Chapter 597: The Truth
The prosperous era of immortals had lasted for about a hundred thousand years. Following the mass extinction of immortals, their presence in historical texts reduced drastically. Even those that were still alive were only described briefly with a handful of sentences.
Due to the lack of detailed descriptions, human knowledge of this group of beings went on a decline. The reason behind their mass extinction even became a mystery after that.
Of course, Lin Jin knew more about immortals compared to your average person. He suspected that the reason behind the mass extinction was the Rank 9 immortal devouring beast.
Until this day, the immortal devouring beast had never revealed itself completely. Lin Jin had only saw one of its paws back at Daluo Temple.
He could basically surmise the truth after gathering information from various sources. Several thousands of years ago, the Rank 9 immortal devouring beast emerged and indiscriminately attacked immortal sects and immortal cultivators.
The savage battle probably lasted several centuries until finally, the immortals lost, resulting in the extinction of these cultivators.
This was what Lin Jin had gathered thus far.
Perhaps a handful of immortals did manage to survive, just like the one at Daluo Temple. But he could only go into hiding and conceal his aura. Because once an immortal’s aura was released, they would immediately attract the immortal devouring beast and their only outcome would be death.
Hence, Lin Jin presumed that immortals no longer existed in this world. He even suspected that Daluo Temple’s buddha was the very last immortal in this world.
And yet, two immortals have now shown up in the Visitation Hall, so one could imagine the uproar they caused.
Lin Jin made a few inquiries, to which Qin Yunshang and Chen Xuankong answered truthfully.
It appeared that more than two thousand years ago, when the Rank 9 immortal devouring beast was on a killing rampage, a handful of immortal sects with foresight had already prepared an escape route.
Knowing they were no match for the immortal devouring beast, they could only escape.
Problem was, where should they go?
The edges of all main continents were known as extraterritorial zones. As these zones were covered in boundless and dangerous miasma, these areas were restricted even back when immortals roamed the earth.
Average humans and beasts couldn’t possibly enter the place. If they were foolish enough to try, they would be instantly killed by the poison gas. They could only survive if they used items or treasures that could block off the miasma.
Even the immortals had to use unique magic artifacts and detoxification pills.
Back then, the immortal sects were trashed completely by the immortal devouring beast. It was such a tragedy that it would have been considered lucky if one out of a hundred immortals managed to survive the massacre.
The surviving immortals held onto hope and charged into the extraterritorial zone. To their surprise, they actually did manage to avoid the immortal devouring beast’s pursuit.
Looks like the miasma in this zone served as protection for them. It seemed that the immortal devouring beast wasn’t able to detect them if they remained in the extraterritorial zone.
With this, the miasma-covered extraterritorial zone became a refuge for these immortals. Then, some of these surviving immortals eventually started rebuilding their sects inside the zone.
Simply put, they just found another place to keep on living.
Some of the more optimistic immortals tried sneaking back into mainland. Not a single one returned from their adventure so the other immortals dared not follow in their footsteps.
With this, the extraterritorial zone and mainland became separated.
Not many of the sects managed to escape and rebuild themselves in the extraterritorial zone, but the Mystery Dao Sect and the Immortal Cloud Sect was among those which were resurrected.
This was the conclusion Lin Jin arrived at after linking Qin Yunshang and Chen Xuankong’s story with the information he previously gathered.
“So you’re saying that you’ve been hiding in the extraterritorial zone for two thousand years now?” asked Lin Jin.
The two immortals who now accepted Lin Jin’s superiority nodded at once. “That is the truth, Senior!”
These immortals were exceptionally respectful toward ‘Curator’. Their curiosity toward him burned just as brightly as the curiosity Lin Jin’s group had for them.
In their opinion, ‘Curator’ must also be an immortal. Otherwise, how could he subdue them so easily?
He definitely wasn’t a half immortal either. He should at least belong in the profound tier of immortals.
Problem was, they had never heard of Curator’s name inside the extraterritorial zone. From Curator’s words, it seemed like he didn’t know about them hiding at the extraterritorial zone either.
This implied that Curator came from the main continents.
But how was that possible?
Besides the extraterritorial zone, any immortal who revealed themselves elsewhere would be slaughtered by the immortal devouring beast at once, no exceptions.
Both of them were curious as to how Lin Jin managed to evade their mortal enemy for such a long time.
Finally, Qin Yunshang gave in to her curiosity, “Senior, how did you avoid the immortal devouring beast’s pursuit?”
Clearly, she thought Curator was an immortal.
Lin Jin could tell.
“I don’t have to avoid it because I am not an immortal.”
After thinking it through, Lin Jin didn’t feel the need to put up an act. There was no merit to it. If he were to say that he was an immortal, then he would have to weave a hundred more lies to cover a single lie. That sounded exhausting.
With that being the case, it was better to tell the truth.
Lin Jin was never an immortal in the first place.
The immortals were visibly shocked by his answer, especially Chen Xuankong.
He spoke up immediately, “That’s impossible. Senior, you must at least be at profound immortal tier with your cultivation. Otherwise, how could you easily break my Dragon-seizing Grip?!”
“I really am not an immortal!” replied Lin Jin adamantly. He could tell that they didn’t believe him. In their hearts, they seemed to have decided that this mysterious ‘Curator’ was a profound immortal, an expert who possessed peerless phenomenal powers. Not only could he open up a realm of his own, but he could also evade the immortal devouring beast’s pursuit.
Their impression of ‘Curator’ was further elevated and they became much more faithful in his abilities.
Lin Jin basically obtained what he needed to know.
Admittedly, the Visitation Hall’s newcomers this time had broadened Lin Jin’s horizon. Who would have imagined that immortal sects, which were widely-known to have faded with the passage of time, were still extant today?
“I might just need to go to the extraterritorial zone and take a look,” mumbled Lin Jin to himself. According to Qin Yunshang and Chen Xuankong, the extraterritorial zone was considered dangerous even for immortals like themselves. Not only was the place covered in endless miasma, but it was also home to various wild beasts. None of the creatures in this region were good-natured and many of them could actually attack and devour immortals. That just proved how terrifying they were.
Although the two newcomers were very strange, Lin Jin remained composed as ever. He proceeded to lay out the Visitation Hall’s house rules, which the immortals had to follow regardless of their strength.
Of course, Lin Jin would also give the hall’s visitors benefits of equivalent value.
Just then, Lin Jin recalled the bottleneck situation he faced while refining the Four Ocean Gourd. A thought came to mind and he asked Qin Yunshang and Chen Xuankong about refining magic treasures.
His experiment proved that he had asked the right people.
The Mystery Dao Sect and the Immortal Cloud Sect used to be famous sects during the peak of the immortal era. Hence, their sects contained many secret techniques to refine magic treasures.
As the supporting pillars of their respective sects, Qin Yunshang and Chen Xuankong possessed extensive knowledge on treasure refinement. They thought that the profound immortal was testing their knowledge, so they answered Lin Jin’s queries readily. To his delight, their explanations overflowed with information he sought.