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

by Translator: Johnchen

  Almost right after the five-colored specks of light began to appear, golden, silver, and white light abruptly emerged from the massive starry sky diagram on the platform.

  The sun, moon, and stars flashed before exploding into spiritual light of three different colors. Spiritual light surged once again before instantly forming a beveled silver rune, a golden seal rune, and another rune in a white text that he had never seen before. The runes formed a peculiar light formation that enshrouded the entire platform within.

  The nine silver armored puppets and the golden body projection were situated right at the core and other vital locations within the light formation, and an indistinct yet profound connection seemed to have been forged between them.

  A peculiar light flashed through Han Li's eyes upon seeing this, but he didn't take any additional measures.

  The second Nascent Soul had already reached the final few sentences of its incantation, and azure light flashed through the eyes of the nine puppets as they finally sprang into action.

  All of the puppets suddenly shifted a half-step either forward or backward from their original location, and it wasn't a massive change at all, but a burst of restriction fluctuations were suddenly triggered. The fluctuations resonated with the light formation, and the scenes unfolding within the formation instantly changed.

  The five-colored specks of light that were hovering in the air shuddered before plunging into the light formation like a torrential storm.

  At the same time, golden flames erupted from the bodies of the nine puppets as they held onto their silver halberds.

  The golden flames reflected off their silver armor, making the puppets appear as majestic and imposing as heavenly generals.

  However, these puppets certainly weren't just there to look good; as soon as the golden flames emerged, bursts of enormous spiritual pressure suddenly erupted from their bodies.

  This spiritual pressure was so immense that it instantly caused the world's origin Qi around the platform to surge and churn before forming gusts of strong golden wind that howled through the air.

  Han Li was situated over 300 feet away, and he was only barely glanced by the peripheral gusts of golden winds, but his expression immediately changed drastically. Golden light flashed from his body, and he shot back like a giant arrow as if he had been struck by some kind of tremendous force.

  He reappeared over 200 feet away in the blink of an eye, and he only managed to just barely steady himself after stumbling back several steps in succession.

  The spiritual pressure being released by these puppets was truly terrifying! Even though Han Li's body was currently more powerful than that of even the average holy-grade being, he still couldn't withstand the spiritual pressure for even an instant. Han Li was naturally quite stunned by this development, but had no time to dwell on it as he hurriedly raised his head to cast his gaze toward the platform.

  There, the silver halberds in the hands of the nine armored warriors suddenly shuddered in unison before expelling a golden pillar of light each, which surged directly toward the golden ball of light up above before vanishing into it in a flash.

  A strange rumbling sound immediately rang out from within the ball of light, and the light within it began to rapidly revolve, slowly forming a gigantic vortex.

  Three-colored light swirled within the huge light projection, and a three-colored rune that was virtually the same size as the formation slowly emerged before hurtling into the air in a flash.

  Moments later, the giant rune vanished into the golden vortex, and the golden light surged violently as a loud rumbling boom rang out.

  Immediately thereafter, powerful spatial fluctuations erupted from within the vortex, and a few rumbling booms rang out as the golden pillars of light erupting from the silver halberds instantly increased to over twice their original thickness, making their thickness comparable to that of large bowls.

  Bright light also erupted from the light formation on the platform, manifesting a substantial three-colored light barrier then enshrouded the entire platform within.

  There were countless golden and silver runes emerging in a frenzy within the light barrier, and they were drifting directly toward the golden body sitting on the chair.

  The entire light formation was activated to its very maximal extent, and the rumbling booms had become as deafening as thunderclaps.

  At the same time, Han Li suddenly sensed that the light around him had abruptly dimmed, and as he inspected his surroundings, he was immediately given a massive fright.

  He had returned to the massive starry sky that he had already been trapped in once. However, on this occasion, he had a rather strange perspective where he was looking down on everything from above, and there were a series of scorching white stars hovering right beside him.

  The golden body, green chair, three-colored light formation, armored warriors, and golden vortex were also situated within the same starry sky.

  Han Li abruptly waved a sleeve through the air, and a flying sword that was around an inch in length surged forth, then circled around before transforming into a streak of azure light.

  The azure light slashed through several nearby stars, completely dispersing them in the process, but mere moments later, the stars that had been destroyed returned to normal amid flashes of white light.

  Han Li raised an eyebrow upon seeing this, but he was quite relieved internally. It seemed that this starry sky wasn't an illusionary realm, and on this occasion, he had managed to retain clarity of mind.

  However, just as this thought appeared in Han Li's mind, the spatial fluctuations emanating from within the golden vortex suddenly became several times more powerful.

  The fluctuations seemed to have formed substantial waves that were visible to the naked eye, and they erupted from the vortex in all directions.

  The sky blurred in the wake of these fluctuations, and it was as if the entire starry sky had instantly been tipped on its head in an involuntary manner.

  All of a sudden, a resounding boom rang out, as if heaven and earth were being torn apart, and an extraordinarily thick white pillar of light erupted from the golden vortex. The pillar of light struck the light formation on the platform with unerring accuracy, encompassing the chair and the golden body in the process.

  The sound of howling winds and rumbling thunder could be heard coming from within the pillar of light, and it contained countless five-colored runes. Even though Han Li was currently situated hundreds of feet away from it, he could still sense the extremely pure spiritual power imbued within the pillar of light. However, upon closer inspection, it seemed that the pillar of light didn't just contain spiritual Qi; it also seemed to be imbued with a boundlessly enormous aura like that of a star.

  Before the second Nascent Soul had a chance to react, the pillar of light had descended upon the golden body, and the space around it instantly tightened as a burst of irresistibly heavy force weighed down upon its body.

  Even with the golden body's immense strength, it was unable to move so much as a single finger.

  The pure spiritual power within the pillar of light and the five-colored runes surged into the golden body in a frenzied unstoppable wave.

  Han Li's expression changed drastically as he looked on from afar.

  At such close quarters, his main Nascent Soul still had a close connection with his second Nascent Soul, so he was able to directly sense everything as if he were the golden body itself.

  With the frenzied influx of pure spiritual power and five-colored runes, the Profound Yin Devilish Qi that the second Nascent Soul had cultivated to the pinnacle of the mid-Nascent Soul Stage instantly progressed to the late-Nascent Soul Stage, as if the bottleneck between the two stages didn't even exist.

  Furthermore, the second Nascent Soul continued to become more powerful at an incredible rate under the illumination of the pillar of light. Mere moments later, it progressed to the pinnacle of the late-Nascent Soul Stage and encountered the Deity Transformat
ion Stage bottleneck.

  This was an obstacle that even Han Li had only just barely overcome in the past, yet the second Nascent Soul merely progressed to the early-Deity Transformation Stage as if it were taking a stroll in the park.

  Its cultivation base was still being rapidly enhanced, and less than the span of 10 breaths had passed since the pillar of light had fallen upon the golden body.

  Han Li was understandably extremely astonished, and he could barely believe the information that the second Nascent Soul was transmitting to him.

  However, what was even more astonishing was that the golden body projection was beginning to crumble under the pillar of white light, disintegrating into thousands of droplets of golden liquid that hovered within the pillar of light. Thus, the second Nascent Soul was completely exposed.

  However, before Han Li had a chance to figure out whether this was a positive or worrying development, some of the five-colored runes in the air suddenly shrank down to around the size of grains of rice, then surged into the droplets of golden liquid.

  These droplets of golden liquid seemed to have been cleansed over and over again by some kind of mysterious power, and Han Li and the second Nascent Soul suddenly let loose a cry of excruciating agony in unison.

  The second Nascent Soul had black Qi churning violently over its body, which was shuddering uncontrollably, and Han Li immediately plummeted out of the sky as a ball of golden light.

  Chapter 1725: Progression

  Han Li and the second Nascent Soul felt as if their bodies and spiritual sense were being raked over and over again by countless sharp blades, and what was even more damning was that no abilities could alleviate this pain even in the slightest.

  It was as if they had been reduced to mere mortals and could only suffer through the ungodly agony without any being able to offer any resistance.

  Even though Han Li's immensely powerful body was able to withstand even flying swords and flying sabers, this excruciating pain still made him lose control over his own magic power, thereby resulting in him plummeting from the sky.

  Even though he was in extreme agony, he was still able to maintain the output of his Provenance True Devil Arts, so a fall from that altitude was nowhere near enough to hurt him. Instead, a small crater was smashed into the ground amid a dull thump by his powerful body, and shattered stone shrapnel flew in all directions.

  However, Han Li didn't have any spare capacity to notice these small details. Right after he let loose that involuntary cry of agony, he had forcibly pursed his own lips as he tried to repress the pain, and his face was beginning to turn purple.

  This type of agony was unbearable to the average person, and he could only resist it using his willpower.

  In this situation, Han Li could sense that his soul had become scorching hot, as if had been enveloped by a scorching ball of flames and set alight.

  Han Li just barely managed to retain a shred of clarity of mind, but he was still extremely stunned by this development. He gritted his teeth and struggled into the sitting position in the crater, then folded his legs and made a hand seal as bright golden light erupted from his body again.

  After growing slightly accustomed to the agony, he was using his Provenance True Devil Arts to try and alleviate the pain. However, in the next instant, something happened that left him feeling a little stunned.

  As soon as he began to circulate his spiritual power within his own body, the agony that he had been afflicted by suddenly transformed into bursts of refreshing coolness that surged through his meridians in a frenzy, then turned into a type of strange energy that he had never seen before. This energy began to spur on his Provenance True Devil Arts, causing it to operate at a fearsomely rapid rate.

  Following a complete cycle of spiritual Qi revolution, he could sense that his cultivation base had improved slightly. It wasn't a drastic increase by any means, but it was certainly noticeable.

  This strange improvement continued as he circulated his Provenance True Devil Arts, and this discovery naturally filled him with elation.

  Thus, he immediately began to focus on cultivation as golden light flashed from his body.

  Under these circumstances, every single revolution of his cultivation art provided an effect that was equivalent to a year of arduous cultivation, so he definitely wasn't going to pass up such a brilliant opportunity.

  However, his rate of progression was still far inferior to that of the second Nascent Soul in the pillar of light.

  The second Nascent Soul was also circulating its cultivation art to try and alleviate its agony, but due to the enormous influx of energy flowing into its body within the pillar of light, it was unable to blunt its pain by much.

  However, at the same time, its cultivation base was improving at three to four times the rate of Han Li's progression.

  After a while, it progressed to the mid-Deity Transformation Stage, and it still didn't encounter any bottlenecks.

  Time passed by slowly, and Han Li's body suddenly shuddered as a peculiar feeling welled up in his heart. After spending some time working through his early-Spatial Tempering Stage bottleneck, he made a breakthrough to the mid-Spatial Tempering Stage.

  He was naturally ecstatic to sense this, and he continued to circulate his Provenance True Devil Arts as quickly as he could.

  What he failed to notice was that in the instant he reached the mid-Spatial Tempering Stage, the golden droplets within the pillar of light in the distance suddenly flashed before abruptly converging toward the second Nascent Soul.

  In the blink of an eye, a brand new golden body took shape within the pillar of light.

  It still had three heads and six arms, but there were purplish-golden patterns running all over its body, forming a series of strange and slightly indistinct runes. Not only were these purplish-golden runes quite blurry, they also seemed to be incomplete. Even so, the golden body was releasing an aura that was vastly more powerful than before, and the crimson-golden spiritual light emanating from its body was infused with a hint of a mysterious purple color.

  The second blurry face of the golden body also became noticeably clearer than before, and one could even make out some facial features such as its eyes and nose. However, the third face remained as indistinct as ever.

  After obtaining this new golden body, the second Nascent Soul was able to absorb spiritual power and five-colored runes at a vastly improved speed, and its pain had also been alleviated significantly.

  Moments later, the second Nascent Soul progressed to the late-Deity Transformation Stage before rushing rapidly toward the pinnacle of that stage.

  A short while later, Han Li was also close to the pinnacle of the mid-Spatial Tempering Stage and was accumulating power for another breakthrough. Right at this moment, the second Nascent Soul broke through its major bottleneck with relative ease and progressed to the Spatial Tempering Stage as well.

  Any Spirit Realm mighty figure would be stunned to the point of speechlessness if they were to witness this terrifying rate of progression.

  A resounding boom rang out, and the silver halberds being wielded by the nine armored puppets suddenly let loose a prolonged ringing sound in unison. At the same time, nine pillars of light erupted from their sharp tips before vanishing into the air above.

  The pillar of white light erupting from the golden vortex abruptly shuddered before becoming even thicker than before, and the second Nascent Soul instantly let loose a shrill cry of agony in response.

  The golden body that had just taken shape began to melt away again amid violent flashes of golden light. In the blink of an eye, it was reduced to golden droplets that were floating within the pillar of light again.

  However, on this occasion, the golden droplets were infused with hints of purple, and they seemed to be different from before.

  After that, the same events transpired again; pure spiritual power and five-colored runes surged into the golden droplets, and bursts of mysterious energy cleansed them once agai
n.

  The traces of purple within the golden droplets also began to expand at a rate that was indiscernible to the naked eye.

  Meanwhile, the sense of agony that Han Li had been afflicted by was increased by about twofold in the instant that the pillar of white light had thickened, and the pain was so crippling that he almost blacked out on the spot.

  Thankfully, his pain tolerance threshold had been temporarily elevated by this relentless assault of agony, and that allowed him to just barely cling onto his consciousness.

  Furthermore, as he continued to circulate his spiritual power, he began to absorb more and more of the cool energy that was enhancing his cultivation base. This experience made Han Li feel as if he were being burned and frozen at the same time.

  His cultivation base had already reached the pinnacle of the mid-Spatial Tempering Stage about seven or eight minutes ago, and since then, he had drawn upon this mysterious energy to attempt over 10 breakthroughs to the late-Spatial Tempering Stage.

  However, this bottleneck was clearly vastly different from the previous ones he had broken through, and it simply refused to budge.

  As such, more and more of the mysterious energy accumulated within his body, and his pain was elevated to an unprecedented level.

  If he couldn't break through this bottleneck in a short time, he felt as if either his soul would be torn apart by this excruciating agony or his body would explode.

  He had only managed to last until this point as his Great Development Technique and Provenance True Devil Arts had bolstered his soul and body to be far more powerful than those of other cultivators of the same caliber.

  If a normal Spatial Tempering cultivator were in his place, they would have perished long ago.

  Thus, Han Li's ecstasy quickly turned into alarm, and he could only continue to gather up the energy within his body before making one frenzied attempt after another at breaking through his bottleneck.

  He was only a sliver away from making the breakthrough, but he found himself unable to take that final step, and he was becoming quite anxious.