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

...

Within a pavilion on the State of Beiliang's Gemcut Mountains, there was a man with a set of refined features sitting across from a portly elderly man, both of whom were seated in wooden chairs.

The elderly man wore a careful expression as he asked, "Senior Wu, will you be attending the Drifting Cloud Sect's celebratory ceremony in person? That man has reached the late-Nascent Soul Stage at such a young age and with his remaining lifespan, he'll be able to stand at the pinnacle of the Heavenly South Region for seven to eight more centuries. If we re-establish good relations with him, then our six sects have nothing to worry about."

"What do you suggest, Martial Niece Lei? You've taken over the sect, so you want to invite that man back to your valley?" the man asked in an indifferent voice.

"You're misunderstanding me, Senior. With his current lofty status, how would be willing to return to our measly Yellow Maple Valley? However, he does have some ties with our valley and if we can strengthen those bonds, it would undoubtedly be beneficial to our six sects."

The man was silent for a moment before saying expressionlessly, "Don't expect me to be able to contribute to this matter. I was once rather close with Junior Martial Sister Nangong, but I've never contacted her again ever since she left with that man. However, I'll be representing the Masked Moon Sect to attend this ceremony."

"It would be great if you'd be willing to make the trip in person, Senior Wu." The elderly man was ecstatic to hear this.

"Hmph, it's no wonder that your Yellow Maple Valley is so nervous about this man. Ever since Fellow Daoist Linghu passed away, no other Nascent Soul cultivator had appeared in your valley. If it weren't for the fact that Fellow Daoist Linghu once made an agreement with this man and notified our five sects about it, your Yellow Maple Valley would've most likely been banished from the Stage of Beiliang already," the man chuckled.

"I apologize for our incompetence, Senior." An awkward look appeared on the elderly man's face upon hearing this.

...

Within a span of two months, the entire Heavenly South Region had erupted into a frenzy.

All of the cultivation sects of decent scale in the entirety of the Heavenly South Region had received the invitations sent out by the Drifting Cloud Sect. They were claiming that one of their elders had reached the late-Nascent Soul Stage, and they were holding a grand ceremony to celebrate this event, which was why these invitations had been sent out.

It wasn't made clear on the invitation which elder they were referring to, but Han Li had established himself long ago as the number one cultivator in the Heavenly South Region beneath the late-Nascent Soul Stage, so it wasn't difficult to guess that Han Li had to have been the elder in question.

Thus, all of the sects were in a state of uproar.

Some of the sects were completely overawed and immediately agreed to attend the ceremony. Some of the larger sects were rather suspicious about the authenticity of this news, but they also all agreed to send at least an elder to attend the ceremony.

Thus, Han Li's name shook the entire Heavenly South Region once again. Regardless of whether one was an itinerant cultivator who had been dwelling in seclusion for many years or a member of a prominent cultivation sect, it was extremely likely that they had heard Han Li's name at one point or another.

Everyone was discussing spiritedly about the fourth great cultivator of the Heavenly South Region, who had ascended to the late-Nascent Soul Stage at such a young age.

Thus, three months passed, and the Drifting Cloud Sect's ceremony was held.

There were over 100 Nascent Soul cultivators in attendance, and several times that number in Core Formation cultivators who had also arrived at the Dreamcloud Mountains.

The star of the show, Han Li, only appeared for a short while on the first day of the ceremony and delivered a simple address before inviting the dozen or so elders from all of the sects, who were at the mid-Nascent Soul Stage or above, to a smaller gathering in an obscure hall within the Drifting Cloud Sect. Among them, there were two late-Nascent Soul great cultivators, namely Old Devil Concord of the Harmonious Bond Sect, and Wei Wuya of the Flowing Mind Sect.

After three days and three nights, all of these Nascent Soul cultivators finally re-emerged from the hall, all of them with horrified expressions on their pale faces. Wei Wuya and Old Devil Concord were also quite disheartened and wore strained expressions on their faces.

Some of the cultivators present at the ceremony naturally noticed this, and tried to inquire about what had happened during their gathering. However, the Nascent Soul cultivators being questions either remained silent with wry smiles on their faces, or shook their heads with fearful expressions, or completely ignored the questions being directed toward them in general.

That made all of the cultivators even more curious.

The ceremony lasted half a month, during which time Han Li made no further appearances. To everyone's surprise, the dozen or so most powerful Nascent Soul cultivators present took no offense to this whatsoever and as soon as the ceremony came to a conclusion, all of them fled the Drifting Cloud Sect as if they were escaping from something extremely fearsome.

Thus, all of the remaining cultivators were even more curious about what had taken place in that obscure hall. What could have possibly petrified so many powerful Nascent Soul cultivators to such an extent?

Even though none of the Nascent Soul cultivators in question were willing to disclose any information to those who had attended the ceremony, all of them had a few close friends and relatives whom they revealed the situation too. Thus, the news that everyone had been dying to hear was leaked in the end anyway.

However, the contents of the news shook the entire Heavenly South Region again.

It was revealed that this new great cultivator of the Drifting Cloud Sect had challenged Wei Wuya and Old Devil Concord to a sparring match during the small gathering. This was quite a normal request. After all, this Elder Han had just reached the late-Nascent Soul Stage, so he was taking this opportunity to test out his abilities as well as to intimidate all of the other mid-Nascent Soul cultivators.

However, what came as a surprise to everyone was that he had challenged both Wei Wuya and Old Devil Concord at once.

Furthermore, the result of the sparring match had everyone even more flabbergasted.

Han Li unleashed several incredible techniques and summoned a few absurdly powerful treasures to easily defeat the two great cultivators.

Wei Wuya and Old Devil Concord had stood at the pinnacle of the Heavenly South Region for several hundred years, yet even after joining forces, they were still swept aside with ease by Han Li, and both of them had sustained some injuries during the sparring match.

What was even more astonishing to everyone who had witnessed the match was that Han Li didn't even appear to have unleashed all of the tricks up his sleeve.

All of the Nascent Soul cultivators were completely speechless.

During the remaining time, Han Li held a discussion with all of the Nascent Soul cultivators about cultivation experiences and insights. However, all of them felt as if they were sitting on a bed of nails the entire time, and the last thing they wanted to was to remain in Han Li's presence for any longer.

Thus, all of them fled the obscure hall at the conclusion of the three days, looking as if they had just seen a ghost.