A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality (Chapter 401-Chapter 600)

First of all, the nine countries of the Heavenly South had been divided between the Devil Dao, the Righteous Dao, the Heavenly Dao Alliance, and the Nine Nations Union. There were no longer individual powers controlling each of the states.

Previously, Han Li was only aware of the Righteous Dao, Devilish Dao, and the Nine Nations Union. After Han Li had left for the Scattered Star Seas, the superpower known as the Heavenly Dao Alliance was formed. It consisted of the cultivators of over ten various sized countries in order to stand in opposition against the Righteous and Devilish Dao. While it was larger than both the Devil and the Righteous Dao, it wouldn’t be a match if the Righteous and Devil Dao were to band together.

However, it was only by a tacit agreement that the two sides wouldn’t interfere with one another while they expanded by annexing their neighboring countries. Even during this short moment of peace, they still considered themselves enemies the entire time. There was no possible way they could possibly form an alliance.

Additionally, disputes had risen internally over the distribution of their newly found gains and both sides had sunk into internal strife. Neither of them were interested in confronting the Heavenly Dao Alliance.

As for the Heavenly Dao Alliance, they were only a loosely connected alliance to begin with. Having the Righteous and Devil Dao leave them alone was exactly what they had wanted. Also, it was likely they didn’t have the courage to attack them in the first place.

With this, the three superpowers came to an equilibrium.

In fact, the reason as to why there was a hundred years of peace had much to do with the Nine Nations Union.

The Nine Nations Union had taken many of the cultivation sects and vagrant cultivators that were displaced by the Righteous and Devil Dao, including the Seven Sects of Yue, and were greatly strengthened as a result. With this great increase in power, they had originally believed that they would be able to suppress the spell warriors of the Moulan Plains [1]. However, they truly didn’t expect that in their war with the Moulan tribes, that the formidable armies of two additional tribes would come to their aid in such a timely coincidence, multiplying the number of spell warriors.

The battle between both sides intensified and led to several large battles, resulting in a massive amount of deaths on both sides. Even so, the Nine Nations Union found themselves at a disadvantage and even had some of their land seized.

Helpless, the Nine Nations Union began to request assistance from the Devil Dao, Righteous Dao, and Heavenly Dao Alliance for assistance. They also threatened that if the three powers were unwilling to send men, they would bluntly withdraw, and allow the Moulan’s spell warriors to enter their lands.

When the three parties received this information, they all sent men to assist despite their unwillingness. They all knew that if the Nine Nations Union were to withdraw, then the ferocious Moulan’s spell warriors would bring them no small amount of trouble in the coming days.

With the reinforcements, the Nine Nations Unions was able to score a decisive victory, leaving several thousands of cultivators dead. They were able to gain steady footing against the Moulan’s attacks and were once again able to stand firm.

From then on, the Nine Nations Union decided to shrewdly request the three superpowers to alternatively send them reinforcements in order to resist the Moulan’s attacks. Otherwise, if the three superpowers chose to remain passive, then they would do so as well and allow the Moulan to freely wreak havoc in their territories.

Thus after long negotiations, the four superpowers eventually reached an agreement. With the Nine Nations Union as the leader and the other three parties as subordinates, they created a joint pact against the Moulan.

As a result of this pact, the Righteous and Devil Dao had managed to remain at peace for over a hundred years despite having completely annexed their massive domains. With the threat of the Moulan covetously looming over their shoulders, they didn’t dare to rashly start another war.

As for the State of Xi and its two neighboring countries, they both belonged to the Heavenly Dao Alliance. The Ancient Sword Sect, the Drifting Cloud Sect, and Hundred Possibilities Pavilion were among the core sects of the alliance.





Chapter 599: Entering the Sect (1)


Of the three sects controlling the sacred spirit veins, the most optimal choice for Han Li wasn’t the Drifting Cloud Sect but the Hundred Possibilities Sect that was well known for its tool refinement.

In addition to his original goals of finding a cultivation area, the Hundred Possibilities Sect disciples were particularly adept at refining all sorts of magic tools. Rumor has it that the sect even possessed refinement methods for peak grade magic treasures.

These treasures caused Han Li’s heart to stir. However, it was a pity that the sect recruited disciples in the same manner as the State of Yue’s Seven Sects used to: they prioritized recruitment from cultivation clans and only rarely accepted outsiders as disciples.

Furthermore, a union of the five most powerful cultivator clans within the sect had monopolized the sect’s allocated section of the Dreamcloud Mountain’s spirit veins in the west. Both of these factors had caused Han Li to relinquish any thoughts of joining this sect with slight regret.

As for the Ancient Sword Sect, as its name implies, it is extremely adept at sword controlling techniques. All of their magic tools and magic treasures were various types of differently sized swords. As for the sect protecting arts, the True Absolute Sword Arts, it was incredibly incisive and was widely known throughout the country.

The Ancient Sword Sect didn’t exclusively take in disciples from cultivator clans, it also took in young vagrant cultivators. However, the sect required one to be extremely suited to their sword arts. If one’s aptitude didn’t match the sect’s cultivation techniques, they weren’t taken in. This was why they had the fewest disciples of the three sects despite how often they were recruiting.

On the other hand, by relying on their domineering attacks, the disciples of the Ancient Sword Sect prevailed over opponents of similar cultivation, leading the sect to be the most powerful of the three. As a matter of course, they held the main spirit vein of Dreamcloud Mountain.

The final sect was the Drifting Cloud Sect. Instead of being renowned for its weapon refinement like the Hundred Possibilities Sect, the Drifting Cloud Sect was famed for its pill concoction.

The legendary Spirit Tempering Pill was something that only a few of the sect’s elders were capable of concocting. So despite the sect’s inferior strength in comparison to the other two, it managed to acquire the east portion of the mountain’s spirit vein. Additionally, the Drifting Cloud Sect recruited the most disciples and possessed the least demanding requirements.

On a whole, the sect only had two conditions for accepting disciples: Primarily, it required that that one possessed decent spiritual roots and a capacity to be nurtured. Lacking that, they were also more than willing to accept any disciples that had poor aptitudes so long as their cultivation had already reached a high enough layer.

After all, the Drifting Cloud Sect pursued a disorganized assortment of various disciplines outside of its renowned pill concoction technique. These fledgling disciplines required large quantities of low level cultivators in order to progress.

As for vagrant Qi Condensation cultivators with poor aptitudes, they clearly understood that they had no future prospects after joining the sect and would eternally be low grade disciples. Regardless, they joined with thoughts similar to Han Li’s; It was quite convenient to take shelter in the great power of the Drifting Cloud Sect. It was for this reason that vagrant cultivators flocked to the sect in large numbers.