A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Immortal Realm

Chapter 892: Five City Martial Gathering

Han Li slept for what felt like an eternity, and by the time he woke up, all of his exhaustion had faded away.

He felt as if his own body were brimming with limitless power, and his mind was also filled with ferocious battle intent that made him want to plow through a mountain with his bare hands.

He was naturally able to suppress these irrational urges, but the battle intent in his heart was so fierce that it proved rather difficult for him to suppress.

"Looks like having too much energy is not a good thing," Han Li mused in a self-deprecating fashion, then began carefully examining his own internal condition.

All of his two hundred and thirty-seven profound acupoints were glowing radiantly, while bursts of immense power were surging through his entire body, and his battle intent was beginning to rise up once again.

I never used to be this aggressive. Could this be a result of cultivating the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts?

Han Li raised an eyebrow as he raised a hand before slashing it through the air like a blade, and a loud screeching sound instantly rang out as the space began to shimmer and warp.

His eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this. Prior to cultivating the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, he wouldn't have been able to achieve the same effect even with an all out attack, yet he was now able to do it with just an errant swipe of his hand.

A gust of ferocious wind swept through the air from his hand before striking the wall, instantly slicing a long and deep gash into it as if it were made of tofu.

A stunned smile appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, and he realized that the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts were even more formidable than he anticipated.

Right as he was about to conduct some more tests of his own newfound power, the sound of door-knocking suddenly rang out.

He rose to his feet before opening the door to discover Chen Yang standing outside.

"I was informed that there had been some commotion in your room a few days ago, so I thought that you may have come out of seclusion. Looks like I was right. You were certainly in seclusion for a very long time, Fellow Daoist Li," Chen Yang said with a hint of complaint in his voice.

"Please come in, City Lord Chen," Han Li said as he invited Chen Yang into his room.

"Just call me Chen Yang, Fellow Daoist Li. Looks like you've made significant strides in your cultivation over the past five years," Chen Yang remarked.

"You're far too kind, Fellow Daoist Chen. My paltry powers can't even begin to compare with yours," Han Li replied in a modest fashion.

Chen Yang smiled in response, but his smile was a little stiff.

At this moment, he felt as if Han Li were enshrouded in a layer of figurative mist, making it impossible to glean the full depths of his power.

But how was that possible? No more than five years ago, he was nothing more than a piece of small fry who had only opened seventy-two profound acupoints. Could it be that he had been hiding his true power this entire time?

"What brings you here today, Fellow Daoist Chen? Could it be that you've found a way to remove the Black Tribulation Centipede in my body?" Han Li asked.

"My sincerest apologies, but even after searching through all of the potential places where Du Qingyang could've kept things hidden over the past few years, I still wasn't able to find anything. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to raise a different request to me," Chen Yang replied with a wry smile.

Even though Han Li had already anticipated this answer, his expression still darkened slightly as he said, "Alright, we can discuss this matter another time then. If you're not here to discuss the matter of the Black Tribulation Centipedes, then why have you come to see me?"

"The Five City Martial Gathering is coming up, and that's what I wanted to discuss with you," Chen Yang replied with a smile.

"What's that?" Han Li asked.

Aside from its main city, Profound City also had four subsidiary cities, namely Green Goat City, Excess Passage City, Profound End City, and White Rock City.

However, he had never heard of this Five City Martial Gathering before.

"The five cities of our Profound City are situated quite far away from one another, thereby making exchange of information extremely difficult. In order to strengthen the connection between the five cities, City Lord E Kuai holds a martial gathering once every one thousand years in the main city, where the five cities will send out their most powerful warriors to engage in a series of sparring matches," Chen Yang explained with a smile.

"I see. Why have you brought this up to me, Fellow Daoist Chen?" Han Li asked as he thought back to his last conversation with Daoist Xie.

Could the important event that Daoist Xie had been referring to be this Five City Martial Gathering?

"The Five City Martial Gathering is a grand event for Profound City. Would you be interested in going to take a look?" Chen Yang asked.

"Are you really just inviting me to go and spectate the event? Please get to the point, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li harrumphed.

Chen Yang remained unbothered by Han Li's rather frosty demeanor, and a serious look appeared on his face as he said, "In that case, I won't waste any more time. I came here today to invite you to participate in this martial gathering as a representative of our Green Goat City."

Han Li wasn't surprised to hear this, and he asked, "What are the rules of this Five City Martial Gathering?"

The fact that Han Li didn't turn down this proposal right away was a very encouraging sign for Chen Yang, and he hurriedly explained, "The rules have always been slightly different from one edition to another, but in general, it's always a one on one battle, where the winner advances, and those who manage to clinch the top spots in the event will receive handsome rewards from City Lord E Kuai himself."

"Will participating in the event pose any risk to my life?" Han Li asked.

"There will be some risk, but there have been very few casualties in past editions. They're meant to be sparring matches, so you can surrender if you're defeated. There aren't any vendettas between the cities, so very few people will intentionally try to kill their opponents. After all, the true enemy of Profound City is Puppet City," Chen Yang replied.

Having spent so much time in the arena, Han Li had almost forgotten about the existence of Puppet City.

"I'm sure such a grand event isn't held purely to strengthen the relations between the cities, right?" Han Li asked.

Chen Yang's smile stiffened slightly upon hearing this, following which he replied, "That's only the secondary objective. The most important objective of the event is to decide the cultivation resource allocation among the cities based on the outcome of the martial gathering."

Han Li merely smiled as he looked at Chen Yang in silence.

A sense of unease welled up in Chen Yang's heart at the sight of Han Li's expression, and he said, "I'll be open and honest with you, Fellow Daoist Li. I've only just taken over as the lord of Green Goat City, so our city must do well in this martial gathering in order for me to establish myself. If you're willing to help me in this cause, I won't take any of the reward that you receive from the event, and I'll even give you additional compensation on top of that."

"Oh? What do you plan to give me as compensation?" Han Li asked.

Chen Yang was rather taken aback by Han Li's direct and straightforward line of questioning, and he pulled out a white jade box before offering it to him.

Han Li accepted the box, then opened it up a sliver to inspect its contents, upon which a hint of surprise flashed through his eyes.

He then immediately closed the box again as he smiled and said, "Seeing as you're displaying so much sincerity, it would be downright rude of me to refuse."

Internally, Chen Yang was feeling quite disgruntled, but on the surface, he displayed a grateful smile as he said, "The Five City Martial Gathering isn't far away, and Green Goat City is quite far from Profound City, so I'm planning for us to set off in half a year. If you need to make any preparations, please do so as soon as possible, and I'm happy to provide you with any assistance that you may require."

Han Li nodded in response, and Chen Yang promptly departed.

Following Chen Yang's departure, Han Li sat back down with his legs crossed on his bed, then opened the jade box in his hands to reveal an A tier beast core.

This one was quite lackluster compared with the one that he had chosen from Du Qingyang's vault, but it was undoubtedly also an A tier beast core.

A faint smile appeared on his face as he closed the jade box, then closed his eyes as well.

With only a half a year left to prepare, there was no point in cultivating, so he was planning to make some other preparations.

Opening so many profound acupoints in such a short time was simply unheard of, so he had to take some measures to conceal his newly opened profound acupoints.

......

Six months flew by in a flash.

On this day, Han Li changed into his normal attire before leaving the arena.

He was able to leave the arena without any trouble, presumably because Chen Yang had already informed everyone in the arena to grant him free passage, and he quickly arrived in the main hall of the city lord's manor.

There were already quite a few people gathered in the hall, almost all of which he was familiar with.

All of the arena's area leaders were present, and in addition to them, there were also the likes of Xiong Pei and Xuanyuan Xing, amounting to a total of close to twenty people.

Everyone was looking quite excited, particularly the area leaders, who were spiritedly discussing the upcoming Five City Martial Gathering.

Everyone in the hall took a casual glance at Han Li upon his arrival, then returned to their conversations.

Han Li had earned quite a reputation for himself in the arena, but in the eyes of the area leaders, he was still not worthy of their attention.

His and Gu Qianxun's involvement in the death of Du Qingyang had been kept a secret this entire time, so no one was aware of the role that he had played.

Han Li didn't mind this at all, and he sat down in a peaceful corner of the hall.

At this moment, Gu Qianxun was seated together with Toxic Dragon, Tu Gang, and a golden-haired young man, as well as the purple-robed woman by the name of Yao Li.

Gu Qianxun's eyes lit up slightly at the sight of Han Li, and she excused herself before making her way toward him.

Yao Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but she still followed along.

"Who's that?" the golden-haired young man asked as a cold gleam flashed through his eyes.

He was quite a handsome man, and his aura was even more formidable than that of Toxic Dragon and Tu Gang.