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

"As you wish," Chen Yang said as he slowly withdrew his fist, then wiped it clean on Xiong Pei's clothes.

Xiong Pei's eyes widened, his body trembled uncontrollably as fear began to well up in his heart.

Not far away from him, the two scribes were also trembling uncontrollably. Chen Yang had always been so easygoing and amicable to them, and never did they think that there would be such a cruel and vicious side to him.

"I... I'm willing to follow Captain Chen Yang... No, City Lord Chen Yang!" the round-faced scribe yelled, breaking the tense silence.

"I'm also willing to follow City Lord Chen Yang," the square-faced scribe echoed, and everyone else immediately began pledging their loyalty to him as well.

A pleased smile appeared on Chen Yang's face, and he strode over to Mou Lin, then crouched down slightly as he smiled and asked, "What do you say, Fellow Daoist Mou?"

"I'm willing to submit to you," Mou Lin sighed.

"You may be willing, but I'm not willing to accept you!" Chen Yang said as a hint of killing intent flashed through his eyes, and he slammed his fist down onto Mou Lin's head without any warning.

A dull thump rang out as Mou Lin's head exploded like a ripe watermelon, and the entire hall descended into silence once again as everyone's fear was elevated to new heights.

"If you're going to kill us, then just do it. Why fool around with us like this?" the horned man suddenly scoffed.

"Oh? Looks like we have someone else with a death wish here," Chen Yang remarked with a faint smile.

"I certainly don't have a death wish, but if I'm going to die anyway, then I want to at least die with some semblance of dignity," the horned man replied in a calm manner.

"If I recall correctly, your name was Xuanyuan Xing, right?" Chen Yang asked.

"I didn't think you would know my name, Fellow Daoist Chen," the horned man replied in an indifferent manner.

"You have some guts. I like that. I'll get you to take over Mou Lin's position as leader of the city's patrol squads," Chen Yang declared.

The horned man faltered slightly upon hearing this, while everyone else also looked on in befuddlement.

"Mou Lin is a very sinister man, and he just tried to rally everyone to kill me, so I naturally couldn't keep someone like him around. As for everyone else, as long as you're willing to pledge your loyalty to me, all of you can survive," Chen Yang declared.

"I'm willing to pledge my loyalty to City Lord Chen Yang!" the round-faced scribe declared once again, and everyone else quickly followed suit.

……

In the neighboring side hall, Han Li smiled as he said, "Looks like you were right, Fellow Daoist Gu. Chen Yang clearly already had a plan for today. It appears that he's asked us to stay in this side hall not because he truly needs our help, but instead because he wants to show off to us."

"Chen Yang really has executed his plan quite well. Even if there are still people who don't wish to accept him as the city lord, they have no choice at this point," Han Li mused.

"There's still more to come," Gu Qianxun said with a smile.

……

Inside the hall, the declarations of loyalty gradually began to die down as Chen Yang raised his hands for silence.

He strode over to Xiong Pei, then looked down at him with a smile as he asked, "What would you like to say after your near-death ordeal?"

At this point, Xiong Pei was already terrified, and his lips were quivering as he replied, "You know me, Fellow Daoist Chen... No, City Lord Chen. I'm not like Mou Lin, I don't have any ambitions. I'm genuinely willing to submit to you."

"Those sound like genuine words," Chen Yang remarked with a nod.

Xiong Pei was feeling a little more reassured upon hearing this, and he was just about to say something further when Chen Yang continued, "However, as a safety precaution, it's best to put in place some measures that are more reliable than empty words."

He pulled out a black stone vial from his sleeve as he spoke, then placed it onto Xiong Pei's chest before removing the stopper.

A black centipede that was around three inches in length slowly crawled out from within, then easily burrowed its way into Xiong Pei's body.

A despairing look appeared on Xiong Pei's face upon seeing this, but he didn't dare to raise any complaints and closed his eyes to accept his fate.

Everyone else was also completely at Chen Yang's mercy, so they naturally didn't dare to put up any resistance, either.

Chen Yang made a hand signal, and the members of his hunting party instantly sprang into action, pulling out black stone vials of their own to plant Black Tribulation Centipedes into the bodies of everyone laying on the floor.

"I'm sure all of you are familiar with Black Tribulation Centipedes, so I won't waste any time telling you about them. Now that Du Qingyang is dead, I'm the only one who can remove them, and if anyone makes a sufficiently significant contribution in the future, they can have their Black Tribulation Centipede removed," Chen Yang declared.

Everyone was still completely powerless to resist, so they could only allow the Black Tribulation Centipedes to burrow into their bodies.

With that, the final resistance had fallen, and Chen Yang had successfully taken over as the city lord.

However, due to the fact that there were still several hunting parties outside the city, Chen Yang didn't hold a celebratory ceremony right away. Instead, he continued to keep a low profile, planning to hold his inauguration ceremony only after everyone had been taken care of.

After that, all he had to do was send a lavish gift to Profound City from Du Qingyang's vault, and he would officially become the lord of Green Goat City.

Han Li wasn't interested in any of this, and he returned to his room in the arena that same night.

Even though he had been at the very center of the storm this entire time, he and Gu Qianxun had always been hiding behind Chen Yang, so no one aside from Chen Yang and Daoist Xie were aware of the roles that he had played in this power struggle.

Chen Yang had offered to take them out of the arena so that they could stay in Green Goat City as secret guest elders, but both of them had refused.

Just like Han Li, Gu Qianxun had chosen to remain in the arena for now.

After receiving confirmation from Chen Yang that Violet Spirit truly hadn't ever appeared in Green Goat City, Han Li's plan was to stay for a while longer before departing the city altogether.

However, prior to his departure, he had to find out what was happening with Daoist Xie.

That night, Han Li's room was brightly lit, and he was seated on a corner of his stone bed, inspecting a statue of a devilish deity in his hand.

A beam of translucent light shot out of his glabella and into the statue, and as usual, it cycled through those twelve different poses, with corresponding passages of text appearing on its back with each pose.

He was still no closer to understanding the texts, and his brows furrowed slightly at this thought.

Right at this moment, the sound of door-knocking rang out, and Han Li raised an eyebrow as he strode over to the door of his room, then opened it to reveal a familiar figure.

"What on earth are you plotting, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked as he allowed the figure into the room before closing the door.

"I don't have much time, so let's discuss the important stuff first," Daoist Xie said as he turned to Han Li with a serious expression.

For some reason, Han Li suddenly felt like Daoist Xie was looking a little unfamiliar, as if this wasn't the same Daoist Xie as the one that he had always known.

"You've inspected the statue with your spiritual sense already, right?" Daoist Xie asked as his gaze fell upon the statue in Han Li's hand.

Han Li nodded in response.

"Your spiritual sense is far more powerful than Du Qingyang's. He was only just barely able to make out the statue's different poses, yet you should be able to see the text that it displays, right?" Daoist Xie asked.

"The statue has a total of twelve poses, corresponding to twelve passages of text, but I don't understand any of it," Han Li replied.

"This statue is called a Heavenly Baleful Deity Statue. It's an ancient deity that was worshiped in the Devil Realm in ancient times, but the religion has since died off. The text recorded in the statue is also a type of ancient lost text called profound text.

“The statue contains an advanced bodily refinement cultivation art by the name of the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts, which consists of a total of twelve levels, the first three of which are in this statue," Daoist Xie explained.

"You must've asked me to choose this statue over the other cultivation arts in the vault for a reason, right?" Han Li asked.

"Those other cultivation arts may look flashy, but at they very most, they'll only allow you to open fewer than four hundred profound acupoints, whereas the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts contains four hundred and fifty profound acupoints," Daoist Xie replied.

A hint of elation appeared in Han Li's eyes upon hearing this.

"And that's only the first three levels of the cultivation," Daoist Xie continued. "If you can find the other three statues and master all twelve levels of the cultivation art, you'll be able to open a thousand eight hundred profound acupoints."

Han Li was stunned into silence upon hearing this.

"Another benefit that comes with selecting this cultivation art is that during the cultivation process, one type of true spirit bloodline must be refined for each level in order to help the user open profound acupoints.

“If someone else were to use this cultivation art, they would have to take on an enormous amount of risk by incorporating so many different true spirit bloodlines into their body, but you have the advantage of the Twelve Awakening Transformations, which has allowed you to complete initial refinement of many true spirit bloodlines.

“Hence, it'll be far less dangerous for you to use this cultivation art," Daoist Xie continued.

"What do you mean by initial refinement?" Han Li asked.

"The refinement method that you used for your true spirit bloodlines is only a rudimentary one from your time in the Spirit Realm. This Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts contains a more advanced refinement method that'll allow you to completely refine your existing true spirit bloodlines, which will enhance your bloodline power while also assisting you in opening profound acupoints," Daoist Xie explained.

"I see," Han Li replied with a nod.

"I'm going to begin teaching you how to read profound text now. I don't have much time, so let's begin right away," Daoist Xie said.

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