First Immortal of the Sword

Daoist Master Moyang, the leader of Qingyi Dao Sect, lit up. “Nine Tripod City? Is the boy perhaps planning to participate in the Orchid Terrance Dharma Assembly?”

The gray-robed old man said in a low voice, “It’s highly likely!”

Daoist Master Moyang sank into silence.

His hair was silver, and he had a willowy beard. His features were youthful, but when his eyes moved, they carried traces of the vicissitudes of his many years of life.

He now sat in the grand hall’s central seat, and although he only wore simple, unadorned hemp robes, he was extremely imposing. He had the overpowering air of a monarch gazing down upon his domain.

“Have you investigated whether or not Su Yi has experts accompanying him?” asked Daoist Master Moyang.

The way he saw it, no matter how heaven-defying a Grain Avoidance youth’s combat skills were, he couldn’t possibly have killed a mid-stage Spiritual Manifestation cultivator like Li Miaohong himself.

“We have yet to determine that.” The old man in gray shook his head.

Daoist Master Moyang’s eyebrows faintly knit together.

It was then that a short, fat old man rushed into the grand hall like a gust of wind. “Senior Apprentice Brother Moyang, there’s big news from Cloudsky Divine Palace!”

Daoist Master Lei Feng.

He was the third elder of the inner sect, as well as Daoist Master Moyang’s junior apprentice brother. He, too, was in the Spiritual Manifestation Realm.

“What is it?” Both Daoist Master Moyang and the elderly man in gray looked over.

Daoist Master Lei Feng said, “Apparently, three of Cloudsky Divine Palace’s inner sect disciples were killed by Su Yi. One of them, Huo Yunsheng, was the heir of the head of the Huo Family and the grand-nephew of Cloudsky Divine Palace’s Grand Elder Huo Tiandu!”

His expression carried a trace of schadenfreude. “The old-timers of Cloudsky Divine Palace argued over this for days, but one thing’s for sure… Su Yi is in for big trouble!”

However, Daoist Master Moyang’s brow furrowed tightly; something wasn’t right here. “Su Yi… There’s something strange about him!”

Li Miaohong was the Qingyi Dao Sect’s third inner sect elder, a mid-stage Spiritual Manifestation cultivator, yet he’d fallen while attempting to take down Su Yi, a Grain Avoidance cultivator.

Now, three inner sect disciples of Cloudsky Divine Palace had lost their lives at Su Yi’s hands too. Who would dare believe such a thing?

“Right!? He’s a young man from the Great Zhou, yet of late, he’s offended both the Qingyi Dao Sect and Cloudsky Divine Palace in rapid succession. His courage… is simply through the roof!”

The elder in gray realized that something was amiss too. “Even those monsters of the ancient era dare not offend the four great orthodoxies lightly. Where… Where did Su Yi get the courage to do this?”

Search bit.ly/3iBfjkV for the original.

Daoist Master Lei Feng was gloating earlier, but when he heard this, he was stunned. A moment later, he came to his senses and said gravely, “You suspect that a terrifying expert stands behind Su Yi, or perhaps an unknown faction?”

“Hard to say.” Daoist Master Moyang’s expression filled with uncertainty. “But no matter what, we cannot underestimate the boy.”

He paused, then made his decision. “Junior Apprentice Brother Lei Feng, go to Nine Tripod City with Junior Apprentice Brother Ting He. Leave now, and when you get there, call upon all the power and connections at your disposal. I want you to investigate Su Yi in detail.”

Daoist Masters Lei Feng and Ting He agreed, but it seemed Daoist Master Moyang still couldn’t rest assured. He ordered, “Remember, unless absolutely necessary, you are not to make any direct contact with Su Yi. He might not be a threat to two Spiritual Manifestation Realm cultivators such as yourselves, but we must stay on guard; he might well have an expert accompanying him.”

Both were instantly solemn, and they nodded.

“Go. News of Elder Li Miaohong’s death has already caused widespread uproar. Who knows how many people are gloating over our misfortune? Who knows how many are laughing at us? It doesn’t matter where Su Yi came from; the Qingyi Dao Sect absolutely cannot let him get away with this!” 

Daoist Master Moyang’s eyes flashed with icy light.

Today was the tenth day of the ninth lunar month.

On this day, two towering entities of the Great Xia, the Cloudsky Divine Palace and the Qingyi Dao Sect, pointed their spears at Su Yi!

……

Five days later.

Night on the fifteenth day of the ninth lunar month.

After crossing a vast mountain range, Su Yi and his companions finally saw Nine Tripod City in the distance.

The light of dusk was like fire against the boundless darkness.

Nine Tripod City was like a primordial giant dragon coiled up on the ground. It stretched into the distance, rising and falling like a mountain range, so vast that there was no end in sight.

As the fading light of dusk illuminated the massive city, the walls, which looked as if they’d been forged out of ancient divine metal, shone with radiant luster. They were solemn and majestic.

This was the place every cultivator longed for, the City of Cultivation, a place the common folk praised as the city of immortals. 

It was the heart of the Great Xia, and it had survived the corrosion of the thirty thousand years of the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness. It was like the most dazzlingly radiant pearl on the entire Azure Continent. 

“So this is the Great Xia’s imperial city…?” Yuan Heng felt shaken. As he gazed upon it from afar, he felt an awe he struggled to put into words. It was as if he were looking upon sacred ground.

“Nine Tripod City covers nine hundred thousand square miles; it’s the size of some mundane nations. They say it’s so enormous that ordinary citizens would have to walk for three days and three nights to travel from one end to the other,” muttered Bai Wenqing. “I didn’t believe it at first, but looking at it now, it seems the rumors aren’t the least bit exaggerated…”

Nine Tripod City was just too big. It was just a city, but from afar, it seemed to link heaven and earth, and it seemed to stretch out endlessly.

“Not bad. This city really does have some of the ambiance a ‘city of immortals’ should.” Su Yi nodded. 

At least in terms of its atmosphere, Nine Tripod City was comparable to some of the Wilds’ auspiciously-located cities of cultivation.

However, the way Su Yi saw it, that was how Nine Tripod City ought to be. A gathering point for cultivators ought to exceed nature. It ought to have an immortal flair!

“Come on, let’s go in.” Su Yi led the way.

The closer they got, the more they sensed its sheer grandeur and enormousness. The walls alone were a thousand feet tall, and the gate was so tall that those who passed through it looked utterly paltry and insignificant.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The area beyond the city gates was lively. Streak after streak of radiant light descended, ripping through the skies. When they reached the gates, every last one of them obediently drifted down to earth, then proceeded into the city on foot. 

Flying was forbidden within Nine Tripod City!

Not even Spirit Dao cultivators dared overstep their bounds.

If they did, the ancient restriction covering the city would blow them apart.

“So many cultivators…” exclaimed Yuan Heng.

Near the city gates, people were even more numerous than carp in the river. The vast majority of them were cultivators, and their ranks included men and women of all ages.

Typical cultivators aside, there was no shortage of yao cultivators, Buddhist cultivators, and other such characters.

Some rode on palanquins. Others sat astride spirit birds or beasts. Looking at this, it seemed as if they’d left mundanity and arrived in true land of cultivation. 

Bai Wenqing looked dazed. It was simply unbelievable!

Under ordinary circumstances, where could they see cultivators as numerous as clouds in the sky? Where else could they see such a bustling crowd?

But it was as if Su Yi didn’t even see it.

In the Nine Provinces of the Wilds, scenes like this were commonplace.

Instead, he gazed up at the thousand-foot city walls shining with bronze luster.

The walls were hewn out of massive stones, and each had undergone secret forging techniques. They were covered in formation glyphs, and beneath the light of dusk, they emanated mysterious spiritual fluctuations. 

Each individual brick was worth countless spirit stones. Countless such bricks piled into thousand-foot walls that stretched seemingly beyond limit… Spirit stones alone were nowhere near enough to gauge the wall’s value!

Su Yi seemed thoughtful. It seems the rumors are true. All of Nine Tripod City is covered by a massive formation; it stretches over the city’s full nine hundred thousand square miles. There really is a dragon vein suppressed beneath it, which connects with the natural force of heaven and earth. If circulated, the formation really could kill Spirit Dao cultivators with ease.

He’d once spoken of this with Wen Xinzhao. She said that there were nine Divine Tripods arranged like a Nine Palaces Diagram. They were placed in nine different spots throughout the city.

Each Divine Tripod was a divine artifact from thirty thousand years ago. They were the base of the formation, and their power had protected Nine Tripod City from the corrosive power of the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness for thirty thousand years. 

Both the nine Divine Tripods and the restriction covering the city were under the control of the Great Xia’s imperial family. 

This was why the imperial family reigned supreme over the world, and how they managed to keep the masses in check.

Not even the Qingyi Dao Sect, Fulcrum of Heaven Sword Sect, Cloudsky Divine Palace, and Maha Temple would dare cause trouble in Nine Tripod City lightly.

When Su Yi first heard these rumors, he only half believed them.

Now, when he saw the piled bricks and glyphs of the city wall, Su Yi was finally certain. If the imperial family possessed such a massive formation, they really did have the foundations needed to reign over every other faction of cultivators in this world. 

But the power of the formation covering Nine Tripod City is in grave disrepair… thought Su Yi.     

The corrosion of thirty thousand years of the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness had resulted in countless ancient orthodoxies disappearing into the river of history.

Although Nine Tripod City still stood, the formation covering it was severely damaged and corroded.

Despite their accumulations, the imperial family of the Great Xia has yet to take action to repair the formation surrounding the city. Could it be that even with all the methods at their disposal, they cannot resolve this issue? 

As Su Yi pondered, a voice suddenly resounded in his ears—

“Young friend, did you perhaps notice anything about the city walls?”

Su Yi turned to look and saw a middle-aged man standing not far away. He was smiling at him, his expression faintly curious.

He wore simple cloth robes, and his ink-dark hair was tied up. He looked like he was in his forties, with well-formed facial features smooth as jade.

He stood there, hands behind his back and a smile on his lips, elegant and at ease, like a Confucian scholar long immersed in his studies. 

Su Yi silently narrowed his eyes, but soon, his expression turned tranquil, without even a ripple of emotion. “Are you asking because you want to make idle conversation, or are you requesting my guidance?”

The middle-aged man was stunned. He approached with a smile. “What do you mean by idle conversation? And what do you mean, ‘request your guidance?’”

Now, even Yuan Heng and Bai Wenqing could tell that something was off about this middle-aged man, and both were instantly on guard.

It was forbidden to fly over Nine Tripod City, but there was no prohibition against fighting and killing!

“If you’re just chatting, I am in no mood to stand near the gates and waste time with a stranger of unknown motives.” Su Yi said casually. “If you’re looking for guidance, you ought to act humbler. Perhaps, if I’m in a good mood, I wouldn’t mind telling you what I saw.”

The middle-aged man in cloth robes was stunned; it seemed he didn’t anticipate this response.

But then, he smiled, clasped his fist, and bowed. “I’ll pass on the idle conversation; I have no desire to waste your time. Please instruct me, my young friend.”

“‘Young friend?’” Su Yi smiled faintly.

The middle-aged man looked like he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but he nonetheless dutifully changed Su Yi’s title. “Please instruct me, Fellow Daoist.”

This display of etiquette wasn’t at all perfunctory; he performed it naturally, and his disposition seemed as mild as a spring breeze. This left a good impression on those around him.

However, when Su Yi saw this, he felt a bit surprised.