A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality (Chapter 2001-Chapter 2248)

Unbeknownst to the vast majority of the city, the Deep Heaven City elders hadn't participated in the celebrations. Instead, they were having a secret meeting in a certain secluded hall with some other Body Integration cultivators, some of which were obscure cultivators who had been in seclusion in the city for many years, while others were reinforcements sent to Deep Heaven City by the holy island.

All of the Body Integration cultivators were currently listening with stunned expressions as the white-robed elderly man recounted how the Xue Guang clone had been devoured by Han Li's Gold Devouring Beetles.

"To think that he was able to nurture over 10,000 mature Gold Devouring Beetles; that's incredible! So this Fellow Daoist Han was responsible for killing both the Xue Guang clone and the late-Body Integration Stage devilish lord who was far more powerful even than a Sacred Ancestor clone," a burly man with a heavy black beard murmured.

"In all honesty, I'm quite embarrassed. I wasn't able to do much in this battle at all; my greatest contribution was trapping the Sacred Ancestor clone for a while with Fellow Daoist Jin Yue's assistance, but we wouldn't have been able to kill the clone had it not been for Fellow Daoist Han's Gold Devouring Beetles. On top of that, Fellow Daoist Han had already slain that other late-Body Integration Stage devilish lord before that," the white-robed elderly man said with a wry smile.

"You're being far too self-critical, Brother Gu. Without the treasure unleashed by you and Fellow Daoist Jin, it would've been very difficult for Fellow Daoist Han's Gold Devouring Beetles to hunt down that Sacred Ancestor clone," a green-haired elderly man countered.

"That treasure was something that Master Mo Jianli had bestowed upon us; I wouldn't dare to take credit for something like that!" the white-robed elderly man said as he shook his head emphatically.

"Without the huge amount of blood essence that you and Fellow Daoist Jin had expended, the treasure wouldn't have been able to take effect; your contributions are far more significant than you proclaim them to be. If even your contributions don't count for anything, then the rest of us would've done less than nothing!" the green-haired elderly man chuckled.

At this moment, a woman in a long blue dress said with a smile, "Even setting that aside, the extensive planning done by you two prior to this battle is an extremely significant contribution. Having said that, judging from your description of this Fellow Daoist Han's powers, he definitely ranks among the top five most powerful beings among our two races; I certainly can't leave without meeting someone like him. Where is he currently staying right now?"

"Indeed, I would also like to meet him," someone else immediately chimed in.

"Fellow Daoist Han has expended a lot of energy during this battle, so he went into seclusion as soon as he returned to the city. That's why he's not present at this meeting, and this is most likely not a good time to try and meet him," the white-robed elderly man said.

"Ah, forgive me for being overeager. In that case, we'll pay Fellow Daoist Han a visit once he comes out of seclusion," the woman said as a slightly forlorn look appeared on her face.

The other elders wishing to meet Han Li were also rather disappointed to hear this, but they naturally couldn't press the issue any further.

"Fellow Daoist Han has made the most significant contribution in this battle, but it was thanks to everyone's collective efforts that our city was able to survive this ordeal. I won't cheapen your efforts by extending any words of gratitude; just know that if you ever need assistance from our city, we'll be sure to oblige," the white-robed elderly man said as he cupped his fist in a salute, and his words were echoed by the other elders of the city.

The other Body Integration cultivators were quite elated to hear this. After all, a promise from the elders of Deep Heaven City was a very valuable intangible asset.

"We may have won this battle, but we can't get complacent. After all, close to the half the devilish army and almost all of the devilish lords have survived. If that Sacred Ancestor Xue Guang decides to bite the bullet and send another one of his clones into the Spirit Realm, we'll most likely have another gruelling battle on our hands. If we want to prevent that happening, we have to take advantage of this opportunity to launch a counterattack and wipe out the remaining devilish army; we can't afford them any chance of making a resurgence," the white-robed elderly man said as a cold look appeared in his eyes.





Chapter 2010: Unexpected Guest


Everyone else immediately nodded in agreement, and thus, the Deep Heaven City elders quickly assigned a series of missions, sending out most of the Body Integration Stage beings present to continue hunting down the devilish army.

The rest of them remained behind to oversee the repair of all of the damaged formations and restrictions.

Of course, the most important thing was to send out some people to destroy the nearby devilish nodes right away. If they could do that, then even if the devilish beings were to send reinforcements, they wouldn't be able to arrive near Deep Heaven City.

These were all extremely urgent matters, so as soon as the assignment of these tasks were completed, everyone took their leave to carry out their respective duties.

Thus, the only two people left in the hall were the white-robed elderly man and the green-haired elderly man, the latter of whom was one of the holy island envoys.

The two conversed with one another for a long while before departing, and following their conversation, the white-robed elderly man seemed to be in high spirits, indicating that he had received some type of good news from the holy island envoy.

Not long after that, a significant chunk of the remaining devilish army in the nearby area was slain under the efforts of the Deep Heaven City Body Integration cultivators.

However, the remnants of the devilish army had been led away by the devilish lords and joined other devilish armies in neighboring areas.

Thus, the human and demonic cultivators naturally didn't dare to pursue them any further, and they returned to the city after setting up a large number of watchtowers on the borders. Thus, the battle of Deep Heaven City had finally drawn to a true conclusion.

Deep Heaven City had secured the final victory, but as many as a third of their defensive forces had been destroyed in the process. There were even a few Body Integration elders who had perished during the battle, as well as countless casualties among cultivators at or below the Spatial Tempering Stage.

Thankfully, they had managed to crush the devilish army and wipe out a considerable number of devilish beings, thereby securing the first major victory since the commencement of the devilish tribulation.

Of course, Deep Heaven City's victory didn't mean that the human and demonic races had actually gained the upper hand. On the contrary, the situation was only becoming more and more desperate for the other major human settlements. As for whether they would also be able to turn the tables, only the heavens knew the answer to that.

Following Deep Heaven City's victory, many vagrant cultivators and remnants of cultivating families and sects converged to join the city. There were even vagrant cultivators and small powers from neighboring areas that were willing to take the risk to flee toward Deep Heaven City, and as a result, the cultivators that the city had lost during the battle were easily replenished.

Even if another devilish army were to turn up soon, Deep Heaven City would be well equipped to fight them.

Thus, Deep Heaven City was accumulating power as quickly as it could, and a year passed by in the blink of an eye.

On this day, a special guest arrived at the stone pagoda that Han Li was living. Hai Yuetian and Qi Lingzi immediately invited the guest into the hall on the top floor of the stone pagoda, and as soon as the guest took a seat, he said to Qi Lingzi, "I have an urgent matter to discuss with your master; inform him of my arrival."