that I would've died had he turned on me," Xian Xian replied with a wry smile.

  "It's a pity that I exhausted so much of my energy in the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges as well. Otherwise, if we were to draw on the power of the spatial restriction here, it's not impossible that the two of us would've been able to force him to leave the armor here," the Kirin projection also said in a rather gloomy manner.

  Xian Xian's expression changed a few times before she finally took a deep breath, and said, "So be it. No matter how powerful that suit of armor is, the fact of the matter is that it's a devilish treasure, so there's no way I would've been able to use it anyway. As such, it wouldn't be worth offending such a powerful being to try and keep it."

  The Kirin projection was silent for a moment before heaving a resigned sigh. "Hehe, it's good that you can think that way. I guess we'll just have to concede here. As for whether the secrets behind that suit of armor will eventually be unveiled, that'll be up to his luck. It's just a pity that you'd missed out on the opportunity to make use of that suit of armor in the future."

  "With you by my side, will I have a shortage of opportunities?" Xian Xian chuckled, seemingly having already come to terms with the current situation.