A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality

Gray Mist

As far as the eye could see, all of the lush vegetation was gone, replaced by a strange grey scene.

The mountain peaks on either side of him were filled with white stones, all of which were oval and smooth. The larger ones were the size of a head, while the smaller ones were only about the size of a fist.

When he looked into the distance, he saw a vast expanse of grey mist. It was indistinct, making it impossible for him to clearly see what was happening within the mist.

However, the grey mist was restricted to a radius of 1,000 feet in the center, and the two sides were filled with blood-red light that swept toward the center like a tidal wave. However, when it reached the mist, it was as if it had touched a dike and was unable to move an inch.

Lu Weiying exhaled and slowly asked, “This is the passageway that Fellow Daoist spoke of?”

Marquis Nanlong faltered for a moment before asking, “That’s right, it should be here. Does Brother Lu feel that something is amiss?”

Lu Weiying looked at the grey mist in the distance and indifferently asked, “That crimson light is definitely a restriction in the valley, but this mist doesn’t seem to be ordinary. Did Master Cang Kun’s statement mention this mist?”

Marquis Nanlong hesitated for a moment before replying, “No, he didn’t mention this mist. Perhaps he didn’t think it was important.”

Lu Weiying shook his head and solemnly said, “I have a feeling that this grey mist is somewhat extraordinary. It is best to be careful.”

“Why don’t you give it a try?” Han Li suddenly asked.

Marquis Nanlong clapped his hands in agreement and said, “Fellow Daoist Han is right. I happen to have a few Thousand Kilometer Orioles here that I normally use to search for spiritual medicines. I can use them to give it a try.”

When Lu Weiying heard this, he did not object.

Marquis Nanlong immediately took out a small spirit beast pouch from his waist and tossed it into the air.

A small bird with golden feathers flew out from the pouch like an arrow before circling in the air.

Marquis Nanlong raised his hand, and an azure talisman flew out, striking the small bird.

The bird spread its wings and a small azure barrier of light suddenly appeared around its body.

Marquis Nanlong gave an order through his spiritual sense, and the small bird let loose a sharp cry before flying off into the distance in a streak of golden light.

Before the bird could come into contact with the grey fog in the distance, Han Li’s eyes flashed with blue light and he used his spiritual eye to look carefully.

However, when his gaze inadvertently swept past a certain area, his expression stirred and a strange look appeared in his eyes.

Marquis Nanlong and Lu Weiying were completely focused on the oriole and didn’t notice Han Li’s strange expression.

The Thousand Kilometer Oriole had already disappeared into the grey mist.

Han Li couldn’t clearly see what was going on in the mist, but for the sake of caution, he didn’t rashly use his spiritual sense to probe the mist. Instead, he turned his head to look at Marquis Nanlong’s expression.

Marquis Nanlong closed his eyes and used his mind to communicate with the spirit bird.

His expression appeared normal, indicating that nothing had happened to the spirit bird since it entered.

Just as Han Li thought this, Marquis Nanlong’s body trembled, and his face suddenly paled as he opened his eyes.

Lu Weiying also noticed Marquis Nanlong’s expression and hastily asked, “What’s the matter?”

Marquis Nanlong wore an odd expression as if he couldn’t be sure. “There seems to be a monster in the grey mist that swallowed the bird. It seems to be…”

Han Li and Lu Weiying looked at each other in surprise.

Marquis Nanlong pondered for a moment before finally affirming, “It seems to be a giant python. This grey mist should be the demonic mist that the giant python spouted.”

“A giant python? That’s strange. If there was such a demon beast, why didn’t Master Cang Kun mention it in his statement? Unless…”

“Unless the giant python ran into this passage later,” Han Li finished Lu Weiying’s unsaid words.

“That’s right, that’s exactly what I meant.”

Marquis Nanlong nodded in agreement and said, “Your words are reasonable. However, it seems that the giant python that was able to survive in Devilfall Valley isn’t an ordinary demon beast. It should also be an ancient beast. If we don’t kill it, we won’t be able to enter the inner valley. This is going to be troublesome!”

A cold light flashed from Lu Weiying’s eyes as he calmly said, “It doesn’t matter. Since this grey mist isn’t a restriction, there is no need to fear it. It shouldn’t be difficult to deal with an ancient beast. It can’t possibly be more difficult to deal with than that Fire Toad!”

Marquis Nanlong opened his mouth and spat out a small sword shimmering with golden light. “I don’t know if it’s as powerful as the Fire Toad, but we have to kill the giant python now. Let’s attack together.”

Lu Weiying rubbed his hands together and a dazzling white magic flag appeared in his hands.

When Han Li saw this, he smiled bitterly.

The two were quite decisive. When they saw that they couldn’t avoid it, they immediately attacked without the slightest hesitation.

“I don’t have any objections to your plan to get rid of this beast, but before we do that, shouldn’t we ask the last Fellow Daoist to come out? You’ve been hiding at the side for so long, haven’t you seen enough?” Han Li suddenly said with a sullen expression as he pointed to an empty spot. At the same time, he flicked his finger, and several azure sword Qi shot out.

In the blink of an eye, the sword Qi exploded several hundred meters away.

A humanoid figure covered in yellow light and holding a huge shield strangely appeared.

Marquis Nanlong and Lu Weiying were dumbstruck.

The yellow light belonged to a shriveled man that appeared to be in his forties. He hastily bowed to the three with fear in his eyes. “It is a misunderstanding! Seniors, please don’t be angry. This Junior has only just arrived. I will immediately leave.”

“Huang Tianming, it’s you!” When Lu Weiying saw this person, he cried out in alarm.

Marquis Nanlong gloomily asked, “What? Does Brother Lu know this person?”

Lu Weiying’s expression was unsightly as he stared at the shriveled man and coldly said, “This person is a cultivator from a small sect in our Heavenly Dao Alliance. Putting aside his cultivation base, I heard that he once obtained an ancient cultivator’s Invisibility Talisman. It is an extremely wondrous concealment talisman. I didn’t expect this to be true. Even we didn’t discover him hiding here.”

The shriveled man’s face turned deathly pale upon hearing Marquis Nanlong’s ill-intentioned words. “Seniors, I’ve only just arrived. I merely followed you out of curiosity.”

Marquis Nanlong harrumphed and turned to the old man. “What good could come of following us so sneakily? Brother Lu, he is a member of your Heavenly Dao Alliance. What do you think?”

When Lu Weiying heard this, he expressionlessly narrowed his eyes.

“My opinion is naturally to exterminate him.”

The old man calmly replied. As soon as he said this, his body blurred and he disappeared in a flash of white light.

When the shriveled man heard this, his soul nearly left his body. He immediately disregarded his fear of the three Nascent Soul cultivators and flew into the sky in a streak of light.

At that moment, the old man had used some sort of movement technique to appear where the man had originally been. He raised his head and cast a cold glance at the yellow light that was flying away. He shook the spell flag in his hand and released it.

As soon as the flag was activated, it transformed into a white tornado that engulfed the yellow light that had flown over 100 feet away.

The huge shield in front of the man wildly flashed a few times before shattering inch by inch in the hurricane.

After letting out a miserable cry, he was also torn to pieces by the countless wind blades in the hurricane, causing a rain of blood to pour down.

When Lu Weiying saw this, he indifferently nodded his head and waved his hand toward the tornado. The tornado transformed back into a white magic flag and shot back into the old man’s hand.

Marquis Nanlong clapped his hands and chuckled, “Good, Brother Lu has done well. In that case, we won’t have to worry about the passage being leaked.”

Lu Weiying nonchalantly said, “It’s nothing. A puny Core Formation cultivator actually dared to pursue us. He deserved to die.”

He then made a grabbing motion toward the ground, and two items flew out of the blood and into his hand.

One was the shriveled cultivator’s storage pouch, while the other was a faint yellow jade talisman.

Lu Weiying didn’t stand on ceremony. After looking at it for a moment, he put it away into his storage pouch.

Marquis Nanlong turned to Han Li with a smile and said, “It’s all thanks to Fellow Daoist Han. Otherwise, we would’ve been in deep trouble. However, Brother Han was actually able to see through an ancient concealment technique. It’s no wonder why you’re so famous now.”

“It’s nothing. I was just lucky. The two of you could’ve also seen through his tracks. It was just a moment of carelessness that allowed him to take advantage of the loophole.” Han Li smiled and appeared unconcerned.

When Marquis Nanlong heard Han Li’s modest words, he shook his head and said nothing else.

At this moment, Lu Weiying returned.

“Let’s hurry up and take action. There will be trouble if we wait too long!”

The old man’s expression was somewhat solemn, but his words made sense.

Han Li nodded. He flipped his palm and a stack of sparkling formation flags appeared in his hand.

Han Li stroked his chin and suggested, “When we kill the giant python later, it will definitely cause a huge commotion. I will first set up an isolation formation and try my best to limit the influence within the restriction. This way, we won’t have to worry about other cultivators passing by.”

A smile appeared on the old man’s face and he couldn’t help but praise, “Brother Han is truly a meticulous person. That would be for the best.”

Han Li immediately turned into a streak of azure light and laid down the formation flags in his hands between the two mountains.

A short moment later, a large-scale spell formation was set up.

The main function of this spell formation was to keep the sound and spiritual Qi fluctuations to a minimum. Otherwise, it couldn’t have been completed in such a short amount of time.

When Han Li returned to Marquis Nanlong, Lu Weiying waved the flag in his hand and calmly said, “Since Fellow Daoist Han has finished his preparations, let me use this Hurricane Flag to blow away the demonic mist so that the giant python has nowhere to hide.”

With that said, the old man tossed the treasure into the air and began to chant something.

Marquis Nanlong pointed to the small golden sword in front of him.

All of a sudden, the sword transformed into a streak of golden light that rose into the air. It spun in mid-air, and brilliant golden light erupted from it as it swelled drastically in size.

In the blink of an eye, a twenty-meter-long golden sword appeared above Marquis Nanlong.