First Immortal of the Sword

In another room of the treasure ship.

Ren Youyou sat alone, uncertain, uneasy, and utterly despondent. 

She was originally quite eager for a Spiritual Manifestation Realm cultivator like Li Miaohong to attack. She figured he was more than strong enough to take Su Yi down with ease.

Who’d have thought that Su Yi wouldn’t even need to get involved? Someone else killed Li Miaohong where he stood!

Just thinking back to that bloody, violent spectacle left her terrified and out of sorts. It cast a shadow over her heart.

“Youyou, if you don’t want to get swept up into this storm, whatever you do, don’t leak a word of what happened on Broken Dragon Cliff,” Zhang Yuntao said in a low voice, his expression utterly solemn and grave.

Ren Youyou said in a daze, “Martial Uncle Zhang, I can’t even tell our seniors in the sect?”

Zhang Yuntao nodded and sighed. “Li Miaohong was the Qingyi Dao Sect’s third inner sect elder, a famous Spiritual Manifestation cultivator. His death is sure to stir up enormous waves. Given the circumstances, we’re better off pretending we know nothing. We absolutely cannot allow ourselves to get mixed up in this.”

Ren Youyou’s delicate frame quivered, and she nodded hurriedly. “Martial Uncle Zhang, I understand how important this is, and I absolutely won’t leak a word of it!”

How could you possibly understand? Zhang Yuntao sighed to himself. On the surface, he was warning Ren Youyou not to divulge word of Li Miaohong’s death. In reality, he was covering up everything to do with Su Yi and Ying Que.

There was nothing for it; the black flood dragon was too tyrannical. He simply wouldn’t let him reveal anything.

Under the circumstances, Zhang Yuntao had no choice but to use Li Miaohong as a pretense to warn Ren Youyou against revealing what had happened.

“Then… When we get back to the sect, should we report Su Yi’s wicked conduct?” whispered Ren Youyou.

Zhang Yuntao had long since made up his mind, so he said directly, “Aside from what happened at Broken Dragon Cliff, we should report everything else that happened.”

Ren Youyou nodded and let out a long sigh.

….

In another room, Wen Xinzhao said softly, “Qing Ya, when you follow me back to the sect, don’t discuss Fellow Daoist Su with other people. Otherwise, it’s hard to say how much of a disturbance it’ll cause. Do you understand?” 

Qing Ya smiled sweetly and chirped, “Little Martial Aunt, don’t worry! I promise to pretend I don’t even know Big Brother Su Yi!”

Wen Xinzhao smiled too. She pinched Qing Ya’s adorable cheeks and said, “When we get back, I’ll request an audience with my master, and I’ll try and get her to accept you as her disciple too. I trust that with your aptitude, you’re sure to shine in the future.”

Qing Ya giggled. “Wouldn’t that make us apprentice sisters, Little Martial Aunt?”

Wen Xinzhao couldn’t help but smile. “It’s just seniority in the sect. It doesn’t matter at all. Besides, we were only a few years apart to begin with.”

“Hm.” Qing Ya grunted, then furrowed her brow and sighed. “If I go to Cloudsky Divine Palace, I don’t know when I’ll next see Big Brother Su Yi.”

When she brought up Su Yi, Wen Xinzhao’s gaze shifted.

In just a few days, they and Su Yi would part ways. The matchless, picture-perfect Little Sword Demon couldn’t help but feel reluctant.

……

On the same day that Su Yi and company boarded their ship and left Broken Dragon Cliff.

The Qingyi Dao Sect. 

A panicked shriek rang out.

“This is bad! This is bad! Elder Miaohong’s soul lantern went out!”

This news shook the entire sect, regardless of rank.

A Spiritual Manifestation cultivator had fallen. How could this have happened?

As one of the Great Xia’s four peak-level orthodoxies, this was the first time one of their Spiritual Manifestation cultivators had perished unexpectedly in almost one thousand years!

The leader of the Qingyi Daoist Sect, Daoist Master Moyang, was refining medicine in seclusion when he heard the news. He left seclusion that very day to investigate this matter personally.

It wasn’t long before he learned that recently, Li Miaohong had been calling upon the sect’s forces to investigate a young man named Su Yi.

Furthermore, just a few days ago, it was precisely because he’d learned that Su Yi was within the Great Xia that he left the sect.

From this, Daoist Master Moyang immediately deduced that Daoist Master Miaohong’s death was somehow connected to the young man named Su Yi.

That very day, Daoist Master Moyang, in his capacity as the sect’s leader, ordered the sect’s experts to investigate. They were to hold nothing back, and once they understood the full picture, they would get justice!

Word of Li Miaohong’s death quickly spread beyond the Qingyi Dao Sect.

The passing of a Spiritual Manifestation Realm cultivator shook the entire nation. There was no way they could keep it under wraps.

A storm arose, just like that. It was hard to say how great a commotion would unfold over the course of the next few days. 

As for Su Yi? He’d long since relegated Li Miaohong’s death to the back of his mind. To him, it was a trivial matter.

….

Seven days later.

Just as he expected, Su Yi’s cultivation rose to the pinnacle of the Grain Avoidance Realm.

It was on that same day that the group arrived at the Fufeng Province’s Golden Willow City,

This novel is available on bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

“Brother Su, before we part ways, allow me to offer you a toast.” Wen Xinzhao sat in one of the city’s restaurants and raised her cup.

Su Yi smiled, raised his cup, and clinked glasses.

Cloudsky Divine Palace was built on Cloudsky Divine Mountain, in the Solar Province.

If one continued north from Golden Willow City, they’d reach the Azure Province, where the Great Xia’s imperial capital was located.

However, the Solar Province and Cloudsky Divine Palace were to the west.

This meant that the group would part ways here.

“Big Brother Su Yi, let me offer you a toast too!” Qing Ya raised her cup. She was obviously reluctant to part with him; she made no effort to disguise her emotions.

Su Yi clinked glasses with her and said, “If anyone in Cloudsky Divine Palace bullies you, tell your little martial aunt. If she can’t fix the problem, come looking for me.”

Qing Ya giggled, “Now that you’ve said that, I really hope someone tries bullying me! Wouldn’t that mean I get to see you again?”

The group couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“Brother Su, Qing Ya and I ought to get going. We can’t keep Martial Uncle Zhang and Junior Apprentice Sister Ren waiting forever,” Wen Xinzhao said softly.

Su Yi nodded.

Neither Ren Youyou nor Zhang Yuntao participated in this farewell banquet. Su Yi naturally understood that neither wanted to form any connection with him at all.

“Here is some of my insight into Origin Dao-level sword intent. Take it.” Su Yi took out a jade slip and passed it to Wen Xinzhao.

Wen Xinzhao had incredible talent and powers of comprehension when it came to the Dao of the Sword. Even though she was already a legendary figure of Cloudsky Divine Palace’s younger generation and the Little Sword Demon famous throughout the Great Xia, in Su Yi’s eyes, she’d only excavated a tiny portion of her potential.

Su Yi was effectively picking up a piece of uncut jade and polishing it, bit by bit, to reveal its unique dazzling luster!

“Many thanks, Fellow Daoist Su!” Wen Xinzhao’s heart shook, and a warm current coursed through her.

“Big Brother Su Yi, what about me?” Qing Ya batted her big, shiny eyes.

Su Yi laughed. “How could I possibly forget you?” 

As he spoke, he took out another jade slip. “Take it.”

He’d already prepared this for her. This lively, adorable, beautiful young woman had the unparalleled Profound Flesh Spirit Bone. Even by the standards of the Nine Provinces of the Wilds, such a spirit root was top-class and extremely rare.

Her talent and powers of comprehension were extraordinary too. She could directly sense and approach the aura of the Grand Dao. She was monstrous; if they knew of her, the Wilds’ ancient orthodoxies would compete to recruit her.

Su Yi naturally wouldn’t neglect a genius with such a spirit root. The jade slip he’d prepared for her didn’t contain any legacies or secret techniques. Rather, it was a method for excavating and awakening her talent and the latent potential of her spirit root. 

“Thank you, Big Brother Su Yi!” Qing Ya smiled, her eyes like twin crescent moons.

The young woman’s smile was as radiant as the sunrise, and when he saw it, Su Yi couldn’t help but think back to his past life and recall his youngest disciple, Qing Tang. Despite himself, he sighed.

Later that day.

Wen Xinzhao, Qing Ya, Zhang Yuntao, and Ren Youyou bade Su Yi farewell and began their journey back to the sect.

Just before they left, Wen Xinzhao said directly, “I’ll head to Nine Tripod City before the curtains open on the Orchid Terrace Dharma Assembly, and I hope to see you there.”

Su Yi smiled in response, but he made no guarantees. He still hadn’t decided whether or not he was going to participate in the Orchid Terrace Dharma Assembly.

“Master, should we begin our journey to Nine Tripod City immediately?” asked Yuan Heng. Now, only he and Bai Wenqing remained at Su Yi’s side.

“No rush.” Su Yi thought for a moment, then said, “I’ll be breaking through soon, so let’s rest here in Golden Willow City for a while.”

Today was the second day of the ninth lunar month. A little more than a month remained until the curtains opened on the Great Xia’s Orchid Terrace Dharma Assembly.

Su Yi first departed the Great Zhou on the second day of the seventh month, which meant that two months had passed.

During that time, he and his servant traversed who-knows-how-many mundane nations and crossed countless mountains and rivers.

During the Zhongyuan, or “ghost” festival, they rescued siblings Cao Ping and Cao An, killed the ghost cultivator the Firewood Daoist, and bumped into an old acquaintance, the Divine Monarch of Tragedy.

It was then that they met with Qing Ya and her master Ling Yunhe.

He and Yuan Heng once floated down the Great Chu’s Billowing Sky River in a black awning boat. He cut down Madam Miaohua and a whole group of cultivators from the Great Chu, helping Qing Wan overcome her strange, unparalleled tribulation of metamorphosis. It was then that she became a true ghost cultivator.

Then, in the Cloud Python Mountains’ Cold Emerald Valley, he met Bai Wenqing and obtained the Absolute Yin Spirit Vein.

And when he reached the Great Xia, he encountered the old blind man, a member of the Ghost Lantern Sarcophagus Bearers, in Little Ghost City Fengdu….

During the Spiritbend Assembly, he obtained a Demonic Womb…

In the Jade Bottle Province, there was trouble with the Zuo Family. It was there that he killed a prominent assassin of the Sea of Bitterness, the Ferryman, and obtained a Xiantian Dao Seed.

Then, by Broken Dragon Cliff, he met the black flood dragon Ying Que….

Now, he’d arrived in the Fufeng Province’s Golden Willow City. When he thought back to everything he’d experienced over the past two months, Su Yi couldn’t help but sigh. I didn’t make this journey in vain!

This is the meaning of traveling. As I wander, I polish my Dao Heart amidst mortal dust and undergo repeated transformations and baptisms by overcoming worldly conflicts!

Su Yi entered the Grain Avoidance Realm shortly before leaving the Great Zhou. Now, just two months later, he was already on the verge of attacking the Origin Palace Realm!

Before he broke through, Su Yi had to comb through his recent experiences and let them settle into his mind.

Only then could he break through and ascend with a flawless heart!

That very day, Su Yi and company took up residence in a remote, tranquil courtyard in Golden Willow City.

One day passed after another.

Su Yi didn’t take so much as a single step outside. He sat there in silent meditation, still as a mud statue.

On the seventh day, as dusk fell, Yuan Heng and Bai Wenqing sensed something. Both of them looked at Su Yi’s room.