Chapter 78: The Story Changes (2/2)

An old one-armed man held a broom in hand, sweeping the grounds before the pavilion. Gu Ran gave him a small bow as he passed by the pavilion, leading the rest of the group into the circular structure.

On the other hand, Mo Wuji took a second look at this old one-armed arm thinking. Was this the sweeping monk of the legends? No, it should be the sweeping old man.

Soon after Mo Wuji took his first step into the round pavilion, he laid eyes on the circular altar at the centre. Mysterious symbols covered the entirety of the altar, and beside it were many potholes. Other than that, there was nothing else in the pavilion.

“The thirteen going to the Formless Blade Mountain, please proceed into the Formless Blade Mountain Transfer Formation.” Formless Blade Sect Head Gu Ran’s words echoed out as he pointed at the altar. So this was the legendary transfer formation. Mo Wuji had heard that immortal masters could set up various types of formations, and the transfer formation was one of them.

Even though Yan Qianyin was the most qualified to have a ingredient boy help her carry stuff, she was the only one who did not bring one along. This piqued Mo Wuji’s interest. How would she refine pills without a pill furnace?

Like the other ingredient boys, a large furnace was carefully balanced on the back of Mo Wuji as he stood behind Shi Jun. There was no helping it, as an ingredient boy, he would have to do this sort of manual labor for pill refiners. Otherwise, going into the Formless Blade Mountain would just be a dream.

Once all thirteen people stepped onto the transfer formation, Gu Ran threw a handful of shiny transparent jade rocks. A dazzling white glow erupted as the jade rocks accurately fell into the potholes, causing everyone to look away for a moment. This was definitely not normal jade rocks, but the spirit stones that he had heard of before. As much as Mo Wuji tried to catch a glimpse of the appearance of spirit stones, his line of sight was blocked by the white light. He was unable to see anything, but could still feel the rich and dense spiritual energy that resided in those rocks.

A sense of giddiness overcame him, making Mo Wuji wonder if this was the teleportation part of the transfer process. It felt as though his surroundings were shaking violently, like he was about to get torn apart.

“RIIIPPPP…” Following that sound, bursts of blood stench bombs exploded all over him. Mo Wuji was in shock. Although he could not see anythin, he knew that some people were really torn apart by the energy released by space-time fluctuations.

Could one transfer be so scary, to the extent that people have to give up their lives?

“Everyone take note, something’s wrong with the transfer. Once you’ve reached the Formless Blade Mountain, don’t roam around recklessly, try to gather as a group first…” Yan Qianyin’s voice made it in the nick of time, but only half of the message reached Mo Wuji before her voice faded away.

Another wave of searing pain hit him, and Mo Wuji could clearly feel and hear his bones breaking. Just as he thought that he would end up like the few other unlucky buggers, to be torn up by the energy of space-time fluctuations, he landed on the ground with a heavy thud.

It took a good 10 over minutes of resting before Mo Wuji slowly struggled his way up. Pain invaded every crevice of his body, and his bones had cracked under the stress of the space-time energy. What’s more scary was that there was not a single person around him. Indeed as what Yan Qianyin had said, some issue had arose with the transfer formation.

The stench of blood that he had smelt before must have been the few other ingredient boys being ripped apart. He managed to survive as he was not an ordinary ingredient boy. Not only was he a Channel Opening Level 2 cultivator, but after enduring countless strikes of lightning, his body’s durability became much greater than those around the same level of cultivation as him.

Gritting his teeth, Mo Wuji fought the pain throughout his body to stand up, before taking in a breath of cold air. According to Gu Ran, Formless Blade Mountain should have spiritual herbs aplenty; fields of different colours stretching out beyond one’s field of vision like a utopia for pill refiners. But now what lay before him was a barren wasteland of crumbling rocks and dried, cracked soil. Where were the spiritual herbs? Where were the grass?

Mo Wuji could not believe that the Formless Blade Sect’s Leader would lie about such a thing. With such a great discrepancy, it must have meant that something had happened back at the sect. Connecting this with the problem in the transfer formation, he was even more sure that the story was not as simple as it seemed.