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

Chapter 1080: One Punch

"Brother Han, an all-out blow from a Great Encompassment Stage Gold Devouring Immortal is not to be taken lightly! I know that you're confident in your abilities, but this is an extremely perilous undertaking!" Wyrm 3 said to Han Li through voice transmission.

"Brother Han, all he said is that you had to take a punch from him head-on, but he didn't stipulate that you can't use any treasures. I can temporarily lend you my Heavenly Fox Bloodform Saber so you have a better chance of withstanding a punch from him," Fox 3 also communicated through voice transmission.

"Thanks for looking out for me, but I can look after myself," Han Li replied with a smile.

Wyrm 3 and Fox 3 exchanged a perplexed glance with each other upon hearing this, but didn't try to dissuade Han Li any further.

"If you have any pieces of protective clothing, then I suggest you put on as many layers as possible. As long as you don't evade my punch, you can do anything you want to defend yourself. Let me warn you that I'm not going to be holding back," the man said with a wide grin.

Han Li nodded in response, then turned to Wyrm 3's trio and gestured for them to distance themselves from him.

The three of them immediately retreated to close to ten kilometers away.

"What on earth is Brother Han planning? Will he really be able to withstand an all-out blow from this Gold Devouring Immortal?" Fox 3 asked.

"I'm not sure, but knowing the type of person that he is, I'm sure he won't take any undue risks, so we'll just have to wait and see," Wyrm 3 replied.

Xiong Shan didn't say anything. In fact, he had the most confidence in Han Li out of the trio, and he had a feeling that this Gold Devouring Immortal was about to be screwed over by Han Li.

After Wyrm 3's trio had retreated to a safe distance away, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a spherical light barrier around him, one that was over ten thousand feet in radius.

"You think your time spirit domain will be enough to oppose my attack?" the golden-robed man asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"I'm ready," Han Li declared in a calm manner, then took a step back before adopting a horse stance while simultaneously channeling both his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts and his Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra.

An intrigued look appeared in the young man's eyes upon seeing this, and all of a sudden, a burst of radiant, golden light erupted out of his body as his robes began to flap and billow audibly.

At the same time, rings of golden light began to proliferate through the surrounding area from beneath his feet like ripples over the surface of a lake, spreading all the way to hundreds of kilometers away.

All of the grains of golden sand in the desert began to bounce up and down as if they were jumping for joy, and concerned looks appeared in the eyes of Wyrm 3's trio as they sensed the golden-robed man's unfathomable power.

Han Li was situated closest to the young man, so he was able to sense his power even more clearly than Wyrm 3 and the others, and even though he was stunned internally, he was able to maintain a calm facade.

"Here I come!" the young man declared as he also took a step back, pulling his fist back to his own waist as he prepared to launch himself forward.

Han Li remained silent as he summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis, which fused as one with his time spirit domain and rose up into the air like a bright moon that was giving off rays of gentle light.

Immediately thereafter, Illusory Dawn Sand spilled over the ground, almost indistinguishable from the golden sand of the desert, and a series of mountains quickly emerged over the landscape.

The Eastern Vicissitudes Divine Tree then emerged before transforming into a lush forest, while water of time flowed down from the heavens, forming a winding river that trickled through the forest.

Finally, a golden torch that was releasing countless specks of golden fire rose up into the air, and the specks of golden fire resembled stars that lit up the entire sky.

The golden-robed young man was quite taken aback to see this, but unlike Qi Mozi, he wasn't aware of the secrets of the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra, so all he felt was intrigue.

He could sense that the surrounding flow of time was slowing down, and that his movements were becoming more and more restricted, but he still scoffed, "How are these illusory objects going to help you?"

At the same time, the golden light radiating from his body had reached an unprecedented level of brightness, and he launched himself forward while throwing a punch directly at Han Li.

A giant, golden fist projection shot forth through the air, and it seemed to be completely unaffected by Han Li's time law powers as it hurtled toward him with devastating power.

However, in the instant that the fist projection was unleashed, the man noticed that the punch was far less powerful than he had anticipated.

Immediately thereafter, he finally realized what had happened to him.

Much to Han Li's dismay, most of the time law threads that he had recently attained had been drained of their power in order to unleash the Great Five Elemental Illusion Mantra's time-reversal ability, and he hurriedly withdrew his five time-attribute law treasures in order to conserve his time law powers.

As soon as the law treasures faded away, the fist projection instantly accelerated significantly, reaching Han Li in the blink of an eye.

Fortunately, he was already fully prepared, and his physical constitution had been bolstered to the maximum by his Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts as he threw a punch of his own in retaliation.

At the same time, he drew upon all of the starpower in his entire body before condensing it into his fist, and an earth-shattering boom rang out as his fist collided with the oncoming golden fist projection.

A vast explosion of golden and white light took place, stirring up an incredibly chaotic vortex that spread through the air in all directions, annihilating everything within a radius of dozens of kilometers.

Hundreds of sand whirls erupted up into the heavens like a nest of monstrous, golden serpents, producing a deafening rumbling.

Han Li was sent flying back through the air before plunging several thousand feet deep into the sand below, and all of his joints were creaking and groaning incessantly, while his entire body was throbbing with pain.

He thrust his palms forcefully into the ground beneath himself, launching himself out of the sand and barreling his way straight through dozens of sand whirls before drawing to a halt in front of the golden-robed young man.

Shortly thereafter, the sand whirls faded away, but there was still a vast volume of sand drifting through the air, severely affecting visibility.

"I believe I've just fulfilled my end of the deal," Han Li said, then threw up a mouthful of blood.

"How is this possible? What did your spirit domain do to me just now?" the man asked as he looked down at his own fist with a perplexed expression.

"Your cultivation base had temporarily been reversed several million years, but it'll gradually recover," Han Li said, and despite his nonchalant tone, the golden-robed man was astonished to hear this.

Sure enough, he could sense that his own cultivation base had been significantly regressed, and that was why his punch had been lacking in power.

"Seeing as you've managed to withstand a punch from me, I will also fulfill my end of the deal. Not only will I no longer oppose you, I can even take you to the seventh level, but in exchange, you have to free me from this pagoda," the man said.

"If you had agreed to my proposal without making me withstand that punch, then our agreement would've been able to stand on those terms, but now that I've been forced to withstand a punch from you, some of the conditions have to be changed," Han Li said.

"What do you mean by that? Are you going back on our agreement?" the man asked as his brows furrowed slightly.

"No, I'm still going to fulfill my promise of freeing you from this pagoda, but in return, I need you to do something for me," Han Li replied.

"What is it?" the man snapped, struggling to rein in his own temper.

At this point, Wyrm 3's trio was about to arrive on the scene, so Han Li switched to voice transmission as he said, "Among the people who entered the Eon Pagoda, one of them is a Great Encompassment cultivator who's a sworn enemy of mine, and I want you to help me deal with him. Of course, this is not something that necessarily has to be done.

“As long as he doesn't come after me, you don't have to target him, and once we leave the Eon Pagoda, you'll be free, so you won't have to do it."

"That's it?" the man asked in a skeptical manner.

"That's it," Han Li confirmed with a nod.

At the same time, they were joined by Wyrm 3's trio, and the three of them were all looking at Han Li with rather peculiar looks on their faces.

They had detected extremely formidable law power fluctuations while Han Li was unleashing his Five Elemental Illusory World, but they weren't aware of exactly what had happened. However, it was now abundantly clear to them what had unfolded after detecting the golden-robed man's regressed cultivation base.

"Also, there's something else that I can tell you. During my travels, I encountered two High Zenith Stage Gold Devouring Immortals, and I presume you'd be interested in them," Han Li continued.

"Where did you encounter these two Gold Devouring Immortals?" the young man immediately asked.

"One in the Northern Glacial Immortal Region and the other in the Golden Origin Immortal Region. One of them was a small child, while the other was a vicious woman," Han Li lied, making up a story on the spot.

"If you can take me to them, I can protect you even after we leave the Eon Pagoda, and if that Great Encompassment cultivator that you spoke of comes after you, I will do everything in my power to kill him," the golden-robed man promised through voice transmission.

"That sounds like a good deal," Han Li replied with a smile.

With this agreement made, the tension between the two of them eased significantly, and Han Li smiled as he asked, "Can you tell me your name now"

"My name is Qu Lin," the man replied, and Han Li revealed his own name as well.

"Time is of the essence, Fellow Daoist Han. I'll take you to the seventh level right away," Qu Lin said in an urgent manner.

"There's no hurry, please allow me some time to rest and recover," Han Li said.

Even though Qu Lin's cultivation base had been regressed by Han Li's Five Elemental Illusory World, an all-out blow from him was still nothing to scoff at, and Han Li had sustained some internal injuries from withstanding that punch.

With that, he sat down with his legs crossed, then took a pill before closing his eyes to meditate.