First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1231 - How Could I Not Know of Zhuang Bifan?

When Tie Ying and the other Emperors saw that the man in jade-colored robes had been thoroughly suppressed, they had complete mental breakdowns.

And here they’d thought this good samaritan’s arrival would save them. Who’d have thought he’d lose?

Even worse was that they’d only just wept with gratitude and begged this good samaritan to see his good deed through and exterminate Su Yi and his companions...

Thud!

Tie Ying’s knees thudded to the ground, and he wailed in panic and terror, “Senior, we played those unseemly, petty tricks and resorted to that unpleasantness to survive. Please, show benevolence and spare our lives.”

With that, he lowered his head to the ground.

The others panicked too. All of them knelt and begged for mercy.

Su Yi disregarded them. Instead, he gazed at the jade-robed man sprawled out on the ground. “Get up.”

The man in jade-colored robes seemed to find this difficult to believe. “You... aren’t going to kill me?”

“You learn by making mistakes,” said Su Yi. “It’s enough that you remember this lesson.”

The jade-robed man’s face flushed red. He was overcome with shame too great for words.

He’d said almost the exact same thing to Meng Changyun.

“Might... Might I learn your name and surname?” asked the man in jade-colored robes.

“Shen Mu,” Su Yi said casually.

“Shen Mu...” The man in jade-colored robes thought hard, but he couldn’t recall any expert of the stars by that name.

Suddenly, Su Yi said, “When you next see your ancestor, Zhuang Bifan, pass on a message for me.”

Zhuang Bifan.

One of the Zhuang Family’s Cosmic Enlightenment old-timers. He lost to the Temple Master a long time ago, but he was impressed by the Temple Master’s majestic bearing, and he came calling with fine wine from the clan’s reserves on numerous occasions.

The man in jade-colored robes looked stunned. “Sir, you know my great-grandfather?”

Su Yi’s gaze was strange. “If I didn’t know of Zhuang Bifan, how could I call myself a World King? Your great-grandfather was once considered the greatest licentious poet of the stars. Who doesn’t know of him?”

The man in jade-colored robes was instantly uncomfortable.

He’d heard this title of his great grandfather’s before.

However, it was typically used to mock him, and in the Zhuang Family, it was a taboo. No one dared to bring it up.

Or else, their great-grandfather was sure to beat them badly.

“Just tell your great-grandfather to send the item in question to the shore of the Impermeable Demon Ocean. He knows what I'm taking about,” ordered Su Yi.

The Impermeable Demon Ocean.

That was the name of the forbidden zone in which the Temple Master had suppressed the Fisherman’s true body.

Now that he’d returned to the stars, Su Yi naturally had to visit and retrieve the Sword of the Human Realm that the Temple Master had left there!

And the jade-robed man’s great-grandfather, Zhuang Bifan, had something the Temple Master had left behind: the Sea-Stabilizing Water-Dividing Pearl.

With it, he could shuttle freely through the Impermeable Demon Ocean.

Without it, even a Cosmic Enlightenment Realm World King would face endless perils and trouble in those waters.

“Got it!” The man in jade robes straightforwardly agreed. Absurd as it seemed, he suddenly suspected that this young man in blue really did know his great-grandfather.

And they weren’t just casual acquaintances, either!

Otherwise, how could he dare as his great-grandfather to deliver something to the Impermeable Demon Ocean?

But if that’s true... Doesn’t that mean he wasn’t insulting me earlier, and that I’m truly not even qualified to be a member of his grandson’s generation?

The man in jade-colored robes couldn’t help but feel awkward, but more than that, he felt bewildered. Just... who is this Shen Mu person?

Meanwhile, Su Yi turned to look at Tie Ying and the others. All of them quivered from head to toe, terrified and ill at ease.

None dared to flee.

There was no way they could escape from beneath a World King’s nose.

But before Su Yi could say anything, the man in jade-colored robes suddenly spoke up, “Leave these trivial characters to me.”

“???” Tie Ying and company were confused, but before they could react, the man in jade-colored robes attacked.

He stretched out his hand and slapped, reducing these Emperors who’d long enjoyed positions of lofty authority to meat paste. All of them died on the spot.

“Earlier, you stepped in to defend them from injustice,” said Su Yi. “But now, you’ve gone and slapped them to death. That’s quite fickle of you.”

The man in jade-colored robes said solemnly, “My great-grandfather always taught me to help my own, right and wrong be damned.”

Su Yi laughed dryly, but he couldn’t be bothered to say anymore. He waved. “You can leave.”

The man in jade-colored robes couldn’t help but ask. “Sir, might I ask how you know my great-grandfather?”

“Go back and ask him yourself,” said Su Yi, taking a nice, long stretch before walking into the grand hall. “Ol’ Meng, clean the place up, then come see me.”

“Got it!” Meng Changyun solemnly assented, then hurriedly got to work.

When the old man in Daoist robes saw this, he immediately started helping. He was inwardly astonished, and he already took Su Yi for a terrifying expert of the stars beyond—and an unfathomable, inscrutable expert at that!

Qing Wan originally planned to help too, but Meng Changyun smiled and refused her assistance.

There was nothing for it. Qing Wan could only follow Su Yi inside.

When he saw that no one was paying attention to him, the man in jade-colored robes rubbed his nose self-deprecatingly, walked up to Meng Changyun, and whispered, “Earlier... I was too impulsive. I apologize.”

With that, he took a medicine bottle from his sleeves and passed it over. “This is a sacred recovery medicine of the Zhuang Family. Please, don’t refuse it.”

Meng Changyun glanced at him and said plainly, “My young lord isn’t pursuing your earlier transgressions, so I naturally won’t either. You’d best hold onto your medicine.”

Although he said this, he was inwardly quite emotional. Although he was a World King, his faction was just one of many first-rate factions of the Thousand Opportunities Star Realm.

While the man in jade-colored robes was from the ancient Zhuang Family!

They were one of the eight peak World King clans of the stars, famous throughout the hundred great star realms!

Their foundations and prestige might not be comparable to the stars’ top sects and factions, but they weren’t far off!

And this was one of their main-line descendants, a World King in his own right. His status was surely extraordinarily lofty.

But now, he was apologizing to him of his own volition!

Meng Changyun had most certainly never enjoyed such treatment before.

However, Meng Changyun was clear-headed, and he dared not get smug about it. He knew that all of this was thanks to His Excellency the Temple Master!

“Argh, just take it! Otherwise, I’ll feel ill at ease.” The man in jade-colored robes stuffed the bottle into Meng Changyun’s hands, turned, and left.

“Right. I’m called Zhuang Xiaoyun. If I get the chance, I’ll be sure to make up for what happened today!”

Before his voice had even finished echoing through the air, he’d disappeared from view completely.

It seems that His Excellency the Temple Master really convinced that wantonly arrogant guy of his defeat... thought Meng Changyun.

“Senior, you’re injured. You’d best hurry up and treat your wounds. Leave trivial matters like cleaning up the courtyard to me.” The old man in Daoist robes smiled and urged Meng Changyun to leave.

“How could I let you carry out my young lord’s orders in my stead?” Meng Changyun couldn’t help but shake his head. “Never mind something so trivial; even if he wanted me to work like a horse or an ox, I’d be wholeheartedly willing.”

His voice was full of pride.

The old man in Daoist robes couldn’t help but ask, “Senior, forgive my boldness, but just what kind of person is Senior Shen Mu?”

Meng Changyun looked at him, his gaze rife with meaning. “Foolish. Do you still remember why my young lord saved you?”

With that, he paid the man in Daoist robes no further heed.

The old man in Daoist robes was dumbstruck, and he racked his brains.

Some time later, he seemed to realize something, and he was instantly excited. “Don’t tell me Senior Shen Mu has some sort of deep connection with the Nine Extremes Profound Capital?”

He recalled that when Su Yi first saved him, he berated him for his worthlessness and poor judgment. He said he’d lost face for his sect’s ancestor.

This unquestionably implied that Senior Shen Mu knew he was from the Nine Extremes Profound Capital. Furthermore, Shen Mu was surely acquainted with one of the sect’s old-timers!

......

After the curtains fell on this storm.

Figures scampered about Flying Cloud Tower’s estate in panic. Some were the faction’s experts, but most were its guards and servants.

Meng Changyun disregarded this. He cleaned the courtyard up, then walked into the hall with the man in Daoist robes.

Qing Wan had already cleaned up inside, and the hall was sparkling clean.

When Meng Changyun arrived, Su Yi was seated and drinking alone. He casually tossed a jade slip to Meng Changyun. “Take this and contemplate it properly.”

Meng Changyun’s heart shook. He hurriedly accepted the slip with both hands, practically weeping with gratitude. “Many thanks, young lord!”

Su Yi then looked at the old man in Daoist robes, Yue Kuiju, and said, “Once your wounds have healed, you’d best take the Emperors you saved and go back to the Dark and Gold Star Realm.”

Yue Kuiju looked conflicted. He sighed. “I was planning to do just that.”

Su Yi smiled. “I’m not trying to dissuade you from seeking out greater heights. Before long, the Path of Heaven’s Ascension will return to the Dark and Gold Star Realm.”

Yue Kuiju was flabbergasted, and it seemed he found this difficult to believe. “Is that... true?”

Meng Changyun smiled. “There’s absolutely no mistake.”

He’d witnessed the curtains opening on the Dark and Gold Star Realm’s new era personally, and he took pride in it too.

“That’s enough for now. Let’s all get some rest.” Su Yi rose and headed toward a side palace.

Qing Wan froze and pondered the implications of the word “rest.” Her beautiful, delicate face flushed a bit red.

Nonetheless, she followed Su Yi.

Meng Changyun remained to watch over the grand hall. He took a deep breath, then read the jade slip with the utmost seriousness.

Time slipped by.

Finally, his hands and fingers quivered, and his lips quivered. He looked a bit dazed.

He was overcome with an indescribable excitement, delight, and astonishment.

The jade slip contained an analysis of Meng Changyun’s path of cultivation, as well as insights selected from Su Yi’s own experiences.

Every word and every sentence was like a wakeup call or sudden enlightenment!

As a Heavenly Longevity Realm World King, Meng Changyun had an abundance of cultivation experience. He could tell almost immediately that the Temple Master’s guidance was a true transmission of the Dao. It was enough to help him enter the late-stage Heavenly Longevity Realm!

No good fortune could have compared with this benevolence!

“How could I, Meng Changyun... be so fortunate?” Meng Changyun sighed.

....

It was on that night that word spread of the deaths of the leaders of Flying Cloud Tower, the Black Lotus Sect, the Divine Star Church, and the Thousand Demons Cult. Skyblue City instantly descended into enormous uproar and upheaval.