A Record of A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

Chapter 778: Snatching the Lantern

“To actually hide near the lit Primordial Bright Lantern. Truly courting death!” The woman murmured softly without approaching to take a closer look.

To her, it was enough to know that the other party was a cultivator from Tian Nan.

Since she had lit the ancient lantern, five or six cultivators had tried to attract the lantern’s attention.

After all, ever since the giant bird was summoned by the ancient lantern, the nine ancient lanterns had been constantly burning, never extinguished. Anyone could see something strange about them. Some cultivators who prided themselves on their concealment techniques naturally wanted to come and extinguish the lantern.

But not one had escaped; all were extinguished and killed by this woman using the lantern’s flames.

At this moment, Han Li was only a few hundred zhang away from this woman. Seeing that an unknown cultivator ahead was casually wiped out by her, his heart shuddered.

His figure, which had been flying over slowly, silently came to a halt.

Though the woman’s muttering was barely audible, Han Li’s extraordinary spiritual awareness allowed him to catch most of what she said.

Han Li looked at the ancient lantern not far away, stroked his chin, and pondered deeply.

It seemed that the ancient lantern was indeed no ordinary object. Not only could it summon demonic birds, but it also possessed magical abilities that could break through concealment.

This was somewhat troublesome.

Han Li’s expression fluctuated for quite a while. Suddenly, his eyebrows twitched—an idea struck him.

He reached one hand into his storage pouch and took out some items, then glanced at a certain spiritual beast pouch on his waist, smiling faintly.

...

At this moment, the woman surnamed Le was visibly on high alert.

She sat cross-legged in front of the ancient lantern, a lotus shadow flickering subtly around her. Her bright eyes fixed on the lantern as she linked her spiritual awareness with it, sensing all movements within several dozen zhang nearby.

Suddenly, about a hundred zhang away, a flash of white light appeared. More than a dozen tall giant apes suddenly materialized.

Appearing so openly, the woman surnamed Le stared at them in surprise.

The giant apes didn’t approach but stood in a line, raising their hands.

Dozens of light beams in different colors shot out.

“Puppet Technique!”

The woman surnamed Le was momentarily stunned but quickly recognized what these giant apes were about and furrowed her brows. She cautiously looked around.

She found no sign of the puppeteer controlling these puppets.

Regarding the attacking beams, she paid little attention. With a casual formation of hand seals, the lotus shadows flickered heavily, effortlessly blocking the beams.

Then, she moved, plucking a flame from one of the ancient lanterns.

This time, she didn’t immediately use the flame but held it in her palm, letting it float lightly.

The woman surnamed Le kept her gaze fixed on the ancient lantern, her eyes flashing, preparing to respond flexibly.

Moments later, her expression changed. Without hesitation, she parted her fragrant lips and blew a breath of spiritual power onto the flame.

The flame flickered with azure light, then mysteriously vanished from her hand.

Only then did the woman turn her head and gaze toward a spot some dozens of zhang away.

With a soft "puff," a figure suddenly appeared, enveloped by a sudden surge of azure light.

Under the woman’s formation of hand seals, the azure flames immediately ignited on the person’s body.

The woman’s lips curled into a cold sneer.

“Eh? Why hasn't it been refined yet?” Her smile suddenly froze. She noticed that unlike the previous few who turned to ash instantly, this person neither struggled nor showed any signs of burning.

Alarmed, she quickly focused her gaze for a closer look.

“This person is... no, it’s a puppet!”

The figure in the azure flames looked like Han Li, but his expression was blank, movements stiff—clearly a fake. Moreover, he seemed unfazed by the azure fire, showing no signs of being burned.