A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality

Chapter 337: A Concealed Expert, Crooked Soul

“As for tonight’s matters, I do not wish for Spirit Beast Mountain to know of them. You two should keep this to yourselves!” Han Li suddenly raised his head and coldly glanced at the Rainbow Sect Master and his son.

The old man’s heart trembled in fear and he remained silent with a humble appearance.

Han Li wordlessly stared at the Rainbow Sect Master for a moment. When he saw that the old man had broken out in a cold sweat, he revealed a smile and then his body blurred, disappearing without a trace.

While the old man was stunned, he felt a hand lightly pat his shoulder. His body immediately stiffened as he slowly turned his head.

Han Li was indifferently standing behind him.

“Does Sir Immortal have any commands? This old man will certainly follow them.” The Rainbow Sect Master said with an apprehensive smile.

“It’s nothing. I just wanted to give you a greeting.” Han Li replied with a calm expression.

“A greeting?”

The old man was startled, not fully understanding Han Li’s intentions. But something soon came to mind and he hastily inspected his body with worry. Fortunately, he didn’t find anything unusual and calmed down.

Han Li then released his Divine Wind Boat and appeared inside with a flash.

After giving a deep glance at the youth and the old man, Han Li coldly chuckled and flew off in a streak of white light.

The old man and his son were left completely baffled along with Mo Yuzhu.

……

As Han Li flew on his Divine Wind Boat, he unconsciously sneered.

Although the old man had said that he didn’t dare to tell Spirit Beast Mountain about him, Han Li saw something amiss from his expression.

Having seen this, Han Li naturally wouldn’t ignore a deep schemer who held hatred toward him, even if he was a mortal.

Therefore, when he had appeared behind him, he secretly took action and had a “Burrowing Worm” enter his body with a pat.

This insect was very strange. It was the size of a fine hair and was nearly invisible to the naked eye, only completely detectable through spiritual sense. So long as it entered the body, it would slowly crawl through one’s blood vessels and eventually reach the heart.

After one or two years, the infected party would start to experience heart pain and an inability to sleep soundly. The symptoms would grow increasingly severe over a span of several months until the heart pain surges, leading to death. It would appear no different than if he had died an ordinary death from heart problems. Even expert cultivators wouldn’t find anything wrong in the least unless they knew what to look for beforehand.

Since it would occur such a long time after Han Li had patted his shoulder, no association would be made to Han Li.

This unscrupulous and strange insect was something Han Li had acquired from the spoils of a Devil Dao cultivator. He initially had no idea what it was until he had someone else appraise it. Now knowing its purpose and usage, he had used it on the Rainbow Sect Master.

With this, he was able to fulfill his promise to Mo Fengwu without appearing evil in front of Mo Yuzhu. Han Li felt quite pleased with himself.

Han Li currently no longer cared if they informed Spirit Beast Mountain that Han Li had been there.

After all, he hadn’t harmed the father or the son in the slightest. Presumably, Spirit Beast Mountain wouldn’t pursue him over such a minor affair. As for the Rainbow Sect Master’s son, he seemed decent. Han Li hoped that Mo Yuzhu would have a happy life with him.

With that thought, he flew his Divine Wind Boat to the west of Jia Yuan City.

He wanted to hurry and resolve this matter of Crooked Soul’s peculiarity. Although he didn’t know what Crooked Soul was up to, he definitely couldn’t just leave him alone.

West of Jia Yuan City was a tall mountain range filled with dense forest. It was said that poisonous snakes and fierce beasts roamed in these parts. As such, people would rarely tread in that region. This was most likely the main reason why Crooked Soul ran there after the peculiarity had arisen.

Han Li silently observed the densely covered mountain range from the sky.

After a long while, he took out the “Soul Guiding Bell” from his storage pouch.

He gradually poured Spiritual Power into the bell as he grasped it in his palm. A short while later, the Soul Guiding Bell glowed with faint white light and floated in the air.

“Go.”

After he threw the small bell, he formed an incantation gesture with his other hand and softly spat out his command.

The Soul Guiding Bell trembled for a moment before releasing a clear ring. It then flew off at great speed.

Han Li faintly smiled and chased after it with his Divine Wind Boat.

By using Crooked Soul’s blood essence that the bell contained, he was able to easily use the bell to track down where Crooked Soul was located. Naturally, he couldn’t do this if the bell was too far away from Crooked Soul. If Crooked Soul was over five hundred kilometers away, Han Li would be powerless to act. But now that the bell had responded, Han Li grew happy, knowing that Crooked Soul was concealed nearby.

The small bell flew straight for about fifteen kilometers before suddenly descending. When Han Li saw this, he knew he had found his objective and immediately grabbed the small bell in midair. Then, he completely covered the small, glowing bell in a layer of azure light.

From Sun Ergou’s words, Han Li knew that Crooked Soul could now sense the Soul Guiding Bell. By concealing the bell’s aura, he could avoid having Crooked Soul flee.

He quietly descended on a small mountain’s peak and started to sweep his gaze in every direction.

Although it was already dark, Han Li was still able to vaguely see as he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator. As a result, he headed straight towards the direction in which the small bell had originally descended, into a large pile of stones on the mountaintop.

Han Li walked without the slightest sound as if he was a ghost. From Han Li’s measures, he had ultimately caught Crooked Soul completely unaware. Crooked Soul was sitting cross-legged on a huge rock in meditation as if he were refining Qi.

Hidden behind a rock, Han Li secretly watched Crooked Soul with complete amazement.

Han Li was able to feel Spiritual Qi within Crooked Soul’s body. His Spiritual Qi fluctuations indicated that he was at the fifth or sixth layer of Qi Refinement, leaving Han Li stunned.

Han Li had clearly remembered that Zhang Tie1 was originally unable to cultivate the “Eternal Spring Arts” because he didn’t have spiritual roots.

‘Wait! Although Zhang Tie was unable to cultivate the Eternal Spring Arts, that didn’t mean that he didn’t possess any spiritual roots. It only meant that he didn’t have wood attribute spiritual roots. Could it be that Zhang Tie possessed spiritual roots of another attribute?’ Han Li thought, suddenly coming to a realization.

‘What were the odds! Doctor Mo was actually able to accept two disciples with spiritual roots when a person with spiritual roots couldn’t normally be found among ten thousand mortals.’

With incredulity, Han Li continued his thoughts, ‘It is truly unfortunate. Because he didn’t have similar attributed spiritual roots, we ended up with completely different fates. If I happened to not have wood attributed spiritual roots, then would I have ended up…” Han Li felt a trace of lingering fear in his heart.

“However, how did Crooked Soul acquire a foundation cultivation technique he could use? Could it be…?”

Han Li seemed to have thought of something and wrinkled his brow. His eyes flashed with malicious intent, but he continued to silently watch Crooked Soul cultivate.

After the time it took to eat a meal, Crooked Soul opened his eyes. He stood up and stretched his limbs.

His eyes displayed intelligence as if he truly possessed consciousness.

But when Han Li saw this, his face only appeared gloomier and his expression held a faint trace of maliciousness.

“Today’s progress wasn’t bad! It seems that in four months, I won’t have to be afraid of the magic tool that controls this body.”

As Crooked Soul revealed happiness, he heard an ice-cold voice from his side.

“It seems that your esteemed self is quite satisfied with that body!”

“Who is it?”

Crooked Soul’s expression turned cautious as he hastily looked in the direction of the voice.

At this moment, Han Li walked out from concealment with an icy expression.

“Who are you?”

“Yi! You’re a Foundation Establishment Cultivator!”

When Crooked Soul discovered that he was unable to see through the depth of Han Li’s cultivation, he couldn’t help but reveal fear.

“That’s what I wanted to know. Why did you occupy and steal that body? That is the body of my close friend, and I personally handed it over to my subordinate for safekeeping. You’ve occupied that body for so many years, so how about you give me an explanation?” Han Li calmly said.

“This body is yours?” Crooked Soul revealed doubt as his eyes continuously shifted about. It was clear that he had some sly plan in mind.

When Han Li saw this, he coldly sneered. He suddenly flipped his hand, revealing the Soul Guiding Bell.

“What are you doing?” When Crooked Soul saw Han Li move, he immediately jumped ten meters back like a frightened hare; he then stared at Han Li with a face of vigilance.

Although he had previously felt the existence of the Soul Guiding Bell, he did not know its specific form. He also didn’t know that the small bell was a magic tool that specialized in controlling his body. He had only believed that Han Li had taken out a magic tool to casually act against him.

1. Han Li’s friend and fellow disciple of Doctor Mo who was later refined into Crooked Soul.