First Immortal of the Sword

Su Yi appeared suddenly outside of the Divine Cave of the River of Forgetfulness.

“My lord, why are your wounds so severe?” The Netherworld Abyssal had been waiting there this entire time. Its lake-sized golden eyes bulged in astonishment.

It remembered its lord as a supreme, invincible existence. He had no opponents beneath the heavens; who would have injured him?

But now, Su Yi was indeed wounded!

And severely at that!

The Netherworld Abyssal found this rather difficult to accept.

“Minor wounds, that’s all. What do they amount to?” Su Yi glanced at the Netherworld Abyssal. “Besides, I’m currently only in the Spiritual Incarnation Realm.”

He then sat cross-legged, took some recovery medicine, and started meditating.

The Netherworld Abyssal seemed quite nervous. It stammered, “Forgive me, my lord. I… I truly didn’t mean to offend you. I just didn’t think the nine trials could possibly harm you… Oh, wait… you’re currently in the Spiritual Incarnation Realm, no wonder…”

The Netherworld Abyssal looked enlightened.

But a moment later, it froze. The Spiritual Incarnation Realm!?

How did he possibly become so weak all of a sudden?

“What? Don’t tell me you disdain me for my weakness, little guy?” Su Yi asked as he sat in meditation. 

The Netherworld Abyssal hurriedly shook its head and said timidly, “I’m sure there are profound secrets behind your current weakness. I wouldn’t dare be the least bit contemptuous, not even if someone beat me to death.”

It then opened its mouth, and a black jade gourd floated into the air. “My lord, this gourd contains three Heaven’s Net Dao Fruits that punk Yun Ziying gathered. They’re a divine recovery medicine. Please, accept them!”

After a brief, stunned pause, Su Yi grabbed the black jade gourd and took out a piece of spirit fruit.

It was only the size of a quail egg, and its shiny, crystalline surface was faint purple covered in natural Dao markings. A clear fragrance wafted into the air.

This was indeed a Heaven’s Net Dao Fruit, an extremely rare divine medicine. They said it could revive the dead and restore flesh to bleached bone. Furthermore, it could assist even Emperors in stabilizing their foundations in the Grand Dao.

A fruit like this was enough to make even Emperors red-eyed with greed. 

Yet now, the Netherworld Abyssal had offered three such fruits to Su Yi without the slightest hesitation! 

“You’re quite generous, little guy.” Su Yi laughed, feeling a bit moved.

The Netherworld Abyssal said solemnly, “My lord, if you hadn’t taught me a cultivation technique, I could never have reached my current attainments. Even if you sent me to my death, I wouldn’t so much as furrow my brow!”

“Alright already,” Su Yi waved this away. “Your life is yours. Even if you want to die for me, you have to see whether or not I agree first.”

He then swallowed one of the Heaven’s Net Dao Fruits and refined it with all his might.

Boom!

A surging, warm current coursed through him, reaching every inch of his body. Su Yi’s severe wounds knit together at speeds visible to the naked eye.

Even his nearly exhausted cultivation base recovered, like bamboo shooting up after a spring rain.

In a flash, he’d recovered completely, and even his cultivation base had returned to peak condition!

However, he’d only refined about a third of the fruit’s power…

It was easy to imagine how miraculous such fruits were!

In the end, Su Yi had no choice but to suppress the excess medicinal power and seal it within his Grand Dao Spirit Palace.

“You ought to hold on to the remaining two fruits,” said Su Yi, tossing the black jade gourd back to the Netherworld Abyssal.

He then rose and looked up, but the skies were thoroughly shrouded in mist; it was impossible to tell what color they were. 

“How long until sunrise?” asked Su Yi.

“About four hours,” the Netherworld Abyssal said hurriedly.

Su Yi took out his wicker chair, sprawled out in it, and started drinking from a jug of wine. “I’ll stay here until then. You’re welcome to use this time to ask about any difficulties you’ve encountered in your cultivation.”

The Netherworld Abyssal’s spirits soared, and its eyes shone with excitement.

How could it fail to realize what a rare and precious opportunity this was? Its lord was going to clear up its doubts personally!

This was a stroke of fortune as grand as the heavens themselves!

If that kid Yun Ziying knew about this, his face would contort with sheer jealousy!

“My lord, to tell the truth, I’ve indeed encountered some difficulties in my cultivation that I’ve been unable to resolve on my own,” said the Netherworld Abyssal. It calmed itself down, then earnestly started asking for guidance.

Strictly speaking, the Netherworld Abyssal was a Xiantian Spirit Beast. It was a bit different from the world’s yao cultivators, so even a peak orthodoxy like Meng Po Palace could offer it little assistance with its cultivation.

But this naturally posed no difficulty to Su Yi.

In his past life, they called him the Master of Ten Thousand Daos. He’d at least dabbled in the cultivation styles of every lifeform beneath the sun.

Su Yi drank, answering questions between sips.

The Netherworld Abyssal listened attentively and earnestly requested further guidance.

Time slipped by.

Soon, dawn was imminent. Only then did Su Yi rise from his wicker chair. “That’s enough for now. I ought to get going.”

The Netherworld Abyssal was instantly reluctant. “My lord, might… might you take me with you?”

Su Yi shook his head. “I can’t. If I took you with me, the old-timers of Meng Po Palace would be beside themselves with anger. They’d swarm in screaming and shouting, weapons drawn… it’d be too much trouble.”

The Netherworld Abyssal’s eyes bulged with fury. “They wouldn’t dare!!”

Su Yi smiled. “Stay here and cultivate properly. When Yun Ziying gets back, if you really don’t want to stay here any longer, tell him. That’ll be enough.”

The Netherworld Abyssal said hurriedly, “My lord… when the time comes, can I go looking for you? Rest assured, so long as I can accompany you, there’s no task too trivial or too arduous; I’ll happily agree to anything.”

Su Yi looked a bit stunned. “If I’m still in the Netherworld, I’ll give you a chance.”

A quick look at tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w will leave you more fulfilled.

The Netherworld Abyssal was instantly mad with delight. “Many thanks, my lord!”

Su Yi smiled and was just about to leave when something occurred to him. “Did someone come to ask you about the disturbance yesterday?”

“Yes. Grand Libationer Gu Zhongxun appeared, but I didn’t tell him anything about you.”

Su Yi nodded. “Don’t discuss me with anyone else.”

The Netherworld Abyssal straightforwardly agreed. “Rest assured, my lord. My lips are sealed.”

Then, it hesitated. “My lord, earlier, you underwent a trial and left your mark within the Divine Cave of the River of Forgetfulness. I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep that from Meng Po Palace…”

Su Yi smiled and interrupted it here. “You can just tell them that Su Yi was here.”

Su Yi?

The Netherworld Abyssal mulled that over, then realized that this must be its lord’s new identity. 

“Send me off, little guy.” Su Yi turned and proceeded into the distance.

The Netherworld Abyssal hurriedly used an ability, paving a golden path of the light of the Grand Dao that supported Su Yi, carrying him over the terrifying foundations of the black flagstone path and out of the valley.

It was only after watching Su Yi fade from view that the Netherworld Abyssal sighed, “Take care of yourself, my lord…”

Misty Autumn Peak.

Su Yi returned to the pavilion just as the first light of dawn broke through the darkness, bathing the nine peaks of Naihe Divine Mountain in the radiance of a new day.

Misty clouds hung in the air, shifting continuously.

“Your Excellency Su, you’re back!” the old blind man came up to greet him.

Su Yi nodded. “Let’s leave as soon as Cui Jingyan gets here.”

“Got it!” The old blind man nodded. He considerately refrained from asking what Su Yi had gone to the Divine Cave of the River of Forgetfulness to do, but he keenly detected the change in Su Yi’s aura. It might have seemed just as unassuming as before, but it was obvious to him that it had undergone a shocking transformation.

It seems he had quite the harvest last night, thought the old blind man. 

Upon his return to the pavilion, Su Yi bathed and changed into clean blue robes. He then pinned his long black hair into a Daoist topknot. By the time he’d finished, he looked neat and clean.

He didn’t have to wait long. Cui Jingyan arrived shortly afterward. 

The stunning young woman was dressed in purple, and beneath the light of dawn, she looked like an immortal beauty amidst mortal dust. Her slender, graceful figure was shockingly enticing.

“Young lord Su, yesterday, I wrote a letter back home and told my father we were coming,” she said with a charming smile, her voice crisp and pleasing to the ear. “Also, I asked my seniors in the sect if I could borrow the transmission formation. That’ll send us directly to the southern border of the River of Forgetfulness Domain…”

Here, Su Yi shook his head and interrupted her. “We’re in no hurry. Why travel by formation? I’m headed to the Cui Family estate, but I plan to take my time and see things along the way.”

“....” Cui Jingyan’s painted eyebrows furrowed. “Young lord Su, won’t that give the Third Libationer and her cohort an opportunity to target you?”

Su Yi nodded. “Yup.”

“.....” Cui Jingyan looked at Su Yi in disbelief. She finally understood that Su Yi really wasn’t afraid of being pursued. If anything, he was looking forward to it…

This unquestionably seemed insane!

In all her years of life, Cui Jingyan had never seen such a gutsy, brazen Spiritual Incarnation cultivator. He seemed downright eager for an Empress to chase after him!

But when she considered how mysterious Su Yi was, she resisted the urge to dissuade him.

Instead, she griped, “I helped plan a safe route with nothing but good intentions. So long as we move quickly, we’ll be able to escape the Third Libationer’s pursuit. Yet you insist on going your own way.”

She then looked up, her bright eyes glaring at Su Yi. “Since you’re dead-set on seeking out abuse, I can’t be bothered to dissuade you. All I can do is step in and beg for mercy just before the Third Libationer kills you.”

Su Yi couldn’t help but laugh. He could tell that she’d been quite worried about him last night.

It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate it, but that he had to keep his word and teach Yuan Linning how to behave herself.

Furthermore, he needed to stop somewhere and retrieve something he’d left behind in his past life on his way to the Cui Family estate!

If he traveled by transmission formation, he’d inevitably miss it.

“Let’s go.”

Su Yi walked out of the pavilion, the old blind man and Cui Jingyan hot on his heels.

With Cui Jingyan leading the way, they quickly left Naihe Divine Mountain and headed south.

Meanwhile, in the Grand Libationer’s immortal cave on Cloudsong Peak.

“He didn’t use a transmission formation?” When he learned that Su Yi and his companions had left, Grand Libationer Gu Zhongxun furrowed his brow in utter confusion. “Is that kid… seriously not afraid to die?”