First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1271 – Don’t Make a Habit out of It

Cloud Bridge Divine Mountain.

The territory of the Solar Transformation Courtyard.

They were still several hundred miles away when Meng Changyun came to greet his master, Ancestor Yue Hong. “Master, so long as the opportunity arises, I’ll be sure to come back to visit you.”

Ancestor Yue Hong looked conflicted. “Changyun, you must take care of yourself. While following the Temple Master, you must not be negligent or complacent.”

He’d already learned the whole story from Meng Changyun, and he knew that it was the Temple Master who’d saved him and Bai He.

Meng Changyun grinned. “Rest assured, Master.”

He then faced his closed-door disciple, Bai He. His gaze instantly gentled. “Little rabbit, you have to focus on your cultivation going forward. Serve your grand-master well, okay?”

Bai He nodded, then flung himself to his knees and kowtowed three times. “Master, there’s no way I’ll let you down!”

Meng Changyun revealed a gratified smile, then helped Bai He to his feet.

Ancestor Yue Hong couldn’t help but ask, “Changyun, you really don’t plan to return to the sect?”

Meng Changyun said nothing. He just nodded bleakly.

Ancestor Yue Hong let out a deep sigh before patting Meng Changyun on the shoulder. He said nothing else on the matter. He simply led Bai He back to Cloud Bridge Divine Mountain.

Meng Changyun watched them fade from view, then took a deep breath and decisively turned around and left.

......

The Solar Transformation Courtyard.

Ancestor Yue Hong and Bai He’s return triggered widespread uproar.

“His Excellency the Temple Master... really did bring Ancestor Yue Hong and Bai He back...”

The higher-ups were astonished.

Although they’d suffered a devastating defeat at Su Yi’s hands earlier, they didn’t think highly of his chances of saving the Primordial Unity Daoist Sect’s hostages.

Now that the two hostages had returned, they finally realized that while Su Yi might “just” be the Temple Master’s reincarnation, he was strong enough to suppress the Primordial Unity Daoist Sect’s bluster!

The thought filled their hearts with regret too great for words.

Later that very day, under Ancestor Yue Hong’s orders, Wen Zhixin was stripped of his position as sect leader.

No one objected.

......

Thousandleaf City.

Inside a guesthouse.

Weng!

Joyful, excited sword hums emanated from within a jade-like, green-skinned gourd.

Su Yi couldn’t help but smile.

He’d only just extorted nine thousand catties of Xiantian Qingyi Spirit Liquid, all of which he poured into the green-skinned gourd.

This was the gourd that nourished the Tiny Heart of the Cosmos. After absorbing this spirit liquid, its severely battered blade had fully recovered!

After a little while, Su Yi put the green-skinned gourd away.

The Tiny Heart of the Cosmos was a Xiantian Divine Lifeform. By the standards of the Imperial Realm, it was a first-rate, precious treasure.

But at the World King level, its power wasn’t even worth looking at.

Still, Su Yi wouldn’t just throw the Tiny Heart of the Cosmos away.

During his years presiding over the Wilds, it was the weapon he took the most pride in. Its significance was far more than its power level could measure.

Looking at it filled him with fond memories.

The sword was a symbol of memories Su Yi would never forget.

It was much like the sword he refined in the Great Zhou, Mortal Edge, or the sword he obtained on Sumeru Immortal Island then reforged, Celestial Blue...

Every sword was emblazoned with memories. Su Yi kept every sword he’d used over the years with him.

The same went for the Tiny Heart of the Cosmos.

Soon, Su Yi took out a snowy piece of beast bone.

It was about the size of his palm, and shaped like a blunt, coarsely carved flying sword. The material was crystalline and translucent, and it emanated dreamlike immortal light.

Su Yi split off a portion of his divine sense and inserted it into the beast bone.

Time slipped by.

About fifteen minutes later, Su Yi let out a breath of turbid air.

The little flying sword was refined from the natal bone of an ancient, unparalleled vicious creature, the Radiant Void Beast.

Its interior was emblazoned with an incomplete sword formation diagram.

They called it the Little Buddha Sword Formation!

There was already no discerning its origins, but after examining it, Su Yi concluded that the mysteries the formation diagram contained went far beyond the bounds of the World King Realm.

Contemplating it was extremely exhausting, and his revelations were incomplete.

It was as if he recognized every word in a text, but when they were arranged into sentences and paragraphs, they made no sense to him at all.

But taking in the diagram’s numerous details let Su Yi confirm something——

This most likely wasn’t really a formation of the Immortal Dao!

His reasoning was simple. The mysteries the formation diagram contained were extremely similar to those of the thirty-six Cloud Soaring Ascension Diagrams Su Yi had seen in the Divine Kingdom of Illusions.

And the Cloud Soaring Ascension Diagrams were left by Penglai Immortal Island, an extremely ancient sect. The power they contained was far from reaching the level of the Immortal Dao.

“The Little Buddha Sword Formation is at best at the level of the Path of Transcendence,” said Su Yi.

Even so, its power was terrifying. It far eclipsed the bounds of the World King Realm. As far as Su Yi could tell, Deng Zuo had effectively “drawn a dipper using a gourd as his model.” In other words, his understanding was purely superficial, and he hadn’t truly grasped the full extent of the sword formation’s mysteries.

After all, the sword formation’s true profundities most likely hinged upon the power of the Path of Transcendence!

“Deng Zuo practically depleted the Primordial Unity Daoist Sect’s treasury to place this formation, but even so, he only realized about forty percent of its power....” Su Yi sank into thought.

Earlier, he clashed with this formation. Its power really was enough to suppress Cosmic Enlightenment cultivators with ease.

Even at his peak, the Temple Master would have had to rely on external items on top of the full extent of his cultivation base to break this formation.

But this was just forty percent of the Little Buddha Sword Formation’s power!

How terrifying would it be at maximum strength?

The thought sent ripples through Su Yi’s heart.

The power of the Path of Transcendence really was terrifying!

This was a path that had disappeared in antiquity. Back then, the Temple Master brushed up against its threshold, but he was ultimately unable to step onto this higher path.

Was the Temple Master not strong enough?

No!

This path had long since disappeared from this world!

The reason was simple. The Path of Transcendence was like a bridge connecting the Path of Heaven’s Ascension and the Immortal Dao.

But a long time ago, a strange, unknown power severed the Path of Transcendence, thereby shattering this bridge!

Thus, even though the Temple Master dominated the stars for countless years, and even though he brushed up against the doorway of the Path of Transcendence, the path he’d found had long since been severed!

Were that not the case, given the Temple Master’s attainments in the Grand Dao, he would have long since stepped onto the Path of Transcendence. He might have even soared into the clouds and transcended, becoming an Immortal!

A’Cai said that in recent years, fortune and leads regarding immortality have been popping up across the stars. Even that old charlatan Deng Zuo was convinced that he’d found an opportunity to step onto the Path of Transcendence. There’s no doubt about it; great changes are in store, thought Su Yi.

These changes have only just begun, and the curtains of the new era are only just beginning to open. But as time passes, similar changes will become increasingly numerous...

Waves coursed through his heart.

Was the long-severed Path of Transcendence really going to re-enter this world?

If Deng Zuo had already taken action, surely the stars’ other old-timers were doing the same.

After all, whoever reached the Path of Transcendence first could reshape the stars’ balance of power!

When the time came, the current order would be overturned, and the balance of power would be rebuilt from the ground up!

Three years from now, the Domain Boundary Battlefield will re-enter the world, and a mysterious battle for the future will unfold...

The Eastern Profound Star Domain... really isn’t peaceful nowadays.

Su Yi took a sip of wine.

This “immortal” sword formation really was precious. Alas, its mysteries were far too difficult to grasp. It was far beyond his current abilities.

This treasure would be priceless to any of the stars’ top factions, but it’s no more useful to me than chicken ribs... Su Yi grumbled.

The formation’s value lay in protecting one’s territory. Furthermore, it required an enormous expenditure of divine materials to place.

At least currently, it wasn’t worth using for Su Yi.

And the Sword of the Nine Hells can’t even be bothered to eat it. From this, it’s obvious that its value is far inferior to the Immortal-Burning Ruler or the Divine Tribulation War Spear. Su Yi rubbed his forehead and put the beast bone emblazoned with the Little Buddha Sword Formation away.

He gave it no further thought. Even if he couldn’t use it now, it would surely come in handy sooner or later!

It was late at night when Meng Changyun returned.

“Young Lord.”

“You’ve already gotten everything in order?” asked Su Yi.

Meng Changyun nodded.

Su Yi promptly carved an Undying Divine Seal Talisman. Before long, A’Cai appeared out of thin air.

“We’re leaving. You really don’t plan to leave with us?” asked Su Yi.

Earlier, he planned to intervene and help A’Cai escape the Primordial Unity Daoist Sect, only for her to refuse.

A’Cai couldn’t help but smile faintly. “Fellow Daoist, I appreciate your good intentions, but I can’t leave yet."

Su Yi didn’t understand. “Why? Aren’t you afraid about the sect leader scheming to have his daughter possess you?”

When they first met, A’Cai told him that the leader of the Primordial Unity Daoist Sect, Weng Pu, had a daughter who’d suffered an incurable injury. To save her, he planned to have her possess A’Cai.

A’Cai looked ashamed, and she said softly, “When you tell one lie, you have to tell a hundred more just to maintain it, so I've decided to be honest with you. Actually, I... I lied to you when we first met.”

“....” Su Yi had nothing to say to that. She lied to me!?

“Why?” Su Yi furrowed his brow.

A’Cai looked increasingly embarrassed. “That was, after all, our first meeting. I didn’t trust you. I lied simply because I wanted to leave the Tree of the Ten Thousand Worlds of Samsara alive.”

Su Yi rubbed his forehead. “So why are you admitting to your lie now?”

A’Cai said with complete seriousness, “I have a guilty conscience.”

Su Yi stared intently at her for a moment. “Don’t make a habit out of it.”

A’Cai instantly felt a massive weight lift from her shoulders. She laughed, “Actually, aside from that one lie, everything I told you back then was true.”

“Oh,” said Su Yi as he recalled their first meeting.

He vividly recalled A’Cai telling him that she was born of a chaos source, and that she’d witnessed the rise and fall of countless Grand Daos. She’d supposedly watched the births and deaths of stars, and wandered amidst the red dust of mortality, experiencing the joys and sorrows of mortal life, with all its meetings and partings. Then there was all that stuff about “escaping the world, spending tens of thousands of years with only a lamp for company...

Su Yi had initially turned up his nose at all that, but A’Cai’s innate divine ability had left a deep impression on him.

It let her cross time, space, and the barrier between worlds!

More importantly, it could resist the power of reincarnation!

It was for this reason that A’Cai had first crossed time and space to reach the Tree of Ten Thousand Worlds of Samsara and devour one of its leaves!

An innate divine ability of this magnitude seemed to violate a taboo.

That aside, there was a golden imprint at the center of A’Cai’s forehead. It depicted a divine cycle, self-perpetuating and eternal, with neither beginning nor end. It was extraordinarily strange and mysterious.

All of this reminded Su Yi of a certain legend. In ancient times, an immortal silkworm was born of chaos. Its spirituality is eternal, and it feasts on the waters of golden springs and the essence of silver. It’s as old as the chaos itself, and it’s witnessed the cycle of countless seasons, gathering the power of the Laws... When it metamorphoses into a butterfly, its wings will carry it through space and time, and across the barrier between worlds... In ancient times, they called it the Celestial Fairy.

To have an eternal spirit meant to live forever!

All of this only made it even more obvious how mysterious A’Cai’s origins were.

“Whether you believe me or not, to assuage my guilt, I’ll one day give you compensation you won’t be able to refuse.” A’Cai’s gaze was deep and inscrutable, and her tone was rife with implied meaning.

Su Yi smiled but said nothing.

A’Cai muttered to herself, “If everything goes as I suspect, the ‘compensation’ I mentioned should materialize within three years. All you have to do is keep your eyes open and wait, Fellow Daoist.”

With that, she turned and left.

Three years!

Su Yi’s heart shook, but just as he was about to ask for details, A’Cai vanished.

It seems I underestimated that woman’s origins, but then, it makes sense. She has an innate talent capable of contending with the power of reincarnation. How could she possibly be ordinary?

The celestial fairy... an immortal silkworm... could it be that her origins are truly connected to immortals? Su Yi stroked his lower jaw. Interesting. I’m actually eager to see just what the ‘compensation’ she mentioned is!

That very day, Su Yi and Meng Changyun set off, traversing the stars and sailing toward the Heavenly Prayer Star Realm.

Day after day slipped by in their little flat boat.

The journey was free of wind and rain. Nothing unexpected happened.

As they rushed along, Su Yi calmed his heart and cultivated. Every day, he refined a mountain of treasures. The Primordial Unity Divine Crystals alone numbered around three hundred.

That aside, every six hours, he took nine Fortune Spirit Aperture Pills.

These were first-rate treasures even in the Primordial Unity Daoist Sect. Refining Primordial Unity Divine Crystals could boost a World King’s ability to comprehend the Grand Dao.

As for the Fortune Spirit Aperture Pills? They could temper a World King’s foundations and help them raise their cultivation.

Even in a top powerhouse of the stars like the Primordial Unity Daoist Sect, only Cosmic Enlightenment Realm old-timers were so privileged as to enjoy such treasures!

Yet now, Su Yi was absorbing and refining them with no regard for their value.

The results were shocking, too.

Just seven days later, Su Yi broke through, reaching the pinnacle of the Heavenly Longevity Realm!

Next, I can attempt to break into the Oneness Realm... Su Yi sprawled out at an angle aboard the little flat boat, admiring the passing scenery.

The Oneness Realm.

Ten thousand Daos returned to their origin, and ten thousand methods returned to oneness!

Upon stepping into this realm, a World King’s power of the Grand Dao and secret arts fused into one, letting their cultivation enter an all-new realm.

A return to oneness meant using one’s path as a foundation to fuse one’s Laws into their Grand Dao Black Hole.

When I first stepped into the Heavenly Longevity Realm, I opened a Grand Dao Chaos Ground within my body, and planted a Root of Heaven and Earth. I have no need to fear achieving this step.

As Su Yi pondered, Meng Changyun suddenly called out from the head of the boat, “Young Lord, we’ve reached the Heavenly Prayer Star Realm.”

“Head straight to the Nine Heavens Pavilion,” said Su Yi.

“Got it,” Meng Changyun assented.

About ten minutes later, spatial ripples suddenly coursed through the distant starry void.

A shadowy figure emerged from the spatial ripples, like drifting, murky light.