Free Web NovelChapter 281: Chapter 279: Immortal Realm
The students trickled out of the classroom, leaving only Mo Ling and Bai Zhou sitting in silence.
After a long while, Bai Zhou finally spoke.
"Was my lecture alright?"
"It was very interesting. I feel like I learned a lot myself," Mo Ling praised.
Hearing Mo Ling’s praise, Bai Zhou smiled again.
"But why are you teaching them how to become immortals? Didn’t you say before that they’ve all become immortals already?"
Mo Ling asked, confused, as he watched the young children walk away in the distance.
Bai Zhou’s smile vanished in an instant.
His eyes widened. He stared blankly ahead and muttered, "Of course they have. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be here."
"They have..."
Bai Zhou was still in a daze, so Mo Ling repeated his question.
But Bai Zhou gave the same answer.
"They have..."
’Something still seems off about him.’
Just as Mo Ling was wondering what to do, Bai Zhou shot to his feet and walked over to him.
"They’ve all become immortals. If you don’t believe me, I’ll take you to see."
He grabbed Mo Ling’s hand and hurriedly led him out of the room.
Once outside, he didn’t pause. He quickly pulled Mo Ling along and ran back in the direction they had come from. He stumbled along the way, but he seemed desperate, eager to prove something to Mo Ling.
As he ran, Bai Zhou kept muttering:
"They’ve all become immortals... They’ve all become immortals... I’ll take you to see..."
Just like that, Mo Ling was dragged up the mountain by Bai Zhou, once again standing before the spherical boulder he had seen on his way here.
Bai Zhou held Mo Ling’s hand, pointed at the boulder, and said loudly, "Look!"
Mo Ling looked at the boulder but saw nothing. It was just an ordinary-looking rock.
"Is there something special about it?" Mo Ling asked cautiously.
"You don’t see the character for ’Immortal’ on it?"
Bai Zhou explained anxiously, turning to look at the boulder as he spoke.
"Where’s the character?"
he demanded abruptly.
Bai Zhou’s eyes widened, as if he had seen something unbelievable.
"Where is my ’Immortal’?"
His hand trembled as he let go of Mo Ling. He stumbled toward the boulder, ran a few laps around it, and then collapsed to the ground, utterly crestfallen.
"My ’Immortal’ is gone..."
But before long, he stood up again, looking left and right for something.
Bai Zhou found a sharp stone on the ground and began smashing it against the boulder like a madman.
As he smashed it, he screamed himself hoarse:
"Immortal..."
"Immortal..."
"Immortal..."
It was as if Bai Zhou intended to use the sharp stone to forcibly carve the character for "Immortal" into the boulder.
But not even a single white scratch appeared on the massive rock.
The sharp stone cut Bai Zhou’s palm, and crimson blood flowed down his arm, staining his cloth robes.
He struggled until he managed to chip a small nick in the boulder, but then something strange happened.
The small nick he had made instantly repaired itself, as if the boulder had the ability to heal.
Bai Zhou’s efforts were instantly nullified.
But he didn’t give up. He continued to smash the boulder frantically.
Even as his face was splattered with droplets of blood.
"Immortal..."
He kept chanting it—the "Immortal" that wasn’t there.
Mo Ling watched him, his heart aching. He was about to step forward and stop Bai Zhou when he realized another figure had appeared beside him at some point.
It was a member of the Chali Race.
The roots on its chest were twisted into a distinct braided knot. This member of the Chali Race was Bai Zhou’s apprentice.
"Let him smash it."
A voice drifted over. This member of the Chali Race could actually speak human language.
Not only that, but Mo Ling was shocked to discover that its voice was identical to Bai Zhou’s.
He looked at the Chali Race member in astonishment.
"I can only imitate my Master’s voice." As if sensing Mo Ling’s confusion, the Chali Race member explained in Bai Zhou’s voice.
Mo Ling suddenly looked at the small, root-carved figurine in the Chali Race member’s hand.
"That wasn’t Bai Zhou before. It was you?"
"Yes." The apprentice nodded.
"Sorry for deceiving you. I was afraid you’d be suspicious of me, so I didn’t tell you right away," the apprentice said apologetically.
The rhythmic sound of Bai Zhou striking the boulder continued, but Mo Ling couldn’t bear to watch any longer.
"What exactly is wrong with him?"
"He wants to carve the character for ’Immortal.’ If that character is still here, it proves that his people have become immortals and haven’t died."
Hearing the apprentice’s explanation, Mo Ling was still a little confused.
"Carve ’Immortal’?"
"Yes. You must have realized by now that this isn’t the real world."
Mo Ling nodded.
"Where are we, then?"
"This is the Immortal Realm..."
The apprentice’s voice trembled as it slowly began to tell Mo Ling the history of this place.
...
Twenty-two hundred years ago, the Fish Swarm used their last remaining parts to create the Moon Altar. They left behind their immortal bodies and a batch of their legacy, then fell into a deep slumber.
When Bai Zhou found the Moon Altar and saw the soulless bodies, he instantly understood the Fish Swarm’s plan.
But because he had separated from the Fish Swarm, Bai Zhou couldn’t enter the slumber, becoming the only person on the island who had not achieved immortality.
He tried to go back and find Mo Ling, but he couldn’t find him anywhere.
The obsession with revenge tormented him. He wanted to stop the Fish Swarm’s plan, but he didn’t dare to make his soul immortal like the Chali Race.
Because doing so might mean he could never return to a normal state.
As an ordinary human, he couldn’t endure one two-hundred-year cycle after another, especially since at that time, Bai Zhou didn’t know when the Fish Swarm would awaken next.
Therefore, he had to find a way to keep himself alive forever without losing consciousness.
At that moment, just like the emperor he once served, he had the same goal: eternal life.
After spending some time in solitude on the island, Bai Zhou finally found a solution.
Periodically, he would find the Old-Eaters and have them pass through his body, reverting it to a previous state.
It seemed these Old-Eaters still remembered their former teacher, so the traces of time they took each time were few, and Bai Zhou’s age didn’t change drastically.
However, this reversal of time didn’t just regress Bai Zhou’s age; it also regressed his memories. So, each time, Bai Zhou would write extensive notes to inform his reverted self of what had happened during that period.
And so, Bai Zhou survived alone on the island, caught in a cycle of "growth" and "regression."
However, the Old-Eaters were, in essence, the souls of the Chali Race. The constant entry of external souls into his body began to affect Bai Zhou’s own soul.
Bai Zhou gained the Old-Eaters’ ability to communicate with Soul Spirits.
A world appeared in his mind—a world where he could communicate with Soul Spirits. Every time an Old-Eater entered his body, he could communicate with those souls through this world.
He could even tell the Old-Eaters that entered his body not to reverse time, or to adjust the duration of the regression.
This excited him greatly, and he began to seek contact with the Old-Eaters constantly.
Having been lonely for too long, he craved companionship.
The Old-Eaters that entered Bai Zhou’s body also discovered that they regained their self-awareness.
It was as if they were sharing Bai Zhou’s body, using it as a "communal vessel" for souls.
At the same time, Bai Zhou began to study this strange world.
In the beginning, this world was just a void, but under Bai Zhou’s construction, it transformed into a small island with pleasant scenery.
However, the Chali people who came here discovered that everything in this world was born from Bai Zhou’s memories.
At first, they didn’t pay it much mind.
Until humans appeared in this world.
