Chapter 2041: Hard Break-In

Book Title: A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality

“Let’s go. Your movement just now was quite fast, but it might have startled others,” the woman in palace attire said flatly, suddenly retracting the compass in her hand.

With a wave of her sleeve, a brilliant pink glow enveloped her and the black-armored man. They transformed into a sphere of light, rose into the air, circled once, and then shot away into the distance.

Their direction was straight towards the coral islands ahead!

Within the escaping light, the woman in palace attire gazed forward, her beautiful eyes slightly narrowed, her face devoid of expression.

The black-armored man covertly glanced at the woman’s face. After a long while, he finally couldn't help but ask:

“Mistress, why did the altar suddenly explode at the very last moment? You weren’t harmed, were you?”

“It’s nothing. The backlash from the spell was just stronger than expected, which made it uncontrollable in the end. I’m fine, but all eight of my substitute puppets were destroyed. I won’t be able to use divination until I forge replacements, which will take quite some time,” the woman in palace attire replied slowly, without concealing anything.

“What? Such a thing happened? Your divination just now, Mistress…” The black-armored man’s heart tightened as he murmured.

“Don’t worry. Although the spell wasn’t fully completed, I still managed to get some divinatory trigrams. However, the prophecy from these trigrams is hard to interpret; it’s too vague, and there seem to be contradictions within it. But one thing is certain: these individuals are indeed greatly related to the recovery of my cultivation. For now, just follow them closely without alarming them. I need to think carefully to truly decipher it.” The woman in palace attire said calmly.

“Yes, Mistress. Then let’s quickly pursue them. This group has gathered so many Body Integration stage cultivators and traveled such a long distance; their objective must be extraordinary,” the black-armored man replied respectfully, initially surprised by the revelation.

“No matter what their intentions are, by following them, we will eventually find out,” the woman in palace attire said, her expression unchanged.

“You’ve already secretly placed a mark on that human woman, and they are in the open while we are concealed. They won’t be able to shake off our pursuit,” the black-armored man chuckled, grinning broadly.

This time, the woman in palace attire merely nodded, saying nothing further.

Seeing this, the black-armored man wisely fell silent.

Several hours later, above an enormous coral island hundreds of miles wide.

Under the cover of the Sacred Lady Qianqiu’s treasure, Han Li and his group had stopped their flight. They hovered several thousand feet in the air, gazing from a distance at a demonic fortress.

This demonic fortress occupied nearly half the island’s area. Its gray perimeter walls were a hundred zhang high, and layers of dense restrictions were deployed around it.

Even several layers of black light barriers enveloped the entire fortress.

On the city walls, demonic guards armed with various weapons were visible everywhere. In the high sky, strange twin-headed demonic birds circled and flew nearby.

In the center of the fortress, platoons of demonic armored soldiers constantly patrolled, indicating extremely strict defenses.

Above the fortress, a massive black cloud, hundreds of mu in size, churned ceaselessly. Rumbling sounds echoed within, and silver arcs flickered intermittently, creating an eerie and terrifying atmosphere.

“Are you mistaken? This is what Brother Long called a ‘small’ demonic presence?” Sacred Lady Qianqiu said grimly after observing the distant demonic fortress.

The expressions of the other Saint Spirits also turned somewhat unpleasant.

As for Han Li, the feather-clad maiden from the Ye family, and the other human cultivators, although they said nothing, their gazes towards the Long Family Ancestor were naturally filled with suspicion.

“Fellow Daoists, please don’t misunderstand. I only recently sent people to scout this location. The demonic forces stationed here genuinely weren’t this numerous before, and the fortress constructed was very small. Its current appearance is far beyond my expectations. It seems the demons here suddenly dispatched a large number of reinforcements, leading to such an extensive expansion,” the Long Family Ancestor explained with a wry smile.

“Hmm, I trust Brother Long wouldn’t deceive us on such an important matter. But how do you plan to proceed now, Fellow Daoist? Should we find another passage? After all, with so many demons here, there might even be a Demonic Venerable presiding over them. Our original plan might not be feasible anymore,” Sacred Lady Qianqiu said, her expression softening after a moment of contemplation.

“It’s probably too late to find another location. Among all the demonic nodes I’ve investigated, this passage is the most suitable for us. Other places would be quite dangerous, even if I could reach the Demon Realm. And while this fortress is larger, it’s highly unlikely there’s a Demonic Venerable stationed here by such a coincidence. However, our original method of infiltration is indeed no longer suitable for this situation. Although the pseudo-demonic beads are incredibly effective at deceiving the senses and spiritual perception of high-ranking demons, their resistance to restrictive forces is somewhat lacking. With so many restrictions here now, if there are a few powerful ones mixed in, our presence might be exposed, leading us directly into the demon army. Instead, we should directly conceal our forms and fly towards the node. If we are discovered, we’ll simply force our way through. With our combined strength, if one or two Demonic Venerables dare to obstruct us, we can simply eliminate them together. Once we reach the Demon Realm, it will be like dragons entering the sea; they won’t be able to pursue us at all,” the Long Family Ancestor said, a fierce glint appearing in his eyes after a moment of deliberation.

“I agree with Brother Long. With our combined strength, we don’t need to be overly cautious. Forcing our way through is also a swift and decisive method,” the disheveled-haired man from the Lin family said, a fierce light flashing in his eyes, showing his agreement.

“But if we do that, the demons in the Demon Realm will likely get the news immediately. That would be very disadvantageous for our future actions in the Demon Realm,” the feather-clad maiden said with a frown, expressing her reservations.

“The Demon Realm is vast. As long as we are careful and avoid the cities where demons gather, even if they know foreign races have intruded, they won’t have any effective means to pursue us. Besides, foreign races entering the Demon Realm is probably not an uncommon occurrence for demons. To my knowledge, many powerful individuals from the Spirit Realm’s foreign races also occasionally intrude into the Demon Realm. The demons won’t necessarily pay extra attention to our group,” the black-robed elder from the Long Family, a man named Hui, spoke with a grim expression.

Han Li rubbed his chin with one hand, his expression calm as he remained silent.

Meanwhile, Sacred Lady Qianqiu subtly moved her lips, privately communicating and discussing with her companions.

A moment later, she reached a conclusion and spoke to the Long Family Ancestor with a solemn expression:

“If we were to change locations, it would indeed cause too much delay. So, let’s proceed as Brother Long suggested. If our presence is truly discovered, we’ll simply combine our strength and fight our way in. However, I hope there will be no further mishaps with the situation in the Demon Realm on the other side of the passage.”

“Fellow Daoists, rest assured, there will be absolutely no mistake regarding the location in the Demon Realm on the other side of the node,” the Long Family Ancestor said with a twitch of his lips, but with utmost certainty.

“Since Brother Long has said so, there’s no time to lose. Let us act.

I will do my best to maximize the power of this Smoke Cloud Banner, trying to avoid triggering the restrictions here and getting as close to the node as possible,” Sacred Lady Qianqiu said cautiously, nodding noncommittally at first.

Then, with a single-hand incantation, several streaks of light shot out into the surrounding void, vanishing instantly.

A blue light flashed in Han Li’s eyes as he swept a glance over the faint mist with his spiritual vision.

He saw the surrounding layer of mist shimmer slightly, then grow even fainter. Even when focusing his spiritual vision on it, it appeared exceptionally blurry.

Han Li’s thoughts turned for a moment, but the spiritual light in his eyes receded.

Sacred Lady Qianqiu, sensing something, gave Han Li a meaningful look but said nothing. Instead, she abruptly urged her treasure, causing the surrounding mist to surge directly towards the demonic fortress overhead.

Han Li narrowed his eyes, yet no unusual expression appeared on his face. He circulated his magic power and slowly floated after the Long Family Ancestor and the others towards the distant node.

At this moment, everyone was silent, their faces mostly showing grave expressions.

Although they were not too far from the black clouds above the fortress, perhaps only a few tens of miles, within this short distance, they continuously encountered seven or eight waves of patrolling demonic teams. However, under Sacred Lady Qianqiu’s skillful manipulation, the layer of concealing mist perfectly hid their presence, allowing them to pass almost right by these demons.

The demons did not detect any abnormalities whatsoever.

However, when the group was only a little over ten miles from the demonic fortress, they finally triggered a very cunningly arranged formation restriction.

Following a dull thud with no prior warning, countless black lights suddenly flickered in the nearby void. Innumerable sharp, conical, invisible blades materialized out of thin air and shot towards them from all directions.

“Oh no, we’re exposed! No need to hide anymore; let’s force our way through!” Sacred Lady Qianqiu’s face fell upon seeing this. She let out a sharp cry without hesitation.

With a wave of her single hand, the layer of mist that had enveloped them instantly flared brightly, then solidified into a thick light barrier, blocking all the surrounding black lights.

Seeing this, the Long Family Ancestor and the others naturally no longer hesitated. Several treasures and large swathes of thunder-fire flew out from their hands, transforming into vast radiant clouds that swept outwards.

With a roar, the surrounding restrictions were shattered into fragments by their combined attack, like paper scraps.

All the escaping lights merged, transforming into over a dozen dazzling streaks of light that shot like lightning towards the sky above the fortress.

Such a significant commotion naturally alerted the patrolling demons nearby and the demonic army within the fortress.

Several long, shrill cries instantly rang out piercingly from various parts of the fortress.

Then, countless clusters of radiant light burst forth in the vicinity of the fortress, and dense restrictive spiritual light instantly covered the entire area above the fortress. Simultaneously, platoons of ferocious-looking demonic armored soldiers, mounted on various demonic beasts, aggressively ascended into the air.