A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality

"You're not mistaken about that Senior, but the item I'm going to take into this place isn't one of the holy artifacts of our race. Instead, its a replica treasure that was refined not long ago by the elders of our race, and to be completely accurate, it should actually be called a false divine nest. The treasure can only manifest one type of holy insect, and it's only a kind of holy insect of a very low caliber. On top of that, this type of replica is a disposable treasure, so it can only be used once," the crimson-armored puppet replied in a truthful manner.

"A false divine nest, eh? Interesting! I've heard a lot about the vastly renowned divine nests of the Mayfly Race, but I've never had the pleasure of witnessing one in action for myself. This isn't going to a real divine nest, but a replica will suffice. I can summon your true body here free of charge, but you'll have to pay a price if you want to borrow my Five Dragon Chopper again," the elderly man said in a slow voice.

"But I've only brought one vial of Yin Water Essence with me." A hint of hesitation crept into the puppet's voice.

"That's alright, just bring the remnants of your false divine nest to me after you're finished with it; that's not too much to ask, is it?" the elderly man asked.

"You want the false divine nest, Senior?" The crimson-armored puppet was truly becoming quite hesitant now.

"Hehe, if you don't want to, then so be it. I only wanted the item so I could broaden my horizons. Do you really think I can glean the secrets of your divine nest just by inspecting a set of remnants?" the elderly man said in a nonchalant voice.

After a brief moment of contemplation, the crimson-armored puppet arrived at the conclusion that it was too risky to take on the intruders with the false divine nest alone, so he gritted his teeth, and replied, "Alright, I'll do it, but on one condition; I can only leave the remnants of the nest here for a month. After that, I'll have to return it or I won't be able to answer to the elders of our race."

"Haha, that's all I needed to hear! I'll summon your true body here right away. It's a good thing that I have a wisp of your spiritual sense here to work with. Otherwise, even I wouldn't be able to draw you into this place." A burst of laughter rang out from within the cave, followed by a dull thump, and a plume of silver threads short forth, sweeping up the crimson-armored puppet, then dragging it into the cave.

The puppet disappeared in the blink of an eye, and around five minutes later, an extremely powerful burst of spiritual pressure suddenly erupted into the air from the white mountain ranges, following which a thick pillar of golden light surged into the air.

Gusts of Yin winds converged toward the pillar of light in a frenzy as boundless black Qi appeared in the surrounding area amid a string of resounding booms.

This phenomenon obscured the entire surrounding area, making it impossible to see what was happening inside. After a long while, a bolt of lightning pierced through the darkness like a powerful wyrm before disappearing in a flash, following which a sharp screech that was filled with resentment and baleful energy erupted from within

...

Han Li exhaled as he opened his eyes, and his expression was filled with elation.

"Fellow Daoist Han, the final tracking mark has been successfully eradicated." Yuan Yao's delightful voice sounded from behind him.

"Thank you for your assistance. I didn't think that the final tracking mark would be so difficult to get rid of. It was if it had taken root within my body, and we had to refine it without expelling as it simply refused to be ejected. Now that all four tracking marks have been destroyed, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief." Han Li turned around and cupped his fist in an earnest salute toward the two women.

"Hehe, there's no need to thank us, Brother Han; you saved our lives as well," Yuan Yao chuckled in a slightly exhausted manner.

Yan Li also wore a smile on her face, but her face was quite pale.

That wasn't much of a surprise; anyone would be suffering from symptoms of overexertion after controlling such a formation for over half a day.

Han Li immediately rustled his sleeve upon seeing this, and two small green vials flew forth before hovering in front of the two women.

"These two vials contain Green Yin Pills, which are Yin-attribute pills that will surely be quite beneficial for both of you."

"My junior martial sister and I really are in need of such pills, so I'll gladly accept them, Brother Han." Yan Li smiled as she swept a sleeve through the air, drawing a vial toward her before tipping out a dark green pill that immediately began to emit a strong Yin aura.

Yan Li's eyes lit up at the sight of the pill, and she picked it up between two of her fingers before carefully inspecting it for a while.

She then swallowed the pill and closed her eyes as she activated her cultivation arts in order to better absorb the power of the pill.

Yuan Yao hesitated momentarily upon seeing this before extending words of gratitude toward Han Li and accepting the other vial, then also consumed one of the pills.

Han Li stood patiently beside the two women as they absorbed the power of the pills they'd just consumed.

At this point, the vortex in the sky had already disappeared. As for the black ball, it had shrunk down to around 10 feet in size, and due to the fact that the formation had stopped functioning, it was slowly dissipating into black mist, looking as if it would also vanish not long from now.

After a while, the two women opened their eyes one after the other, and their complexions were looking a lot better.

Brother Han, those pills you gave us were quite precious, right? Junior Martial Sister Yuan and I both managed to recover most of our lost Yin Qi in such a short period of time," Yan Li said.

"I'm glad they're useful to you," Han Li replied with a smile.

"Brother Han, this isn't a safe place for us to stay; what do we do next?" Yuan Yao asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Indeed, we have to get away from here right away. In the instant that those tracking marks were destroyed, they would've revealed our approximate location to the demon monarchs. As for how we proceed from there, we'll naturally have to break through this space and return to the Spirit Realm. Of course, that's going to be easier said than done, but at least it's a goal that we can strive toward. Let's discuss this in detail while we leave this place," Han Li said with a solemn expression.

"Alright, we'll withdraw the formation first, then depart right away." Han Li was the one with the highest cultivation base among the three, so the two women naturally followed his lead.

Thus, the two of them flew through the air as streaks of black light to pack up all of the nearby tools that had been required to set up the formation from earlier.

Meanwhile, Han Li let loose a long cry that rumbled into the distance, and the Weeping Soul Beast and Leopard Kirin Beast immediately replied from afar. One of them let loose a loud ape cry while the other responded with a low roar before both hurtled back toward him.

A streak of black light and a streak of golden light soon disappeared up Han Li's sleeve in quick succession, and the two beasts were stored into this spirit beast bracelet again.

Moments later, the two women had also finished what they were doing, and the three of them decided on a direction before hurriedly flying away.

Less than half a day after Han Li's trio had departed, green light flashed in the air nearby, following which a ball of green light appeared.

Within the ball of green light was a slender and graceful figure. After circling around in the air for a while, the ball of green light descended onto the hill where Han Li and the others had been situated not long ago.

The green light faded, and the humanoid figure who was revealed was naturally none other than Mu Qing.

Mu Qing quickly surveyed the surroundings, and her expression gradually darkened.

To the average person, it would appear that there was nothing amiss here, but she was able to easily identify the remaining traces of the giant spell formation that had been set up her not long go, as well as the residual restriction fluctuations and pure Yin Qi that hung in the air.

"Looks like I was too late, and they've already been gone for a while. So he managed to eradicate the tracking marks through the use of a formation. Seeing as he's already left, it would be exceedingly difficult to try and find him," Mu Qing murmured to herself as an indecisive look appeared on her face.

"So be it! I'll take a gamble for the treasures in the devilish tomb. If I'd know that this would happen, I would've cast an extra restriction on him." Mu Qing gritted her teeth as a determined look appeared on her face.

She rose up into the air before flying away as a ball of azure light again.

However, on this occasion, she didn't fly too far away.

Close to two hours later, the ball of azure light suddenly descended into a small set of mountain ranges that appeared to be completely mundane and nondescript. Mu Qing then descended into an obscure valley within the mountain ranges.

The Yin Qi here was extremely sparse, compared to the rest of the mountain ranges, so there was not a single ghostly being to be found here.

That was exactly what Mu Qing was hoping for.

After searching through the valley to ensure that there were no potential hazards nearby, she swept both sleeves through the air, and countless fist-sized balls of green light shot forth through the air.

The balls of light flew toward all parts of the valley before disappearing into the ground.

After that, Mu Qing stomped a foot onto the ground, and spiritual light flashed beneath her waist as she transformed into her tree form again. Countless white roots pierced into the ground before extending toward all directions.

Mu Qing then began to chant something as she made a hand seal, and the entire valley before to tremor gently.

The soil on the ground where the green balls of light had disappeared suddenly split open, and countless seedlings sprouted before rapidly growing at a rate that was discernible to the naked eyes.

Within the span of a few breaths, they had all grown to become massive trees that were each several hundred feet tall.

The entire valley was transformed into a lush landscape that was abundant with wood-attribute spiritual Qi.

What was even more surprising was that none of these trees were rooted to the spot. Instead, they were all shifting locations positions at Mu Qing's behest, and moments later, a massive formation had appeared, encompassing virtually the entire valley with Mu Qing at its center.

The formation created a virtually watertight barrier around this place, following which Mu Qing abruptly opened her mouth to expel an object.

This was a white egg-sized bead that was slightly transparent and had strange golden patterns all over its surface.

The bead hovered around 10 feet in front of Mu Qing, rotating slowly on the spot. Mu Qing stared at the bead for a long while before heaving a faint sigh as she gently extended a finger toward it.