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

Han Li was flying beside Yue Zong with a contemplative look on his face as he cast his gaze toward the sea of mist in the distance.

All of a sudden, his expression changed slightly. When they were further away, he had failed to notice this, but after drawing closer, he could hear a dull rumbling from within the azure sea of mist, as if a loud thunderstorm were raging within.

At this moment, Yue Zong suddenly drew to a halt, and the crimson light around his body faded as he appeared before the azure mist.

He flipped a hand over, and a shimmering golden badge appeared in his grasp. He then raised a hand, and the badge disappeared into the mist as a streak of golden light.

The dense mist that yielded almost zero visibility suddenly parted in the face of the streak of golden light, forming a natural passageway.

"Stay close to me and make sure you don't stray from this passageway. Otherwise, you'll be in big trouble," Yue Zong cautioned before flying ahead again.

Even though Han Li didn't know what kind of trouble would await him if he were to fly into the azure mist, he certainly wasn't going to find out, and he followed close behind Yue Zong as he was told.

Xian Xian was also flying along behind them, and she couldn't help but ask, "I've also been to these Golden Devil Mountain Ranges once before, and if I recall correctly, shouldn't we have entered from another location?"

"Ordinary beings would naturally have to enter from there, but I've built up a bit of reputation for myself here, so I'm exempt from that requirement," Yue Zong explained with a shake of his head.

Xian Xian nodded and fell silent upon hearing this.

Thus, the three of them continued to fly along under the guidance of the streak of golden light, and before they knew it, they had traveled close to 10 kilometers into the sea of mist.

All of a sudden, Han Li's eyes flashed as he suddenly caught sight of a cluster of buildings around 500 meters below them. After drawing closer, he discovered that this was a small town set up in a long and thin formation consisting of two rows of stone cabins. These stone cabins were all of different sizes, and there were hundreds of them down below.

At the very center of a small town was a massive pavilion that was several hundred feet tall. The pavilion had a total of five levels, and it was quite an eye-catching structure that was constructed from massive grey stone blocks.

There seemed to be some people walking along the streets of the small town, but there weren't many of them.

Yue Zong let loose a low cry and headed directly toward the pavilion at the center of the small town, followed closely by Han Li and Xian Xian.

The three of them appeared in front of the massive pavilion almost at the exact same time, and Han Li discovered that there was a horizontal plaque hanging above the gates, which were several tens of feet tall. The words "Lightning Cloud Pavilion" had been inscribed onto the plaque in flowing and graceful ancient text.

"Come with me, Fellow Daoists. This is the place where we receive restriction badges; I'm sure you've been here before as well, right, Fairy Xian?" Yue Zong asked with a smile.

"Indeed. However, on the last occasion that I was here, I had to go somewhere else and buy a Cloudsplit Badge before I could enter this place," Xian Xian replied with a nod.

"The Cloudsplit Badge that you purchased is only a temporary badge, and those expire after a month. In contrast, the treasure I just used to split apart the azure mist just then is one that can be used over and over again, and it was something that was given to me by a senior responsible for guarding this place seeing as I came to these Golden Devil Mountain Ranges quite frequently. The sea of mist is a little troublesome to traverse, but even if you get lost in there, it won't kill you; you'll just be trapped in there for a month or two before someone from this place rescues you. What we have to do now is collect Lightningbane Umbrellas, which are the items that will truly grant us passage into the Golden Devil Mountain Ranges. Otherwise, the divine lightning restriction is something that even holy race beings won't be able to force their way through," Yue Zong explained before making his way toward the pavilion.

The pavilion gates were wide open, and the first level was completely empty, giving off the impression that people rarely ever visited the place.

After hearing Yue Zong's introduction, Han Li nodded before also striding toward the pavilion, while Xian Xian followed along behind him.

The trio quickly made their way through the pavilion gates to find that there was nothing on the first level aside from a few tables and chairs. Thus, they scaled the staircase onto the second level, only to find that there was nothing there, either.

As such, the three of them continued up to the third level, where they discovered a white light barrier at the entrance.

Yue Zong completely ignored the light barrier and passed directly through it. Han Li raised an eyebrow before also following suit in an expressionless manner to discover that the barrier posed no impediment at all.

However, Han Li's expression immediately changed slightly after emerging on the other side.

After passing through the entrance, the sound of chatter and activity could be heard from above the staircase, and it seemed that there were many people on the third level.

Yue Zong and Xian Xian had naturally also heard this, and expressions of surprise appeared on both of their faces, but Yue Zong's remained unfazed as he calmly scaled the staircase first.

The voices from the third level immediately cut off, indicating that the people there had also noticed Yue Zong's arrival.

At this moment, Han Li also made his way onto the third level, upon which he discovered that the level was only just over 200 feet in area, but it was packed with people.

There were over 30 foreign beings in different attire sitting on the ground in a cross-legged manner, and the only other things in the room were a round stone table at the center of the room, as well as the futons of different sizes that the beings were sitting on.

As soon as Han Li's trio appeared, everyone naturally turned toward the three of them.

"Oh, it's Brother Yue!"

"So you came as well, Fellow Daoist Yue."

"Haha, I knew you wouldn't be willing to give up on this opportunity, Brother Yue."

...

After identifying that it was Yue Zong who had arrived, many of the beings in the room extended warm greetings toward him, and among them, there were even beings with superior cultivation bases compared to Yue Zong.

The other beings who didn't recognize Yue Zong also stirred upon hearing his name, and some of them were appraising him with enmity in their eyes.

It seemed that even though they didn't recognize Yue Zong, he was indeed quite renowned around these parts.

However, there were four or five beings in the room who displayed no reaction even after hearing Yue Zong's name, and they were merely appraising Han Li's trio in a discreet manner.

Han Li swept his spiritual senses throughout the room, and he was quite surprised that all of the beings here were at or above the Deity Transformation Stage. In fact, close to half of them were Spatial Tempering Stage beings, and there were even three beings at the pinnacle of the Spatial Tempering Stage.

There were also some beings who were using treasures to conceal their spiritual powers, so even Han Li was unable to ascertain their cultivation bases.

In contrast to Han Li, Xian Xian was rather intrigued by the resounding reputation that Yue Zong clearly had in this place.