A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality

Chapter 646: Aureate Sword Formation

[TL Note: The Swordshadow Phantasm Technique is now known as the Swordlight Reflection Technique.]

Han Li meditated without any further thought and began to circulate the Qi into his body. The icy sensation in his eyes only grew stronger.

If anyone were standing in front of Han Li at that moment, they would’ve discovered that a layer of blue light began to weakly cover his eyes.

An hour later, the icy sensation gradually faded away from his eyes and Han Li deeply sighed. His eyelids trembled for a moment before they opened. He unconsciously glanced around with a trace of doubt on his face.

Han Li glance around and muttered to himself, “It doesn’t seem that anything has changed. Could it be ineffective?”

But after a moment more of thought, he suddenly poured spiritual power into his eyes and deeply glanced around. A blue light sparkled from deep within his eyes.

“Yi!” Han Li couldn’t help but shout out. He was able to see the restrictions in the silent room, and his eyes were stained light blue. However, his focus was disrupted from his surprise and the scene before him returned to normal.

Han Li glanced at the ball of spirit water still floating in front of him and thought, ‘It was no wonder that cultivators at Core Formation stage and beyond hold no interest in Brightsight Water. This meager ability to barely see through anything is to little effect. There are many supplementary magic techniques that could achieve a far stronger effect. However, this is only the result of cleansing the eyes one time. If I were to periodically use the Brightsight Water, perhaps my eyes would gain a miraculous ability. I’m looking forward to it.”

Without any reservations, Han Li used the remaining Brightsight water to repeatedly cleanse his eyes. This amount of spirit water was enough for over ten cultivators to cleanse their eyes once through, but with Han Li’s profound cultivation, he was able to consume all of it after only a few times.

Once the spirit water was completely consumed, Han Li still observed no changes. It was only when he focused spiritual power into his eyes that blue light suddenly appeared within them. It’s ability to see through restrictions wasn’t particularly improved. As Han Li had plenty of time, he wasn’t dejected by these results. It would just be a gradual process.

On the second day, Han Li had a quick word with Silvermoon before he entered seclusion and took out the golden page that recorded the Azure Essence Sword Arts.

This sword art was a complete set, containing thirteen layers. The divine abilities of the sword art included the Azure Essence Swordstreaks, the protective sword shield, and the Swordlight Reflection Technique.

The first two techniques weren’t particularly notable. Although they were easy to use, their power was nothing special. As for the Swordlight Reflection Technique, Han Li was greatly satisfied by it.

He made use of that divine ability to great and immediate effect, bringing many battles to a sudden conclusion. However, because his opponents had been truly too powerful, the might of this sword art wasn’t well displayed. He was confident that any common cultivator with similar cultivation to his own would be incapable of blocking several hundred of swordlights that surrounded them. They would be skewered in an instant.

As of current, he had already cultivated to the tenth layer of the sword art and could now make use of the sword art’s new divine ability. It had been quite laughable. He had already acquired the entirety of the Azure Essence Sword Arts from the golden page [1], but the final passage containing the last divine ability had been obscured from him at the time, perhaps by intention of the page’s creator.

Although he clearly knew that the words of light had contained the cultivation method for the final divine ability, his cultivation had been too shallow at the time. Even when he was at late Core Formation stage, he was still incapable of reading the divine ability.

When Han Li was first given the cultivation incantations for the thirteen layers, he found the incantations for a realm higher than his own to be incomprehensibly profound. Despite reading through it several times, Han Li wasn’t able to comprehend a lick of them, let alone be able to cultivate them. It seemed he’d have to be a stage from Deity Transformation stage before finally being able to comprehend the divine ability that was hidden.

At the time, Han Li wasn’t flustered by this. Due to fear of sect disciples overreaching their limits in the pursuit of greater power, it was common practice in the cultivation world to subject inheritances under cultivation restrictions. Han Li clearly understood that when his cultivation was at a great enough level, he would come to understand the cultivation method of the divine ability eventually.

Now that he had reached Nascent Soul stage, reading the passage for the divine ability should pose no problem.

With that thought, Han Li flung the golden page into the air and spat out a mist of azure light from his mouth, blowing the golden page into the air like a feather. He then began to flick his finger with a calm expression, repeatedly striking the golden mist with Azure Essence Swordstreaks. Each glint of light was cleanly absorbed by it.

With Han Li’s current profound spiritual power, it had been far quicker to react than when he was at Foundation Establishment stage. A short moment later, the golden page absorbed enough essence and began to flourish with golden light. Strings of ant-sized characters began to continuously appear on the page.

When Han Li saw this, he extended his hand towards the floating golden page without any hesitation and it flew into his grasp with a woosh. Suddenly, dense lines of light characters rushed towards Han Li’s head.

Han Li accepted the string of words with a calm expression. As a result, he was now able to clearly see the previously obscure portion of the Azure Essence Sword Arts.

Without any further thought, he put away the golden page and immediately closed his eyes, examining the new acquired divine ability.

“The Aureate Sword Formation! What is this? Could it be related to spell formations?” Han Li merely through to read through the information, but the words Aureate Sword Formation immediately appeared in his mind in huge golden characters. He couldn’t help but be astonished.

The faintly gold characters of light began to appear within his spiritual sense and he began to comprehend the incantations. He sat still in a cross-legged manner as three days unknowingly passed.

During this time, Han Li’s face wore an assortment of varying expressions from excitement to misery. Even dense beads of sweat would occasionally form on his brow. When the end of the third day arrived, Han Li became calm once more. He sighed with a gloomy expression, opening his eyes to reveal deep thought

He pursed his lips and muttered with an odd expression, “This sword formation could only be described as outrageous. Even if I only received a third of its described power upon cultivating it to completion, I would be able to travel anywhere throughout the Heavenly South Region without hindrance.”

Han Li muttered as he continued to ponder, “However, being able to use this ability isn’t a matter of a few years. I will need to use at least a hundred sword lights if I am able to use this ability. It was no wonder the two golden pages fundamentally served as one. With one detailing the incantations and the other describing the Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, they are lacking without the other. I reckon the Swordlight Reflection Technique was founded for the sword formation. Otherwise, the formation wouldn’t have been possible.”

Of course, the more powerful the flying swords and the greater the number of swordlights, the more powerful the sword formation.

Han Li reckoned that with enough time he would be able to produce four swordlight reflections from each of the seventy-two Cloudswarm Swords, forming a grand sword formation of three hundred sixty swordlights. If any mid Nascent Soul cultivators fell into the formation, they would be incapable of escaping unharmed, if they managed to survive. Additionally, once his own cultivation progressed, he would be able to create even more swordlights, enabling him to slay even late Nascent Soul cultivators. But in addition to acquiring enough swordlights to establish a formation, he must use this divine ability to refine his Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords once more, requiring a material known as Auric Essence.

This material wasn’t unknown to Han Li as it was known by an extremely famous name in the cultivation world as Honed Gold. It was a rarely seen treasure on par with Han Li’s piece of refined crystal he had acquired from those Ironfire Ants. However, some would say the Auric Essence was far more valuable.

So long as a small piece of Auric Essence was used to temper a blade type magic treasure, its incisiveness would be increased several times over. To sword or saber cultivators, this was a matter of life and death.

However, this was quite troublesome from Han Li. Even if a single sword required a small amount of Auric Essence, it was an astonishing amount when multiplied by seventy-two. Where would Han Li find such a large amount of Honed Gold?

After all, as soon Auric Essence was discovered, it would either by applied to one’s own magic treasure or would immediately be exchanged for needed items. It would quickly be used one way or another. Let alone the Heavenly South Region, this treasured material hardly ever appeared in the abundantly wealthy Scattered Star Seas. It would be impossible for him to trade for this precious stone.

As of current, the astonishing might of this Aureate Sword Formation was fundamentally unobtainable, like flowery mist or the reflection of the moon in water.

After further thought in the silent room, Han Li could only bitterly chuckle and set aside the matter for the time being. He then took out a jade box from his storage pouch and opened it to reveal a lustrous ball of golden light. Rolls of thunder faintly clapped as soon as it appeared.

“Celestial Ice Flames!”

When he glanced at this precious treasure, Han Li’s expression grew sullen. With his current cultivation, he could now make an attempt to refine the flames. If he could successfully refine this icy flame, he could very likely acquire the Heavenvoid Cauldron.

[1] In Chapter 241, Han Li acquired the complete Sword Essence Sword Arts from the golden page's words of light.