Chapter 1031: Chapter 70: Old Friends, the Sea of Reincarnation

The two were initially stunned for a moment, as if they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Suddenly, the iron-armored giant moved swiftly, stomping heavily, and with a thunderous step, approached Xiao Jie, squatted down, and tightly embraced him.

“Feng! Boo hoo hoo… You finally came to find us!” I Want to Be Immortal cried like a child, his voice muffled and choked through the heavy helmet. The mighty and imposing armor starkly contrasted with his current words and actions, making Xiao Jie feel both sentimental and amused — he truly still had the heart of a youthful and naive university student.

“Alright, alright, I’m here now, aren’t I?” Xiao Jie patted his icy shoulder armor gently, his tone warm.

“Stop crying, it’s embarrassing. It’s only been half a month.” Ye Luo stood by, arms crossed, and said irritably, but when her cold gaze met Xiao Jie, her eyes couldn’t help but show a hint of admiration and reflection. “But I must say, although I always believed you would succeed, I didn’t expect you’d arrive so quickly… and in this way.”

“Hahaha!” Facing his former battle companions, Xiao Jie rarely let go of the mysterious guise of the Immortal layer, his smile becoming bright and genuine, as if he had returned to the days of teaming up in the Newbie Village to hunt monsters. “Do you even know who I am? A once-in-a-lifetime master like me, becoming an Immortal is nothing!”

The three of them exchanged glances, shared laughter echoing in the hall, and the friendship forged through life and death in the past was spoken without words.

“So, have you truly attained the Immortal Position? How does it feel?” Ye Luo asked curiously.

“Indescribable.” Xiao Jie succinctly said, without overly boasting of his Immortal Divine Skills, instead his tone shifted with a hint of sigh. “But the journey was truly not easy. Near life and near death, several times nearly failing, soul scattered.” He briefly recounted his quest for immortality and the numerous trials he faced in the Taixu Illusion Realm, memories of past hardships flashing through his mind, ultimately only turning into a soft sigh: “Not easy at all.”

“And you two?” Xiao Jie looked at his two friends, “In this Netherworld, are you… accustomed?”

“Good my ass!” Ye Luo spat bluntly, though being a soul, she had no physical form. “We’ve become ghosts, how good could it possibly be? The Yin Energy is frigid, lonely and boring, can’t even eat a warm meal.” She complained, but her tone was fairly calm. “It’s still better than those wandering ghosts suffering in the Sea of Reincarnation. At least I wasn’t thrown in there to suffer, instead, due to the profession of ‘Huangquan Envoy’, I’ve earned an official position. Now that I’m dead, I suppose… I’m back to my original job.”

She explained that being a Huangquan Envoy itself was a unique existence that roamed between yin and yang, responsible for guiding lost souls and maintaining order in the Nether River. Death for them was more like a job transfer, being moved from the mortal world office back to the Netherworld headquarters.

“But frankly, without a physical body, existing as a spiritual body feels unstable and elusive, many joys from my previous life are impossible to experience, and it’s hard to muster enthusiasm for anything.” Ye Luo’s voice carried a touch of an inconspicuous melancholy.

“And you, Cheng Xian? How are you?” Xiao Jie looked at the companion still wearing heavy armor.

I Want to Be Immortal’s voice came from beneath the helmet, filled with frustration: “Don’t ask! They say I have pure Incense Fire Wish Power surrounding me, I’m a good candidate, directly scouted by a Ghost General and drafted into the army. I’ve been fighting on the front lines under the Netherworld Emperor against those evil spirits, sword shadows flickering, ghost cries ringing, several times almost getting torn apart, true spirit annihilated! That life is simply unlivable… uh, although we actually aren’t human anymore now.”

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jie felt some assurance and said aloud: “Rest assured, since I’ve come here now, I certainly won’t let you take risks anymore. I’ve come to help you, and others, reincarnate and be reborn!”

“Reincarnate and be reborn?” I Want to Be Immortal and Ye Luo exclaimed almost simultaneously, their tones filled with doubt. “Isn’t it direct resurrection? If it’s reincarnation… what happens to us in reality? Are we still players? Or have we become NPCs?”

Xiao Jie paused at heart, this indeed was a conundrum. From the Immortal’s perspective, there is no absolute distinction between players and NPCs in the world, only different soul essence and modal form.

Once reincarnated, it means merging into the Heavenly Dao cycle of this realm, and as for how the connection to the real world would become, even he couldn’t definitively say at this moment.

Just as he was about to explain in detail, a respectful voice of the guiding Ghost Official was heard from outside the hall: “Reporting to the Immortal, your other friends have been brought here, would you like them to enter the hall now?”

Xiao Jie temporarily held back his words, nodded: “Bring them in, I will explain to everyone together.”

Soon after, the hall doors opened again, dozens of figures entered under the guidance of the Ghost Official. Most retained their pre-death appearance, but their soul bodies were clearly ethereal, exuding a faint Yin Energy, each with a sorrowful and confused expression. Among them, a few evidently soaked in the Nether River for too long, their souls damaged, expressions dumb and numb, eyes hollow and vacant.

Xiao Jie glanced over these familiar yet strange faces below, feeling a myriad of emotions within. Those core team members immediately recognized him.

“Oh my god! Hahaha!” Jiu Jianxian’s soul first excitedly shouted. “I said so! Feng will definitely come to save us! This aura, this presence! Awesome!”

Bai Ze’s soul breathed a long sigh of relief, deeply moved: “Heaven has eyes… finally no more endless suffering in that sea of bitterness…”