First Immortal of the Sword

Five days later

The eighth day of the eleventh lunar month.

Near the Great Xia’s southern border, Yin Mountain City, also known as “Little Ghost City Fengdu.”

This was the first city Su Yi visited after arriving in the Great Xia. It was here, in Little Fengdu’s ghost market, that he met the old blind man of the Ghost Lantern Sarcophagus bearers.

A room near the window on the second floor of a restaurant.

Su Yi, Yue Shichan, Ge Qian, Yuan Heng, and Bai Wenqing were drinking together.

“Three months ago, Master and I met Bai Wenqing in the Cloud Python Mountains’ Cold Emerald Valley,” said Yuan Heng with great emotion. “At the time, we were still traveling with Fellow Daoist Ling and Miss Qing Ya, and Master was still in the Grain Avoidance Realm.

“It’s been just three short months, yet Master’s cultivation has already reached the Gathering Stars Realm. When I think back to our experiences in the Great Xia, I almost feel like I’m dreaming.”

Bai Wenqing couldn’t help but smile. She, too, felt moved.

During her time traveling with Su Yi, she’d learned on a deep level that sometimes, choosing the right person to follow could change your destiny!

Just three months ago, she was still just a Snowfiend Profound Python unable to take on human form.

Now, she was already a late-stage Gathering Stars Realm cultivator!

Given the extent of her transformation, how could she not be moved?

This was what they meant when they said that if one person obtained the Dao, even their dogs and chickens ascended to heaven!

“Even if we’d changed more, our changes wouldn’t be able to compete with the changes that will occur in the upcoming year,” said Su Yi, draining a cup of wine and gazing out the window.

It had been five days since he’d left Nine Tripod City, crossing numerous provinces and cities. He’d already witnessed quite a few changes.

The ambient spiritual energy increased with each passing day.

It was still sparse, but the trend was already enough to influence cultivators throughout the world!

Deep within the mountainous wilderness, countless yao destroyed their shackles and achieved new breakthroughs.

In various ancient factions, countless cultivators long trapped at bottlenecks gleaned enlightenment into the traces of the Grand Dao of heaven and earth. In doing so, they realized shocking growth in their cultivations. 

Even the ordinary martial artists dispersed throughout the mundane world had obtained all sorts of benefits from the increasingly dense spiritual energy.

The reason was simple: the Azure Continent’s spiritual energy had been far too sparse before!

Even though the Great Xia was the greatest of the continent’s many nations, its unquestioned hegemon, only those major factions in possession of blessed grounds for cultivation could train capable cultivators.

However, things were different now. The ambient spiritual energy increased with each passing day, benefiting all cultivators beneath the heavens!

This was the so-called “impartiality of heaven’s blessings.” Rain fell evenly, without discrimination.

Admittedly, the ambient spiritual energy still wasn’t all that shocking or dense.

However, as the spiritual energy increased, the presence of the Grand Dao increased too. This made it far easier for the world’s cultivators to gain enlightenment into its mysteries!

At the same time, throughout the landscape, numerous spiritual materials and medicines grew at shocking speeds, and in far greater abundance than before.

Like bamboo shooting up after a spring rain!

This was the change in heaven and earth.

Although this was only just the beginning, and although they’d yet to welcome the true Radiant Epoch, so long as things continued like this, the world would inevitably undergo an earth-shaking transformation. 

It would have an enormous influence on both the distribution of power and every living thing beneath the heavens!

Su Yi’s words moved Yue Shichan, Ge Qian, and the others.

Over the past five days, even they had detected the differences in the ambient energy.

It was indeed getting earlier to sense the traces of the Grand Dao when they cultivated.

So much had changed, and this was just the beginning. It was impossible to imagine how extensive the changes would be once the Radiant Epoch was truly upon them, and what unbelievable situations would arise.

“It’s been long enough that Miss Xinzhao has most likely already made it back to Cloudsky Divine Palace,” Yue Shichan said softly.

Su Yi nodded.

When they left Nine Tripod City, Wen Xinzhao accompanied them for the first two days of their journey before departing on her own.

In the moments before they separated, all of them could tell that the elegant, beautiful woman was reluctant to leave.

“Let’s visit the city god’s temple, then leave immediately,” said Su Yi shortly after. He drained his cup, rose, and left the restaurant.

Su Yi took his time getting to the Great Xia. On his trip back to the Great Zhou, he was in no rush, either.

Witnessing the mountains and waters, taking in heaven, earth, and all living beings in all their facets, experiencing the world’s ups and downs…

Everything he saw and felt along the way was a form of cultivation. 

…..

Incense fires blaze before the altar. The temple was a sea of people, most of them devotees.

A familiar couplet hung by the sides of the temple gates:

“During your lifetime, it is up to you whether to accumulate merit or commit acts of wickedness.”

“From the beginning of time, the Netherworld has never left anyone off.”

During Su Yi’s first visit to Yin Mountain City, he visited this temple. He stopped here again on his return journey because of one of the temple’s statues.

Before long, Su Yi and his companions reached the temple’s main hall.

A ninety-foot statue towered inside.

The statue depicted a woman with a slender figure. Beneath the waist, her body was that of a coiled serpent. One hand formed a seal, the other held a lotus-shaped lantern aloft.

Believers were waiting in line to enter, light incense, kneel, and pray. Their expressions were pious, and they muttered sutras under their breath.

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When he saw the statue, Su Yi couldn’t help but feel a bit conflicted.

He couldn’t help but recall a beautiful woman in a crown and a crane coat. She, too, carried a lotus-shaped lantern.

The Ghost Serpents were one of the Nine Royal Clans of the Netherworld. Ghosts and malevolent spirits saw them as the envoys of the lamp, and they occupied an extremely lofty position.

“Let’s go.” After a while, Su Yi got his emotions under control, turned, and left. 

This statue wasn’t of his “Little Leaf.” It was merely a member of the Ghost Serpent Race holding her lantern aloft.

His companions couldn’t make heads or tales of this. They didn’t know why Su Yi was doing this, but they were considerate enough not to pry.

They’d only just left the temple when Su Yi suddenly noticed a movingly beautiful woman in a black dress standing amidst the hustle and bustle of the city streets.

When she saw Su Yi, she took a deep breath, as if rallying her courage before walking up to greet him. “Xuan Zhi greets you, Fellow Daoist Su.”

The woman in black was none other than Xuan Zhi, also known as Holy Maiden Jade Angelica of the Deathbringer’s Netherworld Palace.

Furthermore, she was a descendant of the Ghost Serpent Race!

Su Yi’s eyebrows shifted upward, and he felt a bit strange. He was naturally well aware that their meeting was in no way coincidental.

He thought for a moment, then said, “Do you have business with me?”

Holy Maiden Jade Angelica, Xuan Zhi, said, “I… There’s a question on my mind, and I’d like to ask it face-to-face.”

Su Yi swept his gaze across the area. “Let’s talk as we walk.”

As he spoke, he continued ahead. Xuan Zhi walked alongside him, while Su Yi’s other companions created distance to avoid getting involved in their conversation.

“Do you want to ask why I let you go?” Su Yi asked casually along the way.

“That’s right,” said Holy Maiden Jade Angelica with a nod. “If possible, I’d appreciate you clearing up my doubts.”

Su Yi smiled and said, “Before I answer, might you tell me how you, a descendant of the Ghost Serpent Race, came to the Azure Continent?”

She hesitated slightly, then said, “All I know is that long ago, the founder of the Deathbringer’s Netherworld Palace, His Excellency the Netherworld Asura Emperor, came to the Azure Continent from the Netherworld. He was accompanied by a group of Ghost Serpent Race experts.

“There were thirteen of them in total. We call them the Thirteen Divine Emissaries. I am the descendant of one of the thirteen, Divine Emissary Mihe.”

“In other words, although I am a descendant of the Ghost Serpent Race, I was born on the Azure Continent, and I have never been to the Netherworld. Everything I know about it, I heard from my seniors.”

Su Yi mulled that over. “So that’s it.”

He then took out a rolled-up portrait and showed it to the holy maiden. “Take a look at this. Is the man depicted here the Netherworld Asura Emperor?”

Holy Maiden Jade Angelica was stunned. When she unfurled the scroll, she saw a river of blood and a black lotus platform floating in the current.

A man in long black robes and a feather headdress sat cross-legged on the platform. Only the lean silhouette of his back was visible in the painting.

The river of blood was vast, with a surging current. The black-robed man floated on its surface, atop a black lotus platform, his back facing the masses. Although only his silhouette was visible, he seemed lofty and solitary, like a sovereign presiding over the nine heavens. 

Su Yi had obtained this painting in the Locust Tree Kingdom, taking it from Madam Xihua’s manor. He could tell that the painting was ordinary, not a treasure of any kind, but its contents were intriguing. 

It depicted the Netherworld’s famous Blood River of Sin, which originated in the perilous lands of Purgatory and flowed into the endless Sea of Bitterness. Its waters were full of the power of sin. Anything they touched, regardless of whether it was dead or alive, would be corroded down to nothingness.

Only Imperial Realm cultivators could face its corrosive effects without fear!

“That’s right. That is indeed a portrait of the Netherworld Asura Emperor,” said Xuan Zhi.

“What’s his connection with the Ghost Serpents?” asked Su Yi.

After a stunned pause, Xuan Zhi said, “His Excellency the Netherworld Asura Emperor is naturally a member of our race, but he's a main-branch descendant. Long before arriving on the Azure Continent, he was already a highly influential, top expert of the Ghost Serpents. They say…”

She paused here, her expression respectful, even reverent. “They say that the Netherworld Asura Emperor’s elder sister was the first and only empress of the Ghost Serpent Race!”

No matter how calm his mentality, Su Yi couldn’t help but feel flabbergasted. The Netherworld Asura Emperor is… Little Leaf’s younger brother?

A moment later, his expression turned strange. He couldn’t help but ask, “Do you know when the Netherworld Asura Emperor arrived on the Azure Continent?”

After a moment’s thought, Xuan Zhi said, “According to the Deathbringer’s Netherworld Palace’s ancient archives, the Netherworld Asura Emperor first arrived on the Azure Continent roughly thirty-eight thousand years ago.”   

“Thirty-eight thousand years ago…” Su Yi sank into contemplation.

Five hundred years ago, he chose to reincarnate and cultivate anew.

Thirty-eight thousand years ago, he’d long since established dominion over the Wilds, and his sword suppressed everything beneath the heavens. Furthermore, at the time…

Wait a moment!

It was around that time that he’d ventured into the Netherworld on his own in search of the secrets of Samsara and rebirth.

It was on that very trip that he and Old Ghost Coffin-Bearer, the founder of the Ghost Lantern Sarcophagus Bearers, fished in the Pool of Rebirth. He also ventured into the Sea of Bitterness and the Yellow Springs…

It was also then that he’d assisted Ye Yu, Little Leaf, in overcoming an unprecedented tribulation. She’d stepped smoothly into the Profound Dao, becoming the first empress of the Ghost Lantern Sarcophagus Bearers!

As memories of his past life flooded into his mind nonstop, Su Yi seemed to recall just who the Netherworld Asura Emperor was. His expression turned a bit strange, and the corners of his lips twitched uncontrollably.

Don’t tell me it’s that little bastard who shamelessly insisted on calling me his brother-in-law?