A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality (Web Novel)

Han Li, who had been sitting still for half a day, suddenly raised his left hand and straightened one of his fingers, making him appear unfathomably mysterious.

But not long after, the space half an inch away from his erect fingertip suddenly fluctuated, and several small sparks of fire appeared. When the sparks first appeared, they immediately made a “ZiLa” sound as they twisted and turned in the air to form a walnut-sized ball of red flames. Although this fireball was not big, a blistering heat emanated from this small ball of fire, permeating the entire room.

As Han Li reclined, his face was still covered by his book. He appeared to be asleep, if not for the fact that the small fireball at the tip of his finger continued to release “ZiLa! Zila!” sounds of high temperature combustions. This, coupled with his unmoving fingertip, made Han Li appear particularly eye catching.

As minutes inched by, the fireball continued to maintain the same vigorous energy, not revealing any hint of being extinguished. However, Han Li eventually shifted. The finger he used to support the fireball started to tremble slightly. The trembling from his finger grew to affect his wrist, then his entire arm. Soon, even his whole body started to tremble.

Abruptly, Han Li sat up on the armchair, not even aware that the book had fallen away from his face and onto the ground.

His two eyes stared unwaveringly at the fireball on his fingertips, his face red from holding his breath. From his forehead to his neck, his exposed skin revealed many small beads of sweat, appearing as if he had just finished performing some intense exercise that made his body overheat.

After a short while, the fireball started to sway alongside Han Li’s intense rocking. The floating flame would be large in one moment, then small in the next, unable to maintain a constant state. Not long after, it became small once again. The flame shrank into a spark and dissipated into thin air.

Once the fireball disappeared, Han Li felt like a man who had his backbone removed. His fireball had greatly consumed his energy. Extremely drained, he reclined his body once more on the chair.

“This Fireball Technique is vexing to train in! Even though I’ve researched this technique for half a year, I’m still unable to have complete control over it! The most I can manage is extend its duration by a little bit.” Talking to himself, Han Li stared at the ceiling.

It turned out that the last few pages of the Eternal Spring Arts Book contained several magic techniques. At first glance, it was evident that these were beginner level techniques for cultivators who just entered the sect. Since all he knew was the Eternal Spring Arts Incantation, this made Han Li feel like he obtained a treasure, and for several consecutive nights, he was unable to sleep due to his excitement.

Since he had witnessed firsthand Doctor Mo using a few of the magic techniques, it was no surprise that he would be this excited. Han Li had found Doctor Mo’s strength terrifying, so he viewed the formidable collection of techniques with great interest.

Unfortunately for Han Li, who was currently at the peak of the sixth layer of the Eternal Spring Arts Incantation, he was like a beggar holding a golden bowl and asking for alms. Since he was never taught any basic magic technique, he was unable to perform even the simplest spell. But now he suddenly came upon several technique incantations. How could he not be pleased?

The final pages of the book had five techniques and their respective incantations. They were “Fireball”, “Soul-lock Talisman”, “Imperial Flight”, “Telekinesis”, and “Heaven’s Eye.” To Han Li, all of the techniques and their incantations were still very ancient, profound, and hard to comprehend.

This was no surprise since the incantations were composed of words and phrases from an ancient language. Even though he had read quite a few books, he had a very superficial understanding of the ancient texts, so he was unable to immediately grasp certain meanings.

Helpless and without a choice, Han Li finally began studying the Eternal Spring Arts as if his life depending on it, driving straight into piles of different books that were related to old, classical languages. He bitterly studied the incantations’ meanings every day and night, racking his brain several tens of times over every phrase and every word. Refusing to quit, Han Li was resolved to completely comprehend all of the techniques listed in the book.

Even though he had never gone to a school or academy to obtain a formal education, he understood that making a mistake while cultivating boundlessly powerful energy would be more difficult to deal with than an infuriating obsession and might very well take this small life of his. Thinking of his own personal well-being, Han Li was filled with trepidation and fear, not daring to be even a slight bit careless.

After three months of intensive research, Han Li finally was able to gain a level of mastery over the theory behind the incantations and apply them. As a result, he was finally starting to truly practice these techniques.

However, Han Li’s insane method of studying delivered a large mental blow to his enthusiasm and stamina.

He had originally planned to rely upon his intelligence, which was enhanced by the Eternal Spring Arts, and thought that learning magic techniques shouldn’t be difficult, but who knew that he would suddenly oddly become baffled. He obviously knew the theory theory behind the techniques, but when it came time to applying them into practice, he could never manage to succeed; no matter what he did, he could not do it right. He did not know whether it was because the spells were wrong, he read the incantations incorrectly, or his magic power was not in the right place. Unable to discover the reason why, Han Li felt extremely slow-witted.

Han Li did not know what was causing his failures, but if it was a deficiency in magic power, he would eat another two spiritual herbs and the problem would be solved.

However, this was a problem that he was unable to wrap his head around. Han Li came to the conclusion that his innate talent for performing Celestial Arts was not as great as he thought it was.

It was only after a long period of bitter training that he finally gained a bit of success in the Fireball Technique and the Heaven’s Eyes Technique. As for the other three magic techniques, he did not succeed; he was unable to even reach their initial layers.

With great dismay, he could only concentrate on the Fireball Technique and Heaven’s Eye Technique. He placed quite a bit of hope into these two Celestial Arts since they were the only ones he could comprehend.

Among these, the Fireball Technique’s power did not disappoint Han Li; in fact, it greatly surpassed Han Li’s expectations.

Despite of the Fireball Technique’s small size, it contained a terrifyingly high temperature that could not be underestimated. There was nothing that the Fireball Technique couldn’t burn.

Even if the fireball touched a blade made of tempered steel, the area the fireball touched would immediately be melted into liquid steel upon contact.

Faced with this inhumanly frightening power, Han Li even threw the fireball into a puddle of water to test it. Upon contact, the reaction of the puddle of water was similar to that of oil, and immediately lit up instead of extinguishing the fireball.

After thoroughly understanding the Fireball Technique’s immense power, Han Li finally realized why Yu Zhitong looked down upon mortals with a lofty attitude.

Now that Han Li thought about it, a mediocre cultivator who knew a Celestial Art similar to the Fireball Technique could easily kill experts in Jiang Hu. If it was a slightly stronger cultivator, then he could easily sweep across Jiang Hu, unrivaled under the heavens.

The difference in power was simply too immense. It was no wonder that Yu Zhitong looked at normal mortals as if they were insects he could crush underfoot.