A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality

He raised his hand again, and several talismans shot forth before adhering themselves to the jade box in a flash. Vibrant restrictive power instantly enveloped the entire box, and he swept his sleeve through the air once again to expel a burst of azure light.

The jade box instantly disappeared within the azure light, having been stowed away by Han Li.

From the instant that the sword thread was unleashed to the moment that the jade box was stowed away, only an instant had passed, and only after securing the spirit flower did Han Li heave a faint sigh of relief as his expression eased slightly.

He looked at the severed stem of the flower and hesitated momentarily, but decided not to do anything to it as he moved on to the next area.

The next seven or eight spirit medicines were all secured using the method. Han Li first severed the fruits or other important parts of the plants that contained their seeds, then quickly froze them before sealing them with restrictive talismans.

After adopting this method, he was finally able to prevent the plants from self-destruction. Even if those parts also had some restrictions set up within them, as long as he could prevent those restrictions from being set off for now, he could take them back for further examination in the future.

He was confident that as long as he had sufficient time, he would be able to slowly undo those restrictions.

However, he still encountered a lot of trouble when he reached the last type of spirit medicine, which was the silver lotus seed pod that was floating at the center of the spring.

As the sword thread struck the stem of the seed pod, which was around as thick as a finger, a ball of dazzling silver light suddenly erupted, and the sword thread was repelled while the lotus seed pod remained completely unmoved!

Han Li couldn't help but falter upon seeing this.

He carefully inspected the shimmering silver seedpod multiples times with furrowed brows before flicking his 10 fingers toward it in quick succession.

10 azure threads shot forth through the air before suddenly converging as one, forming a translucent streak of azure light that struck the stem of the seed pod, only for the same thing to happen again.

Dazzling silver light was released by the entire seed pod, and the azure light was completely destroyed into nothingness. Han Li's eyelids twitched violently upon seeing this.

Just what kind of extraordinary spirit item was this silver lotus seed pod?!

The sword threads formed by his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword were so sharp that even the average Body Integration Stage being wouldn't dare to allow them to strike their body, yet not only was this spirit plant able to repel the sword threads, it was even able to retaliate and destroy them; this was simply incredible!

Han Li's gaze quickly roamed over the entire seed pod before quickly moving on to the spring that the lotus seed pod was floating upon.

This spring clearly wasn't any normal spirit spring; not only was the water in it extremely clear and pure, there were also faint wisps of white spiritual Qi that were constantly floating up from it.

At the bottom of the spring, there were several lotus roots that were about the same length as a child's arm. The lotus roots were also of a shimmering silver color, and they appeared to be completely spotless and pristine.

Han Li focused his gaze on the lotus roots to find that its finer whiskers were as pristine white as jade, and they didn't burrow into the mud down below. Instead, they were curled up into a ball and floating beside the seed pod like a ball of silver mist.

This discovery was quite a reassuring one to Han Li, and his expression changed slightly as he fell into contemplation again. However, he didn't think for too long this time before deciding to make another attempt.

He flipped a hand over, and a blue jade vial that was around a foot tall appeared over his palm. He tossed the vial toward the center of the spring, and it hovered in a stable manner in mid-air.

He then swept a sleeve through the air, and a dozen or so formation flags of different colors shot forth before vanishing into the area surrounding the center of the spring in a flash.

After that, he made a hand seal before uttering the word "seal!".

A dozen or so pillars of light of different colors erupted into the air, and each of them reached several tens of feet in height.

Each pillar was shimmering with spiritual light, and there were faint runes constantly hovering around them. This was clearly no ordinary formation.

Han Li raised both of his hands without any hesitation upon seeing this, then flicked one incantation seal through the air after another.

Countless specks of blue light suddenly appeared within the air in a radius of several tens of feet, and a burst of rich water-attribute spiritual Qi instantly filled the entire formation.

The spirit spring down below seemed to have also sensed something, and a layer of ripples surged along the surface of the spring, as if in resonance. The ripples were very faint, yet it was definitely a marked difference compared to the still mirror-like surface of the water.

A cold light flashed through Han Li's eyes, and he let loose a low cry before pointing a finger toward the jade vial that was hovering in mid-air.

The jade vial instantly tipped itself upside-down before expelling a burst of blue light. All of the surrounding pillars of light then emitted a buzzing sound in unison, and restriction fluctuations immediately erupted forth.

In the next instant, all of the specks of light in the air surged toward the blue light to bolster it, and the blue light inundated the entire spring in the blink of an eye.

An earth-shattering boom erupted, and the entire spring termored as the water within abruptly became a lot more turbulent. The springwater swept forth in a frenzy and began to revolve around the silver lotus seed pod, instantly forming a vortex that had a diameter of around 10 feet.

The turbulent waves instantly swept up the silver lotus seed pod, and Han Li began to flick incantation seals through the air with greater urgency upon seeing this. At the same time, he began to chant something, and the lotus seed pod was immediately enveloped by the revolving spring water, which then transformed into a water dragon amid the bursts of blue light.

Immediately thereafter, this water dragon began to shrink and was sucked into the blue jade vial in its entirety in the end.

Han Li's heart thumped violently as he waited in an apprehensive manner, but thankfully no mishaps occurred, and the silver lotus seed pod and the lotus roots were completely undamaged after it was drawn into the jade vial.

The steady stream of incantation seals being released by his hands ceased, and he waved a hand toward the jade vial.

The blue vial immediately flew toward him as a ball of blue light before landing in his hand, upon which he immediately released his spiritual sense to inspect the contents of the vial.

As a result, he discovered that the silver lotus seed pod and the lotus roots were all completely unharmed as they floated within the spring water, and this naturally made him quite ecstatic.

After sealing the jade vial with a bunch of talismans, Han Li stowed it away into his storage bracelet in an extremely careful manner, placing it among the large pile of jade boxes.

This was the only complete spirit plant that he had been able to obtain from this area, and securing it alleviated some of his frustration of destroying the first five spirit medicines.

After that, Han Li explored the entire medicine garden, and regardless of whether he recognized the spirit medicines he encountered, he collected all of them without a second thought.

Perhaps these spirit medicines were considered to be very ordinary items in the eyes of the owner of this place, but they were naturally extremely precious in the Spirit Realm, and he had reaped vastly bountiful rewards during this trip to the medicine garden.

After ascertaining that he hadn't missed any spirit medicines, Han Li decided to immediately depart from this place. Thus, he issued an instruction to Qu'er, and she disappeared up his sleeve as a ball of white light before he strode out of the medicine garden.

In the instant that he emerged from the garden, a dull rumbling boom suddenly rang out from the direction of the main palace up ahead. Immediately thereafter, a burst of powerful spiritual pressure fluctuations erupted into the air from the same direction, creating quite an alarming spectacle to behold.

Han Li's heart immediately stirred upon hearing this, following which a hint of a smile appeared on his face.

It appeared that Shi Kun and Liu Shui'er had finally been driven to the ends of their wits by the illusionary formation on the plaza and broke through it using brute force.

Judging from the spiritual pressure fluctuations, it seemed that the illusionary formation really had been forcibly broken, which indicated that the two of them had to have used some kind of secret technique or treasure that far exceeded the boundaries of what they were currently able to wield.

Otherwise, with the powers that the two of them had displayed thus far, there was no way that they would've been able to accomplish this.

With that in mind, Han Li glanced at the two remaining side palaces and contemplated his options briefly before deciding to make his way toward the main palace.

Moments later, he appeared in front of the main palace again, just in time to see purple light flashing from the gate of the main palace. Meanwhile, Shi Kun was forced to stumble backward a dozen or so steps as he let loose a muffled groan.

The giant hammers that he was holding were quickly melted away by the flashing purple lightning, leaving only a pair of handles in his hand in the blink of an eye.

His face was completely devoid of color, and there was a hint of astonishment in his eyes.

However, before he could unleash any other abilities to ward off the purple lightning snakes, Liu Shui'er, who was standing over 100 feet behind him, sprang into action.

She hurled a silver mirror through the air, and the surface of the mirror tremored before several azure pillars of light shot forth to temporarily keep the purple lightning snakes at bay.

Shi Kun immediately took advantage of this opportunity to let loose a low roar as he rushed back in retreat, instantly hurtling back around 300 feet.

At this moment, the azure pillars of light were unable to withstand the power of the purple lightning and were shattered amid a loud thunderclap.

The purple lighting snakes then trailed along the direction of the pillars of light and switched to Liu Shui'er as their target.

Liu Shui'er's heart jolted upon seeing this, but she acted in a very decisive manner, abruptly pointing a finger up at the mirror treasure in the air, upon which the mirror flew directly toward the lightning snakes at her behest. Immediately thereafter, her body swayed, and she abruptly vanished as a trail of afterimages. In the next instant, she also appeared extremely far away from the palace gate.

A dull explosion rang out as the purple lightning struck the silver mirror, and following a string of rumbling thunderclaps, the mirror exploded as a ball of silver light.

After losing the nearby targets, the purple lightning snakes flashed erratically a few times before also dissipating of their own accord.

Liu Shui'er had already expected that her mirror would be destroyed by the purple lightning, but her expression had naturally darkened significantly, nonetheless.

Right at this moment, Han Li slowly strode over to them, and said, "Fellow Daoists, this restriction is not your average restriction. If we want to break it, then we'll most likely have to work together."

Shi Kun and Liu Shui'er were naturally made aware of Han Li's arrival upon hearing this.

Shi Kun's face twitched slightly, and there was a sour look in his eyes as he grumbled, "You sure are a cunning man, Brother Han; you knew that this restriction would be difficult to break, so you went elsewhere. You arrived here far earlier than the two of us, so you must've reaped bountiful rewards already, right?"

"I did indeed reap some rewards, but how can they compare with the treasures in the main palace? I'm sure the two of you are aware that the treasures requested by our two seniors and all of the other important treasures must be in there," Han Li replied with a nonchalant smile.

"This place was once inhabited by an immortal, and mediocre treasures in their eyes will most likely all be extremely useful to us. However, we decided on this arrangement in the beginning, so I certainly can't complain, seeing as Brother Han has secured a headstart through his own power. Besides, there definitely wasn't enough time for Brother Han to explore this entire place, so there are surely more rewards left to be reaped; Fellow Daoist Shi and I are not without chances," Liu Shui'er chuckled in response, and she seemed to be truly unbothered by the fact that Han Li had secured a headstart.