Chapter 209 - Return

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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Inside the large stone temple hall, the sound of rumbling continued to echo. The Masked Moon Sect disciples were strenuously using magic tools, smashing open a large tunnel many meters deep.  However, regardless of what magic tool stuck inside the stone tunnel, they could only pound away a chunk of rock about an inch wide. This caused everyone to become even more discouraged as they pounded away.

After several hours, all of the disciples blankly sat on the ground and wordlessly looked at the large hole as if they were all lifeless. As of this moment, they had wanted to rescue their Martial Ancestor, but they didn’t hold the slightest confidence in doing so! All of them started to think about the fearsome consequences of losing their Martial Ancestor and started to think of their path to escape.

Right at this moment, a large sound came from outside the stone hall, and the earth rumbled for a moment more, as if there was a tremendous battle occurring outside. This caused the disciples to be faintly surprised.

“What’s going on?” A few disciples looked at each other in dismay. Two male disciples immediately exited the stone hall with quick steps to see what was happening.

“Martial Ancestor!”

Soon, the sound of great rejoice came from the disciples outside the hall. Although these loud noises were clearly heard by disciples inside the stone hall, they could not help but look at each other in shock and immediately charged out like hornets from their nest.

Over thirty meters away from the hall entrance, there was a large hole several meters wide. Nearby, there was a remarkably beautiful woman wearing fluttering white clothes. From her appearance, it truly seemed she was the young female Martial Ancestor. At this moment, the Masked Moon Sect Martial Ancestor coldly looked at the distance with an expression of indifference, completely ignoring the two male disciples who were standing behind her.

This immediately jolted the originally wildly happy disciples, as if cold water had been poured on their heads.

“Could it be this Martial Ancestor intends to investigate and stir up the restrictive formation?” 

With this thought, all of the disciples could not help but look at the two dainty female disciples at the center, causing these women’s complexion to become deathly white and tremble with fear!

After the white-clothed woman fully surveyed the area for a quarter of an hour, she slowly turned her head to look at the many disciples behind her. She coldly ordered, “Set off!”

    ……

Just as Han Li was flying from tree to tree with a body as agile as a monkey, he hurried off the mountain with a speed not inferior to the Imperial Flight Technique.

Currently, his body was surging with spiritual power. His body actually contained magic power of the thirteenth layer. Han Li felt a bit infatuated with this fantastic feeling of greatly increased magic power. However, he was unable to persistently release this great amount of spiritual power for a long period of time. He estimated that there were still several hours left before this disappeared.

In order the leave the underground swamp, that woman had reason to cooperate with him and used some kind of secret magic to temporarily send a portion of the restriction spell’s magic power to Han Li, causing Han Li’s originally eleventh layer power to ascend to the peak of Qi Condensation. 

The two then used the Vermillion Bird Band and the Golden Light Brick treasure talisman to forcibly break open a tunnel from underground to the surface.

During these course of events, whenever Han Li’s magic power was exhausted the woman silently transmitted more magic power toward Han Li. As a result, when the two were able to leave from underground, Han Li had completely exhausted the Golden Light Brick treasure talisman and turned it to waste paper, whereas the young woman had used up twenty to thirty years of cultivated power. These losses couldn’t be considered anything but disastrous!

With this said, the woman’s Female Essence Incarnation Technique was truly strange!

Within the incarnation cycle, she was able to transmit the restrictive spell’s magic power to another male but was unable to remove the restriction off herself and pass it onto a female. Furthermore, the magic power that could be transmitted was limited to the cultivation of the male. As Han Li was only at Qi Condensation, the amount of magic power he could contain was the thirteenth layer of his foundation cultivation technique. It was impossible for him to enter the realm of Foundation Establishment. 

Because Han Li had just received magic power from the woman prior to breaking their way to the surface and separating, he still had the magic power of thirteenth layer cultivation for the moment, allowing him to experience this wondrous sensation a while longer.

“Nangong Wan.”

In his heart, Han Li softly said this. Just as Han Li was about to depart from the woman, he asked for her name.

However, when Han Li thought of how the woman begrudgingly told him, he grew a bit sad!

He clearly understood without saying that he was a Qi Condensation disciple. Even if he were to enter Foundation Establishment, it would be impossible for them to have any sort of relationship. After all, their positions in the cultivation world and their lifespans were truly as different as heaven and earth. As a result, he could only bitterly accept the woman’s heartlessness during their departure.

Han Li understood himself well. He knew that if he entered Foundation Establishment, he would have a slight chance. But currently, he could only look upward to her. With the great size of Yellow Maple Valley, there were over ten thousand cultivators, but only a trifling few were able to reach Core Formation. Han Li, knowing that his aptitude was lacking, didn’t even have the slightest of confidence.  

Just as Han Li was thinking this, his expression suddenly grew dark. Woosh. His body suddenly disappeared into the air. A few moments later, however, his body appeared where he originally was, but now he was holding a storage pouch. At this time, the headless corpse of a Spirit Beast Mountain disciple fell off a nearby large tree.

Han Li lightly swept through the things inside the storage pouch and lightly shook his head. He then leaped and departed.

...

The afternoon of the fifth day after the forbidden area was opened, the many individuals from various sects waiting outside the forbidden area for quite a long time finally moved. The seven Core Formation cultivators strenuously opened the entrance once again. They then looked at the dark passage, waiting for the first of ones to appear with serene expressions.

It was very clear that breaking the magic barrier was far easier than it was five days ago. Furthermore, when the passage appeared, the seven Core Formation experts put away their magic treasures, but the passage actually didn’t disappear, maintaining a steady connection to the forbidden area. 

Behind the seven, there were several tens of Foundation Establishment leaders with someone nervous expressions. This was related to the next distribution of Foundation Establishment Pills, so this event was quite important to these stewards. 

As for the Masked Moon Sect’s “Senior Eccentric Qiong”, it was unknown when he appeared on the large rock nearby, but he was watching the several people with glee. When he saw those he made a bet with, his gaze became rather peculiar.

After half an hour after the passage opened, a middle-aged Daoist Priest with a calm expression walked out. His clothes were lined with ash and dirt and had several notable holes and bloodstains. It seemed that he had left the forbidden area after fighting a bitter battle.

After the middle-aged Daoist Priest appeared, he saluted the Clear Void Sect’s Core Formation cultivator and quietly sat down cross-legged to the side.

When the Core Formation cultivator saw this, he looked at the middle-aged Daoist Priest with a smile and lightly nodded his head repeatedly.

Martial Ancestor Li’s expression was peaceful, without the slightest of emotion, but Senior Eccentric Qiong rolled his eyes and gave a dissatisfied snort. 

The next to walk out from the passage were a feminine man from Saber Transformation Dock; Zhong Wu, the ugly man from Spirit Beast Mountain; a blue-clothed youth from Heavenly Imperial Fortress; and Yellow Maple Valley’s Chen siblings, along with other disciples. All of them more or less had traces of injury. Every one of them walked to their sect elders’ location with expressions of exhaustion and sat down cross-legged to rest. 

After the time it took to eat a meal, another large batch of disciples walked out. This group of people were different from the loners who had previously emerged. They were all in groups of twos and threes. Furthermore, every person’s face had greatly varying expressions. There were those who were greatly joyful, those who were completely dispirited, and those who had an expression of great relief.

Adding this group of people to the several that arrived before, more than twenty of the seven sects’ disciples had already returned. However, they still didn’t see a single person from the Masked Moon Sect. This caused the other six sects to wear and expression of astonishment. However, Senior Eccentric Qiong’s expression along with Celestial Ni Chang and the rest of those from the Masked Moon Sect did not change in the slightest, as if they had a card up their sleeve. 

After another hour passed by; aside from two disciples who appeared, there were no other traces of those from the Masked Moon Sect. There were still only two hours left before the passage closed. At this moment, Senior Eccentric Qiong and Celestial Ni Chang glanced at each other, slightly revealing an expression of unease. 

The appearance of a person suddenly flashed at the passage entrance. A youth from Yellow Maple Valley appeared. This person had a common appearance with neat clothes, and hurried on his way, having the appearance of an unstoppable thunderbolt killing several people in succession. This person was Han Li.

When the Masked Moon Sect members saw the image of a person at the passage entrance, their faces wore an expression of joy. But when they clearly saw that it was someone from Yellow Maple Valley, they immediately became greatly disappointed. 

At this moment, Han Li took a look at the surrounding situation and slowly walked to his sect’s position. He copied the others and sat in formation. Coincidentally, he happened to sit next to the Chen siblings.

It appeared that compared to the other six sects, Yellow Maple Valley disciples numbered the greatest among those who left the forbidden area alive!

Apart from Brother and Sister Chen, there were also the old man as well as the youth. With the addition of Han Li, there were actually five. Compared to the three to four survivors from the other sects, especially the trifling two from the Giant Sword Sect, It could be considered much greater in number! This caused Martial Ancestor Li to be unable to conceal the joy in his heart as he wore a spring wind on his face. 

When the Chen siblings and the other two saw that Han Li, an eleventh layer disciple, was actually able to leave the forbidden area completely intact and without injury, they could not help but show an expression of amazement. However, as if they immediately thought of something, they looked at Han Li with a gaze of contempt and did not pay further attention to him.

Obviously, they all believed that Han Li was a coward, concealing himself and hiding from battle. He certainly harvested nothing.  

As the time for the passage to close grew closer, those from Masked Moon Sect appeared one by one. This caused Senior Eccentric Qiong and Celestial Ni Chang to be unable to sit still with an expression of unmistakable worry on their faces. This caused Martial Ancestor Li and the Daoist Priest at the side to become secretly delighted. It seemed the Masked Moon Sect truly had a mishap.

Han Li, who saw all of this, wrinkled his brow and felt a bit of surprise. He definitely escaped from the underground swamp with Nangong Wan. Why did the others from the Masked Moon Sect not yet appear? He could not help but be a bit worried about that woman!

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Inside the large stone temple hall, the sound of rumbling continued to echo. The Masked Moon Sect disciples were strenuously using magic tools, smashing open a large tunnel many meters deep.  However, regardless of what magic tool stuck inside the stone tunnel, they could only pound away a chunk of rock about an inch wide. This caused everyone to become even more discouraged as they pounded away.

After several hours, all of the disciples blankly sat on the ground and wordlessly looked at the large hole as if they were all lifeless. As of this moment, they had wanted to rescue their Martial Ancestor, but they didn’t hold the slightest confidence in doing so! All of them started to think about the fearsome consequences of losing their Martial Ancestor and started to think of their path to escape.

Right at this moment, a large sound came from outside the stone hall, and the earth rumbled for a moment more, as if there was a tremendous battle occurring outside. This caused the disciples to be faintly surprised.

“What’s going on?” A few disciples looked at each other in dismay. Two male disciples immediately exited the stone hall with quick steps to see what was happening.

“Martial Ancestor!”

Soon, the sound of great rejoice came from the disciples outside the hall. Although these loud noises were clearly heard by disciples inside the stone hall, they could not help but look at each other in shock and immediately charged out like hornets from their nest.

Over thirty meters away from the hall entrance, there was a large hole several meters wide. Nearby, there was a remarkably beautiful woman wearing fluttering white clothes. From her appearance, it truly seemed she was the young female Martial Ancestor. At this moment, the Masked Moon Sect Martial Ancestor coldly looked at the distance with an expression of indifference, completely ignoring the two male disciples who were standing behind her.

This immediately jolted the originally wildly happy disciples, as if cold water had been poured on their heads.

“Could it be this Martial Ancestor intends to investigate and stir up the restrictive formation?” 

With this thought, all of the disciples could not help but look at the two dainty female disciples at the center, causing these women’s complexion to become deathly white and tremble with fear!

After the white-clothed woman fully surveyed the area for a quarter of an hour, she slowly turned her head to look at the many disciples behind her. She coldly ordered, “Set off!”

    ……

Just as Han Li was flying from tree to tree with a body as agile as a monkey, he hurried off the mountain with a speed not inferior to the Imperial Flight Technique.

Currently, his body was surging with spiritual power. His body actually contained magic power of the thirteenth layer. Han Li felt a bit infatuated with this fantastic feeling of greatly increased magic power. However, he was unable to persistently release this great amount of spiritual power for a long period of time. He estimated that there were still several hours left before this disappeared.

In order the leave the underground swamp, that woman had reason to cooperate with him and used some kind of secret magic to temporarily send a portion of the restriction spell’s magic power to Han Li, causing Han Li’s originally eleventh layer power to ascend to the peak of Qi Condensation. 

The two then used the Vermillion Bird Band and the Golden Light Brick treasure talisman to forcibly break open a tunnel from underground to the surface.

During these course of events, whenever Han Li’s magic power was exhausted the woman silently transmitted more magic power toward Han Li. As a result, when the two were able to leave from underground, Han Li had completely exhausted the Golden Light Brick treasure talisman and turned it to waste paper, whereas the young woman had used up twenty to thirty years of cultivated power. These losses couldn’t be considered anything but disastrous!

With this said, the woman’s Female Essence Incarnation Technique was truly strange!

Within the incarnation cycle, she was able to transmit the restrictive spell’s magic power to another male but was unable to remove the restriction off herself and pass it onto a female. Furthermore, the magic power that could be transmitted was limited to the cultivation of the male. As Han Li was only at Qi Condensation, the amount of magic power he could contain was the thirteenth layer of his foundation cultivation technique. It was impossible for him to enter the realm of Foundation Establishment. 

Because Han Li had just received magic power from the woman prior to breaking their way to the surface and separating, he still had the magic power of thirteenth layer cultivation for the moment, allowing him to experience this wondrous sensation a while longer.

“Nangong Wan.”

In his heart, Han Li softly said this. Just as Han Li was about to depart from the woman, he asked for her name.

However, when Han Li thought of how the woman begrudgingly told him, he grew a bit sad!

He clearly understood without saying that he was a Qi Condensation disciple. Even if he were to enter Foundation Establishment, it would be impossible for them to have any sort of relationship. After all, their positions in the cultivation world and their lifespans were truly as different as heaven and earth. As a result, he could only bitterly accept the woman’s heartlessness during their departure.

Han Li understood himself well. He knew that if he entered Foundation Establishment, he would have a slight chance. But currently, he could only look upward to her. With the great size of Yellow Maple Valley, there were over ten thousand cultivators, but only a trifling few were able to reach Core Formation. Han Li, knowing that his aptitude was lacking, didn’t even have the slightest of confidence.  

Just as Han Li was thinking this, his expression suddenly grew dark. Woosh. His body suddenly disappeared into the air. A few moments later, however, his body appeared where he originally was, but now he was holding a storage pouch. At this time, the headless corpse of a Spirit Beast Mountain disciple fell off a nearby large tree.

Han Li lightly swept through the things inside the storage pouch and lightly shook his head. He then leaped and departed.

...

The afternoon of the fifth day after the forbidden area was opened, the many individuals from various sects waiting outside the forbidden area for quite a long time finally moved. The seven Core Formation cultivators strenuously opened the entrance once again. They then looked at the dark passage, waiting for the first of ones to appear with serene expressions.

It was very clear that breaking the magic barrier was far easier than it was five days ago. Furthermore, when the passage appeared, the seven Core Formation experts put away their magic treasures, but the passage actually didn’t disappear, maintaining a steady connection to the forbidden area. 

Behind the seven, there were several tens of Foundation Establishment leaders with someone nervous expressions. This was related to the next distribution of Foundation Establishment Pills, so this event was quite important to these stewards. 

As for the Masked Moon Sect’s “Senior Eccentric Qiong”, it was unknown when he appeared on the large rock nearby, but he was watching the several people with glee. When he saw those he made a bet with, his gaze became rather peculiar.

After half an hour after the passage opened, a middle-aged Daoist Priest with a calm expression walked out. His clothes were lined with ash and dirt and had several notable holes and bloodstains. It seemed that he had left the forbidden area after fighting a bitter battle.

After the middle-aged Daoist Priest appeared, he saluted the Clear Void Sect’s Core Formation cultivator and quietly sat down cross-legged to the side.

When the Core Formation cultivator saw this, he looked at the middle-aged Daoist Priest with a smile and lightly nodded his head repeatedly.

Martial Ancestor Li’s expression was peaceful, without the slightest of emotion, but Senior Eccentric Qiong rolled his eyes and gave a dissatisfied snort. 

The next to walk out from the passage were a feminine man from Saber Transformation Dock; Zhong Wu, the ugly man from Spirit Beast Mountain; a blue-clothed youth from Heavenly Imperial Fortress; and Yellow Maple Valley’s Chen siblings, along with other disciples. All of them more or less had traces of injury. Every one of them walked to their sect elders’ location with expressions of exhaustion and sat down cross-legged to rest. 

After the time it took to eat a meal, another large batch of disciples walked out. This group of people were different from the loners who had previously emerged. They were all in groups of twos and threes. Furthermore, every person’s face had greatly varying expressions. There were those who were greatly joyful, those who were completely dispirited, and those who had an expression of great relief.

Adding this group of people to the several that arrived before, more than twenty of the seven sects’ disciples had already returned. However, they still didn’t see a single person from the Masked Moon Sect. This caused the other six sects to wear and expression of astonishment. However, Senior Eccentric Qiong’s expression along with Celestial Ni Chang and the rest of those from the Masked Moon Sect did not change in the slightest, as if they had a card up their sleeve. 

After another hour passed by; aside from two disciples who appeared, there were no other traces of those from the Masked Moon Sect. There were still only two hours left before the passage closed. At this moment, Senior Eccentric Qiong and Celestial Ni Chang glanced at each other, slightly revealing an expression of unease. 

The appearance of a person suddenly flashed at the passage entrance. A youth from Yellow Maple Valley appeared. This person had a common appearance with neat clothes, and hurried on his way, having the appearance of an unstoppable thunderbolt killing several people in succession. This person was Han Li.

When the Masked Moon Sect members saw the image of a person at the passage entrance, their faces wore an expression of joy. But when they clearly saw that it was someone from Yellow Maple Valley, they immediately became greatly disappointed. 

At this moment, Han Li took a look at the surrounding situation and slowly walked to his sect’s position. He copied the others and sat in formation. Coincidentally, he happened to sit next to the Chen siblings.

It appeared that compared to the other six sects, Yellow Maple Valley disciples numbered the greatest among those who left the forbidden area alive!

Apart from Brother and Sister Chen, there were also the old man as well as the youth. With the addition of Han Li, there were actually five. Compared to the three to four survivors from the other sects, especially the trifling two from the Giant Sword Sect, It could be considered much greater in number! This caused Martial Ancestor Li to be unable to conceal the joy in his heart as he wore a spring wind on his face. 

When the Chen siblings and the other two saw that Han Li, an eleventh layer disciple, was actually able to leave the forbidden area completely intact and without injury, they could not help but show an expression of amazement. However, as if they immediately thought of something, they looked at Han Li with a gaze of contempt and did not pay further attention to him.

Obviously, they all believed that Han Li was a coward, concealing himself and hiding from battle. He certainly harvested nothing.  

As the time for the passage to close grew closer, those from Masked Moon Sect appeared one by one. This caused Senior Eccentric Qiong and Celestial Ni Chang to be unable to sit still with an expression of unmistakable worry on their faces. This caused Martial Ancestor Li and the Daoist Priest at the side to become secretly delighted. It seemed the Masked Moon Sect truly had a mishap.

Han Li, who saw all of this, wrinkled his brow and felt a bit of surprise. He definitely escaped from the underground swamp with Nangong Wan. Why did the others from the Masked Moon Sect not yet appear? He could not help but be a bit worried about that woman!