Chapter 138: The Tables Have Turned

According to rumors, Mu Hongru was merely an ordinary mortal before obtaining the Heavenly Origin Fruit, which transformed his physique and allowed him to embark on the path of cultivation. In a mere five years, he reached the Golden Core realm.

In his past life, because he possessed the Three Lives Jade Slip, Xiao Cheng had once been hunted down by Mu Hongru, who sought to kill him and seize the treasure.

Back then, the commotion caused by the Three Lives Jade Slip startled the entire cultivation world. Countless people wanted to hunt him down for the treasure, and though he had forgotten most of them, he remembered Mu Hongru vividly.

This was because Mu Hongru was hailed as the youngest Golden Core powerhouse within a century in the cultivation world at that time. His reputation soared, he became extremely famous, and no one in the entire cultivation world did not know him.

In comparison, Xiao Cheng was nothing more than an insignificant nobody in the cultivation world back then.

That time, Mu Hongru hunted him down, driving him to such a miserable plight that he narrowly escaped death several times, leaving Xiao Cheng with an extremely deep impression of him.

He could not quite be said to hate Mu Hongru, nor did he harbor any fondness for him. After all, the cultivation world was inherently a place where the strong preyed on the weak; whether one could keep a treasure depended entirely on personal ability, and if one could not protect it, it only meant one lacked the capability.

The number of people who hunted him down back then was immeasurable. If he were to hold a grudge against every single one of them,恐怕 the entire cultivation world would be his enemy.

Of course, the most important thing was that none of this had happened yet, nor would it happen in the future. The current Mu Hongru was nothing more than an ordinary mortal.

Using both hands simultaneously to form hand seals, Xiao Cheng cast the Mount Tai Pressing Down technique and the Earth Escaping technique, sinking directly into the mountain body.

Now that he had reached the seventh tier of condensed cultivation, the range of his Earth Escaping technique had also greatly increased, allowing him to tunnel about twenty meters at a time.

The Earth Escaping technique was a low-grade Daoist art with very low energy consumption. Whenever he reached the limit of the escaping distance, Xiao Cheng would emerge from the rock face, cast the spell again, and continue sinking downward.

As for Long'er, she was naturally left behind at the summit.

After executing the Earth Escaping technique more than thirty times, Xiao Cheng arrived right in front of Mu Hongru.

Mu Hongru was scaling a sheer cliff face as if it were carved by a knife. After facing countless perils, he finally reached a height of over three hundred meters, drenched in sweat and utterly exhausted.

Mu Hongru took a long breath, secured himself to the rock wall with his climbing gear, and rested briefly.

A month ago, he had been diagnosed by several hospitals with muscular sclerosis syndrome, an incurable disease. His attending physician told him he only had three years left to live, after which all his muscles would harden and he would die.

Receiving this bolt from the blue, he had even contemplated suicide, but in the end, clinging to a glimmer of hope, he began studying ancient texts, hoping to find a cure through traditional medicine.

To his disappointment, ancient medical texts offered no solution for this condition either, mentioning only that acupuncture could delay the illness, but the ultimate outcome remained death.

However, while reading the personal notes of an old traditional physician, he accidentally stumbled upon some interesting information.

The notes read: "In the autumn of the thirteenth year of Zhengde, I ventured deep into Mount Huang, only to see a spiritual mountain rise abruptly from the ground, piercing straight into the clouds. Immortal mist swirled around it, and immortals were actually dancing in the air above the haze. I was exceedingly terrified, fearing I would disturb the immortals, and quickly departed. Unexpectedly, an immortal arrived and bestowed upon me an immortal pill. I gladly swallowed it, instantly feeling as light and ethereal as an immortal. From then on, I was free of illness and pain, living for a hundred and forty years... Immortals truly exist in this world!"

Had he seen this record in the past, he would have dismissed it as the ramblings of an old physician. He had read many tales of ghosts and gods, such as Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio and Investiture of the Gods, but he only found them entertaining and never took them seriously.

Yet, upon learning that he only had three years left to live, his mindset underwent a drastic change. Advanced medical standards were completely useless, and he could only pin his hopes for this terminal illness on ghosts and gods.

Thus, following the descriptions in the notes, he searched for a spiritual mountain in Mount Huang. After a week of searching, he finally found this legendary spiritual mountain this morning.

His thought process was simple: if immortals truly existed, they would definitely live at the peak of the spiritual mountain. Therefore, without any hesitation, he began climbing upward.

Mu Hongru rested for a moment, looked up toward the top, and a look of worry appeared on his face. It seemed he had only climbed about a third of the way; he had no idea how long it would take to reach the top, and he could only hope he wouldn't suffer a full-body spasm while climbing.

Just at that moment, he suddenly saw a figure emerge from the smooth rock face, and in the blink of an eye, a figure in black appeared right before him.

Appearing out of nowhere from solid rock, Mu Hongru rubbed his eyes in disbelief and looked again. The figure in black was still "standing" on the rock wall, calmly sizing him up.

Immortals really do exist! The ancients did not deceive me! Mu Hongru stared blankly at the person on the rock wall, feeling a mix of shock and joy.

Hadn't he read Journey to the West, where mountain gods and local deities always appeared just as abruptly? This definitely had to be an immortal.

"Supreme... Immortal..." He had prepared a mountain of rhetoric, but now, seeing the person on the rock wall, he felt his tongue tremble, managing only to spit out these two words before he could speak no further.

"Your name is Mu Hongru?"

Mu Hongru's mind went completely blank. Hearing the immortal ask him this, he hurriedly nodded, feeling an incomparable sense of wonder. The immortal knew his name just by glancing at him—could he foretell the future? He truly was an immortal beyond a doubt.

Mu Hongru was overwhelmingly excited, trembling all over. Yet right at that moment, he suddenly felt a spasm grip all the muscles in his body, his footing gave way, and he plummeted downward.

"Ah—" Mu Hongru let out a miserable scream in mid-air.

Soon, he felt as if someone had grabbed his ankles, pulling him upward, and his body began to feel light and airy.

He saw the surrounding scenery flash past rapidly as he was brought to the surface of the lake. Expecting to fall into the water, he found that just as he was about to touch the surface, he soared upward again.

Struggling to tilt his head upward, he saw that the immortal had grabbed him upside down by the feet, tapped lightly on the lake surface a few times, and instantly arrived at the shore.

This gave him yet another realization about immortals: they truly possessed the ability to fly through the heavens and tunnel through the earth, just as described in the notes.

Xiao Cheng dangled Mu Hongru upside down, tossed him onto the sandy beach by the lake, and a faint smile played at the corner of his mouth.

Originally, when Mu Hongru lost his footing and fell, Xiao Cheng had not intended to save him. Given that Mu Hongru had hunted him down in his past life, sparing his life was already a mercy. However, a sudden thought struck him: since Mu Hongru had been able to reach the Golden Core realm in five years in his past life, he must possess extraordinary qualities beyond just the Heavenly Origin Fruit. Why not take him in and use him for his own purposes?

With this thought in mind, he rescued Mu Hongru.

Now that he had obtained the Heavenly Origin Fruit ahead of time, stealing Mu Hongru's chance encounter, Mu Hongru would never be able to become the youngest Golden Core master of the cultivation world within a century as he did in his past life.

Yet there were still eight Heavenly Origin Fruits left. If he took Mu Hongru in and rewarded him with one Heavenly Origin Fruit to aid his cultivation, wouldn't he have a Golden Core powerhouse as his henchman five years from now?

Of course, all of this was premised on his approval of Mu Hongru's character.

The toss left Mu Hongru dizzy and disoriented. Crawling up from the sand and seeing Xiao Cheng standing before him, he immediately dropped to his knees in agitation.

"Greetings, Supreme Immortal! Greetings, Supreme Immortal..." Mu Hongru kowtowed repeatedly like a bowing insect, shouting greetings to the Supreme Immortal over and over.

Xiao Cheng looked down at Mu Hongru, who was kowtowing continuously, and smiled faintly.

In his past life, Mu Hongru was an outstanding figure among the younger generation of the entire cultivation world, commanding the wind and rain, treated as an honored guest by various large and small factions, and driving Xiao Cheng to the ends of the earth. Yet now, Mu Hongru was groveling at his feet, worshipping him incessantly and treating him as an immortal.

Truly, the wheel of fortune spins around; today it comes to my house.

"Get up. I am no immortal!" Xiao Cheng said calmly.

"No, no! I'd rather stay kneeling!" Mu Hongru wiped the dust from his face, cautiously glanced up at Xiao Cheng, and quickly lowered his head again, not daring to look further.

He certainly didn't believe Xiao Cheng's words. If he weren't an immortal, how could he possess the ability to fly through the heavens and tunnel through the earth?

Seeing that Mu Hongru refused to get up, Xiao Cheng let him be. He released his divine sense, scanned Mu Hongru's body, and frowned slightly. Mu Hongru's physical condition was remarkably poor; all his meridians were somewhat withered, likely due to some terminal illness.

"You are suffering from a terminal disease. What are you doing here?"

Hearing Xiao Cheng's words, Mu Hongru felt a surge of ecstatic joy. Since this immortal could tell he had a terminal illness, he must surely have a way to cure him.