Martial Immortality: Starting with the Spirit Beast Scroll

"The fog is thick here. Hold tight to the rope and whatever you do, don’t let go."

Senior Brother Xun took a thumb-thick rope from his waist. He held one end and handed the rest to Zhao Lin, earnestly cautioning the group.

Zhao Lin took the rope and passed it to Tong Mu. It was then passed down the line from one person to the next.

Senior Brother Xun nodded, turned, and began to walk, leading them forward.

The white fog was all-encompassing. After only a few dozen paces, it was so thick you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.

Although Zhao Lin’s eyes were useless, he could rely on the ultrasound he emitted to clearly perceive the wild grass and stones on the ground, the slopes on either side, and the trees on the mountain. He didn’t feel any panic.

’It can actually block both sight and sound. Arrays are truly profound!’

The others, however, were not nearly as composed. They all gripped the rope tightly, their breathing heavy and their brows beaded with sweat. Every step was taken with extreme caution.

Even so, people still occasionally tripped and fell. Fortunately, they always scrambled back up quickly, and no one was left behind.

Senior Brother Xun’s steps were light and quick, completely unaffected by the white fog. After they had walked for a while, he suddenly turned his head and said with some surprise, "Junior Brother Zhao, you have quite some nerve. To be so calm when you can’t even see the path."

Zhao Lin deliberately kicked a stone and swayed. "With you leading the way, Senior Brother, there’s nothing to be afraid of."

From a distance, the three mountains on the island appeared to stand in a row, but they were actually arranged in a triangle, with the central peak situated at the very heart of the island.

Fortunately, the island wasn’t large. The group walked for about half an hour and arrived at the foot of the mountain.

"Watch your step. We’re heading up the mountain now."

Senior Brother Xun gave the reminder, then started up the mountain.

The others couldn’t see a thing, but they could feel the path underfoot grow exceptionally steep. They were terrified, not even daring to take a deep breath.

The higher they climbed, the thicker and more viscous the fog became. Not only was their vision completely whited out, but they could no longer even hear the voices of the people in front of or behind them. They had practically become blind and deaf.

Zhao Lin’s emitted ultrasound could now only probe a radius of about thirty feet. He was secretly astonished. ’With this Array here,’ he thought, ’even a Primordial Realm martial artist would have no hope of reaching the summit.’

After an unknown amount of time, Senior Brother Xun suddenly stopped and gave the rope a sharp tug. Everyone felt their hands go slack as the rope was pulled free.

Just as they were about to cry out in alarm, their vision suddenly cleared. The world before them opened up.

Senior Brother Xun let out a hearty laugh. "We’re at the summit!"

"Hey, the fog is gone."

"Ah, I can finally breathe easy..."

The group looked around and found themselves standing on the summit, on a wide, flat clearing.

Looking back the way they came, they saw that the mountain was only a little over a hundred feet high, with a gentle slope—completely different from the sheer cliffs they had imagined.

"Junior Brother Xun, it’s been a while!"

A hearty laugh rang out from up ahead. A Daoist with salt-and-pepper hair, dressed in a green-collared robe, approached them with seven youths in tow.

Senior Brother Xun strode forward to greet him, smiling. "It’s been a year, Senior Brother Sun. You’re looking as distinguished as ever."

The Daoist surnamed Sun chuckled self-deprecatingly. "My hair’s all white now, what’s so distinguished about that? You, on the other hand, Junior Brother Xun—your cultivation has advanced again."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Senior Brother Xun asked, "Senior Brother, where’s Junior Brother Qian?"

Senior Brother Sun shook his head. "Not here yet, but he should be soon."

’So there are three groups in total...’

’The Chenghua Sect must have arranged it this way to avoid putting all their eggs in one basket,’ Zhao Lin thought. ’They really are cautious.’

Among the seven youths Senior Brother Sun had brought were four boys and three girls. The two groups of disciples sized each other up.

He Shaoqun, unafraid of strangers, took the initiative to ask, "You’re all new disciples too, right?"

A sturdy-looking boy from the opposite group stepped forward and answered, "That’s right."

"I’m He Shaoqun. And you?"

"Hu Wei..."

As the two went back and forth, they gradually grew familiar with each other. The other youths joined the conversation, and soon they were all gathered together, chatting and laughing animatedly.

However, no one approached Zhao Lin. They all assumed he was a resident cultivator. Zhao Lin didn’t initiate any conversation either, content to listen to their idle chatter from the side.

Zhu Cong suddenly remembered something and cried out, his voice choked with tears, "Where’s my father? And my mother? Senior Brother, why can’t I see them?"

Senior Brother Xun paused his conversation and turned to him. "Rest assured, Junior Brother. The Array was activated yesterday, and they have already been escorted to the Xuanyuan Continent."

"Mortals have their own designated residential area, which isn’t in the same place as yours. That’s why they’ll be taking a different Flying Vessel."

After hearing this, Zhu Cong wiped away his tears and fell silent.

After some more idle chatter, Senior Brother Sun suddenly raised his hand and pointed into the distance. "Junior Brother Qian and the others are here!"

Everyone followed his finger and saw a group of seven people walking up from the direction of the beach.

The lead Daoist spotted the group on the summit from a distance and waved. The six youths behind him, however, were clutching a rope nervously, looking for all the world like they were blind.

The youths found this amusing, but the smiles vanished from their faces when they remembered they had been in the exact same predicament just moments before.

What seemed like a short distance took the group below an entire hour to traverse. They only reached the summit as the sun was about to dip below the sea.

The young Daoist breathed a sigh of relief. He walked over and said apologetically, "I apologize for being late and making you two senior brothers wait."

Senior Brother Xun and Senior Brother Sun both smiled. "It’s no trouble. It’s not time yet anyway."

With all three parties gathered, Zhao Lin did a silent headcount. There were twenty disciples in total.

’Twenty disciples with Spiritual Roots found in one year,’ he calculated. ’Over a hundred years, that’s... two thousand people.’

’The reason I’m calculating it this way is that the lifespan of a Qi Refining Realm cultivator is at least one hundred and twenty years.’

’In other words, barring any accidents, all the youths here today will still be alive in a hundred years.’

’Two thousand cultivators selected from a single world over a hundred years... and the Chenghua Sect governs nine such small worlds. That’s eighteen thousand people.’

’This calculation might not be precise, but it shouldn’t be off by an order of magnitude.’

Zhao Lin was secretly stunned by the figure he arrived at.

’And that’s just the cultivators from the nine small worlds. If you factor in the descendants of Chenghua Sect cultivators and mortals who have low-grade Spiritual Roots or better, plus the cultivators who reach the Foundation Establishment Realm and have their lifespans greatly extended...’

’...how many cultivators would the sect accumulate over a hundred years?’

As the sky gradually darkened, the disciples started to feel hungry. They each took out the dry rations and water they were carrying and began to eat.

As nine o’clock in the evening approached, the three Daoists exchanged a look and nodded in unison.

"There are no other mortals on the island, and no ships nearby. We can begin."

As Senior Brother Sun spoke, he took a six-inch-long piece of yellow paper from his waist pouch. The disciples immediately stopped their conversations and looked over.

Zhao Lin had the sharpest eyesight. He could see that the paper was covered in runes resembling mountains and rivers, heaven and earth, the sun and the moon. Though he couldn’t comprehend them, they gave off an air of profound mystery.

Senior Brother Sun smiled and offered an explanation. "There are two Arrays on this island. The first is an Illusion Array that prevents mortals from entering. You’ve all just experienced it."

"The second is a Space Array. It isn’t normally active; there’s only an invisible node marking its location."

He brandished the yellow paper in his hand. "This is an Escape Light Guiding Talisman. It can pass through the node and fly to the other side of the Array."

"When the cultivators on the other side receive this talisman, they will activate the Array and send a Flying Vessel over to pick you up."