First Immortal of the Sword

An auspicious cloud carried Su Yi and Qi Fufeng through the sky.

Su Yi sprawled out comfortably in his wicker chair.

Qi Fufeng stood respectfully to the side. From time to time, he glanced at Su Yi, his expression still full of undisguisable bewilderment and emotion.

He’d waited for countless years, but the heavens hadn’t let him down. His sovereign had finally returned!

“Has your father… truly passed on?” Su Yi asked softly.

Earlier, he’d heard Qi Fufeng say the words “late father,” so he already knew the answer.

It was just that he still couldn’t quite believe it.

Qi Fufeng nodded and said with grief, “During the Age of Fallen Immortals, Father and I led the cultivators of Valiant Gale Immortal Pavilion to seek refuge, but we were unfortunate. Catastrophe befell us, and Father lost his life.

“The vast majority of our sect members perished alongside him. Only a small number were fortunate enough to escape calamity. Even the survivors were left badly injured. In the years that followed, my companions perished, one after another. In the end, only I remained, a lost soul drifting aimlessly…”

Here, Qi Fufeng let out a deep sigh and shook his head. “All of that happened a long time ago. I’ve been watching over White Deer Mountain’s Ascension Pool since the Age of Fallen Immortals. I haven’t left our ancestral ground since.

“Before Father passed away, he instructed me to safeguard White Deer Mountain if at all possible. He said that you couldn’t possibly have died in the Battle of Eternal Night, Sovereign! And he said that one day, you’d be sure to return!”

When Su Yi heard that, his eyes filled with reminiscence.

He thought back to that day. Wang Ye was in seclusion when a group of his most powerful foes ambushed him, launching the most terrifying, bloody battle in the Immortal Realm’s history.

Wang Ye slew numerous powerful foes in fury, but in the process, he suffered incurable injuries that forced him to undergo reincarnation.

But the general populace thought that Wang Ye, the Eternal Night Immortal Sovereign, had died during the battle. Thus, they called it the Battle of Eternal Night!

First, to represent that this was the battle in which the Eternal Night Immortal Sovereign fell.

Second, because after Wang Ye’s death, the order of the Immortal Realm gave way to chaos. The battle marked the start of a long and tumultuous age akin to the darkness of an eternal night.

This battle completely rewrote the Immortal Realm’s balance of power!

“It’s… a pity about your father.” Su Yi sighed.

Qi Changli had been an extraordinary talent. His foundations and aptitude in the Immortal Dao were almost beyond imagining. Wang Ye saw him as a good seedling destined to reach the Immortal King Realm with ease. Even breaking into the three stages of the Great Realm was well within the bounds of possibility.

And true to his expectations, Qi Changlie had indeed reached the Immortal King Realm before death!

Alas, he had perished during the Age of Fallen Immortals.

“What about you? How’d you wind up working for the Church of the Pure One?” asked Su Yi.

Qi Fufeng said in a low voice, “A year ago, one of their elders, Mo Shanchan, led a group of experts to White Deer Mountain. I hid myself and eavesdropped on their conversation. I learned that, a year later, the gates to the Immortal Realm would open to White Deer Mountain’s Ascension Ground.

“It was also during that conversation that I learned that they were searching for someone they suspected was your reincarnation!”

Here, Qi Fufeng’s face filled with excitement. “At the time, I was simply overcome with joy. There are no words to describe how I felt at that moment. All I can say is, I didn’t spend all those years waiting in vain!”

Su Yi couldn’t help but be rueful too.

There was no getting around it; Wang Ye was an extremely charismatic figure.

Those who hated him called him the Tyrant, and they longed for nothing more than to tear him limb from limb and eat him alive!

But those who respected him saw him as a god-like figure, and they’d die for him without hesitation!

Would Qi Fufeng really have bitterly guarded White Deer Mountain all these years simply on account of his father’s orders?

No. Were he waiting for anyone else, he likely would have given up a long time ago.

Qi Fufeng took a moment to steady himself, then said, “Back then, although they’d found White Deer Mountain’s Ascension Ground, they couldn’t enter the Ascension Palace or Immortal Transformation Pool. I used that as an opportunity to seek employment. I expressed my willingness to work with them, and said I was after honor and glory, but it was all a ruse. I really wanted to seize the opportunity to see if what they said was true.”

Su Yi finally understood. “They never suspected you?”

Qi Fufeng let out a self-deprecating laugh. He shook his head. “Never. So many years have passed, and times have changed. No one noticed anything suspicious about a lonely ghost who survived the Age of Fallen Immortals like me. They didn’t even have any idea who I was.”

Su Yi nodded. “And how did you recognize me?”

Qi Fufeng didn’t even stop to think. “Sovereign, if I’m not mistaken, that palm strike you used to suppress those Universe Realm Immortals drew upon ‘a Sword Domain in My Palm!' You transmitted that unrivaled divine ability to my father personally!”

“Indeed I did,” Su Yi said with a laugh.

He’d chosen A Sword Domain in My Palm to test the "ragged old man" and see if he recognized it. Either way, it would have helped Su Yi figure out his identity.

The two chatted a while longer, and before long, Su Yi had learned quite a bit.

First, the Immortal Realm really was completely different from what he remembered.

After the long Age of Fallen Immortals reached its close, the world descended into upheaval. New cultivation factions cropped up like bamboo shoots after spring rains, and valiant elites clashed for dominance.

Most of the Immortal King factions and Immortal Lord clans of the prior era were lost to the river of history.

But a small percentage of ancient factions managed to hold out. They’d survived the Age of Fallen Immortals!

Take the Church of the Pure One, Lotus Temple, and the ancient Tang Family. They’d been prominent factions even prior to the Age of Fallen Immortals, and they stood to this day.

The three pure lands of Mount Buzhou, as well as some Immortal King clans, made it too.

But the vast majority of present-day factions were new.

Some of the newly risen factions had already spread their roots and grown into towering trees capable of contending with ancient factions!

Furthermore, according to Qi Fufeng, no one knew just how many ancient factions had survived.

This was because every so often, another ancient faction would re-enter the world.

The crux of the matter was that although the catastrophe of the Age of Fallen Immortals had swept through the world, it hadn’t destroyed the various factions’ roots.

Now, after countless years of dormancy, the world’s fortune was recovering, and the Immortal Realm was welcoming a new era of plenty.

It was like the poem: “After a wildfire, spring winds bring new life.”

The current Immortal Realm was effectively giving rise to new life after destruction!

Although there were a seemingly endless number of new cultivation factions, if you traced their roots, their legacies were holdovers from ancient times.

Su Yi also learned that although the Church of the Pure One knew that Wang Ye’s reincarnation was still alive, and that he’d most likely come to the Immortal Realm, they still didn’t know just who he was. Otherwise, there would've been no need to try and take every last new ascendant to the Immortal Realm with them.

And even among the world’s top factions, word of Wang Ye’s reincarnation was still top-secret. Only a tiny handful of true top powerhouses knew the truth.

Although the Church of the Pure One and several other factions had sent their experts, their experts were simply carrying out orders. Not even they knew why their factions of origin wanted to capture the ascendants.

Qi Fufeng knew the truth because he’d eavesdropped on Mo Shanchan's conversation, picking up several leads.

Su Yi found the situation strange at first, but when he thought about it, he understood.

Every faction involved, including the Church of the Pure One, wanted to capture Wang Ye’s reincarnation secretly!

If word spread, they’d invite competition from numerous powerful experts, as well as other forms of unnecessary trouble.

After all, Wang Ye had enormous prestige in life, friends willing to fight and die alongside him, and numerous incomparably loyal subordinates!

The moment word spread, his old friends and allies were sure to come looking for him!

Take Qi Fufeng. He was Qi Changlie’s son, and he’d endured countless years of bitter waiting, all in hopes that Wang Ye might one day return!

“Next, I’d like to find a place to get the people who rose to the Immortal Realm alongside me settled in,” said Su Yi. “Do you have any recommendations?”

Qi Fufeng said solemnly, “A trivial matter, Sovereign. Please, leave it to me. No need to concern yourself personally. I guarantee them all a safe place in the Immortal Realm.”

Although he’d spent almost every moment safeguarding White Deer Mountain, he had occasionally visited other places, and he’d also found a few of his old friends from other forces.

He was fully confident that he could handle this.

“Good. I’ll leave it to you, then.” Su Yi nodded.

The Immortal Realm was incomparably vast. Never mind ordinary cultivators, even immortals couldn’t necessarily visit it all during their lifetimes.

Finding a place for Yu Chen, Qin Suxin, and the others to seek refuge wasn’t difficult.

The Immortal Realm was just too big.

Su Yi took out a jug of wine, drank, then suddenly asked, “A long, long time had passed, but your cultivation is still only in the early-stage Saint Realm. Did you perhaps encounter a bottleneck?”

A glum look appeared on Qi Fufeng’s face. “I won’t hide it from you, Sovereign. It isn’t a bottleneck; I was injured during the Age of Fallen Immortals, and I suffered incurable Dao Wounds. I have no hope of ever reaching higher realms….”

Getting stuck in the Saint Realm, never to advance any further, was an enormous blow for any Immortal Lord.

Life and death were trivial matters.

The inability to advance any further was the greatest torment of all!

Back then, after Wang Ye survived the Battle of Eternal Night, he too suffered incurable Dao Wounds, leaving him little choice but to reincarnate and do it all over again!

Su Yi thought for a moment. “An Immortal Lord’s Dao Wounds aren’t truly incurable. Since you’ve found me, I naturally ought to do my best to lend you a hand.”

Qi Fufeng shook, his face filling with delight. He was just about to say something when a burst of smug, gleeful laughter emanated from afar.

“Hahaha, little fellow, it hasn’t been long since we parted ways, yet we’ve met again! What can I call it but destiny?”

Seth's Thoughts

The title is half of the most famous line of a very famous Bai Juyi poem.

The grass is spreading out across the plain,Each year, it dies, then flourishes again.It's burnt but not destroyed by prairie fires,When spring winds blow they bring it back to life.

This was probably the second or third Chinese poem I ever read. Easy (for classical poetry, that is) and often quoted.

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