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

Three dull thumps rang out one after another, and the three streaks of sword Qi achieved completely different outcomes.

The first streak of sword Qi was instantly repelled, the second streak managed to slice through a part of the carcass's exoskeleton, and the third streak was able to slice the carcass cleanly in half.

A hint of surprise appeared in the eyes of both Lü Shi and Xie Lian upon seeing this, while Han Li began to stroke his own chin with a contemplative expression.

Xie Lian asked, "Were those three streaks of sword Qi you unleashed just now of different levels of power, Brother Han?"

"That's right. The first streak contained around half of my full power, the second streak was a full-power strike, while the third streak was infused with a flying sword that's a bonded treasure of mine," Han Li replied.

Xie Lian and Lü Shi were naturally unaware that Han Li had lied about the first two streaks of sword Qi and only told the truth for the third one.

His powers were far superior to those of an ordinary Grand Ascension Stage being, so the first streak of sword Qi had only contained around 20% of his full power, while the second one was only imbued with around 50% of his full power.

Even so, Xie Lian and Lü Shi were quite stunned by how resolute this carcass was.

"Not only is this insect virtually immune to Fellow Daoist Lü Shi's true flames, it can even withstand Fellow Daoist Han's sword Qi to a certain extent; looks like these descendants of the Stemborer Queen are even more fearsome than I'd imagined. What should we do if we encounter one of them?" Xie Lian asked with a grim expression.

"There's no need to fear; if we really do encounter one of these insects, we'll just have to attack it as normal. I'm confident that the four of us combined will be able to bring down a mere insect," Lü Shi chuckled coldly in response.

"One or two of them won't be an issue, but what if we encounter seven or eight, or even more of these insects? Would you still be so confident then?" Xie Lian sighed.

Lü Shi's confident facade slipped a little upon hearing this. "Surely there aren't that many of these things around."

"Hehe, it's indeed very unlikely to encounter so many of these insects. If the Stemborer Queen had the ability to produce so many descendants, it would've most likely broken out of this ancient seal long ago," Han Li said with a shake of his head.

"I certainly hope so. Otherwise, we could potentially find ourselves in some huge trouble. It looks like the last group of fellow daoists to have entered this underground palace were the ones who killed this insect; I wonder why they left in such a hurry. I hope there aren't more of these things up ahead," Xie Lian said with a wry smile.

"In any case, we're already here, so we can't back down now. We've already wasted quite a bit of time here; let's keep going. It would be truly regrettable if our tardiness affects Fellow Daoist Bao Hua's plans," Han Li said in a calm manner, then drifted back the way he had come.

Through his examination, he had determined that these insects didn't pose much of a threat to him, so he naturally wasn't going to be too concerned.

Daoist Xie followed along behind him in silence, and Xie Lian and Lü Shi were rather surprised by Han Li's decisive departure.

However, they knew that Han Li was right, so they could trail along behind him as well.

Daoist Xie seemed to be completely obedient to Han Li, and Han Li had just displayed spiritual sense far superior to that of Xie Lian and Lü Shi, so the two of them were unconsciously beginning to follow Han Li's lead.

Shortly thereafter, the four of them returned to the path and continued onward according to the map.

As they progressed along the path, they didn't encounter any obstacles, and that came as quite a relief for both Xie Lian and Lü Shi.

Even though they were both at the Grand Ascension Stage, they definitely didn't want to encounter an insect like the one they had just seen.

At this moment, the four of them had arrived in a spacious garden with shimmering silver trees all around them. These trees had palm-sized silver flowers growing on their branches that were very beautiful to look at, but didn't give off any aroma.

Initially, Lü Shi had been rather wary of these trees, but his concerns were assuaged after Xie Lian informed him that this was a plant unique to the Elder Devil Realm, and it served no purpose other than as a low-grade pill refinement ingredient.

"Brother Han, according to the map, that hall up ahead should be where the formation core is situated. Once we repair it, our mission will be complete," Xie Lian said as the three of them emerged from the garden, upon which a grey hall appeared in the distance.

"Looks like our journey was quite smooth; I wonder if the same applied for our other fellow daoists," Han Li replied with a nod.

For some reason, as soon as he had arrived in the garden, he couldn't shake the unsettling feeling that he was being watched.

Considering how powerful his spiritual sense was, it was virtually impossible for him to be unable to detect someone if they were nearby.

This meant that the one watching them either possessed incredible powers and could avoid the detection of his spiritual sense, or this was merely a figment of his imagination brought on by the powers of the ancient seal and all of the restrictions in the underground palace.

In any case, Han Li had naturally become a lot more cautious, but as soon as they emerged from the garden, this strange feeling suddenly vanished, leaving him feeling quite perplexed.

......

Meanwhile, an indistinct humanoid figure situated in a dark underground cave in the deepest part of the underground palace suddenly began to cackle to himself.

"I can't believe someone from a lower realm has managed to cultivate the Spirit Refinement Technique to the second stage! Haha, the heavens really are smiling down upon me! Looks like I won't be trapped here for much longer..."

Initially, the cackling was very loud, but it gradually became clearer and more deranged, striking the listener with a bone-chilling sensation.





Chapter 2230: Re-emergence of the Lightningwield Technique


Han Li was naturally oblivious to the scene that had just transpired deep in the underground palace, but after that unsettling feeling disappeared, he was quite relieved.

At this moment, the four of them had emerged from the garden and arrived on an ordinary-looking small plaza.

A massive hall that covered an area of several acres stood directly across on the other side of the plaza, and Lü Shi's brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "Why is my spiritual sense unable to enter that place? Are the restrictions here still activated?"

"It's not the restrictions at work; this hall was constructed from a type of special material from our holy realm. This material is known as Underworld River Sand, and it naturally possesses spiritual sense resistance properties, so it's no surprise that your spiritual sense can't enter the hall," Xie Lian replied with a smile.

Instead of becoming complacent upon hearing Xie Lian's explanation, Lü Shi's brows furrowed even further as he suddenly made a grabbing motion to summon a dagger enshrouded within green Qi. "Hold on, I can sense the aura of stemborers here!"

"Surely not! Could it be that you're mistaken, Fellow Daoist Lü Shi?" Xie Lian's heart jolted upon hearing this, and she also hurriedly summoned three silver rings that appeared before her in a flash of light.

"I've cultivated a special secret technique that allows me to identify the auras of all beings within a radius of several tens of kilometers; I'm certain that there are stemborers nearby!" Lü Shi replied in a confident voice.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he suddenly rubbed his hands together before raising them toward the hall up ahead.

A pair of loud thunderclaps rang out as two thick bolts of golden lightning sprang forth, transforming into a pair of golden pythons over 100 feet in length before pouncing into the hall.