A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality

When Han Li heard the other person’s words, he didn’t actually open his mouth to say anything. Instead, he lowered his head and began to think while he tightly grasped the other person’s soul with a single hand that glowed with white light!

After a long while, Han Li lifted his head up and said coldly:

“If your soul’s invasion had taken me by surprise, would you have had mercy on me? Your magic power is much deeper than mine even though we’re are both at Foundation Establishment. More likely than not, I would have been gobbled up by you.”

Han Li’s words were overflowing with ill intent!

“I can tell you a secret and give you an exceptional cultivation technique!” Senior Martial Brother Li was greatly frightened and began to send transmissions through his soul.

“Secret cultivation technique? Could this be the Great Development Technique of your Thousand Bamboo School?”

Han Li’s indifferent sentence immediately caused the soul’s green light to flash; in addition, it began to transmit with shock, stuttering:

“How do you know of this matter? You...... you’re the person who was snooping yesterday!”

At this time, Senior Martial Brother Lin finally realized what had happened.

“Okay, since you know that I am not clueless about your situation, you should obediently tell me everything! You wouldn’t want me to immediately destroy your soul!” Although Han Li spoke very casually, this caused Senior Martial Brother Lin’s soul to tremble in his hand.

“Didn’t Junior Martial Brother pretty much hear all that there was to say yesterday?” Senior Martial Brother Lin let out a long sigh and asked faintly.

Meanwhile, those people from the Thousand Bamboo School outside the formation, seeing that no response came after they transmitted their words through the large formation, couldn’t help but be shamed into anger; they released their puppet beasts, unleashing a new round of attacks. The large formation became lively once again, but the interior of the formation was still just as calm as before apart from some noise and aftershocks!

“Junior Martial Brother, what strange formation is this? It can actually withstand this fierce attack; it truly is unbelievable!” Senior Martial Brother Lin interjected upon seeing this scene; he purposefully acted surprised and spoke.

“Hmph, don’t worry about my formation, and don’t recklessly change the subject either. I have absolutely no interest in the internal strife of your Thousand Bamboo School. All I want to know is whether you have a portion of the Great Development Technique and if you gain any remarkable abilities as you cultivate it. If you want to purposefully stall for time, I will immediately destroy you,” Han Li said, his tone suddenly becoming cold as he knitted his eyebrows.

Next, the white light on his hand abruptly flourished, and with a gentle force of his finger, he instantly caused Senior Martial Brother Lin’s soul to cry out repeatedly that he wouldn’t dare!

“This Great Development Technique is the original secret technique created by my sect’s founding ancestor. It is a secret technique specifically used to greatly increase one’s divine sense, as well as to split one’s soul. This is also a necessary cultivation technique for our Thousand Bamboo School to cultivate in order to use the puppets; only when one has cultivated this technique can one imprint one’s divine sense on all the numerous puppets and control them with ease! Otherwise, even if I were to refine more puppets, what use would they be to me if I couldn’t control them all at once?” Senior Martial Brother Lin said unhurriedly, not daring to procrastinate after tasting Han Li’s methods.

“Since it is a basic cultivation technique of the Thousand Bamboo School, why would you still need to scheme about it? You even mentioned something about another half. What was your fight all about?” Han Li continued to ask expressionlessly.

“There’s not much to hide. Although the Great Development Technique is a foundational cultivation technique of my Thousand Bamboo School, the fundamental teachings of our school cannot be easily spread to the public. Thus, the Great Development Technique that the Thousand Bamboo School’s disciples cultivate is only the abridged version of the first layer. Although it is easy to cultivate, even after completely cultivating it, it is still far from the strength of the first layer of the actual Great Development Technique. In addition, the real manual for the Great Development Technique can only be cultivated by the high-level cultivators in the sect.“

“The people outside must have all cultivated the first two layers of the actual Great Development Technique to be able to control nearly a hundred mechanical puppets at once! Because I have cultivated the third layer of this technique, I am even better than them and can control three hundred at once. However, only the school master and his successors have the right to cultivate the Great Development Technique past the third layer!”

“During a rebellion within the Thousand Bamboo Sect, my father was plotted against by the current school master, Jin Nantian; even the entire Great Development Technique manual was forcefully taken away. I, as the young school master, was taking care of business outside of the school at the time. Because I had no way to resist the situation, I could only find a substitute to fake my death and left, hiding in the State of Yue, five thousand kilometers away. At that time, although I didn’t have the entire Great Development Technique, because I was the only son of the school master, I still knew the cultivation technique for the first four layers. Thus, I compiled it all into the first half of the Great Development Technique.

“Originally, I had wanted to spend the last years of my life here, but who knew that my breakthrough to the third layer of the Great Development Technique was just around the corner? This caused my desire for revenge to greatly rise. In a moment of confusion, I contacted a group of my loyal subordinates, asking them to steal the incantations for the final three layers for me, but who knew that my fate would turn out this way! I don’t know if they were captured after failing to steal it or if they directly betrayed me!”

Senior Martial Brother Lin spoke slowly this time and in great detail, but when he reached the end, his voice was filled with wrath and objection!

Han Li coldly watched the other person’s soul vent its anger and didn’t make any moves. When the other person had finally calmed down somewhat, he continued to interrogate without politeness:

“What exactly is the secret that you just mentioned?”

“This......? I hope that......”

“Ah! Stay your hand, I’ll speak, I’ll tell you right now!”

Senior Martial Brother Lin’s soul hesitated a little bit as if it wanted to bring up some conditions. However, Han Li didn’t even give him the opportunity to speak any further; he directly gave the other person another taste of suffering, almost shattering Senior Martial Brother Lin’s soul. This caused the other person to immediately change his tune, panic-stricken!

“If you won’t do this the easy way, we’ll do it the hard way! It’s best if you don’t raise any conditions before telling me everything that I want to hear.” Han Li’s tone was cold and bone-piercing.

Senior Martial Brother Lin had been completely shaken by Han Li’s vicious tactics; he said hurriedly with fright:

“In actuality, this secret is related to the Great Development Technique; in addition, it has been widely spread in the upper echelons of the Thousand Bamboo School. It’s only that nobody knows whether or not it’s true! However, when my father was still here, he secretly told me that there was a fifty to sixty percent chance that this secret was true!”

“I don’t know when it started, but in the upper echelons of our Thousand Bamboo School, a rumor was secretly spread that anyone who cultivated the Great Development Technique to a high enough layer could form their core much more easily than regular cultivators, and it would be easier for them to break through the bottlenecks in their cultivation. This was because the previous school master’s heir’s success rate of forming his core was extraordinarily high.” After a brief pause, he still told Han Li the secret.

“It can raise one’s chances of entering the Core Formation stage?” The originally cold-faced Han Li finally changed his expression!

“Yes; if Junior Martial Brother is willing to help me find a corpse so that I can refine and control it, I am willing to share the incantation for the first four layers with Junior Martial Brother. Afterward, we can join forces and devise a way to take the remaining layers from the son of that thief surnamed Jin. Then, we can reach Core Formation together; wouldn’t it be much faster?” He began to move his non-existent mouth again, attempting to entice Han Li.

Han Li “hmph”ed and didn’t say anything; instead, he lowered his head again and began to think bitterly, causing Senior Martial Brother Lin to instantly feel uneasy yet again!

“There is only a fifty or sixty percent chance that it can raise one’s success rate for Core Formation?” Han Li suddenly raised his head and muttered, his eyebrows tightly locked together.

“Junior Martial Brother, a fifty to sixty percent chance is already pretty good. After all, this is related to the formation of a gold core; you should at least try it!” Senior Martial Brother Lin added hastily upon seeing this. In reality, what his father had told him was not actually a fifty to sixty percent chance, but rather a thirty percent chance. As his words were leaving his mouth, the success rate had been doubled.

“Is this Great Development Technique easy to cultivate? Apart from increasing one’s divine sense, can it increase one’s cultivation base? In addition, how long has Senior Martial Brother Lin been in the Foundation Establishment stage, and how long have you been cultivating this Great Development Technique?” Han Li suddenly asked coldly, raising his eyebrows.

“Cultivating speed is decent, and it can add ever so slightly to your cultivation base......, I successfully reached Foundation Establishment over a hundred years ago; at that time, I was only twenty years old! I started cultivating the Great Development Technique after reaching Foundation Establishment. Yi, why does Junior Martial Brother ask these questions?”

Senior Martial Brother Lin had never thought that the other person would suddenly ask a train of questions. After staring blankly for a moment, he could only stammer and answer the first two questions because he had not had time to prepare his defenses. However, he answered the last two questions very clearly.

Han Li’s expression relaxed as if he were very satisfied with the other person’s responses. However, the right hand that was holding onto Senior Martial Brother Lin’s soul suddenly flashed with bright white light; then, he tightly closed his fingers! The soul in his hand only had time to let out a tragic yell before it instantly became dots of starlight, forever disappearing from this world.

“What a terrible coincidence! The thing I hate the most is being possessed by other people; this reminded me of some not-so-pleasant things. In addition, although I am truly piqued by the Great Development Technique, it is difficult to cultivate and cannot increase one’s magic power. How could I cultivate it as my primary cultivation technique!”

“If my magic power hasn’t even been cultivated to the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, what use would the Great Development Technique be to me even if I were to cultivate it assiduously? This fellow’s natural talent was pretty good, but after cultivating this Great Development Technique for nearly a hundred years, he was still only at the peak of the third layer, and because he was distracted, his magic power hovered around that of the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. A fish and a bear’s paw, how could they be so easily linked together? In addition, there is nothing strange about the Thousand Bamboo School’s previous school master being able to balance the two and form a golden core. Since he could become a head of a school, he definitely would possess a peerless innate talent and could be considered a one in ten thousand genius. Thus, the credibility of the claim that the Great Development Technique can increase one’s chances of forming one’s core is even lower! I am definitely not considered a genius, so I have no faith that I can cultivate both my own magic power and the Great Development Technique to any deep point!”

(TL: A fish and a bear’s paw means you can’t have your cake and eat it too.)

“The worst is that he doesn’t even possess the entire Great Development Technique; he even wants me to become an enemy of a sect school. Isn’t this just bringing about my own destruction? Even if I were to let you go, who could guarantee that you wouldn’t bear a grudge about today’s matters and use underhanded methods behind my back!”

“Please tell me, with all these reasons, how could I let you go!?” Han Li muttered to himself, looking at the right hand that had taken the life of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.