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

Seeing as Han Li had decided to agree to this matter, he wasn't going to sit around any longer. He immediately rose to his feet, and said, "Let's not delay this any longer. I'll go with you to see Fellow Daoist Ice Soul's blood soul right away and prepare the awakening ceremony with all of you."

Xu Jiao processed this request for a brief moment before deciding that there weren't any issues, and he nodded in response. "Alright. Even though this ceremony can only be performed at night, it would be a good idea for you to familiarize yourself with the blood soul first."

If they could truly track down Fairy Ice Soul, then the Xu Family would immediately be elevated to become a super family in the human race.

As such, Xu Jiao and the Xu Family elders were keen to do everything in their power to awaken this wisp of blood soul.

Thus, Han Li departed from his pavilion with the Xu Family trio, and the four of them flew directly toward the mountain where the fluctuations had erupted from during the past few nights.

Such a short distance was naturally covered in the blink of an eye, and they soon arrived at the mountain, which appeared to be quite ordinary in itself, but was surrounded by balls of spiritual light of different colors to form a restriction.

Between these balls of spiritual light were a series of azure-armored guards.

Han Li swept his spiritual sense over the area, and he discovered that most of these guards were at the Nascent Soul Stage, and there were over 100 of them.

This wouldn't be considered to be a formidable force in Deep Heaven City, but it was quite a force to be reckoned with for a single family.

These guards were all concealed within the restriction in a very discreet manner, and none of them made a single sound nor any false moves to blow their covers, clearly indicating that they had been very well-trained. This was even rarer to see in a family.

Xu Jiao seemed to have noticed Han Li's intrigue, and he explained, "These are our Xu Family's secret guards, and they're the most elite forces at our Xu Family's disposal. I'm sure they aren't anything special in your eyes, but if they were to join forces in groups of three or four, they would be able to combat even Deity Transformation cultivators."

"Oh? So these guards must be adept in combination secret techniques," Han Li remarked in an intrigued manner.

"Hehe, that is indeed the case. It would be very bad if the awakening ceremony were to be disrupted, so all of our family's secret guards have been gathered here as a safety precaution," Xu Jiao explained.

Han Li merely nodded in response and didn't offer a reply on this occasion.

Xu Jiao summoned a formation plate to part the restriction first, and the four of them landed in front of a massive building that resembled a shrine, situated halfway up the mountain.

Above the gate of the shrine was a large plaque with a single "Xu" character inscribed upon it in ancient silver text.

There were eight more secret guards standing near the gate in an expressionless manner.

What was rather strange was that the gate was tightly shut, and the only way to access the shrine was through a side entrance that could only allow a single person through at a time.

Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this.

"Please forgive me, Senior. This is our Xu Family's ancestral shrine, so we can only enter the underground secret hall through the side entrance," Xu Yuan said in an apologetic manner.

"It's alright, I understand." Han Li waved a hand in a nonchalant manner.

Both Xu Yuan and Xu Jiao heaved an internal sigh of relief upon hearing this.

If Han Li really did become displeased due to this small detail, then that would naturally be rather bad for them.

Thus, the four of them entered the ancestral shrine through the side entrance one after another.





Chapter 1779: Ceremony


After passing through a long corridor and going around in a wide arc, Han Li and the others skirted around the main hall of the shrine and went straight to the rear hall.

There was a discreet secret chamber inside the hall, which was a white stone staircase that led underground.

There were several more secret guards situated at the opening of the staircase in an alert manner, and Xu Jiao waved a hand to dismiss them, upon which they immediately bowed before stepping away.

Han Li and the others descended into the slightly dim staircase. The passageway was a little dark, and there were chilly winds occasionally blowing toward them from down below. There were fist-sized moonlight stones embedded into the wall on either side at regular intervals, causing the brightness in the surrounding area to fluctuate as one progressed down the staircase, creating many overlapping shadows that were slightly eerie to behold.

Thankfully, the stone staircase wasn't very long, and everyone soon appeared in an intricately designed massive underground hall.

Han Li narrowed his eyes slightly as he cast his gaze around him, upon which he discovered that this was a hall that was around 3,000 to 4,000 feet in size, and it was entirely paved with a type of black jade. There were complex and mysterious white runes carved all over the walls and the ceiling, and these runes were releasing white spiritual light that made the interior of the hall as bright as day.

The most eye-catching thing in the hall was an extremely intricately-crafted tall platform at the center of the hall.

The platform was hexagonal in shape, and was surrounded by a massive formation.

At the center of the platform was a circular pond that was filled with some kind of vibrant red liquid. Despite its resemblance to blood, it didn't smell like blood at all. Instead, it was releasing a peculiar fragrance.

There were a dozen or so Xu Family cultivators within the formation with their eyes closed in seated meditation surrounding the hexagonal platform. Xu Yan and Xu Huo were among these cultivators.

"We pay our respects to Senior Han. Thank you for extending your assistance to our Xu Family." Han Li had been accompanied to this place by Xu Yuan and Xu Jiao, so it was quite obvious what he had come here for. As such, Xu Yan and Xu Huo immediately rose to their feet in an elated manner before bowing to him in unison.

"Don't be so quick to thank me; it's yet to be seen whether I'll be of any assistance," Han Li said with a shake of his head.

Xu Jiao paid no heed to this and waved a hand toward all of the other Xu Family cultivators so they could also come and pay their respects to Han Li.

All of these cultivators were at the Deity Transformation Stage, so they were clearly the true core of the Xu Family.

Every single one of them was casting surreptitious glances at Han Li with awe and veneration in their eyes, clearly already aware of the fact that he was a Body Integration cultivator. After receiving an instruction from Xu Jiao, all of them immediately rose to their feet before extending a grand welcome toward him.

Han Li waved a hand in response before casting his gaze toward the pond with an intrigued look in his eyes.

"We created this substance according to the method recorded in the Great Blood Soul Technique. The spirit liquid in this pond was created using the blood essence of the members of our Xu Family alongside many rare and precious spirit medicines. Not only is it mandatory for awakening the blood soul, we can also use the blood Qi in the pond to delay the dissipation of the blood soul," Xu Yuan explained.

"I see. However, the most important element of this awakening ceremony is the item that lies under the spirit liquid, right? Without that item, no matter how much spirit liquid there is in the pond or how profound the formation is, it'll be very difficult to unleash the blood soul secret technique," Han Li said as faint blue light flashed through his eyes.