A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality

First, I want to thank everyone for their opinions and thoughts on how we should overhaul completed novels. We've reviewed nearly 2000 comments across multiple platforms and forum, and while we haven't responded to everything I can promise I HAVE read it all.  First, I'm going to briefly go into some of the things which were discussed which may or may not work, because I don't want people to think I ignored anything. I'm putting those in 'spoiler' tags so people who don't care can skip it.  Then, we'll talk...

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First, I want to thank everyone for their opinions and thoughts on how we should overhaul completed novels. We've reviewed nearly 2000 comments across multiple platforms and forum, and while we haven't responded to everything I can promise I HAVE read it all.  First, I'm going to briefly go into some of the things which were discussed which may or may not work, because I don't want people to think I ignored anything. I'm putting those in 'spoiler' tags so people who don't care can skip it.  Then, we'll talk...

Read More...

Now, for a much shorter announcement than the last two.  For several months now, we've been working on a super secret project, and it's time to accelerate it!  We have a new platform called Wutopia Comics (Wuxia Utopia) coming up soon, and everything is very nearly ready.  We are getting ready to launch soon, but we need to speed up the pace of manhua translation even further!  These are paid work-for-hire translation jobs, starting off at $40-50/3000 Chinese characters (roughly).  Those who do well and have...

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Chapter 182: A Young Woman and Thread

Since it was clear how these two had died, Han Li could only pray that his Senior Martial Brother had a pleasant journey to the yellow springs and would reincarnate soon. Then, with no trace of politeness, he plundered their bodies.

(TL: The yellow springs is part of the Chinese underworld ??)

In any case, these people were already dead. Han Li would naturally kindly accepted their storage pouches.

After a search once through, he couldn’t find them!

His expression became grave as he carefully searched through them once more, but he still could not find them!

Han Li felt the hair on his body grow cold and stiff. His heartbeat started to accelerate.

There was actually a fourth person here. It was this person who took away their storage pouches! Although this person had most likely long departed from this place, he could not guarantee that this person was not observing nearby, using these two corpses as bait and waiting for him to make a mistake.

Facing away from the cliff, there was large area of grass, tall enough to hide a man. Han Li was currently half-squatting near the corpses with his back facing the grass. This caused him to be greatly worried! There might be someone hiding behind him.

Han Li didn’t move and remained in a squatting position. From behind, it would appear he was still focused on the corpses.

However, he had already quietly taken out magic tools and talismans and used the entirety of his consciousness to silently release his spiritual sense, attempting to find the person who might be hiding there.

The outcome of his spiritual sense search did not surprise Han Li. Everything nearby was normal, and there were no unusual fluctuations of Spiritual Qi.

With nothing being out of the ordinary, there must definitely be someone nearby. This person must be using the “Restraining Breath Technique” to hide their body’s magic power, making Han Li naturally unable to find them. The reason why Han Li searched with his spiritual sense was to beat the grass and scare the snake!

TL: ???? “beating the grass to scare the snake”- alerting the enemy as to intimidate or scare them.)

At the very least, the opponent who existed in his thoughts wouldn’t dare to act blindly.

The outcomes he truly expected was either that he had scared himself with groundless fears and there was nobody here, or the person who had restrained their breath this entire time and was spying on him would see no opportunity to take advantage of him and therefore would not plan to act.

After a moment, Han Li stood and turned around to the large area of tall grass. After he sized up the area several times with a cold glance, he suddenly leapt away without saying a word, transforming into a black dot as he gradually grew farther away.

When Han Li’s figure had completely disappeared without a trace, rustling suddenly came from within the originally peaceful tall grass! A slim figure walked out. It was actually a young girl with fluttering white clothes.

This girl appeared young, only about fifteen to sixteen years old.  However, her appearance was pure, and her face appeared innocent and adorable. In this place of life and death, such a fairy-like charmer had appeared! It was truly hard to believe.

From the look of her clothes, she should be affiliated with the Masked Moon Sect!

The young woman looked the direction Han Li disappeared and smiled with pursed lips.

With a voice overflowing with age, she said to herself, “Your bravery and wisdom isn’t bad. It’s your magic power that’s a bit lacking. It seems there is also a large problem with your aptitude. There isn’t much potential that can be drawn out. If not for that, you would’ve surely been one of those who would make it out alive!”

“Regardless, the technique he used to run away seemed to be Qinggong from the mortal world. Furthermore, it wasn’t weak, and was actually truly interesting!” The young woman lightly raised her sharp chin with opened eyes, showing an expression of considerable interest.

If Han Li had heard those words, he would only be stunned with fear.

Her words were far too accurate. With just a few words, she was able to sinisterly point out his strengths and weaknesses as if she understood him more than himself.

“I’ll let you go for now. I am still preoccupied with other business! However, the next time I see you, young fellow, I won’t let you off so easily.” The young woman said with a bit of unwillingness as she wrinkled her nose, creating a mischievous crease.

It was as if Han Li had become her newly acquired toy. She was greatly interested in him, causing her to regret having to leave.

In the end, the young woman pouted with her small mouth and took out a talisman. With a wave of her hand, she was enveloped in dazzling green light and disappeared.

If there was someone present who had saw that scene, they would perhaps immediately feel heartache and loudly curse this woman’s clan, hoping it would wither. She actually squandered a talisman that was rarely seen in the cultivation world, a “Wood Evasion Technique” talisman, as she pleased.

That was an elementary mid-grade talisman!

It should be known that if an average person had this Wood Evasion Talisman, although it wasn’t enough to be a family heirloom, it was something that could only be used in a matter of life or death since its most optimal use was to escape death.

Han Li did not know any of this, so he naturally felt no heartache. Even more so, he couldn’t have known that there was a woman who was greatly interested in him and thought about him often. He still believed that he had lightly escaped from a predicament and was currently rejoicing.

Regardless of whether or not there was truly someone there, Han Li did not intend to look into it further. After all, the closer he approached the central area, the more common enemies would become. They would set up similar ambushes, and attacking others would gradually become a common occurrence.

To preserve his own life, he must spare no effort to avoid all sorts of unnecessary conflict.That was Han Li’s current plan of operation.

Besides, it wasn’t as if Han Li gained nothing from those two corpses.

With this thought, Han Li held out his hand. There was a ball of transparent thread in his palm. As he departed, he picked up that item in passing; it was the thread-like magic tool that had been used to kill the Giant Sword Sect Disciple.

Han Li poured a bit of magic power into the magic tool, which gradually became taut and straight. In the end, it unexpectedly became a perfectly straight thread over thirty meters long. Han Li controlled and waved the thread as he wished for a moment, and he immediately felt that this item had clever uses!

After he was finished, he truly thought this was the perfect weapon for an ambush.

Because of its near invisible properties and its incomparably sharp and completely flexible cuts, Han Li could confidently behead his opponents without them even knowing.

He truly did not know what material was used to refine this thread. If it was able to become even longer, then there would be countless clever uses!

Han Li’s mood grew as he willed the thread through more than ten large nearby trees. All of them were cut in two without the slightest resistance. This caused Han Li to be greatly happy as even more uses began to grow in his mind.

Han Li did not know that at this time, near the center of the forbidden area, the disciples of Saber Transformation Dock and the Clear Void Sect were engaged face to face in close combat.

Because each party had five to six people, their strength was about the same, making them evenly matched.

This was the first large scale deathmatch in the current Trial by Blood and Fire. The reason was so that they would be the first to enter the central area and pick the spiritual medicines. If they were able to extinguish their opponents here, then naturally they would take advantage of their good fortune!

The final outcome was that the skills employed by the Daoist Priests from the Clear Void Sect were a notch higher. After they killed the majority of their opponents, the remaining two from the Saber Transformation Dock fled with injuries. The Clear Void Sect disciples then took the initiative to enter the central area.

Within the central area, not only would there be many wondrous flowers, bizarre fruits, and other spiritual items of Heaven and Earth, there would also be strong grade one demonic beasts guarding those items, powerful enough to go head to head against peak Foundation Establishment disciples.

Every time a demonic beast was killed and the medicine was collected, so long as more spiritual medicines grew, demonic beasts would also indescribably appear, although it wouldn’t necessarily be the same kind of demonic beast. This already puzzled the sects’ many experts to no end. Could it be the demonic beasts were also born spontaneously from the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth? This vastly differed from their previous understanding.

According to their knowledge, demonic beasts should be formed from living wild animals. Only after subconsciously absorbing the essence of the sun and moon for many years would they be able to occasionally evolve into a demonic beast. The probability of animals evolving was not at all like that of developing cultivators among humans; the animal’s odds were far greater.

Furthermore, over the years, each of the sects’ disciples were only able to gather spiritual medicines on the outskirts of the central area. If they were to approach closer to the center, they would encounter a few restriction spell and traps, becoming trapped or erased. In addition, the further they entered, the more formidable the demonic beasts became. Since the disciples were minor figures with no method to resist, they could only obediently pace back and forth at the outskirts of the central area.

Regardless if it were Clear Void Sect disciples, not even those who made the first move would be able to take advantage and take the medicines there!

At this moment, Han Li had come across the greatest crisis on his trip within the forbidden area. At some narrow road, there was a Spirit Beast Mountain and a Heavenly Imperial Fortress disciple blocking both sides of the road.

Han Li actually recognized the large man from Spirit Beast Mountain. He was that fully bearded man who had been staring at him earlier. Currently, he was looking at Han Li with an evil smile, exposing a “You’re already dead” expression.

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Since it was clear how these two had died, Han Li could only pray that his Senior Martial Brother had a pleasant journey to the yellow springs and would reincarnate soon. Then, with no trace of politeness, he plundered their bodies.

(TL: The yellow springs is part of the Chinese underworld ??)

In any case, these people were already dead. Han Li would naturally kindly accepted their storage pouches.

After a search once through, he couldn’t find them!

His expression became grave as he carefully searched through them once more, but he still could not find them!

Han Li felt the hair on his body grow cold and stiff. His heartbeat started to accelerate.

There was actually a fourth person here. It was this person who took away their storage pouches! Although this person had most likely long departed from this place, he could not guarantee that this person was not observing nearby, using these two corpses as bait and waiting for him to make a mistake.

Facing away from the cliff, there was large area of grass, tall enough to hide a man. Han Li was currently half-squatting near the corpses with his back facing the grass. This caused him to be greatly worried! There might be someone hiding behind him.

Han Li didn’t move and remained in a squatting position. From behind, it would appear he was still focused on the corpses.

However, he had already quietly taken out magic tools and talismans and used the entirety of his consciousness to silently release his spiritual sense, attempting to find the person who might be hiding there.

The outcome of his spiritual sense search did not surprise Han Li. Everything nearby was normal, and there were no unusual fluctuations of Spiritual Qi.

With nothing being out of the ordinary, there must definitely be someone nearby. This person must be using the “Restraining Breath Technique” to hide their body’s magic power, making Han Li naturally unable to find them. The reason why Han Li searched with his spiritual sense was to beat the grass and scare the snake!

TL: ???? “beating the grass to scare the snake”- alerting the enemy as to intimidate or scare them.)

At the very least, the opponent who existed in his thoughts wouldn’t dare to act blindly.

The outcomes he truly expected was either that he had scared himself with groundless fears and there was nobody here, or the person who had restrained their breath this entire time and was spying on him would see no opportunity to take advantage of him and therefore would not plan to act.

After a moment, Han Li stood and turned around to the large area of tall grass. After he sized up the area several times with a cold glance, he suddenly leapt away without saying a word, transforming into a black dot as he gradually grew farther away.

When Han Li’s figure had completely disappeared without a trace, rustling suddenly came from within the originally peaceful tall grass! A slim figure walked out. It was actually a young girl with fluttering white clothes.

This girl appeared young, only about fifteen to sixteen years old.  However, her appearance was pure, and her face appeared innocent and adorable. In this place of life and death, such a fairy-like charmer had appeared! It was truly hard to believe.

From the look of her clothes, she should be affiliated with the Masked Moon Sect!

The young woman looked the direction Han Li disappeared and smiled with pursed lips.

With a voice overflowing with age, she said to herself, “Your bravery and wisdom isn’t bad. It’s your magic power that’s a bit lacking. It seems there is also a large problem with your aptitude. There isn’t much potential that can be drawn out. If not for that, you would’ve surely been one of those who would make it out alive!”

“Regardless, the technique he used to run away seemed to be Qinggong from the mortal world. Furthermore, it wasn’t weak, and was actually truly interesting!” The young woman lightly raised her sharp chin with opened eyes, showing an expression of considerable interest.

If Han Li had heard those words, he would only be stunned with fear.

Her words were far too accurate. With just a few words, she was able to sinisterly point out his strengths and weaknesses as if she understood him more than himself.

“I’ll let you go for now. I am still preoccupied with other business! However, the next time I see you, young fellow, I won’t let you off so easily.” The young woman said with a bit of unwillingness as she wrinkled her nose, creating a mischievous crease.

It was as if Han Li had become her newly acquired toy. She was greatly interested in him, causing her to regret having to leave.

In the end, the young woman pouted with her small mouth and took out a talisman. With a wave of her hand, she was enveloped in dazzling green light and disappeared.

If there was someone present who had saw that scene, they would perhaps immediately feel heartache and loudly curse this woman’s clan, hoping it would wither. She actually squandered a talisman that was rarely seen in the cultivation world, a “Wood Evasion Technique” talisman, as she pleased.

That was an elementary mid-grade talisman!

It should be known that if an average person had this Wood Evasion Talisman, although it wasn’t enough to be a family heirloom, it was something that could only be used in a matter of life or death since its most optimal use was to escape death.

Han Li did not know any of this, so he naturally felt no heartache. Even more so, he couldn’t have known that there was a woman who was greatly interested in him and thought about him often. He still believed that he had lightly escaped from a predicament and was currently rejoicing.

Regardless of whether or not there was truly someone there, Han Li did not intend to look into it further. After all, the closer he approached the central area, the more common enemies would become. They would set up similar ambushes, and attacking others would gradually become a common occurrence.

To preserve his own life, he must spare no effort to avoid all sorts of unnecessary conflict.That was Han Li’s current plan of operation.

Besides, it wasn’t as if Han Li gained nothing from those two corpses.

With this thought, Han Li held out his hand. There was a ball of transparent thread in his palm. As he departed, he picked up that item in passing; it was the thread-like magic tool that had been used to kill the Giant Sword Sect Disciple.

Han Li poured a bit of magic power into the magic tool, which gradually became taut and straight. In the end, it unexpectedly became a perfectly straight thread over thirty meters long. Han Li controlled and waved the thread as he wished for a moment, and he immediately felt that this item had clever uses!

After he was finished, he truly thought this was the perfect weapon for an ambush.

Because of its near invisible properties and its incomparably sharp and completely flexible cuts, Han Li could confidently behead his opponents without them even knowing.

He truly did not know what material was used to refine this thread. If it was able to become even longer, then there would be countless clever uses!

Han Li’s mood grew as he willed the thread through more than ten large nearby trees. All of them were cut in two without the slightest resistance. This caused Han Li to be greatly happy as even more uses began to grow in his mind.

Han Li did not know that at this time, near the center of the forbidden area, the disciples of Saber Transformation Dock and the Clear Void Sect were engaged face to face in close combat.

Because each party had five to six people, their strength was about the same, making them evenly matched.

This was the first large scale deathmatch in the current Trial by Blood and Fire. The reason was so that they would be the first to enter the central area and pick the spiritual medicines. If they were able to extinguish their opponents here, then naturally they would take advantage of their good fortune!

The final outcome was that the skills employed by the Daoist Priests from the Clear Void Sect were a notch higher. After they killed the majority of their opponents, the remaining two from the Saber Transformation Dock fled with injuries. The Clear Void Sect disciples then took the initiative to enter the central area.

Within the central area, not only would there be many wondrous flowers, bizarre fruits, and other spiritual items of Heaven and Earth, there would also be strong grade one demonic beasts guarding those items, powerful enough to go head to head against peak Foundation Establishment disciples.

Every time a demonic beast was killed and the medicine was collected, so long as more spiritual medicines grew, demonic beasts would also indescribably appear, although it wouldn’t necessarily be the same kind of demonic beast. This already puzzled the sects’ many experts to no end. Could it be the demonic beasts were also born spontaneously from the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth? This vastly differed from their previous understanding.

According to their knowledge, demonic beasts should be formed from living wild animals. Only after subconsciously absorbing the essence of the sun and moon for many years would they be able to occasionally evolve into a demonic beast. The probability of animals evolving was not at all like that of developing cultivators among humans; the animal’s odds were far greater.

Furthermore, over the years, each of the sects’ disciples were only able to gather spiritual medicines on the outskirts of the central area. If they were to approach closer to the center, they would encounter a few restriction spell and traps, becoming trapped or erased. In addition, the further they entered, the more formidable the demonic beasts became. Since the disciples were minor figures with no method to resist, they could only obediently pace back and forth at the outskirts of the central area.

Regardless if it were Clear Void Sect disciples, not even those who made the first move would be able to take advantage and take the medicines there!

At this moment, Han Li had come across the greatest crisis on his trip within the forbidden area. At some narrow road, there was a Spirit Beast Mountain and a Heavenly Imperial Fortress disciple blocking both sides of the road.

Han Li actually recognized the large man from Spirit Beast Mountain. He was that fully bearded man who had been staring at him earlier. Currently, he was looking at Han Li with an evil smile, exposing a “You’re already dead” expression.