A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality (Chapter 201-Chapter 400)

Han Li’s friend and fellow disciple of Doctor Mo who was later refined into Crooked Soul.





Chapter 338: A Forced Confession


Han Li didn’t pay any mind to Crooked Soul’s alarm and scattered the azure light that enveloped the Soul Guiding Compass. Dāng. Han Li tapped his finger against the bell, causing it to lightly ring.

Thud. Just as Crooked Soul thought of using this opportunity to escape, he fell to the floor on his back.

“A life origin magic tool! You have the life origin magic tool for this body!” Crooked Soul shouted with fear.

“It’s good that you know! If you don’t want to suffer then you had best give me an explanation of your origins. I am quite curious. How were you able to invade this body? Aren’t cultivators unable to possess the bodies of mortals?” Han Li asked with a calm expression and a flat voice as if he were chatting with a close friend.

When “Crooked Soul” heard this, he couldn’t help but tremble. Cultivators that possess bodies were loathed in the cultivation world. While it isn’t to the degree where they would be exterminated on sight, they absolutely wouldn’t be looked upon favorably. With the addition of Han Li’s strange behavior, he couldn’t help but feel perturbed while vainly dreaming of escaping.

“Fellow Daoist, please forgive me. I was previously a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but I lost my body in a war against an enemy clan. As a result, I had no choice but to occupy this body.” Instead of answering Han Li’s question, he stood up and gave this explanation with a smile.

“Really?” Han Li indifferently commented.

In truth, Han Li was somewhat surprised to hear that he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

However, when Crooked Soul was unable to make out Han Li’s thoughts through his indifferent appearance, he couldn’t help but become scared and hastily plead, “Although this one’s cultivation had dropped to the low levels of Qi Condensation, I still retained a few magic tools and spirit stones. So long as Fellow Daoist doesn’t pursue this matter, I would be willing to gift them to you!” He had spoken humbly; he clearly understood that he had no choice but to yield while under Han Li’s control.

However, Han Li didn’t pay attention to his seductive words and asked after a moment of contemplation, “Are you a cultivator of the Seven Sects?”

Han Li appeared to have casually asked this. According to his knowledge, very few Foundation Establishment cultivators existed outside of the Seven Sects within the State of Yue. Only a few large cultivation clans would possess a number of Foundation Establishment cultivators, the Yan Clan for example.

“Seven Sects... Ah, yes. I am a cultivator of Spirit Beast Mountain. Could it be that Your Esteemed Self is also a Seven Sect’s cultivator?” Crooked Soul said these words calmly, but Han Li was able to spot a trace of fear within his eyes, causing Han Li to feel great suspicion.

“So it turns out that Fellow Daoist is from Spirit Beast Mountain! How is Young Mistress Han Yunzhi [1] doing?” Han Li asked with a faint smile.

“Han Yunzhi... I am truly sorry. This one had been in secluded cultivation for so many years and thus has no recollection of the younger disciples.” After being surprised momentarily by Han Li’s question, he made a forced laugh and self-mockingly said.

“You aren’t familiar with her? Then how about Fellow Daoist tell me the names of a few disciples that you do remember. This one knows many Fellow Daoists from Spirit Beast Mountain. Perhaps I might know a few!” Han Li flatly continued with his close questioning.

“This...” Crooked Soul appeared somewhat panicked and began shifting his eyes in every direction. His expressions were more honest than his words.

Seeing that this person had failed to answer, Han Li’s expression grew dark and cold.

“Fellow Daoist, you truly disappoint me! You are still hesitating and now I must force you.” Han Li said bluntly. With a blur, his body flashed forward and back.

Crooked Soul remained motionless in his original location. However, a “Soul Lock Talisman” was now attached to the center of his chest, removing any opportunity for him to act. With a panicked appearance, he hastily shouted, “Fellow Daoist, what is the meaning of this? We can talk about this...”

When used on mortals, a Soul Lock Talisman was capable of completely locking down their bodies to the point where they wouldn’t be able to speak. But when used against cultivators who possessed magic power, its efficacy was somewhat lacking. Although there were other methods to immobilize weaker cultivators, there were few that left them capable of speaking and expressing emotion.

At this moment, Han Li paid no mind to any of his shouts and took out a pitch-black alms bowl from his storage pouch.

Once it appeared, a sinister Qi filled the air, causing the nearby temperature to drop several degrees. Shortly after, the alms bowl released a ghastly wail and surrounded itself with a strange black fog, causing its ghostly aura to thicken. This was the “Soul Congregation Bowl” that Han Li had recently acquired.

Single-handedly grabbing the magic tool, Han Li ominously glared at Crooked Soul as he approached him.

As Crooked Soul stared at the strange alms bowl, he appeared bewildered. But he then immediately thought of something and his expression became nervous. He forced himself to say, “What do you plan on doing? Don’t tell me you plan on using a soul refinement technique?”

When he said the words “Soul Refinement Technique”, his eyes revealed extreme fear.

The “Soul Refinement Technique” was a notorious, fear-inspiring magic technique in the cultivation world. Some cultivators would even swear death-oaths under threat of this wicked magic technique.

All of the sects and great clans have specialists that would learn this technique in order to deliver the harshest of punishments to set an example for traitors. This practice had gained it much infamy due to the cruelty involved.

It was said that practitioners of this technique were capable of extracting one’s soul and using specialized magic techniques to torment them. Rumor has it that direct suffering inflicted on a soul for even a short moment was unbearable even to those with adamant wills. Furthermore, the stronger the cultivator’s soul, the greater suffering they would feel. These gruesome details would cause cultivators’ faces to pale when they spoke of them.

Rumors of the Soul Refinement Technique have spread all across the cultivation world. The best known among them was the rumor that cultivators capable of the Soul Refinement Technique were able to cultivate a “Soul Tool”, a tool inseparably linked to their own souls. Only with such a magic tool would the user be able to fully utilize the Soul Refinement Technique and damn the target’s soul to suffer a fate worse than death.

Not many cultivators had personally seen a soul tool, but it was said to release a dense, sinister and ghostly aura. Its description closely matched the appearance of the “Soul Congregation Bowl”, a magic tool that had held the souls of over a hundred cultivators.

Thus, with the threatening appearance of the alms bowl and Han Li’s previous threats, this person had mistakenly believed that Han Li was capable of using this “soul tool” to perform the dreadful “Soul Refinement Technique”.

It was no surprise why he thought this. When someone thought of soul torture, the first thing that came to mind was the Soul Refinement Technique. How could he not have been scared out of his wits?

When Han Li heard Crooked Soul’s words, he remained expressionless despite the surprise he felt.