First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 32 - A Ghost Among Trees

In the afternoon, the sun-baked courtyard was warm and comfortable. Su Yi sat in a bamboo chair, tying the green willow branches into a bundle.

The servants had finished sweeping, and the residence was clean and spacious. Hu Quan was still scrupulously supplying him with bedding, toiletries, and other necessities, in addition to improving the pergola and vegetable beds. The three physicians had already returned to the clinic to resume seeing patients.

Only Su Yi, the manager, was taking it easy.

“Brother Su, what’s the rooster for?” Not far off, Huang Qianjun was teasing the rooster he’d bought to alleviate his boredom.

The bird was vicious, with sharp claws and a pointed beak. It moved like the wind, and its cry was sonorous. Huang Qianjun had led about a dozen attendants to scour the market before finding this proud, haughty rooster. 

“Kill it and drain its blood,” Su Yi ordered casually. 

Today’s experience taught him how nice it was to have someone around to take care of miscellaneous tasks. It could save him a lot of time and energy. 

“Alright!” Huang Qianjun pulled a knife from his waist and got to work.

Not long after, he presented Su Yi with a bowl of fresh red rooster blood.

“Good. That’s it for today. You can go home now.” Su Yi picked up the bundled willow branches and dipped their tips into the bowl. The bright red juxtaposed the green leaves, the sight jarring to the eye. 

Huang Qianjun hesitated, then said, “Brother Su, the way I see it, once Wen Changqing finds out you kicked out everyone loyal to him, there’s no way he’ll just let it go. Should I have my father give him a warning?”

Su Yi glanced at him. “If you really want to help, you can ask around and find out where the best blacksmith in Guangling City is.”

Huang Qianjun instantly perked up. “Brother Su, that couldn’t be easier! Our Huang Family has a monopoly on the city’s weapons trade. Master weaponsmiths? We have over thirty of them! If you need something forged, just say it. I guarantee you the best weaponsmith around!”

Su Yi finally remembered; of the city’s Three Great Clans, the Wen Family monopolized the medicinal herb trade, the Li Family monopolized the sale of grain and other foodstuffs, while the Huang Family monopolized the weapons and metal tools business. 

“I plan to forge a sword,” said Su Yi.

Huang Qianjun instantly smiled. “A sword? Then you need Wang Tianyang. Ol’ Wang’s skill at forging blades is second to none in Guangling City. People come even from outside the city just to have him forge them a quality sword.”

Su Yi nodded. “Come here tomorrow morning and take me to see him.”

Huang Qianjun instantly nodded. “Brother Su, is there anything else?’

When it came to working for Su Yi, he was as enthusiastic as could be.

“You can go home.” Su Yi waved him away.

“Alright. I’ll be back tomorrow morning.” Only then did Huang Qianjun turn to leave.

He was conscientious, and he knew that sticking to Su Yi like glue would only irritate him. It was like how, when he visited brothels, nothing was more irritating than the attendants his father had accompany him….

After submerging the bundle of willow branches in rooster blood, Su Yi picked up a knife and started hacking away at the three-foot piece of peach wood. As fine wood shavings piled up, a wooden sword gradually took shape.

Su Yi rose from his bamboo chair, held the peach wood sword up to his face, and examined it. He nodded in satisfaction. “Now I just have to wait for nightfall.”

Su Yi casually waved the sword about, then took another look at the willow branches soaking in rooster blood.

His gaze shifted, then landed on the nearby locust tree. Locusts were like ghosts among tree kind!

They had a natural yin affinity, so they had an easier time beckoning and housing ghosts and other wicked beings than any other tree. 

The key issue with the courtyard’s layout was that they’d excavated a well directly beside the locust tree. When dark yin energy surged from underground, it was inevitable that it would transform the residence into what the common folk saw as a “haunted house.” 

The well has clearly been sealed. It seems someone has long since noticed that there’s something wrong with it. But despite all that, no one told me any of this….

Su Yi seemed lost in thought. 

……

The Wen Family, Wen Changqing’s residence.

“Father, I just received word that Su Yi, that good-for-nothing, has only managed the Apricot Clinic for a single day, yet he’s already kicked out every last one of our subordinates. How is that any different from spitting in our family’s face?” Wen Jieyuan said in a huff.

He was Wen Changqing’s son, and he was nineteen this year, a spirited youth at the peak of the Blood Circulation Realm’s Refining Muscle Stage. In half a year, he’d head to Blueriver Sword Manor to continue his cultivation.

“I wouldn’t have guessed that waste would be so ruthless.” Wen Changqing furrowed his brow. “Where is he now?”

Wen Jieyuan said, “They say he’s taken up residence in the haunted manor behind Apricot Clinic.” 

“Hm?” Wen Changqing’s eyes filled with surprise, and his furrowed brow relaxed. “In that case, there’s no need for us to do anything. That waste won’t live through the night!”

“Why do you say that?” Wen Jieyuan was stunned. 

Wen Changqing thought back, then said, “Nine years ago, a gruesome incident occurred there. The doctor and two apprentices living there perished overnight, all three dying bizarre deaths. This incident caused uproar throughout the city, and it had a severe impact on the Apricot Clinic’s business.

“I spent an enormous sum to hire a famous wandering Daoist priest. His name was Wu Ruoqiu, and as soon as he entered the haunted house, he said that a malevolent apparition had occupied the well beside the locust tree!

“The Daoist said that no one beneath the Grandmaster level could possibly defeat it!”

Wen Jieyuan was startled. “What happened after that?”

“Daoist Wu had me forge a chain,” said Wen Changqing. “Then, he used a mysterious and secretive art to seal the well off. Unless a living human takes up residence within the courtyard, the ghost will not appear again.”

When Wen Jieyuan heard that, he instantly understood. “So you’re saying that if Su Yi spends the night there, he’s doomed?”

Wen Changqing laughed. “Almost certainly. I’ve wondered why the matriarch was so insistent on having Lingzhao marry Su Yi ever since their marriage, but no matter her reasoning, if Su Yi dies, it’ll be good for the entire family.”

Wen Jieyuan nodded repeatedly. “That’s right. Cousin Lingzhao is about to become a Grandmaster’s disciple. How could a waste like Su Yi be worthy of her? His death will benefit her too.”

Wen Changqing’s expression suddenly turned serious. “You are not to leak this information to anyone else. If others find out that we were well aware of the residence’s problems but chose not to warn Su Yi, we’ll be implicated by his death.”

“I understand,” said Wen Jieyuan with a smile. “He’s brought this on himself. Does he really think he can obtain the Apricot Clinic so easily? Now that I think about it, the one who really killed him was his mother-in-law, Qin Qing, not us.”

“Don’t be impudent!” rebuked Wen Changqing. “She’s your aunt and Lingzhao’s mother. You’d best be more respectful going forward!”

Wen Jieyuan nodded dismissively.

...

Night gradually drew near.

After a full day’s work, the Apricot Clinic finally extinguished its lights and closed its doors.

Su Yi sat alone within one of the residence’s three rooms, breathing and circulating his blood and qi to repeatedly temper his connective tissue. This was the breathing technique for the Blood Circulation Realm’s third layer, “Refining Sinew.”

Refining Sinew referred to using the qi and blood to refine the body’s fascia, tendons, and ligaments, making them as tough as bowstrings and soft as cotton. This process made you as flexible as a civet.

“Rising like an arrow, falling like the wind, moving like a civet.” All of these were difficult for ordinary people. They key lay in “Refining Sinew.”

Upon tempering their connective tissue, a cultivator’s strength would go up another level.

When it came to Blood Circulation Realm cultivation, everyone knew that “Refining skin and flesh is easy, but refining sinew and bone is difficult.” This had been common knowledge since ancient times. Beginning the Refining Sinew stage was equivalent to entering the late-stage Blood Circulation Realm.

After a while, Su Yi rose from the lotus position, drained the cup of ginseng tea he’d prepared in advance, and sensed the baking heat throughout his body. His strength seemed to boil over. Despite himself, he was looking forward to tonight’s operation. 

He hadn’t really engaged in combat since reincarnating.

Who would have guessed that his first opponent would be a ghost?

Next, he picked up the bundle of willow branches and the peach wood sword and left the room. He moved the chair, picked a spot at random, and sat on the stone steps.

The willow branches had been soaking in rooster blood for hours, and the green leaves were dyed with faint tinges of red. When he held the bundle, it felt like a soft whip.

The peach wood sword, he leaned against the bamboo chair.

When he needed to draw his blade, it meant he needed to go all out. 

Were I an ordinary Blood Circulation cultivator, I’m afraid I’d be no match for even an ordinary ghost. However, in my past life, I once fought the Ghost Emperor of the Western Seas. He was willing to gamble, and he made good on his promises; when I won, he gave me a copy of ‘the Ten Directions Asura Sutra.’ They say it's the ultimate Daoist sutra in the eyes of ghost cultivators…. As Su Yi sat there, his thoughts raced.

A night breeze blew past, and the skies grew darker and darker.

It was late, and lamps went out throughout the streets of Guangling City. The darkness was like a tide submerging the earth. This was a lull amidst the hustle and bustle of the city. The people sank into slumber, the streets silent save for the occasional distant howling of dogs. 

Tonight, layers of dense, dark clouds blotted out the starlight. Within the courtyard, all was dark save for the flickering light of the candle he’d placed within his room, but through the paper curtain, it was dull and indistinct. 

Su Yi clenched his bundle of willow branches and stood silently within the darkness of the night. He was calm and unhurried, tranquil and at ease.

Except, there was a hint of anticipation in his gaze.

Suddenly, the locust tree’s branches rattled, rustling the leaves. Against the darkness of the night, it was like a series of whispered conversations near and far.

The rust-flecked chains sealing the well shifted and rubbed together like a nest of snakes. The sound was reminiscent of a hooting owl, and it sent a chill down one’s spine. The temperature of the surrounding air plummeted, like the sudden onset of winter, bone-chillingly cold.

Whoosh~!

Leaves fell from the locust tree and hit the ground. As soon as they landed, sinister winds carried them into the air. They fluttered about, drops of ink against the night sky, like countless shadows in a frenzied dance.

The winds rustled Su Yi’s blue robe, and his eyes narrowed.

As the leaf-laden wind swept towards him, he finally took action.

He raised his right hand and shook his wrist.

The bundle of soft willow branches straightened and cracked like a whip, emitting a faint, bloody glow against the darkness. 

Whap!

The sound was crisp, going off like a sudden crack of thunder. 

Seth's Thoughts

Just to clarify: “Wen Jieyuan” is not a typo. This is a different person from Wen Jueyuan. Wen Jieyuan is (Second Elder) Wen Changqing’s son, while Wen Jueyuan is (Family Head) Wen Changjing’s son.

….I know the names are really similar. I’m sorry! I didn’t name them!