The Extreme Glade Sea was located at the borders of the Yong Ying Immortal Domain.
Out of the seven great immortal domains the Yong Ying Immortal Domain was the one with the thinnest and weakest spiritual energy. Being located at the borders of the domain, the spiritual energy in the Extreme Glade Sea was the most sparse in the entire Immortal World, making cultivating there practically impossible.
The Divergent Immortal Village could be considered a small fishing village that existed along the edge of the Extreme Glade Sea.
In the immortal realm there were little to no settlements that were called villages. Normally, areas with a lower concentration of spiritual energy were known as Immortal Neighbourhoods, Immortal Capes or Auxiliary Immortal Cities. For a location to be known as a village meant that it had been renounced by the entire Immortal World and was completely worthless in every way.
In the past, this village was once known as the Forsook Village. Later on a powerhouse had supposedly emerged from the village and its name was changed to the Divergent Immortal Village. Regardless of whether a powerhouse actually emerged from the village it was still just a small village in a small desolate corner of the immortal realm.
The village barely had 30 families living in it. The only notable similarity that they all had was that no one practiced cultivation. All the residents here either lacked spiritual roots, had broken spiritual roots, or were wandering cultivators that had given up hope on themselves and decided to settle down.
Since the spiritual energy in the Immortal Realm was much higher than another other ordinary realms, even though the spiritual energy here was not sufficient for cultivating it still benefited the mortals that lived in the Divergent Immortal Village. The average lifespan of the villagers was 200 years. Those whose bodies were stronger or had accidentally consumed some immortal herbs could even live past 250 years old.
Though the villagers couldn’t cultivate nor did they have any strong cultivators protecting them they did not suffer from any attacks from demonic beasts.
Another benefit the village enjoyed was its abundant resources. Since it was located so near to the Extreme Glade Sea, it allowed the villagers to live comfortably without any lack of food or clothes. Almost all the villagers were fishermen and some would occasionally go further inland to clear out plots of land to grow fruits and vegetables.
Yu Jingfeng was a fisherman like everyone else in the village. However due to his talent he was already going out to sea alone despite being only 13 years old. On a normal day he would set out before dawn and only return after the sun had set.
On this day Yu Jingfeng had just finished preparing his boat and was about to set off when he made a shocking discovery on the beach. Washed up on shore was a corpse! No… it would have been more accurate to call it a skeleton since all that was left was its bones and a head. The constantly undulating waves had washed the bones of the skeleton clean and bleached it.
As he stared at the skeleton Yu Jingfeng’s gaze fell on its finger. Its finger was already broken into several pieces and didn't have a scrap of flesh on it yet oddly enough there was a ring on the finger.
Even though Yu Jingfeng didn't have spiritual roots and was only 13 years old, it didn't mean he didn't know anything about cultivators.
Living at the edge of the Ying Yong Immortal Domain, Yu Jingfeng had naturally heard stories of immortal cultivators. He had even seen immortals riding their flying swords flying over the village before. Yu Jingfeng had always envied these immortal cultivators who could fly. However, since he lacked spiritual roots, he could never cultivate.
Even up till today he could still remember what his grandfather had said to comfort him. "Feng’er… it isn’t necessarily a bad thing that you don't have spiritual roots. Even people with spiritual roots might not live as long as us. What’s more, that year when your father found out that he had decent spiritual roots he immediately set out to join a sect to start his cultivation. Ever since he left we completely lost contact with him… And there’s still your older brother. Don’t you remember what happened to him? Wasn’t it because he realised he had spiritual roots and insisted on leaving the village to embark on cultivation? And what happened to him? The only news we ever got of him was that he had passed away. Sigh… your poor sister in law…"
When his grandfather had told him all of this, Yu Jingfeng had only been 5 years old. In the 8 years since then, the now 13 year old Yu Jingfeng had long since gotten used to the life of an ordinary mortal fisherman. But today, he had found and immortal cultivator’s skeleton. And not just the skeleton, but possibly the cultivator’s storage ring as well!
He had heard stories of how rings like this one were spatial treasures and how cultivators could use it to store all their other treasures and valuables.
At this moment, his heart was wildly beating in excitement. Even if he couldn't become an immortal himself, this ring could still bring him untold riches.
Suddenly Yu Jingfeng noticed several other villagers approaching from a distance. Suppressing his excitement, he hurriedly carried the skeleton into his boat and hastily set off.
Yu Jingfeng might have been young, but he wasn’t a fool. He knew that even if he took the ring and left the other villagers would still find the skeleton.
Increasing the speed of his boat, he then steered it into the deep sea. After confirming that there was no one else in the vicinity Yu Jingfeng entered his cabin to retrieve the ring from the skeleton.
Just as his finger touched the ring, Yu Jingfeng noticed that the previously bleached heart in the skeleton now had a slight rosy hue. Not only that, the heart seemed to faintly beat…
The skeleton had a heart inside it and that very heart was still beating! The very sight was frightening beyond belief. However, having heard numerous stories of immortals, Yu Jingfeng knew that some were able to come back to life as long as a small part of their body remained intact.
Since the heart of this cultivator was still beating, he was obviously not dead yet.
At this point all of Yu Jingfeng’s excitement died down. His grandfather’s words rang in his ears, "Jingfeng, in the Immortal World we are one of the lowest existences there is. What’s the point of having so much wealth? All it does is breed laziness and greed in the hearts of humans. The moment your heart has greed, you’ve already lost yourself. Remember grandpa’s words, simply being alive is already the greatest happiness there is. Humans can live without wealth, but we can’t live without perseverance…"
"Grandpa, what’s perseverance?" he asked.
"You’ll understand one day"
Yu Jingfeng slowly moved his fingers away from the surface of the ring, he felt as though he finally understood what his grandfather meant by ‘perseverance’. With that he left the cabin and began inspecting his nets and preparing to cast them out.
Mo Wuji felt as though someone was moving him. But regardless of how much he struggled to open his eyes, he lacked the ability to do so. He even tried to enter the Undying World but found himself unable to do that as well.
He could feel how battered and broken his body was at the moment. Roughly 90% of the meridians in his body had been destroyed and the only 2 that were still intact were the vitality channel and one spirit storage channel.
Mo Wuji knew that the current him was completely powerless. If anyone wanted to kill him or reduce him to ashes there was nothing he could do but accept his fate.
Mo Wuji understood very clearly that it would be immensely dangerous to try and interact with the Undying World as he was now, but he chose to ignore the dangers. He knew that if he didn't try and do something now, even if he could survive this ordeal he would never be able to cultivate again. If he couldn't cultivate then how would living on be any different from death?
Mo Wuji was different from normal cultivators since he did not have a primordial spirit, no matter how high his cultivation was he would always remain a mortal. Hence he couldn't afford to let his physical body truly be destroyed. He had to regenerate his physical body immediately no matter the cost.
Using the spiritual will in his remaining spirit storage channel, he linked up with his sea of consciousness and entered his Undying World.
"My Lord?" The moment that Mo Wuji entered the undying world Shuai Guo inside could feel how weak and unnatural he was.
"Open the purple gourd…" This was the only phrase that Mo Wuji could transmit to Shuai Guo. With his current strength, he wasn't able to open the purple gourd even if it belonged to him.
Shuai Guo immediately rushed to open the purple gourd the moment he received the message. A wisp of the Breath of Hong Meng was quickly swept up by Mo Wuji’s spiritual will and immediately saturated his body.
Even though Mo Wuji only had his vitality channel and one spirit storage channel left, his sea of consciousness was still in perfect condition. His two remaining meridians soon formed a major circulation and began rapidly restoring his broken meridians.
Mo Wuji then split off a portion of his will and began using his Physique Tempering Technique and then entered an unconscious state again. He knew that with his body destroyed and his meridians broken, using the Breath of Hong Meng while circulating his Physique Tempering Technique would be better than circulating any cultivation techniques by a long shot.
Wisp after wisp of barely existent energy began to slowly fill Mo Wuji’s broken body following the circulation of his vitality channel and spirit storing channel and the gradual recovery of his other broken meridians.
Every time a meridian was successfully repaired, the energy in his body would make a quantitative leap.
"Grandpa I’m home!" Yu Jingfeng shouted as he entered the courtyard of a small stone house. He was currently carrying the skeleton on his back while holding two large bags of fish in his hands.
From inside the house, an audibly aged voice sounded out, "Jingfeng why’re you back so late today? The sun already set long ago."
Yu Jingfeng immediately placed the skeleton on his back onto a nearby stone chair and replied, "It’s because of this person I found on the beach today grandpa. I was afraid that if I came back any earlier the other villagers would have seen him."
"A cultivator?" his grandfather replied with a frown.
Seeing his grandfather frown so deeply Yu Jingfeng hurriedly said, "If I didn't save him he would have surely died. When I first found him he was is a much worse state than now. Within the day, I could feel the life force in his body growing! What’s more, just look at his ring!"
Hearing this, his grandfather could only let out a long sigh. He turned and told Yu Jingfeng, "Go place him on the bed in your room then come out. Grandpa has a few things to tell you."
"Yes grandpa" Yu Jingfeng then hurriedly carried Mo Wuji’s body onto the bed in his room then closed the door and left.
"Jingfeng, I’m sure that you know that man is a cultivator and that he has a storage ring full of treasure right?" His grandfather asked with a serious expression.
Yu Jingfeng began to panic. He and his grandfather had always depended on each other for survival. Looking at the stern expression on his grandfather’s face he started to wonder if he had truly done something wrong.
"You didn't take his storage ring… That was the right thing to do." His grandfather continued on in a low voice.
"Grandpa you’ve taught me before that humans can lack wealth but we can’t lack perseverance." Yu Jingfeng sensed that his grandfather wasn't going to scold him and felt slightly more at ease.
"Good! For you to already be able to do this at your age is already considered very good. Then from today onwards you’ll be the one in charge of taking care of the man in your room. Remember, not a word about this entire matter to anyone else." His grandfather shouted.
"Yes grandpa!" Yu Jingfeng hurriedly replied.
After mulling over it for a moment he asked, " Not even sister in law?"
"I’ll tell her when she comes home later…" His grandfather sighed.
He still had something else he wanted to tell Jingfeng. Even if a cultivator was dead, would taking his storage ring necessarily mean obtaining immense wealth? No! It would only spell an early death! Even if a cultivator couldn't move, his body still wasn’t something a mortal could touch. Even without a body, cultivators still had their primordial spirit.
Whether saving this cultivator and bringing him back was a blessing or a curse, he still didn't know for sure. In the eyes of immortals, ordinary mortals were existences on the same level as ants. Looking at the extent of the damage on this immortal cultivator’s body, it was obvious that he had been gravely wounded by an enemy. It didn't matter if it his enemy found his whereabouts or if the cultivator himself awoke in anger, the both of them would be finished. Unfortunately Yu Jingfeng had already brought the cultivator back and the two of them had no way out of the situation.