A Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Starting as a Rogue Cultivator

On his way here, Wang Li discovered traces of cultivators: a male and a female disciple of the Hidden Moon Sect, both at the thirteenth level of Qi Refining. Together, they easily defeated a high-ranking demonic beast, the Blazing Horned Deer, with a fiery red horn, demonstrating considerable strength. However, whether overconfident or naive, they relied on their magical artifacts to venture deep into the basin's stone palace.

A short while later, the woman hurriedly fled.

His disheveled and soaking wet appearance was pitiful to behold.

Therefore, Wang Li was tempted.

Just as the woman fled the stone palace in panic, a vermilion bird ring, about ten feet long and wreathed in flames, descended upon her.

"Who?"

Upon seeing this, the female cultivator from the Hidden Moon Sect was horrified. Her already pale face turned completely bloodless, yet she did not give up her will to live. With a flick of her wrist, a sleeve dart, its spiritual energy damaged, shot out towards the spot where the Vermilion Bird Ring had been thrown. With her other hand, she slapped her storage pouch, and a magical longsword flashed in her hand before she gripped it tightly. Then, she aimed at the Vermilion Bird Ring and unleashed a two-zhang-long (approximately 6.6 meters) white sword light.

However, Wang Li immediately changed his hiding place when he made his move, so the magic weapon hidden arrow failed to hit its target and was wasted.

The two-zhang-long sword light seemed quite imposing, but in front of the Vermilion Bird Ring, it was as soft as a cooked noodle, shattering upon contact and turning into specks of fluorescent light.

The woman, who had leaped up to dodge the attack of the Vermilion Bird Ring, was greatly alarmed:

"Isn't this a replica of the Vermilion Bird Ring from my Hidden Moon Sect?"

It is said that a Nascent Soul Grandmaster once tried to forge several imitations using other materials to practice his craft in order to refine the magic weapon, the Vermilion Bird Ring. The most successful one was naturally the Vermilion Bird Ring itself. Another one was said to have been destroyed in a battle, while the other two were given to disciples of the sect to participate in that year's forbidden area trial and were lost.

Unexpectedly, it reappeared here, and even became a weapon in the hands of his faction.

"Which senior brothers and sisters are joking with me? Please forgive me, I would be extremely grateful. Consider the five spiritual herbs in my storage bag as a token of my gratitude for your forgiveness?"

With his divine sense locked on, for some reason, Wang Li always felt that the woman was looking back intentionally or unintentionally, as if a prehistoric beast was awakening in the stone palace behind her.

Upon seeing this, a Phantom Sound Needle was silently unleashed; at the same time, it activated the Vermilion Bird Ring, causing the ring to shrink significantly, thereby gaining a substantial increase in speed.

The female cultivator from the Hidden Moon Sect was so anxious that she bit her lip until it bled.

Just as she retracted her hidden arrow, summoned another longsword, and used the two superior-grade swords to forcefully block the Vermilion Bird Ring.

"Pfft..."

A splatter of blood appeared on his left calf.

"what."

With that scream, Wang Li, who had been lurking in the shadows, instantly transformed into a blur and pounced on the woman, delivering a swift punch and grab. The fist struck the woman squarely in the back, sending her flying backward and coughing up blood; his other hand simultaneously grabbed the storage bag at her waist.

Without this treasure bag, the strength of an ordinary cultivator would definitely drop several levels.

That's the downside of being a low-level cultivator; they use the lowest-grade storage bags, which lack locking capabilities. If they lose them, their entire fortune will become someone else's, benefiting others without contributing anything in return.

"Ding ding..."

The longsword slipped from her hand and fell to the ground. The female cultivator from the Hidden Moon Sect, who had been rolling several times, staggered to her feet and tried to recall her twin swords to continue wielding them.

But Wang Li moved even faster, flashing to where the two swords had fallen. He first stepped on one of the flying swords, which was being summoned by the Art of Manipulation, and forcefully shattered the magic power on it. Then, with a wave of his hand, he seized the other sword and quickly erased the personal magical energy left by the woman on it.

This effectively cut off the female cultivator from the Hidden Moon Sect's confidence to continue resisting.

He sheathed his twin swords, intending to press the woman for details about the underground palace in the stone hall, to confirm whether there was a black-scaled python (ink dragon) inside, and to confirm whether this place was indeed Han Laomo's bridal chamber.

But then he saw the female cultivator struggling to get up on the ground suddenly freeze. When she looked at him, she trembled all over, her cherry lips parted slightly, and she showed an expression of extreme fear.

At the same time, the divine sense that was constantly sweeping around also caught the restless wind at the entrance of the stone hall behind it.

not good!

Without thinking, he lunged to the side!

"call out……"

"Pfft."

Blood splattered.

Chapter 39 Exploring the Stone Palace Underground Palace 2

"what."

With that scream, the female cultivator from the Hidden Moon Sect took to the air.

On the other side, Wang Li, who had just dodged a black spike and nimbly retreated twenty feet, turned around and felt a chill run down his spine.

so close!

A black, human-faced scorpion, as large as a car, stood blocking the narrow stone hall entrance, barely wide enough for one person to pass through. Its six- or seven-zhang-long black, hooked tail pierced the spot where it had been standing, striking the female cultivator from the Hidden Moon Sect in the neck and severing her carotid artery.

That wasn't all. After the barb on its tail pierced the female cultivator's neck, it lifted her high and then swung her around like a toy.

As it swung around, the hook shuddered, shattering the originally firm-breasted, full-bottomed, curvaceous, and graceful female cultivator of the Hidden Moon Sect into pieces scattered all over the ground.

This scene, accompanied by the eerie smile of the human-faced scorpion, truly evokes a deep-seated aversion.

No wonder this woman ran away like she'd seen a ghost; that's probably how that male disciple of the Hidden Moon Sect got played to pieces.

"You beast!"

Such a beautiful little white flower, it should have been him who destroyed it, but instead it stole his prey?

Immediately, the Vermilion Bird Ring was unleashed.

With.

The crimson Vermilion Bird Ring, shrunk to the size of a washbasin, shot out rapidly, aiming for the human-faced scorpion's head. Its speed and the intensity of the flames caused visible ripples to spread through the air. But just as it was about to strike the eerie smiling face, a blur of motion appeared, blocking the scorpion's path and striking the Vermilion Bird Ring with its own power.

So fast!

"Ding-ding..."

The fiery ring flew backward, trembling incessantly. The human-faced scorpion also opened its two mouths, one above the other, emitting two strange, piercing screams in pain.

Clearly, the attack from the Vermilion Bird Ring was effective against him.

This indirectly proves that the beast is not a different species and is not completely immune to attacks from the fire ring.

When his first attack failed, Wang Li summoned a high-grade magic weapon, a short shuttle. Infused with magic power, the originally dull gray shuttle transformed into a vibrant blue, brimming with spiritual energy. In the blink of an eye, it released sharp, cold rays of light, heading straight for the human-faced scorpion.

Wang Li planned to use the short shuttle as bait to lure the monster out its tail, and then use the Vermilion Bird Ring to deliver a powerful blow to the beast in front of him.

Although the human-faced scorpion possesses some intelligence, its instincts as a beast are often its primary means of combat.

Sure enough, another afterimage shot out, striking the blade of the short shuttle with a speed that was difficult to detect with the naked eye.

"Ding-dong..."

To Wang Li's surprise, the barb on the scorpion's tail, after colliding with the blade of the short shuttle, only left a faint white mark, with no other damage. On the contrary, the short shuttle, which was considered a decent high-grade magic weapon, emitted a barely audible groan. Its originally extremely hard blade, capable of cutting through iron like mud and colliding head-on with the top-grade magic weapon longsword of the Qingxu Sect's elder youth without much damage, actually showed signs of cracking.

Despite his surprise, Wang Li did not stop his offensive.

The Vermilion Bird Ring struck again, this time growing to a massive three zhang in size, with blazing red flames swirling around it both inside and out, creating an immense and powerful display as it tried to crush the Human-Faced Scorpion to the ground.

However, just as the fire ring was about to smash into the entrance of the stone hall, Wang Li suddenly noticed something was wrong with the human-faced scorpion.

This giant scorpion seems to be... stuck?!

He hadn't noticed it at first, but only now did he realize the strangeness of the passage leading to the depths of the stone hall.

How to describe it?

It feels a bit like a trash can.

The opening of the trash can corresponds to the interior of the stone hall, while the bottom of the trash can corresponds to the entrance and exit of the stone hall's passage. Because this transformation process is very slow, it is easy to overlook at first glance. Therefore, after the human-faced scorpion squeezed its entire body into the "trash can," it realized that the exit seemed to prevent it from leaving.

In addition, because he had rushed too hard, his body was stuck too tightly for a moment, especially the two originally very intimidating pincers, which were deformed at the connection with his body and could not move at all.

The short legs beneath it, however, could paddle energetically, and the giant scorpion did the same, attempting to destroy the walls on either side and the ground below. With ordinary earth and stone, it would surely have succeeded. However, the stone palace walls were protected by a powerful restriction set up by a master, its power undiminished for millennia.

These restrictions, while not particularly sophisticated, are effective against Core Formation stage cultivators. However, against level one demonic beasts and Qi Refining stage cultivators, these restrictions are quite effective. In a flash of spiritual light, all the struggling forces were completely neutralized.

Now, the only things the human-faced scorpion can use are the eerie smiling face on its head and its barbed tail that can shoot several meters away.

Wang Li didn't know what kind of methods that smiling face possessed; he also couldn't quite grasp the extent of its intimidating presence emanating from its tail, which peeked through the small gap between its body and the upper wall of the entrance.

But one thing is certain:

Unless Wang Li pushes the giant scorpion from the outside, the scorpion stuck at the entrance will not be able to retreat back into the depths of the stone hall in a short period of time.

In other words, he has plenty of time to choose how to deal with the other party.

"With just the Vermilion Bird Ring, achieving a one-hit kill is still a stretch. Even if this beast cooperates by surrendering, it will be difficult to do so. With the Dust-Wielding Ring combined with the fragment of the magic weapon arrow, its power is slightly greater than the Vermilion Bird Ring, but the possibility of killing this giant scorpion in one blow is still not high..."

It's more likely that the human-faced scorpion will be severely injured, while the impact will allow it to break free from the narrow passage.

The Wind Chaser Sword is out of the question. Unless a wind-elemental master unleashes its power, its strength will be reduced by three-tenths, making it only a top-tier ordinary magic weapon, not even as good as the Vermilion Bird Ring.

So, without further hesitation, I decided to proceed.

He put away the Vermilion Bird Ring and the Short Shuttle to conserve some mana; then he found a more distant place and took out a defensive intermediate-level talisman that had not yet consumed much spiritual power, just in case; then, he fully activated the more powerful flying sword talisman.

Below the Foundation Establishment stage, there's nothing that the talismans left behind by those in the Core Formation stage can't handle.

"Om..."

As magic power was poured into the talisman, a three-foot-long golden light suddenly appeared, and then quickly expanded and sublimated.

A few breaths later, a crystal giant sword more than four zhang long floated above his head.

"die!"

With a wave of his arm, the wind howled and the sword rang out...

The gleaming giant sword struck directly at the entrance.

"Gaga...gag..."

The beast's instincts made the human-faced scorpion extremely irritable.

The scorpion lashed out with its tail, attempting to intercept the sword strike.

However, the sword's edge was sharp, and the protective aura of a top-tier demonic beast was like paper, easily torn apart. The sword first severed the scorpion's tail, then split its head in two; but even here, the giant sword encountered significant resistance. It was clear that the scorpion's carapace was quite formidable. Or perhaps, someone's magical power was still lacking.

Wang Li promptly stopped to avoid ruining the excellent materials.

The only pity is that such a fine demon soul was lost.

We can only let it dissipate into the world.

He was overjoyed to have stumbled upon such a treasure; but then he began to doubt the lord of the forbidden land who had built the stone palaces, left behind various treasure chests, and assigned guardian beasts.

At the same time, reflect on your previous carelessness.