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

by Translator: Johnchen

  In the next instant, the giant golden crab gave a reply that allowed Han Li to heave a massive sigh of relief. "The offering you have given me can be exchanged for three attacks from me. This is the first attack." The golden crab brought two of its giant pincers together in an unhurried manner as it spoke.

  The golden-robed man was stunned to hear this, and he immediately began to panic at the sight of what the golden crab was doing.

  He had witnessed the golden crab's power on several occasions, and he knew that it was definitely far too fearsome for a mere clone of his to oppose.

  As such, his expression changed drastically as he tossed his giant flag forward, then stomped a foot down onto the mid-air before rushing back as a gust of black wind.

  Almost as soon as he did this, four massive streaks of golden light appeared on either side of the bone flag, then sliced it into several pieces amid a loud crack.

  "This is the second attack!" The giant crab's voice was still as indifferent as ever as it opened its mouth to expel a pillar of golden light.

  The pillar of light was as thick as a water tank, and its speed was virtually indescribable in Han Li's eyes. It reached the golden-robed figure in a flash, then passed through his body before he could even begin to react.

  Chapter 2115: Daoist Xie

  The golden-robed man gave an anguished howl as a massive hole appeared in his abdomen, but such a wound still wasn't enough to kill him.

  His face was twisted with agony, but he immediately made a hand seal before pressing his hand toward the wound. Before his hand had even come into contact with his own body, a burst of black Qi had begun to emerge from his palm, clearly indicating that he was planning to administer self-treatment.

  However, in the next instant, countless specks of golden light suddenly appeared within the wound, and the golden-robed man let loose a thunderous roar of despair upon seeing this, but it was already too late.

  The specks of light instantly transformed into golden threads, then shot forth in all directions.

  In the blink of an eye, countless holes had been punched into the golden-robed man's body, following which he crumbled away into countless scraps of flesh and blood that rained down from the heavens.

  The golden crab's powers were truly unfathomable; it had slain the Nie Pan clone with ease even without using the third attack.

  Even the clone's Nascent Soul hadn't managed to escape the ravaging golden threads.

  Han Li released his spiritual sense as blue light flashed through his eyes, and he heaved a long sigh of relief after ascertaining that no fragments of the clone's soul had escaped. He then cast his gaze down toward the giant golden crab as a hesitant look appeared on his face.

  "I've already unleashed two attacks, and I still owe you one attack. If you need it now, you can come back to me at a later date. However, I can only remain here, so you'll have to lure your enemy to this place before I can attack them," the golden crab said in an indifferent voice as the golden light radiating from its body dimmed slightly.

  Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this before asking, "Why are you unable to leave this place?"

  "Without sufficient immortal spiritual power, I won't be able to move much before I run out of energy," the golden crab explained.

  Han Li's expression changed slightly upon hearing this. "What are you referring to when you say immortal spiritual power?"

  "I'm referring to the energy of heaven and earth imbued within your offerings. I only agree to lend my assistance to those who can offer me things that contain this type of power. I'm a puppet, so every single move I make expends immortal spiritual power. As such, I keep half of the immortal spiritual power within the offerings I receive as compensation," the golden crab replied.

  A thought suddenly occurred to Han Li, and he asked, "I see. Are you a Faux Immortal Puppet? I can see that you've attained intelligence, so it would only be right of me to refer to you as a fellow daoist. May I ask how long that drop of Heavenly Fortune Liquid that I gave you will be able to fuel you?"

  "I am a Faux Immortal Puppet that was refined in the upper realm, and I came to this realm due to an accident. My former master perished during that accident, and after many years, I was able to attain a hint of autonomous spiritual nature. The elixir that you gave me isn't true Heavenly Fortune Elixir, but it's half as efficacious as the real thing, and it's the purest elixir that I've been offered since arriving in this realm. That drop of Faux Immortal Elixir can support me for two months. Of course, that's under the assumption that I don't have to face anyone in battle during that time. Otherwise, it'll only be able to support me for a few attacks," the golden crab replied.

  "I see, so you're stuck here purely due to insufficient energy," Han Li said in a contemplative manner.

  "You can say that. I chose to remain here as this place has the greatest abundance of spiritual Qi in this entire realm, so I can hibernate here without expending any energy. Once I accumulate enough immortal spiritual power, perhaps I'll be able to return to the upper realm," the golden crab said.

  "When you say upper realm, you're referring to the True Immortal Realm, right?" Han Li asked.

  "That's right. You lower realm beings refer to it as the True Immortal Realm, but those from the True Immortal Realm refer to it as the upper realm," the golden crab replied.

  "Looks like your former master had to have been a true immortal to possess a puppet as powerful as you. Would you be willing to follow me for some time if I can provide you with enough energy?" Han Li suddenly asked.

  The golden crab was silent for a long while upon hearing this before replying, "I wouldn't be opposed to that if you can offer me a drop of Faux Immortal Liquid of that level of purity every month. However, you'll have to offer me additional compensation if you want me to assist you in battle. On top of that, I'll leave once I accumulate enough energy, and you're not allowed to try and stop me."

  "How much time would it take you to accumulate enough immortal spiritual power?" Han Li asked after a brief hesitation.

  "My immortal spiritual power conversion component has been severely damaged, so I'll only be able to convert one drop of that Faux Immortal Liquid at most per month. If you can offer me one drop of elixir per month, I should accumulate enough after just over 1,000 years," the golden crab replied.

  "1,000 years, eh? Hehe, alright, I'll give you one drop of that Faux Immortal Liquid per month, so come with me," Han Li said with a smile.

  "Alright, but if you're unable to provide an offering for any month, I'll view that as a transgression and kill you on the spot," the golden crab said in a forthright manner.

  Han Li hesitated momentarily upon hearing this, then gritted his teeth and nodded in response. "You have yourself a deal!"

  "In that case, we can sign the temporary agreement right away," the golden crab replied as golden runes appeared all over its body again.

  Immediately thereafter, it opened its mouth to expel a dark green stone slab that was around four feet in size, which hovered directly over to Han Li.

  Han Li was rather wary of the stone slab, but it merely hovered on the spot without doing anything else, and only then did Han Li cast his gaze toward it.

  In doing so, he discovered that there was beveled silver text flashing on the stone slab, and after carefully reading through it, he discovered this to be an agreement with the terms that the golden crab had just stipulated.

  "If you have no issues with this agreement, then just expel some blood essence onto it to seal the deal," the golden crab prompted.

  Han Li was quite relieved to hear this and immediately agreed.

  If the golden crab had asked for a fragment of his spiritual sense or something like that, he'd have to reconsider in fear of being plotted against by some unknown restriction, but blood essence was no issue at all.

  Thus, Han Li expelled a mouthful of blood essence, and as soon as it came into contact with the stone slab, it transformed into several unknown crimson runes
that vanished into the stone slab in a flash.

  Immediately thereafter, the stone slab flew back as a ball of green light and into the golden crab's mouth again.

  "Now that the temporary agreement has been signed, I can come with you. When are we setting off?"

  "Hehe, you really are a straightforward man, Fellow Daoist. We can leave right now, but before that, would you be able to adopt a form that attracts less attention?" Han Li asked with a smile.

  "Sure," the golden crab replied in a nonchalant manner, following which its body began to rapidly shrink amid a flash of golden light.

  Once the light faded, the golden crab was revealed to have transformed into a young clean-shaven man wearing a set of green daoist robes.

  The young man appeared to be 27 to 28 years of age with a pair of golden eyes and dark green eyebrows.

  He turned toward Han Li in a completely expressionless manner, and said, "You may refer to me as Daoist Xie." [1]

  A hint of surprise flashed through Han Li's eyes as he reflexively swept his spiritual sense toward the young man, only to have it instantly repelled. His heart jolted slightly as he cupped his fist in a salute, and said, "It's an honor to have you with me, Senior Xie. My surname is Han, and I'm from the Spirit Realm. This is not a good place to talk; let's set off right away."

  Daoist Xie naturally had no objections to this, and thus, the two of them flew into the distance as a pair of streaks of light, one azure and one golden.

  ......

  Meanwhile, Bao Hua, Hei'e, and Yuan Yan were still hovering in the air above the Bitter Spirit Island.

  All of a sudden, the two devilish patriarchs' expressions changed in unison, and they each flipped a hand over to produce a jade box.

  "Haha, the wisp of spiritual sense really was removed!" the black-robed young man exclaimed in an elated manner, then swept a sleeve through the air, upon which that three-headed black wyrm appeared beneath him amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.

  He flew onto the black wyrm's central head in a flash, and it let loose a low roar before sweeping toward a certain direction as a gust of black devilish wind.

  In the wake of Yuan Yan's departure, his cold voice trailed along behind him. "Seeing as that Han brat kept his promise, I won't go after him, but I'm going to immediately issue the Immortal Vanquishing order, so it's going to be extremely difficult for him to go anywhere in our holy realm. Whether he'll be able to return to the Spirit Realm or not will depend on his fortune."

  Bao Hua's expression remained completely unchanged upon hearing this, and she stowed away the jade box in her hand again before casting her gaze toward the sea of lightning in the direction where the golden crab was situated.

  Her brows furrowed slightly with puzzlement as she murmured to herself, "How strange; I can sense that the Faux Immortal Puppet has been activated, but he still managed to get away. Could it be that he had some other life-saving trump cards up his sleeve?"

  1. Xie is the pinyin pronunciation for the Chinese character for crab.

  Chapter 2116: Change of Plans

  "Should I go and take a look, Mistress Bao Hua?" Hei'e asked.

  Bao Hua hesitated momentarily upon hearing this before shaking her head in response. "There's no need for that; it doesn't really matter to me what situation he's currently in. Seeing as I've obtained the spirit medicine I'm searching for, I'm going to leave the Devilish Origin Sea right away, then find a safe place to refine the medicine into a pill in order to recover my former powers."

  "Alright, then let's leave this place right away. Both Master Yuan Yan and Master Nie Pan have already seen you here, so it would be dangerous to stay here any longer. Having said that, once you recover your former powers, you won't have to fear anyone," Hei'e said with an excited expression.

  If this mistress of his could return to the height of her powers, his status as her most trusted subordinate would also be elevated significantly.

  "Have you had a chance to do what I asked of you?" Bao Hua asked.

  "Rest assured, Mistress; I've already planted a bloodline mark on that three-headed wyrm. I won't be able to sense its exact location through that mark, but I'll immediately be able to sense it if it comes within 500 kilometers of me," Hei'e immediately replied.

  "Well done. That three-headed wyrm possesses the evil dragon bloodline just like you, and it's Yuan Yan's bonded devilish beast, so there's no way they'll be separated under normal circumstances. If Yuan Yan tries to unleash a sneak attack on me in the future, there's no way I won't be able to detect him," Bao Hua praised with a faint smile.

  "Hehe, it's all thanks to the secret technique that you bestowed upon me, Mistress. Otherwise, there's no way I would've been able to fool Master Yuan Yan," Hei'e chuckled in response.

  "This secret technique can only be used on beings with the same bloodline, and Yuan Yan's spiritual sense is restricted on the Bitter Spirit Island, so it's no surprise that he didn't notice anything. Alright, let's depart from this place now." Bao Hua made a hand seal as she spoke, and a pink floral tree projection appeared behind her before rapidly expanding in size.

  In the blink of an eye, both of them were completely inundated by pink light.

  Immediately thereafter, the giant floral tree projection disintegrated into specks of pink light, and Bao Hua and Hei'e were nowhere to be seen.

  Thus, peace and quiet returned to the Bitter Spirit Island.

  ......

  Seven days later, a pair of high-grade devilish beings arrived on the Bitter Spirit Island.

  One of them was a man who appeared to be in his thirties wearing a suit of azure devilish armor, giving off a very imposing appearance.

  He was accompanied by an elderly woman with wrinkly skin that was covered in liver spots, and she was holding a cane with a crane-head-shaped handle.

  The two of them hovered in the air above the valley, inspecting their surroundings as if they were searching for something.

  A short while later, the elderly woman harrumphed coldly as she pointed her cane downward, and a patch of ground down below suddenly collapsed to reveal a giant crater that was several tens of feet in diameter.

  "So Bao Hua really did come here; I can sense her residual aura. We can't let her get away this time," the elderly woman said in a very unpleasant grating voice.

  "You still haven't been able to set aside that grudge for all these years; no wonder your cultivation base hasn't improved in the slightest," the burly azure-armored man sighed.

  The elderly woman immediately flared up with rage upon hearing this. "You make it sound so easy! If it weren't for that wretch, how would I have been struck in this old wrinkly body with no chance of ever reaching the Grand Ascension Stage? Have you forgotten about all those clones of yours that she destroyed?"

  Contrary to the man's imposing appearance, he had a very calm demeanor, and he said, "What's the point in mentioning something like this? You're only spoiling your own mental state."

  "Cut the crap! If you really had forgotten what she had done to you, why did you immediately rush over here after receiving news from Yuan Yan?" the elderly woman asked with resentment and skepticism in her eyes.

  "I don't care if you believe me or not, but I've already cultivated my Weeping Blood Devilish Arts to the point of indifference, so I no longer feel any strong emotions. I decided to accompany you on this occasion as I'm interested in a treasure in Bao Hua's possession; only after obtaining that treasure will I have a chance to transcend my next tribulation," the azure-armored man replied in a calm manner.

  A thought occurred to the elderly woman upon hearing this, and she asked, "Are you referring to her Lightningward Tag?"

  "That's right, Bao Hua was able to transcend many tribulations with that treasure. As for Bao Hua herself, that's something I'm no longer interested in," the azure-armored man replied.

  "Alright, I'll believe you just this once. According to Yuan Yan, that wretch still hasn't recovered her powers, so as long as we can find he
r, it shouldn't be an issue to capture her. When that time comes, I'm going to make her regret ever crossing me," the elderly woman said in a resentful manner.

  "Alright, then I'll take her treasures while you can have her. I'll send a message to the nearest branch of the Beast Lord Palace to keep an eye on all of the teleportation formations in this area; there's no way she'll be able to get away from us," the azure-armored man said.

  The elderly woman was ecstatic to hear this, and he immediately gave an affirmative response.

  "By the way, I'm not sure if you noticed this, but that old crab seems to have gone missing from the sea of lightning. That Faux Immortal Puppet is almost as powerful as a patriarch, so it can't be ignored. Do you think its disappearance may have had something to do with Bao Hua?" the azure-armored man asked.

  The elderly woman considered this for a moment before shaking her head in response. "That is indeed rather strange. The Faux Immortal Puppet has been in our holy realm even before we had been born, and it's never left this sea of lightning; it is indeed rather unsettling that it's suddenly disappeared. However, I'm not convinced that that wretch has the ability to take it away. Otherwise, she would've already captured it back when she was at the height of her powers, and she wouldn't have been reduced to such a sorry state."

  "There was a Body Integration Stage human cultivator mentioned in Yuan Yan's Immortal Vanquishing Order; could it have something to do with that human brat?" the azure-armored man mused.

  "Perhaps, but that has nothing to do with us as long as he doesn't interfere with our hunt for Bao Hua. The reward offered by Yuan Yan is nothing special, so we don't need to pay any heed to this matter," the elderly woman said.

  The azure-armored man was still feeling rather uneasy, but he nodded in response. "That's true, our priority is to find Bao Hua, so it's best not to be distracted by other matters."

  Thus, the two of them flew away as a pair of streaks of light.

  ......

  An azure wooden boat was traveling in a stable manner over a turbulent sea.