Immortal Mortal

”There are three statues?” Seeing Yan Qianyin standing unmoving by the stone wall, Mo Wuji walked over. He saw that there were three statues carved into the stone wall.

Among the three statues, two of them were facing each other. The last one was slightly further, and only its side view could be seen.

“Do you see that below the two statues facing one another, there is a robe’s hem carved into the wall?” Yan Qianyin quizzically asked.

Mo Wuji started to examine the carvings and suddenly understood the meaning behind them, “Senior apprentice sister Yan, you’re saying that these two statues represent Zhuo Wuhen and Mo Luoqu? And the lower hem of Mo Luoqu’s robe has been ripped off onto the ground, signifying the repudiation of their brotherhood?” [1]

Yan Qianyin nodded, “That should be the case. The woman by the side should be the one who caused these two friends to turn against each other, Fu Yanfei. If I’m not wrong, these statues should have been carved by Mo Luoqu when he escaped here.”

With that, Yan Qianyin looked at the statues for a good while. Suddenly, she suggested, “Junior apprentice brother Mo, don’t you hate the founder of the Formless Blade Sect? Since you hate him, why don’t you come destroy this statue?”

Mo Wuji stared at Yan Qianyin; after some time, he slowly said, “Well it’s true that I hate him, but why must I destroy his statue? Furthermore, I only heard that story from you, and you heard the story from someone else. I only dislike him because of your story, but before confirming the facts, I will not do anything.”

“If you’re not going to do it, I will…” As Yan Qianyin was speaking, the long sword in her hand had already stabbed forward.

Mo Wuji was astonished; in his astonishment, he discovered that Yan Qianyin’s target wasn’t Zhuo Wuhen, but the statue of Fu Yanfei by the side.

Mo Wuji chuckled, “Senior apprentice sister Yan, I thought that as a fellow woman, you would be more lenient towards Fu Yanfei.”

“I also don’t like a woman with such loose morals. [2] If not for her, my Formless Blade Sect and our founder wouldn’t have become the subject of people’s ridicule…”

“You must know that flies don’t hover around intact eggs; there’s no smoke without a fire. If Zhuo Wuhen really fell for Fu Yanfei, then he must not have been a good egg…”

“Kacha!” The sound of destruction interrupted Mo Wuji’s words.

With Yan Qianyin’s sword stabbed into Fu Yanfei, the entire stone wall crumbled down.

Behind the stone wall, there was a white jade platform; on that platform, there were three crystal balls. The stone wall behind the white jade platform was polished really smoothly, and on it lay a single row of words: The fated one can obtain my legacy. Bring the Fallen Tune Sword Art back to glory!

“So this is really the resting place for Senior Luoqu,” Yan Qianyin sighed before bowing towards the white jade stage.

Mo Wuji also bowed to the stage; he could not help but feel admiration towards Yan Qianyin. This woman is really better than him in many ways. He really thought that she was dissatisfied with Fu Yanfei, which was why she destroyed Fu Yanfei’s statue, but she was really just revealing this hidden treasure space.

“I’m paying my respects to a senior of the sect. Why are you bowing towards him too?” Seeing Mo Wuji bowing down, Yan Qianyin intentionally snided.

Mo Wuji said without minding, ”I am paying respects to Senior Mo. I heard that when many experts leave behind their legacies and inheritance, they would intentionally leave behind some traps. However, Senior Mo did not leave behind any trap whatsoever, demonstrating that he is a forthright and honourable person. Furthermore, I will soon be obtaining one of his treasures, it’s only right for me to pay respects to this senior.”

Yan Qianyin smiled slightly; she understood that Mo Wuji was reminding her not to forget his share of the inheritance.

”These three crystal balls are skill transfer crystal balls. The good thing about skill transfer crystal balls is that it contains the predecessor’s insights and understanding towards a skill or technique. These insights are extremely profound, and it will not leave the inheritor confused, even if the inheritor is retarded, he will be able to completely understand the intricacies and details with this skill transfer crystal ball.” Yan Qianyin only needed one look at Mo Wuji’s expression to know that he did not recognise what they were both looking at, so she took the initiative to explain.

”So that’s the case. When comparing these skill transfer crystal balls to traditional manuals, they lack the inheritor’s personal enlightenment towards the technique? He will be entirely inheriting the predecessor’s insights and understanding?” Mo Wuji asked.

Yan Qianyin faintly said, ”You can understand it like that. But for many techniques and skills, even the most talented geniuses would not understand them in such a short period of time. Some might not even understand it after practising them for a long time.”

With that, Yan Qianyin no longer explained the benefits of the skill transfer crystal ball and pointed towards the first crystal ball, ”There are words behind the crystal balls. The first one is the Fallen Tune Sword Art, it’s a skill. As Senior Luoqu indicated, it’s the most important sword art of his legacy.”

Mo Wuji’s cultivation was far beneath Yan Qianyin’s. He simply could not see the small words at the back. However, he did not intend to bring this sword art back to glory, he just wanted to find a suitable skill for himself.

”The second crystal ball is for Senior Mo’s cultivation technique, so I won’t be introducing it since you won’t be interested. The third crystal ball is also a skill, it’s related to the sword as well, it’s called the Invisible Sword...”

After introducing the three techniques, Yan Qianyin said to Mo Wuji sincerely, ”Junior apprentice brother Mo, Senior Mo is an important part of the Formless Blade Sect’s heritage. Following our previous agreement, the Fallen Tune Sword Art should belong to you, but this sword art and the cultivation technique is far too important to me. The Invisible Sword could be considered the worst among the three crystal balls, and it might not be too useful for you, but I can only leave this technique for you.”

Mo Wuji was already disappointed when he found both skills were related to the sword; he was not interested in the Fallen Tune Sword Art nor the Invisible Sword. After taking such a big risk to come here, he intended to obtain an incredible skill related to lightning attacks. He did not expect that there would only be two sword arts.

”It’s okay, you can just give me the Invisible Sword crystal ball.” Even though he was more inclined towards the first Fallen Tune Sword Art, he actually did not mind anything.

”Many thanks, junior apprentice brother Mo. When we get out, I will try to help you become a guest pill refiner, since you do not wish to be our sect’s pill refiner. That way, you do not need to formally enter the sect, and you will gain more access to our sect’s resources,” Yan Qianyin gratefully said.

With that, she raised her hand to grab the three crystal balls, passing the Invisible Sword over to Mo Wuji.

Previously, she had made an agreement with Mo Wuji, to let him have the first pick. But now, she had picked two things and gave Mo Wuji the leftovers, causing her to feel rather apologetic in her heart. This wasn’t because she wanted to renege on the agreement, but because she did not expect that this would be the legacy of the sect’s Mo Luoqu.

”Will a guest pill refiner be able to go to the Scriptures Library? Or listen in to the elders’ teachings?” Mo Wuji hurried to ask. After all, his main goal when he entered the sect is to have someone provide him with directions for his cultivation.

”A guest pill refiner is a special existence in our sect. Naturally, you can enter the Scriptures Library to borrow our sect’s manuals. However, there are some limitations. A guest pill refiner cannot have access to our Formless Blade Sect’s sword techniques and sword arts.” Yan Qianyin explained apologetically.

”That’s enough for me. Thank you senior apprentice sister Yan.” Mo Wuji hurried to express his gratitude. He did not want to be a direct disciple of the Formless Blade Sect, nor was he interested in seeing the sect’s core manuals.

Thereafter, Mo Wuji placed the Invisible Sword crystal ball into his bag before passing the entire bag to Yin Qianyin, ”Senior apprentice sister Yan, this parcel contains my stuff; besides the broken sword and the Invisible Sword, there are also some pills and spiritual herbs. When the time comes, i would need to trouble you to help me bring them out.”

As a service disciple, these things would only be gifts to other people if he were to bring them out.

Yan Qianyin threw Mo Wuji’s bag into her own storage bag, ”I will help you bring these things out. Actually, you are a Tier 2 Mortal Pill Refiner, you don’t need my introduction to become a guest pill refiner. So consider this as me owing you a favour, we’ll talk more about it when we get out.”

”How do we get out?” Mo Wuji asked.

”It should have already been a month. Even if there are problems with the formation, there should only be delays of a few days; ultimately, we should still be able to leave. This time, you don’t need to worry. There wouldn’t be a problem when we’re leaving...”

Yan Qianyin seemed to be reminded of something, and did not continue speaking further.

Mo Wuji still had some doubts in his heart, ”Following what you said previously, the Life Sucking Beast should not appear here out of the blue. Since it’s here, does this mean that someone else is in the Formless Blade Mountain? And did our formation malfunction because of this person?”

Yan Qianyin said hesitantly, ”That’s hard to say. If someone else did come before us, why is it that Senior Mo Luoqu’s inheritance ended up in our hands?”

”Maybe that person is extremely strong, and does not even put Senior Mo’s things in his eyes...”

Mo Wuji did not manage to finish before a horrifying chuckle interrupted his words, ”Hehe, you’re right. Those little things of Mo Luoqu’s really do not suit my liking.”

“Who’s that!” Yan Qianyin suddenly turned back.

[1] The Mandarin term is 割袍断义 which means means to rip off one’s robes, and at the time get rid of past relations.

[2] The author describes here as 水性杨花 which translates to having a disposition as changeable as water. This is indicating her loose morals and fickleness.