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

Chapter 1346: What is Self?

"Why do you look so surprised?" Jin Tong asked in a perplexed manner.

"It's nothing. If we're going to go into seclusion, then no immortal region will be safe, so let's go to the Extraheavensphere," Han Li said, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of golden light that enveloped them both before quickly racing his way up to the Extraheavensphere.

Even after arriving in the Extraheavensphere, he continued to fly onward for a long while before finally coming to a rest.

He released his spiritual sense to inspect his surroundings and ensure that it was safe, following which he dug out a cave abode into a giant asteroid.

After doing all of that, he opened the Flower Branch domain before stepping inside with Jin Tong.

They were immediately approached by a concerned Nangong Wan, who asked, "Are you alright? I sensed some very powerful aura fluctuations outside just now."

She then caught sight of Jin Tong, and a warm smile appeared on her face as she said, "You must be Jin Tong! The last time we met, you were still yet to attain a human form, but you've grown up into such a fine beauty!"

She approached Jin Tong and latched onto her hand as she spoke, but Jin Tong was clearly not very comfortable with the warm reception, and she greeted with a curt nod, "Mistress Nangong."

"There's no need to refer to me as mistress. My husband may be your master, but that has nothing to do with me, and given the vast disparity in our cultivation bases, it's only right that you refer to me by name," Nangong Wan said with a smile.

Seeing as she had already begun referring to Han Li as fellow daoist, Jin Tong raised no argument as she extended a curstey and greeted Nangong Wan as Fellow Daoist Nangong instead.

Nangong Wan returned the curtsey with a smile, then turned back to Han Li as she repeated, "What happened outside just now?"

"I got into a conflict with some people, but it's all taken care of now, so there's nothing for you to worry about," Han Li replied in a nonchalant manner.

Jin Tong rolled her eyes internally upon hearing this.

Han Li had brushed off the two battles as if they were nothing more than minor scuffles, but he had just gone up against an Essential Dao Ancestor and the most powerful cultivator under the heavens back to back.

Not long ago, the two of them had almost met their demise at the hands of Gu Huojin, but of course, Jin Tong knew that he was intentionally downplaying everything to assuage Nangong Wan's concerns.

Judging from the look in her eyes, she clearly wasn't convinced, but she didn't ask any further questions.

"Wan'er, we've found a place to go into seclusion, so we're going to be cultivating for some time..."

Han Li gave Nangong Wan a brief rundown of his plan, and her eyes instantly lit up as she smiled and said, "That's perfect! I've always wanted to see that space of accelerated time of yours in action!"

Han Li duly obliged, releasing his spirit domain before activating the Celestial Time Array, and the flow of time in the Flower Branch Domain was instantly sped up by over a hundred thousandfold.

His mastery over the laws of time had improved significantly once again compared with before, so the space of accelerated time had also become more potent.

"This is incredible! Time really does live up to its name as one of the three paramount laws!" Nangong Wan exclaimed with an amazed expression.

"Not just anyone with mastery over the laws of time can pull this off. When it comes to the True Immortal Realm, I wouldn't dare to proclaim that I'm the foremost master of the laws of time, but I can certainly comfortably rank second. As for Gu Huojin, he may be above me, but even he may not have what it takes to create a space of accelerated time like this," Han Li said in a joking manner.

Jin Tong was very surprised to see such an unserious side to Han Li, while Nangong Wan rolled her eyes at him in an exasperated manner.

"Please excuse me, fellow daoists, I'm going to go cultivate now," Jin Tong hurriedly said before flying deeper into the Flower Branch domain, while Han Li and Nangong Wan flew into the bamboo pavilion hand in hand.

"Is this going to be a very important stint of seclusion?" Nangong Wan asked.

"That's right," Han Li replied with a serious nod.

"In that case, don't worry about me, just focus on your own cultivation," Nangong Wan said.

Han Li nodded in response, then flipped a hand over to produce a storage tool.

"I don't know how long I'll be in seclusion for. There are some pills, Immortal Origin Stones, and other cultivation resources in here, so you can also take this time to cultivate."

Nangong Wan accepted the storage tool, then cautioned Han Li to be safe before departing from the pavilion.

Following her departure, Han Li began setting up the array required for his corpse soul severance technique before setting down the final Earthly Deity Avatar in the array.

After that, he set up multiple layers of restrictions around the pavilion, then sat down with his legs crossed to meditate.

......

In front of the nameless palace in the Heavenly Court, Gu Huo Jin was observing a yellow bead in his hand.

The bead was giving off incredibly formidable earth law powers, and he was inspecting it with a pleased smile.

However, his expression then immediately stiffened, following which he closed his eyes as if he were sensing something.

Moments later, he reopened his eyes, and his brows were slightly furrowed as he murmured to himself, "He's gone without a trace... No matter. I've already reached the final step, so it hardly matters whether he gets away or not..."

......

Inside the Flower Branch domain.

After three days and three nights of meditation, Han Li had primed himself into the best possible physical and mental condition.

He took a moment to reexamine the array around him, then closed his eyes and turned his attention to his consciousness.

There was another Han Li sitting inside his consciousness, and he looked up with a calm smile as he said, "You've finally come to see me."

He was completely identical to Han Li in appearance, attire, and demeanor, and even their auras were indistinguishable from one another.

Han Li's brows furrowed ever so slightly, and his intuition told him that this corpse soul severance was going to be far more difficult than the previous two.

Han Li strode over to his self corpse soul before sitting down across from him.

"Have you come here to sever me?" the self corpse soul asked, and it was as if he were talking about something completely unrelated to himself.

At the same time, he conjured up a stone table between the two of them, upon which were two cups of tea.

"That's right," Han Li replied, then picked up one of the cups of tea before taking a sip.

"In that case, do you know what a self corpse soul is and how you're supposed to sever me?" the self corpse soul asked.

Han Li was stumped by this question.

He knew very little about how one was supposed to sever a self corpse soul, and even the concept of a self corpse soul was one that was quite ambiguous to him.

He had tried to acquire information pertaining to self corpse souls through various avenues, but with very limited luck.

After all, the self corpse soul was the final corpse soul to be severed for Great Encompassment cultivators, so the only people with knowledge on the subject were Dao Ancestors or peak-Great Encompassment cultivators.

"I am your self, which means that in order to sever me, you must kill yourself," the self corpse soul explained.

"I'm surprised you're willing to tell me this," Han Li said.

"Once you're ready to sever me, you'll naturally come to realize this, so there's no need to hide it from you, but before you reach that point, even if you're armed with this knowledge, you won't be able to sever me anyway," the self corpse soul replied with a smile.

"You seem very confident," Han Li remarked as his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Would you be willing to kill your companions in order to sever me? For example, Jin Tong?" the self corpse soul suddenly asked.

"Why would severing my self corpse soul require me to kill my friends?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.

The self corpse soul ignored the question as he continued, "What about killing your wife?"

Han Li's expression darkened slightly as he offered no response.

"How about your parents?" the self corpse soul continued.

"I think I should start off by killing you!" Han Li declared as he rose to his feet before throwing a punch at his self corpse soul, sending a mountainous, golden fist crashing down upon him.

The self corpse soul shook his head with a faint sigh, then reached a hand out of his sleeve to stop the golden fist cold in its tracks.

Han Li lashed out with his other fist upon seeing this while simultaneously conjuring up his time spirit domain, and the self corpse soul did the same.

Han Li's other fist struck the self corpse soul's spirit domain, and its power was completely nullified.

The two spirit domains were also evenly matched, with neither one able to get the better of the other.

"You and I are equal in both cultivation base and abilities, so I suggest you save your energy. If you want to sever me, then go and understand what the concept of self is first," the self corpse soul said with a faint smile.

Han Li paid no heed to him as he swept a sleeve through the air, sending dozens of streaks of lightning swordlight racing toward the self corpse soul.

The self corpse soul's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and an identical number of lightning sword projections appeared beside him to meet the oncoming attack.

A fierce battle ensued between the two, and just as the self corpse soul had said, the two of them were completely evenly matched.

Around half a month flew by in a flash, and their battle finally concluded when both of them were too exhausted to continue.

Han Li gave a cold harrumph before departing from his consciousness, and he was struck by a sense of intense fatigue as soon as his consciousness returned to his body.

The battle against his self corpse soul had been extremely taxing on his soul, and he quickly closed his eyes to rest and recuperate.