A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality

"I see that you're using quite a profound clone technique. However, I'm rather curious; how much of your power could you possibly still be retaining in your current state?" Han Li mused with a peculiar expression as he appraised Patriarch Wu Gou with blue light flashing in his eyes.

"What do you mean by that?" Patriarch Wu Gou's pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this, and he finally spoke for the first time in a voice that was extremely raspy and unused, as if it had been countless years since he had last spoken.

"My spirit eye ability allows me to clearly see everything in a radius of thousands of kilometers around me. Even though you're using a treasure to conceal your current condition and you're able to move like a normal person, you can't hide your necrosed muscle tissues from me. How did you end up like this? Was a restriction placed upon you or did you willingly become like this?"Patriarch Wu Gou's pupils contracted even further upon hearing this, and his hands had also balled up into tight fists within his sleeves.

Han Li had spoken in a voice that was clearly audible to all of the Grand Ascension Stage beings nearby, and Fairy Hua Xi's expression changed drastically as she hurriedly yelled, "What are you doing, Wu Gou? Stop listening to his senseless rambling and kill him!"

Immediately thereafter, the giant ring around the extreme mountain began to glow brightly at her behest, then transformed into a vast expanse of translucent sand that instantly enveloped the entire mountain, forming a massive translucent ball that hovered in mid-air in a completely still manner.

She then flew over to Patriarch Wu Gou as a streak of light before aiming a vicious glare at Han Li.

A hint of mockery seemed to flash through Patriarch Wu Gou's eyes as he turned to glance at Fairy Hua Xi. "Rest assured, his words won't be able to affect me. Hehe, sorry to disappoint you, Fellow Daoist, but no one did this to me; something went wrong while I was practicing a cultivation art, and I had no choice but to become like this in order to save my own life. Now then, that's enough chit-chat; let's continue!"

As soon as his voice trailed off, he took a step forward, and his body instantly split up into two, then into four...In the blink of an eye, around a dozen identical projections had been manifested all around Han Li, and even more projections were taking shape before converging toward the center.

It was as if over 100 people were charging toward Han Li at once.

Fairy Hua Xi's eyes lit up immediately upon seeing this, and she quickly made a grabbing motion as countless specks of light surged out of her body, then converged to form an antiquated long blade that was around 10 feet in length in her hand. The blade was slashed toward Han Li, who was immediately struck by the feeling that the space around him had tightened.

An incredible weight seemed to have descended upon him, making him very sluggish and preventing him from taking evasive measures.

At this point, the Patriarch Wu Gou's grey clones also reached him in a flash before swinging their arms through the air, unleashing countless green claw projections that grabbed toward all of Han Li's vital regions.

However, Han Li remained completely unfazed, and he let loose a low roar as purplish-golden light erupted out of his body alongside countless silver runes.

A series of silver formations quickly took shape, forming a suit of silver armor that encased his entire body, repelling all of the oncoming green claw projections amid a string of crisp clangs.

At the same time, the giant ape swelled to several times its original size, and a layer of purplish-golden scales appeared all over its boy, while a short golden horn emerged on its head amid a flash of black light.

It then pulled its hand apart violently, and the space around Han Li immediately blurred and warped, as if he had just freed himself from something.

At the same time, the giant blade in Fairy Hua Xi's grasp exploded into grains of sand amid a dull thump.

A hint of astonishment appeared on her face upon seeing this, and right at this moment, Han Li made a hand seal, following which bolts of thick golden lightning erupted out of his body in all directions.

In the blink of an eye, the space within an acre of area around Han Li had been entirely filled by golden lightning.

Close to 100 of the grey figures nearest to him were caught off guard and destroyed by the golden lightning, and only around a dozen managed to survive before hurriedly converging to revert back to Patriarch Wu Gou's true body again.

A cold smile appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, and he made a hand seal before opening his mouth to release a silver fireball with a diameter of around 10 feet.

The fireball then instantly transformed into a silver Fire Raven that was over 100 feet in length before flapping its wings and flying toward Fairy Hua Xi.

At the same time, Han Li made a grabbing motion toward Patriarch Wu Gou, and a burst of enormous invisible power instantly descended upon him.

Patriarch Wu Gou's heart jolted slightly as he swept a sleeve through the air to release a bead that was enshrouded within green Qi.

The bead flew up into the air before swelling to the size of a wagon wheel in the blink of an eye, then struck the tremendous force descending upon him amid an earth-shattering boom.

A green sun instantly appeared above Patriarch Wu Gou, and powerful shockwaves unfurled all around him.

Currently, the green bead was radiating scintillating light, and countless faint golden runes had appeared on its surface.

Han Li was rather surprised that the power of his grab had been nullified by a mere bead, but he then immediately lashed out like lightning with his other hand.

Spatial fluctuations erupted above Patriarch Wu Gou, and countless arcs of golden lightning appeared before forming a giant purplish-golden hand that struck the green bead down below amid a rumbling thunderclap.

The bead was instantly enveloped by the golden lightning, and all of the runes on its surface were quickly destroyed, while the bead itself began to slowly descend while trembling incessantly.

Patriarch Wu Gou harrumphed coldly upon seeing this before pointing a finger upward, and the bead immediately turned a golden color.

At the same time, a light barrier was conjured up on its surface, and the bead managed to stabilize itself even in the face of the ferocious barrage of golden lightning.

At this moment, Han Li suddenly took a stride forward, instantly covering a distance of over 1,000 feet before appearing right in front of Patriarch Wu Gou, then thrust a giant fist viciously toward him.

An explosive boom rang out overhead, and a burst of tremendous force that was around twice as powerful as the previous one came crashing down from above, forcing the golden bead to slowly descend once again.

Patriarch Wu Gou's eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, and it seemed that he was about to unleash some type of ability, but right at this moment, a cry for help suddenly rang out in the distance.

"Get over here, Wu Gou! I can't hold on much longer!"

Fairy Hua Xi's voice was extremely shrill and urgent, and she seemed to be utterly horrified.

Patriarch Wu Gou's heart stirred slightly as he hurriedly cast his gaze in that direction.

At this moment, Fairy Hua Xi was situated within a sea of silver flames with a Fire Raven flying incessantly around her.

She was hiding inside an extremely thick barrier of translucent sand, but the sand barrier was quickly being melted away by the scorching silver flames.

These flames were far more fearsome than she had anticipated; not only was this sand barrier unable to withstand their incredible heat, the seven or eight other defensive treasures she had summoned had also been melted away in mere moments.

Furthermore, the silver Fire Raven was releasing bursts of restriction fluctuations as it flew around her, sealing the entire space nearby and preventing her from being able to get away.

Now that the sand barrier was also close to failing, she had no choice but to call for help.

Patriarch Wu Gou hesitated slightly upon seeing this, but a decisive look then quickly appeared in his eyes.

He let loose a loud roar, and his body suddenly exploded into hundreds of projections that sped away in all directions.

Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he lashed out with a giant hand like lightning, but was only able to eradicate less than half of the projections.

The rest of the projections quickly rushed over to the sea of silver flames, then fused as one to form Patriarch Wu Gou's true body again.

He quickly made a hand seal, and a layer of golden flames appeared over his body before he plunged into the sea of silver flames without any hesitation.

A ball of golden flames flashed through the fiery silver sea in a wraith-like manner, appearing beside Fairy Hua Xi after just a few flashes.

Fairy Hua Xi was ecstatic to see this, and she immediately pointed a finger at the sand barrier, which opened up to grant Patriarch Wu Gou entry.

"Hurry, my Star Sand won't be able to last much longer; only your bonded true flame can oppose these spirit flames," Fairy Hua Xi urged as she stared intently at the giant Fire Raven attacking the san barrier.

At this moment, Han Li also began to make his way toward that direction, and that was making her very anxious.

"Alright, withdraw your Star Sand, and I'll release my bonded true flame," Patriarch Wu Gou replied in an expressionless manner, following which a burst of golden flames emerged to envelop his entire arm, which was suddenly thrust toward Fairy Hua Xi at an incredible speed.