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

Chapter 926: Hunting Armadillos

"That's right, I visited Senior Liu Hua to find a way to remove the Black Tribulation Centipede in my body. You have some very good sources, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li replied.

"Please don't misunderstand, Fellow Daoist Li. I wasn't tracking you or anything like that, I only happened to learn of this by chance. Heavenly Qilin Crystals can be found in the Great Ruins, so if you need my help, then I'll be sure to do everything in my power to assist you," Chen Yang promised with a wide smile.

"Thank you for looking out for me, Fellow Daoist Chen," Han Li replied.

"You haven't been in the Scalptia Spatial Domain, so you haven't had a chance to explore the Great Ruins yet, but I've already been in there on several occasions. In the face of truly alluring treasures, so-called friendships and even the differences between the two cities can be completely disregarded. You're a smart man, so I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that, Fellow Daoist Li," Chen Yang said as a peculiar tone crept into his voice.

Han Li took a glance at Chen Yang, but didn't say anything.

"In my eyes, the power of the individual is far too insignificant in the Great Ruins. I've always admired you greatly, and if you agree to work with me, I can guarantee you that I'll find you a Heavenly Qilin Crystal, so please consider my offer carefully," Chen Yang continued, then closed his eyes and spoke no further.

Han Li remained silent as his eyes narrowed slightly.

As the date of entry into the Great Ruins drew closer, not only was the collaboration between Puppet City and Profound City about to come to an end, all of the city lords were also hatching their own plans. Even though Han Li was technically Chen Yang's subordinate, he didn't necessarily have to obey him under these special circumstances.

What Chen Yang was proposing was quite clear, but Han Li didn't know what his objectives were, and under these circumstances, he didn't want to rush into any agreements.

The night quickly passed by, and by the time night transitioned into day, the howling wind outside the cave had already subsided. It was still extremely cold outside, but far better than it had been the night before.

"Let's go, we still have some way to go until we reach our destination," Chen Yang said before departing.

Han Li inhaled a lungful of cold air as his brows furrowed slightly.

Perhaps it was because he had stayed up the entire night to keep watch, but at this moment, he was feeling rather weary, and he felt like he couldn't muster up much strength.

"What's wrong, Fellow Daoist Li?" Xuanyuan Xing asked. "You don't look very energetic."

"It's nothing, I guess I'm still just not accustomed to the environment here," Han Li replied, then took another deep breath as channeled his own bloodline powers, and to his relief, the weariness in his body quickly faded away.

"In that case, let's set off," Xuanyuan Xing said.

Han Li nodded in response, and he was just about to leave the cave when his expression suddenly changed slightly as he cast his gaze toward the left, where there were currently two figures racing along in a distant mountain range.

One of them was Zhuo Ge of Puppet City, while the other was the dwarf-like man who was no more than four feet in height.

"Hide!" Chen Yang hurriedly urged at the sight of the two men, then immediately concealed himself behind a giant rock, and Han Li and Xuanyuan Xing also ducked behind some cover.

Zhuo Ge and his companion didn't notice Han Li's trio, and they continued onward, quickly vanishing into the distance.

Only then did Han Li's trio slowly emerge from their hiding spots.

"What are those two doing here?" Xuanyuan Xing asked.

"There are many treasures and unique scaled beasts to be found in the Bipolar Extreme Mountain Range, so it's no surprise to see Puppet City cultivators scouring the mountain range. We still have a mission to complete, so let's not get entangled in any other matters," Chen Yang said.

"Do you know those two, Fellow Daoist Chen? Do they pose a threat to us?" Han Li asked.

"The taller one of the two is called Zhuo Ge, while the shorter one is called Wu Yun, and both of them are top-tier cultivators of Puppet City. It's very difficult to gauge the power level of Puppet City cultivators as combat prowess is a culmination of their own powers and the puppets that they use.

“With a powerful puppet at their disposal, even an ordinary Puppet City cultivator could have their powers enhanced by tenfold, so do not take any Puppet City cultivator lightly," Chen Yang warned.

Han Li and Xuanyuan Xing nodded in response.

After waiting for a while longer, Chen Yang said, "They should be far away now, so let's go."

Thus, the three of them promptly departed, and after close to half a day, they had reached a basin that was nestled in between some mountains.

The basin was filled with scattered rocks, and freezing winds were blowing through the basin to produce a rustling sound akin to that produced by countless crawling insects.

At the bottom of the basin was a layer of faint blue mist that, for some reason, refused to dissipate in the wind, and after consulting the jade slip momentarily, Chen Yang declared, "This should be the spot."

Han Li cast his gaze toward the basin up ahead to find that it was circular in shape and so massive that he couldn't see the other side.

Chen Yang led the way forward, followed closely by Han Li and Xuanyuan Xing.

Due to the enormous size of the basin, the three of them decided to split up.

Han Li was going to search through the left side of the basin, Chen Yang was going to venture into the middle, while Xuanyuan Xing was sent to the right side, and they had agreed to reunite at the entrance of the basin a day later.

Half a day later.

A fist came crashing down with tremendous power, slamming down onto the head of a snow wolf scaled beast.

The snow wolf's head exploded like a watermelon, and its massive body crashed to the ground and spasmed a few times before quickly falling still.

Han Li dug a beast core out of the snow wolf's head and stowed it away before looking around with tightly furrowed brows.

The spatial pressure in the Bipolar Extreme Mountain Range was even heavier than that of Profound City, so his spiritual sensory range had been limited to only around twenty kilometers. After half a day of searching, he hadn't found a single Ice Scaled Armadillo, but he had encountered many other scaled beasts.

He cast his gaze forward to discover that the rocks up ahead were only becoming more massive. Some of them were hundreds of feet tall, resembling small mountains, and the blue mist on the ground was also denser than before.

This isn't going to work...

After some contemplation, Han Li leaped onto a large rock, then sprang onto another one, and he began jumping from rock to rock while releasing his spiritual sense to examine the surrounding area.

There were many scaled beasts in the basin, some of which even Han Li found to be rather dangerous, so he was taking some risk by jumping around like this and making himself a target, but that was a risk that he was just going to have to accept if he wanted to find an Ice Scaled Armadillo as soon as possible.

After warding off two scaled beast attacks, Han Li's eyes finally lit up as he cast his gaze toward the right before rushing away in that direction.

A few moments later, he arrived in a dense quarry of rocks, all of which were a translucent white color. Unlike the rocks that Han Li had encountered thus far, these seemed to be some type of special ore that was giving a bone-chilling glacial aura.

At this moment, there was a scaled beast that was taller than the average adult human munching on these pieces of white ore.

The creature had a translucent blue and white horn on its forehead, and its entire body was covered in blue scales, while a long tail was dragging along behind it.

It was an Ice Scaled Armadillo!

Alerted by the sound of Han Li's approach, the Ice Scaled Armadillo looked up to find Han Li swooping down upon it like a hunting hawk, and it immediately let loose a sharp cry akin to the crying of an infant before darting away as a blue shadow, traveling at an extraordinary speed.

"You're not getting away!" Han Li yelled as the profound acupoints on his legs lit up, releasing rays of white light that formed a starry white cloud, which lifted him up into the air.

At the same time, he stomped heavily down onto the space beneath him, causing it to ripple violently as he propelled himself through the air, instantly reaching the Ice Scaled Armadillo before reaching down to make a grab for it.

The Ice Scaled Armadillo screeched once again as it slapped the ground with its long tail, allowing it to change directions in an instant and just barely evade Han Li's grab.

A hint of surprise flashed through Han Li's eyes upon seeing this, and he twisted around in mid-air before stomping down onto the space underfoot again.

A dull thump rang out as he also changed directions to continue pursuing the Ice Scaled Armadillo, and at the same time, he raised his right hand before flicking his middle and index fingers through the air, sending two finger projections flying into the Ice Scaled Armadillo.

The armadillo was instantly sent flying, somersaulting through the air a few times before crashing into a large rock.

It seemed to have been enraged, and it clambered to its feet before pouncing at Han Li in retaliation.

It let loose a low roar as the horn on its head began glowing brightly, and a series of white stripes instantly appeared over its blue body. At the same time, it swelled up like a balloon, expanding to several times its original size in the blink of an eye, and its front claws also elongated about twofold as it lashed out at Han Li.

Simultaneously, its blue tail whipped through the air as a blue shadow, hurtling toward Han Li's face like a speeding harrow.

Han Li gave a cold harrumph as he thrust a palm forward, and the flurry of claw projections unleashed by the Ice Scaled Armadillo instantly stopped cold in their tracks before shattering as if they had crashed into an invisible wall.

As for its tail, that also drew to a screeching halt around half a foot away from Han Li's hand before shattering into pieces.

In the next instant, a dull thump rang out as the Ice Scaled Armadillo was sent flying back even faster than it had come, and it crashed heavily into the ground with a gruesome crunch as countless bones in its body were shattered upon impact.

Its body also reverted back to its original size, and blue blood came gushing out of its mouth as the light began to fade from its eyes.

Han Li landed beside the Ice Scaled Armadillo and carefully examined its horn momentarily before nodding to himself and severing the horn.

According to Mistress Liu Hua, they were going to require at least five or six of these horns, and he didn't know if Chen Yang and Xuanyuan Xing had managed to gather any.

After stowing the horn away, Han Li cast his gaze toward the quarry of white rocks with a contemplative look in his eyes.

So this is what Ice Scaled Armadillos like to feed on...

After a brief pause, he continued deeper into the basin.