A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality (Chapter 1601-Chapter 1800)

In contrast, Shi Kun merely chuckled before leading the way as he strode toward the mountain.

Seeing as treasures were unable to be used here, his powerful body naturally became a particularly valuable asset.

Han Li also gave a faint smile before following along behind Shi Kun.

Liu Shui'er could only follow suit after a brief hesitation.

There was a path that was almost completely straight leading directly to the summit of the mountain.

The entire path consisted of steps paved with white stone slabs that were around 10 feet wide each, and from afar, it was as if there were a giant white python sprawled over the mountain, creating a rather startling spectacle to behold.

Han Li's trio naturally didn't dare to travel through flight, but their bodies were far more powerful than that of normal beings, so they didn't fear the prospect of having to take this path, either.

Thus, the three of them strode onto the stone steps, heading up toward the mountain summit.

However, a peculiar look immediately appeared on Shi Kun's face as soon as he strode onto the first step.

He continued to scale the steps, but he was gradually slowing down in the process, clearly not able to scale the steps as swiftly as he could in the beginning.

Han Li had naturally noticed this as he walked along behind Shi Kun, and as soon as he set foot on the first stone step, he understood why Shi Kun was slowing down.

A burst of suction force had erupted from the stone step, making his legs feel as if they were filled with lead.

After scaling a few more steps, he immediately discovered that the suction force from each successive step was slightly more pronounced than that of the previous step.

The slightly incremental increase was almost unnoticeable over just a few steps, but there were over 10,000 steps leading up to the summit, and that was quite a harrowing thought to consider.

Thankfully, it seemed that as long as one were to stand still on a step, the enormous suction force emanating from it would gradually weaken, and if one were to stand on a step for a long enough time, all of the suction force would gradually disappear.

Han Li was quite intrigued by this, but he didn't pay much attention to this detail.

After cultivating the Provenance True Devil Arts, his body was more powerful than even most normal holy race beings.

These stone steps were slightly peculiar, but he was confident that he'd be able to make it to the mountain summit without pause.

As for whether Shi Kun could also do the same, that would depend on whether he'd been holding back in displaying the powers of his body.

As for Liu Shui'er, there was most likely no way for her to make it to the summit without pausing in between if she were to rely on the power of her body alone.

With that in mind, Han Li took a glance back at Liu Shui'er after scaling a dozen or so steps.

Thus, he discovered that she was still situated on the first stone step, seemingly in deep thought about something. However, it was quite apparent from the expression on her face that she was feeling very frustrated and angry.





Chapter 1706: The Difficult Climb


It was quite clear that she'd also identified her situation, which was why she appeared to be so enraged.

Even though the three of them hadn't agreed on this in advance, it was quite clear that whoever reached the palace first would be able to get to the treasures in there first.

As such, it was very likely that Shi Kun and Han Li would've taken all of the treasures in the palace by the time she arrived.

However, Liu Shui'er wasn't completely powerless in a situation like this.

After a brief pause for contemplation, she flipped a hand over to produce several talismans of different colors.

One was yellow, another was silver, and the final one was crimson.

Three spluttering sounds rang out in quick succession as she plastered these talismans to herself. Three balls of light of different colors then erupted from the talismans before vanishing into her body in a flash.

Immediately thereafter, yellow, silver, and red spiritual light emerged around her body, releasing astonishing spiritual pressure in the process.

It appeared that these three talismans were all capable of enhancing one's physical body, and after applying them to herself, Liu Shui'er continued to scale the steps without any further delay.

Han Li witnessed this from above, but displayed no reaction in response.

Assistance talismans were very interesting, but they were next to completely useless to high-grade cultivators like them.

Cultivators who focused on cultivating their magic power naturally wouldn't be interested in talismans that could enhance their physical bodies, and they wouldn't use such talismans in battle, either.

As for beings who specialized in cultivating their bodies, these talismans were also largely superfluous.

After all, body refinement cultivators had already tapped into much of the latent potential of their physical bodies, so talismans of that nature wouldn't provide significant enhancements.

For body refinement cultivators, even the rarest high-grade assistance talismans would only be able to enhance their bodies by 10% to 20% at the very most.

As such, regardless of how many assistance talismans a normal cultivator were to use, their bodies would still be far inferior in power compared to body refinement cultivators.

Han Li was quite adept in the art of talismans himself, so he was naturally well aware of this. As such, he didn't think much of what Liu Shui'er was doing and merely continued to scale the steps in an unhurried manner.

Thus, the three of them continued onward, gradually opening up distance between one another as they approached the mountain summit.

Initially, as the restrictive power from the stone steps became more and more pronounced, Liu Shu'er and Shi Kun simply forced themselves to continue onward, despite knowing that they'd be able to expend a lot less effort if they were to pause momentarily on each step.

However, Han Li's condition was vastly different compared to that of his two companions.

Shi Kun was still leading the way, striding up the stone steps at a steady pace, but he was clearly breathing more heavily and sweat was beginning appear on his forehead.

Han Li was situated in the middle, and his skin was beginning to take on a faint golden hue, but his expression remained completely unchanged, displaying no signs of strain whatsoever.

As for Liu Shui'er, the layer of white light over her face made it impossible for anyone to glean her expression, but she was slowing down at a noticeable rate. After scaling up around a third of the staircase, her body would shudder with each successive step that she took, and the three-colored spiritual light around her also fluctuated erratically in brightness, looking as if they could be snuffed out at any moment.

It was quite clear that even with the enhancements of her talismans, she wasn't going to be able to keep this up for much longer. Liu Shui'er was clearly well aware of this herself, and a resigned look had already surfaced in her eyes. After scaling an additional 200 to 300 steps, she heaved a faint sigh and finally drew to a halt.

Han Li didn't turn back to look at her, but he could detect this through the use of his spiritual sense. His expression changed slightly in response, but he showed no sign of stopping at all. After that, Shi Kun and Han Li continued to scale up over 1,000 steps, upon which they finally arrived at the halfway mark of the entire mountain path.

Sweat was already pouring down Shi Kun's face, and with each successive step he took, the ground beneath him tremored slightly while the yellow light around his body flashed erratically, clearly indicating that this was becoming quite difficult for him.