First Immortal of the Sword

Su Yi glanced at the man in brocade robes. “There are no absolutes. Just because you can’t do something doesn’t mean others can’t.”

The old monsters were flabbergasted.

A moment later, they couldn’t help but laugh. This youngster obviously has no idea how difficult the Nine Steles of the Primeval Era are to grasp. Otherwise, he’d never have gotten hung up on an offhand comment like that!

When she saw the old monsters laugh, Qing Wei couldn’t help but smile. I’ll be interested to see whether you can still laugh in a bit!

“Does that mean you can see through the mysteries of the Nine Steles of the Primeval Era?” The man in brocade asked with a smile, the very picture of an older-generation cultivator quizzing a junior.

“Of course,” said Su Yi as if it were perfectly obvious. He didn’t even pause to think.

The crowd was stunned, to the point that they almost suspected they’d misheard him.

“Truly?” The man in brocade robes raised an eyebrow. “We old-timers disdain nothing more than empty boasting. I hope you’re not that type of person, Young Lord.”

Su Yi glanced at him and smiled. “How about we make a bet?”

The other old monsters looked intrigued. This youngster might seem brazen, but there’s no denying that he’s got guts!

Su Yi chuckled. “If I can point out your mistakes, I want each and every one of you to clasp your hands and bow to me.”

The crowd exchanged glances. All of them were stunned, and all of them found this absurd.

The man in brocade couldn’t help but laugh. “And if you lose?”

Su Yi didn’t even pause to think. “Do with me as you please.”

Instead of answering him, the old-timers looked at Qing Wei, as if to say, “Are you really going to just watch your junior make a fool of himself?”

But against all expectations, Qing Wei said with complete seriousness, “I urge you to set aside your biases and earnestly request the young lord’s guidance. If you agree to his bet, you’re sure to lose.”

The entire area practically exploded. None of the old-timers could remain calm.

The man in brocade said with displeasure, “If this young lord really can point out our mistakes, what’s the harm in bowing and apologizing?”

The other old monsters nodded.

Qing Wei pursed her red lips in frustration. Well, alright. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Someone chuckled and urged Su Yi on. “Come on then, Young Lord! Clear up our doubts. We’re waiting with rapt attention!”

“That’s right. Everyone, step aside so the young lord can instruct us!” laughed the man in brocade.

The old monsters found this bet absurd, and they were betting against a youngster. Even if they win, there was no glory in it.

Even so, in the end, no one argued.

“Very well. First, let’s hear this young lord’s esteemed opinion.”

The crowd stepped to the sides, clearing a path.

“As you wish.” Su Yi laughed, walked onto the cloud platform, and gazed intently at the seventh stele.

It emanated an aura of chaos, and its surface gave rise to countless intricate source Dao Markings. It seemed utterly chaotic, with no apparent patterns.

But upon closer inspection, every marking hid unfathomable secrets. They were imbued with the natural charm of the Dao, too wondrous for words.

The stele towered into the heavens. The markings covering it were too numerous to be measured in the thousands.

Most unbelievable of all, the markings slowly flowed like the waters of a stream. They were silently transforming! Never mind ordinary cultivators, even experts of lofty and deep cultivations would have struggled to derive the truths hidden within the stele’s markings!

Trying to grasp them by force would only inevitably damage the soul, throwing one’s mind and spirit into chaos. In severe cases, it could even lead to obsession!

When Su Yi looked over, he saw that the seventh stele was covered in a glittering golden formation diagram. It covered almost the entire stele, and it produced a distinctive and wondrous resonance with its markings.

But upon closer inspection, most of the stele’s markings weren’t resonating with the formation diagram. In other words, the formation only produced that wondrous resonance with a tiny portion of the stele’s markings.

After a cursory examination, Su Yi asked, “This is how you plan to crack it?”

“That’s right.” The man in brocade robes said with a complicated look on his face. “We’ve spent over twenty years, and after great difficulty, we grasped a portion of the stele’s mysteries and used them to produce that formation.”

Here, he let out a deep sigh. “Unfortunately, that’s as far as we got. With our abilities, we cannot derive any further secrets.”

The other old monsters’ hearts were heavy too.

Grasping the Nine Steles of the Primeval Era was like solving an extraordinarily complicated and difficult equation.

If they grasped all of the mysteries of a stele, they could create a complete formation diagram that resonated with all of its source Dao Markings! Creating the formation was proof of their understanding.

When someone grasped the mysteries of all nine steles, they received source power of the Grand Dao from the primeval era as a reward!

Su Yi thought for a moment, then said, “It’s not polite to say it, but I can only describe this formation as ‘riddled with flaws’ and ‘too unsightly to even look at.’”

The old monsters glowered. All of them were furious!

They’d poured their blood, sweat, and tears into that formation for twenty years, only for a young man to slander it. Who wouldn’t have been furious?

The man in brocade robes said gravely, “Young Lord, dare I ask what exactly is wrong with it?”

Su Yi took out a jug of wine and had a sip. “Contemplating the Grand Dao is like trying to picture an entire leopard based on a single spot, and indeed, that’s how you ought to do it. One look at the formation diagram you drew, and it's obvious that you haven’t grasped the steles’ fundamental mysteries.”

He gestured to the formation diagram and continued, “You’ve derived many of its mysteries, but you’re missing the most important one. You used the Divine Talisman Immortal Sect’s Eight Golden Locks to derive the mysteries of the seven stars and the nine palaces, and you indeed divined a portion of the essential truths of the source Dao Markings, but you’ve effectively created a mental cage for yourselves. You’re so fixated on the minor details that you’ve lost sight of the greater picture.”

At first, the old monsters were furious, and they didn’t take Su Yi’s words to heart.

But as he explained the formation’s flaws and inadequacies in full detail, the old monsters were left unwittingly stunned.

Gradually, their expressions grew astonished, enlightened, surprised, and excited…

Su Yi’s analysis had completely drawn them in.

Their initial disregard for Su Yi silently vanished. Soon, they were like obedient pupils listening to their teacher’s lecture with rapt attention.

Qing Wei stood in the distance and witnessed it all. Her charming eyes shone with a hint of a smile. It seems they’re finally starting to understand how incredible the Sovereign is!

“So that’s it! I get it!” Suddenly, a gray-robed elder said excitedly, “Over the past few years, we really have been fixated on trivial details. We fell into a trap. It’s just as you said; truly grasping the mysteries of the seventh stele requires using a tiny portion to figure out the complete situation. Only then can we see the details and use them to understand the whole picture!”

As he spoke, he waved his hand and erased the formation diagram covering the stele, then placed a new one.

When the new formation diagram took shape, the entire stele rumbled and boomed. Golden light soared into the heavens, and the sound of the Grand Dao rumbled. A rain of dreamlike, ethereal light scattered.

Upon closer inspection, the stele’s source Dao Markings seemed to have come to life. All of them resonated with the formation diagram, with none left out.

The crowd watched in astonishment and excitement, as if they were witnessing a miracle.

The way the old monsters looked at Su Yi had changed completely.

This problem had confounded them for over twenty years. Now, after hearing a young man’s explanation, they’d finally solved it. Who wouldn’t have been shaken?

When they thought back to how they’d initially dismissed Su Yi as a junior, and even teased him, their faces heated up.

The man in brocade robes clasped his fist and bowed deeply. “Earlier, we were blind and disrespectful. I humbly request your forgiveness!”

“Young Lord, please forgive us.” The other old monsters each took turns greeting Su Yi respectfully. This time, they were fully convinced, and despite Su Yi’s tender young age, they were wholeheartedly willing to show him their respect.

Qing Wei smiled as she took this in. Inwardly, she was quite smug and proud. She took honor in this too.

But against all expectations, Su Yi shook his head. “The formation diagram is still wrong.”

The old man in gray couldn’t help but say, “It’s wrong? But the source Dao Markings of the seventh stele have awakened, and there aren’t any gaps or flaws whatsoever!”

The others looked confused too.

Su Yi swept his gaze across the six steles and said, “You have indeed grasped the secrets of the first seven steles one by one, but all I can say is, all of your conclusions were wrong. With these methods, you have no hope of grasping the eighth and ninth steles.”

Su Yi paused, then said, “In other words, you went down the wrong path right from the start.”

Deathly silence fell. Everyone was struck dumb.

Prior to this, they would have chastised Su Yi or taken his words for a mere joke.

But after witnessing Su Yi’s abilities, they hesitated.

Suddenly, an aged voice rang out. “Then might you tell us where we went wrong?”

No one was sure when, but the unmoving Mo Canqiu had opened his eyes and gotten to his feet.

There was no doubt about it. The earlier disturbance had awakened his older-generation grandmaster of the Dao of Talismans and Formations.

Su Yi took a deep swig of wine and said, “The nine steles look separate, but their source Dao Markings have a subtle and wondrous connection. They’re a cohesive whole. That means that if you want to grasp the mysteries of the Nine Steles of the Primeval Era, you absolutely cannot contemplate them separately. Rather, you have to grasp them all at once.”

With that, he walked up to the first stele, pointed to its formation, and started fixing its errors.

Mo Canqiu and the other old-timers instinctively focused and listened attentively.

By the time Su Yi finished expounding on the formation diagram’s flaws, the platform was so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop.

The old monsters’ expressions shifted erratically. All of them were as flustered as schoolboys getting chastised for their mistakes, and all of them lowered their heads in shame.

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