A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality (Chapter 1801-Chapter 2000)

"That's true. Having said that, the way that Fellow Daoist Han has addressed this matter has truly been a relief to me. If he had insisted on enforcing a more severe punishment on those juniors, that could've led to quite a conflict as well," Buddhist Monk Jin Yue sighed in a resigned manner.

"Indeed. If things really had escalated to that extent, then even I would be scratching my head," the white-robed elderly man chuckled.

"By the way, I heard that Azure Dragon was defeated by Fellow Daoist Han in just three attacks; surely that's an exaggeration, right?" the black-robed man asked.

"No, it's true. Fellow Daoist Han's powers were truly incredible; even the average late-Body Integration Stage most likely won't be a match for him. Fairy Silver Light and Fellow Daoist Gu were also present; I'm sure they'll back me up here," Buddhist Monk Jin Yue replied with a serious expression.

The black-robed man turned to Fairy Silver Light and Elder Gu upon hearing this, and Fairy Silver Light displayed no reaction, while Elder Gu gave a solemn nod in confirmation.

The black-robed man was even more astonished upon seeing this, as were all of the other cultivators present who hadn't interacted with Han Li much.

"Surely he's not actually more powerful than a late-Body Integration cultivator. That Master Azure Dragon has quite a resounding reputation, but if he couldn't even withstand three attacks from a cultivator of the same cultivation base, then his reputation was most likely overinflated in the first place. Just because Fellow Daoist Han was able to defeat him doesn't mean he's actually that freakish of a talent." The black-robed man was really grasping at straws now.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken, Fellow Daoist. That Master Azure Dragon was a half-demon who can adopt a half-dragon form, and that, in conjunction with his Buddhist cultivation arts, presented a very formidable package. However, he had made the mistake of picking the wrong opponent. Fellow Daoist Han is a simultaneous cultivator, and is capable of taking on a giant ape form with powers that exceed even Azure Dragon's half-dragon form. He severely wounded Azure Dragon with his first two attacks alone, and could've even killed Azure Dragon with his third attack had he intended to do so. Thinking back, if I were to face Fellow Daoist Han in battle, there would be no alternative for me other than to flee with all my might," Buddhist Monk Jin Yue said in a serious manner.

"In that case, it seems the rumors about Fellow Daoist Han being hunted by Sacred Ancestor clones were true. With his powers, it's not all that far-fetched that he was able to escape from such formidable beings," the white-robed elderly man remarked.

"I don't know how he managed to escape from those Sacred Ancestor clones, but I did bear witness to him killing several devilish lords in quick succession," Fairy Silver Light also chimed in in a solemn voice.

"Sacred Ancestors!"

Many of the cultivators present were very alarmed to hear this.

"It seems that Fellow Daoist Han truly is an exceptional talent. With his assistance, our chances of securing victory against the devilish army would be significantly increased. Buddhist Monk Jin Yue, try to recruit him to our panel of elders again; tell him he can raise any conditions, and we'll do our best to satisfy him," the white-robed elderly man said.

"Alright, but I think the chances of that are going to be very slim," Buddhist Monk Jin Yue replied in a rather pessimistic manner.

"I'm aware of that. Otherwise, he would've joined the panel of elders the first time we invited him. In any case, it can't hurt to try. Alright, setting this matter aside for now, we received a report from our scouts stating that the devilish army is very likely going to launch an all-out assault on our city in several months to a year," the white-robed elderly man said as a grim look appeared on his face, and all of the other elders' hearts jolted upon hearing this.





Chapter 1990: Late-Body Integration Stage (1)


Shortly thereafter, the meeting between the elders concluded, and everything resumed as normal in Deep Heaven City.

Just as the white-robed elderly man had said, without anyone leaking the news, none of the ordinary beings in the city were aware that a mid-Body Integration Stage human cultivator had already passed away.

Of course, this news wasn't kept a secret from Fairy Lin Luan.

Upon hearing this news, she was initially quite shocked and horrified, but she quickly calmed down and never mentioned Master Azure Dragon again, as if she had never even known him.

Unfortunately for the panel of elders, their attempts to recruit Han Li had proven to be futile.

Han Li had been in seclusion this entire time, proclaiming that he was cultivating some type of powerful ability.

Thus, Buddhist Monk Jin Yue could only wait patiently until he came out of seclusion.

He was sure that Han Li would emerge from seclusion before the devilish army commenced its all-out attack.

Aside from Buddhist Monk Jin Yue, Fairy Silver Light, and several other Body Integration cultivators, all of the other elders had their attention drawn to the frequent harassment attacks launched by the devilish army, so they eventually forgot about Han Li.

Even the white-robed elderly man only asked about Han Li a few more times before setting the matter aside.

At this point, the devilish army still hadn't deployed their main forces to attack the city, but the harassment attacks they were unleashing were becoming more and more ferocious.

During these attacks, even Spatial Tempering Stage casualties had become very commonplace.

Thus, the elders of the city naturally had to step in, and two or three elders had to be present to face every devilish attack in order to ensure that morale remained high.

At the same time, the entirety of Deep Heaven City was operating at full capacity. All types of tool refinement workshops were packed to the rafters with workers, and treasures and spirit tools were being refined with no material expenses being spared.

The cultivators who were adept in the art of talismans had also been grouped together to craft low-grade talismans day and night.

In a battle of such a massive scale, low-grade talismans were often more effective and efficient to produce than mid-grade and high-grade ones.

After all, with the time and materials required to refine a mid-grade talismans, tens or even hundreds of low-grade talismans could be produced, and that wasn't even taking into account the vast disparity between the success rates of refining the different talismans.

As for high-grade talismans, only a select group of expert talisman refinement masters could produce them.

On top of that, many of the low-grade cultivators and manual laborers in the city had also been put to work; they were organized into several enormous groups of different numbers as the back-up forces of the city.

Aside from that, all of the city's formations and restrictions had also been thoroughly examined several times to ensure that they could be relied upon to resist the devilish army.

In summary, Deep Heaven City was preparing for war.

Under this tense and frenetic atmosphere, half a year flew by in the blink of an eye.

On this day, the white-robed elderly man and Buddhist Monk Jin Yue were discussing an important matter in a conference hall when the door was abruptly flung open from the outside, and a silver-armored guard hurriedly rushed in.

"Who said you could come in here?" the white-robed elderly man asked in a vexed manner.

"Senior, I came here to inform you that the spiritual Qi outside is in a completely chaotic state; it seems that someone is making a major breakthrough!" the guard hurriedly reported as he extended a respectful bow.

"A major breakthrough? Could it be that someone's progressing to the mid-Body Integration Stage? That's fantastic news; why do you look to be in such a panic?" the white-robed elderly man asked as his expression eased slightly.