First Immortal of the Sword

The setting sun cast its angled light on the surface of the river, tinging its waters orange.

Two green birds beat their wings amidst the lush reeds of the shoreline, then took to the air.

Soft footsteps approached from the distance, gradually drawing closer.

Su Yi lay amidst the reeds. Although he didn’t open his eyes, he could clearly sense the thin figure walking toward him.

She was a young woman in worn-out robes. Her skin was the color of wheat, and she carried a fish basket in one hand, a spear in the other.

Beneath the light of the setting sun, she walked a clearly familiar path to the shoreline, parting the reeds along the way.

First, she set her basket on the ground. Then, she gripped her spear, observed closely, and thrust it into the water.

Whoosh~

There was a splash of water as she speared a fat fish and swung it out of the water. She deftly removed it from her spearhead and tossed it into the basket

She then started searching the shoreline for her next target, all the while gradually drawing closer to Su Yi.

Hm?

The young woman suddenly turned her head, and her bright eyes lit up. She’d discovered Su Yi!

Except to her, he looked like a wound-riddled corpse. He was completely covered in blood; not even the river water could wash it all away.

The young woman tightened her grip on her spear, her slender frame as taut as a bowstring.

Su Yi didn’t move. He had no strength left; he could not even lift a finger.

But he wasn’t worried about anything. The young woman was no mighty cultivator. It obviously hadn’t been long she’d stepped onto the path of cultivation, and all she knew was a coarse qi refining technique. She was in the Qi Accumulation Realm of the Martial Dao; most wouldn't even consider her a proper cultivator yet.

The Martial Dao was divided into four realms: Blood Circulation, Qi Accumulation, Inner Furnace, and Anāsrava.

Those who’d only just begun their cultivation were still seen as mundane martial artists. A girl like this couldn’t threaten Su Yi at all.

Time slipped by.

The girl didn’t move. She just solemnly looked Su Yi over. From this, it was obvious how cautious she was.

A while later, she pursed her lips, gripped her spear, and cautiously approached. It was only after she reached Su Yi and nothing unexpected happened that she visibly relaxed.

She then gently poked his leg with her spear.

“.....” Su Yi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. How could he fail to realize what was happening? The young woman was testing to see whether he was alive or dead!

A dead body? When Su Yi didn’t react, she seemed to sigh in relief. She turned to leave, but then, she saw that the “corpse” had opened his eyes, and he was looking right at her.

She jumped like a startled cat. Her hair stood on end, and she turned and fled.

“....” Su Yi didn’t know what to say. Isn’t she a bit too cautious?

The girl had indeed run away. She’d even left her basket behind.

The corners of Su Yi’s lips twitched, but there was nothing he could do.

He just lay there quietly, his eyes closing beneath the light of the sun as it slowly descended beyond the horizon. He silently took a moment to examine his condition.

His meridians had shattered, and his bones were broken and shattered in numerous places. His qi and blood had practically run dry, and the surface of his skin was covered in countless wounds. Even his vital organs were severely damaged and emanating an air of death.

But by themselves, the wounds were nothing.

The problem was that wisps of destructive aura still permeated the inside of his body.

They represented an extremely tyrannical power. They’d been left behind from that full-force Immortal King-level strike.

That aside, his soul had been damaged. It had sunk into a depleted state, like a false death.

All of this left Su Yi rather speechless. His wounds were indeed rather excessive this time. If he couldn’t dispel that Immortal King power from his body, it would be difficult to truly recover his cultivation.

And if he couldn’t recover his cultivation, it wouldn’t matter that he had thousands of methods at his disposal. He still wouldn’t be able to treat his wounds fully.

But he wasn’t dead. So long as he was alive, none of this was insurmountable.

Su Yi could clearly sense a faint, almost undetectable vitality coursing through him.

Undying Power!

Back in the First Battleground, A’Cai gave Su Yi a Dao-Bearing Chaos Stone. It contained the complete power of the Grand Dao of Undying.

He’d since started contemplating it, and he’d gained a preliminary understanding of this taboo power of the Dao.

This “undying, indestructible, self-perpetuating” power of the Grand Dao was now nourishing his badly damaged body.

Although the effects were subtle, they were better than nothing.

“At this rate, I’ll recover some of my cultivation within the month,” thought Su Yi. When the time comes, I’ll be able to get medicine out of the Divine Replenishment Furnace and make a full recovery!”

As the sun set and the misty light of dusk gave way to darkness, footsteps emanated from afar.

It was the same girl as before. She still carried her spear, and she was still cautious, but she was headed right for Su Yi.

“Why did you come back?” asked Su Yi, his voice feeble.

The young woman stiffened, then took a beast skin scroll from her sleeves and unfurled it for Su Yi to see.

Su Yi looked up and saw a line of crooked, poorly written text: “My name is A’Li. I’m here to save you, and I’m a mute.”

Su Yi was stunned. A mute? No wonder she hasn’t said anything all this time.

When she saw that Su Yi seemed to have understood, the young woman visibly relaxed. She took out a burnt, sharpened piece of charcoal and wrote, “I’m going to carry you back to my house. I’ll treat your wounds there.”

She put away the beast skin and the charcoal, then bent down and carefully lifted Su Yi off the ground.

Then, completely disregarding the mud and bloodstains, she used her slender body to support his entire weight and carry him out of the reeds.

From beginning to end, Su Yi said nothing.

But his gaze softened. The young woman was extremely cautious, but she had a kind heart, and that was truly precious.

The radiant moon shone overhead.

A girl in her late teens carried Su Yi, and after just fifteen minutes, a village appeared in the distance. It consisted mostly of densely packed, coarse stone huts, scattered with no apparent organization.

Some of the huts had roaring bonfires built in front of them, with figures clustered around them, eating and drinking. It was a lively sight.

But the girl didn’t go to the village. Instead, she carried Su Yi around it, bypassing the village to arrive at the foot of a mountain.

The grass was lush, and it was obvious that people seldom ventured here.

She continued ahead, and soon, she arrived at a cave obscured by the underbrush.

The interior wasn’t large, only several dozen feet across. Beneath the faint moonlight, Su Yi saw a thick layer of straw piled on the ground, and a bearskin laid out to the side.

There was nothing else inside.

The girl carefully laid Su Yi out on the straw, then took out her beast skin and charcoal and wrote, “Rest for now. I’ll go get medicine.”

Before Su Yi could respond, she turned and dashed out of the cave.

It was dry inside, and Su Yi could tell that the straw he lay on had only just been placed there.

There was no doubt about it. After their first encounter, the girl decided to save him, and she’d prepared her cave for his arrival. The straw was intended as his bed.

And the bearskin was obviously to be his blanket…

As for why the girl hadn’t brought him to the village they’d passed? It was easy to guess. She was afraid of others’ attention and the unnecessary trouble it could bring!

After all, she had no idea where he’d come from, and he was covered in wounds. Someone more experienced would surely be on guard, and it was hard to say what they might do! The girl had obviously considered this problem, which was why she’d arranged this cave for him.

Su Yi couldn’t help but nod approvingly to himself. The girl isn’t just kind. She’s meticulous, careful, and considerate.

Before long, the young woman returned with a leather bag. She took out a jug of hot water, a wooden bowl, herbal medicines, and various other items.

She embedded a moonlight rock in the cave wall, instantly dispersing some of the darkness of its interior.

Then, she took the hot water and a cloth, showed them to Su Yi, and started wiping the blood and dirt off his body.

She was careful and gentle, as if afraid she’d touch his wounds and hurt him.

A full fifteen minutes passed before she’d wiped off all the blood. During that time, she’d replaced her hot water more than ten times.

By the end of this process, she was sweating with exertion. She was obviously exhausted.

But she didn’t stop there. Instead, she took out herbal medicines and started rubbing them on Su Yi’s wounds.

Su Yi did nothing to stop her, nor did he tell the girl that these medicines were too common to have any effect on his wounds.

He just quietly watched her work. A rare warmth coursed through his steely heart.

He’d pursued the Dao for a long time. He’d been the Wilds’ Swordmaster of Abstruse Force, the Eastern Profound Star Domain’s legendary Temple Master, and the terrifying Tyrant Wang Ye of the Immortal Realm….

He was confident, proud, contemptuous, and domineering, with a heart as unshakeable as a divine mountain.

Yet he knew that in the young woman’s eyes, he was… no more than a man on the brink of death and in need of help.

That was precisely what made her character so praiseworthy and her aid so precious.

A long time passed before she finally finished. She wiped the sweat from her brow and looked down at Su Yi and his medicinal paste-covered body in satisfaction. A hint of a smile rose to her lips.

Her skin was the color of wheat; she obviously spent a lot of time braving the elements. Her hair was slightly dry and yellowed, and she was thin and frail. Her robes were worn out, and she lacked even the slightest adornment.

Her looks were delicate, but she was far from a beauty.

She looked like she’d grown up in poverty in the remote countryside.

Yet in that moment, in Su Yi’s eyes, she was extraordinarily beautiful.

Seth's Thoughts

"She was in the Qi Accumulation Realm of the Martial Dao; most wouldn't even consider her a cultivator."

Way back when, when Su Yi was still in the Azure Continent, there was occasional talk of how people weren't really considered cultivators until they stepped into the Origin Dao.

From chapter 247:

In the eyes of true cultivators, the so-called “Grandmaster Realm” was merely the third stage of the Martial Dao, the Inner Furnace Realm!

True cultivators could subsist on wind and dew, abstaining from food. (..) Even the experts the ordinary people lauded as Earthly Immortals (Origin Dao cultivators) were really just those who’d stepped over the threshold. They’d stepped onto the path of the true cultivator, yes.

But… They’d only just barely gotten started!

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