A Record of A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

Chapter 192: Flying Serpents

After traveling for nearly half a day, Han Li finally arrived at the outskirts of the central area.

To Han Li’s surprise, the journey had been uneventful—he hadn’t encountered any sniper attacks from others along the way!

Unbeknownst to him, those who had arrived earlier in this direction had long since been wiped out by so-called “elites.” Meanwhile, those following behind him had been eliminated in turn by Feng Yue and Treasure Girl’s later arrivals.

As a result, even if a few stragglers remained, they knew they had no hope of seizing the treasure. They scattered to hidden spots, becoming nothing more than reclusive turtles — a proven survival tactic for the weak in the Blood Trial!

Han Li, however, intended to obtain the three main ingredients needed to refine the foundation establishment pill and naturally wouldn’t imitate their approach. At this moment, he stood before a stone wall several meters high, staring at it with a strange expression.

Not far from this stone wall was an ancient bronze gate, adorned with many archaic inscriptions resembling patterns that Han Li couldn’t decipher.

The bronze gate was currently wide open, indicating someone had already entered.

According to the information in Han Li’s mind, there should be four such gates, each corresponding to a different direction. They were the only entrances into the central area. Apart from these gates, the rest of the area was enclosed by seemingly low stone walls.

Anyone who tried to bypass the gates by climbing over the walls to sneak into the central region would be extremely unlucky—wind-based forbidden techniques attached to the walls would shred them into pieces.

Han Li was, of course, well aware of this and wouldn’t entertain such a foolish idea. His odd behavior of staring intently at the wall was entirely due to the wall’s unusual features—there were things on it that ordinary walls didn’t have.

Pinned to the wall were three people, each wearing different garments, impaled through the limbs by thick ice spikes in the shape of a large “character,” hanging side by side. Their spiritual energy was completely gone—they had been dead for some time.

Fresh blood had oozed from their wounds, coagulating into purple-black solidified stains that extended from the wall to the ground nearby. Han Li guessed that when they were nailed to the wall, they likely weren’t unconscious yet, but eventually died from excessive blood loss—truly a miserable death.

No clues or markings were left near the corpses, but anyone with a little sense would understand: this was a warning, killing “chickens to scare the monkeys,” meant to intimidate later entrants and deter them from passing through this gate!

Han Li studied their agonized expressions seriously for a while, then licked his slightly chapped lips and expressionlessly walked toward the bronze gate, as if their tragic fate hadn’t affected him at all.

In truth, Han Li knew himself well. Seeing that scene truly gave him chills! Judging from the manner of death, whoever left this message was probably psychologically twisted. If he ever fell into that person’s hands, it would be better to commit suicide quickly—it would be a happier fate.

Still, having come this far, Han Li wasn’t about to flee just because of some intimidation. Now, even if he faced mountains of blades and seas of fire ahead, he would grit his teeth and push forward!

With a heart full of unease, Han Li stepped through the gate. On the surface, however, he appeared increasingly calm, as if leisurely strolling in his own backyard.

As soon as he entered, a scene of a fairyland filled his eyes—birds singing and flowers blooming everywhere. Strange flowers and trees of unidentifiable names were all around: silver chrysanthemums the size of bowls, blood-red bizarre trees, fragrant purple grass, yellow bamboo as thick as a human waist—these were all rare treasures hardly seen outside.

Among these precious plants was a winding gravel path stretching from where Han Li stood all the way into the distance, obscured by foliage. At a glance, it appeared endless.