Immortal Mortal

In the bag given to Zhuang Yan, there were a few boxes of clothes. These clothes were obtained by Mo Wuji from the black clothed woman’s storage ring in Thunder Fog Forest. Since Zhuang Yan’s clothes were torn and her back was exposed, he might have as well given them to her.

”Ah, that’s too valuable. I’ve not even done anything to deserve it.” While Pu Qian had no way to use spiritual will, his Transcending Mortality Stage cultivation and strong elemental energy made it easy for him to sense the contents within the storage bag.

Seeing that Zhuang Yan wanted to speak too, Mo Wuji waved his hand, ”Compared to my life, this is nothing. Spirit stones, no matter how good quality, will eventually be used up. Friends are the only true treasure. It’s very fortunate for me to be able to make friends with brother Pu and sister Zhuang.”

These words came from the heart, as he was not very familiar with Pu Qian and Zhuang Yan. He did not expect Zhuang Yan to come back for him after he helped her. After all this was the world of cultivators, where he had seen too many selfish individuals. If Zhuang Yan did come back, it would be because he had saved her before. Pu Qian did not have to come back to save him at all, and just because he did anyway, Mo Wuji then decided to treat Pu Qian as a true friend.

”Brother Mo, it’s more of my good fortune to be able to befriend someone like you.” Pu Qian just helped himself to the storage bag and secured it at his waist, replying loudly. He had clearly seen Mo Wuji saving Zhuang Yan in a situation that even Zhuang Yan’s husband might not have helped for. Yet he knew that Mo Wuji was almost a complete stranger to Zhuang Yan.

As someone in Spirit Building Stage Level 7, Zhuang Yan never thought that she would be able to obtain a storage bag at this level. On top of that, the storage bag seemed to contain top grade pills and spirit stones, but what truly touched her was that Mo Wuji was very thoughtful and left large boxes of women’s clothing in it.

”Thank you brother Mo, I’ll go change up now.” After listening to Mo Wuji’s words, Zhuang Yan did not turn down the storage bag, instead returning words of thanks. She always felt that Mo Wuji was the kind of person that always had a solution for a problem, so someone like him probably would not care about one or two storage bags.

In reality, Mo Wuji indeed did not care about those storage bags. He had quite a few storage bags on him already, and even up to four storage rings.

”Go inside to change, we’ll wait for you out here.” Mo Wuji pointed at the door leading into the ship.

”Ahh…” Only then did Zhuang Yan recall how scary and mysterious the inside of the ship was, which caused her to turn pale and loiter around the outer deck.

So Mo Wuji had no choice but to say, ”Then you should just change on the outer deck, we’ll wait for you on the sea.”

After speaking, Mo Wuji grabbed a few broken poles and threw them into the sea. He pulled Pu Qian by the hand and leapt onto one of the poles.

”Brother Mo, leaving sister Zhuang Yan there alone…” Pu Qian was shocked to see what Mo Wuji had left Zhuang Yan alone on the ship. But Mo Wuji simply replied while smiling, ”Don’t worry, the ship is now very safe. I’ve been on it for quite some time already.”

But Pu Qian did not get it immediately, and Zhuang Yan was even more frightened. However, she believed that Mo Wuji would not harm her, so she quickly threw on a set of clothes, then jumped off the ship.

Only when she landed on the pole that Mo Wuji prepared for her did she calm her wildly beating heart down. Compared to dying, staying on the ship by herself was the scariest thing that happened to her. As such one could see how much courage it took for her to come back for Mo Wuji.

Soon she came to understand that it was not by chance that nothing happened to Mo Wuji on the ship. He probably knew that the ship was already safe, and the thing on board of the ship was likely killed by brother Mo. Otherwise, Mo Wuji would not have left her alone on the ship for no reason.

For Pu Qian, he was more aware of what was going on. He had thought that the thing on the ship had been eliminated by Mo Wuji, and the storage bags that he and Zhuang Yan received were likely taken from it.

However, he did not ask about it any further. Some things were better off not said.

The three of them soon arrived on the island, and by then the five that were ahead of them had already left the shore.

”The immortal estate should be on this island, but it should be a fake. Otherwise there shouldn’t be that many maps of its location.” Pu Qian sighed as he gazed at the heart of the island.

Even Zhuang Yan had a sullen expression, ”I’m not sure how we’ll go back in the future.”

To that, Mo Wuji had no answer. Their current location was not far away from the place marked out as the immortal estate. They were also supposed to search for Aunt Eleven and Mo Xiangtong, which was why they let the ship drift off. Otherwise they would have kept the ship here, and it might have benefitted the five people that went ahead of them. Those five had left them in the lurch, so Mo Wuji had no plans to leave any leeway for them.

”Let’s go to take a look deeper in the island first. Perhaps there’s really something for us to discover.” Pu Qian was rather happy-go-lucky, and could see the best in every situation.

Mo Wuji walked in front, Zhuang Yan in the center, and Pu Qian at the back.

Although there were no tall mountains on the island, but countless ridges were present before them. All kinds of thorns and vines were around, and poisonous snakes and ants were even more prevalent.

Thankfully even the Zhuang Yan, who had the lowest cultivation level, was at least at the advanced Spirit Building Stage, so while there were no roads around, the three of them proceeded with a decent pace.

Two hours later, Mo Wuji stopped. He did not have to refer to the map at all, as the location in front of his eyes has been destroyed.

”This place was recently destroyed, wait, the location of the immortal estate on the map seems to be here.” Pu Qian took out the map to check as he spoke. Almost immediately, he continued confidently, ”That’s right, this is the place. The seven mountains on the left and right look like a ladle, and the position of the immortal estate is right in the center of the ladle. It seems like before Jiang Xiapeng and the others were here, there were still other people that had visited this place in the past.”

With his spiritual will, Mo Wuji found a staircase sloping underground, and once he dug up a some soil , he was able to see a stone slab. Below the slab was the spiraling staircase. It was a pity that his spiritual will was limited, and could not see deeper into the ground.

”Brother Mo, we can go down from here. There’s a marking on the map for this. But why has there been other people that visited this place before the few of us?” Zhuang Yan asked with a puzzled look on her face.

Mo Wuji chuckled, ”My observation skills are quite sharp. Moreover when we were walking over just now, there were some sounds that allowed me to infer that the ground was hollow.”

In reality, regardless whether it was the fresh soil or the underground staircase, Mo Wuji saw and analysed all of that using his spiritual will, and it had nothing to do with his observation skills. Having spiritual will as a Mortal Realm cultivator was a critical secret of his, so there was no need to inform others about it, even if he considered Zhuang Yan and Pu Qian as his friends.

”Let me have a go.” Pu Qian drew a mace from his storage bag and instantly separated the pile of fresh soil into two. This mace was a decent low grade spiritual item which Mo Wuji casually gave to Pu Qian, and he immediately used it to open a way for them. As for the heavy sword on his back, he did not bear to use it yet.

In a few simple strokes, a medium sized bluestone slab was revealed beneath the soil, and with a casual flick of the mace, it was flipped open. A seemingly endless stone staircase appeared before the three of them, and a gust of cold air blew out from below. The underground was obviously cold.

Deep inside, Mo Wuji was disappointed. If the immortal estate was at such a rundown location, then there’s too many immortal estates in the world. Everyone knew that the map was a fake, but it would be a joke if it let to this location which even an ordinary mortal could build.

Even if it was a shoddy immortal estate, its hidden location should at least have a concealment array, defence array, and a generic killing array. However, there was nothing here other than a stone staircase that anyone could have dug with a shovel.

”If this is an immortal estate, then my house would not be much worse than one.” Pu Qian also looked at the stone staircase in disappointment.

But Zhuang Yan suddenly spoke up, ”Brother Mo, brother Pu, this place looks like it has no special aura and it could have been dug out by a mortal. But how would a mortal have reached this place?”

Upon hearing this, Mo Wuji nodded to himself. It was indeed not very possible for a mortal to come here. While there were not many strong demonic beasts in the sky sea, but the giant waves and howling winds were definitely not something that mortals could stand up to.

”Let’s go in to take a look, I’ll take point.” Mo Wuji took the first step down the stone staircase after speaking.

”I’ll cover the back. Later I’ll return the bluestone slab to its original state.” Pu Qian took the initiative to walk at the back.

As she walked behind Mo Wuji, Zhuang Yan took out an illumination stone, and a ten meter radius around the staircase immediately lit up. Only then did Mo Wuji realise that the stone staircase was surrounded by bluestone, so it seemed like the person that made this staircase wasn’t a simple character.

At the end of the staircase there stood a stone door, and when Mo Wuji let his spiritual will seep through it, he was stunned momentarily. Beyond the stone door was a stone hall, and the people in the hall were no strangers for Mo Wuji. After all, Jiang Xiapeng and the rest had left earlier than them. However, what surprised him was that there were almost 20 people inside. Other than Jiang Xiapeng’s group of five, there were over 10 people that he did not recognise.

In the middle of the stone hall, there was an object that looked like a yurt [1]. Almost 20 people surrounded the yurt’s exterior.

As Mo Wuji pushed the stone doors open, 20 eyes’ gazes fell on the three of them. Qi Wenxuan immediately rejoiced, ”Yanyan, I was so worried about you. Thank god nothing happened to you. Quickly come to my side.” To this, Zhuang Yan simply nodded her head, and remained at Mo Wuji and Pu Qian’s side. She originally did not want to go to sea, but she did only after Qi Wenxuan repeatedly told her that he could protect her, and that he hoped that the both of them would live together to the ends of time after reaching the immortal estate. She only came along because of this. However, she realised not long ago that these words meant nothing.

”Latecomers, behave yourselves and stand at the back.” Seeing Mo Wuji walking straight to the stone hump at the center of the stone hall, a shrill voice loudly commanded.

[1] A yurt is a traditional hut/tent of mongolians.