First Immortal of the Sword

Just three breaths later.

The vast whirlpool disappeared from the depths of the starry sky.

Only the waterfall-like downpour of flowing starlight remained. As it rained down from the dome of the heavens, it became hazy and indistinct, like misty rain.

Never mind ordinary people; even someone on Ning Sihua’s level could no longer see it clearly.

Who exactly is it? Ning Sihua’s delicate brow furrowed.

A celestial whirlpool, starlight descending like a waterfall!

A phenomenon on this level was simply terrifying; “ordinary” strange phenomena couldn’t compare.

Su Yi? Ning Sihua recalled the youth in blue she met earlier that day, but a moment later, she shook her head and rejected the idea. It’s undeniable that he has enormous secrets and profound mysteries about him, but how could a mere mid-stage Qi Accumulation cultivator provoke a phenomenon on this level?

It’s worth noting that this phenomenon hovered beyond the heavens, and it formed a whirlpool out of countless stars. Never mind someone in the Four Realms of the Martial Dao; even an Origin Dao cultivator had almost no hope of achieving an unparalleled phenomenon like “resonance between man and heaven”!

It seems there are far more secrets hidden within mundanity than I realized…. Ning Sihua thought in a daze.

……

The northern border of the Great Zhou, deep within the Dark Sea.

A bleak, solitary island perpetually shrouded in wind and snow.

“If it were possible, I wouldn’t want to spend any more time in this barren, frigid, remote hellhole ever again.” Ge Qian sat cross-legged on the ground and cursed. He shook off the ice and snow caking his apricot-yellow Daoist robes, then rose despite the piercingly-cold winds.

“To cultivate the ‘Xuanwu True Essence Sutra’, you must be as a tortoise. You must endure the deepest of solitudes and pain no ordinary person could bear. You chose this path yourself; I didn’t force you to do this.” Deep within his soul, a certain geezer delighted at his misfortune.

Ge Qian fell silent.

It was embarrassing to say it out loud, but when the geezer first taught him a cultivation technique, he once listed four mighty and mysterious Daoist sutras.

The old man talked all of them up, saying they were unparalleled, that any one of them was enough to pursue the Imperial Realm, the Profound Dao….

But in the end, Ge Qian refused them all.

He just asked, “You have all these magic arts and Grand Daos, but can any of them keep me alive until I reach the very end?”

The geezer instantly exploded in a mad rage and cursed him out. He even felt the urge to slap this cowardly-to-the-point-of-depravity wimp into a pulp.

But in the end…..

He couldn’t out-argue Ge Qian, so despite his insults and bluster, the old man nevertheless taught him the “Xuanwu True Essence Sutra”, which embodied the idea of “staying alive no matter what.”

It seemed it suited Ge Qian’s personality because his progress was preternaturally smooth and rapid.

Although the geezer frequently mocked Ge Qian, saying that he’d been a tortoise in his past life, the old man would occasionally praise his successes…

However, cultivating the Xuanwu True Essence Sutra had one major downside: you needed to suffer agonizing pain to advance.

That was what he was doing now. The Dark Sea could freeze an ordinary martial artist into an ice cube, but for the sake of breaking into the Grandmaster Realm, Ge Qian had no choice but to endure biting cold and hunger for nine cycles of nine days as the ice and snow tempered his flesh.

Only then could he refine the “Xuanwu Soul Shell” he needed as a foundation to step over the threshold of the Grandmaster Realm.

“I’m still seventy-two days short…. I have to endure a little longer… Once I become a Grandmaster, with my power, as long as I’m not reckless or impulsive, as long as I don’t make trouble, as long as I’m careful in all things, I can surely eke out a humble, peaceful existence for years to come….”

Ge Qian was just encouraging himself when suddenly—

A misty, ethereal rain of light appeared in the dark, overcast skies.

“Hm?” came the old man’s shocked voice from within his soul.

A moment later, Ge Qian felt a piercing pain. He could dimly discern a vast creature appearing before him, seemingly out of nowhere. It raised its massive head and stared into the depths of the heavens. “Stars like a whirlpool? Light splattering like rain? Just who provoked this phenomenon?”

A deep voice rumbled through the wind and snow. The speaker was clearly shaken.

When he heard this familiar voice, Ge Qian was stunned. So, that vast figure filling the entire area is actually… the manifestation of the geezer living in my soul!?

“A strange phenomenon like this might not appear even once in tens of thousands of years. It seems I’ve deeply underestimated this mundane realm….” The old man’s voice revealed shock and solemnity.

Ge Qian, meanwhile, suddenly realized that the vast, mountainous creature in front of him was somewhat familiar. Scaly armor, a turtle’s head, a snake’s tail….

Isn’t that the legendary Xuanwu Tortoise!?

Could it be?

As soon as this occurred to Ge Qian, the vast mountain suddenly disappeared into nothingness. At the same time, the geezer’s incomparably grave voice echoed within his mental sea: “Kid, I have no choice but to warn you. Something strange is going on within the Great Zhou’s territory. I suspect an extremely terrifying expert walks amongst the mundane!

“This also proves that even a spiritually-barren place like the Azure Continent isn’t as pathetic as I thought. There’s no way it’s just the lowest level of mundane realm, either.

“But it really is strange. And here I thought I was the only special and sacred existence in this world. Who would have thought….?”

When he heard the geezer going on and on, the corners of Ge Qian’s lips twitched, and he said out of nowhere, “Aih, it seems you’ll have to keep a lower profile going forward if you don’t want anyone seeing through your ‘lofty and unparalleled’ true nature…. It seems you cultivate the ‘Xuanwu True Essence Sutra’ too!”

The voice within his soul came to an abrupt halt, then sank into deathly silence.

Finally, the old man snorted coldly, “I’ve mastered countless sutras. How could I have just cultivated this one?”

“But just now, you became an old turtle even bigger than a mountain,” mocked Ge Qian. “And you call me a coward? It turns out you’re the real tortoise around here.”

“Shut your mouth!” shouted the old man, his embarrassment turning into rage.

But Ge Qian was increasingly delighted. “Going further, neither of us should mock the other. Look at yourself! If you weren’t an old tortoise, why would you need to eke out a humble existence within my soul?

He furrowed his brow, then continued, “But let’s get back on topic. Just what did you see just now to scare you so badly?”

The old man roared from within his soul, “Who was fucking scared? Ah? Ah? How could a strange phenomenon like that scare me? Ah?”

After roaring, the old man paused to catch his breath. “I’m just warning you that there’s a big problem with this mundane realm of yours!”

“Relax! I’m more cautious than you. If I shouldn’t provoke someone, I most certainly won’t,” said Ge Qian calmly. “Take that time you tried to convince me to meet Su Yi. Even you sensed something strange about him. How could I recklessly provoke him?”

The old man within his soul spat disdainfully, “Coward!”

Ge Qian didn’t mind in the least. “In any event, it’s entirely possible that I’ll encounter Su Yi later, but if I do, I’ll be as careful as I can. It’d be best if we didn’t meet as enemies.”

“And if you do become enemies?” asked the old man.

Ge Qian rubbed his cheeks, which were still numb from the cold. He muttered, “Then we’ll just have to see which of us survives.”

……

A strange and unprecedented phenomenon occurred beyond the dome of the heavens. Countless lifeforms inhabited the Azure Continent, but even among martial artists, the vast majority didn’t notice anything at all.

Only a sparse handful of mysterious existences could infer what was happening. All of them were stunned, and their hearts shook.

Like Ning Sihua and the “geezer” living in Ge Qian’s soul.

However, with their abilities, they could only pick up a few vague hints at best. They couldn’t possibly determine who had provoked this strange, unprecedented phenomenon.

“It seems my eyes really were playing tricks on me.” Cha Jin peered into the darkness, shook her head, and looked away.

The pavilion closest to the water sees the moon’s reflection first. Although she didn’t know it, the only reason she’d seen the fine light raining from the heavens at all was her proximity to its source.

Because the person who’d provoked this strange phenomenon was right behind her, on the second floor of the pavilion.

Hah~! Su Yi let out a long breath of turbid air, then awakened from his meditation.

Beads of sweat silently evaporated on his forehead. If you looked closely, there was still a hint of trepidation lingering in the depths of his gaze.

Not long ago, he circulated the Pine and Crane Body Refining Technique to its highest possible level while simultaneously calling upon the full power of the Universal Self-Embodiment Sutra. Finally, he stirred the power of the Sword of the Nine Hells, allowing him to fully condense the Hidden Meridian linking his soul and fleshly body.

However, this process was incomparably perilous; he’d experienced the terrors of a close brush with death on a deep, personal level!

I would never have guessed the power of the Sword of the Nine Hells was so obscure and mysterious. That was just a tiny trace of its power, but it practically shattered my soul…. Su Yi furrowed his brow. He couldn’t help but replay what had just happened.

As he condensed his Hidden Meridian, he sensed a flood of terrifying power surge into the space between his body and his soul. The sudden impact shocked his one hundred and eight spiritual apertures and twelve spiritual meridians, like waters flowing in reverse.

If he hadn’t reacted immediately and maintained his last thread of consciousness with everything he had, he would have fallen directly into a coma.

At the time, he clearly sensed a formless sword intent rising beyond the nine heavens.

With a single gentle slash, it cleaved open a rift in the vast river of stars!

The river of stars surged and transformed into a whirlpool, then poured endless starlight onto the world below.

This was an unbelievable phenomenon; even Su Yi was stunned, and it was only now that he’d calmed down that he could faintly deduce a certain possibility….

This strange phenomenon was connected to his new Hidden Meridian. With the power of the Sword of the Nine Hells to stimulate it, his newly-condensed Hidden Meridian was unprecedented and unique!

Once he was fully calm, Su Yi focused his attention on the Hidden Meridian itself.

It traveled above his twelve spiritual meridians, fusing with both his outer shell and his soul, resonating with all one hundred and eight of his spiritual apertures, and connecting his spirit and qi. It was miraculous beyond comparison.

Su Yi thought to himself, Having a Hidden Meridian really is different. I’m at least forty percent stronger than I was after merely opening all twelve spiritual meridians.

But more than the increase in strength, what really matters is the stability of my foundations in the Grand Dao. In that sense, I now far surpass my past incarnation at the same stage.

In his past life, due to his inability to achieve full spiritual awakening of the acupoints, he missed his chance to open his Hidden Meridian and obtain its unique power.

But now, he was naturally incomparable with his past self.

Furthermore, with his Hidden Meridian complete, he’d effectively broken through the bottleneck to the late-stage Qi Accumulation Realm. He could step over the threshold whenever he pleased!

A long time passed before Su Yi rose and emerged from his room. By then, the skies were already completely dark.

On the first floor, Cha Jin had already prepared a meal and warmed his wine. Beneath the lamplight, she was as beautiful as jade, a feast for the eyes.

As Su Yi enjoyed his delicacies, he asked, “Zheng Muyao hasn’t come back yet?”

Cha Jin was stunned for a moment as she relaxed that fiery “fox spirit.” Inwardly, she felt a bit anguished. “Young Lord, do you have business with her?”

“I had her investigate something for me,” Su Yi said offhandedly.

Cha Jin inwardly sighed in relief, but then, she felt rather ashamed. It seems I was overthinking things just now….

But before long, the sound of someone knocking on the door emanated from afar—

“Uncle Su, I’m back~!”

Seth's Thoughts

“Nine cycles of nine days” has a certain degree of cultural significance. Something about what you have to endure to become a Buddha.

_

玄武, or Xuanwu, is a mythical creature otherwise known as the Black Tortoise. You’ve likely seen them in other Chinese novels, or even in anime.

Although the Xuanwu is a mighty mythical beast famed for its defenses, it’s still a tortoise, and words like “turtle” and “tortoise” are much more insulting in Chinese than they are in English. In English, calling someone a turtle is at worst calling them a coward, right? It’s not nice, but it’s not that bad.

Turtle does sometimes have that meaning in Chinese too. In that case, you’ll generally see the term “缩头乌龟” or “turtle hiding in its shell.” This is insulting, but like… in a normal way? It’s not vulgar, at least.

But the word they’re using for tortoise here, 王八, has connotations not found in English. It’s associated with (usually female) sexual promiscuity, especially if you add the character “egg” to get 王八蛋. So it’s a bit like saying “your mother is a loose woman” or “you’re the son of a prostitute.” Insulting a guy by insulting his mother, basically. So calling Ge Qian the reincarnation of a tortoise is more insulting than it seems at first glance, although he doesn’t seem to mind.

You might ask “Why are tortoises associated with that? Why are tortoise eggs in particular associated with that?”

Part of it is just that the word “egg” is used in a lot of Chinese insults, but that doesn’t explain why tortoise eggs are so uniquely offensive.

I read one explanation about how male tortoises were once considered impotent, so people said they mated with snakes? And another about how, since turtles hatch from eggs, they don’t know who their fathers are, making them all effectively bastards? There are also explanations about how it sounds like various other insults, so it took on all those negative meanings…. Anyway, I don’t know for sure. I’m not sure anyone knows for sure. What we can be certain of is that “tortoise” and “tortoise egg” are much more insulting in Chinese than in English.

Scroll down to the “egg” section of this guide to Chinese swear words if you’re interested in knowing more.