A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality

"That sounds very fair. Go ahead then, Fellow Daoist," Han Li replied after a brief moment of contemplation.

The elderly man was elated to hear this, and he immediately asked the most pressing question in his mind. "Alright, the first thing I want to know is who you obtained this Devil Sealing Lock from."

Han Li had anticipated this question, and he immediately replied, "I obtained it from a few devilish lords."

"Devilish lords? Could they be subordinates to Xue Guang? Why would he have handed down this treasure to his subordinates?" the elderly man murmured to himself in a contemplative manner.

Han Li continued, "I've already answered one of your questions; would you be able to tell me your name now?"

"My name is Che Qigong. How did a human like you encounter devilish lords? Are you in our sacred realm right now?" the elderly man replied before asking another question.

"Che Qigong? Hmm, I've never heard of that name before. It's currently the time when your Elder Devil Realm overlaps with our Spirit Realm, and that's how I encountered those devilish lords," Han Li replied.

"What? The sacred sacrifice is taking place right now? I can't believe I've already been trapped in here for so many years! How long has it been since the sacred sacrifice began? If it only commenced not long ago, then Xue Guang wouldn't be able to descend into the Spirit Realm yet; could that be why he entrusted this Devil Sealing Lock to his subordinates?" The elderly man's brows furrowed tightly as he spoke.

Han Li's expression changed slightly upon hearing the term "sacred sacrifice", and he said, "I think it's my turn to ask a question now."

A hint of fury reappeared on the elderly man's face, but he quickly repressed it, and said, "Alright, go ahead."

"My next question is very simple; I want to know if you're one of the Sacred Ancestors of the Elder Devil Realm," Han Li said in a solemn manner.

"Why waste a question like this if you've already guessed the answer? Not only am I a Sacred Ancestor, I'm one of the eldest Sacred Ancestors in our sacred realm! Even in the entire sacred realm, there are only a few beings as old as I am," the elderly man said in a cold voice.

Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this before chuckling, "I see, apologies for my rudeness earlier, then."

Judging from the elderly man's haughty demeanor and the astonishing abilities he had displayed, Han Li wasn't all that surprised to hear this.

"What are you laughing at? Do you find it funny that an esteemed Sacred Ancestor such as myself has been trapped in this place?" Che Qigong asked as a hint of rage flashed through his eyes.

"Not at all! Your powers are far superior to mine, so I'm certainly in no place to be laughing at you," Han Li replied in a calm voice as his smile faded. However, he had made a mental note to himself to tread with caution as the elderly man's mood seemed to be extremely volatile and unpredictable.

"You still seem to be very calm even after learning that I'm a Sacred Ancestor; are you under the impression that I won't devour this wisp of spiritual sense of yours?" Che Qigong threatened.

"If you wanted to do that, you would've done so long ago." Han Li remained completely unfazed.

Che Qigong calmed down slightly, and harrumphed, "Hmph, you're quite a smart man. If it weren't for the fact that I'm trapped in here, I would've killed a mere human cultivator like you on sight! Alright, answer my previous question now; are the Sacred Ancestors able to descend into the Spirit Realm yet?"

"The devilish tribulation only commenced not long ago, so it's still impossible for the Sacred Ancestors to descend into the Spirit Realm," Han Li replied in a truthful manner.

"I see." A hint of excitement flashed through Che Qigong's eyes upon hearing this, but he then fell into deep thought again, seemingly contemplating an important matter.

After a brief silence, Han Li asked his next question. "Would you be able to disclose to me the functions of this Devil Sealing Lock?"

The elderly man faltered slightly upon hearing this before turning to Han Li with a disdainful look in his eyes. "There's no way a human like you would be able to use the Devil Sealing Lock, so you won't benefit from this information."

"I'll be the one to decide whether this information will be useful to me or not," Han Li insisted.

"Alright, if you really want to know, then there's no harm in telling you. This Devil Sealing Lock is actually an incomplete Profound Heavenly Treasure that contains Chaotic Yin Yang Qi. Not only does it have its very own independent space, there are also 13 layers of ancient restrictions that have been cast onto the treasure by the top-grade formation masters of our sacred realm. Once someone is trapped in this treasure, they'll only be able to escape if they possess the ability to dispel Chaotic Yin Yang Qi on their own. Otherwise, even if someone were to remove the 13 restrictions from the outside, it still wouldn't do anything. In its complete form, this Profound Heavenly Treasure would even be able to trap a true immortal unless they just so happen to possess an ability that can counter this treasure. Even in its current form, it's still more than enough to trap a Sacred Ancestor like me," the elderly man said in a cold voice.

"An incomplete Profound Heavenly Treasure?" Han Li's calm facade immediately cracked upon hearing this.

He possessed a Profound Heavenly Treasure himself, so he was naturally well aware of just how powerful these treasures were. Even though this was only an incomplete Profound Heavenly Treasure, it was still an extremely tempting prospect to him.

"Hehe, unfortunately, this Devil Sealing Lock was created in our sacred realm, so only the Sacred Ancestors of our sacred race who are able to draw upon the power of laws of heaven and earth are able to make use of it. Even if an outsider like you were to obtain the treasure, it would serve no purpose. I just so happened to have recently broken into this restriction, and I managed to stop your spiritual sense from delving deeper into the box. Otherwise, if your spiritual sense clone had reached the space within the box, it would've been instantly destroyed by the Chaotic Yin Yang Qi in there," Che Qigong said in an indifferent manner.

"I see, so only those who can draw upon the powers of heaven and earth of the Elder Devil Realm can make use of such a treasure," Han Li murmured to himself in a contemplative manner.

"I suggest you don't get any funny ideas. I can see that you're using a cultivation art of our sacred race and can control some true devilish Qi, but unless you can hone your mastery of this cultivation art to the Sacred Ancestor level, there's no way you'll be able to draw upon the powers of heaven and earth of our sacred realm. If you really do manage to master that devilish art to such a degree, then you'll be renounced by the Spirit Realm and forced to ascend to our sacred realm," Che Qigong cautioned in a meaningful voice.

Han Li's eyelids twitched slightly upon hearing this, and after a long while, he finally sighed, "In that case, this item appears to be completely useless to me."

"That's right. That's why I told you it wouldn't benefit you to learn the functions of this treasure. On top of that, due to its incomplete nature, this treasure is bound by a severe limitation that makes it very difficult even for sacred ancestors like us to use," the elderly man said with a mysterious smile.

"What's the limitation?" Han Li asked as his brows furrowed slightly.

"Haha, I'm not going to tell you," Che Qigong chortled.

Han Li's expression darkened slightly upon hearing this. After a brief silence, the elderly man continued, "There's one more thing that I want to ask you; I hope you can answer me truthfully. Do you know if there are any places with Yin Yang Infernal Ponds or Earthly Hellish Flames in the nearby area?"

Instead of answering the question right away, a cautious look appeared on Han Li's face, and he asked, "Yin Yang Infernal Ponds or Earthly Hellish Flames? Why do you ask?"

"You sure have a lot of questions! You haven't even answered my questions yet," Che Qigong said in a cold voice as his expression darkened slightly.

"In that case, this will count as my question," Han Li replied in a calm manner.

The fury in the eyes of the elderly man became even more pronounced upon hearing this, and palpable spiritual pressure began to erupt from his body.

However, Han Li remained completely unfazed as he reminded, "You can do whatever you like to me; I'm just an insignificant clone."

"Hmph, you wouldn't dare to be this cocky if your true body were here!" Che Qigong harrumphed coldly as he forcibly repressed his own rage again.

After a brief hesitation, he explained in a resigned manner, "Those are the two types of places where the Devil Sealing Lock can be refined again. After placing this treasure into one of those places, a secret technique of our sacred race can be used to refine the treasure and extract some of the Chaotic Yin Yang Qi within it. This Chaotic Yin Yang Qi is extremely useful to Sacred Ancestors like us both for tool refinement, as well as to enhance our own powers. Due to the fact that the sacred realm is filled entirely with devilish Qi, those two types of places can only be found in the Spirit Realm. Otherwise, Xue Guang definitely wouldn't have entrusted this Devil Sealing Lock to his subordinates, and it certainly wouldn't have fallen into the hands of a human cultivator like you."

"Chaotic Yin Yang Qi can be extracted from the Devil Sealing Lock when it's put into one of those two types of places? Is that true?" Han Li was very surprised to hear this.

There were some records of Chaotic Yin Yang Qi in some ancient tomes, and those records all proclaimed that Chaotic Yin Yang Qi possessed countless types of incredible functions.

"Why would I lie to you about something like this? You were able to manifest a spiritual sense clone, so I presume you're a Body Integration cultivator. If you can absorb even a tiny wisp of Chaotic Yin Yang Qi, there's a chance that you could progress to the Grand Ascension Stage in the future! Even in the worst-case scenario, it should at least allow you to make an immediate breakthrough. If you use the Chaotic Yin Yang Qi to refine a treasure instead, then even the most ordinary of treasures could be transformed into a powerful Divine Spirit Treasure!" Che Qigong said.