Immortal Mortal

The four of them sat down once again on the deck of the flying ship. Master Pu Zi took out a bottle of exquisite spirit wine, and made a toast to Mo Wuji before speaking, ”Dao friend Mo, do you know why I was that emotional after seeing the battleship?”

Without Mo Wuji’s reply, Pu Zi carried on, ”It’s because this battleship was originally forged by me…”

Mo Wuji stared at Master Pu Zi with a shocked expression on his face. This battleship was obtained from a ghost cultivator in the sky sea. In fact, it shouldn’t be related to the Half Immortal Domain in any way, so how did Master Pu Zi forge it?

”More accurately, I took part in the forging of this battleship. The person that led this project was Master Jiang Ye. Master Jiang Ye’s smithing abilities far exceed my own, and most of the design and forging process was done by him. Myself and eight other guys were simply menial labour…”

”Master Pu Zi, you’re saying that 10 men forged this battleship? Who initiated this?” Mo Wuji asked in shock.

Mo Wuji was aware of Master Pu Zi’s smithing level, and it was the top 1% of the top 1%. Experts of such caliber could not be found in Zhen Xing. If Master Pu Zi was just a smith who did trivial work, then how strong would Jiang Ye be? And how much stronger would be expert that initiated the construction of the battleship be?

”It was Half Immortal Domain’s Dao Lord that initiated the construction of the battleship. However, it’s not the current one, Guang Quan. The purpose of forging this battleship was to take on the Immortal Chasm…”

At this point, Master Pu Zi waved his hand, signalling for Jia Qi to stop asking questions, as he would reveal the whole story.

”Before we can talk about the Immortal Chasm, we must first talk about the Half Immortal Domain. Of course, I do not know how the Half Immortal Domain came about. I only know that after I broke the void, I was already in here, and this was not the Immortal Realm. Back then, Half Immortal City’s Dao Lord was Wu You, and I must say that I’ve never seen someone as strong as him since I started cultivating. With my own eyes, I saw him battle a Heavenly Immortal expert and eventually he killed his opponent…”

Jia Qi couldn’t help himself, blurting out, ”Master Pu Zi, surely a Heavenly Immortal expert is considered as an actual immortal right? If we didn’t come here after breaking the void, would we have become Heavenly Immortals?”

In response, Master Pu Zi shook his head, ”Logically speaking, Heavenly Immortals are indeed considered Immortals, but in reality, I heard from elder Wu You that Heavenly Immortals are actually fake immortals, and cannot be considered as real Immortals.”

”Then what would make one an actual Immortal?” Mo Wuji couldn’t help but butt in too. He had also entered the void-breaking glowing light before arriving at the Half Immortal Domain, and most of the cultivators he saw in here were at the Great Circle of Earth Immortal Stage, and were not really beyond the level of an Earth Immortal.

Master Pu Zi sighed, ”We’ve all entered the void-breaking glowing light, and in fact, there’s something wrong with it. Heavenly Immortal lightning tribulation is supposed to occur after breaking the void, but since we’ve entered the Half Immortal Domain, there’s been a distinct lack of it. Other than a small number of geniuses among geniuses that can initiate lightning tribulation here to reach Heavenly Immortal Stage, most of us can only hide here and try to survive. Dao Lord Wu previously determined that the Half Immortal Domain was a cage that the fake immortals use to obstruct cultivators from breaking into the Immortal Realm. As for what would make one considered a true immortal, neither myself nor Dao Lord Wu You knows.

Upon hearing this, Mo Wuji actually felt that his ideas had some similarity to Wu You’s. Because of the Half Immortal Prison, he had already become rather suspicious of the Half Immortal Domain.

”Master Pu Zi, you’re saying that there’s still some geniuses that can initiate lightning tribulation here? Do you know where those cultivators that do so and advance to Heavenly Immortal Stage go to?” Jia Qi had answered this question before, but Mo Wuji still asked Master Pu Zi about it. It wasn’t that he did not trust Jia Qi, but Master Pu Zi could definitely shed more light on this issue.

To this, Master Pu Zi replied, ”Those geniuses were taken away by people from the Immortal Realm. Dao Lord Wu mentioned that these people were likely taken to be brought up by the fake immortals. Another possibility is that those people from the Immortal Realm imprison them. As for why the cultivators from the Immortal Realm would do so, Dao Lord Wu was not sure either. His guess was that these immortals were not really authentic.”

From Master Pu Zi’s reply, Mo Wuji’s respect for Dao Lord Wu increased, even though he never met the guy before. This guy was simply too impressive, and it was as though as he had seen everything with his own eyes. Regardless of whether it was real immortals or fake immortals, in reality these cultivators that underwent heavenly tribulation to advance to Heavenly Immortal Stage were imprisoned. Half Immortal Prison was a good example.

Suddenly, Mo Wuji recalled that Half Immortal Prison was just one of the 11 prisons of Yong Ying, and it already had that many genius cultivators in it. Wouldn’t that mean that there were many other locations like the Half Immortal Domain where genius cultivators were taken away by the Immortal Realm and imprisoned?

”Master Pu Zi, may I ask where Dao Lord Wu You went?” Mo Wuji held Wu You in high regard, and couldn’t help but ask.

Master Pu Zi answered with a tinge of sadness in his eyes, ”Precisely because forging the battleship was directly related to whether cultivators of the Half Immortal Domain could cross the Immortal Chasm, Dao Lord Wu led a group of smiths working day and night to complete it. But just then, news of it was leaked out, and people from the Immortal Realm rushed to the Half Immortal Domain.”

”So why didn’t anything happen to you?” Mo Wuji was very puzzled. Since people from the Immortal Realm came, then it should have been extremely difficult for Master Pu Zi to survive.

More sadness emerged in Master Pu Zi’s eyes, ”Back when we were forging the battleship, I suddenly understood the spatial principles behind storing blackstone. After reporting this news to Dao Lord Wu, he determined that this was a significant event, and allowed me to specifically research into creating storage rings that could store blackstone. By the time I completed this, I heard that Dao Lord Wu had gone missing, together with the nine smiths. Even though I wasn’t present at the battle, I could guess that Dao Lord Wu had perished in battle. As for the news that they had vanished, it was just a cover up.”

The ghost cultivator suddenly came to mind. Could that ghost cultivator have been one of the smiths involved in the forging of the battleship? But how did he leave the Half Immortal Domain?

At this point, Master Pu Zi felt rather down in the dumps, and he quieted down. The others did not bother him either, and a good incense’s time later, he continued on his own, ”The incomplete battleship disappeared, which meant that cultivators of the Half Immortal Domain had no hope of crossing the Immortal Chasm anymore. The Immortal Chasm is a gigantic ditch between the Half Immortal Domain and the Immortal Realm. It’s named the Immortal Chasm as it stops all cultivators from the Half Immortal Domain from entering the Immortal Realm.”

”How exactly does it obstruct people from passing through?” Mo Wuji was definitely not satisfied with staying in the Half Immortal Domain, so he had to get these things straight. Even if he could not return to Zhen Xing, he had to at least get a peek at the Immortal Realm. As for whether it was the real or fake Immortal Realm, he could judge it after he arrived there.

Master Pu Zi took out a crystal ball and spoke, ”Take a look and you’ll find out.”

After which, he activated the crystal ball in his hand.

The image of the endless Immortal Chasm appeared before everyone. It looked like a gigantic ditch with no bottom or any end, cutting the universe directly in half.

Black mist hung over the inside of this gigantic chasm, and some creepy crawlies that could not be seen clearly kept moving around, both like there were masses of it and also like there was nothing there at all.

While this was just an image from a crystal ball, Mo Wuji could feel goosebumps appearing. This sort of danger was something he could not describe with words.

Pointing at the gigantic ditch, Master Pu Zi spoke, ”That’s the Immortal Chasm. No flying ship is able to pass through this area, because one cannot use spiritual will or extend out their elemental energy. If you fall into the chasm, only death awaits. You’ll fall to your death, no, perhaps before you die with a splat, not even your bones will be left.”

At this moment, Master Pu Zi laughed, ”Perhaps the thought of an Earthly Immortal falling to his death sounds like a joke, but in reality, it is not funny at all. Countless cultivators that have fallen to their death in the Immortal Chasm, and this is simply the start of the dangers in there. The true threat in the Immortal Chasm are the Five Elemental Immortal Beasts and the Crimson Jade Poison Bug…”

Silence. Mo Wuji stared at the scene from the crystal ball, and heard what a terrifying place that the Immortal Chasm was. The Immortal Chasm restricted one’s spiritual will an elemental energy, much like the space canyon.

”The Five Elemental Immortal Beasts are namely: Sword Dragons of metal affinity, Gui Water Spiders of water affinity, Void Toads of earth affinity, Yin Fire Centipede of fire affinity, and Colourless Leeches of wood affinity…”

”Colourless Leeches? Are they the same as those found in the Mining Area of Death?” Mo Wuji asked.

Master Pu Zi just shook his head, ”In some way they are, but they aren’t exactly the same. The Colourless Leeches of the Mining Area of Death are only those of the lowest grade. Even though they are difficult to discover with spiritual will, but they can still be detected. However, the Colourless Leeches in the Immortal Chasm are really colourless. There’s no way you can sense them with spiritual will, and once they touch a your body, you will not be able to get rid of it until you die, as though as it attached itself to your bones.”

When he heard this, Mo Wuji nodded his head. At least he understood why the battleship had many different types of cannons. So they were meant for dealing with the Five Elemental Immortal Beasts and Crimson Jade Poison Bug in the Immortal Chasm.

”These are still no match for the Crimson Jade Poison Bug. Even though just the sight of it can cause your hairs to stand, but you probably haven’t realised that the black coloured thing is not mist, but Crimson Jade Poison Bugs.” Master Pu Zi pointed at the image from the crystal ball.

If Master Pu Zi did not point it out, Mo Wuji and co. would not have noticed it at all. Now that he had done so, they instantly realised what was going on. The seemingly circulating black mist was actually a dense mass of bugs. What a disgusting sight indeed.

”How can this be considered an immortal beast? It should be called a poison beast.” Lou Chuanhe sighed.

Master Pu Zi added on, ” You’re right, we do call these things as poison bugs. As for the term ‘immortal beasts’, it’s what the people from the opposite side of the Immortal Chasm refer to them with.”

”The other side of the Immortal Chasm is the Immortal Realm?” Mo Wuji gasped to himself. Now he realised how naive he was, to actually expend that many rounds of ammunition for the cannons.