The First Immortal of Destiny

Without needing Shen Mo and the others to keep pressing him, the Silver-haired Child took out a jade slip of his own accord and inscribed upon it the scene of the Immortal painting he had seen in his memory.

Shen Mo took the jade slip and immersed his sense into it.

Through the Silver-haired Child’s memories, he saw that Immortal painting, the clues left behind by the latecomer, and his personal account...

Though separated by several layers, Shen Mo still perceived, from that indistinct Immortal figure in the painting, a trace of Transcendence and unfathomable Dao Rhyme; he could not even stare at the painted Immortal for long—if he looked too long, his soul throbbed with piercing pain. With such divinity, the thirteen "Immortals" above the bitter sea could not compare to it in the slightest!

And the cultivator who left the clues and soul imprint was not the painter who had drawn this Immortal painting. As he stated, after entering the Celestial Palace he had caught a glimpse of the radiance of several celestial treasures, but alas, his strength was lacking and he was injured by Formations and Prohibitions; in the end, he casually took away one painting to leave for later generations.

Afterwards, this painting changed hands several times and finally fell into the hands of Immortal Master Cizi. Thus came about the whole sequence of him entering the True Immortal cave mansion alone, and, using his birthday as pretext, widely inviting friends to jointly explore the Immortal Mansion.

Shen Mo withdrew his sense and handed the jade slip over to the Puppet Yama;

Once Qin Zhen and Kang Haoxiu had each examined it in turn, only then did everyone finally believe the Silver-haired Child’s words!

"The information that Senior left within the painting seems not to state what dangers lie within the Celestial Palace. The experiences and encounters he mentions in the palace are only lightly brushed over. It truly makes it hard for one to make up one’s mind!" Kang Haoxiu raised his head toward the crown of the tree, hesitation surfacing upon his face.

Everyone knew that the Bright Moon above contained immense peril. After all, Immortal Master Cizi and the other Divine Bridge Immortal Masters very likely had all perished within.

Yet they had gone through untold hardships to reach this place; not to mention celestial treasures, they had not even recovered any relics of the Divine Bridge Realm. To merely take one look at Bright Moon Palace and then shrink back from its dangers and leave—no one would be willing to accept that!

"Eh..."

"Look there, at the trunk of the great tree—seems someone is climbing upward!" The Puppet Yama pointed toward the sky-piercing giant tree and spoke in a muffled, dull voice.

Shen Mo and the others fixed their eyes upon it.

Sure enough, amid the veil of clouds, a few figures tiny as dust were climbing toward the crown of the tree. They were all dressed as cultivators, clearly outsiders like themselves!

Because upon the floating rock layers and lands suspended in midair roosted countless flying birds and running beasts, Demons and Spiritual Monsters; there were many creatures whose auras were strong and conspicuous. Coupled with the great distance and the various floating scenes obstructing their view, they had not discovered these outsiders at the first moment.

Now that they were carefully observing, they found that besides those few figures, there were another dozen or so figures scattered over different parts of the giant tree, all constantly climbing toward the Bright Moon atop the crown.

There were still some outsiders who had concealed their auras, Hiding within deposits of metal and stone, ancient cultivator ruins, and various other locations. Without the eruption of violent conflict and great commotion, there was simply no way to ferret them out.

Thus calculated, the outsiders who had entered the Immortal Mansion through spatial rifts across various places and, after suffering trials, reached this point, were likely far more than just a few!

...

After discussion among the four, Shen Mo and his companions ultimately decided to head for the Celestial Palace to investigate.

Though the risks here were enormous, the gains were likewise astonishing... Immortal Master Cizi and the others—perhaps even more powerful figures—might have perished within; the relics they left behind alone were enough to stir one’s heart. Not to mention the three celestial treasures—if they missed this opportunity, they would likely regret it for the rest of their lives!

Immediately, the four of them each raised their escaping light and flew toward Bright Moon Palace.

But very soon, they discovered that no matter how they urged their Mana or employed their Escape Skills, they could not draw even a foot closer to the Bright Moon, like mere mortals on the ground chasing after the moon.

Shen Mo even tried cleaving toward the Bright Moon with the Demon Slaying Sword, but though the Demon Slaying Sword seemed to fly straight, in truth it twisted and turned and flew back from behind him.

Even when he used his [Sword Escape] Skill, he still could not appear directly upon the Bright Moon.

"The space here is abnormal. I wonder if this is a Magical Restraint left behind by some Immortal. Simply flying on escaping light, one cannot approach the Celestial Palace at all!" Shen Mo sent a voice transmission to the other three, then sought out a floating great mountain near the giant tree and landed upon it.

This time, Shen Mo did not employ any Escape Skill or Skill, but stepped upon the furrows and ravines of bark like a Small Path in the mountains, starting to climb upward.

Sure enough, by his perception, he began to draw steadily closer to the Bright Moon!

No wonder the outsiders they had seen earlier had not used Escape Skills, but were instead climbing upon the sky-piercing giant tree. Without doing so, it was simply impossible to enter the Celestial Palace.

The Silver-haired Child, Kang Haoxiu, and Qin Zhen also reacted; after landing on the floating great mountain, they stepped onto the trunk of the giant tree, thick as a mountain range, and quickly caught up to Shen Mo.

"We cannot fly by escaping light. At our speed, I fear it will take a month or two of travel to reach the crown of the tree!" Qin Zhen controlled the Puppet Yama, charging wildly along the trunk like a savage behemoth. Amid a rumbling roar, sparks of colliding metal flared continually beneath the puppet’s feet.

Shen Mo made an estimate of their progress and found that it would indeed take forty to fifty days to climb to the crown. At once he slashed out a strand of Fairyland Sword Qi and released the Evil-eating Sky Centipede.

He leaped up, landing upon the Centipede’s neck and back, then called for the other three to come up as well, and let this Class V Spirit Pet carry them as it climbed!

The Evil-eating Centipede possessed a great many sharp claws. Though ordered not to ride light and Fly in Escape, it still moved along the sky-piercing giant tree as though on level ground, its speed somewhat faster than Shen Mo and the others. Its claws scraped at the bark, as if countless sharp swords were hacking into a Tieshan of iron, sending up a burst of sparks and crackling light.

Seeing that this immortal tree, even with all life gone from it, remained indestructible, Shen Mo tried cutting at the giant tree beneath with the Taiyi Sword. Yet even exerting all his strength, he could not cleave off so much as a single piece of bark!

"This spirit wood is truly extraordinary. If one could sever it from the roots and refine it into a magic treasure... relying on its indestructible nature alone, without any other power, it would already be enough to rival a host of top-grade spiritual treasures." The Silver-haired Child, seeing Shen Mo’s actions, could not help but sigh with feeling.

Shen Mo nodded, speaking somewhat regretfully: "Ordinary folk simply cannot cut it off and take it, much less forge it into an Artifact. Only a True Immortal striking personally might be able to accomplish such a thing."

As the Evil-eating Centipede continued climbing upward, before long they caught sight of several outsider cultivators.

Judging from their auras, they too possessed cultivation of the Divine Bridge Realm!

Unwilling to stir up trouble, Shen Mo guided the Evil-eating Centipede to skirt around them. Who would have thought those few would abruptly cast Spells to block their path, speaking rather rudely: "We have labored bitterly to climb here and are truly exhausted. The four fellow daoists have such a magnificent mount to carry you—how leisurely indeed! Might you be willing to carry us for a stretch? Spirit Stones will naturally be offered."

As he spoke, the leader took out more than a dozen middle-grade Spirit Stones and sent them before Shen Mo with a Spell.

"Apologies. My Spirit Pet’s strength is inadequate and it is difficult for it to bear you all." Shen Mo flicked his sleeve, sending the Spirit Stones before him back exactly as they were.