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

by Translator: Johnchen

  The four cultivators couldn't help but exchange a surprised glance, and after conversing briefly through voice transmission, they also accepted this task in a respectful manner.

  After that, the scholarly man pardoned himself for the intrusion before approaching Han Li and picking up the leather pouch. He then swept his spiritual sense into it, upon which his expression changed drastically.

  The other three cultivators faltered slightly upon seeing this before turning to Han Li with bewilderment in their eyes, but Han Li's expression remained unchanged as if he hadn't seen their reactions.

  The scholarly man hurriedly smoothed out his own expression, and said, "Forgive me, Senior, I was stunned by the number of top-grade spirit stones in the pouch. It seems that the ingredients you're looking to purchase must indeed be quite rare. However, seeing as you're willing to entrust this duty to us, we'll be sure to do our best to complete this task."

  The scholarly man then carefully stowed the leather pouch away, then hesitated momentarily before picking up one of the jade boxes on the table.

  He removed the lid, and a burst of white light swept forth, revealing a white jade fan that was covered in runes and shimmering with spiritual light.

  The scholarly man picked the fan up before waving it through the air, and a series of fan projections immediately emerged before him while a burst of astonishing spiritual pressure swept forth.

  "This Mountain River Fan possesses both wind and earth attribute powers. It can strike your enemy with devastating invisible force even from over 1,000 feet away," Han Li said with a smile.

  The scholarly man immediately extended another ecstatic bow of gratitude.

  The other three cultivators also picked up a jade box each before opening them in an excited manner. As a result, they discovered that the boxes contained a pair of silver bracelets, a colorful handkerchief, and a profound ice flying dagger.

  These four treasures were all useless to Han Li, but to these four Deity Transformation cultivators, these were treasures that they could only dream of, and all of them eagerly expressed their gratitude.

  Of course, after taking Han Li's treasures, they had officially agreed to carry out Han Li's requests.

  As for whether these four were going to simply take the spirit stones and run away without completing those tasks, Han Li wasn't worried about that at all. He had already conducted some research into these four, and they were relatively renowned in this city.

  On top of that, none of them were vagrant cultivators; they each belonged to a certain family or sect, all of which would be quite easy to track down. As such, as long as these four weren't completely short-sighted idiots, they wouldn't do something so stupid. Otherwise, they'd be plunging those close to them into a world of trouble.

  In order to further stamp his authority on these four cultivators, Han Li casually told them about how he had progressed to the Body Integration Stage recently, and demonstrated his ability to easily control the world's origin Qi, an ability that only Body Integration cultivators possessed.

  The four cultivators were naturally completely stunned, and there was certainly no way that they'd try to plot against Han Li now.

  After departing from the pavilion, Han Li flew away as a streak of azure light toward the massive stone towers that he had once lived in as a Deep Heaven Guard.

  Not long after that, Han Li appeared near one of the stone towers, and he looked on at the guards entering and exiting the tower with a nostalgic look on his face.

  This stone tower was none other than the one he had lived in as a Dark Azure Guard, and even though centuries had passed, everything was still the same as it had been back then.

  Han Li took a deep breath, and the reminiscent look in his eyes faded as he flew toward the stone tower.

  At the entrance of the stone tower were a dozen or so Black Iron Guards and two Dark Azure Guards. The approaching Han Li clearly wasn't a Deep Heaven Guard, and all of them turned toward him with suspicious looks in their eyes.

  Han Li continued to approach these guards in a calm manner, but at the same time, he released his Body Integration Stage aura without making any attempt to conceal it.

  Even though he had only released a wisp of his aura, the massive disparity in cultivation base still caused the two Dark Azure Guards to sway unsteadily on their feet. The Black Iron Guards fared even worse as all of them stumbled back several steps before steadying themselves.

  "Body Integration!" a Dark Azure Guard exclaimed.

  "Is that you, Fellow Daoist Han?" An astonished look appeared on the other Dark Azure Guard's face as he appraised Han Li.

  This man clearly recognized Han Li.

  Han Li was rather taken aback by this, and he focused his gaze on the elderly man to find that he was rather familiar.

  After a brief pause for contemplation, he managed to identify the man. "You're Fellow Daoist Yue, right?"

  "Fellow Dao... No, Senior Han, you..." The elderly man looked as if he had seen a ghost, and even he himself felt as if he were in a dream.

  The other Dark Azure Guard was also quite stunned, but he hurriedly extended a respectful bow, and asked, "You don't seem to be an elder of Deep Heaven City, Senior. May I ask your name? And is there something we can do for you? Do you recognize this senior, Brother Yue?"

  However, the elderly man was clearly still too astonished to muster up a response.

  "Is Fairy Xu of the Dark Azure Guard in the tower right now?" Han Li asked.

  The Dark Azure Guard was quite perplexed by the elderly man's flabbergasted reaction, but he still replied in a respectful manner, "Fellow Daoist Xu has just left the city to go on patrol duty, so it'll most likely be a few days before she returns."

  Han Li's brows furrowed before his expression immediately returned to normal, and he said, "In that case, I won't go in, then. Please pass on a message to Fairy Xu for me when she comes back; tell her that I'll be waiting for her in the Immortal Gathering Pavilion. As for my identity, Fellow Daoist Yue knows all about it, so I won't waste any time with self-introductions."

  He then cupped his fist in a salute toward the elderly man before flying away as a streak of azure light.

  All of the guards bowed in a respectful manner as he departed.

  "Who is that Senior Han, Brother Yue? Why are you so astonished?" After the azure streak of light vanished into the distance, the Dark Azure Guard turned around, only to discover that the elderly man was still completely rooted to the spot, and he was slightly displeased.

  The elderly man finally managed to regain some semblance of composure, and replied, "He's here to look for Fairy Xu, so there's no mistaking it; it really is him. Forgive me for my lack of composure, Brother Ding, but 300 years ago, this Senior Han was still a Dark Azure Guard like us. Back when I last saw him, he was still only at the mid-Deity Transformation Stage."

  "He was a Dark Azure Guard 300 years ago? Surely you jest, Brother Yue!" the Dark Azure Guard exclaimed in an incredulous manner.

  "You only joined Deep Heaven City around 200 years ago, so it's no surprise that you don't recognize him. Back in the day, Senior Han and I were both Dark Azure Guards, and even though we weren't exactly close friends, I was saved by him once. This Senior Han was extremely renowned among us Dark Azure Guards 300 years ago as he had slain Spatial Tempering Stage foreign beings as a Deity Transformation cultivator. After that, he seemed to have been given some kind of mysterious mission and disappeared after entering the primordial world. I'm truly astonished that he's managed to progress all the way to the Body Integration Stage from the Deity Transformation Stage," the elderly man sighed with undisguised astonishment and envy in his voice.

  Chapter 1770: Reappearance of the Devilish Shadow

  The Dark Azure Guard was left rooted to the spot upon hearing this, just as the elderly man had been a moment ago.

  After departing from the stone tower, Han Li paused momentarily before flying toward the market. Even though he had assigned the fou
r cultivators with the task of purchasing the spirit medicines he required, it certainly couldn't hurt to visit the market and purchase all of the ingredients that he could first.

  Han Li had already made several trips to the Deep Heaven City market, and he went to the same shop as last time before asking the shopkeeper to source as many items on his list as he could.

  After that, he departed from the shop and headed straight toward the giant hall at the center of the market.

  There were people helping him on human territory, so he didn't have to concern himself with the matters here, but it was quite likely that there were going to be ingredients that he needed in demon territory as well.

  Thus, he decided to take a trip there to see if he could reap any rewards. However, he was forced to visit the market on his own just to purchase some materials and ingredients, and that was one of the downsides of not being a part of a major power.

  If he had joined one of those major powers, he could easily assign such menial tasks to someone else. Of course, the benefits that he would derive from this still couldn't outweigh the fact that his freedom would be restricted to a certain extent.

  With his current abilities, he could easily establish his own power, but doing so would require a lot of time and effort that would severely hinder his own cultivation, so it simply wasn't worth it.

  As such, it was a rather appealing option to become one of the spirit sovereigns. After all, the powers commanded by the three sovereigns were different from other sects and families and most of their powers arose from their status. Anyone who became one of the three sovereigns would immediately become a vastly influential figure in the human race.

  As these thoughts ran through Han Li's mind, he arrived in front of the massive hall that facilitated exchanges between human and demon vendors.

  ...

  Just as Han Li issued the spirit stones for the entrance fee and was about to step into the hall, a loud buzzing sound suddenly rang out from a certain massive formation that was quite far away from human territory. This formation was situated within a certain obscure underground cave, and it was being guarded by a dozen or so armored puppet warriors. All of a sudden, spiritual light of different colors began to flash from the formation, and red light immediately flashed from the eyes of the previously stationary puppets as they slowly pointed their giant blades toward the formation.

  Almost at the exact same moment, spiritual light flashed at the entrance to the cave, and a blurry humanoid figure that was shimmering with silver light appeared.

  In the next instant, two humanoid figures emerged in the teleportation formation amid a flash of scintillating white light.

  After the spiritual light faded, the two humanoid figures were revealed to be a tall and broad black-robed man and a graceful white-robed woman.

  The man appeared to be in his thirties and had a dark complexion with a set of hideous and ferocious facial features.

  In contrast, the woman's complexion was as fair as snow, and her eyes were as black as night.

  "Who are you? You two aren't Silver beings; why are you able to use our Silver Race's teleportation formation?" the humanoid figure enshrouded within silver light screeched in an astonished manner.

  "Hmm? There's a Silver being guarding this place. Please let me eat him, Sacred Ancestor." The black-robed man turned to the silver figure with yearning in his eyes.

  "That Silver being is no less powerful than you; you might chip a tooth if you try to eat him," the white-robed woman said in a calm manner.

  "Hehe, a mere holy-grade Silver being won't be able to do anything in your presence, Sacred Ancestor," the black-robed man said with a fawning smile.

  "How dare you!" The silver figure could naturally tell from their conversation that these were enemies, and he immediately let loose a screech of fury.

  At the same time, the surrounding puppets slashed their giant blades toward the center of the formation in unison, and a dozen or so streaks of silver light flashed through the air.

  "What a pitiful attack!" the black-robed man chuckled coldly before sweeping a sleeve through the air to conjure up a black light barrier.

  A string of loud explosions rang out in rapid succession, and all of the streaks of silver light exploded in a flash upon striking the black light as if they had struck an impregnable fortress.

  The black-robed man then did something that made the Silver being even more astonished.

  He opened his mouth to expel a swath of black light, which swept up all of the silver light and drew it into his mouth.

  A huge black shadow then abruptly appeared behind the man before lashing out, and a string of resounding booms rang out once again. All of the surroundings puppets were pulverized by the sweeping black shadow without being able to offer any resistance.

  The Silver being was quite alarmed to see this, and he hurriedly focused his gaze on the black shadow, upon which he discovered that it was a massive black tail that was covered in thick and heavy scales.

  The tail was over 100 feet in length and coiled around the man several times.

  Right at this moment, the black-robed man chuckled in a sinister manner, and black light flashed from his body, upon which an enormous holy-grade aura erupted forth.

  The silver figure was stunned by his power. He wasn't confident in his ability to defeat this black-robed man on his own, and the white-robed woman beside him seemed to be even more powerful.

  The Silver being immediately concluded that he was no match for these two, and silver light swirled around him as his body gradually began to blur.

  "You're not going anywhere!"

  A vicious light flashed through the black-robed man's eyes, and the huge black tail around him shot forth like a giant python, crossing a distance of over 100 feet in a flash before instantly puncturing the silver figure.

  However, the silver light then dissipated, and the blurry humanoid figure had vanished into thin air.

  The Silver being had managed to escape before he was struck by the black-robed man.

  However, right at this moment, a faint smile suddenly appeared on the white-robed woman's face, and she pointed a finger forward.

  A pink spirit flower suddenly blossomed on her fingertip, then transformed into a massive projection in a flash that encompassed the entire cave.

  Everything within a radius of several hundred feet was instantly basked in pink light and a peculiar fragrance.

  All of a sudden, a silver thread of light emerged out of thin air without any warning amid a dull thump. It was none other than the Silver being who had just escaped.

  "Impossible!" the Silver being yelled in shock and horror, and spiritual light flashed from his body as he attempted to escape again.

  The white-robed woman's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and in the next instant, spatial fluctuations erupted from beneath the silver figure's feet, following which a massive pink flower silently emerged.

  The silver figure's body tightened, and he was completely immobilized.

  His face was instantly drained of all color as the black-robed man burst into raucous laughter. Black Qi suddenly began to swirl around his body, and he pounced directly toward the Silver being.

  Within the black Qi, a massive mouth that was around 10 feet in size spread open, and the overwhelming stench of blood and gore wafted forth from within.

  The white-robed woman seemed to have lost interest in all of this, and she withdrew her gaze while summoning another pink spirit flower in her hand. She brought the flower to her nose before taking a slight whiff, and a hint of sorrow appeared in her eyes.

  Meanwhile, the black Qi that the black-robed man had transformed into had already completely enshrouded the Silver being, and bloodcurdling cries could be heard.

  ...

  Within a palace on a certain section of the seabed between the Tian Yuan Continent and Thunder Continent, there was a secret chamber that was enveloped by layers of black Qi. Within the secret chamber was
a huge crimson cocoon-like object that was hanging in mid-air.

  The surface of the cocoon was flashing incessantly with crimson light, and it was constantly fluctuating in size by minute degrees. It seemed that something was being nurtured within the cocoon.

  Below the cocoon were 12 massive shadowy beasts. One of them had two heads and six eyes, one had four wings and three paws, and there was even a golden wyrm that possessed nine thin tails that were extremely eye-catching.

  However, all of these beasts were currently lying on the ground in a completely stationary manner, and were completely devoid of any aura.

  From the crimson light that was flashing above, one could see that the 12 beasts were all completely shriveled up as if all of their blood had been sucked away, and their bodies had shrunk significantly as a result.

  Otherwise, with the original statures of these 12 beasts, there was no way that this secret chamber would've been able to contain them.

  There were 12 ancient lamps situated in a corner of the secret chamber, but the flames on those lamps had already been snuffed out.

  On the other side of the secret chamber was a short green jade table, atop which sat a fist-sized crystal ball that was flashing with faint spiritual light.

  There was a clear image on the surface of the object, depicting an extremely life-like silver lotus pod that was shimmering with silver light.

  ...

  In the exchange hall of Deep Heaven City, Han Li was appraising a demonic woman enshrouded in black Qi with a surprised look on his face.

  "I didn't think I would encounter you again here, Fellow Daoist."

  "Hehe, I also didn't think that I would ever see you again, Fellow Daoist Han. I had thought that you had already fled the city back when the foreign races had attacked. It seems that I underestimated your resourcefulness." The demonic woman within the black Qi was none other than the one whom Han Li had traded with many years ago, and she was appraising him with a faint smile.

  Furthermore, she also seemed to be rather excited to see Han Li. Due to the restriction in this hall, Han Li was unable to identify whether this woman's cultivation base had improved or not, but he had given her many myriad-year spirit medicines back when they had last met, so theoretically, she should've become a lot more powerful.