First Immortal of the Sword

Ge Qian watched Mo Xingzhe disappear. He couldn’t help but mutter, “If it were me, I would never take the initiative to provoke someone like that. Even if I were much stronger, it’s hard to avoid unexpected setbacks.”

Su Yi couldn’t help but laugh. “People come in all stripes, and we all have different personalities. If everyone were as cautious as you, wouldn’t it be awfully dull?”

The nearby Weng Jiu walked over and cautioned him. “Fellow Daoist Su, in this old man’s estimation, Mo Xingzhe isn’t the reckless type. That he dared openly provoke you despite knowing you’d once effortlessly suppressed Huan Shaoyou suggests he has incredibly powerful cards up his sleeves.”

Su Yi nodded. “That’s only natural.”

“It’s not just Mo Xingzhe,” said Weng Jiu. “Every single participant on this expedition to Sumeru Immortal Island has long since prepared life-saving treasures. After all, if they fall on Sumeru Immortal Island, it would be an enormous loss to the factions behind them.”

He paused, then said gravely, “The crux of the matter is that most of them are in the peak Gathering Stars Realm. Several, including Yan Jingyun, Mo Xingzhe, and Xing Lingzhen, have all come with plans of breaking through on Sumeru Immortal Island. Huan Shaoyou is planning this too.

“From this, it’s easy to predict their next move. As soon as they reach Sumeru Immortal Island, they’ll attempt their breakthrough!

“With their accumulations and talent, should they become Spiritual Manifestation Realm cultivators, their strength will undergo an earth-shaking transformation. Combined with the trump cards and killer moves and their disposal… They represent an enormous threat.

“Fellow Daoist Su, given the circumstances, you must be cautious.”

This was an earnest attempt at persuasion.

The way Weng Jiu saw it, Su Yi was ultimately still just a late-stage Origin Palace cultivator. Once the monsters of the ancient era broke through, the gap in cultivations alone was worrying; there was no way he wouldn’t be concerned!

Ge Qian nodded repeatedly. “Senior, you’re absolutely right. Better safe than sorry. It would be best if we could avoid a direct confrontation during this trip to Sumeru Immortal Island.”

However, in response, Su Yi just thought seriously for a moment, then said, “I think the ones who really ought to be careful are my would-be opponents.”

“.....”

“....”

Neither Weng Jiu nor Ge Qian had anything to say to that.

Wen Xinzhao and Yue Shichan looked at each other. They couldn’t help but smile.

This was the Su Yi they were familiar with. He seemed relaxed and careless on the outside, but in truth, he was simply confident and contemptuous, with an invincible bearing.

After watching the others proceed through the entrance to Sumeru Immortal Island, Weng Jiu took a jade box from his sleeve. He passed it to Su Yi.

“Fellow Daoist Su, this is a trinket my lord prepared for you. Should you encounter a threat during your time on Sumeru Immortal Island, please use this to neutralize it.”

As he spoke, he opened the lid.

Inside was a palm-sized, butterfly-shaped, inky black jade talisman. Its eyes were crystalline, clear, and white. It was so vividly carved that it almost seemed alive.

“An imperial-level talisman?” Su Yi couldn’t help but exclaim.

Weng Jiu whispered, “This talisman is called ‘Butterfly Transforming the Firmament.’ Although thirty thousand years of the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness have frittered away much of its power, it’s still too strong to underestimate. It’s one of the most precious items in the imperial treasury. My lord was worried about your safety, so he chose to give it to you. Please, accept it with a smile.”

Ge Qian, Wen Xinzhao, and Yue Shichan were inwardly stunned.

The emperor had sure spared no expense!

“Many thanks.” Su Yi accepted it, then immediately passed it to Ge Qian. “I’ll have you hold onto it.”

This caught Ge Qian completely off guard; he could never have anticipated that Su Yi would entrust him with something so precious so casually. Despite himself, his mind went blank. “This…”

“You’re the most cautious and alert among us,” said Su Yi. “If anything unexpected happens while I’m unable to take care of you, use that.”

“Your Excellency Su Yi, please rest assured. I won’t let you down.” Ge Qian took a deep breath, then accepted the jade box with both hands.

Then, without any further delays, Su Yi and company took to the skies and flew toward the entrance to Sumeru Immortal Island.

It was only after watching them disappear from view that Weng Jiu grimaced and muttered, “If my lord found out that Su Yi casually entrusted the Butterfly Transforming the Firmament to someone else, I wonder what he’d think…”

 ……

Sumeru Immortal Island.

This was a hidden realm separate from the outside world.

The vast mountain wilderness stretched into the distance. Both heaven and earth had a primordial, uncultivated air about them.

“What dense spiritual energy!” Ge Qian exclaimed from within a valley.

“The spiritual energy here is denser than in the best immortal cave Cloudsky Divine Palace has to offer.” Wen Xinzhao’s eyes lit up.

Yue Shichan calmed her heart and focused. She could sense that dense spiritual energy permeated every inch of sky. Every breath left her feeling soothed and refreshed, and her energy felt much livelier than before.

When she looked around, she saw that the perfectly ordinary trees and grasses were flourishing and full of life. They even emanated a faint spiritual luster.

Not far away, Su Yi scooped up a patch of dirt and spread it with his fingertips, then raised his head and looked around. A strange light shone in his eyes.

This hidden realm was indeed a pure land detached from the outside world. The spiritual energy flourished, and the presence of the Grand Dao was startling.

Even in the Nine Provinces of the Wilds, this would have been a first-rate blessed ground for cultivation.

“Your Excellency Su Yi, it seems to me that we should just find a place to cultivate quietly for a while. I trust that all of us will achieve amazing breakthroughs. This way, we can avoid any chance of clashing with our enemies, and we won’t have to worry about encountering any danger,” said Ge Qian. He was practically trembling with excitement.

The crux of his argument was this: survival above all else!

Wen Xinzhao and Yue Shichan were speechless. Is someone this cautious and this careful… really a man?

As for Su Yi, he directly ignored Ge Qian. He swept his gaze across the area, then proceeded into the distance. “Come on; let’s investigate the situation here first.”

This place had been all but untouched for tens of thousands of years. It was sure to have given rise to numerous rare and precious spiritual medicines and divine materials!

That aside, rumor had it that thirty thousand years ago, Sumeru Immortal Island was the ancestral ground of the Sumeru Shrine, one of the three great yao sects. Extraordinary opportunities and strokes of fortune surely lay in wait here.

Of course, more importantly, this place most likely hid clues about the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness!

Under the circumstances, how could Su Yi possibly choose to turtle up and cultivate?

He’d come to Sumeru Immortal Island with two goals.

The first was to cultivate. He was already in the late-stage Origin Palace Realm, and he’d break into the Gathering Stars Realm soon. It would be ideal if he could achieve this breakthrough here, in Sumeru Immortal Island.

As far as his comprehension of the Grand Dao went, although he’d long since perfected his grasp of the Dao Charms of the five elements, wind, and Yin, he was still missing the Dao Charm of Yang and the Dao Charm and Lightning. Without these missing pieces, he couldn’t fuse his comprehension into the peerless Dao Charms of “Yin and Yang” and “Wind and Lightning.”

With the knowledge and experience of his past life, Su Yi was naturally well aware that a first-rate secret realm like Sumeru Immortal Island could very well contain power related to the Dao Charms of Yang and Lightning!

After all, strictly speaking, neither the Dao Charm of Yang nor the Dao Charm of Lightning was particularly rare.

Su Yi planned to reach the Gathering Star Realms within the month. At the same time, he’d achieve full mastery of the two missing Dao Charms!

His other goal was to investigate the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness.

Months prior, while exploring the ruins of the Immortals’ Sword House, Su Yi learned numerous secrets regarding the onset of the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness. He’d long since known that this taboo power originated from the source of the Azure Continent.

This was the so-called “Origins of the Azure.”

Rumor had it that the Origins of the Azure were located within a forbidden ground known as the Well of Ancient Chaos.

In the distant past, an Imperial Realm cultivator inadvertently ventured inside and removed an unknown and mysterious seal. The power of the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness burst out of the Well of Ancient Chaos, sweeping across the Azure Continent and lasting for thirty thousand years.

However, today, few knew the precise location of the Well of Ancient Chaos.

Su Yi was naturally extremely interested. He wanted to seize this opportunity to see if he could uncover any similar clues here on Sumeru Immortal Island.

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The group set out without any delays.

Investigating an unknown hidden realm was, to Su Yi, as easy as could be. Furthermore, he had an extreme abundance of experience.

With the knowledge of his past life, Su Yi could discern the momentum of heaven and earth, and determine the positions of wind and water. As he led his group through the wilderness, he brought them to places of ever-increasing spiritual energy.

From time to time, he stopped and circulated secret arts used for sensing spiritual energy and seeking out treasure. He also used his divine sense to analyze the spiritual entities dispersed throughout heaven and earth.

Along the way, they did indeed pick quite a few spiritual medicines and materials. All were at least tier-six, but some were tier seven.

Just as Su Yi expected, it had been a long, long time since anyone had entered Sumeru Immortal Island. Add that to the density of the ambient spiritual energy and the shockingly clear presence of the Grand Dao, and the landscape had given rise to numerous spiritual medicines and materials considered rare and precious in the outside world.

When Su Yi took the time to seek them out, relying on the experience of his past life and various relevant secret arts, he obtained over a hundred spiritual medicines and materials in less than two hours!

“Brother Su, if I didn’t know better, I’d suspect you’d been to Sumeru Immortal Island before.” Wen Xinzhao couldn’t help but sigh. Her clear, beautiful features were full of admiration.

Yue Shichan and Ge Qian couldn’t help but nod.

This was strange and unfamiliar territory, but Su Yi acted as if this were his own vegetable garden. He started and stopped, effortlessly discovering one hidden, well-disguised spiritual medicine after another. 

Sometimes, despite more than ten miles of distance, a single glance was enough to tell him that a given region contained spiritual medicines or materials. When they investigated, they found that was indeed the case.

These practically divine methods had long since left his companions dazzled and sighing with admiration. 

Could they do the same? They trusted that they could find at least some medicines and materials, but it would take a lot of time and effort. They couldn’t possibly do so with such casual ease.

“It’s just a few petty tricks,” said Su Yi casually. “Later, when you’ve gained more experience, if you venture into a hidden realm like this again, you’ll naturally be able to do the same.”

He paused here. His eyes suddenly focused, and he gazed into the distance.

“Ee?”