First Immortal of the Sword

A belt of barren wilderness bordered the White Reed Province. It was late at night, and flurries of snow danced through the air.

Inside a run-down Daoist Temple, Fang Han was warming a jug of wine beside a blazing bonfire.

Off to the side, Su Yi was sprawled out in a wicker chair, eyes half open as he admired the snowy landscape.

Two days prior, when the curtains fell on the Mirror Lake Immortal Assembly, a group of Immortal Lords enthusiastically fawned at him. Eventually, he couldn’t take all the pleasantries anymore, so he bade Fu Yunzhong farewell, took Fang Han, and left.

The two of them traversed the mountains and rivers on foot. Tonight, when a blizzard hit, the two of them sought shelter in this run-down Daoist Temple.

The ground was frozen solid. Snow blanketed the entire mountain.

But they’d built a bonfire in this run-down temple in the wilderness, and they were warming a jug of aged wine. That was more than comfort enough.

Before long, Fang Han offered the heated wine to Su Yi. “We’ve already reached the White Reed Province. Where… do you plan to take me?”

Su Yi accepted the wine, took a big swig, and sighed in apparent satisfaction before answering him. “It doesn’t matter where we go. What matters is, has your sister replied to your message yet?”

“You used a Bi’an Shooting Star Talisman on board the cloud ship. It would have been difficult for me not to notice,” said Su Yi.

“I just knew I couldn’t hide it from you,” grumbled Fang Han. “That’s right. I wrote my big sister a letter, but… she still hasn’t responded.”

Deep concern appeared on the young man’s face.

Su Yi gazed at the flurries of snow outside the temple and said softly, “Don’t you think it’s about time you told me just what kind of catastrophe befell the Bi’an Spirit Race?”

Fang Han’s expression shifted, and the light in his eyes dimmed. The youth sat by the fire in silence for a long time before saying, “Actually, I… I don’t know either.”

His eyes shone with reminiscence. “My earliest memories are of my sister and I wandering and begging for food just to survive. Sometimes, we even had to steal food to keep our bellies full, as if we were stray dogs…. All I remember is hunger and cold.

“It was even harder on my big sister. She’s only four years older than me, but whenever we found food, she made sure I got my fill first. She always said she wasn’t hungry, but I know she was. She just wanted to make sure I got enough. When I was bullied, she fought like mad to defend me, even when they left her battered and bleeding.

“You might not believe me, but it’s true. All I remember is hunger, cold, aimless wandering, and darkness. If not for my big sister’s protection, I would have died a long time ago.”

The rims of the youth’s eyes reddened. “Big Sister always said that no matter how hard it was, or how much bitterness we endured, we had to live. Only then can we avenge our fallen clansmen and ensure the Bi’an Spirit Race lives on!”

The boy’s voice was choked with sobs, and he lowered his head, as if he didn’t want Su Yi to see his grief.

Waves of emotion coursed through Su YI’s heart.

He’d of course anticipated that Fang Han had endured a lot in his early years, but he wouldn’t have guessed that his upbringing had been this bleak.

Long ago, the Bi’an Spirit Race was one of the strongest beneath the heavens. Generations of their ancestors had defended the Seventh Gate of Heaven, shedding their blood to defend the Immortal Realm!

It seemed that Fang Han had opened the floodgates on his pent-up emotions. As the two of them sat by the bonfire and watched the snow, he told Su Yi of his childhood.

Su Yi held his jug of wine and listened quietly. He could tell that the youth had kept all of this pent up for far, far too long.

As he listened, Su Yi learned some new details.

Three years ago, Fang Han and his sister fled the flames of war and sought refuge in the wilderness, only to encounter a group of heretical cultivators who’d taken over a mountain to rob passersby.

In the end, both siblings were captured and sold as slaves. They hadn’t seen each other since.

During their three years apart, Fang Han was repeatedly sold and resold due to his Bi’an bloodline. He suffered a lot, and if not for Su Yi rescuing him from the Black Dragon Market, he would've been sold off once more.

Su Yi couldn’t help but sigh.

Harboring too great a treasure was a crime, and Fang Han's bloodline was precious. He was innocent, but as a descendant of the Bi’an Spirit Race, many cultivators saw him as a rare and precious commodity!

For instance, not long ago, on board the cloud ship, Hua Xingchen’s subordinates captured Fang Han on account of his Bi’an bloodline.

Suddenly, Fang Han said solemnly, “Senior, if you help me find my big sister, I don’t care what your ultimate goals are; I promise to do everything in my power to repay your benevolence, even if it kills me!”

The youth’s eyes were full of expectation. He’d even started addressing Su Yi as “Senior.”

Su Yi laughed dryly. “Do you think I need you to repay me?”

Fang Han scratched his head and fell silent. It’s true. Even an Immortal Queen like the Red Dragon Dao Monarch treated him as her most distinguished guest, and even Immortal Lords view him with awe. How could he possibly need me to repay him? And that’s before even considering how he killed a group of immortals in Auspicious Cloud Palace, washed Soaring Cloud Tower in blood, and effortlessly suppressed that Formless Demon!

For a moment, Fang Han felt quite depressed.

But then, Su Yi changed tack. “That said, I appreciate your good intentions. If you really want to repay me, work hard at your cultivation, and don’t bring shame upon the ancestors of the Bi’an Spirit Race!”

Fang Han shook, and his eyes lit up. “Senior, does that mean you’ll help me?”

“I’d have helped you find your big sister even if you hadn’t asked,” Su Yi said softly.

He then took out a jade slip and started reading. Elder Chu Baichan of the Divine Mysteries Pavilion had given it to him.

Before leaving the Mirror Lake Immortal Assembly, Su Yi and Chu Baichan conversed. During this conversation, Su Yi surmised that Chu Baichan’s Divine Mysteries Pavilion had a deity behind them. In other words, the Divine Mysteries Pavilion really hadn’t existed prior to the Age of Fallen Immortals.

They were a newly arisen faction backed by a god, and their forces were spread across the Immortal Realm. They specialized in gathering secret intelligence, and they were in possession of countless secrets.

It was because of their information network that most experts of the Immortal Realm acknowledged their Universe and Void Realm Immortal Rankings.

The jade slip Chu Baichan gave him included both newly updated ranking lists. That aside, it was emblazoned with the unique secret emblem of the Divine Mysteries Pavilion. With it, he could make contact with the Divine Mysteries Pavilion. So long as he paid the corresponding price, he could acquire all sorts of not publicly available information.

The fire blazed, and flurries danced through the air outside.

Su Yi sprawled out in his wicker chair, contentedly reading the names of the top hundred experts of the Void Realm Immortal Ranking.

Every name included a cultivator’s origins, cultivation, the nature of their talent, their master, and various other information. There was even the Divine Mysteries Pavilion’s commentary.

A woman named Ying Xiu was in first place on the Void Realm Immortal Rankings. She was from one of Mount Buzhou’s three pure lands, the Jadelight Pure Lands.

She had an extraordinary spirit root and natural beauty. They called her the holy maiden of the Jadelight Pure Lands, and her sheer talent suppressed every other Void Realm True Immortal beneath the heavens. Countless valiant elites couldn’t help but sigh over their own inferiority.

The Divine Mysteries Pavilion wasn’t stingy with their praise, either. They called her a unique, stand-out genius unrivaled among True Immortals.

“Ying Xiu? Could she perhaps be a descendant of Ying Shanxue?” Su Yi wondered.

Ying Shanxue sounded like a man’s name, but she was female.

Prior to the Age of Fallen Immortals, she’d led the Jadelight Pure Lands as their sect leader. She’d reached the pinnacle of the Immortal Dao, and she gazed down upon the masses.

Ying Shanxue’s reputation was comparable to Xing Chao of the Three Yao Sovereigns of the Dark Northern Sea.

In truth, many of the names on the Void Realm Immortal Ranking brought back memories. It wasn’t that Su Yi recognized the specific individuals, but that their talents, origins, and sects were familiar.

A long time passed before Su Yi put away the jade slip and finished his wine. He was slightly tipsy.

He rose to his feet and walked outside. Fang Han couldn’t help but ask, “Senior, where are you going?”

“On a walk through the snow. You can just wait here,” said Su Yi. He put his hands behind his back and strolled off, gazing up at the snow and boundless night sky.

Fang Han was stunned. What’s there to even look at?

Youths often didn’t appreciate the beauty of nature. There was nothing for it; their mentalities were different.

Su Yi walked through the dense layers of snow, feeling slightly tipsy, leisurely, and relaxed.

The snow fell soundlessly, blanketing everything in white.

Although it was night, there was no disguising the snowy landscape’s pristine beauty.

Were an ordinary mortal here, they couldn’t have appreciated the boundless, snow-covered landscape without lamps or torches.

Crunch crunch crunch!

As Su Yi walked through the accumulated snow, every footstep made a crisp, pleasing sound.

Su Yi shook the snow off his shoulders. It really has been a long time since I’ve enjoyed the snow in the solitude of the night like this.

Here, there were no worldly entanglements. There was no pursuit of the Grand Dao, nor the enmities and benevolences encountered along the way.

Everything was silent and still, and he walked alone, half intoxicated, taking in the enormity of the world and the beauty of the landscape.

Suddenly, a calamitous aura surged beneath the dome of heaven. The surrounding three thousand miles of landscape were plunged into a strange, oppressive atmosphere. Even the snow seemed startled; the flurries froze in midair.

Within the run-down Daoist temple, Fang Han’s hair stood on end. He felt almost suffocated.

The living things scattered throughout the landscape prostrated on the ground, quivering with panic and despair.

That calamitous aura of an impending tribulation even restricted and influenced the Laws and natural order of the three thousand miles it encompassed, as if the entire area faced the descent of the apocalypse.

Su Yi furrowed his brow. This was his Immortal Tribulation!

Any other Cloud Soaring Transcendent would have gone mad with delight. After all, reaching this step meant finally becoming an immortal! Something countless Transcendents longed for even in their dreams!

But Su Yi was a bit displeased. Tonight was a rare moment of leisure, and he was enjoying the scenery. Who’d have thought his Immortal Tribulation would come out of nowhere and disrupt it?

“Go away! Don’t ruin my mood or ruin this beautiful landscape.” Su Yi waved his sleeves. An illusory shot through the air, soaring into the depths of the sky.

A flash of sword light cleaved through the tribulation clouds, slashing them to pieces.

As Su Yi admired the snow from the ground, an illusory sword destroyed his tribulation from the heavens.

Seth's Thoughts

Shanxue means Mountain Snow. "Snow" is pretty common in women's names, but I've only ever seen "Mountain" in men's names, which I guess is why Su Yi thinks the name is masculine.

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