We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real?

Chapter 539: For Young Lady Jingci’s Eyes Only (2 in 1)

“These murals may be connected to that ancient divine war.”

Gui Junmeng slowly spoke, extending her delicate hand and gently brushing her fingertips over the mural before her.

“Divine war?” Xiao Mo froze slightly and turned his head.

“Yes,” Gui Junmeng answered.

“You must have heard this rumor before. In ancient times, there was a human sword immortal who once led all races to rise in resistance against the gods who stood high above them.”

“I have indeed heard of it.”

Xiao Mo nodded.

“That human sword immortal was not only the leader of the human race. He also received the recognition of the entire demon race. Even now, some tribes in the demon-race world still worship that legendary human sword immortal.”

“That is true.” Gui Junmeng turned her head, her clear eyes quietly looking toward Xiao Mo.

“But Young Master Xiao, did you know that the sword art of that human sword immortal was actually taught to him by a god?”

“Mm?” Xiao Mo froze slightly, a trace of surprise passing over his expression. “That, I truly did not know. Could Miss Gui explain in more detail?”

Gui Junmeng gently shook her head.

“I am not too clear on the specifics either. It is only that my master once told me that in ancient times, the human sword immortal who led all races to end the age of gods seemed to have been in a master-disciple relationship with a god.”

She paused, and her gaze fell once more upon the mural before them.

“Moreover, beside that human sword immortal were five maids, all of them from the phoenix clan.” Gui Junmeng’s gaze slowly swept across the final mural, where five feather-clan women knelt on one knee with their wings spread, as though sending off their master.

“They were the Red Phoenix, Blue Luan, Great Swan, Young Phoenix, and Phoenix-Bird...” Gui Junmeng’s voice was soft and distant. “I suspect the five women kneeling on one knee before the man in this mural should be them.”

“It is said that after that human sword immortal passed away, these five maids of his disappeared from then on. No one ever knew where they went.”

There was a trace of remembrance in Gui Junmeng’s tone, as if she, too, were lamenting that sealed-away history.

“And judging from the aura emanating from this dark abyss, this tomb should belong to the Young Phoenix. She should have been one of that human sword immortal’s five maids.”

“So that is how it is...” Xiao Mo nodded slightly. His gaze fell on the mural, and a hint of respect appeared in his eyes. His expression was solemn and calm.

Gui Junmeng looked at Xiao Mo’s face. Her eyes blinked lightly with a trace of curiosity as she asked softly, “If this tomb truly belongs to that human sword immortal’s maid, then it is highly possible that this place contains an inheritance left behind by that human sword immortal. Is Young Master Xiao not interested in that?”

“I am a Daoist cultivator, not a sword cultivator.”

Xiao Mo’s tone was calm and frank.

“So to me, that ancestor’s sword inheritance is actually only so-so.”

“And besides, such things depend on opportunity. Even if a sword inheritance really is hidden here, if I have no fate with it, I imagine it would not fall into my hands.”

His tone was indifferent, as though he were speaking of some ordinary matter unrelated to himself.

“Miss Gui, let us continue forward.” His voice was calm and assured, and his steps moved forward at an unhurried pace.

Standing behind Xiao Mo, Gui Junmeng looked at his back. Her eyes blinked softly, and an indescribable glimmer surfaced in them.

Any normal cultivator, upon learning that he might obtain the inheritance of the human race’s first sword immortal, would likely already be burning with desire, even willing to pay any price for it.

But in Xiao Mo’s eyes, Gui Junmeng did not see the slightest trace of greed.

This man... was so strange.

“Miss Gui?”

Just as Gui Junmeng stood where she was, staring blankly into space, Xiao Mo turned around and looked at the motionless woman, calling her in confusion.

“I’m coming...” Gui Junmeng came back to herself and jogged after him, her steps light and hurried.

Walking beside him and looking at his clear, refined profile, the corners of the woman’s lips could not help curving slightly. A faint smile rippled through her eyes.

He was very strange...

But also...

very good...

...

Xiao Mo and Gui Junmeng continued forward along the tomb passage.

Along the way, the two encountered some ink-black flowers, glimmering faintly in the darkness.

Even Xiao Mo recognized them at a glance.

These flowers were called Phoenix Blood Flowers.

As the name suggested, Phoenix Blood Flowers had to be watered with the blood of the phoenix clan before they could grow and bloom.

Phoenix Blood Flowers were extraordinarily precious. To the feather clan in particular, they were the holiest objects for purifying bloodline.

In the present age, when the phoenix clan had long since hidden itself from the world and had nearly vanished, a single Phoenix Blood Flower would be enough to make upper-three-realms feather-clan cultivators fight until their heads bled, even at the cost of their lives.

Xiao Mo and Gui Junmeng each picked only one and did not harvest any more.

They both understood that any spirit flower or spirit herb, once picked, would gradually lose its spiritual qi. It was only a matter of how long it took.

Taking one now was only so it could be useful someday if needed.

As for the rest, they would be left for those fated to come later.

Aside from Phoenix Blood Flowers, Xiao Mo and Gui Junmeng also encountered Vermilion Phoenix Fruits, which could refine essence and help cultivators step into the upper three realms, as well as a Feathered Rainbow Dress carefully refined from the phoenix clan’s essence feathers.

Looking at these treasures, large and small, Xiao Mo grew increasingly moved by the generosity and openhandedness of the tomb’s master.

The tomb’s master seemed genuinely to have wanted to leave her inheritance to later generations and had not set up too many mechanisms or spell formations to make things difficult.

However, Gui Junmeng also could not understand something.

Since this Young Phoenix was so generous, why had she set up that bloody, cruel trial on the surface, only opening the true secret realm after taking hundreds of thousands of cultivators’ lives as sacrifices?

“We will need to be more careful along the path ahead.”

As the two continued deeper step by step, Xiao Mo keenly sensed that the spiritual power ahead was growing denser. Even he vaguely felt a few traces of alarm from the aura emitted by that domineering bloodline.

“Mm.” In truth, even without Xiao Mo’s reminder, Gui Junmeng had already secretly raised her vigilance.

Xiao Mo held a talisman in his hand, while Gui Junmeng gripped her horsetail whisk tightly. The two slowly walked out of that deep stone-walled passage.

In an instant, the view before them opened wide.

Xiao Mo and Gui Junmeng stood upon the rock wall and looked down from above. Before them was no longer a cellar or stone chamber, but an enormous, towering city.

Compared to the small market town Xiao Mo had seen earlier, this city was far grander in scale. It was practically like the imperial capital of a dynasty, magnificent beyond measure.

And at the very center of the city stood a palace.

The palace appeared to have been built from ordinary mountain stone, but if it truly came from the ancient age of gods, then every stone here was anything but ordinary.

At the same time, more and more cultivators arrived here in succession.

When they saw this majestic city, every one of them was left dumbstruck and speechless for a long time.

Very soon, however, Xiao Mo sensed a sharp killing intent.

He raised his head and looked in the direction of that killing intent.

On a rock wall two li away, Chen Jue, Elder Jin, and the others were coldly staring at him.

Especially Chen Jue. The killing intent in his eyes was already undisguised, revealed nakedly.

“Do you have a grudge with them?” Gui Junmeng naturally also noticed Xiao Mo exchanging looks with those people and asked in confusion, “Are they not your companions?”

“They are companions. Just companions who hope I die.” Xiao Mo shook his head, his tone carrying frankness. “Miss Gui need not interfere in my affairs, lest you invite disaster upon yourself and end up hurt.”

Gui Junmeng watched Xiao Mo’s profile, her gaze flickering lightly. “But you and I have a marriage agreement.”

“I am saying this for your own good.” Xiao Mo smiled helplessly, took a step forward, and leaped into the city.

“Fellow Daoists, let us go as well!” In the distance, Elder Jin gave a low shout to the companions beside him. The corner of his mouth curled with coldness. “It is about time. This place has rather good feng shui. Let Xiao Mo be buried here. That can be considered not treating him poorly.”

Several thousand cultivators poured into the city one after another.

At first, everyone remained fairly restrained. After all, among middle-three-realms cultivators who had reached this point, which one was not tenacious in temperament and powerful in strength?

However, not long after, when they saw the rare cultivation treasures scattered throughout the city, reason was finally overwhelmed by greed, and slaughter erupted.

For a time, the entire city rang with the clashing of blades and swords and the thunderous crashes of collapsing houses.

Spell formations and divine abilities from the various sects flew chaotically through the air. Quite a few demon cultivators even revealed their enormous true forms directly, entangling themselves in desperate battle. Blood and flesh splattered everywhere.

However, there were also some clever cultivators who did not even glance at the treasures in the city and instead flew straight toward the towering palace.

That was where the greatest opportunity was hidden.

Xiao Mo and Gui Junmeng naturally flew over as well.

After entering the palace, what Xiao Mo saw were statues of feather-clan women.

They were all female in form, dressed in gorgeous palace robes, their bodies adorned with all kinds of magic treasures, as though they might come alive at any moment.

Passing through the front hall, they arrived in a rear courtyard. The flowers and plants in the courtyard were unexpectedly all spirit medicines of second grade or above.

Xiao Mo even saw many precious half-immortal medicines swaying gently in the breeze, releasing a refreshing, faint fragrance.

At the center of the lotus pond, a white lotus surrounded by countless lotus leaves and lotus flowers had even reached immortal grade.

“Run...”

Just then, a woman’s voice sounded once more within Xiao Mo’s heart-lake, urgent and weak, as if drifting over from an extremely distant place.

But that voice vanished in a flash, again like an auditory illusion, making it impossible to distinguish truth from falsehood.

Continuing forward, Xiao Mo and Gui Junmeng arrived in an empty {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} great hall.

At the very center of the great hall, a stone statue of a woman quietly stood.

This stone statue was exquisitely carved and lifelike, far more refined than the other stone statues in the secret realm.

The appearance of the woman carved into the statue was even more astonishing, not the slightest bit inferior to the living Gui Junmeng beside Xiao Mo.

Yet although this stone statue was incomparably beautiful, it seemed to have not the slightest trace of humanity.

Her indifferent gaze was like a god high above, looking down upon all things in the world.

In her eyes, all living beings were nothing but ants.

Xiao Mo felt that this stone statue did not seem to have been carved. Instead, it seemed more like a living woman had been petrified.

And across the base of the stone statue spread densely packed spell-formation patterns. The lines were profound and mysterious, and Xiao Mo could not understand the workings within them at all.

Xiao Mo raised his head again and looked upward. Above the stone statue, an enormous skeleton was suspended.

Its wings were spread, reaching over a hundred zhang in length.

Xiao Mo guessed that this should be the Young Phoenix’s remains.

At the very center of the Young Phoenix’s chest hung a demon core that seemed to seize the soul.

Within the demon core, black flames seemed to be burning fiercely.

“This demon core belongs to this old man!”

An aged and domineering voice suddenly exploded from behind Xiao Mo.

Immediately afterward, Xiao Mo saw a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator turn into a streak of flowing light, charging toward the Young Phoenix demon core as fast as lightning.

However, just as that Nascent Soul elder was only a zhang away from the demon core, over a hundred sharp sword shadows descended from the sky, smashing down like a torrential rain!

That elder had no choice but to temporarily withdraw. In his haste, he summoned a tortoise-shell shield.

The tortoise shell instantly transformed into a black tortoise illusion, shielding the elder tightly and barely blocking the overwhelming rain of swords.

More and more cultivators poured into the great hall.

When they saw, at a glance, that demon core whose realm was at least above the Ascension Realm, pairs of eyes instantly became burning hot. Greed and desire were written openly across their faces.

For a time, the entire great hall fell into chaotic battle among Nascent Soul Realm mighty cultivators. Spell arts flew everywhere, and the thunderous rumbling was deafening.

Fortunately, this palace was extremely sturdy. Even spell arts unleashed by Nascent Soul Realm cultivators with all their strength could not leave the slightest mark on the walls or floor.

And in the next moment, Xiao Mo and Gui Junmeng’s minds abruptly tightened. Almost at the same time, they flashed aside.

A black bolt of startling thunder struck the place where the two had just been standing.

Xiao Mo slowly turned around and looked at Chen Jue and the others, his expression as calm as still water, without the slightest ripple.

“Elder Xiao.” The corner of Elder Jin’s mouth curved slightly, his tone carrying a trace of mockery and coldness. “By the Grand Elder’s order, we have come especially to send you on your way.”

...

Tushan, Moon Spring Peak.

Qingyu of the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox clan walked lightly to the outside of the courtyard and called softly, “Is Sister Jingci home?”

Hearing the voice, Yueshi hurried out of the courtyard and dipped in greeting to Qingyu. “Greetings, Miss Qingyu. Our young lady is cultivating on Moon God Mountain. May I ask why Miss Qingyu has come looking for our young lady?”

“The Hall of Ten Thousand Affairs received a letter. It is addressed to Sister Tushan. Since Sister is not home, I will have to trouble Sister Yueshi to pass it on for me.” Qingyu took a letter from her robes and handed it over with a smile.

“Thank you for personally delivering the letter, Miss Qingyu.” Yueshi carefully wiped both hands on the hem of her skirt before respectfully reaching out with both hands to receive the envelope.

She lowered her head and looked at it. On the envelope was a line of familiar, neat semi-cursive script.

“Sent by Xiao Mo of Flowing Sand City.”

“For Young Lady Jingci’s Eyes Only.”