First Immortal of the Sword

Su Yi accepted the jade box, took out the map inside, and examined it.

It depicted the cities and landscape of the Great Xia in full, intricate detail.
The map marked the locations of the Demonic Huan Family, the Pure Emptiness Buddhist Sect, the Burning Sun Sect, and Tianji Dao Mountain.

It also included the locations of the House of the Skywalking Sword, the Tiandou Spirit Cult, and the Incarnation of Stars Sect.

These were the seven factions that had attempted to take advantage of Su Yi’s tribulation on the eleventh day of the fourth month.

But in the end, every last Spiritual Revolution cultivator they sent into battle perished.

The Frigid North Sword Pavilion had participated too, but they weren’t on the map.
The reason for this was simple: this was a faction of the Celestial River Realm.
Just like the Bright Sky Realm’s Purple Moon Foxes and the Mysterious Blue Realm’s Kunwu Mountain Ye Family, they hadn’t established territory in the Azure Continent.

Ultimately, both the Frigid North Sword Pavilion and the Ye Family were peak orthodoxies of their worlds.
They’d come to the Azure Continent purely to vie for the Seed of the Azure.

They had no intention of laying down roots here.

Before long, Su Yi put away the map.
He’d already committed its contents to memory.

“Brother Su, before I got here, the Bluecloud Tower Master, Fu Qingyun, came calling.
When I told him you’d gone out, he entrusted me with a letter, then left,” Wen Xinzhao said softly.

“Did you bring the letter?” asked Su Yi.

Wen Xinzhao nodded, then took out a sealed envelope and passed it over.

Su Yi opened it.
It read:

“Fellow Daoist Su, Elder Huan Tiandu of the Demonic Huan Family has joined forces with three other ancient factions: the Pure Emptiness Buddhist Sect, the Burning Sun Sect, and Tianji Dao Mountain, as well as the House of the Skywalking Sword, Tiandou Spirit Cult, and the Incarnation of Stars Sect.
They hope to challenge you on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and end this grudge once and for all!

“As a witness, Huan Tianxu asked me to describe this to you.
If you have any questions, please burn this later, and I’ll come in person.”

The letter was signed, “Respectfully, Fu Qingyun.”

Su Yi’s eyebrows shot up.

And here he’d planned to visit the hostile factions’ bases one by one after eliminating Ye Xiao and rescuing Ye Yunlan.

Who’d have thought that they’d already joined forces, or that they’d go and challenge him to a duel on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month?

It was truly unexpected.

But after thinking it over, he vaguely understood.

In the modern world, Spiritual Revolution cultivators represented the pinnacle of strength.

But despite that, he’d slaughtered twenty-five of the seven factions’ Spiritual Revolution experts.
This had unquestionably dealt them a devastating blow!

Furthermore, he’d already revealed his intentions of seeking them out for revenge.

It would have been stranger if the hostile factions hadn’t clustered together and joined forces to resist him.

However, announcing a duel like this still seemed a bit strange to him. 

Ordinarily speaking, even if they wanted to join forces against him, what need was there to rush to declare a duel?

Today was the fourteenth day of the fourth lunar month.
Only three days had passed since he overcame tribulation and slew those twenty-five Spiritual Revolution experts.

Now, just three days later, the hostile factions had joined forces to settle this once and for all on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.

It felt to Su Yi as if his enemies were already confident that they could contend with him, which was why they were in such a hurry to announce a challenge.

Su Yi thought for a moment, then burned the letter.
He’d decided to meet with Fu Qingyun.

“Xinzhao, have a seat.” Su Yi gestured to a nearby boulder.”

Wen Xinzhao smiled and sat down.
“Brother Su, might you tell me about today’s battle?”

She rested her head in her hands, her beautiful face glowing beneath the moonlight.
She was as stunning as immortal from on high.

Beauties were like wine; the more you savored them, the more intoxicated you got.

“Today’s battle didn’t amount to much,” said Su Yi after a sip of wine.
“But the path Ye Xiao sought is actually worth touching on; it might be useful toward your efforts to polish your sword heart.”

He then went on to analyze it in detail.

The more she listened, the more immersed Wen Xinzhao got.

By the time Su Yi finished, she was inwardly shaken, and she couldn’t help but sink into silent contemplation.

This was called bequeathing enlightenment.
They said one mountain’s rocks could polish another mountain’s jade.
Similarly, certain types of knowledge and combat experience could be used to enlighten and awaken others.

Beneath the moonlight, Ye Yunlan suddenly appeared in the distance.
He was coming right toward them.

Su Yi gestured for him to wait.
He removed his feet from the water, put on socks and shoes, then rose and gestured to the nearby peach grove.

Wen Xinzhao was immersed in her enlightenment; Su Yi didn’t want to disturb her.

It was only after they were deep within the peach forest that Su Yi asked, “Have you thought it through?”

Ye Yunlan nodded.
“I plan to return to the family.”

After he’d calmed down, he realized something: Su Yi in no way needed his protection.
In the end, he decided to return to the Mysterious Blue Realm.

“If you return, aren’t you worried I’ll implicate you?” asked Su Yi.

“If they dared kill me, they’d have done it a long time ago,” said Ye Yunlan.
“There would have been no need to wait all this time.
According to the rules of the Kunwu Mountain Ye Family, so long as I’m within the family estate, no one will dare touch me.”

Su Yi thought for a moment.
“You’ve already made up your mind, so I won’t try to dissuade you.”

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He then took out a jade slip, one he’d prepared well in advance, and passed it to Ye Yunlan.
“This contains some of my experiences relating to proving one’s Dao and becoming an Emperor.
Take it.”

Ye Yunlan was stunned, and he asked in disbelief, “Your… experiences with proving your Dao and becoming an Emperor?”

Su Yi nodded.
“Numerous preparations are necessary before proving one’s Dao and becoming an Emperor.
If you try and figure it out on your own, you’ll waste an enormous amount of time and effort, and you risk going astray and preparing inadequately, effectively trapping yourself in the Spirit Dao forever.

“The slip isn’t some lofty, profound inheritance, but it can save you a few wrong turns and prevent you from wandering aimlessly in your attempts to become an Emperor.”

Ye Yunlan was in the peak of the mid-stage Spiritual Revolution Realm.
He definitely had hope of breaking into the Imperial Realm.

Furthermore, Su Yi had examined Ye Yunlan’s aura of the Grand Dao.
Although his uncle hadn’t really gotten the opportunity to help him in any way, Su Yi couldn’t deny that Ye Yunlan had extremely firm foundations in the Grand Dao.
He was no inferior to the Frigid North Sword Pavilion’s Wang Zhongyang.

One more step, and he could contend with the Purple Moon Foxes’ Pu Jue.
And Pu Jue was one of the five strongest Spiritual Revolution cultivators in the Bright Sky Realm!

Besides, in this lifetime, Ye Yunlan was his uncle, and he was about to return to Ye Family territory.
Su Yi naturally had to give him a little something.

Ye Yunlan’s heart swelled.
Su Yi was only in the Spiritual Incarnation Realm.
How could he possibly have “experiences relating to proving one’s Dao and becoming an Emperor”?

But in the end, he refrained from asking.

Actually, by now, Ye Yunlan was already well aware that his nephew was in no way comparable to other so-called “peerless geniuses.”

He had far too many secrets about him. Even now that he’d taken out his insights into proving one’s Dao and becoming an Emperor, it… really didn’t seem all that strange.

“Many thanks, Su Yi.
I’ll treasure it.” Ye Yunlan put the slip away.

Su Yi smiled.
“There’s a brand within the jade slip.
If I visit the Mysterious Blue Realm, I’ll be able to find you right away.”

Ye Yunlan’s heart shook.
“You killed Ye Xiao.
Going to the Mysterious Blue Realm would be far too dangerous.”

The Mysterious Blue Realm was the Kunwu Mountain Ye Family’s home turf.

“Ultimately, I still have to settle my mother’s grudges,” Su Yi said softly.
“In the past, I thought it was Su Hongli who’d hurt her, which is why I fought my way into the Jade Capital, forcing Su Hongli to repent and kill himself.
But now, it seems her arrival in the Azure Continent was itself the result of her falling prey to another’s schemes.

“As her son, I naturally ought to get justice for her.
Killing Ye Xiao was only the beginning.” Here, Su Yi paused and looked at Ye Yunlan.
“You needn ’t concern yourself with this.
Just take good care of yourself.”

Ye Yunlan’s expression shifted erratically, but after a little while, he rubbed his nose and said with an air of self-deprecation, “In the past, I thought of myself as your elder, and treated you like a child, a nephew in need of my protection.
Now, I’ve realized that in your eyes, I’m the one in need of protection…”

Although he said that, he looked gratified.

The young man had already grown up.
He could bear responsibility on his own and gaze proudly upon the world.
His future was sure to be bright!

As Su Yi’s elder, wasn’t this exactly what he most wanted to see?

That very night, Ye Yunlan left in silence.

Su Yi watched from Falling Petal Mountain as his uncle disappeared from view.
He thought to himself, If I weren’t a reincarnator, wouldn’t I be fortunate to have an uncle who cared so much about my well-being?

……

The moon shone overhead, illuminating a burbling stream.

Wen Xinzhao was still immersed in contemplation as she sat beside the water.
Mists and moonlight interwove, shrouding her picturesque figure and giving her a holy and ethereal air.

Su Yi didn’t have to wait long before Fu Qingyun, the Bluecloud Tower Master, appeared on Falling Petal Mountain in his trademark Confucian robes and lotus crown.
He looked worn after a long journey.

As soon as he arrived, Fu Qingyun’s eyes shone with a strange light, and he asked, “This was the Kunwu Mountain Ye Family’s base, but look what’s become of it! If I’m not mistaken, that Ye Xiao character has already fallen at your hands.
Is that right, Fellow Daoist?”

Su Yi didn’t find this at all strange.

As historians of the Grand Dao, Bluecloud Tower had access to just about all information available beneath the heavens.

Besides, throughout the mountain, every last petal had fallen, and the scars of conflict littered the down.
Anyone who saw this would have guessed that something had happened.

But Su Yi was still surprised that Fu Qingyun knew about the Kunwu Mountain Ye Family.

“Since you know about the Kunwu Mountain Ye Family, I imagine you know about the Eighth Star Ruin, or rather, the Mysterious Blue Realm?” asked Su Yi.

Fu Qingyun nodded.
“I know a little.”

“Then do you know anything about these so-called ‘Star Ruins?’”

Fu Qingyun pondered his words, then said, “There’s an ancient tome in Bluecloud Tower’s collection called ‘Reflections on the Stars.’ It actually records a bit of information about the Nine Great Star Ruins, but only a few isolated details.
If you want to know them, I naturally won’t keep them from you.”

Su Yi couldn’t help but be intrigued.

This was his first time hearing someone say the name “the Nine Great Star Ruins.”

It seemed that Bluecloud Tower, practitioners of the Dao of the Annals of Red Dust, weren’t as simple as he’d imagined!