First Immortal of the Sword

In the face of his wife and daughter’s dazes, Cui Chang’an instantly felt a headache coming on. 

How… How am I supposed to explain this?

After a moment’s thought, something occurred to him, and he said, “Jingyan, you ought to understand this better than anyone.”

“Uh…Ah?” The young woman was briefly dazed. “What is it I’m supposed to understand?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten that it was your grandfather who permitted you to go to the Azure Continent, and that he gave you a jade pendant?” said Cui Chang’an.

Cui Jingyan instantly understood. “That’s right. It was only after I arrived on the Azure Continent that I realized that Grandfather gave me that pendant so that I’d find Su Yi.”

Xue Huaning was listening in from the sides, and she found herself at a complete loss. “What are you two talking about?”

She’d never heard anything about this. Cui Jingyan hadn’t mentioned so much as a word of it in her recent letter, either.

Cui Chang’an smiled. “Jingyan, tell your mother.”

Cui Jingyan then explained the situation in full detail.

By the time she heard the whole story, Xue Huaning’s expression was full of uncertainty. “Are you saying that your grandfather predicted Su Yi’s presence on the Azure Continent before leaving for the Sea of Bitterness?”

“Most likely, yes,” said Cui Jingyan with a solemn nod.

Xue Huaning rubbed her forehead. “Don’t you think that’s strange? How lofty of an existence is your grandfather? Why would he concern himself with an unknown young man?”

“Honestly, Mother, I’m quite curious about that too,” said Cui Jingyan, her eyebrows furrowing and her eyes shining with a hint of bewilderment. “You don’t know this yet, but that guy is a walking bundle of mysteries. Sometimes, I almost dare not believe someone so unbelievable could exist in this world. He’s like an immortal straight out of a legend…”

Xue Huaning couldn’t help but exclaim, “Tell me about him.”

When Cui Chang’an saw this, he prepared to slink off.

No matter how unbelievable something might seem, if “Young Lord Su” was responsible, it wasn’t the least bit strange!

“You stay put!” Xue Huaning said coldly. “You’re not allowed to leave until you’ve explained what happened just now.”

Cui Chang’an stiffened, then grimaced and said guiltily, “I have to settle our clansmen. The commotion in the grand hall caused a huge disturbance; they’re still gathered outside…”

Xue Huaning snorted coldly, then walked right out and said in a clear voice, “Nothing is happening here, so please return to your affairs. The family head and I have important business to discuss!”

Her voice spread far and wide.

The gathered Cui clansmen promptly dispersed.

When he saw that, the corners of Cui Chang’an’s lips twitched. He suddenly realized that pulling the wool over his wife and daughter’s eyes would be difficult…

Xue Huaning turned and walked back in. “Jingyan, tell me everything you know. Leave nothing out.”

Cui Jingyan no longer held anything back. She launched into everything she’d experienced during her time with Su Yi, as well as the numerous questions she’d accumulated within her heart.

She told them about how Su Yi had defeated Third Libationer Yuan Linning with his mid-stage Spiritual Revolution Realm cultivation.

And how Su Yi had walked through Yama’s Floating Mountains with casual familiarity, opened a seal, entered a forbidden ground, and slew a group of devils.

He’d even exchanged words in a secret language with the malevolent soul of the Vermillion Bird sealed within the ninety-foot altar.

Then there was their trip to the Demonic Wei Family, where Su Yi had discerned that their “patriarch” was really a Thousand-Faced Ghost Monkey impersonating Wei Daoyuan…

There was also the recent instance in which the Netherworld Sky Sect targeted the old blind man of the Ghost Lantern Sarcophagus Bearers, only for Su Yi to defeat their mighty body-refining Imperial expert, Ran Tianfeng.

When she heard this sequence of unbelievable accomplishments, even Xue Huaning, an Empress who’d experienced and grown accustomed to the ever-shifting nature of worldly affairs, felt her heart shake, and she sank into a daze.

Cui Chang’an, meanwhile, had an increasingly inscrutable look on his face.

He knew about the connection between Wei Daoyuan and “Young Lord Su.”

And he’d heard about the malevolent soul of the Vermillion Bird from the City of the Wrongfully Dead. He knew how it had been suppressed.

The only thing Cui Chang’an hadn’t anticipated was how “Young Lord Su” managed to defeat early-stage Profound Illumination Emperors with his Spiritual Revolution cultivation!

This was simply an unprecedented accomplishment. Throughout the world, only he could pull something like that off!

He really is the same Uncle Su whose sword once dominated the heavens and everything beneath them… Cui Chang’an was inwardly wistful.

But a moment later, his eyelids twitched; he sensed Xue Huaning’s gaze cutting into him like a knife.

“My dear husband, don’t tell me that after all that’s happened, you still don’t plan on giving me a clear explanation?” whispered Xue Huaning, her voice gentle.

Cui Jingyan was indignant too. “Father, what’s there to hide?”

Cui Chang’an’s headache intensified; he was beset on both sides.

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After a brief pause, he steeled himself and said, “We’d best wait until Father gets back. I don’t have his permission, and I dare not take this upon myself.”

With that, he upped and left. In a flash, he was gone.

He left so quickly that Xue Huaning couldn’t intervene in time to stop him.

Cui Jingyan gnashed her teeth with anger and muttered, “He really thinks I can’t figure it out? That guy’s gotta be the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force’s descendant!”

Xue Huaning, however, was silent.

She’d reached an altogether different conclusion, and she was starting to understand why her husband, the leader of the Cui Family, was being so tight-lipped about this.

Actually, when she reached her conclusion, she felt incomparably shaken, and for a moment, she dared not believe it.

“Mother, what do you think?” asked Cui Jingyan.

Xue Huaning didn’t respond.

A moment later, she shook a deep breath, a conflicted look in her eyes. “I originally thought that you and… Young Lord Su could live happily ever after together, but now, it seems… you’re not destined to be together.”

“?????” Cui Jingyan certainly hadn’t been expecting that response.

When she saw the young woman’s dazed expression, Xue Huaning assumed her daughter couldn’t take the shock, and she couldn’t help but comfort her. “It’s not that I have anything against Young Lord Su, but rather… his status is a bit… overly unique. You’ll definitely understand why later, but for now, you can’t get further involved with him…”

Cui Jingyan couldn’t listen to this any longer. “Mother, there was never anything between us! You were reading too much into things right from the start!”

She was a bit angry, but also embarrassed, and part of her found it funny. Whatever gave you that idea?

Xue Huaning gazed solemnly at Cui Jingyan for a moment. “Really?”

“Really,” said Cui Jingyan with utter conviction.

But as the words left her lips, she felt an inexplicable melancholy, empty feeling, one she couldn’t quite put into words.

Before she had the time to sift through her feelings, Xue Huaning laughed as if a massive weight had lifted from her shoulders. “Excellent. Later on, I’ll help you find a good partner; I won’t give up until we find someone you’re satisfied with.”

The corners of Cui Jingyan’s red lips arched upward with pride. “Mother, I wholeheartedly pursue the Dao. I’m not interested in that sort of thing.”

But even as she said this, Su Yi’s tall, calm, and detached image rose unbidden to her mind.

She instinctively shook her head, a bit frustrated. What’s going on with me?

A moment later, Cui Jingyan suddenly recalled something. “Right, when did Grandfather leave for the Sea of Bitterness, and why did those guys say… that he wouldn’t be coming back?”

“It’s a rumor, that’s all. Don’t take it too seriously,” said Xue Huaning, but inwardly, her heart was heavy.

“Then… will what happened today irrevocably offend those three ancient clans?” Cui Jingyan asked a bit hesitantly. Even if she were less experienced, she could tell how serious this was!

Who knows what Xue Huaning was thinning, but her heavy heart lightened, and a strange light shone in her eyes. “Rest assured. The sky… won’t fall!”

Inwardly, she added, With that ‘Young Lord Su’ around, even if the sky does fall… it won’t land on our Cui Family’s heads!

……

The Pinebreeze Pavilion.

“Your Excellency Su, when my master sent me away from the Netherworld, it happened so suddenly that I had no time to prepare. Even now, I’m uncertain of what happened to our lineage’s ancestral garden. I’d like to find an opportunity to go back and see it,” said the old blind man. The pavilion was empty save for him and Su Yi.

Su Yi nodded. “Let’s wait until the Lantern Festival is over.”

The Ghost Lantern Sarcophagus Bearer’s ancestral home was in a practically unknown hidden realm, “Infinity in Miniature.”

Never mind ordinary cultivators; even Emperors would struggle to find it.

Su Yi then looked at the old blind man. “Your body and soul have fully recovered, but your foundations in the Grand Dao are still damaged. During our time in the Cui Family, we can borrow the power of their Tree of Ten Thousand Daos to fix the damage once and for all.”

The old blind man was both excited and nervous. “Your Excellency Su, the Tree of Ten Thousand Daos is the supreme treasure of the Cui Family and one of the most famous Xiantian Divine Lifeforms in the Netherworld. Will they agree to let me borrow it?”

“They will,” Su Yi said casually.

The old blind man took a deep breath and murmured, “If so, that would be wonderful. I’d finally have an opportunity to challenge the Imperial Realm…”

When he fled the Netherworld and arrived in the Azure Continent, he was already in the peak of the Spiritual Revolution Realm.

But on his way to the Azure Continent, he encountered a spatial windstorm. It didn’t just severely damage his cultivation base; it even came close to obliterating his soul.

In the time that followed, he’d received a lot of help from Su Yi, but he’d still only repaired his body and soul. His foundations in the Grand Dao were still battered, leaving him with almost no hope of becoming an Emperor in this lifetime.

But now, Su Yi had given him hope!

How could the old blind man not be excited?

Su Yi said no more.

Hundreds of years ago, that wretched disciple of his, Pi Mo, had killed Five Burials, the Master of the Blood Coffin. That incident was inextricably connected to him, and he couldn’t help but feel guilty.

Given the opportunity, he would naturally find a way to send the old blind man further down the path of the Grand Dao!

It was then that a burst of hearty laughter rang out.

“Never mind borrowing the Tree of Ten Thousand Daos; even if you sent our Cui Family into the flame, I wouldn’t so much as furrow my brow.”

A tall, thin figure appeared alongside this voice. He wore old-fashioned robes, a willowy beard, and a high-brimmed hat.

This was none other than the leader of the Cui Family, Cui Chang’an.