Chapter 502

Chapter 502: True Immortal

According to more than ten winged demon clans, the Nine Dead Demon Lord Qiao Busi created the so-called World Crossing Boat to try to escape this disaster threatening the demon realm.

However, it is clear that things are not going smoothly; otherwise, this world wouldn’t be on the brink of collapse, and these ten or so demon clans would not be fighting for the chance to board.

"Who exactly is the Nine Dead Demon Lord? How can he create such a treasure to survive this disaster?" Qiao Mu wondered even more.

"I have heard another story; it seems that the treasure boat was not originally from this world," one demon clan member spoke up.

"With the sky breaking and the earth shaking, strange phenomena have appeared, and a corner of the heavenly palace ruins appeared near Nine Dead Demon Lord’s Nine Death Mountain. It is said that the ‘World Crossing Boat’ is a divine object he found in the heavenly palace and repaired."

"I do not dare to hide, great master. What we are fighting over is a token of the Nine Dead Demon Lord, which allows one to enter the World Crossing Boat," said the leading blue-faced demon.

He opened his hand, and a small, blood-red coin appeared in his palm.

Qiao Mu stared at it, and his heart stirred.

On the coin, there was a clear symbol of a snake eating its own tail, identical to the Ouroboros Long Life Lock pattern in his mind.

Upon closer inspection, the coin was not an ordinary item; its blood-red color did not seem to be made from a special metal but looked like it had been soaked in blood.

"After a cultivator creates a magical item, it is customary to drop blood to claim it, leaving their blood and spiritual imprint within the item. It seems this coin from the Nine Dead Demon Lord is similar."

Qiao Mu knew nothing about the methods of crafting magical items, but he had broken many of them himself and gained some experience.

"This coin bears the spiritual imprint of the Nine Dead Demon Lord, and it can guide us to the World Crossing Boat and the place of the Nine Dead Demon Lord," reminded the blue-faced demon.

"Then what does the snake-eating-its-own-tail symbol mean?" Qiao Mu’s doubts grew stronger.

"This is the ‘Serpent’ tribe totem of the Nine Dead Demon Lord," said the blue-faced demon.

"Senior Qiao, in this world of monsters, most of the training is a return to ancestral roots," the Sky Piercing Water Spirit reminded.

"The more they absorb the sun’s essence, the moon’s radiance, and the energy of the earth, the more their bloodline purifies, drawing closer step by step to the ancestors of each tribe."

"It seems that the monster tribes in this monster realm live in settlements, so this ‘Serpent’ totem above might be an ancient ancestor."

Although the Sky Piercing Water Spirit is a naturally born water spirit, as one of the few great monsters in the human world of Jiu Province, it understands the matters of monster tribes very well.

"But this is not Jiu Province, and your knowledge may not apply here," Qiao Mu turned and asked again.

"Is this serpent really the bloodline ancestor of the ‘Serpent’ tribe? Is Nine Dead Demon Lord Qiao Busi a snake monster?"

"This…" The more than ten winged monster tribes exchanged glances, unable to answer.

"The ‘Serpent’ tribe is a small human tribe, famous only because of the Nine Dead Demon Lord. As for why it uses ‘Serpent’ as its symbol, we do not know."

"Nine Dead Demon Lord is the supreme figure in the world; we cannot fully understand his affairs."

Qiao Mu nodded, temporarily setting this question aside.

Whether things are complicated or not will be known when we see Nine Dead Demon Lord in person.

At this moment, the sound of crashing waves was like thunder, as the endless sea and land collapsed together.

Although Qiao Mu could fly and would not be caught in this disaster for a while, he knew this was not the time for talking.

While inquiring about Nine Dead Demon Lord’s matters, he was also flying forward with the other creatures, following the blood-red ouroboros coin in his hand.

The mountains collapsed with a loud rumble beneath their feet, falling down with the surging tides.

The sky was not a safe place either; dense black clouds covered the sun, and fiery lightning tore through the heavens like glaring scars that lingered for a long time.

This was a literal collapse of heaven and earth; there was nowhere safe to be found, whether on the ground or in the sky, destined to sweep through the entire demon realm.

The flying speed of those more than ten winged monsters was definitely not comparable to Qiao Mu’s; it was only because he helped that they managed to escape from this terrifying storm.

A silhouette of an island gradually appeared ahead.

It was a mountain that had not completely collapsed, which used to be part of the mainland; however, at that moment, it was completely surrounded by floodwaters and had become an island.

And at the edge of this lonely island, a Sky Boat, glowing with treasure, was floating in the air, looking like a magical artifact, shimmering with light.

Qiao Mu suddenly felt something and looked at the Ouroboros coin that was meant to guide him.

At that moment, the color of the Ouroboros coin, once vivid like fresh blood, had slightly faded, leaving only a faint trace of red.

"I can’t find the Nine Dead Demon Lord…" Qiao Mu showed a strange look.

"We’ve arrived," the blue-faced demon said with a joyful expression, but when they saw the mountains beneath them, they paused slightly.

In the clearing below the Sky Boat, there were only remains of corpses scattered everywhere, with various monster bodies lying all over the ground.

The demon tribe has various shapes; some are as big as small mountains, while others are similar in size to normal humans. However, at this moment, no matter the type, all the demons are just empty bodies, piled up like small mountains beneath the Sky Boat, completely lacking life.

Blood-red coins shaped like serpents are scattered across the ground, but like the one in Qiao Mu’s hand, they have already lost their color.

"Is that the Black Wing Demon King… is he dead?"

"The Black Wing Demon King is a legendary demon king. With his power and status, he should be able to receive the token of the Nine Dead Demon Lord, but why…?"

The demons felt an inexplicable fear; they thought a tall figure would support them under this collapsing sky. They believed that arriving in the territory of the Nine Dead Demon Lord would allow them to survive this great disaster… but who could have imagined…

"Is there still a fool coming?" At that moment, from the pile of bodies, the black-winged giant tiger, its flesh and blood dried up, struggled to open its eyes. It smiled sadly and said:

"There is no World Crossing Boat, it’s all a trap!"

"A trap from the Nine Dead Demon Lord? Does he really need to use such means to kill us?" The demons were astonished.

The black-winged giant tiger slowly shook its head and said bitterly:

"Not only are there the ruins of the Heaven Palace in this world, but there is also the True Immortal from the Heaven Palace…"

"The Nine Dead Demon Lord… he seemed to have died once, but he was not completely dead. He was reborn, yet soon after, he was captured by the True Immortal who descended, using some unknown celestial magic, and was taken away."

The descending True Immortal… Qiao Mu narrowed his eyes.

When he first appeared and asked for directions, these demon creatures mistook him for the descending True Immortal.

Now that he thinks about it, the reason was certainly not that he looked extraordinary, but because a True Immortal had already come to this demon world before he arrived.

As this thought crossed his mind, Qiao Mu suddenly felt something and looked toward the Sky Boat over there.

The Sky Boat, quietly floating in the distance, had slowly drifted closer, surrounded by shimmering light, standing still amidst the strong winds and towering waves.

However, when Qiao Mu looked closely, he also discovered more than ten cracks of varying sizes on the body of the Sky Boat, clearly showing it was not undamaged.

In the next moment.

The bright light gradually faded, and a thin, pale-faced woman with white eyebrows appeared from within the glow.

As soon as the black-winged giant tiger saw her, it was suddenly filled with fear.

"Immortal Diyuan… the True Immortal who came down to the world, has not fully left yet? Does she really want to sacrifice us all before the world collapses?"

Immortal Diyuan… Qiao Mu carefully stared at her.

This was the first living immortal he had ever seen, and in his sense, she did not seem extremely powerful, nowhere near the corpse of the Heavenly Emperor in the ruins of the heavenly realm.

Immortal Diyuan clearly looked unwell, but she seemed to be more than just flesh and blood.

The white-browed woman appeared quite calm, her gaze sweeping over the people.

Her gaze lingered on the Qiao Xin-like Sky Piercing Water Spirit for a moment, then she clicked her tongue, finally resting her gaze on Qiao Mu with a look of confusion.

After a while, she let out a faint sigh.

"It seems we were wrong; perhaps you are the one destined for this fate."

The woman paused for a moment and said:

"I am Diyuan, a humble Taoist. I come from the great world of Jiu Province and ascended to the celestial realm thirty thousand years ago."

"You may still have doubts in your hearts, but this is not the time or place for discussion. Let us enter this Sky Boat for a while; perhaps we can escape this disaster?"

The black-winged giant tiger immediately laughed:

"The Nine Dead Demon Lord gathered all the demons in this realm, yet those few True Immortals sacrificed them all. After all of this, are you still pretending to be a good person in front of me?"

"If you truly wanted to save people, why did you hide inside the Sky Boat just now?"

Immortal Diyuan’s expression remained unchanged:

"Your doubts are understandable."

"The Heavenly Emperor is dead, the Heavenly Court has collapsed, and the Immortal Realm is shattered… Now, the heavens are in chaos, and the few surviving immortals are merely trying to find their own ways to survive."

"What Immortal Lord Qingxuan and others seek is to grow stronger before the Great Collapse sweeps everything away, hoping to survive."

"I, however, do not hold much hope, as even the Heavenly Emperor, who embodies All Laws are Inviolable, has died. By now, whether through closed-door cultivation or seeking other methods to grow stronger, it is already too late."

"My way of survival is different from theirs; it can be said that we are on the same path but taking different roads, yet we happen to reach the same realm."

As he said this, Immortal Diyuan’s gaze fell on everyone, and he calmly said:

"You must decide for yourselves whether to enter this treasure boat; when the world collapses, even a True Immortal might not survive. I will not wait for you to think it over."

"Let’s go." Qiao Mu did not hesitate and took the lead, stepping onto the shimmering Sky Boat.

The rest of the winged demon tribe that followed him hesitated for a moment, but seeing the huge waves approaching, they all hurriedly entered.

The injured black-winged giant tiger remained unmoved, only coldly staring at Immortal Diyuan with a sneer.

Soon, giant waves rushed in, and the sound of crashing waves was like thunder. The deadly mountain collapsed suddenly under the huge waves, and all the corpses along with the still-living black-winged giant tiger fell down together, disappearing into the spray.

A faint blue light surrounded the entire Sky Boat, as it sailed through the huge waves like a fallen leaf in a heavy rain.

……………………………..

"Are you really an immortal?" Qiao Mu asked bluntly, standing next to Immortal Diyuan inside the Sky Boat.

"You are weaker than the True Immortals I have seen."

Qiao Mu had only seen two True Immortals: the Heavenly Emperor and the Immortal Diyuan before him. In comparison, the difference was huge.

Immortal Diyuan said calmly:

"What Immortal Lord Qingxuan has taken is not just the life force of this world’s beings, but also my own source of immortal energy."

"I am indeed no match for Immortal Lord Qingxuan. My immortal body is damaged by ninety percent. Out of necessity, I could only merge my soul with this Sky Boat to save my life."

"Don’t be fooled by the cracks in this Sky Boat; it actually has a grand background. It comes from the heavenly realm and is an Immortal Boat once used by the celestial army of the River of Heaven to travel across the skies."

"Even Immortal Lord Qingxuan cannot do anything about this Immortal Boat at the moment; seeing the heavens and earth about to collapse, he quickly left the realm."

"Oh." Qiao Mu was unmoved and felt no surprise at all.

Having seen even the body of the Heavenly Emperor, he was not moved by a Sky Boat left behind by the heavenly realm.

What mattered to him was, in fact, something else.

"Immortal Lord Qingxuan, Immortal Diyuan…" he began to speak.

"In the great world of Jiu Province, there is an Immortal Gate called ‘Earth Origin Temple.’ Do you know of it?"

Immortal Diyuan paused slightly, his expression showing a hint of surprise.

"The Earth Origin Temple is an Immortal Gate I established in the Jiu Province realm long ago. Can it really have survived for tens of thousands of years until now?"

"It can also be seen as already destroyed. Now, there are only about ten cultivators in the sect, and only one is a Nascent Soul cultivator," Qiao Mu spoke.

In the great world of Jiu Province, there used to be nineteen Immortal Gates that produced True Immortals, once known as Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, all on equal footing.

However, their conflicts were, after all, matters of the mortal world.

While the founding masters of the Immortal Gate were indeed True Immortals who had ascended, there is quite a difference in the era of ascension. Even among True Immortals, there are differences.

Immortal Diyuan claimed to have ascended thirty thousand years ago, but she is not necessarily much older than Patriarch Lingxu of Mahayana Stage who died at Qiao Mu’s hands.

"Is there really only one Nascent Soul cultivator left? We are indeed very close to destruction," Immortal Diyuan nodded lightly, showing little emotion.

She seemed indifferent to the human legacy she left behind thousands of years ago. Initially surprised, her feelings were as still as an ancient well, showing no ripples, and she did not inquire further about the details from Qiao Mu.

"You seem not to care much?" Qiao Mu asked.

"Founding the Earth Origin Temple was an event from thirty or forty thousand years ago. There’s no need to bring it up again," Immortal Diyuan replied calmly.

"Why are you surprised, my friend? I see your destiny wheel has existed for nearly seventy thousand years, and it is even older than me. Can’t you look at the world with calmness?"

"Life is like wine; at first, it is strong and bold, but after many years, the strong taste fades, leaving only the gentle sweetness that time gives."

"But if thousands or tens of thousands of years pass, the strong taste, sweetness, and rich flavor have all changed, and it can no longer be enjoyed."

"Life is like wine, and the human heart is also like wine; that is just the way it is."

"You… are right," Qiao Mu nodded, and he was not being dismissive.

After creating the No Move No Thinking Skill and experiencing fifty thousand years of the Long Life Dream, he had already noticed how long time could be.

In the Long Life Dream of fifty thousand years, he was like a machine running on inertia, with only a few past obsessions left in his heart.

Though he had obsessions, his emotions were gone.

The obsession told him he should return to Jiu Province, but deep down, like the Immortal Diyuan, his heart had become calm and still.