Immortal Mortal

Qu Wan’Er’s mouth went agape as words no longer came out. She looked around at the surrounding people, and no one seemed to find it shocking. Clearly, this wasn’t the first time such a thing happened.

At the moment, the few cultivators who were blown away by the tempest hurried to slide down. They didn’t even climb the icy mountain for a few minutes, but if they continued to climb higher, it would get more dangerous.

”No one can confirm whether there’s truly a Flower of the True Gods up there. If there isn’t and we climb up there, won’t we be wasting our efforts?” A female cultivator looked up at the towering icy mountain and lamented. The mountain was so high, that even it’s peak could not be seen.

No one responded to her words. Whether or not there was a Flower of the True Gods, they would know it well in their own hearts. Those who chose not to believe it can leave; then there would be one less competitor.

Hou Yucheng suddenly stepped forward and said, ”Friends, I feel that this solo acts and competing among ourselves will not work. Even if someone here managed to reach the top, it would be hard to get down.”

”What kind of thing are you?” A big man with a face full of beard coldly glanced at Hou Yucheng. He was already at the Yuan Dan Stage, and this Hou Yucheng clearly wasn’t in the Yuan Dan Stage, yet he dared to spout such nonsense.

Hou Yucheng maintained a smile on his face, not a half bit aggravated as he said, ”I’m not a thing, I’m Heaven Demon Sect’s Hou Yucheng.”

Hearing that Hou Yucheng was from the Heaven Demon Sect, the big, bearded man did not continue nitpicking on him. The Heaven Demon Sect was one of the three great ‘Heaven’ Sects: Heaven Sword Island, Heaven Aria Palace and Heaven Demon Sect. Don’t underestimate it because it was the last among the three sects, the sect practises some strange and occult arts. You might suddenly die and you still wouldn’t understand what happened.

”Does Brother Hou have a better idea?” Another person stood up and clasped his fists towards Hou Yucheng.

”I don’t dare,” Hou Yucheng graciously clasped his fists to return the gesture before saying ”At the mountain, the cold wind is perennially blowing and whistling, the higher you go, the stronger the winds. What I’m suggesting is for everyone to work together to carve steps into the ice. This is the most effort saving and safest method to go up.”

”Won’t the people who come after us get to free load from our efforts?” The big bearded man frowned and said.

Hou Yucheng smiled faintly but did not respond to the big bearded man’s words. The big bearded man snorted; even though his cultivation was higher than Hou Yucheng, he did not dare cause a ruckus here.

A thin and small cultivator took the initiative to say, ”As we are climbing the mountain, the strong winds will level the steps behind us in no time at all. But with so many of us going up, there definitely won’t be that many Flowers of the True Gods. Then, distribution will be a problem.”

The big bearded man glared at him fiercely, ”Distribution? Whoever is capable will fight for it, the rest can just screw off.”

A few Spirit Building Stage cultivators self-consciously retreated from the group. With their cultivation, taking part would only be paving the way for others.

Seeing that Mo Wuji did not have any intentions of retreating, Qu Wan’Er slightly furrowed her brows and took the initiative to dissuade him, ”Pill Master Mo, why don’t you stay here for now?”

Mo Wuji smiled lightly, ”It’s okay, I can also take part in digging the steps. It’s always good to have extra help.”

”Pui!” A lady heard Mo Wuji’s words and could not help but laughed out loud. Mo Wuji’s entire body did not pulse with spirituality; instead, it was plain and calm like an ordinary mortal. As a cultivator, anyone could tell that Mo Wuji’s talent was low, and his cultivation was ordinary.

After all, the stronger a cultivator, the stronger his spirituality.

”Little boy, you shouldn’t even be at the Spirit Building Stage right? If you go up, all you would be doing is digging steps. You should just stay here, even if there are a lot of Flowers of the True Gods, there won’t be enough for you,” The lady who laughed aloud added.

The lady’s looks were ordinary and her speech brought with it a tone of ridicule, but Mo Wuji knew she was not evil at heart. She should know that with his low cultivation, following them would only be a waste of his efforts. Ultimately, he might not even be able to reach the peak.

Mo Wuji chuckled, ”Senior, many thanks for your warm intentions, but I’ve always liked helping others since I was young. I’m not even afraid to help up a fallen old man, what more digging some steps? Being able to help the senior brothers and sisters here is my honour.”

Many of the cultivators there were dumbfounded by Mo Wuji’s words, even Hou Yucheng didn’t understand the intention behind Mo Wuji’s words. But everyone could understand the meaning behind Mo Wuji’s last sentence: even with Mo Wuji’s low cultivation, he was willing to take the risk to dig the ice stairs.

On the other hand, it was the big bearded man who started chuckling as he said to Mo Wuji, ”You’re a promising lad.”

With that, he turned and stared at Hou Yucheng, ”Now there are more than 60 people who are willing to go up together. You’ll allocate the manpower, and we’ll start right now.”

The others also turned to look at Hou Yucheng, clearly wishing for him to lead them with his stair digging idea.

Hou Yucheng clasped his fists and said, ”Initially, I was about to suggest splitting into two groups, but since there’s only 63 people now, I would advise everyone to work together to dig out a curved ice steps upwards. The icy mountain is tough, and it would be very difficult for a single person. But if we all work together, it would be more than ten times easier.”

”OK, we’ll do just that.” The big bearded man clapped his hands and retrieved his magic treasure; it was an exquisite fine-scale awl.

The others also did not have any disagreements and they each took out their magic treasures. Mo Wuji only had his Tian Ji Pole so he could only take that out.

”Your magic treasure is a metal pole?” Qu Wan’Er was a bit speechless. It was not as though there weren’t cultivators who used the pole as a weapon but they were as rare as phoenix feathers or qilin horns. For someone of Mo Wuji’s cultivation who dared to use the pole as a magic treasure, he definitely had to be the first.

”Good. Unique. Ha Ha.” The big bearded man laughed as he took his spot.

Hou Yucheng was also rather astonished. He had always thought that Mo Wuji’s magic treasure would be something related to lightning, never would he expect that Mo Wuji would just pick up a metal pole.

He soon regained his countenance as he said loudly, ”Everyone, let’s begin.”

”Hong Hong Hong Hong…” The multiple magic treasures landed on the icy mountain at the same time, causing a powerful tremor. With elemental energy infused in the attack, a single attack was able to break open a step on the tough icy mountain.

Everyone celebrated. Climbing the mountain truly required everyone’s combined efforts. This definitely wasn’t a simple outcome of 1 + 1. It far exceeded that.

As Mo Wuji’s cultivation was the lowest, he was assigned to be at the extreme side. This was the most dangerous place, but he was in no position to reject it. After keeping that this place might have the Immeasurable Soul-forging Crystal, he had set his mind to climb up.

Fortunately, Mo Wuji’s attack power with the Tian Ji Pole was not bad, and the rest did not deny his participation. Furthermore, to the others here, a Channel Opening Stage cultivator like Mo Wuji definitely did not have a chance to obtain the Flower of the True Gods, so he was simply akin to free labour.

Explosive sounds could be heard, ice dregs flew about, the crowd managed to slowly advance upwards. At their back, a winding ‘S’ shaped ice road could be seen snaking upwards.

In just a single day, the group managed to climb to the mountain’s halfway mark. The ‘S’ shaped road behind them was also gradually fading away.

”Friend, I think everyone here all underestimated you. I am Cheng Qiyu from the Golden Spear Sect.” By Mo Wuji’s side was a medium built youth. As they got higher, his shock got higher as well. This was because the steps carved by Mo Wuji was no lesser than his; it might even be better. What confused him was that every time Mo Wuji dug a step, he would first punch a deep hole with his metal pole. This was simply wasting more elemental energy. From these acts alone, he could tell that Mo Wuji’s abilities was not limited to the Channel Opening Stage.

”Rogue cultivator, Mo Wuji. Brother Cheng’s name sure is unique,” Mo Wuji smiled and said. Along this journey, he could tell that this Cheng Qiyu should roughly be in the Spirit Building Stage Level 4. However, this Cheng Qiyu’s endurance did not seem to be much stronger than his. Along the way, he did not consume any pills but he still had energy. On the other hand, this Cheng Qiyu seemed to be getting tired.

Cheng Qiyu laughed self-deprecatingly, ”I came up with this name myself. My original name was Cheng Qiyu [1]. The Cheng Clan gave birth to a genius cultivator, Cheng Heshen, and we had to give countless of cultivation resources to that Cheng Heshen. I was unwilling, so I left the Cheng Clan, and with some luck, I managed to enter the Golden Spear Sect.”

Doubts formed within Mo Wuji’s heart, like how did this Cheng Qiyu manage to get a placing to enter the Five Elements Desolate Domain? However, these weren’t questions for him to ask.

”Brother Mo, as a rogue cultivator, you managed to get here…” Cheng Qiyu did not manage to finish his words when a icy cold tempest came bounding over.

There were no signs, the wind just suddenly came crashing over.

In the previous day, the group did not meet with the attacks of tempests and they all felt that their previous thinking had been far too conservative. None of them would have expected that in this moment when they lowered their guards, a mad tempest would blast over.

The shadows of tens of cultivators disappeared along with the wind. The previous ’S’ shaped road had also disappeared. Being carried away at this height, the chances of surviving was not much more than zero.

Mo Wuji and Cheng Qiyu were also subjected to the strong winds. Mo Wuji’s reaction was extremely fast; at almost the same instant the wind came blowing, he threw his body to the ice step. At the same time, he fetched his sharp knife and stabbed it into the hole. His actions were smooth and fluid, with no time wasted. He seemed to have practised this in his head multiple times.

With all these, Mo Wuji still had the time to extend his hand and made a grab.

Cheng Qiyu, who had already been blown away, had quite good luck. One of his leg had been grabbed by Mo Wuji and his entire body fell onto the ice step.

Once his entire body is planted down, the effects of the strong winds lessened by quite a bit. Cheng Qiyu tightly grabbed a groove within the step, not daring to let go.

The roaring wind came and left quickly. By the time the wind was gone, the group found that there were more than 10 among them who had disappeared. The group had now many empty spaces.

”Big brother Mo, thank you.” Even though Cheng Qiyu’s cultivation was higher than Mo Wuji, he still emotionally bowed and expressed his gratitude towards Mo Wuji. He even addressed Mo Wuji as ’Big brother’.

Mo Wuji had just saved his life; his gratitude came from the bottom of his heart. One must know that in that kind of situation, even if they could make it in time to extend a hand, others definitely wouldn’t do so. Those that extend their hands to save others would also put themselves in greater danger.

Mo Wuji patted Cheng Qiyu’s shoulder and chuckled, ”It’s nothing much. I told you before, I’ve always loved helping others. Don’t you see me here helping everyone dig ice steps?”

[1] Confused? There are two different Qi. His current Qi, 弃, means abandon. While his previous Qi, 齐,means gather. His Yu 玉 refers to Jade. He changed his name to reflect his changing attitudes towards riches and resources.