Gateway of Immortality-Chapter 824: Farewell
The Blue-Finned Shark sank into the depths and vanished.
Those on the ship had escaped with their lives. It took them a long while to be certain the shark was truly gone, that they were really still alive. Many felt as if they were in a dream.
The two surviving immortal cultivators, including the middle-aged man, were completely exhausted.
He had already resigned to death, yet the situation had turned at the last moment. It was unbelievable.
In all his life, he had never heard of a demonic beast voluntarily giving up prey already within reach.
He strode quickly to the bow, scanning the sea. The Blue-Finned Shark was nowhere in sight. No bubbles rose to the surface, and the overwhelming demonic qi had long since dissipated.
Just as the middle-aged cultivator was letting out a breath of relief, his gaze fell upon the floating corpses in the distance. His heart clenched and he shouted to his companion, "Come! Follow me and check for survivors. There might still be someone alive."
The shark had already been sated by the giant sea beasts it had devoured. Its killing spree had been for sport, and it had no interest in the bodies.
The two men, fearing it might return, mustered their courage to leave the ship. They flew as quickly as they could toward the corpses to check if anyone still clung to life.
Of the three immortal cultivators who had gone overboard, they found only two intact bodies.
The other had been struck directly by one of the shark’s water arrows, his corpse shattered into several pieces. Survival was impossible.
"Senior, Zhang Yue isn’t dead!" One of them clutched a young man in his arms, shouting in excitement.
The middle-aged cultivator hurried over and found that the youth truly still had a faint breath, though it was extremely weak and he remained unconscious. Fortunately, they had dared to investigate, or he would not have survived.
A quick search revealed only one other survivor, a mortal sailor who had fallen overboard during the ship’s violent lurching.
Bringing the two back aboard, they returned to the deck.
The ship’s master was on the verge of tears. This voyage had cost him not only many men and the sea beasts, but even two immortal masters, and most of the cargo had been lost during the pursuit by the shark.
The middle-aged cultivator consoled the ship’s master, ordered him to turn back toward port, and then hastened to the cabin to check on Zhang Yue’s condition.
"Senior Wang, I followed your instructions and gave Zhang Yue a Qi-Restoring Pill, but for some reason he still hasn’t woken up," his companion said anxiously, stepping aside as the middle-aged man entered.
The elder placed his palm on Zhang Yue’s forehead and examined him closely. After a moment, he said, "His qi has stabilized and his wounds are healed. He’s out of danger. By rights, he should have awakened already. It’s possible his primordial spirit was injured..."
"Primordial spirit?" His companion was alarmed.
The middle-aged man nodded and sighed. "Injuries to the primordial spirit are the hardest to treat. I don’t have the right medicine on hand. Let him rest here for now. When we return to the island in a few days, we can ask one of the senior cultivators there to help."
They discussed the matter briefly before quietly closing the cabin door and going out to deal with the aftermath.
Not long after they left, a figure appeared in the room, solidifying from shadow. It was Qin Sang.
He had followed the two men aboard and had been hiding in the room the entire time. With their cultivation, they could never have detected him.
Raising his hand, Qin Sang made Zhang Yue sit bolt upright, then seated himself across from him and began working the devil seed within the youth’s body, guiding it to catalyze the embryonic form.
The devil seed and the boy’s body would take some time to fully merge. Once the initial fusion was complete, he could awaken and move about as a normal person.
Qin Sang had already investigated the origins of those aboard. They came from a small, ordinary island called Lu Island, where the strongest cultivator was only at the Foundation Building Realm. No one there could possibly see through the disguise of an external incarnation.
Zhang Yue, like the others, was a rogue cultivator who had stumbled into the path of cultivation by chance, with no powerful sect or clan behind him.
This was precisely why Qin Sang had chosen to remain.
The boy’s background was clean, and Qin Sang intended to preserve this identity for potential use in the future.
The ship turned for home.
The dragon head prow had been shattered by the shark, leaving the vessel looking battered and worn.
The journey out had been full of excitement. The return was heavy with gloom.
After seven or eight days of sailing, Lu Island finally came into sight.
That day, the middle-aged cultivator was astonished to find Zhang Yue awake, moving and speaking normally, his injuries completely healed.
"Once we land, have one of the island’s elders check your primordial spirit. Do not take this lightly," the middle-aged man urged after a thorough examination.
Zhang Yue shook his head with a bitter smile. "It should be fine. No need to trouble them. Besides, my artifacts were destroyed in the battle, and the spirit stones I have left are barely enough to buy a defensive artifact. I don’t have the money to pay for such help."
"Uhh..."
The middle-aged cultivator understood the hardships of low-level cultivators all too well. Sighing, he said, "Be careful, then. If you feel anything strange, seek help at once."
As they spoke, the ship docked. Zhang Yue bid farewell to his companions and flew home.
Qin Sang knew that Zhang Yue had both parents and several siblings, but he alone possessed a spiritual root and had become an immortal cultivator.
Before his death, Zhang Yue had only been at the Qi Refining Realm, the very lowest realm in the cultivation world. Yet even so, it had been easy for him to shelter his mortal family, who lived comfortably under his protection.
It was likely that without an heir to take his place, the Zhang Family would have quickly declined but now Qin Sang had arrived.
When Zhang Yue returned home, his family greeted him with a mix of reverence and caution.
That night, after dinner, Zhang Yue went to his parents’ room and announced his intention to seek immortality on the sacred island.
The sacred island was Tianxing Island, famed for its four sacred mountains. All knew of its existence, both mortals and cultivators, but most mortals would never see it in their lifetimes, as though it were something from myth.
"This voyage taught me how small I truly am. A single demonic beast could take my life with ease. If I remain here, I will never achieve anything great. At most, I will live a few decades longer than my elder brothers. I must go to the sacred island, where immortals dwell. Perhaps I can become one of their disciples."
He had said much the same to the middle-aged cultivator earlier, who had guessed some great change had spurred this resolve and had advised him to think carefully.
Though his parents were reluctant, they could not stop him, and so they tearfully watched him go.
Before leaving, Qin Sang had Zhang Yue give his parents a sum of spirit stones to care for their health, along with several basic cultivation arts so that if a descendant with a spiritual root appeared, the family could once again cultivate.
That night, Zhang Yue bade farewell to his parents and friends.
With his external incarnation in tow, Qin Sang slipped quietly from the island and began the journey home.
Along the way, he practiced the Seeded Devil Embryo, refining the new body. When the devil seed and the host fully merged to form an embryo, he could proceed to the next step: blood feeding.
After a long journey, he finally returned to Tianxing Island.
The upheaval in Windy Archipelago seemed not to have touched this place.
Tianxing City remained unchanged.
Upon entering the city, Qin Sang left his external incarnation in his cave dwelling to rest, then headed straight for the Xiangan Auction House.
