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

by Translator: Johnchen

  The giant tree was remarkably green, but there was a sinister ghoul-like face right at the center of its trunk.

  At this moment, the entire tree was enshrouded in scorching flames, and the sinister face let loose shrill shrieks while blasting forth bursts of green liquid to resist the flames.

  A dozen or so extremely thick tree roots were also flailing violently from the soil around the base of the tree, slamming into the ground with devastating force, leaving trenches that were several feet deep in their wake.

  If these were normal flames, then perhaps these tree roots really would've been enough to douse them. However, these flames were seemingly inextinguishable, and they clung firmly to the tree roots like projections.

  Moments later, the amount of green liquid being expelled by the massive tree was starting to dwindle, and it no longer had the power to resist the surrounding flames. Its shrill cries came to an abrupt halt, and it was incinerated into a pile of ashes.

  The two green-robed men withdrew their flags upon seeing this, then flew over to the pile of ashes before leaning down and pulling out a green crystal each.

  The two men glanced at one another upon seeing this, and both of them could see their own elation mirrored in each other's eyes.

  ...

  In a certain secluded corner of the Vast Glacial Realm, there were a dozen or so male and female horned beings huddled together above a boundless desert. All of them were listening to something that was being said by a young man with three short golden horns growing on his head, and from the stunned expressions on their faces, it seemed that they'd heard something extremely incredible.

  However, as the young man swept his gaze across his companions, all of them lowered their heads in a display of awe and veneration.

  "All of you are clear about our true objective here, right? In order to ensure our success, our elders have used a Profound Heavenly Treasure to refine five extraordinary treasures for us, and even made use of several spies we'd planted in the Heavenly Cloud Races to draw the attention of their higher-ups. I'm sure all of you are aware of what awaits us when we get back if we can accomplish this, so I won't speak any further about that," the golden-horned young man said in a calm voice.

  All of the other horned beings were quite excited to hear this, and they replied in unison, "Rest assured, all of us will do everything in our power to achieve this objective."

  "Very good. I've been cultivating in the sacred mountain all along, so I haven't known all of you for very long. However, the future prosperity of our race hinges on this, so I'm sure all of you will be giving it your all. We have more than 10 teams that entered the Vast Glacial Realm this time, but only the five teams that possess one of the five treasures have been assigned this task. All of the other teams are only responsible for assisting us and providing decoys so the other races don't see through what we're doing. For now, let's set off as we'd originally planned," the golden-horned man instructed with a pleased nod.

  Thus, the group of Jiao Chi beings followed him deeper into the desert.

  ...

  In the air above a lake, there were two foreign mermaid-like beings standing next to one another.

  Before them was a monstrous whale that was over 100 feet in length. There were nine golden eyes on its forehead, and it was appraising the two beings with an extremely astonishing aura emanating from its body.

  Among the two foreign beings, the man had a pair of silver eyes, while the woman had a pair of golden eyes that were rather similar to those of the monstrous whale.

  The whale was in the process of letting loose a low roar as it appraised the two beings at the same time with its nine eyes, putting on quite an antagonistic display.

  Both of the foreign beings wore grim expressions upon seeing this, and after a brief conversation, the woman's golden eyes flashed, and she suddenly let loose a sound that was quite similar to the whale's roar.

  The monstrous whale blinked all nine of its eyes in unison, and it seemed to have become rather hesitant upon hearing this sound.

  The woman's expression eased upon seeing this, but she didn't stop what she was doing, even for a single instant. Instead, her roar was only growing louder than before.

  All of a sudden, the monstrous whale's roar cut off, and golden light flashed in its eyes before its massive body swayed, following which it flew a few laps around the two beings. After returning to its original spot, it let loose another low roar, and on this occasion, and elated look appeared on the woman face upon hearing this. She immediately flew into the air above the monstrous whale, then slowly settled onto its back.

  This seemingly extremely powerful whale reacted in quite a benevolent manner, allowing the woman to ride atop its back before flying away as a streak of blue light at her behest.

  The woman's male companion naturally followed along closely behind them.

  Chapter 1686: Emergence of the Dark Beasts

  Even though Dark Beasts weren't the most powerful beasts in the Vast Glacial Realm, even an ancient beast definitely didn't want to face a pack of mature Dark Beasts at night.

  For some reason, it was night time in the Dark Beast Forest for about two-thirds of the day, leaving very few remaining hours of daylight in contrast.

  There were thousands of Dark Beasts living in the forest, and quite a large proportion of them were mature Dark Beasts.

  As such, even though the Dark Beast Forest directly neighbored the Myriad Fowl Ridge and the Eight Omens Sea, none of the powerful ancient beasts nearby had any intention of invading the forest.

  This forest was like the backyard of the Dark Beasts, and virtually all of the other beasts that resided within it could only act as prey to the Dark Beasts.

  There were a few other types of beasts that also enjoyed enhancements during the night, and only they could pose some threat to the Dark Beasts, but they were all far inferior to the Dark Beasts both in terms of numbers, as well as individual powers.

  On this day, close to 100 kilometers away from the border of the Dark Beast Forest, there was a giant python that was 70 to 80 feet in length with azure scales all over its body, facing off against a Dark Beast in a tense confrontation.

  This python appeared to be no different from a normal python, but in reality, it was one of the types of beasts in the Dark Beast Forest that could challenge the Dark Beasts.

  These types of pythons were known as Azure Night Pythons, and at night, their already powerful bodies would become significantly enhanced, and they would also draw upon the power of the night to enter what was essentially a berserk state.

  After undergoing a berserk transformation, these giant pythons possessed powers that were comparable to that of mature Dark Beasts, and they were extremely ferocious and bloodthirsty in battle.

  However, this type of transformation naturally also presented many negative after-effects to these Azure Night Pythons.

  Not only would they be severely debilitated within the next few years, their lifespans would also be reduced. As such, none of them would undergo such a transformation unless they found themselves in grave danger.

  Unfortunately for these Azure Night Pythons, their inner cores were extremely beneficial for Dark Beasts to consume, so if they were to encounter one another in the Dark Beast Forest, a battle to the death would immediately ensue.

  This was exactly what was happening right now.

  The Azure Night Python had its head raised up high, and it was flicking its dark purple forked tongue in a menacing manner. All of the azure scales on its body had also stood up on end, and it appeared to be ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

  The Dark Beast that was facing off against it bore the appearance of a wolf that had swelled to three or four times its normal size. It was completely inky black in color, and its tail was long and thin, like that of a leopard, giving it a graceful and rather feline appearance.

  This Dark Beast was slightly thinner than a normal mature Dark Beast, so it had clearly only reached mat
urity not long ago. However, it wasn't backing down in the slightest as it glowered at the Azure Night Python with ferocity flashing in its eyes.

  Strangely enough, the Dark Beast was only staring at the giant python, and didn't immediately pounce toward it.

  Most battles between mature Dark Beats and berserk Azure Night Pythons ended with the former securing the inner core of the latter, but there were also cases where Dark Beasts had been devoured by Azure Night Pythons.

  As such, the Dark Beast was naturally delighted to have encountered an Azure Night Python here, but it didn't immediately rush into battle.

  A berserk Azure Night Python would obviously become a lot more powerful, but in the instant it underwent its transformation, it would expose its weakness, and if the Dark Beast could take advantage of that split-second of weakness, it could kill its opponent in a single well-timed strike.

  Meanwhile, the Azure Night Python had adopted a pose that suggested that it was going to go berserk at a moment's notice, but in reality, it didn't dare to do anything rash, either.

  Thus, the tense standoff continued.

  All of the beasts in the Dark Beast Forest were nocturnal creatures that rested in their caves during the day.

  The trees here were extremely tall, and even though they were some distance away from the edge of the forest, the lush branches and leaves up above were still dense enough to almost obscure the entire sky. If one were to try and peer through these lush canopies, they'd only be greeted by the sight of a vast expanse of darkness.

  It was currently the darkest time in the night, and if it weren't for some glowing plants nearby, this place would've been completely pitch-black.

  Time passed by slowly, and the standoff continued. Both of the creatures were getting rather disgruntled at this point.

  Finally, it was the Dark Beast that ran out of patience first.

  It let loose a low snark, and it began to slowly stalk the area around the giant python in an entirely soundless, wraith-like manner.

  The Azure Night Python began to flick its forked tongue with even greater urgency upon seeing this, and at the same time, it began to hiss in a menacing manner.

  However, the ferocious light in the Dark Beast's eyes only grew more pronounced as inky-black claw projections that were half a foot in length each began to appear on its front paws. At the same time, its long and thin tail began to swish through the air, leaving a trail of afterimages in its wake as it cracked like a bullwhip.

  The Azure Night Python was carefully appraising the Dark Beast this entire time, so it naturally saw everything that the Dark Beast was doing. Upon seeing the Dark Beast whipping its tail through the air, its hissing suddenly became more urgent, as if it were being provoked.

  At the same time, light flashed from its dark azure scales, and its body began to swell up like a balloon, causing the entirety of its snakeskin to be stretched taut.

  Almost in the blink of an eye, a sharp tearing sound rang out as the entire snakeskin split open, revealing a serpentine body that was almost one and a half times the size of the original Azure Night python.

  This was still a python with azure scales, but the patterns on those scales had become silver, and these patterns intertwined to create a series of runes of different sizes that were flashing with faint silver light.

  On top of that, a single horn that was as pristine white as jade had also appeared on the python's head. The horn was in a corkscrew shape, and it looked extremely sharp.

  The giant python's green eyes also took on a crimson hue, and they were flashing with a deranged light.

  Almost in the exact same instant that the giant python had completed its transformation, the Dark Beast immediately sprang into action.

  Black light flashed, and the Dark Beast vanished on the spot.

  In the next instant, black light flashed again near one side of the giant pythons's head, and the Dark Beast reappeared, seemingly out of thin air. At the same time, several black claw projections erupted forth, slashing viciously toward the python's neck.

  On each berserk Azure Night Python's neck, just below their head, were several red scales. These scales could be considered to be the Achilles' heel of these snakes, and even an ordinary flying sword would be able to inflict grievous wounds on these pythons if the swords were to target those scales.

  If the Dark Beast's claw projections could strike that weakness, then the battle would essentially be over.

  Of course, this glaring weakness wouldn't constantly be present. In the instant right after entering a berserk state, those scales would turn into the same color as the rest of the python's scales, and in fact, they'd become far more resolute that all of those other scales.

  A few dull thumps rang out as the claw projections struck the Azure Night Python's body, but the giant python had instinctively dodged to evade these lethal attacks.

  Even so, several red bleeding gashes had been inflicted onto its neck, but they didn't appear to be very deep.

  Such a surprise attack naturally completely enraged the giant python, which was already in a semi-deranged state. An explosive roar of fury rang out, following which the python whipped its tail through the air, and a series of azure tail projections appeared before surging toward the Dark Beast.

  Even after failing to land a decisive blow with its surprise attack, the Dark Beast remained calm as it swayed, and two streaks of black light shot forth from its body before transforming into a pair of black beings.

  These two shadow-like beings were extremely similar in appearance to the Dark Beast, except their bodies were quite blurry and indistinct, and were flashing with dark grey spiritual light.

  As soon as they appeared, they also pounced through the air alongside the Dark Beast.

  The Dark Beast and its two projections then unleashed claw projections in unison, which instantly clashed with the azure projection sweeping through the air.

  Following an earth-shattering explosion, the projections all disappeared at the same time, and it appeared that the first clash had ended in a tie.

  Immediately thereafter, a ball of azure light erupted in the air above the Dark Beast, following which a giant python head emerged from within the light. The python head then came crashing down at an astonishing speed, swallowing one of the Dark Beast projections whole before hurtling toward the other one.

  Right at this moment, the actual Dark Beast emerged from the side, then opened its mouth up as wide as it would go, revealing rows of dagger-like teeth that before pouncing toward the giant python.

  Despite how thick the Azure Night Python's body was, if those giant jaws were to clamp down on it, it would definitely be bitten into two halves.

  However, after going berserk, the Azure Night Python's speed was not inferior to that of the Dark Beast, and it abruptly withdrew its head before also opening its cavernous mouth and turning toward the Dark Beast.

  At this moment, the body of its original target, the other Dark Beast projection, suddenly elongated to an incredible extent as it hurtled directly toward the Azure Night Python.

  Thus, the two beasts clashed amid a string of resounding booms, and they appeared to be quite evenly-matched.

  Unbeknownst to the two of them, a massive hole with a radius of around 20 feet had been carved into an ordinary-looking giant tree close to 10 kilometers away from them.

  Within the hole in the tree, there were three people seated inside in a cross-legged manner, appraising a mirror that was hovering in mid-air with rapt focus on their faces.

  The back of the mirror was shimmering with silver light, while the mirror of the surface was displaying an extremely clear image; the image was none other than that of the battle between the Dark Beast and the Azure Night Python.

  All of the scenes in the distance had been perfectly replicated in the mirror, except everything was countless times smaller than their actual size.

  Among this trio, one of them was an azure-robed man, one was a woman with a white hood over h
er head, and the final being was a burly yellow-skinned man.

  These were none other than Han Li, Liu Shui'er, and Shi Kun, who had finally gotten here after close to a month.

  All three of them wore grim expressions as they stared at the mirror with intense unblinking eyes.

  Close to an hour later, the Dark Beast in the image had split up into hundreds of black bats that finally wore the wounded Azure Night Python down until it died, then devoured its prey's beast core before departing in high spirits.

  Liu Shui'er cast an incantation seal onto the mirror, and the image disappeared as she sighed, "What do you think of these Dark Beasts after witnessing one in action for yourselves?"

  Chapter 1687: Thousand Transformation Faces

  "In a one-on-one battle, I can gain a huge advantage in just 10 breaths, and I'd be able to kill it in 30 breaths," Shi Kun replied with furrowed brows.

  "Oh? Then what if three or four of these Dark Beasts, or even a dozen of them were to appear before you at once?" Liu Shui'er asked with a hint of a smile on her face.

  "If they're all this powerful, then I can't guarantee victory against more than three of them, and if more than five of them were to swarm me at once, I'd have no chance of victory. If I were to encounter more than 10 of them at once, I'd immediately run for my life," Shi Kun admitted in a begrudging manner.

  "That's the problem; from what I've heard, there are tens of thousands of Dark Beasts in the Dark Beast Forest, and their powers differ greatly. According to our records, the power displayed by that Dark Beast earlier is slightly inferior to that of the average power level of a mature Dark Beast. Otherwise, it wouldn't have taken so long to defeat that Azure Night Python. Above normal Dark Beasts, there are also two higher tiers of Dark Beasts, one of which is the Three-eyed Dark Beast. Aside from the fact that they're simply a lot more powerful than normal Dark Beasts, their third eyes can also release a strange type of light that can reduce living beings to rotten wood. The other type of Dark Beast is the Dark Beast Monarch. These Dark Beasts possess pure golden fur as opposed to black fur, and we don't have any information on how powerful they are. Apparently, one of our seniors who came into the Vast Glacial Realm before us once passed through the Dark Beast Forest, and he witnessed from afar a Dark Beast Monarch leading a pack of hundreds of mature Dark Beasts galloping through the forest," Liu Shui'er said in a grim voice.