First Immortal of the Sword

That very day, word of what happened in the Liang Family’s territory took Cloudwater Immortal City by storm.

It soon spread beyond the city!

After all, the Liang Family was an Immortal Lord faction, and both its leader and its grand elder had died in their own territory, alongside fourteen Universe Realm Immortals. It would have been hard for such an incident not to draw attention.

Everyone could picture it already. This incident was sure to send massive waves across the entire province’s world of cultivation!

That very day, a treasure ship left Cloudwater Immortal City, carrying Su Yi, the Fang siblings, and Liang Wenyu.

……

On board the treasure ship, Su Yi held a jug of wine and stood by the railing. His blue robes fluttered around him.

“Sovereign, we’ll reach the banks of the Luo River within two days,” Qi Fufeng said respectfully.

“Mm,” said Su Yi. “Call me ‘young lord’ going forward.”

“The past few months were hard on you,” Su Yi said softly.

Six days prior, the night he first arrived in Cloudwater Immortal City, he visited an inn and carved a message in a jade slip to make contact with Qi Fufeng.

At the time, he commanded Qi Fufeng to investigate Liang Wenyu in secret and learn what he’d been up to over the past three years.

Qi Fufeng shook his head. “It wasn’t difficult at all. On the contrary, I have a guilty conscience. I let you down, Sov...err, Young Lord.”

He sighed deeply.

“You needn’t blame yourself. So much time has passed, and the Immortal Realm has changed a lot since the Age of Fallen Immortals,” Su Yi said warmly.

He’d commanded Qi Fufeng to investigate certain past incidents in the White Reed Province. All of them involved Wang Ye.

This was because the White Reed Province was where Wang Ye rose to prominence, and it was here that he’d built his foundations. Numerous places and people connected to him remained here.

Qi Fufeng’s orders had involved said people and places.

For instance, he’d investigated leads regarding Wang Ye’s subordinates and old friends, as well as the Academy of Eternal Night he’d founded, and whether or not the coronation platform he’d built on Mount Taiwu still remained…

Unfortunately, so much time had passed, and time had taken its toll. The lands remained, but the Immortal Realm had changed. Most of the people and places he’d known had disappeared into the river of history during the Age of Fallen Immortals.

Even if Qi Fufeng investigated with all his might, there were limits to what he was able to find.

All he knew now was that the faction Wang Ye had builtp on the shore of the Luo River, the Academy of Eternal Night, had long since ceased to exist. All that remained of it was an ancient ruin.

Laughably, many immortal factions saw the ruins as a place to seek out good fortune.

The cultivators of the White Reed Province called them the Luo River Forbidden Zone. They were one of the province’s six most famous danger zones!

Several powerhouses of the Yao Path had even built factions near the Luo River. They wanted the proximity so they could enter the Luo River Forbidden Zone whenever they pleased!

And the Luo River Forbidden Zone was their current destination!

This was because according to Qi Fufeng’s investigations, although the Academy of Eternal Night had been destroyed during the Age of Fallen Immortals, its ruins remained. They were spread throughout the Luo River Forbidden Zone, and they’d yet to be fully excavated.

That aside, numerous secrets were hidden throughout the Luo River Forbidden Zone, as well as several extraordinarily mysterious and powerful life forms!

When Qi Fufeng attempted to investigate further, he encountered one of these terrifying lifeforms and couldn’t proceed any further.

It was like a soul body, strange and covered in electricity and tribulation light. It was elusive and mysterious, and it struck out of nowhere. Even an Immortal Lord like Qi Fufeng almost met his end.

This piqued Su Yi’s interest. He naturally wanted to get to the bottom of things.

Aside from the Luo River Forbidden Zone, Qi Fufeng investigated the place once known as the “Little Heavenly Court,” Mount Taiwu. It had disappeared during the Age of Fallen Immortals.

It had once been Wang Ye’s cultivation ground. Prior to the Age of Fallen Immortals, it was the greatest immortal mountain in the White Reed Province and among the top five in the Immortal Realm.

For a time, it was even considered the greatest of the five!

Back then, Wang Ye built a coronation platform at its peak. Whenever the Central Immortal Court appointed a new sovereign, they were sure to proceed to the peak of Mount Taiwu, where Wang Ye would place their crown upon their head personally.

Only then was their rule considered legitimate!

For instance, Daoist Master Red Cloud’s ancestor, the Southern Profound Immortal Sovereign, had undergone his coronation ceremony atop Mount Taiwu when he assumed power over the Central Immortal Court.

In other words, prior to the Age of Fallen Immortals, the greatest of the top five immortal mountains had been widely acknowledged as a holy ground to the cultivators of the Immortal Realm!

Hence the nickname, the “Little Heavenly Court!”

Naturally, Wang Ye was inextricably involved in all of this.

But according to Qi Fufeng, Mount Taiwu had disappeared long ago. No trace of it remained!

Over the years, countless mighty factions had investigated, but none learned anything at all.

This disappearance was now a famous, unsolvable mystery of the Immortal Realm.

This too drew Su Yi’s attention.

This was because the mountain hadn’t been destroyed; it had simply disappeared from the face of the earth. This was clearly out of the ordinary!

Originally, Su Yi planned to visit Mount Taiwu upon his return to the White Reed Province and have a look at the place he’d cultivated in during his past life. He wanted to see if anything had been left behind.

He had memories, and he knew that Wang Ye had wielded two world-famous swords in his lifetime.

The first was called “Far Reaches.”

The second was called “Distant Seas.”

There was nowhere his sword could not reach. It was thus indestructible.

It could reach even distant seas and mountains, heedless of the distance.

It was much like a famous couplet, which read, “At the end of the ocean, the sky is the shore. When I climb to the top of a mountain, I am the peak.”

This was the source of Far Reaches and Distant Seas’ names.

During the Battle of Eternal Night, Wang Ye wielded Distant Seas to cut down thirty-three supremely powerful foes. In the end, Distant Seas was badly damaged and lost on the battlefield.

As for Far Reaches? Wang Ye left it atop Mount Taiwu to seal and protect the coronation platform. No one else could wield it.

Of course, the disappearance of Mount Taiwu naturally implied the disappearance of Far Reaches by extension.

Qi Fufeng said softly, “Young Lord, in my view, although a long time has passed and the Immortal Realm has changed, all you need to do is issue a decree, and those who fought alongside you will heed your call, no matter where they are in the Immortal Realm!”

Here, he sighed. “The only disadvantage is that doing so would reveal your identity and draw your powerful enemies’ attention, too. It’d lead to endless trouble.”

Su Yi nodded. “No need to rush. We can just take our time.”

His current strength was far from sufficient; it wasn’t time to lay everything out in the open.

Su Yi thought for a moment, then said, “There are two things I’d like you to do next.”

“Please command me, Young Lord,” Qi Fufeng said respectfully.

“First, gather information about the Nine Gates of Heaven, especially the Sixth and Seventh Gates of Heaven.”

Su Yi then described his encounter with the Formless Demon, Li Fenghan, at the Mirror Lake.

Qi Fufeng was instantly solemn.

Formless Demons were one of the nine great demon races of the Beyond, and they were natural-born assassins, unpredictable and dangerous to the extreme.

Yet now, at least one expert of this race had crossed the defensive line of the Nine Gates of Heaven to enter the Immortal Realm. Qi Fufeng immediately realized how serious the problem was.

“You have to be extremely careful. If you discover anything, contact me immediately. Whatever you do, don’t take any reckless action,” ordered Su Yi.

Qi Fufeng nodded. “Second, continue investigating what led to the demise of the Bi’an Spirit Race. No matter what, this blood debt must be repaid!”

He’d discussed the matter with Fang Yourong, but unfortunately, she was just a little girl when it happened. She didn’t know who the culprits were either.

“Understood!” Qi Fufeng solemnly agreed.

Su Yi took out three jade slips and passed them to Qi Fufeng. “The first of these slips was given to me by the Divine Mysteries Pavilion. With it, you can make contact with their forces and gather information.

“The second records the distinctive characteristics of the nine great races of the demons of the Beyond, including their cultivation techniques, legacies, and weaknesses, with countermeasures for each.

“The third slip seals a streak of sword qi. Don’t use it unless it’s truly life or death.”

Qi Fufeng solemnly accepted the slip. “This junior will be sure to give it his all!”

That very day, Qi Fufeng left the treasure ship alone to begin this operation.

Su Yi, meanwhile, went looking for Liang Wenyu and the Fang siblings. “We’ll arrive in Blazing Firmament Immortal City tomorrow. I plan to get you settled in at the local branch of the House of Little Joys.”

He’d already asked Xue Hongfeng to confirm that there was a branch there. Once the siblings were settled in, Su Yi could contact Qing Wei. That’d be enough to ensure their safety.

“When I find out who was behind the deaths of the Bi’an Spirit Race, I’ll naturally help you get revenge,” said Su YI.

Fang Yourong couldn’t help but ask. “Senior, why… Why are you helping us?”

“I can’t tell you now,” said Su Yi. “But you’ll naturally understand later.”

Fang Yourong hesitated, then asked tentatively, “Can… Can Big Brother Liang come with us?”

Su Yi nodded. He wasn’t all that prejudiced against Liang Wenyu.

Fang Yourong instantly felt a massive weight lift from her shoulders. “Thank you so much, Senior.”

…

That night, as the treasure ship made its way to Blazing Firmament Immortal City, it passed a stretch of untamed mountain wilderness. There, Su Yi witnessed a grand battle!

One of the combatants was a lady sword immortal in white, an unrivaled beauty with shocking murderous intent. She emanated the characteristic energy fluctuations of a Void Realm True Immortal.

Her opponent was an Immortal Lord of the heretical path!

The two fought amidst the wilderness, and the battle was extraordinarily intense.

The heretical cultivator was a man in blood-red robes. His aura was sinister and malevolent, and he gripped a flag with a pole carved out of bone. When he waved it about, countless ferocious evil spirits arose throughout heaven and earth, blanketing the surrounding area.

It was as if the entire landscape had transformed into a ghostly domain!

Even more shockingly, despite the heretical cultivator’s Immortal Lord Realm cultivation, he was at a disadvantage against the Void Realm True Immortal swordswoman!

When Xue Hongfeng and the Fang siblings saw this from a distance, all of them were astonished.

But when Su Yi saw the swordwoman’s techniques, his eyes widened with surprise.

Seth's Thoughts

"Far Reaches" and "Distant Seas" are taken from a Jin Ying quote recently repopularized by Xi Jinping, "志之所趋，无远弗届, 穷山距海，不能限也." In English, that's (roughly) "Where ambition takes you, distance is no obstacle. Neither faraway mountains nor distant seas can limit you."

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"At the end of the ocean, the sky is the shore. When I climb to the top of a mountain, I am the peak."

This is a couplet about striving for ever-greater heights.

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“First, gather information about the Nine Gates of Heaven, especially the Sixth and Seventh Gates of Heaven.”

As a reminder: Wang Ye grew up protecting the Sixth Gate of Heaven, but rose to prominence protecting the Seventh Gate of Heaven.

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