Chapter 1000: Heavenly Phenomenon Transformation

A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality - Download:

A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality - Volume 6: Heavenly Spiritual Treasures

Not long after, the cultivators who had gone to investigate the other magic formations returned. Their reports were identical to the first: the formations were destroyed, and the disciples operating them had vanished without a trace.

This revelation caused great concern among everyone. All the cultivators of the Ye family fell silent.

"Within a hundred-mile radius of this place, there are no other cultivators besides those from our Ye family. If someone had infiltrated later to destroy them, their timing would be far too coincidental. We had just lifted the seal, and immediately someone tampered with the concealed formations. It seems the problem lies within our own ranks," the scholar said with a cold laugh.

"One of our own!"

"That's impossible! These are all members of the Ye family; how could they do such a thing?"

"All Ye family members? Not necessarily. Isn't there someone here who isn't surnamed Ye?"

After a moment of discussion, someone immediately spoke up.

Upon hearing this, most of the cultivators instinctively looked towards one person.

That person had an ordinary appearance and a calm expression. It was indeed the human cultivator, a manifestation of the Ancient Devil.

"Elder Han was personally invited by me and has been with Uncle Seven all along. Stop making baseless suspicions," the Ye family's Grand Elder interjected, stopping the discussion.

"That's right. Fellow Daoist Han has indeed been with me. We've had a very pleasant conversation!" the large-headed strange man also said nonchalantly.

Hearing the strange man's confirmation, the other cultivators were naturally convinced by this Ye family elder. Their suspicions immediately vanished.

At this moment, the scholar instructed the square-faced cultivator:

"Second Brother, go to the bottom of the lake and confirm. See if anyone else is missing, apart from the vanished disciples."

"Understood!" the square-faced cultivator readily agreed. He then transformed into a streak of light and disappeared into the lake.

"Elders, let us also prepare. Although the phenomena here are astonishing and can no longer be concealed, no force will pose a threat to us in the short term. There are no major sects in the Southern Border region, and it will take more than ten days or half a month for cultivators from other places to arrive here. Although we don't know the situation inside Mount Kunwu, we must unearth the treasures within as soon as possible, especially those two Heavenly Spiritual Treasures. We must obtain them within a short period. Only then, even if our plans are discovered, will we have the power to protect ourselves. Otherwise, not only will centuries of planning become a boon for others, but the Ye family will also face the catastrophe of extermination! This situation must not be allowed to happen," the white-robed scholar grimly told the others.

"Yes, Grand Elder!" The other Ye family elders, their hearts chilled by his words, responded in unison.

After a while, the square-faced cultivator and the white-robed elder simultaneously shot out from beneath the lake.

As soon as the square-faced cultivator reached the white-robed scholar, he said with a grim expression:

"Third Brother, two formation masters are indeed missing from below: the nephews from Fifth Brother's and Twelfth Brother's families. Could these two have dared to betray us and collude with the enemy?"

"Hmph! Betrayal might not be the case, but they could have been soul-searched and killed by someone. When did they go missing?" the scholar asked with a cold snort.

"It's been two days. These two were responsible for formations in very remote areas, and no one suspected anything at the time. It wasn't until today, when all the disciples were supposed to gather, that their disappearance was noticed," the white-haired elder replied, cold sweat beading on his face.

"It seems the problem truly lies with these two. However, regardless of the truth, it's no longer important now. Once we enter Mount Kunwu, all formation masters and clan disciples should withdraw immediately. By the way, have you confirmed the location of the sealed fissure?" the scholar calmly asked.

"It has been found using a formation. It's underground, twenty miles north of here. There should be a fissure several tens of feet long, a thousand zhang beneath the surface. The elders can directly dive in," the white-haired elder quickly replied.

"Lead the way; we're departing," the scholar said without hesitation.

"Yes, Grand Elder!" The white-haired elder bowed in response.

Immediately, a group of nine cultivators flew north. Moments later, their streaks of light arrived above a dense forest twenty miles away, where the trees below grew lush and green.

The white-haired elder stopped his light, scanned his surroundings, then flipped his palm to reveal a pale silver spell plate.

Chanting incantations, the elder cast a spell onto the plate, which immediately glowed with spiritual light, faintly revealing various rune patterns.

"Excellent, this is the place!" the white-haired elder said with certainty after observing the spell plate for a moment.

"Good! Ninth Sister, release your spirit beast, and let's go down," the scholar turned and said to an old Daoist nun behind him.

The nun agreed, patting her spirit beast bag at her waist. A yellow light shot out, rapidly expanding in the wind, and in a flash, transformed into a centipede over ten zhang long, spewing green mist and looking exceptionally fierce.

Without needing further instruction, all the Ye family cultivators, except for the white-haired elder, flew onto the centipede's back.

The old Daoist nun let out a low cry, and a faint yellow light shield enveloped the giant centipede, instantly encasing all the cultivators. Then, with a swing of its body, the centipede plunged straight downward.

The centipede's massive body silently sank into the ground the moment it touched it, disappearing in an instant.

This was, unexpectedly, a demonic beast proficient in earth-burrowing techniques.

The white-haired elder lingered in the air for a moment. Seeing no signs of the Ye family cultivators reappearing, he let out a long breath and turned to fly back the way they came.

Almost simultaneously, two hundred miles away, high in the sky, several cultivators in blue robes with red headwraps stared at the seven towering milky-white light pillars in the distance, exchanging bewildered glances.

"What is that? What an astonishing celestial phenomenon," a young man in his twenties said, wide-eyed.

"Whatever it is, it's definitely not ordinary. Junior Brother Yu, quickly return to the sect and report this. I will take the rest of the junior brothers to investigate first!" the dark-faced cultivator leading the group instructed gravely.

Another cultivator, hearing this, immediately agreed and flew away on his artifact.

The remaining cultivators, led by the middle-aged one, swiftly sped towards the small lake.

Further away, on the peak of a tall mountain, hundreds of cultivators in various attires were densely gathered. These cultivators were mostly low-level, primarily at the Qi Condensation stage, with very few at the Foundation Establishment stage. It appeared to be a small gathering of low-tier cultivators.

Although their cultivation levels were low, the eye-catching light pillars were clearly visible to all. At this moment, everyone, whether standing on boulders or flying in the air on their artifacts, gazed at the direction of the light pillars in astonishment.

At the foot of an unknown desolate mountain, a slightly stout old man stood outside a half-open stone gate, looking at the several light pillars in the sky with a thoughtful expression.

In a similar vein, centered around the small lake where the Ye family cultivators were, cultivators within several thousand miles were all alarmed by the astonishing light pillars. Nearby cultivator families and reclusive rogue cultivators alike swiftly flew towards the source of the light.

Not long after, news of a rare treasure appearing in the area spread rapidly throughout the Southern Border.

A few days later, even neighboring prefectures heard the rumors.

For a time, the entire Southern Border was plunged into turmoil!

At the same time the Ye family cultivators entered underground, Han Li stood in the center of a massive teleportation array in an unknown location. Surrounding him were huge, rough stone walls, resembling a vast stalactite cave.

At this moment, he was looking down at several objects on the ground with a dejected expression. These were shattered crimson, crystal-clear rings, faintly shimmering with spiritual light.

They were, astonishingly, the very restraint artifacts that had previously trapped the Silver-winged Nightshade's body.

Now that the rings were broken and the Silver-winged Nightshade was nowhere to be seen, the outcome was obvious.

Thinking of this, Han Li's gaze shifted to his waist.

A green jade talisman, faintly glowing, was affixed there.

Han Li found the talisman's pattern somewhat familiar; it was an extremely rare teleportation talisman.

He had seen similar talismans when teleporting in the Scattered Star Seas, but those were merely paper talismans back then.

Han Li frowned, then flipped his palm, revealing a dazzling blue token—the Great Teleportation Token he had obtained years ago.

When he was teleported out, he didn't know where he would end up and feared being torn apart by spatial pressure if the destination was too far.

Therefore, he had instantly taken out this token and held it firmly.

However, to his utter surprise, as the teleportation spiritual light appeared, this talisman inexplicably manifested at his waist, giving him no chance to evade it.

He wondered if this was a special feature inherent to the giant teleportation array itself, or a clever arrangement made by the cultivator who set up the formation years ago.

Nonetheless, such ancient teleportation talismans were surely vastly different from modern ones and held great research value.

As he pondered, Han Li raised his hand to grab the jade talisman. But before his fingertips could even touch it, the talisman suddenly dissipated with a soft "poof," turning into countless specks of spiritual light.

He was startled, then forced a bitter smile.

The effort put into creating this teleportation talisman was truly immense, yet the spiritual power contained within it was only enough for a single use. It seemed that other teleportation talismans would also be impossible to preserve.

By "other," Han Li was referring to the identical jade talismans affixed to the Soul Eater, which was not far from him, and to the two gray cocoons still suspended in the air.

Indeed, the moment he looked up, these talismans vanished one after another, just as he had expected.

As for the Corpse Wolf, it had already turned into a true corpse. The Soul Eater, having transformed into a beast several zhang in size, was excitedly jumping and beating its chest on the wolf's carcass.

It was truly unlucky for this wolf. When it emerged from the teleportation array, it happened to be right next to Han Li. Since Han Li's spiritual sense was far superior, he was the first to recover from the teleportation dizziness. Naturally, he unceremoniously struck the wolf fiercely with his Spirit-Dispelling Divine Thunder, critically injuring it.

Moreover, the Soul Eater immediately spewed out yellow mist, instantly absorbing all the Corpse Qi from the wolf's body, thus easily finishing off the giant wolf.

The Silver-winged Nightshade, however, seemed indifferent to the wolf and showed no intention of continuing to fight Han Li over it.

The creature, finally free, seized the opportunity to immediately use its wind-escape technique, vanishing with the wind, and departed the area.