Immortal Mortal

"Why are you fine?" This man suddenly asked. His voice was slightly airy and his words weren’t pronounced clearly.

Mo Wuji retreated by a few steps and looked warily at the corpse that’s left of that man and asked, "Who are you? Roughly where are the people that are being imprisoned here?"

The reason why he was on guard was because this man in front of him had a powerful cultivation. Mo Wuji guessed that the other party was an Immortal Reverent.

"Hehe..." This man uttered a ear-splitting laughter. Immediately, he extended his spotty and withered hand towards Mo Wuji.

Mo Wuji did not hesitate to slash out with his Half Moon Weighted Halberd. His halberd conjured a half moon halberd light which slammed towards that bony arm.

"Boom!" Immortal elemental energy exploded, and Mo Wuji was directly sent flying. At almost the same instant as when Mo Wuji attacked, a sword qi from within the Sword Prison shot straight towards Mo Wuji’s bones. Fortunately, Mo Wuji’s fleshly body was strong to an unimaginable degree, and this sword qi was only able to cause him some slight pain.

This spotted and scar filled corpse man stared at Mo Wuji in shock. At the very next instant, his bone went "Kacha!" as one of his finger bones broke.

It wasn’t that he was worse than Mo Wuji. It was because he had been corroded by sword qi for countless of years. Even now, he was continuously being ripped apart by the Sword Prison’s sword qi. This ripping didn’t affect his body alone, it also tore his soul apart. Every time he activated his immortal elemental energy, the power of this ripping sword qi would increase by multiple fold.

However, Mo Wuji was different. Not only didn’t he have any sword talisman on him, he wasn’t even affected by the sword qi here. It could be said that he was equivalent to an Immortal Reverent here. More accurately, he possessed even greater power and freedom than an Immortal Reverent. Even when he was attacking which caused the power of the sword qi to concentrate, if didn’t affect him much.

Mo Wuji landed tens of meters away. In his heart, he now knew that this Immortal Reverent’s power wasn’t of any threat to him.

"Senior, please help me. I’m willing to follow senior and be at your beck and call..." This bony corpse suddenly kneeled on the ground and uttered words which even left Mo Wuji stupefied.

In his eyes, since Mo Wuji was able to attain the upper hand in a straight on exchange, that meant that Mo Wuji was a senior. It wasn’t in his considerations that he only had a fraction of his full power left.

An esteemed Immortal Reverent actually kneeled in front of an unassuming Grand Luo Immortal like him. There was no need to talk about his Grand Luo Immortal cultivation. Even if he was a Quasi-Emperor, or even an Immortal Emperor, it was simply impossible to get an Immortal Reverent to kneel willingly.

Any Immortal Reverent had his own pride. they would rather die than to have their knees touch the ground.

Mo Wuji wielded his Half Moon Weighted Halberd in front of him as he approached this Immortal Reverent. After sizing this Immortal Reverent up, he finally asked a string of questions, "Stand up and talk. What’s your name? Why are you here? How long have you been here? And why do you want me to help you?"

This Immortal Reverent stood up and said respectfully, "I am called Fei Ling. I have been imprisoned in Sword Prison for 4,000 years. I have always been staying in Vine Mountain of Safety. Because I offended Pang Hong, he actually got me to go down to Sword Qi River to collect water for four consecutive times. I could only escape..."

"Wait..." Mo Wuji stopped Fei Ling, "What’s Vine Mountain of Safety? What’s Sword Qi River? And why must you collect water?"

Fei Ling explained, "Senior doesn’t have a sword talisman on you, so it doesn’t feel as unbearable..."

When he said the word ’unbearable’, the corner of Fei Ling’s eyes twitched unconsciously. Clearly, his primordial spirit was still suffering from the sword qi. "Being in here and suffering from the sword qi, one could only continuously search for a place where the sword qi is weaker. Vine Mountain of Safety is such a place. That place is filled with thick roots as well as vines that extended up and out. At the same time, the sword qi there is very weak. There are even four hours in a day when there won’t be sword qi invading and corroding our souls. Anyone that entered Sword Prison would eventually find their way to Vine Mountain of Safety."

"Great Sword Path doesn’t know that there’s this Vine Mountain of Safety in Sword Prison?" Mo Wuji asked.

Fei Ling shook his head, "They definitely don’t know about it. Entering Sword Prison is equivalent to death. There’s no means of communication with the outside world. Moreover, it hadn’t been long since Vine Mountain of Safety was discovered. The Great Sword Path definitely doesn’t know of Vine Mountain of Safety. They might not even know of Sword Qi River."

"Continue speaking." Mo Wuji nodded. It was not far off from his expectations. The Great Sword Path only threw people into this Sword Prison. They only knew that Sword Prison was filled with sword qi that corroded one’s flesh and soul. However, they didn’t know the exact situation within Sword Prison itself.

Feeling that Mo Wuji was very likely to help him, Fei Ling’s spirits uplifted, "Sword Qi River is a river that’s near Vine Mountain of Safety. The river water in this river is extremely valuable. The river could offset the effects that the sword qi does to your flesh and soul. Not only that, if you drink enough of it, it could even heal your damaged primordial spirit. Unfortunately, the amount of water we can obtain from the river is extremely little; so every single drop was precious."

"Why? Is there very little water in the river?" Mo Wuji was slightly confused.

Fei Ling shook his head, "It’s not that. It’s because the river water is very hard to procure. That entire river is filled with water, but it’s hard to approach the river. As you get closer to the river, the corrosive power of the sword qi increases. Every step you take, the ripping pain would increase by multiple fold. The reason why I have such a wretched appearance is because I went to Sword Qi River to collect water. Not only is the journey to Sword Qi River extremely terrifying. If you touch the water, the power of the sword qi would increase once more. The more water you collected, the more terrifying and painful it gets. With my cultivation at the intermediate Immortal Reverent Stage, I could only obtain approximately half a catty of water during each trip.

I don’t know how I managed to offend that Pang Hong. Usually, people would only be tasked to collect water from Sword Qi River once every few years. I was actually asked to do it four times in the same year. I didn’t go for this fourth time because I know that if I were to go, I would undoubtedly die. I could only escape. In Sword Prison, one must continuously fly and flee. If you stop like I am now, you would suffer even greater agony..."

As he said this, an expression of extreme pain emerged in the corner of Fei Ling’s eyes.

Even though Mo Wuji could defend against this constant onslaught of sword qi, he had no means of helping Fei Ling. Even if he could help Fei Ling, he wouldn’t do so. Helping an Immortal Reverent expert to ameliorate the ripping of the sword qi was equivalent to courting his own death.

It was exactly because Fei Ling was constantly being agonised by the sword qi that Fei Ling wasn’t of thread to him. If he helped Fei Ling to defend against the sword qi, then the other party could kill him at any given moment.

Even though the possibility of that happening was very low, and even if it was any lower, Mo Wuji wasn’t going to take that risk.

"You say that the Vine Mountain of Safety is near Sword Qi River. Logically, the sword qi at the Vine Mountain of Safety should be especially strong. Why do you say that the sword qi at the VineMountain of Safety is incredibly weak? And why would there even be four hours without sword qi?" Mo Wuji sounded off his doubts.

Fei Ling shook his head, "Senior might not know this, but it’s very possible that all the sword qi in Sword Prison originates from Sword Qi River. According to logical deduction, VineMountain of Safety, which is very close to Sword Qi River, should experience stronger and more intense sword qi. However, what happens in Sword Prison cannot be defined by logic. From the way I look at it, Sword Qi River is a light, and the Vine Mountain of Safety is the shadow beneath the light."

Mo Wuji nodded; this analogy was acceptable. By now, he already had a rough understanding of the Vine Mountain of Safety. According to what Fei Ling said, any cultivator with a sword talisman would subconsciously find their way to the place with the weakest sword qi; that was the Vine Mountain of Safety.

Han Qingru had already been locked in here for over a year. It was very likely that she had already found her way to the Vine Mountain of Safety.

"Is it true that those with higher cultivation would experience greater ripping effects from the sword qi?" Mo Wuji guessed that the immortals here would be different. It was very possible the effects of sword qi would be greater corresponding to one’s higher cultivation.

"Yes, it’s like that. The sword qi here has its own spirituality. Not only does it rip a cultivator’s flesh and soul with different intensity according to cultivation level, it also seeks out and devours life force. As long as you have a cultivation and life force, you would only be food for the sword qi. One day, you will be devoured till there’s nothing left of you," Fei Ling nodded and said.

Mo Wuji’s heart suddenly started to race. He thought of a critical problem. The sword qi he was feeling wasn’t really intense. Could it be because he didn’t have any spiritual roots? Did the sword qi judge him as a weak mortal? If that’s the case, then the sword qi here was truly too terrifying.

If a mortal like him was already experiencing such powerful sword qi, then what would it be like for immortals?

The more Mo Wuji lingered on these thoughts, the more anxious he was to find Han Qingru. Han Qingru was a true Golden Immortal with true spiritual roots.

"After you entered Sword Prison, how long did it take for you to find the Vine Mountain of Safety?" Mo Wuji’s tone got slightly urgent.

"I used a little over a month to find Vine Mountain of Safety. If we head over now, it would only take half a day," Fei Ling said with a slight fawning tone.

In his perspective, the sword qi here didn’t have any effects on Mo Wuji, and Mo Wuji’s combat power was much stronger than his. If Mo Wuji went to the Vine Mountain of Safety, he would definitely attain a seat of power. As long as he followed behind Mo Wuji, he would be able to find some safety.

"Tell me about that Pang Hong who forced you away? Is the entire Vine Mountain of Safety under his control?" Mo Wuji wanted to go to the Vine Mountain of Safety, and that meant that he would have to meet with the experts there.

Before he made his way there, he definitely needed to understand the situation properly.

Fei Ling shook his head, "He doesn’t have that capability. There are three primary powers in the Vine Mountain of Safety. One of them is indeed Pang Hong’s Devil Hand. He occupies a quarter of the territory. The second power is Wei Zidao. He started an alliance called Immortal Hunters and he also controls a quarter of the Vine Mountain of Safety. The last one is by Shang Hegao. He established the alliance called Righteousness Moutain, and similarly, he occupies one quarter of the land.

The remaining one quarter of the Vine Moutain of Safety is the worst part in the entire Vine Mountain. The people who stayed there are those that didn’t join these three powers. Or more accurately, they were the people unwanted by these three powers."