First Immortal of the Sword

Su Yi was stunned. He asked in confusion, “Are those ‘dogs’ still confined on Spiritual Desolation Mountain?”

Who knew what Lin Feng was thinking, but his expression filled with dense murderous intent. “That’s right. They’re still alive, but they’re no more than prisoners.

“And it was… Divine Venerate Tian Huang who imprisoned them!”

Su Yi’s eyebrows rose; he really hadn’t anticipated that. “Why would he do that?”

“They served their purpose. When the hunting dog catches the crafty hare, it too is boiled and eaten!” Lin Feng’s expression filled with sadistic glee. “Divine Venerate Tian Huang’s dogs worked wholeheartedly on his behalf. They hoped that one day, their god would usher them into the God Domain. Alas, they miscalculated. When a god no longer has use for his dogs, he’s sure to heartlessly cast them away, the sway he would worn-out shoes!”

“But why imprison them?”

Ling Feng explained, “When dogs are pushed into the corner, they’re known to jump over the walls. Divine Venerate Tian Huang wanted to prevent word of the gods’ shameless, despicable behavior from spreading. After all, if that happened, who’d willingly serve the gods going forward?”

He paused, then said, “That aside, if you put your dogs in a cage, they’ll be there if you want to use them again later. To the best of my knowledge, Divine Venerate Tian Huang promised the confined dogs that he’d bring them away when the Path of Divinity appeared in the Immortal Realm.”

Lin Feng’s handsome, youthful face filled with mockery. “The most ridiculous part is that many of his dogs believed him! Their god was locking them away with his own two hands, yet they believed his outrageous lies! How ridiculous is that?”

Su Yi rubbed his forehead. “But the Path of Divinity really will appear soon.”

Lin Feng’s smile faded, and he sank into silence.

Su Yi’s eyes flashed, and he said thoughtfully, “And during the Primeval Era, a cataclysm swept across the Immortal Realm, targeting its Great Realm experts. Countless experts died. Those ‘dogs’ were imprisoned, but they at least managed to hold onto their lives.”

Lin Feng frowned. “Are you saying you think those dogs ought to be grateful for Divine Venerate Tian Huang’s benevolence?”

His voice was tinged with displeasure.

Su Yi shook his head. “No, I’m just analyzing the situation, and I'm telling you why the Divine Venerate’s dogs believe him even after he imprisoned them. They really are alive because of it, and the Path of Divinity really is soon to appear.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Lin Feng laughed coldly. “But I dare say with certainty that even if the Path of Divinity appears, Divine Venerate Tian Huang will only order them about like dogs. There’s no way he’ll usher them into the God Domain!”

Su Yi agreed with him completely. “Over the next three to five years, the power of divine misfortune will gradually disappear from the Immortal Realm, and the Path of Divinity will return. More and more divine children will descend into the Immortal Realm to vie for godhood. Do you think the gods will send people to release their captive dogs before that happens?”

“They’ve already begun,” said Lin Feng.

Su Yi was stunned. Already?

“The far reaches of the Eastern Sea contain three prisons left here during the Primeval Era. Each confines a different god’s dogs.”

“One of the three prisons is one Spiritual Desolation Mountain, and one is in the Corpse-Strewn Ruins.” Lin Feng gestured to the nearby Magnetic Origin Ice Sea. “And one is located in the Magnetic Origin Ice Sea!”

Su Yi’s heart shook. A few months ago, when he and the Red Dragon Dao Monarch explored the Corpse-Strewn Ruins, he proved his Dao and becan Immortal King on the Lifeless Mountain!

Immediately after, something extremely strange and unexpected happened. A group of unknown, terrifying beings attacked from deep within the Corpse-Strewn Ruins. They wanted to keep him and the Red Dragon Dao Monarch from leaving.

Su Yi still remembered what the captive experts had said.

“Don’t leave! Save us! I beg you, save us——!”

“The gods are our enemies too! Saving us is saving yourself!”

“Daoist Brother, hurry up and stop him! We absolutely cannot let him escape!!”

“That’s right! That sword can destroy even the most taboo and calamitous of tribulations. Even the gods were helpless against it. I’m sure it can shatter our divine prison!”

“Hurry! Let’s work together!”

….It was after this incident that Su Yi guessed that extraordinarily terrifying experts were imprisoned in the mysterious, unknown forbidden zone at the heart of the Corpse-Strewn Ruins. It seemed the gods had imprisoned them there, in the place they called a divine prison!

At the time, Su Yi found it strange. If those were the gods’ enemies, why not kill them? Why simply lock them up?

Now, he finally understood. It really was a prison built by the gods, and the experts prisoned there were their divine emissaries!

Lin Feng continued, “As you sensed earlier, the Magnetic Origin Ice Sea is covered in Magnetic Origin Light. This power was left here by a god known as Divine Venerate Hao Yu. That spower manifested the cage confining Divine Venerate Hao Yu’s dogs.”

Divine Venerate Hao Yu. This was yet another unfamiliar name. 

“A year ago, an old-timer of Penglai Immortal Island brought a divine decree issued by Divine Venerate Hao Yu to the Magnetic Origin Ice Sea. He tried to break open the prison and release the divine lackeys trapped inside,” said Lin Feng. 

“I intercepted him in tand cut him down. Unfortunately, afterward, I discovered that the prison was weakening, and sof the ‘dogs’ had already escaped their cage.

“Over the past few months, I’ve searched for them throughout the Eastern Sea. I’ve already killed four of them.”

When Su Yi heard that, he instantly understood. No wonder the Fuyou Boat’s been spotted all over the Eastern Sea of late. So, Lin Feng was chasing the divine emissaries who escaped the Magnetic Origin Ice Sea!

“So you’re saying that Penglai Immortal Island is backed by Divine Venerate Hao Yu?” asked Su Yi.

“It wasn’t at first, but that’s most likely the case now,” said Lin Feng, a complex look on his face. “At the very least, Penglai Immortal Island didn’t serve any gods during the Primeval Era. Their founder was once fortunate enough to contemplate the Dao on Spiritual Desolation Mountain, and he received my second senior apprentice sister’s personal guidance.

“But a long, long thas passed, and their sect seems to have allied themselves with Divine Venerate Hao Yu. Otherwise, there’s no way they could have acquired his divine decree, nor could they have known that his emissaries were imprisoned deep within the Magnetic Origin Ice Sea.”

Su Yi nodded. Lin Feng’s analysis made sense.

A moment later, he recalled something. During his expedition into the Dragon Palace, Xi Ning told him that Penglai Immortal Island had ushered Gongyang Yu into the Divine Realm!

Did that mean that Gongyang Yu was Divine Venerate Hao Yu’s descendant? 

Penglai Immortal Island was working on Divine Venerate Hao Yu’s behalf, and they wanted to release the lackeys he had imprisoned in the Magnetic Origin Ice Sea. Had something similar happened in the prisons in Spiritual Desolation Mountain and the Corpse-Strewn Ruins, too? After all, Penglai Immortal Island wasn’t the only sect with a divine backer.

For example, Floating Mountain had ushered Divine Son Qing Xiao into the Immortal Realm, and Jade Firmament Immortal Palace had ushered in Jin Zhuliu. It was immediately obvious to Su Yi that both of these ancient factions had gods standing behind them.

When the leaves change color, you know autumn is imminent. Sometimes, a single spot is enough to picture the entire leopard. Su Yi was all but certain that other factions of the Eastern Sea were similarly involved with the gods. At the stime, the existence of three divine prisons in the Eastern Sea implied the existence of other similar prisons in the forty-nine provinces of the Immortal Realm!

Su Yi couldn’t help but rub his forehead at the thought of it. The situation was getting more and more complicated.

He could see it already. Three to five years from now, when the Path of Divinity reappeared, the divine children wouldn’t be the only ones participating in the struggle. The divine emissaries who’d served the gods in the Primeval Era and the old-timers who’d gone into seclusion to avoid divine misfortune would take the stage as well.

That aside, how could the gods possibly remain uninvolved?

Admittedly, they couldn’t descend into the Immortal Realm, but some, like the Dipankara Buddha of the Past, could send their avatars of will. And the Dipankara Buddha’s avatar of will was strong enough to kill Ao Chiting even after he beca god!

There were so many unpredictable variables in the mix. Who knew how much upheaval would ensue when the Path of Divinity really appeared?

Su Yi fell silent. Lin Feng seemed lost in thought too.

The atmosphere was suddenly a bit stifled and sullen. Everything was silent save for the howling gales, and nothing moved save for the flurries of snow dancing about heaven and earth.

“If I’m not mistaken, you’ve already figured out who I am. Is that right?” Su Yi asked out of nowhere.

A strange look appeared on Lin Feng’s handsome, youthful face. “Yes, roughly speaking, but… at the stime, there’s no way you could be my master.”

Su Yi asked with great interest, “What makes you say that?”

Lin Feng didn’t even pause to think. “You’re too weak, too young, and your personality’s wrong—you’re too domineering and tyrannical. Your way of doing things is nothing like Master’s. You’re completely different people.”

Su Yi laughed. “Could your master kill Great Unity experts when he was at my level?”

After a moment’s thought, Lin Feng shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ll speak directly: even we, his disciples, saw our master as a mysterious, transcendent existence. He was typically out wandering, as elusive as a divine dragon, and he seldom interfered in our affairs.”

His face filled with reminiscence. “You might not believeif I said this, but in all my years of cultivation, I can count the times I saw my master on one hand!

“Eldest Senior Apprentice Brother said that his total tspent with our master amounted to less than three months! Second Senior Apprentice Sister was about the same!

“As for Fourth Junior Apprentice Brother… He only received Master’s personal guidance immediately after joining our ranks. After that, he never saw Master again. It was our Eldest Senior Apprentice Brother who transmitted the Dao to him.”

“...” Su Yi was at a loss for words. When it cto his disciples, wasn’t my fifth incarnation a bit too irresponsible!?

This chapter references events in chapter 1801.

Deep within the Corpse-Strewn Ruins, within that massive spatial rift, pairs of eyes appeared amidst the black fog. All of them were wide with astonishment and disbelief.