Chapter 446: Tribulation of Life and Death

Han Li accepted the jade slip from Lu Yuqing before pressing it against his own forehead, and a short while later, he withdrew his spiritual sense from the jade slip before handing it back to Lu Yuqing as he remarked, "This is quite a detailed map. May I ask where you got it from? Was it from that stone plaque?"

"That's right. It's exactly because I have this map that I wanted to come to the Boundless Sand Sea, but even with this map in my possession, I'll be counting on you to get us through the Boundless Sand Sea, Brother Han," Lu Yuqing replied.

"I'll do my best," Han Li said in an ambiguous fashion, following which the azure flying boat beneath his feet flew into the desert at his behest.

Upon entering the Boundless Sand Sea, the two of them instantly felt the air temperature rise dramatically, making them feel as if they had entered a steamer.

"Let's try and determine our current location before we do anything else, Fellow Daoist Lu," Han Li suggested.

"That's a good idea. I don't know exactly where we are right now, but I should be able to determine our location once we encounter two or three of the places recorded on the map," Lu Yuqing replied with a nod.

......

At the same time.

There was a certain mountain range in the Immortal Realm that was extremely majestic, filled with steep, breathtaking peaks that resembled swords aimed straight up at the heavens.

Deep within the mountain range was an imposing, antiquated fortress.

The fortress had been constructed in a very unique style that incorporated all types of sword designs into every aspect of its construction, including its roof and all of its walls.

Large swords, small swords, short swords, long swords... Countless swords of all descriptions filled every single corner of the ancient fortress.

The fortress was brightly lit, and there were many people walking or flying back and forth through it.

All of these people were dressed in golden robes with a "Xiong" character embroidered onto the sleeve, and it appeared to be quite a formidable cultivating clan.

Inside a dim secret chamber deep within the fortress was a black stone platform that was around 10 feet in size, upon which laid a young man.

The man's eyes were tightly shut, and he was completely still and lifeless.

On the stone platform around the body were engraved a circle of profound spirit patterns, while a dark azure oil lamp had been placed above the man's head.

However, at this moment, the flame in the lamp was very feeble, and it was constantly flickering, looking as if it could be snuffed out at any moment.

Adhered to the front of the man's chest was a black talisman with a series of profound runes inscribed upon it, and it was giving off a burst of special aura fluctuations.

All of a sudden, the door of the secret chamber creaked open to punctuate the silence, and two figures made their way into the room one after another.

The first figure was an elderly man with a head of white hair, but his face was extremely supple and completely devoid of wrinkles, presenting a rather jarring contrast to behold.

Behind the elderly man was a strange-looking middle-aged man with a dark green complexion and a pair of eyes with tiny black pupils.

The two of them made their way over to the stone platform before turning their attention to the black talisman.

"Today's the day?" the white-haired elderly man suddenly asked.

"It is. My divination tells me that it's today," the green-faced man replied as he pulled out an azure abacus-like object, and the beads on it were occasionally sliding back and forth on their own.

"Shan'er possesses the best aptitude out of everyone of his generation in our clan, but unfortunately, he's had an upbringing as he hails from a side branch of our clan, resulting in a very cold and arrogant personality. He's refused to accept any assistance from our clan and insists on forging his own path. Hopefully, following this ordeal, he can set aside all of his stubborn nature and realize what's truly important," the white-haired elderly man sighed.

The green-faced man nodded in response, and he was just about to say something when he suddenly raised an eyebrow and exclaimed, "It's coming!"

As soon as his voice trailed off, the black talisman on the young man's chest suddenly ignited on its own, erupting into a ball of black flames.

All of the patterns on the stone platform around the body also began to glow with radiant black light, forming a black halo that encompassed the entire body.

The white-haired elderly man immediately flicked a finger through the air upon seeing this, releasing a streak of black light that vanished into the black flame in front of the body.

The flame instantly reared up, then split up into five parts, immediately following which several streaks of black light flew out of the five balls of fire, then connected together with one another to form a pentagram array.

Fierce gusts of yin wind instantly began to sweep through the secret chamber, and the air temperature plummeted, but the white-haired elderly man and the green-faced man paid no heed to this as they stared intently at the pentagram array.

The space at the center of the array suddenly began to warp, and a black shadow appeared, squirming and writhing as if it were a living creature.

The shadow squirmed around for a while, then abruptly split open to reveal a spatial rift.

In the next instant, a ball of golden light flew out of the spatial rift, then vanished into the young man's body in a flash.

Some time later, the body began to radiate dazzling golden light.

The white-haired elderly man's eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of white light that enveloped the young man's body.

The complexion of the young man's pale and lifeless face quickly reverted back to normal, and his heart also began to beat again as the vitality was restored to his body.

The azure lamp above the young man's head had also suddenly become several times brighter, and its flame had become extremely stable.

Some more time passed, and the young man's eyelids fluttered slightly before slowly peeling back to reveal a pair of dazed and disoriented eyes.

It took a long while for those glazed over eyes to focus, and the young man began to look around in bewilderment, upon which he quickly spotted the two people beside him.

"Uncle, Clan Leader!"

His expression instantly changed drastically as he tried to sit up, only for the white-haired elderly man to press a hand down onto his shoulder as he said, "Lay still, Shan'er. The soul transference technique has only just been completed, so you can't move yet."

The young man opened his mouth to say something, but ultimately remained silent and laid back down.

"What's going on, Clan Leader? I should already be dead by now, why have I returned to the clan?" the young man asked.

"You have your uncle here to thank. A long time ago, he gleaned through divination that you were going to face a tribulation of life and death at some point, but he couldn't determine when this tribulation was going to befall you.

“Hence, when you decided to leave the clan, he secretly planted a soul transference secret technique onto your nascent soul, which ensured that if your nascent soul were to ever sustain lethal damage, it would automatically be teleported back to our clan so that you can possess another body," the white-haired elderly man explained.

The young man was silent for a moment, then turned to the green-faced man as he said, "I see. Thank you, Uncle. If it wasn't for you, I would already be dead by now."

"There's no need to thank me. Don't forget that you and I are related by blood," the green-faced man replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.

A complex look flashed through the young man's eyes as he said, "Uncle, every time you use your divination technique, you lose at least 10,000 years of your cultivation base. In order to glean my fate, you had to have lost at least 100,000 years of cultivation base. How can I repay you?"

"A mere 100,000-years-worth of cultivation base is nothing. I'm just glad you're back safe and sound," the green-faced man said with a smile.

The young man lowered his gaze and remained silent.

"What kind of enemy did you encounter in the Northern Glacial Immortal Region, Shan'er? There's no way any ordinary cultivator could've struck you down," the white-haired elderly man suddenly asked.

A cold gleam flashed through the young man's eyes upon hearing this, but he refrained from answering the question.

"Forget it. If you don't want to tell me, then I won't pry any further. You can take care of this matter on your own," the white-haired elderly man said with a shake of his head.

"Thank you, Clan Leader," the young man replied with a nod.

"Now that you're back, stay here for now. We'll help you recover your cultivation base as quickly as possible, and the Immortal Palace has already sent us several summons, so you should go and accept your post there. As for everything else, we can discuss all of that some other time," the white-haired elderly man said.

The young man's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he was silent for a moment before nodding in response.

The white-haired elderly man and the green-faced man exchanged a glance upon seeing this, and both of them could see their own elation mirrored in one another's eyes.

......

In the sky above a red plain, two balls of radiant light, one red and one golden, were engaged in a ferocious battle.

The two balls of light were clashing violently amid a string of earth-shattering booms, causing the surrounding space to tremble as gusts of fierce wind swept through the air in all directions.

Occasionally, a streak of light or two would spill down from above, smash giant craters into the ground while also sending vast clouds of red dust erupting into the air.

One of the combatants in the battle was none other than the silver-robed woman by the name of Qu Ling, and she was standing atop the back of the mountainous golden beetle, which was radiating dazzling golden light.

She was facing a group of seven or eight figures, all of whom were dressed in red robes with extremely life-like fire raven designs embroidered onto them. These were none other than the True Flame Sect cultivators, but Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni were nowhere to be seen among them.

All of the True Flame Sect cultivators were looking rather worse for wear. In particular, the three Golden Immortals among them seemed to all be carrying injuries.

The trio was led by Xu Yangzi, and they had instructed all of the True Flame Sect cultivators to form a flame-shaped array. Hovering above each of them was a large red flag with scorching flames burning upon them, and bursts of fire were erupting out of the eight flags toward Qu Ling and the golden beetle.

The fire was giving off scorching heat that caused the very space in its wake to tremble and warp, but Qu Ling wasn't taking this battle seriously at all.

Instead, she was casually standing on the golden beetle's back while fiddling with a green gourd in her hand, paying no heed to the ongoing battle at all.

Meanwhile, the golden beetle swept its two front legs through the air, releasing streaks of translucent light, each of which was around 10 feet in length.

The streaks of light came as thick and fast as rain to clash against the crimson flames, and a violent explosion rang out as the streaks of light and scorching flames dissipated in unison, with neither side able to get the better of the other.

"Qu Ling, there's no bad blood between you and our True Flame Sect, so why have you suddenly attacked us?" Xu Yangzi roared in a furious voice.

"All of us have ventured into the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor in order to search for treasures, but as you can see, I'm all on my own, and there's only so much that I can do by myself. Hence, prior to entering the immortal manor, I planted some marks on all of you in secret.

“That way, all I have to do is let you go off on your own for a while, then hunt you all down, and all of the treasures that you've found will be mine. Isn't that a much better strategy than going around searching for treasures on my own?" Qu Ling replied with a wide smile.