Chapter 200 - Young Women

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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Chapter 200: Young Women

The white-clothed young woman, although she appeared to be very pure, actually wore a solemn expression at this time, and her entire body was shrouded by an odd silver sheen. This caused her to appear even more mysterious!

What surprised people the most was that the white-clothed males and females following her all appeared to be apprehensive. There weren’t even any low whispers, and their expressions as they gazed at the young woman’s back were that of reverence!

The crafty and unruly woman who had appeared in the desert along with her cultivating companion were in their midst. However, no trace of the arrogant expression on her face could be found; she did not dare to even breathe heavily, just like the other people around her. She appeared to be especially lovable and well behaved!

Suddenly, the youthful celestial woman at the lead stopped her steps, and the entire procession behind her naturally stopped as well.

A wide opening was not far in front of them, and a deep, green pool appeared; within the center of the pool were a few reef rocks protruding from the surface of the water. On these rocks grew roughly ten Lingzhi mushrooms, which shone like jade and were especially conspicuous.

“Is it here?” The youthful celestial woman crisply asked without even turning her head as she gazed at the pool with a great deal of interest. Her voice appeared to be particularly delicate.

“Yes! Martial Ancestor, the top level Jade Crocodile demonic beast is hiding within the pool. The past few times we came to harvest ingredients in the forbidden area, a disciple from our sect was buried within the belly of this beast. However, another person was able to escape and survive!” An older woman flashed out of the flock of Masked Moon Sect female disciples and responded while bowing very respectfully to the youthful celestial woman.

“Martial Ancestor?” If any of the disciples from the other six sects heard this, perhaps they would be so shocked their jaws would dislocate!

According to the rules of the cultivating world that determined seniority by strength, this young, fairy-like woman could only be addressed in this way if she were one of the Masked Moon Sect’s Core Formation cultivators! And weren’t Foundation Establishment cultivators and above not allowed to enter the forbidden area this time! What was going on? Looking at the appearances of the other Masked Moon Sect’s disciples, who were not amazed by this at all, it seemed like they had known this secret much earlier!

“Okay! Got it, you can withdraw!”

At this time, the youthful celestial woman pompously gave this instruction; her face revealed a capable expression that did not match with her age.

Then, she spoke again to the people behind her, “Prepare yourselves! In a moment, I will lure the Jade Crocodile out of the water surface, and you will use the “Yin Yang Pulling Magic” combined assault secret technique that you have recently learned, attacking together in pairs. Surely, relying on the killing strength that can defeat Foundation Establishment disciples in one blow, this hunt is definitely not a problem. Then, we can go to the next top level demonic beast’s hideout and continue to clean out these spiritual medicines that others had previously not dared to harvest!”

The young woman was not loud, but her words indicated her full self-confidence. When the male and female disciples heard this, no one revealed any doubtful expressions, instead all answering in agreement.

This youthful celestial woman then turned around and open her purple red lips. A thumb-sized pink ring slowly spurted out from her mouth. Next, a wind rose; in the turn of an eye, the ring became roughly the size of a forehead and began to emit a low droning cry. It was dazzlingly brilliant and extremely unnatural!

Based on this ring’s manner of appearing, the light it radiated, and its enormous amount of spiritual power, one could determine that it was absolutely a genuine magic treasure.

Could this young woman truly be a Core Establishment cultivator?

In no time, an extremely loud noise first came out from within this hundred meter deep secret cave. Immediately afterwards, numerous low howls, like those of a water buffalo, also came out; those howls were filled with wrath, but presently repeated rumblings of thunder also began to sound out, temporarily strengthening the howls before they immediately weakened. Then, various kinds of loud noises and crackles incessantly came out, finally completely drowning out the howls, which never sounded out again.

After numerous hours, the youthful celestial woman led the Masked Moon Sect’s male and female disciples out from some hidden passageway. The male and female disciples behind her were each incredibly excited, displaying a face of youthfulness.

This was not surprising; opportunities to slaughter a grade one top level demonic beasts were not often available to these Qi Condensation novices. Today, they had not actually expended much energy to kill that extremely mean and ferocious Jade Crocodile; how could they not be excited?

Of course, if it weren’t for the youthful celestial woman using her magic treasure, the ring, to block more than half of the demonic beast’s attack, they could not have perfectly ended this conflict without any casualties, so their gazes at the young woman’s back were even more respectful!

The young woman’s gaze towards the male and female disciples behind her had no trace of care, and she continued to indifferently walk in the front. It was as if killing a first tier top level demonic beast was not something that could faze her at all!

After a short amount of time, the flock of Masked Moon Sect disciples disappeared into the nearby dense forest without a trace.

   ……

In other places just like that, scenes of disciples from various sects killing the demonic beasts to obtain the spiritual medicines continued to play out. Occasionally, conflicts would also occur over these spiritual medicines. Strangely, however, people being killed in these conflicts were actually very few in number. Usually, as long as people who understood they were no match for the opponent retreated, the person with the upper hand would also not use excessive force; instead, they would hurriedly harvest these spiritual medicines and leave quickly for the next location.

With regards to this kind of situation, most people were very clear in their hearts! This was mostly because everyone’s remaining time was not much, and opportunities for these bloody battles were better spent going to other locations and seeing if there were any profits. The real time for everyone to kill each other and steal the opponent’s spiritual medicines was on the last day, when everyone was returning from their rewarding journey. On that day, there would definitely be blood, and wouldn’t be like the previous two days, where one could lightly allow their opponents to escape!

Han Li also knew a little about these things, so he had taken opportunity of these two days where the disciples from various sects were still willing to mutually restrain themselves to furiously hurry from one location to the next. Anytime a medium level and above demonic beast appeared in his path, he would immediately use a movement technique to evade around it, unwilling to be hindered by them for even a fraction of a second!

One did not know whether Han Li had some stroke of good luck; apart from the first cave he wanted to harvest medicine from, where he had encountered that poisonous bug demonic beast, the huge centipede, no guardian demonic beasts appeared in any of the next four locations. Thus, he easily harvested the spiritual medicines without expending even a tiny amount of excess energy, causing Han Li to be wild with joy! If the following events were to proceed as smoothly as before, harvesting enough spiritual medicines was not a problem at all!

At this time, the third day in the forbidden area was almost over!

Han Li was currently leaping from treetop to treetop at lightning speed without stopping; along the way, he had encountered two low level ape demonic beasts, who disintegrated with a couple waves of his hand, having been completely broken apart.

Now, Han Li was rushing towards his last destination of the day, a small stone temple near the peak of the mountain. Reportedly, there was more than one type of spiritual medicine and strange herbs growing in that location; the Sky Spirit Fruit that he needed the most was also in there.

However, although the time for the Sky Spirit Fruit to ripen had yet to come, the few other kinds were all ripe for the picking! Thus, Han Li guessed that there would definitely be demonic beasts guarding them, and there was also a possibility that disciples from other sects could have gotten there earlier.

However, Han Li did not care; he even looked forward to someone getting there before he did; that way, they could help him clean up his path, saving him from having to waste a few extra movements. In any case, this person would definitely not be interested in spiritual medicines that were not yet ripe!

Right as Han Li was thinking all of these positive thoughts, the stone temple’s shadow could finally be seen off in the distance. It indeed could not be considered big!

But before Han Li could get close to that place, the sound of a fierce battle had already drifted over.

Han Li’s heart became happy; it seemed as if there truly was someone who would help him open up his path. Thus, his figure immediately contorted, and after a few flashes, he silently drew closer to the stone temple.

In the empty space in front of the stone temple, there actually was not the scene of a wild male fighting a demonic beast that Han Li had expected to see in his heart. Instead, it was a black-clothed, barefoot, and square-faced man controlling a huge silver sword that was pressuring a slender, green-clothed woman to the point that she could not breathe easily.

This woman’s only defensive method was a silk handkerchief that shone with a yellow light; however, its surface was cloudy and pale. She had been completely suppressed by the silver sword to a disadvantage, and could only bitterly endure.

Off to the side, the corpse of a huge red wolf and a white young eagle lay, having been split into two. The fresh blood that flowed from their bodies covered the ground, and the piercing smell of gore filled the area. It seemed as if they had died not too long ago.

Seeing all of this, Han Li’s jaw couldn’t help but silently drop wide open; it wasn’t because those two’s battle had shocked him, but rather because that green-clothed young woman was actually the easily embarrassed young woman who had sold him that Golden Sincerity Brush. This caused Han Li to be completely astonished!

This was because Han Li had already discovered that the young woman’s cultivation base was extremely shallow when the disciples from the various sects had gathered together outside of the forbidden area; it was merely at the tenth layer. Thus, he expected that this woman, after entering the forbidden area, had either already passed away long ago, or she should have been quietly hiding in some location!

But today, he had seen her use a top-grade magic tool to fight to the death with a not to be trifled with disciple from the Giant Sword Sect in the central area of the ring-shaped mountain. How could this not cause Han Li to feel incredibly shocked!

“Little girl! It’s not too late to quit and leave. You should know that I was always being lenient with you. But I trust that someone who doesn’t want to kill a female doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t kill a female! If you continue to nag me, you and that white eagle will share the same end!” the barefoot man said filled with killing intent; his expression was chilly, and he was somewhat annoyed at this point.

One should know that he had been annoyed by this young woman from Spirit Beast Mountain who had appeared from Heaven’s knows where for more than half an hour. His last shred of patience had long since been depleted. If the opponent continued to be unable to tell good from bad, he might actually kill a delicate flower!

The young woman’s face was deathly pale. However, after gritting her teeth, she said extremely stubbornly, “If you aren’t willing to let me have the few Fierce Yang Blossoms inside, I won’t leave even if I die!”

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The white-clothed young woman, although she appeared to be very pure, actually wore a solemn expression at this time, and her entire body was shrouded by an odd silver sheen. This caused her to appear even more mysterious!

What surprised people the most was that the white-clothed males and females following her all appeared to be apprehensive. There weren’t even any low whispers, and their expressions as they gazed at the young woman’s back were that of reverence!

The crafty and unruly woman who had appeared in the desert along with her cultivating companion were in their midst. However, no trace of the arrogant expression on her face could be found; she did not dare to even breathe heavily, just like the other people around her. She appeared to be especially lovable and well behaved!

Suddenly, the youthful celestial woman at the lead stopped her steps, and the entire procession behind her naturally stopped as well.

A wide opening was not far in front of them, and a deep, green pool appeared; within the center of the pool were a few reef rocks protruding from the surface of the water. On these rocks grew roughly ten Lingzhi mushrooms, which shone like jade and were especially conspicuous.

“Is it here?” The youthful celestial woman crisply asked without even turning her head as she gazed at the pool with a great deal of interest. Her voice appeared to be particularly delicate.

“Yes! Martial Ancestor, the top level Jade Crocodile demonic beast is hiding within the pool. The past few times we came to harvest ingredients in the forbidden area, a disciple from our sect was buried within the belly of this beast. However, another person was able to escape and survive!” An older woman flashed out of the flock of Masked Moon Sect female disciples and responded while bowing very respectfully to the youthful celestial woman.

“Martial Ancestor?” If any of the disciples from the other six sects heard this, perhaps they would be so shocked their jaws would dislocate!

According to the rules of the cultivating world that determined seniority by strength, this young, fairy-like woman could only be addressed in this way if she were one of the Masked Moon Sect’s Core Formation cultivators! And weren’t Foundation Establishment cultivators and above not allowed to enter the forbidden area this time! What was going on? Looking at the appearances of the other Masked Moon Sect’s disciples, who were not amazed by this at all, it seemed like they had known this secret much earlier!

“Okay! Got it, you can withdraw!”

At this time, the youthful celestial woman pompously gave this instruction; her face revealed a capable expression that did not match with her age.

Then, she spoke again to the people behind her, “Prepare yourselves! In a moment, I will lure the Jade Crocodile out of the water surface, and you will use the “Yin Yang Pulling Magic” combined assault secret technique that you have recently learned, attacking together in pairs. Surely, relying on the killing strength that can defeat Foundation Establishment disciples in one blow, this hunt is definitely not a problem. Then, we can go to the next top level demonic beast’s hideout and continue to clean out these spiritual medicines that others had previously not dared to harvest!”

The young woman was not loud, but her words indicated her full self-confidence. When the male and female disciples heard this, no one revealed any doubtful expressions, instead all answering in agreement.

This youthful celestial woman then turned around and open her purple red lips. A thumb-sized pink ring slowly spurted out from her mouth. Next, a wind rose; in the turn of an eye, the ring became roughly the size of a forehead and began to emit a low droning cry. It was dazzlingly brilliant and extremely unnatural!

Based on this ring’s manner of appearing, the light it radiated, and its enormous amount of spiritual power, one could determine that it was absolutely a genuine magic treasure.

Could this young woman truly be a Core Establishment cultivator?

In no time, an extremely loud noise first came out from within this hundred meter deep secret cave. Immediately afterwards, numerous low howls, like those of a water buffalo, also came out; those howls were filled with wrath, but presently repeated rumblings of thunder also began to sound out, temporarily strengthening the howls before they immediately weakened. Then, various kinds of loud noises and crackles incessantly came out, finally completely drowning out the howls, which never sounded out again.

After numerous hours, the youthful celestial woman led the Masked Moon Sect’s male and female disciples out from some hidden passageway. The male and female disciples behind her were each incredibly excited, displaying a face of youthfulness.

This was not surprising; opportunities to slaughter a grade one top level demonic beasts were not often available to these Qi Condensation novices. Today, they had not actually expended much energy to kill that extremely mean and ferocious Jade Crocodile; how could they not be excited?

Of course, if it weren’t for the youthful celestial woman using her magic treasure, the ring, to block more than half of the demonic beast’s attack, they could not have perfectly ended this conflict without any casualties, so their gazes at the young woman’s back were even more respectful!

The young woman’s gaze towards the male and female disciples behind her had no trace of care, and she continued to indifferently walk in the front. It was as if killing a first tier top level demonic beast was not something that could faze her at all!

After a short amount of time, the flock of Masked Moon Sect disciples disappeared into the nearby dense forest without a trace.

   ……

In other places just like that, scenes of disciples from various sects killing the demonic beasts to obtain the spiritual medicines continued to play out. Occasionally, conflicts would also occur over these spiritual medicines. Strangely, however, people being killed in these conflicts were actually very few in number. Usually, as long as people who understood they were no match for the opponent retreated, the person with the upper hand would also not use excessive force; instead, they would hurriedly harvest these spiritual medicines and leave quickly for the next location.

With regards to this kind of situation, most people were very clear in their hearts! This was mostly because everyone’s remaining time was not much, and opportunities for these bloody battles were better spent going to other locations and seeing if there were any profits. The real time for everyone to kill each other and steal the opponent’s spiritual medicines was on the last day, when everyone was returning from their rewarding journey. On that day, there would definitely be blood, and wouldn’t be like the previous two days, where one could lightly allow their opponents to escape!

Han Li also knew a little about these things, so he had taken opportunity of these two days where the disciples from various sects were still willing to mutually restrain themselves to furiously hurry from one location to the next. Anytime a medium level and above demonic beast appeared in his path, he would immediately use a movement technique to evade around it, unwilling to be hindered by them for even a fraction of a second!

One did not know whether Han Li had some stroke of good luck; apart from the first cave he wanted to harvest medicine from, where he had encountered that poisonous bug demonic beast, the huge centipede, no guardian demonic beasts appeared in any of the next four locations. Thus, he easily harvested the spiritual medicines without expending even a tiny amount of excess energy, causing Han Li to be wild with joy! If the following events were to proceed as smoothly as before, harvesting enough spiritual medicines was not a problem at all!

At this time, the third day in the forbidden area was almost over!

Han Li was currently leaping from treetop to treetop at lightning speed without stopping; along the way, he had encountered two low level ape demonic beasts, who disintegrated with a couple waves of his hand, having been completely broken apart.

Now, Han Li was rushing towards his last destination of the day, a small stone temple near the peak of the mountain. Reportedly, there was more than one type of spiritual medicine and strange herbs growing in that location; the Sky Spirit Fruit that he needed the most was also in there.

However, although the time for the Sky Spirit Fruit to ripen had yet to come, the few other kinds were all ripe for the picking! Thus, Han Li guessed that there would definitely be demonic beasts guarding them, and there was also a possibility that disciples from other sects could have gotten there earlier.

However, Han Li did not care; he even looked forward to someone getting there before he did; that way, they could help him clean up his path, saving him from having to waste a few extra movements. In any case, this person would definitely not be interested in spiritual medicines that were not yet ripe!

Right as Han Li was thinking all of these positive thoughts, the stone temple’s shadow could finally be seen off in the distance. It indeed could not be considered big!

But before Han Li could get close to that place, the sound of a fierce battle had already drifted over.

Han Li’s heart became happy; it seemed as if there truly was someone who would help him open up his path. Thus, his figure immediately contorted, and after a few flashes, he silently drew closer to the stone temple.

In the empty space in front of the stone temple, there actually was not the scene of a wild male fighting a demonic beast that Han Li had expected to see in his heart. Instead, it was a black-clothed, barefoot, and square-faced man controlling a huge silver sword that was pressuring a slender, green-clothed woman to the point that she could not breathe easily.

This woman’s only defensive method was a silk handkerchief that shone with a yellow light; however, its surface was cloudy and pale. She had been completely suppressed by the silver sword to a disadvantage, and could only bitterly endure.

Off to the side, the corpse of a huge red wolf and a white young eagle lay, having been split into two. The fresh blood that flowed from their bodies covered the ground, and the piercing smell of gore filled the area. It seemed as if they had died not too long ago.

Seeing all of this, Han Li’s jaw couldn’t help but silently drop wide open; it wasn’t because those two’s battle had shocked him, but rather because that green-clothed young woman was actually the easily embarrassed young woman who had sold him that Golden Sincerity Brush. This caused Han Li to be completely astonished!

This was because Han Li had already discovered that the young woman’s cultivation base was extremely shallow when the disciples from the various sects had gathered together outside of the forbidden area; it was merely at the tenth layer. Thus, he expected that this woman, after entering the forbidden area, had either already passed away long ago, or she should have been quietly hiding in some location!

But today, he had seen her use a top-grade magic tool to fight to the death with a not to be trifled with disciple from the Giant Sword Sect in the central area of the ring-shaped mountain. How could this not cause Han Li to feel incredibly shocked!

“Little girl! It’s not too late to quit and leave. You should know that I was always being lenient with you. But I trust that someone who doesn’t want to kill a female doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t kill a female! If you continue to nag me, you and that white eagle will share the same end!” the barefoot man said filled with killing intent; his expression was chilly, and he was somewhat annoyed at this point.

One should know that he had been annoyed by this young woman from Spirit Beast Mountain who had appeared from Heaven’s knows where for more than half an hour. His last shred of patience had long since been depleted. If the opponent continued to be unable to tell good from bad, he might actually kill a delicate flower!

The young woman’s face was deathly pale. However, after gritting her teeth, she said extremely stubbornly, “If you aren’t willing to let me have the few Fierce Yang Blossoms inside, I won’t leave even if I die!”