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

The old man lightly sighed and slowly spoke, “I’ve just received this information a few days ago. Currently, the State of Yue is in great turmoil. Although the Devil Dao had defeated the Six Sect’s allied armies, a large amount of the Six Sect’s cultivators have broken off from their retreat out of the State of Yue and have been incessantly launching guerilla raids utilizing their familiarity of the terrain. I’ve heard that there were also a few Core Formation cultivators who haven’t retreated, thus keeping the Devil Dao busy. After all, Core Formation cultivators aren’t so easily dealt with. In addition, as the Six Sects have existed in the State of Yue for so many years, they possessed a lot of hidden power and have been causing the Devil Dao’s takeover of the State of Yue to be rather troublesome.

“As for the State of Yue’s cultivation clans, they have divided into three factions. One faction turned traitor once the Six Sects were defeated; they took the initiative to surrender and pay allegiance to the Devil Dao. Another faction consisted of those that were too closely tied with the Six Sects. Fearing that the Devil Dao would want to take revenge, they fled the State of Yue as the Six Sects had. As for the last faction, they are waiting to see how things will develop before taking action.

“As for the Six Sect’s long-established key locations, those from the Masked Moon Sect and Giant Sword Sect have yet to be broken through by the Devil Dao. The other four sects have been completely broken through, but it was said that very little had been obtained from the attacks. A majority of the rare items had already been removed by the six sect’s disciples.

“The way I see it, every day the Devil Dao isn’t able to pacify the State of Yue is another day where the State of Yuanwu or Zijin isn’t attacked. After all, their numbers are great and they were able to simultaneously take down two small countries and a mid rank country in one fell swoop. Since it is only a matter of time before they will fall upon us, they have no problem dealing with the disruptive Six Sect cultivators for the time being.” The old man’s slowly spoken words had revealed his own take on the matter.

The red-faced old man couldn’t help but interrupt and ask, “Eldest Brother Ding, why do you think that the Devil Dao has given us time to breathe, allowing for our country’s sects to prepare for their attack?”

“This is hard to say. After all, I am only aware of the surface information. As for the absolute truth of the matter, I’m afraid that only the highest echelons of the sects know.” Old Man Ding slowly shook his head and stole a glance at Han Li.

It was obvious that he believed Han Li to be a cultivator from a sect of his own country and had refrained from speaking of certain matters.

Old Man Ding didn’t wish to continue speaking of that issue and suddenly said something with a smile that left Han Li shocked instead.

“Because the Six Sects of the State of Yue wished for a hasty retreat, they used the strategy of cutting off their own tail. They only brought along their talented elite disciples while leaving behind the rest of their many disciples as ignorant sacrifices. It is said that the ones who most effectively applied this cruel tactic were the highest echelons of Yellow Maple Valley’s disciples. They had their trusted elite make a smooth escape from the State of Yue while sacrificing two whole groups of disciples—nearly all of their cultivators apart from those that escaped. Tsk tsk. Their methods are truly impressive!”

Although the old man said this indifferently, Han Li’s heart suddenly sunk, and his face became faintly twisted. But fortunately, the others didn’t dare to stare at Han Li for long, so none of them noticed this change.

Strongly suppressing his astonishment, Han Li calmly asked, “Fellow Daoist Ding, you said that Yellow Maple Valley sacrificed two batches of disciples. How did this happen? I am quite interested!”

“Hehe, since Senior is asking, Junior will naturally answer truthfully. I heard that when the upper echelon of the State of Yue received the news of their frontline’s defeat, Yellow Maple Valley immediately plotted to make a crafty escape. They would first have a group of disciples rush to evacuate but secretly divulge this information to the spies of the Devil Dao, claiming that the group contained their elite disciples. This group would also bring along a large amount of spirit stones and materials, completely attracting the attention of the Devil Dao soldiers. At the same time, they left behind another group of ignorant disciples and had them use the great formation to confront the Devil Dao. With these two groups drawing the enemy’s full attention, Yellow Maple Valley’s highest echelon then had the true trusted elite disciples retreat in the opposite direction with the sect’s thousand years’ worth of savings.

“I heard that although the number of people to safely retreat from Yellow Maple Valley was the fewest, they had the smoothest retreat. As for the other five sects, although they retreated en masse, they encountered repeated attacks and had to fight for their lives on many occasions. Much of their valuables have fallen into the Devil Dao’s hands as a result. This matter then became widely spread throughout the State of Yue by the Devil Dao.” Not daring to slight Han Li, the old man gave him a complete explanation.

Han Li’s expression remained unchanged as he spoke unhurriedly with a soft voice, “Oh, so it was like that! Those abandoned Yellow Maple Valley disciples sure were foolish!”





Chapter 358: Endless Sea, Moulan


Han Li then suddenly spoke with a gentle smile, “Well then, knowing that the the State of Yue is currently in turmoil is enough for me!”

These incomprehensible words left the four with a feeling of profound mystery. They could only force themselves to give him a smile in return.

Han Li stood up and said amiably, “You can all go ahead and continue chatting! I am going to go to a different room.”

“As you please, Senior!”

“Best wishes, Senior!”

……

The four hastily saw off Han Li with respect.

Han Li casually beckoned with his arm and called out to Crooked Soul who had stood outside throughout the conversation. They then walked together to another stone kiosk.

……

Four hours later, Han Li stood at a corner of the mountain peak and lowered his head in contemplation.

He had participated in many discussions about the current affairs of the State of Yue. As a result, he had come to the conclusion that the current situation in the State of Yue could only be described as ‘chaotic’.

Under these circumstances, he only had two options.

One was to use a flying magic tool and fly to a country far away from the State of Yue, in order to find a place suitable for cultivation.

The other option was to restore the ancient transportation formation and take a gamble to see where the transportation formation would take him. After all, this precious ancient transportation formation was built underground for a reason. It was certain to be linked to a distant location.

At first glance, he felt that he should obviously choose the first option as it was more reliable. But after some consideration, Han Li felt that it was just as risky.

To the east and west of the State of Yue were the Devil Dao’s State of Tianluo and the Righteous Dao Alliance’s State of Fengdou. As a result, he would only be able to head north or south.

If he were to flee north of Yuanwu, there would be several tens of small and mid ranked countries, but Han Li knew that their cultivators wouldn’t be able to resist the attacks of either the Devil or Righteous Dao. Some of them had even attached themselves to the two great powers, becoming their puppets and occasionally engaging in both open and covert struggles with the other side. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for the State of Tianluo and Fengdou to conduct a wide-scale turf war, especially since they originally only had a small stretch of common border with one other.

Those countries would soon be turned into battlefields by the Devil Dao and Righteous Dao Alliance, and Han Li naturally wouldn’t be able to stay there.

But if he were to brave the dangers of travelling through these countries and continue north, he would arrive at the Heavenly South Region’s northmost area, the “Endless Seas”, where few cultivators dared to travel.