A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality (Chapter 1001-Chapter 1200)

The cultivator within the fiery cloud was horrified to see this and he tried to unleash an evasion technique, but it was already far too late.

All of the translucent swords fell at once and a howl of anguish rang out as the cultivator body and soul were completely destroyed.

Clumps of blood and flesh came raining down from above as the cultivator was slain in what seemed to be the blink of an eye.

Not only were the Core Formation cultivators horrified to see this, a fearful expression had even crept onto the face of the perpetually calm middle-aged man.

The brawny man's lips trembled as he forced a smile onto his face, and said, "Martial Uncle, was the cultivator in the fiery cloud one of Old Devil Hun's disciples?"

The middle-aged man took a deep breath, and replied drily, "That was no disciple; that was none other than Old Devil Hun himself! Otherwise, who else would've been able to unleash such a powerful Scorching Flame Technique?"

Even though the three Core Formation cultivators had suspected this to be the case, they still couldn't help but draw a sharp breath in unison upon having the notion confirmed by the middle-aged man.

"But Old Devil Hun is a Nascent Soul cultivator just like you, Martial Uncle; how could he have been slain so easily? It looks like not even his Nascent Soul had a chance to escape!" The seductive woman was completely dumbfounded.

The azure-robed elderly man and the brawny man were also incredulous.

The middle-aged man didn't say anything in response. Instead, he was staring intently at the events unfolding in the distance.

At this moment, the man and the woman in the air seemed to have exchanged a few words, upon which the woman chuckled coldly in response. She then summoned all of her flying swords back to her before disappearing into the distance as a streak of light over 100 feet in length.

The man shook his head before turning his attention to the dock. He then transformed into a rather unremarkable streak of azure light as he flew toward the island, and the speed of his movement wasn't all that astonishing either.

However, the middle-aged man's expression changed upon seeing this, and he urgently instructed, "You three stay in here and keep your guard up. I'll be back soon!"

As soon as his voice fell, the middle-aged man shot forth out of the pavilion as a blue streak of light to meet the oncoming streak of azure light.

All of the people left in the pavilion began to look at one another.

They had just witnessed that woman slay a cultivator of the same caliber as their martial uncle as if she were crushing an ant. This man had accompanied her out of the Heavenvoid Hall, so his cultivation base was most likely nothing to scoff at either.

As such, all of them were feeling very nervous.

Not only them, but even the middle-aged man flying toward the azure streak of light was also feeling very uneasy.

However, after witnessing that woman in action from afar, he immediately made up his mind. That woman was most likely a late-Nascent Soul cultivator comparable to the likes of the Heavenly Star Sages and the Archsaint of the Six Paths. If they had harbored ill intentions toward them, then there was no way he would've been able to escape.

After all, he was merely an early-Nascent Soul cultivator and there was simply too large a disparity between their power levels.

As such, the best course of action was for him to voluntarily greet them in person instead of trying to flee.

Thus, after making up his mind, this early-Nascent Soul cultivator mustered up his courage and flew toward Han Li.

The two streaks of light converged together in a few moments.

The azure light receded, and Han Li was revealed.

The middle-aged man also stopped over 100 feet away before turning his gaze toward Han Li.

He discovered that the person standing before him was a young man in a set of azure robes. His looks were average and his skin was slightly dark. He currently wore a hint of a smile on his face and was also looking back at the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man unleashed his spiritual sense to detect Han Li's cultivation base, upon which his pupils contracted minutely as he joined his hands together in a salute.

"I am Elder Gan Lin of the Yellow Sand Sect! May I ask for your esteemed name? And do you require any assistance from me?" Even though the middle-aged man was speaking to Han Li as equals, his tone and choice of words were extremely respectful.

Han Li examined the middle-aged man upon hearing this before smiling as he said, "My surname is Han. I recall hearing about the Yellow Sand Sect once, but it's been too long and I can't remember it too well. Is this island under the sect's ownership?"

"Our sect is merely a small insignificant sect in the Scattered Star Seas, so it's not strange for you to have not heard of it, fellow Daoist. If you'd like, you can come to visit our sect." The middle-aged man was very relieved to see that Han Li seemed to be quite benevolent and amicable. However, he still didn't dare to show any dissent.

He had just verified with his spiritual sense that Han Li was indeed a late-Nascent Soul cultivator, so he had to be extra careful.

Following an extended period of cultivation lasting more than 80 years, Han Li had finally escaped from the Heavenvoid Hall.

In the beginning, he had spent 60 years cultivating with the assistance of the spirit well to reach the pinnacle of the mid-Nascent Soul Stage. He then used the next 20 years to fortify his cultivation base in order to achieve the prerequisites for a breakthrough. After that, he had attempted to break through the bottleneck, hoping that he would get lucky.

The result left him rather speechless.

He discovered that his attempt to make a breakthrough encountered no impediment whatsoever, taking to the late-Nascent Soul Stage with ease.

Even after he had become a late-Nascent Soul cultivator, he was still in disbelief.

After all, it had been an extremely arduous process for him to make the breakthrough to the mid-Nascent Souls Stage and he had only succeeded after preparing all types of pills and medicines to assist him during the process.

For this attempt at breaking through to the late-Nascent Soul Stage, he had only prepared some ordinary pills and didn't really harbor any high hopes, but the process had been as simple as breathing air.

The ease with which he had made the breakthrough left him extremely perplexed. He pondered the process over and over again, but still couldn't make sense of the situation.

Perhaps this was because the Great Development Technique he had cultivated in conjunction with the Nascent Cultivating Pill that he had consumed had finally taken effect; perhaps the rainbow bead manifested from his consumption of the Heavenmend Pill had improved the aptitude of his spiritual roots; perhaps the Azure Essence Sword Art he had cultivated made it much easier for him to progress to the late-Nascent Soul Stage; perhaps his cultivation base was simply far superior to other cultivators of the same level...

All of the aforementioned factors were plausible possibilities, and it could also be the case that a combination of those factors was the answer he was seeking. In the end, Han Li gave up on trying to identify the underlying reasons.

After all, it was impossible to replicate the conditions for any successful breakthrough to the late-Nascent Soul Stage. Otherwise, great cultivators would have been a lot more common in the human world.

After making his breakthrough, Han Li naturally refined his Eight Spirit Ruler and Heavenvoid Cauldron again, then easily mastered the second layer of the Artifact Imprint Technique before setting off in search of the silver-robed woman, who had also been cultivating in seclusion the entire time.