A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Immortal Realm

Gu Qianxun was clearly very surprised by this question, and she replied through voice transmission, "You don't know of the Great Ruins, Fellow Daoist Li? The Great Ruins are the most special area in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, and it's said to be home to a vast amount of hidden treasures. I've heard that Profound City and Puppet City have both already been searching for it for countless years, it looks like they must've finally found it."

Right at this moment, E Kuai swept his gaze over everyone present and declared, "This is going to be a long and perilous journey, so if anyone's still hesitating about whether to go or not, this will be your last chance to pull out. Once you leave the city, abandoning your post will be seen as desertion."

Not a single one of the sixteen cultivators from the four cities expressed a desire to back out.

"Good. It looks like all of you possess the mental fortitude required to reap significant rewards on this trip. Even though we are temporarily working with Puppet City on this occasion, make sure you do not lower your guard against them. I hope all of you can work together so that we can all collectively reap as much benefits from this trip as possible," E Kuai continued.

Everyone gave a collective affirmative response, and around two hours later, the main city gate slowly swung open, following which a procession of around a dozen giant scaled beasts emerged from the city.

The scaled beast at the forefront of the line resembled a giant crocodile that was over a thousand feet tall with a black stone palace on its back. The palace was riddled with ornate engravings and star bones, presenting a stunning sight to behold.

Behind the crocodile-like beast were around a dozen massive Black Scaled Elephants, all of which also had black stone palaces on their backs. However, these palaces were much more simplistic in design, and they couldn't even compare with the opulence of E Kuai's palace.

One of the stone palaces was occupied by Chen Yang and Daoist Xie, while Han Li, Gu Qianxun, and Xuanyuan Xing shared another one.

The stone palace was quite large, and even with each of them taking a room, there were still rooms to spare.

After the procession of scaled beasts emerged from the city, Han Li didn't immediately enter the stone palace to rest. Instead, he stood on the Black Scaled Elephant's back and cast his gaze into the distance. However, he wasn't able to look very far with the enormous Myriad Profound Mountain Range in the way.

Around fifteen minutes later, the line of scaled beasts passed over a col in a valley, and everyone's horizons were instantly broadened from there.

As Han Li looked down from above, he noticed around a dozen Black Scaled Elephants resting on a hill elsewhere in the mountain range.

All of them were clad in armor with star bones embedded into their chests, and not only had their tusks been replaced with sharp spears, they appeared to be completely dead and devoid of vitality.

These are all puppets!

Right at this moment, a figure suddenly flew through the air above, then drew to a halt in mid-air in front of everyone.

Han Li looked up to discover a handsome young man in a suit of black armor with a pair of short bone halberds strapped to his back, and he was currently hovering over a thousand feet up in the air.

With spiritual and devilish qi completely inaccessible in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, taking flight was physically impossible for most, so the fact that this man was able to hover in mid-air immediately drew a great deal of attention.

Many of the Profound City cultivators emerged from their stone palaces, but none of them city lords had emerged.

Zhu Ziqing was standing beside her brother, looking up at the young man with an infatuated expression as she murmured, "He's so handsome..."

"Nonsense! He's an enemy of our Profound City!" Zhu Ziyuan scolded as he gave her a firm tap on the head.

"Alright, I get it," Zhu Ziqing replied as a serious look appeared on her face.

Han Li was looking up at the handsome young man with everyone else, and for some reason, the young man struck him as a little odd.

He directed his gaze upward, all the way to the clouds in the sky, and only then did he notice that the clouds hanging directly above the young man were slightly darker than the ones around them.

"Fellow daoists of Profound City, Mistress Sha Xin has sent me here with a proposal. In order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings and conflicts, Mistress Sha Xin suggests that our two groups travel with some distance between us," the young man declared.

He had a gender-neutral voice that was very pleasant and alluring.

The Profound City cultivators were silent for a moment, following which Zhu Ziyuan seemed to have suddenly received an instruction, and he replied, "Master E Kuai has agreed to this proposal."

The young man's gaze fell upon Zhu Ziyuan, and he cupped his fist in a parting salute before turning to depart.

As he did so, Han Li noticed a black shadow moving with him deep within the clouds up above. As he descended toward the Puppet City camp, it was finally revealed that there was a giant scaled bird hanging above its head.

Just like the Black Scaled Elephants, this bird was clearly also long dead. It seemed to be a puppet that was under the young man's control, and he was only able to take flight by attaching himself to the bird puppet with barely visible threads.

Shortly thereafter, the sound of a blowing horn rang out from the Puppet City camp, and the scaled beast puppets on the hill stood up one after another before setting off.

Once the Puppet City camp was several thousand feet away, the Profound City camp began to move as well.

The landscape was completely barren and derelict, and Han Li quickly grew bored of the monotonous scenery, so he returned to his room to cultivate.

……

That night.

Han Li awakened from his meditation, then emerged from the stone palace.

He sprang up into the air from the Black Scaled Elephant's back to land on another Black Scaled Elephant, then made his way over to the stone palace on the latter's back.

Before he had a chance to announce his arrival, Chen Yang's voice rang out from within the palace.

"I've been waiting for you, Fellow Daoist Li."

Han Li made his way directly into the stone palace upon hearing this.

Upon entering the palace, Han Li was greeted by the sight of Daoist Xie standing by the entrance, and the latter led him to a room in the palace, making no attempt to communicate with him in the process.

Han Li was already accustomed to this, and upon entering the room, he was invited to take a seat by Chen Yang.

"Fellow Daoist Chen..." Han Li began, only for Chen Yang to raise a hand to cut him off.

"I'm afraid Fellow Daoist Shi Kong is no longer the same person that you once knew," Chen Yang sighed.

"What happened to him?" Han Li asked with tightly furrowed brows.

"Du Qingyang was very secretive about sending Fellow Daoist Shi Kong to Profound City, so I have no clue exactly what happened to him. This is the first time I've seen Fellow Daoist Shi Kong in Profound City, and to me, he feels like... a puppet," Chen Yang replied in a hesitant manner.

Han Li's brows became even more tightly furrowed upon hearing this.

"However, he also feels somewhat different from a puppet, but I can't put my finger on what the difference is. In any case, approaching him at a time like this is not a wise move," Chen Yang added.

On the surface, Han Li appeared to be quite composed, but internally, he was feeling very perplexed.

Before they entered the Scalptia Spatial Domain, Shi Pokong had given each of them a jade pendant that could allow them to leave the Scalptia Spatial Domain.

Despite all of the perils that he had encountered, Han Li had refrained from using his jade pendant thus far as he wasn't willing to leave without finding Violet Spirit first, but what was happening in Shi Chuankong's case?

If he were in such a dire situation that he was about to be made into a puppet, then why hadn't he used the jade pendant? Han Li was unconvinced that someone of Shi Chuankong's powers would've been rendered unable to use the jade pendant all this time.`

After some contemplation, Han Li said, "I'll have to count on you to continue keeping an eye out for more information on Fellow Daoist Shi."

"Rest assured, I'll be sure to keep an eye out and update you on any information that comes my way," Chen Yang promised.

"You have my thanks, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a grateful salute.

"No need to thank me. There's going to be a long journey ahead, and no one knows what'll await us in the Great Ruins, so make sure to rest up on the way there, Brother Li," Chen Yang said.

The two of them chatted for a while longer before Han Li departed, and upon returning to his room, he spent some time to contemplate the information that he had just received before closing his eyes to cultivate the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts.

……

Over a month flew by in a flash.

On this day, the two processions of scaled beasts were passing through a narrow valley with roughly ten thousand feet of distance between them.

The group at the front was still yet to exit the valley, while the rear group had only just entered the valley, when an enormous two-headed scaled falcon swooped down from the heavens with a thunderous roar.

With its wings spread open, it cast an enormous black shadow that encompassed virtually the entire valley, and as it flapped its wings, two bursts of ferocious air currents came crashing down violently upon the mountain faces on either side of the valley.

The mountain faces collapsed violently, sending a huge cloud of dust rising up into the air.

All of the Profound City scaled beasts immediately began backing out of the valley in alarm, while the scaled beast puppets up ahead continued onward without pause.

Han Li was cultivating in his room when he felt the disturbance outside, and he flew out just in time to see an avalanche of giant rocks tumbling down up ahead, quickly blocking up the entire valley.

At the same time, the view up ahead was completely obscured by the dense cloud of dust that had risen up into the air.

All of the Profound City cultivators hurriedly rushed out to see what was happening when all of a sudden, a burst of formidable starpower erupted forth within the valley up ahead, forming a wave of radiant white light that swept up into the air.

A resounding boom rang out as rocks, sand, and soil were flung up into the air like a volcanic eruption before raining down in all directions, and a burst of powerful shockwaves also surged out of the valley, clearing the blockage.

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