First Immortal of the Sword

“Come on, let’s go.” Su Yi stepped into the air and headed toward Mulberry Cloud Ridge.
Ye Xun followed him.

From time to time, streaks of light swept by.
They were flying cultivators of all ages, including both men and women.

Most were in groups of three to five, and they were obviously from different factions.

There was the odd cultivator traveling on their own, but there weren’t many of them.

Just like Su Yi and Ye Xun, they were headed toward Mulberry Cloud Ridge.

Ye Xun couldn’t help but look a bit concerned. Don’t tell me something happened in Mulberry Cloud Ridge?

But if nothing happened, why drew so many cultivators there?

Shortly afterward.

A massive valley entered their field of view.

The mountains were like a natural gate.
They were so tall that they pierced the clouds.

Misty light hovered around the entrance to the valley.
Formless spatial ripples spread across it.

The skies above the valley were enshrouded in clouds so dark and dense that they blotted out the sun.

“Brother-in-Law, that’s the entrance to Glittering Ghost Domain.
Strange spatial power is interspersed throughout the ridge.
Thirty thousand years ago, there was no way to enter without Imperial Realm cultivation,” Ye Xun said at top speeds. “However, it’s obviously changed dramatically since then.
The spatial power around the entrance is sparse as can be.”

Su Yi nodded.

The Glittering Ghost Domain, Sumeru Immortal Island, and the Dark Immortal Grounds were the Great Xia’s three forbidden zones.
 

To the best of his knowledge, historically, it was extremely rare for experts to risk themselves venturing inside.

Yet now, numerous cultivators had entered the valley in search of the entrance to the Glittering Ghost Domain!

“Fellow Daoist, please wait up.” As Su Yi strode through the skies, he arrived before one of the solo travelers, a middle-aged man in black.

The black-robed middle-aged man furrowed his brow.
“Do you have business with me?”

Su Yi smiled.
“I just wanted to ask what happened in the Glittering Ghost Domain to draw so many experts here.”

The black-robed middle-aged man exclaimed, “You’re already here.
How could you not know what happened?”

Ye Xun said impatiently, “He asked you a question, so answer it.
What’s with all the nonsense?”

The middle-aged man’s expression darkened, and his brow furrowed with anger.

He was just about to say something when Su Yi waved.
“Fellow Daoist, please don’t take offense.
That’s just how he is; we have no intention of offending you.”

The black-robed middle-aged man’s expression mellowed significantly, and he said, “The situation is actually quite simple.
Lately, numerous unbelievable transformations have occurred within Glittering Ghost Domain, and many of the cultivators who’ve ventured inside have obtained varying degrees of good fortune.
As a result, an increasing number of cultivators have flocked here to test their luck.”

“So that’s it,” said Su Yi, looking enlightened.
“Thank you for your guidance.”

The middle-aged man seemed to approve of Su Yi’s attitude.
“Young man, although there’s quite a bit of good fortune waiting in the Glittering Ghost Domain, it’s full of numerous perils, and incidents of cultivators killing each other over treasure are commonplace.
You’d best be careful.”

He paused, then said with a reserved air, “Of course, if you run into trouble while exploring the Glittering Ghost Domain, you can give whoever it is my name.
I, Guan Tieshan, am no lofty expert, but at the very least, I’ve got a reputation here in the Sand River Province.
My name might well be enough to resolve your problems.”

As he spoke, the corners of his lips arched upward.

Ye Xun’s expression was strange. This punk is only in the early-stage Spiritual Manifestation Realm, but he sure knows how to put on airs!

Su Yi smiled but said nothing.
He simply turned and left.

Ye Xun hurried after him.

The man who called himself Guan Tieshan suddenly seemed to realize something, and he hurriedly called out, “Young man, don’t use my name to carry out acts of wickedness.
If you do, I’ll be the first to hold you accountable!”

“….” Ye Xun remained silent, but when they arrived at the entrance to the valley, he could no longer hold back.
He clutched his stomach and burst into laughter.
“Damn, that guy sure knows how to act cool!”

Su Yi couldn’t help but smile, but then, he shook his head.
“It’s fine; he’s not a bad person.”

As they conversed, they entered the valley.

Whoosh~

A series of spatial ripples spread out, and both of them disappeared into thin air.

Guan Tieshan remained where they’d left him.
He made no further movements.

It seemed he was waiting for someone. 

About ten minutes later.

The sound of blades cutting through the air emanated from over the horizon.
A group of cultivators rode in on flying swords, like a rain of light.
Their momentum was shocking.

Their arrival instantly provoked widespread uproar.

“Those are disciples of Hidden Cloud Sword Mountain!”

“My heavens! A powerful ancient faction like that wants to get involved too?”

“Pipe down! Don’t offend those illustrious experts!”

….The various nearby cultivators all looked fearful and awed.

Hidden Cloud Sword Mountain was one of the seven great ancient sects!

Even thirty thousand years ago, they were the Azure Continent’s top faction of sword cultivators, and their accumulated foundations were incomparably shocking!

Their group consisted of six people, three young men, two young women, and a decrepit, white-haired elder.

The leader was a young man in a feather coat.
He wore a jade crown and a golden belt.
His features were handsome, but his gaze was cold and indifferent.
When his eyes opened and closed, they glinted with faint, sharp purple light as imposing as the edge of a sword.

His aura was so powerful that it shook heaven and earth.

The young men and women with him all looked extraordinary.
It was obvious at a glance that they were no ordinary people.

However, their magnificent bearing and aura were a level beneath the young man in the feather coat. 

“Which of you is Guan Tieshan?” asked the white-haired elder standing next to the young man in the feather coat.
His low voice reverberated throughout heaven and earth.

Guan Tieshan jumped, hurriedly approached, and bowed low at the waist.
“This humble one is Guan Tieshan.
I’ve been waiting for you, Your Excellencies!”

The white-haired elder said coolly, “I heard that you understand the situation here well, so you’ll lead us inside.
When we leave the Glittering Ghost Domain, you’ll receive your share of the rewards.”

Guan Tieshan said with the utmost respect and solemnity, “Your Excellencies, an opportunity to serve you is already a blessing.
How could I dare covet any rewards?”

The white-haired elder nodded in satisfaction, then gestured to the young man in the feather coat.
“This is the legacy disciple of Hidden Cloud Sword Mountain, Chu Yunke.
You mustn’t be negligent.”

Chu Yunke!

When the nearby cultivators heard that name, all of them gasped.

This name had appeared on the Ranking of Stars Bluecloud Tower had published not long before.
He was a monster of the ancient era, and he was ranked seventy-sixth.

Furthermore, he was one of the elites of the second group of monsters of the ancient era to reawaken!

Rumor had it that he possessed a rare talent, the Ironbone Spirit Heart, and that he possessed shocking attainments in the Dao of the Sword. 

He was still young, but his combat prowess was enough to make the vast majority of older-generation Spiritual Manifestation cultivators sigh over their own inferiority!

Guan Tieshan’s heart shook.
He bowed respectfully and said, “Greetings, Your Excellency.
After we enter the Glittering Ghost Domain, please let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.
Whatever it is, I won’t refuse.”

Chu Yunke nodded coldly.
“Lead the way.”

“Yes, sir!” Guan Tieshan dared not waste any more words.
He simply turned and got started.

Before long, the entire group disappeared through the entrance to the valley.

Once they’d left, the nearby cultivators instantly burst into conversation, like a pot boiling over.

Search bit.ly/3iBfjkV for the original.

“Disciples from Hidden Cloud Sword Mountain are here too.
Don’t tell me they’re after the fortune hidden deep within the Glittering Ghost Domain’s Demondark Mountain just like the Deathbringer’s Netherworld Palace?”

“I’m sure of it.
Three days ago, the Deathbringer’s Netherworld Palace led a group of experts into the Glittering Ghost Domain.
Furthermore, they sealed off everything around Demondark Mountain.
Rumor has it an unbelievable stroke of good fortune is hidden there.” 

“Interesting! Both Hidden Cloud Sword Mountain and the Deathbringer’s Netherworld Palace are among the seven great ancient factions.
If they come into conflict over this stroke of fortune, it will shake both heaven and earth!”

……

The Glittering Ghost Domain.

The skies were an unearthly, bloody shade of red, and the atmosphere was stifling and oppressive.

Everywhere you looked, the ground was damaged, withered, and devoid of all life.
Everything from the mountains to the rivers was enveloped in faint, bloody, baleful mists.

“Thirty thousand years ago, this was a famous danger zone.
Rumor had it that this place is the result of a battle between demons and gods.
I just don’t know if that’s true or not.”

Su Yi and Ye Xun walked shoulder to shoulder through the bloody, barren wilderness.

“This blasted place is like a miniature world.
The outer edges are damaged and full of spatial faults and erratic currents of spatial and temporal power.
There’s not much beyond that, except at the far eastern end, where there’s an exposed spatial barrier leading to the Netherworld’s Sea of Bitterness.”

Ye Xun’s face filled with reminiscence.
“When I first came here from the Netherworld, I never even considered that the world on the other end of the corridor between worlds would be the Azure Continent.”

“Alas, thirty thousand years ago, the corridor was already destroyed.
It was also here that that jailer person ruined everything…”

Ye Xun sighed, visibly distressed.

Now that he’d returned to familiar ground, memories of the past flooded his mind, resulting in a complex mix of emotions.

But shortly after, he laughed.
“Of course, what I went through is nothing compared to what you’ve experienced.”

Su Yi glanced at him.
“I’m actually rather curious.
Why didn’t you just stay in the Netherworld? Why were you dead-set on leaving?”

Ye Xun scratched his head and laughed bitterly, “You might laugh at me, but back in the Netherworld, I caused too many problems.
Especially after you left the Netherworld, quite a few old-timers proclaimed their desire to teach me a lesson.
I had no choice but to leave the Netherworld for my own safety.

“Who’d have thought that even tens of thousands of years later, I still cannot return…?”

Su Yi was speechless. So, you brat, you came here fleeing disaster!?

He thought for a moment, then asked, “Did anyone make trouble for your sister while I was gone?”

Ye Xun smiled.
“Brother-in-Law, in the Netherworld, what old-timer could possibly be ignorant of your relationship with my sister? No matter how brave they might be, they wouldn’t dare make trouble for her.”

He paused, hesitated, then added, “But I’ve already been gone for tens of thousands of years.
It’s been so long that I can’t guarantee that she hasn’t suffered any mistreatment.”

Su Yi said, “Relax.
You’ll have a chance to go back one day.”

As they conversed, a radiant arc of divine light suddenly shot over from afar, like a bolt of dazzling silver lightning.
It whooshed directly toward Su Yi.

Su Yi was stunned, and his eyes widened.

That streak of silver light wasn’t a flying cultivator.
It was a fragment of a magic treasure!