Immortal Mortal

After settling in, the first thing Mo Wuji did was to take out the thin book that Shen Lian gave to him. The book felt as light as a feather as he held it in his hands.

As he flipped the book open, he discovered that the pages were made from a material unknown to him, each page was even thinner than expected. Due to the sheer thinness of the pages, Mo Wuji estimated that the book had at least over a hundred pages.

On the first page, he saw words smaller than ants squeezed together in countless lines. It read, “The way of the pill is the true way. To become a pill refiner one must first delve into the way of drugs…” This made Mo Wuji rather confused. Since the way of the pill is the true way, shouldn’t a pill refiner naturally explore the way of pills? What did the way of drugs have to do with this? The way of drugs was for drug refiners, and the way of pills was for pill refiners.

“... All spiritual and mortal ingredients under the heavens have their own separate paths. There are no two herbs with identical paths. If one goes down the path of drugs, the path of pills is to be expected. Once one moves from the path of drugs to the path of pills, even roadside grass can be refined into immortal pills…”

Mo Wuji sucked in a breath of cold air. This pill manual made such extravagant claims. According to it, even two identical stalks of medicinal herbs needed to be processed differently during pill refining. How difficult was that? On top of that, the manual claimed that if one really became a pill refiner through drug refining, he would be able to refine a stalk of Dog-tailed Grass into an immortal pill.

Something’s not right, didn’t Shen Lian say that this book was a wordless pill manual? He still hadn’t used any methods to process the book yet, so how could he read the words in it? At this point in time, he flipped the pages back to re-read the parts that he had read before. To his surprise, only blank pages remained. Rubbing his eyes, Mo Wuji wondered if there was something wrong with his eyes.

This pill manual was very impressive. It must have been fate which brought it to him, but only to give him one chance to read it. Once he forgets the manual’s contents, he would never be able to recall or re-read them again. Realising this, Mo Wuji rushed to take out a set of paper and pen to copy down everything in the manual. Suddenly, a bright flash of fire affinity spiritual energy burst out of the wordless pill manual and enveloped the paper that he was taking notes on. The piece of paper burnt and turned to ashes instantly. Mo Wuji’s level of cultivation was too low, hence he could not see nor feel the fire affinity spiritual energy.

The pen Mo Wuji held fell to the floor with a clank. Things of the unknown often scared people the most.

From his perspective, even though he could cultivate here, possibly to the level of an immortal master, this could still be one of the mysteries of the universe presenting itself.

It was possible for technology to develop into a very advanced form, and similarly, other areas could also reach a level that one could never imagine. Thus he never felt that it was weird for someone to cultivate until the level of an immortal master, or to waltz through the sky freely after that. It would be like watching a trained professional sportsman who had physical prowess far beyond any normal person. However, the present situation before him had was something that was simply too freaky for him to accept. Without any movement or fire starters, the paper he was just writing on burst into flames. Could it be a message from the heavens? Were they telling him that the contents of the manual should remain a secret?

Regardless, Mo Wuji quickly calmed down, tossing these thoughts to the back of his mind. What mattered now was to focus on studying the manual, not some message or intent from anyone. His ultimate goal was becoming a top-notch pill refiner and treating Yan’Er’s injuries, so there was no point in sweating these small details and wasting time on them. Even though he did not understand the how his notes spontaneously immolated, he could slowly figure it out in the future.

“Pill refining chapter one, drug theory…” As Mo Wuji immersed himself in the pill manual, a day passed by without him noticing. It was only until night when the cover of darkness prevented him from reading any further. He finally rose from his seat and headed to the kitchen, where he prepared a meal for Yan’Er and himself. Only after feeding Yan’Er and ensuring that she had fallen asleep, did he start to cultivate, placing his studies on hold.

…

Five days passed in the blink of an eye, and Mo Wuji began to realise that Wu Kai did not lie, Pharmacy 19 indeed had no taskings. In all of the five days that he stayed here, not once did he receive an order from Pharmacy 19. Disturbed by this fact, he felt that it was necessary to make a special trip to Pharmacy 19 to take a look, only to discover that it was really quite empty.

Other surrounding pharmacies were a sight to behold, full of energy and noise, with a constant stream of service disciples going between them and the spiritual ingredients warehouse, but only he was left without anything to do. Mo Wuji originally intended to get to know more spiritual ingredients, and spy on how pill refiners refine pills. After all, to be able to see other pill refiners at work might be better than studying all the theory in the world. However, since he had nothing going on at all, his plan obviously had fell through. The only thing he had going for him was that Yan’Er’s condition began to stabilise under his meticulous care. Even though it had only been a few days, her face had started to have a pinkish healthy look, and her body was slowly recovering. Despite the great progress made so far, Mo Wuji knew deep down that without repairing the Yan’Er’s spirit channels, it would be near impossible for her to regain consciousness no matter how healthy her body became.

The long hours of free time that Pharmacy 19 provided him was just what he needed. He would spend the day analysing the contents of the pill manual, and spend the night cultivating. The concentration of spiritual energy in this area was indeed very low, but Mo Wuji could draw in spiritual energy from a large radius when cultivating, and his need for spiritual energy was also not that high due to his low cultivation level. Hence, despite training in such a harsh environment, he still enjoyed a fast pace of improvement. But at the same time, as the radius he drew spiritual energy in from was too large, he was afraid that it would attract other’s attention, thus he chose to cultivate after dark.

Another two weeks passed by quickly, and Yan’Er gradually regained her original appearance. She now had a full head of luscious and silky hair which flowed down like a waterfall. Colour returned to her face, and her once sunken cheeks regained their shape. However, she was still unable to do anything. While Mo Wuji studied every day, she only stared blankly at him or at the lake in the distance. Very occasionally, she would take a stroll by the lakeside. While Mo Wuji cultivated, she slept. Despite how dire the situation seemed, he did not give up. Every time he completed his reading for the day, he would converse with Yan’Er. As day after day came and gone, Yan’Er eventually started to understand the words that Mo Wuji spoke.

One fateful day, after Mo Wuji finished one last major circulation, he felt all of the meridians in his body tremble, followed by a dense energy filling him up. This feeling gave him an urge to let out a ferocious roar. He leapt out of the house, and with a casual punch, a rock burst into countless shards flying in all directions, while he did not even feel a thing.

I’m at Channel Opening Stage Level 2 now, Mo Wuji took a deep breath, looking into the distance on top of the broken pieces of rock. Although he neither had a master, nor the chance to learn from an immortal master, Mo Wuji still managed to advance to Channel Opening Stage Level Two in such a short amount of time. Based on what he had heard before, a genius would still require at least a month or so to advance from Channel Opening Stage Level One to Level Two even with the richest of spiritual energy around. But now against all odds, he managed to do it in only two weeks, no, or should I say, only in two weeks’ worth of nights. Which genius in the world could match up to his speed of cultivation?

However, due to his lack of spirit roots, he did not dare to share his progress with anyone. Otherwise, he would definitely be able to join any heaven level sect that he desired.

Mo Wuji only managed to gradually calm himself down after some time. Turning around, he saw Yan’Er watching him from a distance. “Yan’Er, one day I’ll help you repair your spirit channels, and cure you. One day, I’ll also massacre my way into Supreme Sword City to get revenge for what they did to you.” Walking in front of Yan’Er, he held her hand, and sincerely said every word. He actually thought that he had a chance, as he could now cultivate and start to pick up pill refining.

Throughout the whole conversation, Yan’Er’s face remained emotionless, seeming as though she would not care about anything else in the world, as long as she could stay by Mo Wuji’s side.

Now that he had reached Channel Opening Stage Level 2, other than cultivating, it would have been best for Mo Wuji to find a secluded location to open more meridians. Otherwise, who knew when he would face his next bottleneck? On top of that, he also had to find some way to obtain a pill furnace to further his pill refining skills. After all, he required some hands on practice to complement all the studying. Only reading the pill manual wasn’t the way to go. There were many obstacles that Mo Wuji faced, but it was not the time for him to give up.

“Beep Beep…” Just as Mo Wuji was contemplating whether to consult Fatty Guang, the jade token for Pharmacy 19 that had never made a single sound started beeping.

With his fast reflexes, Mo Wuji dashed into the room in a flash, grabbed the jade token, then informing Yan’Er, “I’ll be going out for awhile. Wait here and don’t move around.”

After his short brief to Yan’Er, Mo Wuji sped towards Pharmacy 19. What kind of pill refiner was this? He was actually refining pills in the middle of the night.