First Immortal of the Sword

Ning Sihua couldn’t help but look Qing Wan over, feeling rather strange.

She wanted to say that Su Yi coveted beauty, but she couldn’t. If it were that simple, how could he have set aside a beauty like Wen Lingzhao? He wasn’t even polite about it!

But she couldn’t say he wasn’t a lecher either; otherwise, why would he take action the moment he heard that Zhu Guqing encountered danger and leave that very night?

Besides, he traveled alongside an absolute stunner of a young woman he planned to use as a “vessel” for dual cultivation….

This guy really is unfathomable. Ning Sihua shook her head.

But now that she thought about it, none of this had anything to do with her. Besides, as a cultivator, she was well aware that there was no shortage of top experts with a fondness for dual cultivation.

It wasn’t worth getting surprised over.

No, what really intrigued her was that Su Yi mentioned the “Imperial Realm.”

“Fellow Daoist, do you think Miss Qing Wan has the potential to become an Emperor?” Ning Sihua asked softly.

“What do you think?” said Su Yi.

Ning Sihua thought it over, then sighed. “Proving your Dao and reaching the Imperial Realm requires immense willpower, intelligence, and fortune. All three are indispensable. This is the path above the Martial, Origin, and Spirit Daos, the highest Dao of the heavens. Throughout all of history, only a select few have ever reached that level.”

Su Yi glanced at her. “It seems you understand quite a bit about this realm.”

Ning Sihua shook her head. “I’ve heard a lot about it, but to my current self, a realm like that is simply too far away.”

But then, she asked right back, “But what about you, Fellow Daoist?”

Su Yi laughed. “You needn’t test me. I am currently just a mid-stage Qi Accumulation Realm…. youth.”

Ning Sihua’s smile faltered. You sure keep your lips sealed tight! But so long as we interact enough, I refuse to believe I can’t pry out your secrets!

Throughout their journey, Jin Xiaochuan kept silent. He couldn’t even begin to understand what Su Yi and Ning Sihua were talking about, but he felt increasingly tense and insignificant.

One of his companions was the legendary and mysterious palace master of Heaven’s Origin Academy, the other, an inscrutable young man even Family Head Zheng treated with the utmost respect.

To Jin Xiaochuan, both of them were as lofty as deities; he could do nothing but revere them.

Not far away, Qing Wan suddenly spoke up. “Mystic Master, the yin qi is densest over there, a little bit ahead of us.”

Su Yi glanced over and saw that, past a hundred feet of night, waves surged on the surface of the river, and dense mist rose into the air. Shockingly, a whirlpool was forming right in front of them!

Su Yi could tell at a glance; this was a “safe path” down to the bottom of the Great Azure. It was a “path to survival” created by the grand formation, powered by the natural force of the river and the layout of the mountains.

“From here, we can enter the underwater ghost domain.” Ning Sihua realized this too, and her eyes lit up.

“Someone’s coming. For now, let’s hide.” As Su Yi spoke, he led the group to a patch of wetlands behind a nearby boulder.

“It seems…. They’re not human.” The depths of Ning Sihua’s eyes flashed with hints of gold light as she stared into the distance.

Then, they watched as one jade lantern after another appeared in the distant mountains and drew closer and closer.

It was a strange and sinister procession.

The four in front were indistinct, little ghosts shrouded in black mist. They led the way, and each of them carried a white paper lantern, but the firelight was an unearthly green.

Eight ferocious, tall, sinister, and imposing ghosts followed, carrying a sedan chair.

The man seated on the sedan chair was bald, with green eyes. His cheeks were fat, and his skin looked oily. A necklace of black prayer beads carved out of skulls hung around his neck.

As the procession drew close, the ambient yin qi instantly grew denser, and it now carried a bone-piercing chill.

Jin Xiaochuan was so terrified that he trembled from head to toe, and his eyes widened. What thehell is this!? How ostentatious!

Before long, the entire procession reached the river’s surface. As they drew closer, they entered the whirlpool forming in the mist and disappeared without a trace.

“This…” Jin Xiaochuan rubbed his eyes; he almost thought he was hallucinating.

“A vicious ghost formed a vengeful soul? It’s comparable with a human Grandmaster at best,” said Ning Sihua, her eyes flashing with disdain.

She was talking about the bald, green-eyed old ghost atop the sedan chair. As for the lesser apparitions, she directly ignored them.

“Fellow Daoist, just now, your judgment was on the mark. It’s indeed highly likely that wicked creatures gather below the water’s surface in a ghostly domain.” Ning Sihua couldn’t help but glance at Su Yi.

As she said this, she heard rustling from far away, in the direction of the mountains

Immediately afterward, an old man with a cane and a mystical air hobbled out of the darkness.

The strange part was, his eyes were unearthly blue.

He stood along the banks of the Great Azure, looked around, then walked straight ahead. When he stepped into the mists floating over the river, he disappeared in a flash.

“That was a yao born of some kind of plant, but his appearance and presence were already no different from an ordinary person’s. He’s obviously already stepped onto the true path of cultivation,” exclaimed Ning Sihua.

“He really was a nature spirit, and from the looks of things, he even knows a coarse cultivation technique. But his strength isn’t even worth mentioning.” Su Yi nodded.

Nature spirits could all be classified as yao.

Both plants and animals, upon achieving sentience and intelligence, were called nature spirits

This type of yao was different from a spirit beast. They were born of heaven and earth, and they were innately intelligent.

Even so, becoming a yao cultivator wasn’t easy.

Especially for those with unusual bloodlines or distinctive talents. If they wanted to step onto the path of the true yao cultivator, they first had to overcome unimaginable obstacles.

Take the dwarf Su Yi met in Mother Ghost Ridge’s Peach Grove. He was a nature spirit born of the Fire Peach Tree, but although he could appear in human form, he was far from undergoing metamorphosis and acquiring a true human body. He naturally didn’t qualify as a “yao cultivator.”

The old man with the cane they just saw had merely taken on an outwardly human shape. He might know some methods of cultivation, but they didn’t amount to much.

“Interesting—there aren’t just ghosts haunting this place; even nature spirits and their ilk are showing up. I wonder what they plan to do here?” Ning Sihua’s curiosity was piqued.

Heaven and earth were divided into pure and impure, and creation included both in and yang. This was a mundane world, but it too had a correspondingly dark, shadowy underbelly.

But the common people of the world tended to form groups and gather in cities. Ordinarily speaking, it was rare for them to encounter the things that went bump in the night—yao, demons, ghosts, and monsters.

Only cultivators knew about the various gateways into the world of darkness, albeit to varying degrees.

“Let’s go see for ourselves. Then we’ll know for sure.” Su Yi said this, then gazed off into the distance.

He had a premonition that tonight wasn’t going to be peaceful.

As expected, before long, he heard barely audible laughter and conversation off in the distance.

“This time, the Wuhuan Water Monarch has called for an ‘Assembly in Paradise.’ They say numerous influential figures will be in attendance, although I’m not sure if that’s true or not.”

“Wait until we arrive in Ninebends City. Then we’ll know for sure.”

“Mountain Monarch Tao, you received guidance from an immortal and stepped onto the path of metamorphosis and cultivation. It’s only natural that you wouldn’t care about some ‘Assembly in Paradise.’”

…..The sound of conversation got clearer and clearer. Eventually, two figures came into view, one tall, one short.

The tall one was thin as a stick of bamboo, and he wore hemp robes. His face was long and narrow, and a snowy white serpent with a silvery sheen hung around his neck.

The short one was a dwarf, and his hair and whiskers were completely white.

Another two nature spirits!

Ning Sihua saw through this at a glance.

But then, seemingly out of nowhere, Su Yi spoke up. “What a coincidence! Finally, someone who can lead the way.”

As he spoke, he was already walking toward them.

“Who is it?” A low bellow followed. The beanpole-thin man immediately sensed the disturbance, and his bright red eyes flashed, icy and dangerous.

Hsss! Hssss!

The snake wrapped around his neck raised its head and flicked its tongue, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.

“So, it was just a paltry little human youth, a brat whose breath still reeks of his mother’s milk.”

When he saw Su Yi’s appearance clearly, the tall, giant man inwardly sighed in relief, then mocked himself. “It’s true; the longer you live, the more cowardly you get. And here I thought some powerful enemy had followed us here.”

But the dwarf beside him was rooted to the spot, his eyes wide with disbelief.

When his gaunt companion saw this, he couldn’t help but jeer, “Mountain Monarch Tao, what’s gotten into you? Don’t tell me a little guy like that scares you?”

But as soon as he said this….

Thud!

The dwarf the gaunt man called “Mountain Monarch Tao” knelt directly in the dirt, his expression excited and pious. “Tao Qingshan humbly greets you, Mystic Master.”

The gaunt man was stunned, and his eyes widened. The hell?

“Get up. I have something to ask you,” said Su Yi flatly.

This was the very dwarf who looked after the Fire Peach Tree in Mother Ghost Ridge on Ge Changling’s behalf.

During his visit, Su Yi seized all three of his ripe Pure Yang Fire Peaches, the only ones he had.

But of course, in exchange, Su Yi granted him a section of the peak-level yao classic, “Fostering the Dao”.

Tao Qingshan hurriedly rose, but he stood there looking reserved, his expression filled with unconcealed worship.

The gaunt man seemed to realize something, and he couldn’t help but cry out, “Mountain Monarch Tao, don’t tell me this is…. This is the mystic who granted you enlightenment?”

The gaunt man seemed to realize something, and he couldn’t help but cry out.

“It is indeed,” the dwarf said solemnly.

The tall, gaunt man froze for a moment, then flung himself to his knees and kowtowed. “This humble one, Teng Yong, had eyes but did not see. Mystic Master, I apologize for offending you, and I humbly request your forgiveness!”

Su Yi paid him no heed. He just turned to Tao Qingshan. “What did you leave Mother Ghost Ridge for?”

“Mystic Master, a few days ago, this humble one received an invitation saying that the Wuhuan Water Monarch planned to host an Assembly in Paradise here, in Ninebends City. He invited me to attend the ritual.” Tao Qingshan dared not hide the truth, and he spoke with the utmost respect.

Su Yi’s eyebrows shot up. “Tell me about the Wuhuan Water Monarch and Ninebends City in more detail.”

After a brief, stunned pause, Tao Qingshan launched into a hurried explanation.

It turned out that the ghost domain hidden in the riverbed was called “Ninebends City.” Its master called himself “the Wuhuan Water Monarch”, and his ghostly subordinates numbered over ten thousand. Within the Imperatorial Province, he was quite the illustrious figure.

The so-called “Assembly in Paradise” was an event the master of Ninebends City, the Wuhuan Water Monarch, organized. He invited numerous guests, all influential yao and ghosts, from across the province.

Rumor had it that, at tonight’s Assembly in Paradise, the Wuhuan Water Monarch intended to announce something major.

What exactly was it? Tao Qingshan didn’t know; he was only here for fear of hurting others’ feelings if he refused.

By the end of this explanation, Su Yi couldn’t help but find it funny.

What “Wuhuan Water Monarch?” He was nothing but a common ghost cultivator, yet he thought his little gathering an “Assembly in Paradise”? Did he really think himself a proper cultivator?