Immortal Mortal

Upon sighting Mo Wuji, Fei Bingzhu struggled to stand up. The two sides of his face were red and swollen from being slapped, and the corners of his mouth were stained with blood. Other than that, a stream of blood flowed down his chest, evidently from a sword wound.

Mo Wuji swiftly went forward to hold Fei Bingzhu, throwing a few Wound Healing Pills into his mouth. The treatment pills he had were all the best quality Tier 2 Mortal Pills, hence they could stop the bleeding once Fei Bingzhu took them.

“Pill Master Mo…” Wu Kai stuttered.

“He took away my belongings…” Fei Bingzhu arduously raised his finger to point at the figure that was walking away.

Needless to say, Mo Wuji had notice that guy that was trying to leave. Once he saw Mo Wuji approaching, he turned and left, holding a dripping wet wooden box.

But first, Mo Wuji carefully placed Fei Bingzhu on the ground, before taking a few quick steps to stop the perpetrator in his tracks, “You’re going to leave just like that after beating someone up?”

This man looked like he was over 30 years old, with a pale complexion, and long hair draping down his back, somewhat like a rich heir.

Before the man could reply, Wu Kai explained, “Pill Master Mo, this is Pill Master Meng Boyu of our Formless Blade Sect. Pill Master Meng just advanced to become a Tier 2 Mortal Pill Refiner, and was just about to be assigned a sword summit.”

Mo Wuji stepped forward, and the pale man stopped in his tracks. He stared at Mo Wuji coldly and said, “You’re the Mo Wuji that got his position through senior apprentice sister Yan right? Please remember to keep your dog in check. Don’t let it run around, biting people. Move out of the way now, otherwise I’ll not only beat up the dog, but also its owner.”

“Senior apprentice brother Mo, I dug up a piece of Treasured Blood Lotus from the Blood Lotus Lake, but this man wanted to take it from me by force. I resisted, so he attacked and wounded me. The Treasured Blood Lotus in his hands belong to me.” Due to the effects of Mo Wuji’s pills, Fei Bingzhu felt much better already.

But the few people who were here, including Wu Kai, knew that if Mo Wuji did not arrive, Fei Bingzhu would have died from excessive blood loss. As a service disciple, Fei Bingzhu’s death under the hands of a Tier 2 Mortal Pill Refiner would not raise any eyebrows within the sect.

At this point, Wu Kai was already in panic mode. If anything happened to Mo Wuji or Meng Boyu, he would have to take responsibility as the deacon of service disciples. Because everything occurred at the Blood Lotus Lake,after Mo Wuji had left it, he assigned the Blood Lotus Lake under Mo Wuji’s name in order to please him.

However, Meng Boyu suddenly wanted to possess this area out of the blue for reasons unknown. So Wu Kai could only follow Meng Boyu over, planning to wait till he had left, before going to report this incident to Mo Wuji. Based on his understanding of Mo Wuji, as long as he did not offend Pill Master Mo, there would still be space for negotiations. He believed that Mo Wuji could settle this matter off the books.

Unexpectedly, when Wu Kai brought Meng Boyu to the Blood Lotus Lake, they met Fei Bingzhu, who was climbing out of the lake, and was holding a Treasured Blood Lotus in hand. The Treasured Blood Lotus gave off a light fragrance, and had a blood red appearance. This made Wu Kai very jealous, much less Meng Boyu, who was a pill refiner.

Just as Wu Kai worried about Meng Boyu’s response, Meng Boyu took a step forward as expected and sent Fei Bingzhu flying with a slap. Then, he retrieved the Treasured Blood Lotus and kept it into the wooden box that Fei Bingzhu had prepared.

Fei Bingzhu naturally would not just let this slide. He not only got heavily injured by Meng Boyu, but almost got killed. If Mo Wuji did not show up, he would have been murdered already.

“So what, you want to get disciplined too?” Meng Boyu saw Mo Wuji blocking his way with a hostile look in his eyes. A mere service disciple that rose up based on his relationship with Yan Qianyin was no threat to him. He believed that he could kill Mo Wuji, and could settle this issue by himself.

With a light chuckle, Mo Wuji stood to one side, opening up a path.

This action was registered by Wu Kai, and he heaved a sigh of relief. As long as Mo Wuji gave in, this issue would not be blown out of proportions. Once Meng Boyu took the Treasured Blood Lotus away, he would likely let things slide.

Seeing Mo Wuji giving way to him, Meng Boyu laughed coldly, and passed Mo Wuji from the side with a look of disdain on his face. He had obtained the Treasured Blood Lotus, and was not willing to blow things up. If not for the Treasured Blood Lotus, he would have taught Mo Wuji a lesson today.

Mo Wuji’s resistance was within his calculations. A mere service disciple. If Mo Wuji dared to attack him, he would kill without hesitation. Even if news of this spread to the ears of the sect head, he, a living Tier 2 Pill Refiner, would be of much greater value than a dead one. No matter how much senior apprentice sister Yan favoured Mo Wuji, she would not make an enemy just for a dead person. Moreover, he had the backing the second elder.

As for who would win in a straight up fight, he did not think about it at all. With his cultivation being at Channel Opening Stage Level 9, only a step away from entering the Spirit Building Stage, would he even need to break a sweat against a service disciple who climbed up using connections? Even if he turned his back to Mo Wuji, there was nothing for him to worry about.

What he did now did amount to turning his back to Mo Wuji too.

Mo Wuji made his move the moment Meng Boyu brushed past him. He gathered nearly all the energy in his body into his fist, and landed a clean punch on the back of Meng Boyu.

As someone in the intermediate Channel Opening Stage, this almost full strength punch immediately created multiple cracks and tears in Meng Boyu’s heart. A spurt of blood flew out of Meng Boyu’s mouth, as he reeled forwards for tens of steps before finally regaining his balance. The wooden box in his hand had already been thrown to one side.

“”You dare to kill a pill master of the sect…” Meng Boyu’s voice was full of grief. While blood continued to dribble out of his mouth and his eyes became bloodshot, he pointed an accusatory finger at Mo Wuji. It was unclear if he forgot to take healing pills in a moment of rage, or if he simply did not bring any healing pills along at all.

Meng Boyu never thought that Mo Wuji would have the gall to do such a thing, sneak attacking a Tier 2 Pill Master that was about to enter the Spirit Building Stage.

Wu Kai was stunned, and stood at a side shivering in fear. He knew that no matter what happened from now on, there was no way to salvage the situation. His time as the deacon of service disciples had come to an end, and his life was even at risk.

Mo Wuji took in a deep breath. He was sure that he would not be able to put up a fight against Meng Boyu, so he decided to use a sneak attack. But he did not expect that with this one fist, Meng Boyu would still be alive. It seemed as though Meng Boyu’s ability was many levels above his.

If he did not utilise an ambush, but went on a frontal clash, he would be dead. Compared to protecting his own life, ambushing a man that bullied him did not put that much pressure on him.

As for letting Meng Boyu go, this possibility did not run through Mo Wuji’s mind at all. Notwithstanding that Meng Boyu had bullied him first, but he would definitely not give up that single stalk of Treasured Blood Lotus. Letting the Treasured Blood Lotus go was equivalent to letting go of any chances to cultivate further.

Once Mo Wuji opened a path again, the initially destitute Bing Feizhu’s eyes lit up. As much as he thought the giving in to Meng Boyu and letting him go was the best decision, Bing Feizhu hoped that the person he followed was a coward.

“Go and die!” A infuriated Meng Boyu leapt up and towards Mo Wuji, swinging his fist at Mo Wuji’s head. Almost at the same time, Mo Wuji charged towards Meng Boyu with a glint in his hand, swinging a sharp blade towards Meng Boyu’s hip. When Meng Boyu’s fist arrived, Mo Wuji simply tilted his head to one side slightly. He did not plan to give up his slash just to avoid this one hit.

Meng Boyu’s fist landed squarely on Mo Wuji’s shoulder, and a loud “Crack” rung out. Even though he only had less than 30% of his maximum strength after Mo Wuji’s ambush, the great strength behind the fist still shattered one of Mo Wuji’s shoulder bones, and the immense spiritual energy caused Mo Wuji to expel a mouthful of blood.

The sharp blade of Mo Wuji indeed hit its mark, and drew a long slit across Meng Boyu’s waist. Fresh blood burst out once again…

The pain from the broken bones rendered Mo Wuji near paralysed on the ground. However, he was celebrating to himself in his mind, as around 60% of the power from Meng Boyu’s punch had been shifted to his blade through the Nature’s Passage technique. Even so, the remaining energy from the punch had shattered his bones, and the blade with Meng Boyu’s energy added on still merely made a cut. This did not go according his plan: to spill Meng Boyu’s intestines out.

From this exchange, it was apparent that Meng Boyu was much stronger than him. Thus his method of exchanging blow for blow was the correct way to go.

Meng Boyu stumbled a few steps backwards, the anger in his eyes disappearing and replaced by pure fear. He could smell death at his doorstep. If Mo Wuji’s initial punch was considered to have caused him to be severely injured, but he was still a ways off from death. But if he did not get any treatment after taking this slash, he would have one foot in the grave.

He simply could not comprehend where the power in Mo Wuji’s single slash came from. It was well beyond anything he had expected. Based on his calculations, the punch of his could have drove Mo Wuji to the ground, and the single slash would have at most broke his skin. However, things turned out completely differently. His punch did not really injure Mo Wuji significantly, instead, it was Mo Wuji’s blade that gave him a taste of death.

“You’re a monster.” Meng Boyu left these final words before frantically trying to escape. He knew that if he carried on to fight with Mo Wuji, this would surely be his final resting place. Other than not knowing how Mo Wuji could be so strong, he was clueless about why Mo Wuji would be so daring to come after his life here.

Since Mo Wuji had steeled his heart to kill Meng Boyu, would he simply let this fella run away like that? Once this guy escaped, he would be dead meat.

As Meng Boyu turned around, the blade in Mo Wuji’s hand flew forward. This time, Meng Boyu had learnt from his experience of Mo Wuji’s sneak attack and he was on guard, immediately leaning to one side while the blade approached him.

Mo Wuji did not expect this one blade to kill Meng Boyu, and leapt out together with the blade, throwing another fist at his adversary.

The blade flew to the left, while he pounced to the right.

To avoid the sharp knife, Meng Boyu shifted himself to the right without hesitation, right smack into the punch delivered by Mo Wuji. Normally, even up to 10 punches, each two times faster than Mo Wuji’s, would have little to no effect on Meng Boyu. So what more could one punch from Mo Wuji do?

Unfortunately, Meng Boyu was already critically injured by then, and the wounds remained wide open and exposed. The way to avoid Mo Wuji’s murder attempt was quite clear, but somehow he still could not dodge in time.

“Bang!” The punch from Mo Wuji landed on the back of Meng Boyu just as before, and Meng Boyu spit out a stream of blood, before falling forward to the ground for good.

“Mo Wuji, if you kill me, you’ll definitely be thrown off the Hanging Sword Cliff…” Meng Boyu breathlessly pointed out. At this moment only regret filled his mind. He should never have step foot in this madman’s territory.