Six Kinds of Immortality

Xu Mu realized that this ninth-rank elder knew Yue Menglong’s identity and could not help asking, “Senior, you know her?”

“The Immortality Council’s Fifth Seat, the Thousand-Skinned Woman.”

The ninth-rank expert of the Black Moon Tribe spoke with a trembling voice. “How are you here? Let me go, and I swear I’ll never come back.”

“Senior, you’re making a disgrace of yourself. You’re a ninth-rank expert, yet you’re so terrified of an eighth-rank woman.”

Xu Mu began criticizing him from the side.

“Brat! What do you know?”

The ninth-rank Black Moon Tribe expert roared at Xu Mu.

“He really doesn’t know. Sometimes, the gap between two ninth-rank experts is greater than the gap between a ninth-rank expert and a first-rank one.”

Yue Menglong revealed a faint smile. “Besides, I’m not an eighth-rank expert. I’m also ninth-rank—I simply haven’t fully recovered yet.”

Xu Mu and Chen Xuan’s expressions both turned grim.

Xu Shou had been the same before. His cultivation level had clearly once been extremely high, but after Xu Mu treated him, it had not instantly returned to its peak. Instead, it had recovered little by little.

“Senior, what exactly is this woman?”

As Xu Mu spoke, he grabbed Chen Xuan’s hand and carved a voice-transmission array onto it.

He had already taken quite a few treasures. If they couldn’t defeat her, they could simply run. They wouldn’t lose anything either way.

“Impudent! How dare you speak to Senior like that? I—”

Swish!

Before the ninth-rank expert could finish speaking, Yue Menglong reached around from behind and tore out his heart.

Ze Guan, who was likewise being restrained nearby, was filled with terror at the sight.

A ninth-rank expert was an existence at the very pinnacle, even among the four great races.

Any one of them could shake the Inner Realm.

Yet no one had expected that an expert of the Black Moon Tribe would die just like this.

“I’ll tell you myself.”

Yue Menglong supported the ninth-rank expert’s corpse from behind. Looking at Xu Mu through the hole in its chest, she said, “Within Immortality, the Immortality Council is a place that only great figures in the fields of practice and theory can enter. That Immortality Research Institute you mentioned earlier is still beyond the qualifications of that junior, Wang Hun.”

As she spoke, blood slowly began seeping out from beneath her skin. The blood gradually enveloped her entire body, making her look like a person formed entirely of blood.

Whoosh!

Her body suddenly condensed, seemingly liquefying as the blood poured into the hole in the ninth-rank expert’s chest.

In the end, Yue Menglong’s body vanished from sight, appearing to merge completely into the ninth-rank expert’s body.

The hole in his chest was also sealed with red flesh.

This technique reminded Xu Mu of Fan Junshu, whom he had encountered before. That person possessed a similar technique, allowing him to transform directly into water and burrow into an enemy’s body.

“Immortality has existed for such a long time that many Seats have appeared throughout history. At present, however, only six remain.”

It was no longer Yue Menglong’s voice speaking, but the ninth-rank expert’s.

Even the tone had become that of an old man.

“Six Seats? What are they?”

Xu Mu stared at the ninth-rank expert—or rather, at Yue Menglong.

“From the First Seat to the Sixth Seat, they are Origin, Blood Source, Abyss, Wraith, Thousand Skins, and Machinery. Each Seat represents one method of achieving what we believe to be immortality.”

Yue Menglong explained, “The fact that we have lived until now is proof that these methods of immortality are feasible.”

“Of the ones you mentioned, the only one I can imagine is Machinery.”

Xu Mu pondered for a moment before speaking.

“The Sixth Seat, Machinery, is still a junior. His theory has existed for only a little over three hundred years. The useless technologies he discarded ended up triggering the first Industrial Revolution among the humans of your Outer Realm—the birth of the steam engine.”

Controlling the ninth-rank expert’s body, Yue Menglong gently rotated its arm.

“His method of immortality is easy to understand: endlessly modify your own body. Mechanical immortality.”

Not only Xu Mu and Chen Xuan, but even Ze Guan was shocked.

Of course, he had heard of Immortality. Back when Immortality was at its height, the four great races had still been unknown, quietly playing in the mud.

At that time, powerful races had been as numerous as carp crossing a river. Aside from the Celestial Tribe and the Holy Light Tribe, which already possessed some renown, the Nine Nether Tribe and the Black Moon Tribe had barely made a name for themselves.

The Inner Realm had been at the crossroads between the Age of the Gods and the Ancient Era. At that time, the most powerful races in the Inner Realm had been the Great Desolate Tribe and the Dragon Tribe.

The only other organization whose name could be mentioned was Immortality.

Ze Guan had indeed heard of the Seats within the organization, but he had never known that each Seat represented a different method of attaining immortality.

“What about you?”

Xu Mu looked at Yue Menglong. “What is your method of immortality?”

“You should know the history of the Inner Realm, right? In the beginning, the first Creator created life. At that time, life evolved into various races, and until the Inner Realm shattered, they remained immortal. Eternal battles were required to reduce their numbers.”

Yue Menglong raised a hand and spoke softly. “So why did they lose their immortality later on? I believe it was because of the differentiation of the races.”

“You’re being too profound. I don’t understand.”

Chen Xuan narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Then I’ll explain it more simply. In the beginning, the life created by the Creator did not consist of so many different races. They gradually diverged and eventually became separate races. Since the different races could not intermarry, the division between them grew increasingly severe.”

Yue Menglong suddenly pointed to herself, her eyes filled with madness.

“And my goal is to become the original life-form. I will stitch together the flesh of countless races and slowly return to the beginning, ultimately becoming the eternal life-form first created by the Creator!”

Only then did Xu Mu finally understand why Yue Menglong’s body bore so many different-colored patches of skin.

She had stitched together the flesh and blood of other races.

“I didn’t expect you to be this insane. Still, you really are an exception—you’ve actually managed to survive until now.”

Xu Mu spoke calmly. “But as a doctor, I can tell you that your path is destined to fail.”

“Then why have I survived until now, while the Seats of the past—there were as many as ten at the peak—were all false immortals who eventually died?”

Yue Menglong let out a cold snort. “A foolish mortal like you could never understand what a miracle is!”

“Perhaps your constitution is simply special, or perhaps you can suppress the flaws through your cultivation technique.”

Xu Mu stroked his chin as he speculated. “Of course, there’s also a very small chance that you’ll succeed.”

Putting everything else aside, techniques of this divine level had already transcended the Heavenly Law.

For example, Xu Mu’s Regression, or Luo Fengchan, the Sect Master of the Cold Immortal Sect. Once her divine technique reached mastery, her body could switch between that of a child and that of an adult as time passed.

These techniques had already surpassed common sense. Therefore, as long as the cultivation technique was powerful enough, Yue Menglong did indeed have a chance of succeeding.

“Heh heh. What I do is none of your concern. How many years have you even lived, boy? The way you look at me now is like a three-year-old child passing judgment on your actions.”

As Yue Menglong spoke, the blood-red power covering her body spread like external blood vessels, or like proliferating scars, until it covered every inch of the corpse.

“Enough. You can all die now.”