First Immortal of the Sword

In the end, the woman in black didn’t get what she wanted. Instead, she traded for a spirit pill that would boost her combat strength and left.

This time, the old pawnbroker didn’t rush to welcome his next customer. Instead, he faced Su Yi and clasped his fist. “Your Excellency, what happened tonight is quite strange. Don’t tell me great changes are in store for Ziluo City?”

Cui Jingyan was staring at Su Yi too. She’d long since suppressed a bellyful of questions.

Su Yi just sat in the shadows and said, “It has nothing to do with you. Quick, welcome your next guest.”

The old pawnbroker said sheepishly, “Your Excellency Su, you’re absolutely right.”

With that, he turned and left the pawnshop.

Before long, the old pawnbroker returned with yet another guest.

He was a man in black robes, and he obscured his face with a dark, animal-patterned bronze mask. Only his eyes were visible. Even his aura was hidden within misty black light, making it impossible to determine his cultivation.

“I have a treasure with me, and I wondered if your pawnshop would be interested in purchasing it,” the masked man in black said in a raspy voice.

The old pawnbroker smiled. “That depends on what treasure you hope to exchange it for.”

The man in black fell silent, then slipped a wooden box from his sleeves and placed it on the countertop. “Fellow Daoist, please take a look.”

The old pawnbroker glanced at the Scales of Judgment. With a flash of treasure light, the wooden box landed on the scales’ tray.

The tray swayed, and the balance beam suddenly rippled with starlight. Layer after layer of Dao Markings surged out of the counterweight.

The Scales of Judgment were sensing the treasure in the box, as well as its value.

Just watching broadened Cui Jingyan’s horizons, but Su Yi was accustomed to such sights.

The Scales of Judgment, Starry Abacus, and Heart-Inquiring Bell were the core treasures of the Pawnshop of the Heavens. Each was utterly miraculous; they’d be first-rate divine treasures in any world they appeared in.

If not for his reluctance to offend the pawnshop’s owner, Su Yi would have wanted to take the three treasures for his own use…

A moment later, the Scales of Judgment suddenly asked, “Customer, do you really plan to pawn the object within the wooden box?”

“I do.” The man nodded.

“Is there a problem?” The old pawnbroker furrowed his brow and asked the scales.

The scales responded, “The treasure within the box is the Cui Family’s ancestral supreme treasure, the Netherworld Thunder Mirror.”

Cui Jingyan’s expression shifted dramatically. She was so stunned that she attempted to shoot to her feet, only for Su Yi to immediately grab her shoulder and cover her mouth.

“Don’t panic.” Su Yi’s transmission resounded directly in the young woman’s ears.

Cui Jingyan’s expression shifted erratically.

The old pawnbroker was stunned; during his conversation with Su Yi and Cui Jingyan, he’d learned that the pretty young woman was the daughter of the Cui Family’s leader.

He thought it over, then said, “What kind of treasure are you hoping to acquire in exchange?”

The man in black said, “A secret art that can help a Profound Illumination Emperor break through this bottleneck and enter the Profound Serenity Realm. A pill would work too.”

The old pawnbroker paused, and was just about to say something when Su Yi’s voice transmitted directly into his ears, “Tell him that if he acquires a secret art of that level, he’ll no longer have the opportunity to repurchase the Netherworld Thunder Mirror. If he agrees, I’ll give him a method in your stead. I guarantee he’ll be satisfied with it.”

The old pawnbroker’s eyes narrowed slightly. He smiled at the man in black and said, “Sir, our pawnshop indeed has just what you’re looking for, but… if you agree to this transaction, you won’t be able to reacquire the Profound Lightning Mirror.”

Against all expectations, the man in black straightforwardly agreed after just a moment’s thought. “Very well.”

The pawnbroker glanced at the Scales of Judgment.

The counterweight swayed, and the box disappeared from the tray. A jade slip quickly took its place.

The jade slip was fresh out of the furnace; Su Yi had made it himself.

“Here you go, sir.” The pawnbroker smiled and handed the slip over.

The man in black inserted his divine sense into a slip. After evaluating its contents, his eyes shone in a rare display of excitement.

Afterward, he faced the pawnbroker and clasped his fist. “Many thanks!”

“Business, that’s all. You’re too polite,” laughed the old pawnbroker.

Before long, the man in black scurried off.

“Your Excellency Su, there was clearly something off about his origins,” the old pawnbroker couldn’t help but say.

As he spoke, he evaluated Cui Jingyan. The young woman’s beautiful face was pallid, and her expression was utterly dark and overcast.

There was no doubt about it: she’d realized something was wrong too.

Su examined the black mirror in the wooden box and said softly, “It really is the Netherworld Thunder Mirror. It can direct the Netherworld’s thunder and lightning, and its power is unfathomable. But more importantly, it’s a crucial component of the Cui Family’s clan-protecting defensive formation.

“Without it, the formation’s power will drop by at least thirty percent.”

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Here, he looked at Cui Jingyan. “The once-in-a-millennium Lantern Festival is imminent, and several ancient clans are eyeing the Cui Family hungrily. It seems a traitor has appeared in your Cui Family’s ranks at this critical juncture.”

A traitor!

It was just one word, yet it seemed to pierce directly into Cui Jingyan’s heart. The young woman gnashed her teeth with fury. “I would never have guessed a member of the Cui Family would try and pawn off our ancestral treasure! He deserves to die ten thousand deaths!”

As she spoke, she rose and turned to leave; she wanted to report this to her father.

Su Yi stopped her and said a bit helplessly, “What’s the big rush? Do you dare say with certainty that there’s only one traitor in your ranks?”

Cui Jingyan was stunned. “Brother Su, what do you mean?”

Su Yi said gently, “What I’m saying is, for now, don’t do anything to alert the traitor. Let’s see what he’s planning and who he tries to contact first. That way, we can catch him and his cohort in one fell swoop and prevent future issues.”

The old pawnbroker couldn’t help but exclaim, “That’s the way to settle the problem once and for all.”

Cui Jingyan instantly cooled down. “That guy pawned the Netherworld Thunder Mirror for a way to break into the Profound Serenity Realm, which unquestionably implies that he’s at the peak of the Profound Illumination Realm. He must have been stuck there for a long time, too, or he wouldn’t have resorted to doing something so depraved. His identity should be easy to guess…”

The images of the family’s old-timers floated into her consciousness.

“Everything you said is true,” said Su Yi after a moment’s thought. “But that’s not the true reason.”

Cui Jingyan said earnestly, “Please enlighten me, Fellow Daoist Su.”

“Since he dared pawn off the Netherworld Lightning Mirror, he must have means of ensuring the Cui Family doesn’t suspect him,” said Su Yi. “And his reason for pawning it specifically is simple: he wants to weaken the Cui Family’s defensive formation.

“Furthermore, so long as he pawns it at the Pawnshop of the Heavens, no one will be able to figure out who did it. He even got a way to break through out of it. Why wouldn’t he pawn the mirror off?”

Cui Jingyan furrowed her brow. “If that’s true, won’t it be difficult to figure out who he was?”

Su Yi looked at the old pawnbroker. “According to the shop’s rules, you cannot divulge customers’ identities. However, just now, he and I carried out that exchange. In that case, would telling me his identity still break the rules?”

“Er… Well…” The old pawnbroker was instantly hesitant.

But the Heart-Inquiring Bell, Scales of Judgment, and Starry Abacus said in unison, “Your Excellency Su, that naturally wouldn’t count as breaking the pawnshop’s rules.”

The old pawnbroker’s face stiffened, and he wanted nothing more than to slap the artifact spirits. Could you at least discuss things with me before you speak?

If you keep acting like this, how will His Excellency Su see me?

The old pawnbroker coughed dryly, an apologetic smile on his face. “Your Excellency Su, that customer hid his aura, and he even obscured his face, but this is the Pawnshop of the Heavens, so discerning his appearance won’t be difficult…”

But before he could finish speaking…

Whoosh!

A scroll shot forth and floated before Su Yi.

Then, the Heart-Inquiring Bell’s sweet voice rang out. “Your Excellency Su, this scroll contains a portrait of our most recent guest. Please have a look.”

The old pawnbroker was instantly at a loss for words, and his facial muscles twitched. Do these little trinkets plan to rebel!?

Why is it that whenever they see His Excellency Su, they throw away their principles? 

Shameful!

The old pawnbroker wailed to himself, but on the outside, he smiled. “The Heart-Inquiring Bell has done well. We ought to have given you the portrait already.”

Su Yi couldn’t be bothered to pay the pawnbroker’s mercurial attitude any heed.

He unfurled the scroll and saw a middle-aged man with a graying beard and the air of an immortal.

“How could it be the third elder!?” Cui Jingyan exclaimed in utter disbelief.

“People aren’t always what they seem. It’s not at all strange,” Su Yi said calmly.

Cui Jingyan shook her head. “It’s not that. The third elder is still only in the mid-stage Profound Illumination Realm, and furthermore, he’s served loyally at my father’s side for years. He’s never done anything out of the ordinary. Furthermore, the grand elder has always been responsible for protecting the Netherworld Thunder Mirror… earlier, I almost assumed the grand elder was the traitor.”

As she said this, her expression was utterly overcast.

“It seems the traitor deliberately tried to frame your grand elder,” said Su Yi. “If the Netherworld Thunder Mirror goes missing, it’ll be difficult for him to explain its absence.”

“Despicable!” Cui Jingyan’s beautiful face frosted over.

Su Yi put the scroll away. “Keep this matter to yourself for now. Whatever you do, don’t let him know we’re on to him.”

Cui Jingyan nodded.

“Fellow Daoist, can my apprentice and I enter the pawnshop?” a gentle, aged voice suddenly rang out.

Both Su Yi and Cui Jingyan were familiar with it.

The old pawnbroker facepalmed. “I almost forgot these two.”

As he spoke, he walked out of the pawnshop.

Before long, he returned leading an old man in Daoist robes and a young man in white.

Neither obscured their appearance, so Su Yi and Cui Jingyan recognized them at a glance. This was the pair that had returned to the Netherworld alongside them!”

“What are you hoping to acquire, sir?” The pawnbroker asked with a smile.

The old man in Daoist robes clasped his fist in greeting, then said, “We’ve come for the Record of the Ten Great Yama Kings.”

The pawnbroker narrowed his eyes.

The atmosphere was instantly noticeably more stifled.

Su Yi smiled in silence. He wasn’t at all surprised.

When he first met master and apprentice in the Azure Continent, he guessed that they were after a path to the Imperial Realm that had all but vanished from this world, one connected to the long-lost Ten Great Yama Kings!