232: Chapter 230 Immortal Xu must have a deeper meaning!

The group returned to the back of the great fish and headed toward the seaside.

Just as they set off, several helicopters flew rapidly from the horizon.

Zhang Mu's Mental Energy enveloped them; they were filled with soldiers armed with live ammunition, and metal boxes were stacked in the corners of the cabins.

They were likely there to search the battlefield.

During the previous battle between Kunpeng and the Fallen Spirit, many stone fragments had splintered off the latter's body, scattering all over the mountains.

There was no way the authorities would pass up such an opportunity for close contact with the supernatural.

Zhang Mu didn't care what they might find.

The Fallen Spirit was essentially composed of magic; once the stone fragments left its body and lost the magic sustaining them, they would soon dissipate.

Withdrawing his gaze, he controlled Kunpeng to speed up while checking the internal damage.

After all, it was just a puppet equipped with a low-level Core. It looked massive, but that was all just 'fluff'.

Like a cat that looks plump but reveals a slim frame as soon as it's soaked in water.

And the Fallen Spirit? It had the body of a genuine Sky Knight and magic control at the Magister level.

If both sides got serious, Kunpeng wouldn't be able to withstand a single punch from the Fallen Spirit.

After finishing the inspection, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, it was just some loose connections between parts due to the heavy vibrations; he just needed to find time to fix it.

He was a bit amazed; the Fallen Spirit's acting was pretty good. It looked like it was hitting hard, but it was actually all empty force.

And it was ruthless enough.

After Zhang Mu swung a wind blade, he ordered the Fallen Spirit to inflict some injuries on itself.

It didn't need to be too serious—dimming the eerie blue fire in its eye sockets would have sufficed—but instead, it directly dismantled its own two arms.

"Immortal Xu." The Director behind him spoke, interrupting his thoughts, "Are we going into the sea in a moment?"

"Should we make some preparations?"

"Oxygen tanks, diving goggles, and such."

He didn't think Xu lacked the means to repel water; he was just worried that Immortal Xu was so used to returning home in his physical body that he might instinctively dive into the seawater and choke them along with him.

So he asked intentionally to serve as a reminder.

"We won't be going underwater."

As they spoke, the great fish flew over the coastline, its front half already floating above the sea.

Zhang Mu took a deep breath, and the magic in his body surged frantically into the simple ring on his middle finger.

Because of the illusion of "Xu" created by the Transformation Technique, the crowd couldn't see the dazzling ring; they only noticed a strange disturbance in the sky ahead.

In the void not far away, space suddenly twisted and blurred, then a vertical line lit up. The line split into two, pulling open a light gate to the left and right.

Before they could recover from the scene, the great fish crashed straight into the gate.

At that moment, Zhang Mu gathered his magic to wrap around everyone.

Although it was just a simple trip through a Portal, there would still be some spatial tearing; they were all ordinary people and couldn't withstand it.

In the Director's eyes, his vision blurred for a moment. When he cleared his head, the surroundings were filled with thick fog, so dense he couldn't see his own hand.

"Immortal Xu?!" He panicked slightly and called out.

Not just him, Luo Xiling and the others were also shouting.

"No need for alarm."

"Senior Brother, stop teasing them."

*Woo—*

A long cry drifted away, and everyone felt a sense of lift. They all instinctively crouched down as things swayed.

The thick fog ahead began to move, and a cool breeze slapped their faces, making them squint involuntarily.

After a few seconds, they noticed the fog showed no sign of thinning. They wondered exactly what kind of place Immortal Xu was taking them to.

But surprises always come when least expected.

The white expanse of their vision suddenly cleared, and the other colors of the world flooded into their eyes.

"Heavens..." Zhao Qi stood up blankly, gazing into the distance.

Ahead.

Over a dozen majestic peaks stood straight like giant swords. From the mountainsides down, they were all submerged in a sea of clouds, their height unknown.

Kunpeng carried everyone as it tumbled and rose through the sea of clouds, its streamlined, elegant form appearing and disappearing in the vast mist.

Luo Xiling, who was gazing at the ancient-style courtyards on the mountain peaks, found her view blocked by mist from time to time. She crouched down anxiously and patted Kunpeng's back with her small hand.

"Grand-Uncle, wait a moment, okay? Let me see the mountains first."

*Woo—*

The undulating and swaying field of vision slowly stabilized as the great fish glided over the sea of clouds.

"Immortal Xu, that... what, where are we going now?"

"Given your physical conditions, for the time being, you can only stay at Yuzhang Mountain."

As soon as he finished speaking, Kunpeng lightly flicked its tail and turned toward the nearest peak to the front right.

They soon reached the sky above the summit. Immortal Xu waved his hand, and the group flew off the back as if riding on mist, landing near an open space at the top.

The open space wasn't dirt; it was neatly paved with stone slabs, extending forward to a stone staircase that led up to an open courtyard gate.

Beyond the gate, disciples in green robes with their hair tied up were coming and going.

Seeing Xu approach, they immediately saluted: "Senior Uncle."

Nodding in response, Xu led the group, who were curiously eyeing the disciples, through the gate: "Do not be impatient; you will become acquainted with them in the future."

"Oh."

Although Luo Xiling's level of thinking and logic was regrettable, she was at least well-behaved and obedient, and she quickly looked straight ahead.

They passed through a vast martial arts field and twisted through long corridors with pillars but no walls before arriving at a small courtyard.

Standing in the middle of the courtyard, Xu pointed to the independent small houses on three sides: "You may choose for yourselves; someone will deliver food and supplies."

After speaking, he looked at Luo Xiling and the four fated ones: "I have important matters to attend to. You must not neglect your cultivation just because no one is supervising you."

"Yes!"

Xu ascended into the air and departed, his figure vanishing into the horizon in an instant.

As soon as he left, everyone looked relieved, and their tense shoulders relaxed slightly.

Although Immortal Xu had a gentle personality and a friendly attitude toward them, without a strong sense of pressure, he was still an 'Immortal' after all.

At the thought that the person before them could fly, tunnel through the earth, and cleave through massive ocean waves with a single sword strike, it was inevitably hard to breathe while interacting with him.

Looking around the quaint courtyard, the Director asked, "Xiao Luo, how do Immortals cultivate?"

"I don't know?"

"Eh?"

At these words, Zhao Qi and the others gathered around: "You don't know? Then why did Immortal Xu tell you to cultivate diligently?"

"Yeah, how are we supposed to cultivate?"

Luo Xiling turned and asked the four people behind her, "Master didn't tell you?"

They looked bewildered: "He didn't even tell his disciples; it's even less likely he'd tell us."

"True."

Scratching her head, she muttered, "Could Master have forgotten?"

Since he was already elsewhere, Ye Ming couldn't do anything and temporarily set her aside: "Director, we left so suddenly, what about the Special Investigation Bureau..."

Speaking of this, they finally snapped back to reality. Right, the leadership of the Special Investigation Bureau had all followed him to the Mountain Gate; what about things back home?

"How about we trouble Immortal Xu to send someone back first?" Zhao Qi suggested.

"Great idea!" the Director said joyfully, "You're the one!"

Zhao Qi: "?"

"Wait, why me? I'm the one who thought of the idea!"

"I'm the Director!"

"Fine then."

He went to a corner of the wall to sulk in isolation.

"But when will Immortal Xu be back?"

"If it's too late, the Special Investigation Bureau might run into trouble."

"No rush, Immortal Xu knows what he's doing."

"Everyone."

Three disciples in green robes with tied-up hair entered the courtyard carrying wooden trays. The leader said, "You've come from afar and must be exhausted. Please help yourselves."

After placing the trays on a stone table in the corner of the courtyard, he walked up to Luo Xiling and the other four: "Senior Uncle has ordered me to teach you the basic cultivation methods."

"I knew it!" She slapped her thigh. "Master must have prepared everything!"

The green-robed disciple smiled and pulled out a wooden-handled iron axe from his wide sleeve. It was rusty.

Even though the axe head was covered in rust and didn't look like an 'Immortal artifact', Luo Xiling, upon taking the iron axe, still felt as if small words had appeared above her head—'Starter Weapon +1'.

"Senior Brother, I..."

"That won't do." The green-robed disciple quickly waved his hand. "Once you enter the Mountain Gate and join Senior Uncle's manor, I must address you as Senior Aunt."

"Then how should I address you?"

"This disciple's surname is Liu. Before you officially join, you may call me Fellow Daoist Liu."

"Alright, Fellow Daoist Liu, how do I use this axe?"

"You must be joking. An axe is naturally used for chopping wood."

"Chopping wood?"

Luo Xiling looked at the axe, then at Fellow Daoist Liu: "How do I chop?"

"Lift it up and chop."

She knew the individual words and understood them when put together, but her eyes still showed confusion: "Cultivation?"

"Indeed."

After saying that, he walked to the stone table in the corner and pulled out over a dozen iron axes from his sleeve, arranging them neatly on the tabletop.

Having done that, he looked at the Director and the others: "Senior Uncle informed me that if you all are willing, you may join in."

"We can too?!"

"It is merely a basic technique. In the past, it could be found everywhere."

Having finished his instructions, Fellow Daoist Liu led the two disciples to the courtyard gate, turned back, and said, "I will take you to the place of cultivation tomorrow morning. Daily necessities will be delivered later."

The three of them crossed the threshold and left.

The excited crowd immediately gathered around the stone table, each taking an iron axe.

Starter Weapon +1, Starter Weapon +1, Starter Weapon +1...

"I'm looking at this..." Zhao Qi weighed the axe, "and it doesn't seem any different from the wood-chopping axe at my grandma's house?"

"What do you know?" The Director held the iron axe up to his eyes to examine it. "While a simple axe might not look extraordinary, since it was ordered by Immortal Xu, it must have a deep meaning!"

"Besides, where are we?"

"The Mountain Gate! The place where Immortals live!"

"It must be overflowing with immortal qi. Just one breath could probably extend your life!"

Saying this, the Director took a deep breath, his face full of intoxication: "Sure enough, the scent is just different!"

Yue Ruo was a bit surprised; seeing that his expression didn't seem fake, she puffed out her chest, intending to take a breath.

"Director..." Zhao Qi awkwardly covered his backside, "I couldn't hold it in."

"Eww—" The group covered their noses and scattered in an uproar.

Ignoring the Director and Zhao Qi, who were chasing each other in circles in the courtyard, Yue Ruo asked Ye Ming beside her: "Xiao Ye, that Fellow Daoist Liu seemed quite easy to talk to just now."

"But the two behind him were always expressionless and didn't say a word. Is the Mountain Gate also xenophobic?"

"It's probably just their personalities. And even if they were xenophobic, who would dare to exclude Immortal Xu's disciples?"

"True."

Ye Ming looked down at the iron axe in his hand: "I'm curious now about what kind of cultivation method this is."

"Who cares? We'll find out when we try tomorrow, won't we?"

"Yeah."

...

Zhang Mu suspended in the pitch-black void and slowly opened his eyes: "Giving you something to do so you don't all go running around."

Yes, chopping wood was just simply chopping wood; there was no profound meaning behind it.

He just wanted to prevent the group from being too curious and wandering around, which could lead to accidents. After all, the town below the sea of clouds wasn't finished yet.

He wasn't worried they'd find anything unusual if they walked down the mountain.

When designing the blueprints, Zhang Mu had intentionally made the mountaintop surrounded by cliffs on all four sides, and he had specifically made the cliffs exceptionally steep, almost ninety degrees vertical to the ground.

There was no path down at all, so he naturally didn't have to worry about them sneaking down the mountain.

The problem was, what if some mindless person was loitering by the cliff and accidentally fell? That would be a disaster.

It was fine when Zhang Mu was in the 'World'; he could save someone with just a thought.

What if he wasn't there?

Because there was no solid ground beneath the sea of clouds yet—it was just a void—the person wouldn't fall to their death.

When he returned to the 'World' and saw them, should he kill them or not?

So, cutting off the possibility of accidents at the source was the best way to handle it.

Giving himself a thumbs-up in his heart, Zhang Mu teleported Kunpeng, which was still leaping in the sea of clouds, above his head. He picked up a torque wrench and crawled inside from the fish's mouth to begin repairs.

While repairing, he pondered over things at Hogwarts.

According to the original plan, he intended to stage a great battle between magic and the Fallen Spirit, and a duel between Immortal Xu and a wizard, early next year—in about a month.

It wouldn't make sense if the Fallen Spirit didn't rest for a while after being heavily injured.

But he had to go to the Royal Capital in twenty-odd days at the latest, so there was a conflict in timing.

After thinking for a while, Zhang Mu decided to create some activity in the deep sea of Blue Star in a few days and then tell the world that the calamity was unusual and had healed itself early.

"Let's do that."

Having finished his thought, he sped up the repairs on Kunpeng, then put it back at the Mountain Gate and headed to Geoffrey's lab.

"What's the status of the magic guidance sniper rifle?"

Geoffrey was standing in front of the console, his hands busy with something in front of him.

Perhaps used to the City Lord's sudden appearances, he didn't even turn his head upon hearing the voice: "Almost done."

Hearing this, Zhang Mu felt a bit of a headache.

He couldn't learn the good things, but he picked up the bad ones instantly.

During his college internship days, he had long grown tired of his colleagues' "almost," "soon," and "right away."

"Give me a definite answer."

"Hmm..." Geoffrey turned around, frowning slightly as he thought, "The theoretical difficulties have basically been overcome, but regarding materials... there's one component for which I can't find a suitable material."

"What about substitutes? It's fine if they're expensive."

"I don't have a habit of saving money."

"What is it specifically?"

"It's like this." He tucked his hands into the pockets of his lab coat with a serious air. "According to high-intensity testing of the magic rifle, I found that if the total amount of magic power released at once is too high,"

"it will cause the firearm to collapse."

"Collapse?"

"Yes, like a mountain exploding from the inside."

After a moment of silence, he continued: "City Lord, as you know, a sniper rifle sacrifices magazine capacity and portability to significantly increase single-shot lethality."

"If the magic guidance sniper rifle abandons this characteristic, then we might as well just use the magic rifle."

That was indeed true. If a sniper rifle's power was the same as a rifle, which was also individual equipment, what would be the point?

Zhang Mu was interested in the magic guidance sniper rifle because he wanted to personally experience the ultimate single-shot lethality of a firearm.

To enjoy the feeling of wandering alone in jungles or deserts, delivering a one-hit kill to an enemy who thought they were safe, and seeing the shock and disbelief on their face.

"How about this," Zhang Mu said after a moment's thought. "Compile a report for me. Detail the basic requirements for the materials as well as the ideal conditions, and I'll try to find them."

"That's great," Geoffrey said happily. "City Lord, you can come and get it in an hour."

"Alright."