First Immortal of the Sword

As expected, the Divine Monarch of Tragedy’s next words confirmed Su Yi’s guess.

“The Den of Caterpillars is like a prison. It’s full of endless bloody, baleful energy, and it can strip and devour a cultivator’s blood, qi, cultivation base, and life force.

“Although Imperial Realm cultivators such as myself can fight the bloody, baleful energy off, over countless years, the Den of Caterpillars can still relentlessly devour our life force and cultivation base…”

The Divine Monarch of Tragedy’s voice was suddenly low and bitter. “It feels like becoming a crop in someone’s farm, forced to offer your life force and cultivation to another. In the end, those trapped will inevitably perish, and their Dao will disappear forever.”

Su Yi furrowed his brow. “The jailers see Imperial Realm experts as caterpillars, strip them of their life force, and devour their cultivation… But what is all of that for?”

After a moment’s silence, the Divine Monarch of Tragedy said, “Refining medicine! They’re using us as medicine, turning our cultivation base and life force into medicine for their own use!”

Su Yi’s eyes narrowed. “How’d you figure that out?”

“Once every thousand years, jailers will enter the Den of Caterpillars and gather a thousand years of accumulated bloody, baleful energy,” said the Divine Monarch of Tragedy, his voice rife with fury and loathing. “At the same time, they’ll throw new ‘escaped prisoners’ into the Den of Caterpillars and wait a thousand years until the next ‘harvest.’”

Su Yi’s eyes shone with a strange light. He muttered, “Those methods are actually somewhat similar to a few Demonist orthodoxies….”

Not long ago, he’d sent Ying Que to place an Allheaven Blood-Refining Formation at Bloodthistle Yao Mountain.

Upon completion, this formation would trap and kill any otherworld cultivator who tried to cross over through the rift below Bloodthistle Yao Mountain.

Their blood, flesh, and life force would become the formation’s nourishment, making it even stronger…

It wasn’t quite the same, but it reminded him of the jailers’ methods.

The Den of Caterpillars was like the Allheaven Blood-Refining Formation. As one of the trapped caterpillars, the Divine Monarch of Tragedy was being used as nourishment too.

Furthermore, the Allheaven Blood-Refining Formation was originally the work of the Wilds’ greatest Demonist orthodoxy, the Demons’ Elysium! 

“Do you know how many jailers there are, or where they come from?” asked Su Yi.

“There’s more than one, and I imagine they’re all from the same faction. However, I don’t know what kind of faction it is either,” said the Divine Monarch of Tragedy. “However, there was an altar of transmission near where I was captured. It’s one of the jailers’ paths to the Den of Caterpillars. There was a line of text carved into the altar.”

Su Yi instantly looked intrigued. “What did it say?”

“The Dao of Heaven subtracts where there is excess and adds where there is deficiency,” said the Divine Monarch of Tragedy, pausing for emphasis between each word.

Su Yi was stunned. “That’s rather interesting. Are they carrying out heaven’s will?”

“Subtracting where there is excess” unquestionably implied that the faction of jailers thought the “escaped prisoners” they captured had an excess.

By stripping them of their cultivation and life force, they could thus “remedy a deficiency.”

But what was the deficiency they sought to correct?

When potter wasps captured moth caterpillars, their goal was to provide nutrients for their descendants. 

When the jailers captured escaped prisoners, did the jailers strip them of their cultivation and vitality to feed their children too?

“How could they possibly represent the Dao of Heaven? They’re obviously using that as an excuse to treat cultivators as medicine and harvest us to their own ends!” the Divine Monarch of Tragedy said furiously.

Su Yi nodded.

The saying “the Dao of Heaven subtracts where there is excess and adds where there is deficiency” was not, in itself, discriminatory against anyone. It just described the natural operations of the Dao of Heaven.

“Carrying out the will of heaven” was nothing but a joke.

Su Yi asked, “What script was that line of text written in?”

“An ancient human script,” said the Divine Monarch of Tragedy without so much as pausing to think.

Su Yi’s eyebrows shot up.  Could it be that the jailers aren’t of the demon race, and that their faction is comprised of human cultivators?

If so, they’re doing the opposite of what that line of text says. They’re subtracting from the deficient and adding to an existing surplus!

After all, a faction capable of effortlessly capturing an Imperial Realm cultivator like the Divine Monarch of Tragedy must already be incomparably strong!

Furthermore, whoever they are, it’s highly likely that they can control the power of the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness!

Su Yi couldn’t help but suspect that the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness that befell the Azure Continent thirty thousand years ago was their work!

“During my tens of thousands of years of captivity, I encountered a few other captive cultivators. They all hailed from different worlds, but alas, none were overly strong. Not long after they were captured, the Den of Caterpillars stripped them of all their vitality and cultivation,” said the Divine Monarch of Tragedy.

“However, when I conversed with them, I learned that they didn’t know what kind of faction the jailers represented either. However, they did know that the jailers claimed to carry out the will of heaven. Thus, the prisoners referred to their faction as the 'Will of Heaven Sect.'”

“The Will of Heaven Sect?” Su Yi shook his head. What faction would dare give itself such a name?

It wasn’t just a taboo; it would provoke all other factions’ enmity!

After all, cultivation was fundamentally the act of going against the heavens!

Su Yi and the Divine Monarch of Tragedy chatted a while longer.

Only then did Su Yi learn that as an expert of the Ninesoul Demon Peng race, the Divine Monarch of Tragedy had an innate spatial divine ability, the “Void at My Fingertips.”

Over countless years, he’d used this divine ability to create spatial nodes linking him to the Azure Continent. This was how he recruited adherents and founded the Holy Church of the Caterpillar.

His followers’ sacrifices helped him obtain spiritual materials and medicines. This was how he’d bitterly endured all this time.

Furthermore, he’d chosen the title “the Divine Monarch of Tragedy” for himself.

He was trapped, but despite his long confinement, he couldn’t escape. What was that, if not tragic?

Suddenly, the blood-colored vortex hovering in the air trembled, signaling the end of Su Yi’s conversation with the Divine Monarch of Tragedy.

“Fellow Daoist, this spatial node is about to collapse. I’m afraid it’ll be months before I can open it again,” the Divine Monarch of Tragedy said at top speed.

The Void at My Fingertips was indeed a miraculous divine art, but it was extremely draining for the Divine Monarch of Tragedy to use.

“This is the rest of the Refining Void Malevolent Incantation. If we get the chance, let’s chat again later.” Su Yi took out the jade slip he’d long since prepared for this and tossed it into the vortex.

“Many thanks for your guidance, Fellow Daoist!” the Divine Monarch of Tragedy said gratefully.

Before long, the blood-colored vortex disappeared without a trace.

Su Yi leaned back into his wicker chair and sank into thought.

He’d obtained quite a few useful leads during this conversation. 

For instance, that there wasn’t just a Ninth Star Ruin; there were other, similar star ruins out there.

And that there was a faction of jailers—the Will of Heaven Sect—who claimed to carry out the will of heaven, and who saw even Imperial Realm experts like the Divine Monarch of Tragedy as “escaped prisoners.” 

And that deep in outer space, there was a place called the Den of Caterpillars, which seemed to be a giant prison the Will of Heaven Sect had created.

All of these clues were connected to the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness!

Of course, whether this mysterious faction really called themselves “the Will of Heaven Sect” was still unknown.

It seems I’ll have to capture one of these Jailers to learn the full truth, thought Su Yi.

He couldn’t help but recall the depths of Meteor Abyss, where a creature he suspected was from outer space lay dormant. 

Whatever that thing was, it could control the power of the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness. It’s surely connected to the Will of Heaven Sect, and I have the Seed of the Azure. When it escapes Meteor Abyss, it’ll surely come looking for me…

When the time comes, I’ll have to capture it. I’ll surely learn a lot that way!

Su Yi was very interested in outer space.

At the pinnacle of his past life, he’d had an opportunity to venture into the starry skies, but he chose not to. Instead, he underwent reincarnation as an alternative means of seeking greater heights of the Grand Dao.

This was an opportunity to learn more about outer space; he naturally wouldn’t let this chance slip through his fingers.

Before long, the silver-robed Qing Yuan, the curly-bearded Diao Yunhe, and Shuo Meng returned. They considerately refrained from asking what Su Yi and the Divine Monarch of Tragedy had talked about.

Su Yi naturally wouldn’t go into it.

“I ought to get going.” Su Yi rose, put away his wicker chair, and decided to head back to the ruins of the Immortals’ Sword House, continue his seclusion, and wait for an opportunity to break through.

The silver-robed Qing Yuan and the others hurriedly got up to see him off. 

“Your Excellency, please allow me to carry you,” said the Molten Gold Lion.

Su Yi nodded, got onto its enormous back, and casually took a seat.

“Jin Nu, an opportunity to follow Senior Su will surely lead to good fortune. Whatever you do, don’t let him down,” warned Qing Yuan.

“Yes, sir!” the lion solemnly agreed.

Then, it soared into the skies, taking Su Yi with it. Before long, man and lion disappeared into the night sky.

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Qing Yuan and his companions sighed in relief.

Accompanying a monarch was like accompanying a tiger!

Just interacting with Su Yi, they felt enormous pressure. They were in constant terror that the slightest misstep would provoke Su Yi’s aversion.

Now that he was gone, they could finally relax.

“When we’re not fighting, His Excellency Su Yi is fairly reasonable, all things considered,” sighed Shuo Meng.

“Do you hope to meet him again?” asked Diao Yunhe.

Shuo Meng hurriedly shook his head. “It’d be better if we didn’t meet again.”

“I feel the same way,” said Qing Yuan, a conflicted look on his face. He sighed. “However, given Senior Su’s connection to my master, I suspect it won’t be long before we meet again…”

Shuo Meng and Diao Yunhe instantly fell silent.

One day later.

The Dongfu Prefectural Capital. 

Su Yi, Yuan Heng, Lan Suo, and the Cloudstone Venerate met up, and proceeded into the Sea of Chaotic Spirits that very day.

Two days later.

The twenty-second day of the first lunar month.

Su Yi and his companions returned to the ruins of the Immortals’ Sword House.

Once she’d made suitable arrangements for Lan Suo and the Cloudstone Venerate, Ning Sihua came looking for Su Yi. 

She said with great concern, “Fellow Daoist, yesterday at midnight, a strange, dried-up well appeared within the ruins. The pungent smell of blood surged out of its depths. I’m worried that it’s dangerous, and I’m having Ying Que keep watch over the area.”

Su Yi couldn’t help but exclaim, “Take me there.”

Ning Sihua promptly guided him.

Before long, in the dried-up, ruined ritual grounds behind the Immortals’ Sword Palace, Su Yi saw the ancient well in question.