First Immortal of the Sword

As dusk approached, Su Yi emerged from the Blazing Firmament Immortal City branch of the House of Little Joys alone.

Xue Hongfeng had already said his farewells and begun his journey home. He said he had to prepare a birthday gift for his father.

Fang Han, Fang Yourong, and Liang Wenyu took up temporary residence in the city’s branch of the House of Little Joys.

Its manager was a Void Realm True Immortal called Xie Hengqiu.

When Su Yi met with him, he didn’t reveal his identity. Instead, he took out the command token Qing Wei had given him. Xie Hengqiu was all too happy to agree to look after Liang Wenyu and the Fang siblings.

Su Yi also told Xie Hengqiu that if Qing Wei came to the White Reed Province, she should wait for him in Blazing Firmament Immortal City.

Before they left the Black Dragon Market, Su Yi and Qing Wei had agreed that if Immortal Queen Liu Yun needed his help, she could come looking for him in the White Reed Province.

Su Yi had also given Qing Wei a talisman. With it, so long as Qing Wei was in the province, she’d be able to find him.

……

Su Yi sat on board a treasure ship shooting into the distant skies. He was sprawled out in his wicker chair, wine in hand. When he thought back to everything that had happened recently, he couldn’t help but furrow his brow.

His to-do list was getting longer and longer. He was broad-minded and free-spirited, but he felt helpless, as if the current were simply propelling him along.

He’d agreed to help Immortal Queen Liu Yun resolve her divine tribulation. He had to help Ying Xiu resolve her master’s divine tribulation too.

After encountering a Formless Demon, he realized that problems had arisen at the Nine Gates of Heaven, and he’d had no choice but to send Qi Fufeng to investigate.

He still had to figure out what had caused the Bi’an Spirit Race’s misfortune, and he even had to make arrangements for the Fang siblings personally.

Xue Hongfeng had asked him to make an appearance at Divine Cloud Mountain a month from now to boost his reputation…

And now, he was rushing to the Luo River Forbidden Zone to investigate the ruins of the Academy of Eternal Night.

When that was finished, he planned to break into the Void Realm and visit the Abyss of Dark Fog to meet with the sword-bearing ape.

Then, he wanted to visit the rest of the Immortal Realm and resolve all of Wang Ye’s lingering regrets…

“Worldly affairs are like shackles, and who in this world is ever truly unfettered?” Su Yi sighed softly.

Inky darkness spread beneath the dome of heaven, and the stars flickered. The boundless landscape below was shrouded in shadows.

Su Yi lay there, emptying his mind as his spirit wandered.

A while later, he suddenly laughed, his eyes bright and calm. It was like a poem:

A trying journey! A trying journey! So many forks in the road. Which to choose?

When the winds cleave through the waves, I set sail through the boundless ocean!

When one sought the Grand Dao, endless wind, waves, and strife were inevitable. All he could do was…

Cut through them all!

That was enough.

Su Yi’s mentality silently shifted, becoming tranquil and clear.

The Buddha once said, “My heart is without worries, so I am without fear.”

This was a level reached when the heart was like a mirror unmarred by dust.

……

The Luo River.

This was the greatest river in the White River Province. It started in the east and flowed for ninety thousand miles, splitting into numerous smaller rivers.

The banks of the winding river contained endless danger zones and mountain ranges like natural barriers. They said that the riverbank alone was home to over a thousand lesser cultivation factions!

Rumor had it that Flood Dragons saw these waters as the Dragon’s Gate. If they could swim upstream for all ninety thousand miles, they could leap over the Dragon’s Gate and become true dragons. Then, they’d be able to call themselves Dragon Monarchs and live free and unfettered.

The Luo River Forbidden Zone was halfway down the river, bordering the Midsummer Mountains.

Prior to the Age of Fallen Immortals, the famous Academy of Eternal Night was built deep within the wilderness of the Midsummer Mountains. That was the place all experts of the Immortal Dao acknowledged as the greatest academy beneath the heavens!

But time changed all things. The Academy of Eternal Night had long since been lost to history, and its ruins were one of the six greatest forbidden zones in the White Reed Province.

The setting sun cast angular shadows on the surging waters of the Luo River. The river was a full hundred thousand feet across, and the radiant light of dusk made it look as if its waves were churning with flecks of gold.

Numerous cities were built along one side of the river, like stars dotting the sky.

The massive Midsummer Mountains stood on the other shore, stretching seemingly endlessly into the heavens.

“Prior to the Age of Fallen Immortals, countless factions of heretics and evildoers made their homes here. It was the greatest lair of sin in the province, and people paled at the mere mention of its name.

“The strongest of these heretical cultivators was known as the Midsummer Sovereign. He was an unrivaled monster at the pinnacle of the Immortal Dao, and his strength was terrifying beyond measure.

“Back then, no one dared to get within thirty thousand miles of the Midsummer Mountains!”

An old man and a young woman were flying along the riverbank.

The old man wore a tall hat and broad belt. He was elegant, with thin features, and his eyes were full of the vicissitudes of countless years.

The young woman was dressed in a pale pink skirt and an apricot yellow shirt. She was a smiling, moving beauty with her hair tied into twin buns. She looked mischievous and cute.

The speaker was the old man.

“But the world is unpredictable. They say that one day, a sword cultivator came here alone on a flat boat. It was dusk then, too.”

The young woman couldn’t help but ask, “Grand Uncle, was the dusk as beautiful then as it is now?”

The old man laughed, took in the fiery red clouds hovering over the horizon, and whispered, “I suppose so.”

“And did the sword cultivator on a flat boat look like him?” The young woman indicated to a spot in the distance.

There, a flat boat was leisurely floating on the surface of the river, drawing closer and closer to the Midsummer Mountains.

A tall, upright figure in blue robes stood onboard, holding a yellow-skinned wine gourd. He looked extraordinary, as if he’d risen out of the dust of mundanity.

The old man was stunned. He couldn’t help but laugh, “Bao’er, how could the two of them possibly be the same?”

The girl giggled. “Uncle, I’m just saying they look alike! But okay, I’ll be quiet and listen. I promise not to interrupt anymore.”

The old man continued, “The sword cultivator had only just arrived in these waters when a pack of evil Flood Dragons hidden beneath the surface set their sights on him. The Midsummer Sovereign raised the Flood Dragons himself, and they’d grown fat eating experts of the Immortal Dao year-round. All of them were as terrifying as could be, with terrifyingly cruel dispositions. Even Immortal Lords were nothing but another meal to them.”

The girl gasped and covered her mouth. “Then the sword cultivator must have been eaten!”

The old man burst into laughter. “No, he wasn’t. The sword cultivator didn’t even draw his weapon. His presence alone destroyed all nineteen evil Flood Dragons, body and soul, staining the Luo River red with their blood!”

The old man’s face filled with longing. “Then, the sword cultivator entered the Midsummer Mountains alone.

“That night, sword qi flew through the air, connecting heaven and earth, and the humming of his sword never ceased!

“Most shocking of all, startling strange phenomena arose over the Midsummer Mountains. Thunder and lightning boomed, and a downpour of blood fell for seven days and seven nights, staining the entire mountain a startling shade of red.

“It was only later that the world realized that all of the mountain’s heretics and fiends had been slaughtered. Even the Midsummer Sovereign was killed!

“They say the seven days of blood rain were the result of his death.”

The old man sighed ruefully. Just one man had cleansed the entire mountain of evildoers, killing until blood fell from the heavens and the ground was covered in corpses!

Even that peak expert of the Immortal Dao, the Midsummer Sovereign, became just another departed soul beneath that cultivator’s sword!

This battle had gone down in the annals of the province’s history. They called it the Midsummer Massacre!

The girl’s almond-shaped eyes widened, and she gasped, “That sword cultivator was incredible!”

The old man laughed. “The word ‘incredible’ is far from enough to describe his strength.”

“You’re wrong.”

Suddenly, a calm voice rang out.

Several hundred feet away, the young man in blue said, “There were thirty-six evil Flood Dragons in these waters, and the strongest of them had already developed dragon scales and claws.

“That aside, the fiends of the Midsummer Mountains weren’t all killed. A few of them managed to escape with their lives.”

The youth paused to think for a moment. “Right, the Midsummer Sovereign did die, but he killed himself. He… might have been an irredeemable villain, but he was contemptuous and proud. He was unwilling to die beneath that sword cultivator’s blade, so he chose to end himself instead.”

The old man was stunned. A moment later, he couldn’t help but laugh. “This old man dares say with certainty that those are mere rumors. None would hold up to scrutiny!”

One of their clan’s ancestors had left behind an ancient text that described the Midsummer Massacre in detail.

That ancestor had witnessed it all for himself. It was naturally far more accurate than the world’s fleeting rumors.

The young woman blinked with curiosity. “You sound quite confident. Do you perhaps know more secrets about the Midsummer Massacre?”

The young man raised his jug of wine and laughed. “Quite a few. I could talk for three days straight, and it still wouldn’t be enough.”

As they conversed, he reached the banks of the Luo River and put away his boat. He put one hand behind his back and held a jug of wine in the other as he strolled toward the Midsummer Mountains.

The young woman’s sweet, clear voice emanated from behind him. “Hey! Going to the Midsummer Mountains alone is far too dangerous. How about you come with us?”

The old man’s brow furrowed, but before he could respond, the young woman giggled. “Great Uncle, that guy’s quite handsome, and when he brags, he’s totally nonchalant. It’s fascinating! If we bring him with us, there’s no way we’ll get bored along the way!”

The old man thwapped her on the forehead. “Do you think I brought you here for fun?”

Off in the distance, the young man in blue was already waving at them. He didn’t even turn his head. “I’m accustomed to traveling alone, but I appreciate your good intentions.”

Before his voice had even finished echoing through the air, he’d disappeared into the distance.

“He refused our offer?” the young woman exclaimed, “Did he not realize that you’re an Immortal Lord?”

Seth's Thoughts

A trying journey! A trying journey! So many forks in the road. Which to choose?

When the winds cleave through the waves, I set sail through the boundless ocean!

This is a snippet of a larger Li Bai poem. You can read the rest of the poem here.

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