The Quest for Immortality

On top of Solitary Mountain City, abandoned wells are scattered everywhere, a picture of desolation.

The frail orphans in the city, carrying bamboo baskets, hunched over, use their dirty little hands to scrape rough ores from the pitch-black ground, piece by piece.

Only in this way can they survive.

Beside them, Mo Hua silently passed by with a somewhat depressed expression.

Fortunately, Master Gu remembered his instructions and drew a First Grade Wind Pattern on these orphans’ bamboo baskets, reducing their burden somewhat, so the orphans wouldn’t be crushed by the heavy ores, covered in bruises.

For now, this is all he could do.

Mo Hua sighed and walked straight towards the Shen Family’s mountain peak, passing through the mining children.

He’s pretty much visited every other place on Solitary Mountain City, except for the Shen Family’s mountain peak.

That mountain peak definitely holds something unusual.

Mo Hua wants to go stealthily and take a look.

After walking for a while, his vision suddenly broadened, and the sprawling Shen Family mines appeared before him.

These mines are vast and grand, occupying almost half of Solitary Mountain City’s mountain body, and the planning is relatively orderly, the mine openings are wide and expansive.

These are the traces left by large Spiritual Machines digging.

A whole circle of formations for alert was set around the Shen Family mines, and some Shen Family cultivators stationed within occasionally patrolled the vicinity.

The formations are Second Grade, and the Shen Family cultivators are merely Foundation Establishment.

This is an abandoned mine, unable to produce ores, no longer profitable, so naturally, they wouldn’t dispatch a Golden Core Elder to guard it.

In fact, having Foundation Building Cultivators guard it is already a luxury.

But the Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn’t possibly stop Mo Hua, let alone those Second Grade formations.

Mo Hua drew his finger, a flash of ink color, and the formation at the mine boundary broke open, forming a gap on its own.

Mo Hua passed through the gap and approached the Shen Family mines.

Once he stepped onto the mining lands, his vision abruptly darkened, as if countless despairing wails sounded, yet in a blink, they disappeared without a trace. Mo Hua looked around, nothing seemed unusual. S̩

The sunlight overhead was still bright.

Yet Mo Hua always felt that the sunlight touching him was somewhat chilly.

Mo Hua’s expression darkened slightly, stepping on mountain stones, avoiding patrolling Shen Family cultivators, along with nearby occasional traps and formations, he wandered around the Shen Family mines.

He stepped over most of the mountain peaks.

The mountain mines are dug deep and mostly sealed off, making it impossible to delve deeper, he could only take a cursory look.

But after looking for so long, he still found nothing.

With his Divine Sense and causal perception, he couldn’t discern a single clue.

”How could there be no clues at all...”

Mo Hua furrowed his brow tightly.

Seeing the sky wasn’t early anymore, the sun gradually setting, he departed from the Shen Family’s mines for now.

Upon reaching the mine’s edge, Mo Hua pointed a finger, ink patterns reweaving, repairing the formation he had broken, concealing his traces.

Then he went to a nearby mountain peak, climbed up high for a distant view, taking the Shen Family mines all in sight.

As he watched, Mo Hua suddenly remembered what Xie Ling had said to him:

”Practice Kanyu Skill, perceive the cosmic energy, discern earth veins...”

”Cosmic energy, earth veins... what are they exactly?”

Mo Hua slowly closed his eyes, releasing his Divine Sense, calming his mind, shedding the ego, harboring the belief in ”Unity of Heaven and Man,” perceiving the universe, seeking the so-called cosmic energy and earth veins.

The world’s entities disappear.

The heavens overlook all beings, the earth vast and boundless.

A sense of wonder emerged naturally.

Indeed, there is a wisp of white energy between heaven and earth.

Mo Hua vaguely felt as though he grasped something, yet unsure if he truly understood it correctly.

Though uncertain, Mo Hua followed the energy forward.

The energy lingered along with the mountain’s rise and fall, elusive.

Mo Hua also followed the energy, traversing through the mountains.

He walked a whole circuit like this, the energy vanished, Mo Hua focused and found the surrounding landscape unfamiliar, yet still desolate, appearing utterly ordinary.

This wisp of energy led him to a dead end.

Mo Hua shook his head.

”Indeed, nothing comes cheap, nothing learned without effort...”

Mo Hua turned to leave, but as he turned, glimpsing from the corner of his eye, he noticed someone sitting below the distant slope.

This person was an old man, clad in cloth, seemingly not a Mining Cultivator.

Mo Hua contemplated momentarily, withdrew his Stealth Technique, and walked towards the Old Man in Cloth.

Upon nearing, seeing clearly, Mo Hua found the old man’s build gnarled and thin, face slightly dark, with gleaming eyes, and his cultivation was roughly Foundation Establishment Peak.

The old man was sitting cross-legged on the mountain stone, gazing at the distant mountains, seemingly lost in thought.

Noticing someone approaching, he furrowed his brows, turned to look, then saw the talented Mo Hua, and after a slight surprise, his eyes brightened, and he spoke:

”In this wild place, so deserted, to meet you, little friend, truly is fate.”

His voice was hoarse but exuded friendliness.

Mo Hua seemed to relax a bit and asked, ”Senior, what are you doing here?”

”I’m watching the mountains,” the old man replied.

”Watching mountains?” Mo Hua looked around, somewhat puzzled, ”This place is desolate, barren, what’s there to see?” .

The old man shook his head, ”In the world, everything has outward appearances and internal pathways. Lofty mountains, treacherous terrains, desolate mountains, barren waters, these are appearances, the mountain form. But beneath the mountain form, lies the mountain force; beneath the mountain force, are the earth veins.”

Earth veins...

Mo Hua shivered and praised, ”Old Senior, you are so knowledgeable.”