A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality

The two-headed Elder Devil sinisterly laughed and his body disappeared in a blur of wind.

The Sovereign Devil Corpse who stood motionlessness in front of Han Li suddenly snarled and its arms suddenly moved, releasing countless green streaks with its claws in front of it.

Black light flickered and the Elder Devil appeared in front of the barrage of green claw streaks.

A harsh expression appeared on the devil’s ghost face and he swept one of his arms, sudden the green streaks suddenly grew denser and the striking sounds of the claws tearing through wind erupted in front of the devil. When the two sides made contacted, black light easily tore apart the green streaks and his arm had strangely grown a meter longer as he pierced his hand into the Sovereign Devil Corpse as if it were made of metal.

He withdrew his fingers and left behind a bloody bowl-sized hole that gushed out with putrid black blood.

While this wound would prove lethal to ordinary cultivators, to a Cadaver Demon, this merely caused for pain. It only served to stir it into a violent rage. Not only did it not retreat, but three meter-long spikes suddenly emerged from its arm, piercing towards the Elder Devil.

The devil soul yelped in surprise as the Sovereign Devil Corpse was far more tenacious than he had expected and the newly appeared spikes had astonished him, but soon the devil sneered and two of his arms blurred towards his chest. As soon as the three spikes emerged, they were firmly caught by his hands clad in jet-black armor. And with an evil grin on his face, he squeezed his hand and began to twist the spikes.

Before the Sovereign Devil Corpse’s claws were split into two, a tri-colored insect cloud suddenly appeared and swarmed around the devil. This astonishing development at such a close distance had greatly shocked the Elder Devil despite the devilish arts he had employed around him.

Just as the insect cloud was cover him, a fierce expression appeared on the devil’s face. He suddenly opened his mouth and spat out black waves to sweep up the tri-colored beetle cloud in front of him.

A strange scene resulted from this. The black waves swept across the black-tainted Gold Devouring Beetles and they were slowed down in the slightest. They merely released muffled bangs and ruptured one by one, filling the air with bloody bits.

This was to be expected, black-tainted Gold Devouring Beetles were nowhere as durable as the purely golden beetles, and the strengthened Elder Devil’s devilish soundwaves destroyed them completely.

Then, the Sovereign Devil Corpse raised its other hand.

The devil’s expression grimaced in impatience and he blurred from sight once more, suddenly appearing behind the Sovereign Devil Corpse and easily punched forward with his jet-black hand.

These actions appeared slow but just as the corpse puppet turned around, the fist had met its face. In that same moment, foot-long jet-black spikes of bone shot out from the fist and pierced through the corpse puppet’s head. It trembled before completely ceasing its movements.

The Elder Devil sinister smiled and black flames suddenly spread across from the spikes of bone. He then pulled out the bone spikes and the corpse puppet swayed several times before falling to the ground, completely covered in black flames.

The devil then charged into the Gold Devouring Beetles and began to swipe with the spikes emerging from his fist. 

When Han Li saw the Elder Devil arrive near him and his Sovereign Devil Corpse charged to meet him, he instantly thought to retreat and increase the distance between them. 

At that same time, he pointed to all of the golden sword lights that were revolving around him and launched a successive series of spell seals at the swords, creating a golden wave formed from layers upon layers of sword afterimages. Han Li’s expression stirred and thought to use them to suppress the devil, but he didn’t think that the devil would defeat his Sovereign Devil Corpse so quickly.

Han Li felt a chill run down his spine and bitterly cursed in his mind as he felt his heart ache. This was the first time he had made use of the Sovereign Devil Corpse since he had refined it and it was easily defeated by the Elder Devil. It was unknown whether or not the corpse puppet managed to survive, but either way, it wouldn’t be of any use for the rest of the battle.

With that thought, Han Li began to control tiger demon puppets that were standing in front of him and had them charged towards the devil in flashes of white light.

As for the huge tortoise puppets, they remained at Han Li’s side and continued to shoot ice-attribute beams of light from their mouths. As for the sword blurs above Han Li’s heard, they all rumbled as they moved to envelop the Elder Devil.

The devil coldly snorted when he saw this and he waved his four arms, jutting out differently-sized bone spikes from his fists and elbows. There were those that were crooked and straight, but they all glinted with a cold ominous light as if they were incredibly sharp. Before the tiger demon puppets could even approach, the devil had disappeared in a blur.

Having lost sight of his target, he couldn’t help but cease his attacks. At that moment, black light flashed and the devil appeared close behind one of the tiger demon puppets. The devil swiped his four arms with ease. The puppet then sparkled with black light before promptly collapsing into a pile of scrap.

His figure blurred and the devil disappeared once more. Then a puppet to the right sparkled with black light before being pierced through the chest by a dense bone spike, and it immediately went limp. Han Li watched this with furious alarm and he commanded to golden swordstreaks to pursue the devil.

However, the devil disappeared once more and a moment later, he appeared in an unpredicted area. The joined concealment and movement techniques of the strengthened Elder Devil was seamless. And with each reappearance, another tiger demon puppet collapsed. They weren’t able to block him in the slightest.

Han Li had always been prideful of how he was far stronger than most of the cultivators that he encountered, but now that he saw the Elder Devil’s abilities, he felt blood run cold. All of his previous battles were nothing in comparison to the enemy he now faced. Even with the full use of the Brightsight Spirit Eyes, he wasn’t able to keep track of the devil.

As fear lingered in his mind, the Elder Devil eventually made his way to the last tiger demon puppet and withdrew his arm from the puppet’s neck. He then set his eyes on Han Li, his icy gaze causing Han Li’s hair to stand on end.

Ever since he formed a Nascent Soul, he had never felt this unsettled until now. Han Li took a deep breath and made his utmost attempt to stay calm.

It seemed that with the Elder Devil’s strange teleportation-like movement, it would be quite difficult to place down the Aureate Sword Formation. It seemed he would have to use another method to buy himself time.

With that thought, Han Li pointed to the wave of sword Qi and had it return above his head in a series of clear rings. The golden wave formed from the swordlight then enveloped Han Li within it.

Soon after, Han Li formed an incantation gesture and sounds of thunder erupted from his body. Dense arcs of lightning then emerged from his body and began to weave together to form clothes of lightning on his body. They continuously flickered with golden light in a blinding display.

At that same time, he opened his mouth and shot out a glaring ball of purple light. With a crackle, purple flames expanded from the ball and a piercing cry sounded out. The ball of light transformed into a foot-long bird of purple flames. It continuously fluttered around Han Li, leaving behind flickering purple embers all around him in a gorgeous display.

This was the entirety of the Purple Apex Flames that Han Li had refined until now.

Han Li’s chain of actions had drawn the Elder Devil’s attention. A hostile expression appeared on the devil’s ghost place and he remained still for a moment as if to examine what Han Li was doing before launching another sudden attack.

Han Li expressionlessly glanced at the devil’s sister bearing and flipped his hand to summon a small crimson sword in his hand. It was only several inches long, but its body was a translucent crimson and glowed with the color of blood. A thread of black Qi wandered around the sword as well. This was the Blood Devil Sword that Han Li had acquired from Nangong Wan’s Senior Martial Sister.

The small crimson sword appeared in front of Han Li and began to tremble before he even used it, releasing a bloody scent in the air.

Han Li knew that rashly using this sword would bring consequences, but he on was the verge of life and death. He spat a mist of blood essence onto the small sword and it brilliantly glowed, expending to about a foot long as it floated in place.

Han Li solemnly grabbed the sword’s handle and glanced at it, suddenly feeling a large quantity of his body’s true essence flow into the sword. He quickly let go in alarm and severed the connection to the sword, feeling apprehension from the sword’s wicked nature. After resolving himself, Han Li grabbed the sword once more and looked at the Elder Devil across from him.

A surprised expression appeared on the Elder Devil’s face when he saw Blood Devil Sword and his gaze focused on it.

Han Li felt bewildered when he saw the Elder Devil’s expression.

After a moment of thought, the Elder Devil confirmed what the sword was and a happy expression appeared on his face. He said, “Very good. I didn’t think that we left behind sacred tools from our realm. If you agree to hand over that sacred tool to me, I will spare your life and allow you to leave.” 

Amazed, Han Li frowned and asked, “Sacred tool? This is a magic tool from the Elder Devil Realm?” 

The Elder Devil snorted and glared at him, speaking with an icy tone, “The matters of the Holy Realm does not concern you. I am simply asking if you agree or not!” 

“If you were a human cultivator, there is no harm in agreeing in order to save my own life. You, on the other hand, hehe...” Han Li then wore a mocking expression.