A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality

In stark contrast to the conspicuous movements of the grey cloud, Han Li held out his right arm in complete silence as a faint layer of black Qi condensed on it. The black Qi pulsed and gradually grew denser, and when it had become as dense as ink, Han Li wore a grim expression on his face.

His entire right arm began to quickly swell, becoming over three times denser in an instant. There was even a layer of glaring blood light that shined from underneath the enveloping black Qi.

At that moment, Han Li raised his head to look at Wen Tianren.

The grey cloud had begun to release huge rumbles at a greater frequency, and had already expanded to an area of a hundred meters.

With hostility shining within Han Li’s eyes, he suddenly shouted, “Destroy!” His thick arm suddenly shrank and a beam of black and red light shot from his palm. The beam was ten meters long when it was released and arrived in front of the cloud in the blink of an eye while leaving behind a long strand of light in its wake.

Aware that this wasn’t something to underestimate, Wen Tianren had his ancient copper shield untangle itself from its confrontation from the huge swords and arrived in front of the cloud with a flash of brilliance.

The beam wasn’t blocked in the slightest and passed through the copper shield as if there was nothing there. Its futile attempt to block the beam had turned the shield to dust without the slightest sound.

A muffled groan sounded out as the beam passed through the cloud. In an instant, a black crack had appeared within it and the cloud began to dissolve after it was cleanly split into two. After splitting apart the clouds, the expanse of light traveled ten meters further before scattering into specks of starlight.

At that moment, from one of the clouds, Wen Tianrun howled with rage, “How dare you sever my arm!? I’ll have your life as payment!” Soon after that furious roar, the other cloud disappeared to reveal a severed arm floating in midair. From the cloth that remained on the arm, it appeared to be Wen Tianming’s left arm.

When Han Li saw this, his eyes narrowed and he instantly recalled the name of a legendary Devil Dao technique - Cataclysmic Graft!

This technique used a limb that had been refined in advance as a substitute to block an attack from reaching their body. With only a single thought, one could have their own limb take the place of any severe harm that came their way. It was particularly effective at handling curse type heretical techniques.

However, it was said that this legendary Devilish Dao secret technique could only be refined by Nascent Soul cultivators. It was beyond Han Li’s imagination for Wen Tianren to be able to fully use this technique.

As for the fearsome attack that Han Li had just used, it was a secret technique from the Profound Yin Scriptures called the Yin Devil Execution. It operated in a same manner as the Blood Spirit Drill. They both refined a portion of one’s base essence that was folded to contain an immense, unstoppable force that was consumed after a single use.

The cultivation of an individual affected how many times the base essence could be folded, signifying its strength, as well as the amount of time it would require to condense. According to legend, when it was condensed to the deepest folds, it could tear through space itself and leave only the void in its path.

Of course, who could actually invest that much time and effort into preparing a strike of that degree? Han Li himself was only able to condense the attack to a small degree and that was after much effort. Having seen his last two attacks remain ineffective, Han Li had guessed that the cloud possessed a miraculous effect of shifting one’s position. As a result, he determined that he needed to use the Yin Devil Execution. Although the attack wasn’t able to tear through space itself, it had broken through Wen Tianren’s evasion technique with great efficacy.

Although Wen Tianren may have avoided calamity through the Cataclysmic Graft, his Origin Qi must’ve suffered quite heavily. And from the bloody scent of his severed arm, he couldn’t be doing too well.

As Han Li inwardly sneered, he heard a rustle and the cloud began to release an expanse of golden light towards his arm before enveloping it.

Han Li was startled and revealed a strange expression. Just as he pondered what Wen Tianren was doing, a cold and unnatural whistle roared from the grey cloud. The cloud was then swept away to reveal Wen Tianren’s body.

A cold expression appeared on Han Li’s face as he stared at him.

Wen Tianren stared back with obvious resentment. At his side, there were six huge malevolent phantoms with horns on each of their heads, tusks emerging from their mouths and scales covering their bodies. With the addition of the devilish Qi that coiled around their bodies, it appeared as if devils had truly been brought into this world.

Han Li gloomily muttered, “Devils of Six Apexes?”

Wen Tianren coldly snorted and glanced at his severed arm before staring at Han Li with killing intent, “Now you will know the fearsomeness of Archsaint Six Paths. Although these are only the phantoms of the Archasint, they will be more than enough to deal with a Core Formation cultivator like you.”

Ever since Wen Tianren had attained his current profound cultivation, he had yet to suffer such heavy injury. With the addition of Han Li’s remarkably powerful magic treasures, he felt an even greater urge to kill him.

Wen Tianren suddenly held out his arm stump and had a slim, dual horned phantom behind him spit out a sliver of faint red mist. The mist quickly wrapped around the arm stump a moment later, the mist scattered to reveal a completely restored arm. He then moved his fingers and waved his hand two times as if it had completely recovered.

When Han Li saw this, he wore an expression of astonishment.

When Wen Tianren saw Han Li, a mocking expression appeared on his face. He then clapped his hands together and the phantoms behind them grew slightly taller. Their bodies then began to blur as if they were about to take action.

Han Li instantly reacted by raising his hand and pointing at Wen Tianren’s head.

The two huge azure swords suddenly burst with radiance and chopped at Wen Tianren.

However, Wen Tianren merely continued to coldly stare at Han Li and ignored his swords. The tallest and most fiendish of the phantoms behind him flew up and grabbed onto the huge swords in a flash, holding one in each of its hands.

Han Li’s expression grew solemn and he clutched his hands in an incantation gesture. The huge swords began to glow with azure light as they were grasped in the phantom’s hands and struggled as fiercely as they could. The eyes of the phantom then flickered with red light and its grip tightened. It violently spat out grey devilfire from its mouth onto the flying swords and began to roast them.

“Haha! The strength apex devil has grabbed onto your magic treasures. Do you actually believe that they will be able to escape?” Wen Tianren howled with laughter at the sight of the flying swords being roasted. He then pointed at Han Li without hesitation, having his other five phantoms blur and disappear. A short moment later, they appeared right outside of Han Li’s barrier.

Wen Tianren appeared to believe that his victory was all but certain and prepared to have the phantoms exterminate Han Li.

From the strength displayed by the incarnation of the strength apex devil, he was confident that if the six phantoms joined hands, even early Nascent Soul cultivators would find it difficult to deal with them. The Six Apex Devils Art was truly worthy of being known as the top ranked Devilish Art in the Scattered Star Seas.

At that moment, Han Li’s expression grew cold after seeing the new developments. He then raised his hands and dense bolts of golden lightning flashed out, striking the phantoms nearest to him.

Wen Tianren couldn’t believe his eyes. Following two cracks of thunder, the phantoms dimmed and wore an expression of bitter suffering before fading away in a pulse of grey light.

“Ah!” Wen Tainren was shocked and remained in disbelief as if what he just saw were a trick of the eyes.

Han Li’s hands struck again with lightning, instantly exterminating another two of the phantoms in an instant.

At that same moment, Wen Tianren had finally regained his mind! Full of regret, he loudly yelled and spat out a ball of silver light while simultaneously ordering his last phantom to flee. Although these apex devil phantoms had been formed from the nearby spiritual Qi, a portion of his own body’s spiritual power was also incorporated into them. When each of them died, a portion of his cultivation also declined. Although he would be able to regain it later, it would prove disadvantageous while still in combat.

But before the ball of silver light reached Han Li, he heard another clap of thunder above him.

Wen Tianren’s complexion paled as he hastily raised his head and saw that the strength apex devil had turned to ash. The two huge swords had arcs of golden lightning covering them and were chopping straight towards him.

Wen Tianren unconsciously leapt away in a flash of red light and disappeared before the swords could strike him. In the following moment, Wen Tianren appeared a hundred meters away with an ashen complexion as he stared at Han Li. His two legs were now ablaze with a crimson flame. Glimmers of azure light could be spotted from within the the flames.

Han Li was currently unable to control his flying swords to continue their pursuit of Wen Tianren. At that moment, Wen Tianren’s ball of silver light had arrived before him and turned into a huge silver bell and unexpectedly knocked into him.