Immortal Mortal

The reason why he previously allowed Mo Wuji to do as he wished in Sword Prison was because he was sure that Mo Wuji couldn't escape. Who knew that with that careless thought, he actually allowed an ant-like Mo Wuji to escape? And if one ant escaping wasn't enough, Mo Wuji escaped with the rest of the ants in Sword Prison.

Mo Wuji continued, "You were the one in the Sword Qi Whirlpool, right? And you were also the one that tried to kill me in Sword Qi River, right?"

Back then, this fella was an insurmountable mountain. But now, in Mo Wuji's eyes, this fella was no different from an ant. Even though this fella was in this intermediate Unity God Stage, his aura was fluctuating erratically, so his combat ability would definitely be affected.

Noticing Mo Wuji's calm and fearless appearance, this thin, emaciated man frowned and took a step back. He was not able to sense Mo Wuji's cultivation. How was this possible? Even if Mo Wuji concealed his cultivation, he should still be able to see through it with a single glance.

Mo Wuji did not seem to mind that this skeleton-like man stepped back. He only asked quizzically, "Back then, that heart in the Vine Mountain of Safety shouldn't be yours, right? The sword in the riverbed of Sword Qi River also shouldn't be yours, am I right? What I'm curious is, why have you been staying here? Do you think that staying here would help you to recover your abilities?"

After saying these words, Mo Wuji did not wait for this emaciated man to answer. He seemed to come to his own realisation, "I understand why you can't leave."

He had truly come to a realisation. This fella had already recovered his abilities to the Unity God Stage, so this fella wouldn't even dare to leave. The moment he left Sword Prison, he would be crushed into pieces by the Laws of the Immortal World. Unless he was able to suppress his cultivation to approximately the Heavenly God Stage, he would only face death by leaving.

Not everyone could be like him and disregard the pressure of the Laws of the Immortal World.

Since he came, Mo Wuji believed that this emaciated man was an expert that had suffered during the Cataclysm and was currently recovering his powers here. After all, he had encountered many of such people.

"Your physique tempering method is not bad." As this thin man was speaking, he released his domain. With his current abilities, it didn't matter how strong Mo Wuji was. Mo Wuji shouldn't be able to break free from his domain, right?

"Crack, crack!" This thin man's domain didn't even manage to get close to Mo Wuji's domain before it started shattering.

This man's heart was reeling in shock. How was this possible? It's said that this was the Immortal World. According to what he knew, how could the Immortal World have a person that could break his domain?

Before this man could even react, Mo Wuji's elemental hand had already grabbed his neck.

"Your little bit of power is far from enough. Tell me then, with your abilities, how did you arrive in a secret domain in the Immortal World?" Mo Wuji asked indifferently as he lifted this emaciated man up in the air.

"How is this possible…" This thin man muttered to himself, completely oblivious to his bad situation.

According to his memory and understanding, Sword Prison was in the Immortal World. The Laws of the Immortal World definitely wouldn't allow a cultivator of a higher level to be born. As long as one reaches a certain level, he would have to leave the Immortal World. Otherwise, the Laws of the Heaven and Earth of the Immortal World would crush him into pieces. If he could enter the Immortal World, he would have left this place a long time ago. Why did he have to wait till he extracted the sword?

Mo Wuji's elemental hand tightened and this thin man immediately felt the impending pressure of death. Following which, he heard Mo Wuji's words, "I am the one asking questions, not you."

"Yes, yes…" This thin man finally realised his situation. He hurriedly said, "Those years ago, Jianqi Tian…" [1]

"Wait, wait…" Mo Wuji stopped this man's words, "Who is Jianqi Tian?"

This thin man hurriedly replied, "Jianqi Tian is the sword spirit of the Sword of Fortune. The owner of the Sword of Fortune sensed that his Dao could no longer take a step further. Thus, he used dissolved his body into Dao Laws, allowing him to become the owner of the sword…"

"What gibberish are you muttering? I don't understand a single sentence of it. First, tell me, who are you?" Mo Wuji harrumphed and his tone became unkind.

This thin man became increasingly fearful, "Senior, this junior learnt of the Dao from a trace of sword qi from the Sword of Fortune. Within that sword qi, I obtained bits of the sword spirit's memories…"

Mo Wuji could finally understand something. So this fella wasn't some fallen expert from the Cataclysm. He nodded and said, "When you speak, you need to be clear. I don't have a high level of patience."

"Yes, yes." After this man hastily responded, he continued, "Senior's cultivation is as high as the sky. You should know that I'm currently in the Unity God Stage, right?"

"That's right." Mo Wuji answered.

Hearing that Mo Wuji knew about the Unity God Stage, this man felt assured. He was afraid that Mo Wuji wouldn't understand his following words.

"After the Unity God Stage comes the three stages of Sages. The first stage is the Quasi-Sage Stage. The second stage is the Sage Stage. And finally, the third stage is the Sage of Fortune Stage." The man said carefully.

Mo Wuji came to a new understanding. So Sages still weren't the highest existences. There was still a Sage of Fortune. Those 8 Sages believed that there were the most powerful experts. From the looks of it, they were also frogs in a well.

"Since there's still the Sage of Fortune Stage after the Sage Stage, then logically, there shouldn't be a limit in the number of Sages. But why did I hear that there are only 8 Sages in the universe." Mo Wuji said solemnly.

When he heard these words, this man knew that Mo Wuji definitely wasn't a person of the Immortal World. He answered with greater carefulness, "When the primordial chaos first split apart, the universe was filled with limitless resources and the Laws of the Heaven and Earth were profoundly clear. During that time, countless experts were born. However, the universe lacked a sort of order. Without this universal order, cultivation wasn't able to break through its shackles. Thus, the experts in that stage were called Quasi-Sages.

At this time, supreme treasures of fortune appeared, one of which was the Sword of Fortune. The sword gathered the universe's spirituality and witnessed the universe's evolution, finally forming its own unique sword spirit. At the same time, there was a peerless expert called Luo. He also witnessed the universe's formation but his Dao lacked a sort of sharpness. This was when he encountered the Sword of Fortune. It was just that the Sword of Fortune wasn't willing to be refined by him. Thus, he dissolved his own body into Dao Laws, fusing them with the sword spirit of the Sword of Fortune, allowing him to control this sword."

As Mo Wuji heard this, he was slightly dumbfounded. He had heard of fusing with the Dao, but this was his first time he heard of fusing with a sword spirit. Didn't this mean that this Luo fella became the new sword spirit? What's the point of doing that?

"After Luo fused with the Sword of Fortune's spirit, he discovered that he had many limitations. Following which, he opened the Universe Nest and obtained nine Dao Laws of the Universe. He wanted to use these nine Dao Laws of the Universe to create eight experts. After which, he would borrow the help of these eight experts to help him establish the order in the universe. Luo decided that these eight experts would be above Quasi-Sages. They would be Pseudo-Sages…"

When he heard this, Mo Wuji's heart started to pound. Could this be the origin of the eight Sages?

The thin man continued, "This matter was soon spread to all the experts in the universe. Everyone wanted to be chosen by Luo to become Pseudo-Sages. However, before Luo could make his choice, eight experts secretly acted against Luo and stole the Dao Laws of the Universe…"

Mo Wuji started to get confused. He asked, "Could it be that Sword Prison wasn't a place that fell during the previous Cataclysm?"

The thin man shook his head and said, "The Cataclysm was controlled by the Ninth Dao Law of the Universe, which is controlled by Luo. Even after Luo was plotted against, that Ninth Dao Law of the Universe still continues to control the Cataclysm."

Mo Wuji didn't think that a small Sword Prison in the Immortal World could actually hide such an ancient and terrifying existence. According to what this thin man was saying, if he controlled the Ninth Dao Law of the Universe, then couldn't he stop the Cataclysm from happening?

"I understand. So the current eight Sages each controls one of the eight Dao Laws of the Universe, that's why they are Sages? And Luo controls the Ninth Dao Law of the Universe, which is why he is the only Sage of Fortune in the universe?" Mo Wuji asked.

The thin man shook his head and said, "I do not know about that. But I do know that Luo is the existence that controls the Ninth Dao Law of the Universe. Although Luo was plotted against, that Ninth Dao Law still controls the Cataclysm. The Vine Mountain of Safety that previously existed in Sword Prison was a heart fragment of Luo's."

"Then that sword in Sword Qi River is the Sword of Fortune?" Mo Wuji asked. In his heart, he had already made a decision. When he returned to God World, he definitely needed to ask Huan Ti and Tong Ming whether every Sage needed to obtain a Dao Law of the Universe in order to become a Sage.

"Yes…"

Just as the thin man said this single word, Mo Wuji felt boundless sword qi stirring up around him. Intense killing intent instantly started to rise.

A deep sense of death washed over him. Mo Wuji did not think twice as he whipped out his Book of Luo to protect him.

"Ka!" A beam of sword qi slashed across his waist. Even though Mo Wuji whipped out his Book of Luo in time, he still felt a deep sense of death.

Following which, he saw a tear appear on his Book of Luo. Mo Wuji was flabbergasted. How could he still dare to hesitate? He hurriedly brought out more pages of the Book of Luo to revolve around him.

This was the first time that his Book of Luo was damaged by sword qi.

[1] Jianqi is sword qi.