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

The two Foundation Establishment cultivators were still a little shell-shocked, but they could only follow their leader.

The two of them had flown over 50 kilometers before they knew it, and they descended on a nondescript little mountain.

At an obscure location at the foot of the mountain, there was a small cave abode.

Chen Jing led the two into the abode and activated all of the restrictions within before sitting down in the hall to meditate with his eyes closed.

The two Foundation Establishment cultivators glanced at once another, but neither of them dared to say anything.

A long while later, Chen Jing finally opened his eyes and exhaled as his expression eased slightly.

"I can confirm now that that man's spiritual sense isn't spying on us here. Even if his spiritual sense can reach this place, it won't be able to bypass the cave's restrictions. What did you want to say, Martial Niece Yan?" Cheng Jing turned to the young woman and asked.

"I just wanted to say that this Senior Han's origins are a little suspicious. He's a Nascent Soul cultivator, yet we've never heard of someone like him. That's really strange. Should we report this matter to our sect so they can investigate this man? Perhaps our patriarch will know who he is?" the young woman replied hesitantly.

The elderly man nodded in agreement with this proposal.

"Hmph, so what if we find out who that man is? Our patriarch is currently in seclusion to make a breakthrough to the late-Nascent Soul Stage. No matter who this man is, he's not important enough to disrupt our patriarch's seclusion. If our patriarch can't do anything to him, why would we risk irking him just to find out who he is? From what he said earlier, it appears that he has some knowledge about the Scattered Star Seas, so he's most likely just come out of an extended period of seclusion. This is certainly not unheard of in our Scattered Star Seas. He warned us not to reveal his location; do you think he wouldn't dare to do anything to us just because we're from the Azure Yang Sect? Even if he kills us, without our patriarch to stand up for us, the sect can't do anything to him. Why would we do something that incurs so much risk for no worthwhile reward?" Chen Jing harrumphed coldly.

A chill ran down the young woman's spine upon hearing this and she hurriedly agreed.

"Also, no matter who we reveal this information to, it doesn't benefit us in any way. Instead..." Chen Jing was getting slightly carried away and continued in his tirade. However, what he failed to notice was that a faint golden light was shimmering beneath one of his shoes. The golden light flashed before silently departing from the sole of the shoe, then disappearing soundlessly into the stone floor of the hall.

Moments later, the golden light reached deep into the ground, where an azure barrier of light abruptly stopped it in its tracks.

This was the cave abode's protective restriction.

The golden light faltered slightly before receding to reveal a thumb-sized golden beetle.

It was one of Han Li's Gold Devouring Beetles.

As soon as the beetle reverted back to its original form, it rushed toward the light barrier and began to take large bites out of it.

The restriction wasn't some sort of high-grade restriction. Instead, it was extremely crude and the beetle was able to pass through it almost instantly, appearing on the other side of the barrier.

The restriction wasn't triggered throughout the entire process. Chen Jing's trio was not alerted at all to this sequence of events.

The bug flashed before disappearing underground. A short while later, a flash of light suddenly appeared in the eyes of a tall and thin old man, who was walking along a certain street in the southern region of the city. A spot of golden light shot forth from the ground before silently disappearing into his sleeve.

The old man's expression remained completely unchanged, but the corners of his lips had turned upward ever so slightly.

This man was none other than Han Li, who had altered his appearance.

That spot of golden light was naturally the Gold Devouring Beetles, within which he had imbued a sliver of his spiritual sense.

After reaching the late-Nascent Soul Stage, even though his spiritual sense was still vastly inferior to that of a Deity Transformation cultivator, it was still far more powerful than that of a late-Nascent Soul cultivator.

As such, he was already capable of imbuing a wisp of his spiritual sense into an object. Of course, this wasn't a permanent arrangement. That wisp of spiritual sense could only maintain itself for a certain period of time, and it could only be imbued within a sentient living being.

Furthermore, the Gold Devouring Beetles were spirit insects that were connected to his soul, so he was able to use his spiritual sense to directly control them.

When Han Li separated from the three cultivators, he didn't immediately kill them to silence them, but he imbued a wisp of his spiritual sense onto one of his Gold Devouring Beetles, then snuck it onto Chen Jing's body for him to take back to his cave abode.

With Han Li's current power level in conjunction with the Gold Devouring Beetle's abilities, it naturally wasn't going to be noticed by a mere early-Core Formation cultivator.

Han Li had made up his mind; if these three people followed his instructions, then he would naturally leave them alone. However, if they decided to play tricks behind his back, then he would immediately use this Gold Devouring Beetle to kill all of them.

Gold Devouring Beetles that were yet to reach full maturity wouldn't be able to do much to Nascent Soul cultivators, but with their indestructibility and engulfment powers, it would be a very simple task for it to take care of an early-Core Formation cultivator and two Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Following the Gold Devouring Beetle's return, Han Li immediately withdrew that wisp of spiritual sense. The conversation between Chen Jing's trio was instantly replayed back to him and he smiled internally before paying no further heed to those three.

He turned his attention to the pavilions situated on either side of him.

He was clearly in the so-called market already. Not only were there many cultivators here, there were also some high-grade cultivators who rose up into the air or descended from above from time to time. There were also some cautious cultivators who rushed their way through the pavilions on high alert, seemingly constantly in fear of being identified.

Han Li was sizing up other cultivators with reckless abandon and his actions naturally attracted the attention of some cultivators. However, after detecting his cultivation base with their spiritual sense, all of the cultivators were immediately horrified. All of them either rushed away immediately or forced a smile onto their faces before turning away.

Han Li had restricted his cultivation base, feigning a late-Core Formation cultivator. Even so, that was already enough to scare off all of the other cultivators.

After taking a few more steps, Han Li suddenly faltered as his gaze fell on several pavilions, upon which a hint of surprise appeared on his face. These were six two-story pavilions lined up next to one another by the side of the street. There was a long and thin flag set up in front of each of the pavilions and there were different diagrams on those flags, comprising of a blue monster, a small golden sword, an azure spirit herb, and several other designs.

"Are those the Six United Palaces?" Han Li was surprised to see this.

If he recalled correctly, many of the powers in the Scattered Star Seas had already joined the Starfall Coalition. As such, it was very surprising to see another power set up a shop in such a bold manner on this island.