Immortal Mortal

Formless Blade Sect’s outer disciple Cang Wenbin’s residences was in great disorder. Whatever could be broken was already wrecked and destroyed. Cang Wenbin, whose face was as swollen as a steamed bun, had eyes full of hatred and unwillingness.

“Young master, you’re really going to return that item?” By Cang Wenbin’s side, there was a middle-aged man in long robes. When Cang Wenbin entered the Formless Blade Sect, this man was sent by the Cang House to be Cang Wenbin’s attendant.

Cang Wenbin gritted his teeth and said, “What else can I do? Uncle Qianxing is at Fire Sword Summit. If there’s nothing major, it would be hard for me to even see him, much less ask him to help me out.”

The middle-aged man spoke in a lowered voice, “Young master, I do have an idea. Doesn’t the young master think that the steel pole is not so simple? Why don’t we simply send the steel pole to Summit Lord Qianxing, and when that tiny service disciple comes looking for it, we will direct him to Summit Lord Qianxing. Then if he still insists of having it, he would only be looking for death.”

Cang Wenbin’s eyes lit up, but that glister immediately disappeared as he shook his head and said, “Do you understand my senior uncle’s status? It’s better if we don’t do harm with other’s hands. Furthermore, that Mo Wuji is an extremely ruthless person. If we don’t send the pole in time, he may be angered and come to screw me over. This plan is far too dangerous.”

The middle-aged man rolled his eyes, “Actually, I have another idea. We will first send the pole to that service disciple, then we will somehow inform Summit Lord Qianxing about this. Tell him that you found an impressive smithing material and you were going to present it to him as a gift. Unfortunately, it was forcefully taken away by Mo Wuji that service disciple.”

Cang Wenbin stroked the area which Mo Wuji slapped, “Very well, we’ll follow that plan. Immediately send the steel pole to that puny service disciple. Let’s see how he handles my senior uncle’s anger.”

…

After not seeing Yan’Er for a month, Mo Wuji had an endless amount of things to say to her. He hoped that this would help Yan’Er recollect her past memories. It was practically him speaking and Yan’Er listening. When Mo Wuji spoke, Yan’Er would listen silently with a peaceful expression and gentleness in her eyes. This was unlike when Xiong Xiuzhu speaks to her.

“Young master, that Cang Wenbin has sent the thing over,” Xiong Xiuzhu called out.

Mo Wuji stood up and said to Yan’Er, “Yan’Er, I have to do some research. Go outside and take a stroll. When you’re tired, you can go take a nap.”

Even though Yan’Er didn’t reply him, Mo Wuji knew that Yan’Er understood his words.

Seeing Yan’Er go out, Mo Wuji turned towards Xiong Xiuzhu, “Big sister Xiong, this thing belongs to your family; keep it for yourself. I will be doing some research now, if there’s nothing important, try not to disturb me.”

“Many thanks young master. Tao Ao and I must have done many good deeds in our previous life to have come under your protection. Since Tao Ao and I don’t practise martial arts, nor do we have spiritual roots, this steel pole is useless to us. We wish to give it to the young master.” As Xiong Xiuzhu was speaking, she was also dragging the steel pole into the room.

Mo Wuji did not mind; a steel pole did not mean much and accepting it could help put Xiong Xiuzhu at ease.

However, seeing Xiong Xiuzhu dragging the pole in with great difficulty, he could tell that this steel pole wasn’t simple. This steel pole was roughly the height of a person and was as thick as a baby’s fist. As a person who frequently did heavy, menial work, shouldn’t it have been easy for Xiong Xiuzhu to bring the pole in? However, it obviously looked like she was facing some difficulty doing that.

Unless this pole was made of some amazing material? Maybe that’s why Cang Wenbin coveted it?

Thinking about this, Mo Wuji said aloud, “Then I will have to thank big sister Xiong; I will keep this steel pole then. When I’m doing my research, I would like to request big sister Xiong to help me take care of Yan’Er. If anything happens, immediately inform me.”

“Yes. Young master can be rest assured that I will take good care of Yan’Er.” It really turned out like what Mo Wuji expected; when he accepted the steel pole, Xiong Xiuzhu became elated and left with an energetic expression.

As Mo Wuji grabbed the pole, an icy cold feeling permeated into his hand. As he lifted the pole, he estimated that it weighed roughly 100 kilograms. If not for the fact that he cultivated, it would have been extremely difficult for him to lift the pole.

There were some faint lines on the surface of the steel pole. The lines seemed to form two words. Mo Wuji squinted his eyes and identified the words: ‘Tian Ji’

Tian Ji? If not for the fact that this world was not related to the Weapon Chart, and that the Weapon Chart was a part of a writer’s novel, Mo Wuji would have thought that this was the Weapon Chart’s number one weapon - the Tian Ji Pole. [1]

Besides the words ’Tian Ji’ and the immense weight of the pole, there was no further peculiarities with it. After another close examination Mo Wuji placed it at a corner. He wasn’t a weaponsmith, so this pole did not have much value to him. If he was a weaponsmith, at least he could melt this pole down to examine its materials.

After placing the steel pole down, Mo Wuji opened his own bag. The bag contained his harvests from his trip to the Formless Blade Mountain, which was also the first resources he obtained since he started cultivating.

All his Tier 1 Mortal Pills, and the spirit stones he scavenged from the Tier 3 pill refiner were all there. The broken sword and the skill transfer crystal ball were also tucked inside safely. Furthermore, there were even some additional Tier 2 spiritual herbs and a thin beastskin scroll.

As Mo Wuji unrolled the scroll, he could see that there were multiple Tier 2 pill formulas written in it. This was probably added into his bag by Yan Qianyin. She probably felt like she owed him, and wanted to use these items to reimburse him.

He did not know how Yan Qianyin thought of it, but these items were extremely suitable for Mo Wuji.

The next thing which Mo Wuji touched wasn’t the skill transfer crystal ball, but the broken blade.

This broken blade was originally part of Mo Luoqu’s treasured sword. According to Yan Qianyin’s logic and his own observations, Mo Luoqu should have met his end at the Formless Blade Mountain after being betrayed by his lover. Mo Wuji felt a strange sense of kinship and similarity to Mo Luoqu. Thus, he was going to clean this broken sword before framing it in a nice wooden box. Not only would it be an act of remembrance but also a reminder to always be on guard.

The fracture on the Fallen Tune Sword looked rather smooth, but after corrosion of time, it was rusty and mottled.

As Mo Wuji pulled out his short knife to scrape the rust away, he discovered that there was a small crack in the sword. He started to use a greater force to work his way with the crack, causing it become bigger, and he pulled out an extremely thin piece of silk paper from the crack. More accurately, it shouldn’t be called paper. This material was similar to the pages of the wordless pill manual; it was extremely tough.

Mo Wuji slowly unfolded the silk, and it actually turned out to be 1 metre long and 50 centimetres wide. There were countless minute words etched on it, and it there even clear images

The minute words looked to be a mnemonic chant and the images seemed to correspond to the chants while in cultivation.

This broken blade actually hid a secret technique; however, it still wasn’t clear whether it was a cultivation technique or a skill. Mo Wuji guessed that even Mo Luoqu did not know about this hidden technique. Even if he did, it was only after he ended up at the Formless Blade Mountain.

On the top left hand corner of the silk, there were four relatively larger words: Revolving Star Passage Technique.

Mo Wuji was speechless; when he first transmigrated to this world, his circumstances were like Murong Fu. Now, even the skill he obtained had the same name as the one practised by Murong Fu.

However, that Murong Fu was a mere fictional character ah… How could there be such a situation which really caused one’s balls to hurt. There was no way that Sir Jin would have based Murong Fu off an actual person, right? [2]

Casting these thoughts aside, Mo Wuji could not help but admit that the Revolving Star Passage Technique was the most impressive one among all the martial arts.

What Nine Yin True Scriptures? What Nine Yang Sacred Art? What Nine Swords of Dugu? What Qiankun Great Shift Technique? [3] In Mo Wuji’s eyes, these martial arts could not compare to the Revolving Star Passage Technique.

Mo Wuji wasn’t sure how many levels there were in the Revolving Star Passage Technique, but Mo Wuji knew that when Murong Fu was merely at its first level, he was already comparable to Qiao Feng [4]. The only reason why Murong Fu was not as acclaimed as Qiao Feng was because he put all his effort into restoring his country.

According to Murong Fu’s words, “In my clan’s practise of the Revolving Star Passage Technique, my brother reached the ’Big Dipper Shift’ level, my father reached the ‘Solitary Dreamstar’ level, while the creator - Patriarch Longcheng - reached the peak of the ’Meteoric Starwave’ level, and ultimately attained the peerless ‘Heaven’s Magic Star’ level…”

This Revolving Star Passage Technique which appeared in Mo Luoqu’s sword… There’s no way that it was the same technique created by by Murong Longcheng. [5]

Mo Wuji started reading it, “Life originated from chaotic energy. Energy breeds essence; essence breeds spirit; spirit breeds clarity. With the energy of Yin and Yang, convert it to essence; convert essence to spirit before converting spirit to clarity. Forming spirit with energy, would cause essence to lose its shape. Training in these three, would be more natural and waste less effort…

Cultivators are governed by the law of Yin and Yang as well as the fates of numeracy. These laws hold the entire Qiankun. The spirit is a vehicle; energy is a horse. With energy and spirit together, one can be successful...”

How was this a martial art technique? This was simply a cultivation technique. That’s not right, this should be a skill.

As he read further, “This manual is split into four word stages: Dou, Zhuan, Xing, Yi. (These are the hanyu pinyin characters of Revolving Star Passage Technique) There are four levels in the Dou Stage: Nature’s Shift, Big Dipper Shift, Solitary Dreamstar and Meteoric Starwave. In the Zhuan Stage, there are also four levels: Heaven’s Magic Star, Eternal Convergence, Midnight Revolution and finally Qiankun Upheaval.” [6]

Mo Wuji exhaled strongly; as expected, this technique truly didn’t have any links to Murong Longcheng’s technique. According to Murong Fu, the Murong Clan’s highest realm was the first level of the Zhuan Stage: Heaven’s Magic Star. Being able to reach the ’Heaven’s Magic Star’ level would already put you at the pinnacle of the martial world.

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[1] The Tian Ji Pole and the Weapon Chart are from the acclaimed 古龙 Gu Long’s wuxia novels. The Tian Ji Pole was the weapon of the Old Man Tian Ji.

[2] The Sir Jin referred to here is Jin Yong, the author of famous works such as The Legend of the Condor Heroes.

[3] These are powerful martial arts from Jin Yong’s wuxia novels

[4] Another character from Jin Yong’s novels.

[5] Take note that Murong Longcheng and Murong Fu are different people.

[6] Qiankun refers to the great Heavens and Earths