Chapter 1000 - 1009: Meeting the Fairy

Speaking of islands, people usually think of the sea, for islands are most often set within the ocean, ringed by rippling blue waves and crystal-clear water.

Yet this island is often shrouded in cloud and mist, as if floating among the clouds, giving one a sense of something half-hidden, hard to reach.

The clouds and mist not only add to its mystery, but also symbolize that this island is cut off from the mundane world.

The island is carpeted with rare flowers and herbs, evergreen throughout the four seasons, their fragrance spilling everywhere.

If Nalan Yiren were here, she would certainly recognize many of these plants as varieties that had already gone extinct thousands of years ago.

These flowers and herbs possess wondrous effects: some can prolong life, others can cure all manner of illness.

On a patch of grass at the edge of the island, where Chen Mo lay unconscious, a wisp of chaotic light within his body flickered past; he did not know how long he had been out, but now he slowly, groggily came to.

Birdsong and the sounds of insects drifted into his ears.

Chen Mo slowly opened his eyes. What entered his sight were towering trees, dense canopies, rays of sunlight filtering through the leaves and pouring down, passing straight through his body.

Beneath him was soft moss, wrapping the surrounding trees like a jade-woven carpet; sunlight was ground by the layered crowns into fine shards of gold leaf, vines weaving hanging green curtains among those scattered gold specks, while the fresh air steamed with the rich breath of leaves and blossoms.

"Where is this?"

Though he was clearly only a Soul Body, Chen Mo felt his head spin, his whole being burning with pain, as if he had rolled down a mountain made of blades.

He was terribly weak; even sitting up was an immense effort.

He took in this unfamiliar environment: mist coiling about, the muffled roar of a waterfall coming from deep within the forest, its soundwaves filtered by countless leaves into broken mutterings.

Butterflies of every hue settled upon the tender tips of fern-like plants, making them bend ever so slightly.

Fragmentary memories from before he blacked out flashed through his mind. Chen Mo rasped, "Th-this… could this be the Immortal Island?"

"Did I actually enter it?"

Yet Chen Mo felt not the slightest trace of excitement.

One must know, he was currently in a state of Soul Travel.

After breaking through to the 3rd Layer of the Spirit Platform, the time limit for his Soul Travel was roughly one Hour.

He did not know how long he had just been unconscious.

But if he did not return to his body quickly…

Chen Mo had no idea what kind of fate would await him once that limit was reached.

Thus, the problem before him was how he was to get out of here.

From the clues he had gathered before, those who had successfully reached the Immortal Island had not left on their own, but had been sent out by the "Fairy."

However, if he too had arrived at the Immortal Island spoken of by those people, then where was this Fairy?

Judging from the surroundings, there was no sign of human presence at all.

He felt he had been too reckless.

Perhaps because in the Central State his strength was regarded as the foremost under heaven, he had nurtured a certain proud mindset. After coming here, though he acted cautiously, inwardly he still harbored a trace of contempt.

"Damn it."

Most crucial of all, in this state of Soul Travel, he could not use the Golden Crow Heaven Burning Skill to recover.

"Right, I should try the Mysterious Qi in my body."

Chen Mo attempted to circulate the Mysterious Qi within him. Very soon, a crystalline luster gleamed across his surface; his body seemed veiled in a layer of hazy radiance. A strange energy between heaven and earth on the island kept converging toward him, and in just a short while, Chen Mo felt he had recovered quite a bit.

"What is this?"

Chen Mo could be sure that this was not the Innate Spiritual Qi of the outside world, and yet it could actually restore his Soul Body.

Time was limited.

Chen Mo could not just wait for the Mysterious Qi to draw in this strange energy until he was back at his peak. After recovering to roughly thirty percent, he rose and flew deeper into the island, to see if there was some other exit.

He certainly could not go back the way he had come.

First of all, he was not even clear on how he had arrived on this island; he could only guess that the vortex had sucked him in.

Secondly, given how perilous that entry had been, he did not dare guarantee he could be lucky enough to get out the same way.

He could only search the island for a sliver of hope.

For example, the Fairy.

...

Chen Mo had no way to tell time on the island; he could only roughly estimate that from waking up until now at least one stick of incense's time had passed.

He had not encountered the Fairy.

But he had found Immortal Fruit.

A great many of them.

The fruits were about the size of a fist, fiery red in color, with a very peculiar, irregular shape, and tendrils like leafy streamers.

This matched Nangong Jin's description of the Immortal Fruit.

Yet Chen Mo had never been able to picture what it actually looked like.

Now, he understood.

Wasn't this just the "Fire Dragon Fruit" from his previous life?

Even the roots and stems were the same: the stems thick, often with wing-like ridges, ranging from dark green to pale bluish-green; small areoles lined along the ridges, bearing hard spines.

Only, on these fruits, the skin flowed with rosy radiance and lunar halos; although bright crimson, they looked as clear as glass, extremely strange.

Chen Mo probed carefully and confirmed there was no danger, then moved closer to the "Immortal Fruit."

He channeled the Mysterious Qi in his body into his right hand and plucked one from the stem.

Throughout the process, he was exceedingly cautious, afraid that the slightest mishap might occur.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly.

Yet in the instant he picked it, that layer of rosy radiance and lunar halo flowing over the Immortal Fruit's skin instantly dispersed, along with that glass-like translucence.

If not for the warmth Chen Mo could feel from the Immortal Fruit in his hand, then aside from its unusual shape, the thing now would be little different from an ordinary fruit.

"What a pity. Right now I'm a Soul Body and can't eat it…"

Just as regret stirred in Chen Mo's heart, the Mysterious Qi he had gathered in his right hand suddenly burst forth in a brilliant flash, wrapping the Immortal Fruit and refining it in an instant.