A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality (Chapter 401-Chapter 600)

After a moment, Jin Qing continued, “There are two of these pearls. Together, they form a complete map. I, along with another Fellow Daoist, discovered these at a small store. At the time, they were being sold in a necklace alongside other ordinary pearls. It was then that we each separately took a pearl and agreed to search for the location together.

“With what you said, you must’ve already found the location described in the map, yes?” Han Li asked pensively while stroking his chin.

“That’s right. We spent five years searching for it and have just recently found it. But unfortunately, it is blocked by a huge barrier. As we don’t have the slightest understanding of formation spells, we could only turn back in disappointment.”

“However, we decided that upon returning we would each invite a formation spell expert to help break the barrier. Fellow Daoist Han also knows that very few amongst us rogue cultivators study the Dao of Formation Spells. As such, I can only come to you and shamelessly ask for assistance. Fellow Daoist Han, please feel at ease. So long as you can break the formation, we will give you a portion of the rewards, regardless of whatever the ancient cultivator ruins hold.” Jin Qing saw that Han Li was slightly hesitant and hastily gave an explanation along with a promise.





Chapter 416: Sand Mountain


[TL Note: Crooked Soul will not longer be referred to as a clone or a doppelganger. He will now be referred to as Han Li's avatar. It better represents what Crooked Soul actually is: "an incarnation in human form".]

Han Li unconsciously frowned in thought before saying, “Brother Jin, could you give me some time to think about this? I can give you an answer in two days.”

“Of course! Please, think it over. If you don’t accept, I will go and see if there are any other rogue cultivator formation spell experts willing to give it a try.” Jin Qing replied with a tone of much consideration.

After a moment more of idle chatter, he saluted Han Li and took his leave.

Han Li stood in his original spot as he watched Jin Qing flying farther away, muttering to himself irresolutely.

Ancient cultivator ruins weren’t exactly a rare find in the Scatter Star Seas, and what they contained greatly varied: from absolutely nothing at all, cultivation insights from ancient cultivators, or even precious items such as previously extinct materials or magic treasures.

In short, a majority of ruins would have something to salvage, but what one discovered would depend on luck.

However, Han Li truly didn’t wish to journey in search of an ancient cultivator’s ruins. The Scattered Star Seas were currently beset by waves of concealed turmoil, and anywhere outside of Heavenly Star City was neither safe nor secure. In addition, Han Li hadn’t been tempering his Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords for long so he couldn’t greatly rely on their strength.

As such, he was truly hesitant to embark on a journey at this time.

Had someone else asked him, Han Li would’ve already refused but, unfortunately for him, he had a good relationship with Jin Qing. Since he had given Han Li a few cultivation pointers the first moment he met him, Han Li found it embarrassing to refuse him.

After standing still a while longer in contemplation, Han Li eventually raised his head and lightly sighed, “I still have two days. I should think about this some more.”

With that, Han Li let the matter go. With a swift turn, he returned to his cave residence.

Two days later, Jin Qing arrived outside his cave residence once more. Han Li had eventually decided to agree due to their friendship, and for the slight excitement he felt towards the ancient cultivator ruins. Who knows what magnificent items could be found within?

Jin Qing was naturally overjoyed and left Heavenly Star City alongside Han Li and Crooked Soul, heading towards the ancient cultivator ruins.

Over the years the nearby cultivators had tacitly understood that Crooked Soul was Han Li’s avatar, Jin Qing wasn’t surprised to see him tagging along.

……

Two months later, Han Li and the others were flying through a remote area of the Scattered Star Seas.

According to Jin Qing, they shouldn’t be far away from their destination, given the long amount of time they’d been flying. As expected, they caught sight of a large island less than half a day later.

The island was expansive with a radius spanning over five hundred kilometers. However, a majority of the island was covered in hills and mountains. From a glance, everything seemed to be covered in yellow dust.

Han Li gazed down at the island and asked Jin Qing with surprise, “It’s this island?”

“That’s right. We found this island by following the map. I heard from the nearby mortals that this island is completely uninhabited. Not only are there no spirit veins nearby, but for some unknown reason, there are no trees living on this island either.” Jin Qing explained with a slight trace of puzzlement.

Han Li was slightly surprised and pondered for a moment before speaking with a smile, “That’s a good sign! The more unordinary the island, the more likely it is to actually be an ancient cultivator ruin.”

“Hehe! Originally, we also thought the same. We ended up searching the entire island until we found the most likely location.” Jin Qing spoke with satisfaction.

Han Li faintly smiled. After taking a look around, he casually asked, “You said that there was a formation spell shrouding an area? Where is it?”

“There is a huge sandy mountain fifty kilometers to the east. One of its sides is sealed off by a large formation.” Jin Qing spoke without hesitation.

Han Li grinned and said, “Let’s go then! Maybe your partner already arrived and dissolved the formation spell.”

“Hehe! To tell the truth, that wouldn’t be bad. It would be much less troublesome. At most, they’d just take a larger portion of the treasures within.” Jin Qing stroked his chin and wore a sly expression. When Han Li saw his expression, he involuntarily laughed.

The two were only joking. Everybody knew that ancient cultivator formations weren’t something that could easily broken through without at least a month or two of trial and error.

“Let’s go, Fellow Daoist Han! We’d better not keep them waiting.” Jin Qing called out to Han Li before flying off in a streak of azure-white light.

Han LI faintly smiled and chased after him with Crooked Soul on their magic treasures.

To a Core Formation cultivator, fifty kilometers was something they could easily traverse in a mere moment.

A huge yellow mountain entered Han Li’s sight. It was about a three kilometers tall and was entirely covered in yellow sand. As there wasn’t a single trace of green, it gave its viewers an awry feeling as if it were made entirely out of sandy yellow dirt.

As they flew closer to the mountain, a gale suddenly blew, throwing sand and pebbles into the sky.

The unending gale immediately caused the nearby area to turn pitch-black, due to the dense layer of sand kicked up by the wind blocking the light.

Han Li and company held no fear towards a sandstorm. With a flash of brilliance, their bodies were covered in a layer of light, allowing them to steadily fly forward.

After flying through the sandstorm for five kilometers, it suddenly disappeared, and they were able to easily arrive at the base of the sandy mountain.

Jin Qing then flew a small circle around the mountain with Han Li, eventually arriving at several, extremely crude stone buildings. It seemed that they were built by using a stone transformation technique as the buildings all shared the same monotonous grey.

Before anyone had descended, the door to one of the buildings opened with two men and one woman walking out. The men were both Core Formation cultivators while the woman was a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

“Fellow Daoist Jin, you’ve arrived! How timely! We had only arrived recently.” The cultivator at the center was a refined youth that wore white clothes. Upon seeing Jin Qing, he cordially called out to him in a rather friendly manner.