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

by Translator: Johnchen

  At the center of the city, the massive conference hall suddenly began to tremor violently before slowly rising up out of the ground, then hovered in mid-air after growing to over 100,000 feet tall.

  Not only that, but the seemingly ordinary patterns running along the surface of the hall suddenly lit up and arranged themselves into a series of profound five-colored runes.

  A dull thump rang out, and a dense five-colored light barrier emerged from the underside of the hall, then swelled to encompass the entire building.

  Immediately thereafter, a burst of buzzing rang out from the hall, and it flew toward a certain direction as a giant ball of five-colored light.

  A few hours later, the giant hall appeared in the air above a certain section of the city wall, where it hovered in a stationary manner.

  On the city wall and inside the city down below was an enormous army of human warriors and low-grade cultivators that stretched for as far as the eyes could see; this was an army of millions!

  There were also around 7,000 to 8,000 high-grade cultivators in the air above the army, and all of them were standing on flying treasures with grim looks in their eyes.

  In a certain corner of the human army down below, there was also a large horde of ferocious-looking spirit beasts.

  All of them had vicious looks in their eyes and seemed extremely eager for blood, but they were being controlled by a certain invisible restriction and didn't even dare to utter a single sound.

  Deep under the ground beneath these ferocious beasts were a series of complex underground tunnels, within which a copper puppet army was standing at the ready.

  Among this army were 32 particularly eye-catching golden puppets, each of which was around 1,000 feet tall.

  At the same time, there were a dozen or so white-robed cultivators situated on a giant plaza in Heavenlean City that was surrounded by countless guards. These cultivators were busy at work standing around a purple super formation that was virtually entirely constructed from blocks of purple jade stones.

  All of these stones were engraved with runes of different colors, and they formed nine secondary formations that the super formation was ultimately comprised of.

  This was an extremely rare hierarchical linked formation!

  At the center of each of the nine formations was a miniature formation formed by blue runes, and these miniature formations were releasing bursts of astonishing glacial Qi, as well as a rank odor.

  The entire super formation was quite dim, and the nine secondary formations seemed to have completely ceased to operate.

  Only those miniature blue formations were still as dazzling as ever and resembled scintillating suns that would never be snuffed out.

  The dozen or so white-robed cultivators seemed to be extremely wary of those blue formations, and even as they were placing pieces of some kind of golden crystal around the entire formation, they made sure to keep far away from those blue formations.

  Time slowly passed by, and around eight hours flew past in the blink of an eye.

  Right at this moment, the sound of war drums rang out in the distance, striking the listener with the feeling that their blood had been set alight.

  Immediately thereafter, one black thread appeared after another, and they gradually thickened before forming an inky-black devilish sea that surged toward the city from a distance.

  There were countless indistinct devilish shadows within the sea, and the outlines of a series of mountainous giant arks were particularly eye-catching.

  Light flashed from the roof of the giant hall in the air above Heavenlean City, and a dozen or so humanoid figures emerged before casting their eyes toward the devilish sea in unison.

  Chapter 1916: The Battle of Heavenlean City (2)

  These were none other than the city's four Body Integration cultivators, as well as a group of late-Spatial Tempering cultivators.

  All of them were completely silent as they inspected the black devilish sea in the distance, and blue light suddenly flashed through Han Li's eyes.

  All of a sudden, a burst of unsettling cackling rang out from within the sea, following which the devilish Qi parted, and several figures emerged from within.

  One of them was a burly man in a black suit of armor, and standing beside him was a thin white-robed young man. These were none other than Tie Long and Fei Ya, whom Han Li had already encountered once before.

  Their two companions consisted of a 100-feet-tall giant in a suit of fiery red armor, and a smiling beauty in bare feet standing on a pair of giant pythons, one of which was crimson while the other was azure.

  Han Li had never encountered those two, but detailed information about the four devilish lords had been provided to him, so he was naturally able to quickly identify them.

  Both of these devilish lords were only at the early-Body Integration Stage, so unless they possessed some kind of extraordinary treasures or were using cultivation arts that defied the natural order, they most likely posed no threat to him.

  During the discussion that had taken place in the hall, it was decided that Fairy Silver Light and Fairy Lin Luan would be taking on these two devilish lords. As for Tie Long and Fei Ya, they were far more powerful, so they were naturally assigned to Han Li and Master Azure Dragon.

  According to the plan, they didn't actually need to defeat their opponents; all they had to do was keep the devilish army at bay until the suns returned to normal, and that would be the equivalent of a victory for them.

  Even though the four devilish lords had already flown out of the devilish Qi, the dozen or so human cultivators standing above the giant hall remained still on the spot.

  After flying for a certain distance out of the devilish Qi, the four devilish lords stopped, and they began to discuss something as they hovered in mid-air, displaying no intention to attack right away.

  "Those devilish lords sure are able to bide their time; it seems that they're not going to attack until all five suns transition into moons," Master Azure Dragon said in a grim voice.

  Han Li didn't respond to this, but he looked up into the sky to discover that four of the seven suns up above had already completely dimmed. As for the fifth sun, it had mostly been covered in a grey blanket, which was rapidly spreading at a rate that was virtually discernible to the naked eye.

  "Of course that's the case. If the five suns haven't completely transitioned into moons, then these devilish lords will have to worry that the Nine Sun Astral Formation hasn't completely lost its ability to function," Lin Luan said with a smile.

  "Hmph, these devilish lords most likely wouldn't be so hesitant if they were to learn that we've already deactivated the formation ourselves. In any case, it's a good thing for us that they're stalling like this," Master Azure Dragon said as a faint smile also appeared on his face.

  "It looks like we won't be able to stall for long, though," Fairy Silver Light said with a wry smile as she looked up into the sky.

  "Hehe, even a slight delay is better than having the devilish army attack the city right away. The more we delay here, the greater our chances of being able to defend the city," Master Azure Dragon chuckled.

  Fairy Silver Light merely smiled and offered no response.

  Time slowly passed by, and the radiance of the fifth sun also gradually faded. In the instant that it turned completely grey, a burst of violent killing intent erupted from both the devilish sea and Heavenlean City in unison.

  Master Azure Dragon took a deep breath, yet just as he was about to say something, Tie Long broke the silence first.

  "Fellow Daoist Azure Dragon, the formation you're relying on is no longer a factor in this battle, so why continue to insist on offering futile resistance? As soon as you agree to surrender, I'll take you back to our Sacred Ancestor and implore him to inject devilish Qi into your body so you can become a member of our sacred race. This is your final chance. If you still insist on opposing us, hehe, we'll just have to raze your insignificant Heavenlean City to the ground!" Tie Long'
s voice was extremely loud, and it was clearly audible to everyone in Heavenlean City.

  Master Azure Dragon's expression darkened upon hearing this, and he harrumphed coldly in response, "Hmph, I have no intention of becoming a devilish being, so save your breath. I would rather die than surrender to a foreign race!"

  Master Azure Dragon's words were extremely decisive and resolute, and the entire human army was instilled with a sense of heightened conviction and determination.

  Tie Long was furious to hear this, but he suddenly burst into laughter. "Haha, I originally intended to spare you, seeing as your abilities could be useful to our sacred race, but your foolishness has left me with no choice but to kill you along with everyone else here."

  He then swept a sleeve through the air, and three green balls of light erupted forth, then exploded high up in the air amid three dull thumps.

  Three giant fireballs, each of which was around an acre in size, appeared up above, and they were all radiating scintillating light.

  Shrill screeches immediately rang out from within the devilish sea behind Tie Long, and a series of giant battle arks that were each over 10,000 feet in length slowly emerged. At the same time, several hordes of low-grade devilish beasts rushed out of the sides of the massive arks, and groups of armored devilish cavaliers also surged out in a menacing wave directly behind the arks.

  Within the span of just a few breaths, the low-grade beasts and All-encompassing Devilish Cavaliers had taken up virtually the entire sky, and their numbers far exceeded what Han Li had witnessed on the previous occasion.

  On top of that, over 300 giant devilish beasts had been released from the massive arks, and aside from the rhinoceros-like beasts that had made an appearance during the last attack, there were several other types of even more ferocious-looking giant beasts.

  Among them were gargantuan praying-mantis-like beasts, as well as devilish birds with vibrant colorful feathers. The final type of devilish beast was a monster with a human face and a wyrm body, creating an extremely harrowing sight to behold.

  They had disheveled heads that resembled those of unkempt cavemen, but from the neck down, they possessed giant purple wyrm bodies that were covered in scales, and they were releasing an overwhelming odor of blood and gore.

  Among these three new types of giant beasts, the giant praying mantises comprised the majority of their numbers with over 200 of them present, and there were also around 80 giant rhinoceros beasts. As for the vibrant devilish birds, there were only just over 30 of them in total, and they were accompanied by a measly trio of human-faced purple wyrms.

  Under the leadership of these giant beasts, the low-grade devilish beasts let loose thunderous roars as they rushed toward Heavenlean City like a giant swarm of locusts.

  At the same time, pillars of black light erupted from the massive battle arks to bolster the offensive power of the swarm of devilish beasts.

  As for the devilish cavaliers, they formed a series of formations once again and charged forward right behind the army of beasts, with excitement and bloodlust in their eyes.

  At this point, the Jialun War Devils were still nowhere to be seen, presumably still concealed within the devilish sea.

  However, aside from the All-encompassing Devilish Cavaliers, another type of elite devilish beings had emerged from the sea. This was a group of beings that resembled giant malicious ghosts. They were each around 40 to 50 feet tall with sharp claws and fangs, but they were dressed in long green robes. There was an extra green eye on each of their foreheads, and none of them were wielding any weapons as they advanced behind the All-encompassing Devilish Cavaliers.

  There were slightly more of these devilish beings than the Jialun War Devils, but the disparity in numbers definitely wasn't a very significant one. In total, there were only around 20,000 to 30,000 of these green-robed devilish beings, and all of them wore sinister smiles.

  The grim expressions on the faces of Master Azure Dragon and the others became even more pronounced upon seeing this, but the devilish lords were yet to attack, so they couldn't emerge from the city to face this devilish army, either.

  Without requiring any orders, the high-grade cultivators above the city wall issued a series of instructions to the human army down below.

  After a few flashes, the black pillars of light that had erupted from the giant arks crashed violently into Heavenlean City's protective restrictions.

  On this occasion, the pillars of black light were significantly thicker than the ones unleashed in the previous attack, and they were raining down relentlessly without any respite.

  Each pillar of light was imbued with power equivalent to that of an all-out attack from a Deity Transformation cultivator, and with so many of them raining down at once, the outermost layers of restrictions began to disintegrate almost immediately.

  The restrictions of Heavenlean City seemed to be about to collapse, and Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this.

  However, before he had a chance to say anything, over 100 bursts of different formation fluctuations abruptly erupted from down below, then surged toward all sections of the city wall in a frenzy.

  A loud buzzing sound rang out, and a series of silver runes appeared on the surfaces of the city walls to form one shimmering silver formation after another.

  The formations glowed with scintillating light, and the five-colored light barrier up above was instantly replaced by a silver light barrier that had an extremely smooth surface.

  Upon striking the silver light barrier, most of the oncoming black pillars of light were instantly diverted away, and only a small proportion of them were actually able to strike the light barrier, in response to which the barrier tremored slightly, but didn't sustain any substantial damage.

  Both Fairy Silver Light and Han Li were quite relieved to see this.

  At this moment, the army of human warriors and cultivators had also begun to charge out of the city at the behest of the high-grade cultivators up above.

  At the same time, the ground in front of the city wall abruptly collapsed, and the copper puppet army emerged once again.

  The exact same defensive measures that had been adopted during the previous attack were being used again, except the number of people involved and the level of intensity was on an entirely different level.

  Spiritual light flashed incessantly up above, and the earth tremored and quaked violently. The area within a range of five kilometers from the city wall had been transformed into a deadly realm of slaughter.

  Countless balls of light exploded both on the ground and in the sky, and the pungent odor of blood and gore quickly filled the entire space.

  "Care for a battle, Fellow Daoist Azure Dragon?"

  Just as Master Azure Dragon was appraising the battlefield with a grim expression, a burst of hearty laughter rang out from the distance. Immediately thereafter, two gusts of fierce winds came crashing down toward the city wall, and after just a few devastating blows, the silver light barrier was displaying signs of collapsing.

  The man who had issued the challenge was none other than Tie Long, and he was attacking the city's restriction with his pair of giant hammers.

  Chapter 1917: The Battle of Heavenlean City (3)

  The two giant hammers swelled to over 1,000 feet in size each, and they crashed down repeatedly upon the restriction like a pair of small black mountains, causing the restriction to tremor violently.

  "Hmph, let me see what you're made of!" A cold light appeared in Master Azure Dragon's eyes, and he made a hand seal, upon which a pillar of azure light immediately erupted out of his body, then transformed into an azure dragon projection that was over 1,000 feet in length.

  The projection circled around in the air before letting loose a thunderous roar, then swept up Master Azure Dragon and hurtled directly toward Tie Long.

  Tie Long's haughty guffaws faltered momentarily at the sight of the powerful azure dragon projection, but a cold smile then appeared on his face as he
abruptly pointed toward the two gusts of fierce black winds before him.

  The gusts of wind instantly reverted back to a pair of giant hammers, immediately following which the two combined as one to form a gargantuan hammer that was several thousand feet in length.

  The colossal hammer was sent crashing down toward the azure dragon projection with devastating force, in response to which Master Azure Dragon swept a sleeve through the air to release seven small black swords.

  All of the seven swords were releasing astonishing spiritual Qi, and a string of dull thumps rang out as they pierced into seven acupoints on his chest.

  At the same time, Master Azure Dragon let loose a low cry and expelled a ball of blood essence out of his mouth, then began to make hand seals while chanting an incantation.

  The ball of blood essence exploded into seven clouds of blood mist at his behest, which then vanished into the seven small swords.

  A loud buzzing sound instantly rang out from the seven swords, and crimson light began to radiate from them as they disappeared into Master Azure Dragon's body.

  Immediately thereafter, Master Azure Dragon let loose a long cry, and the seven bursts of crimson light erupted forth from the spots on his body that had just been impaled by the seven swords, and these bursts of light fused as one with the azure dragon projection in a flash.

  An astonishing scene then ensued.

  Countless crimson threads suddenly appeared within the body of the azure dragon projection before quickly intertwining with one another.

  In the next instant, Master Azure Dragon had vanished, but the azure dragon projection had taken on a far more substantial form, appearing like an actual living creature now.

  At the same time, a terrifying aura surged throughout heaven and earth in a frenzy, striking those in its immediate vicinity with the urge to bow in subordination.

  The azure dragon raised a claw before extending it toward the oncoming mountainous hammer, and a giant azure claw appeared out of thin air. The claw was able to catch the colossal black hammer amid a resounding boom, and keep it at bay with ease.