First Immortal of the Sword

Heaven and earth were overcast and silent.

Five Emperors were imprisoned before Heavenly Tripod Mountain, and all of them looked miserable.

Su Yi reclined in a wicker chair not far away, sipping wine on his own.

When he saw this, Cui Chang’an couldn’t help but sigh to himself, It’s indeed as I expected. With Uncle Su here, even mighty and influential Emperors are reduced to small fries, unable to take a single hit.

However, when he realized who Fei Changting and his companions were, alarm coursed through his heart. I wouldn’t have thought that the Denglong of the Shentu Territory would get mixed up in this!

Cui Chang’an faced Su Yi and clasped his fist in greeting. “Unc-... Young Lord Su, I’m late. This must have been a nasty surprise.”

“It was—for them,” said Su Yi. As he spoke, he rose from his wicker chair. “I’m going to have a look around Heavenly Tripod Mountain. I’ll let you deal with them.”

With that, he drifted over to the mountaintop.

When Cui Chang’an saw this, he turned his attention to the five suppressed Emperors, especially Cui Weizhong. His expression filled with cold indifference.

Cui Weizhong felt alarm course through him, and he said in a quavering voice, “Family Head, I….”

Cui Chang’an interrupted expressionlessly, “I’ll interrogate you after we return to the family estate.”

Then, with a flick of his fingers, he knocked Cui Weizhong unconscious.

He then looked at Qu Mingwei and said coolly, “Qu Mingwei, during the day, you visited our Cui Family as a guest. Why have you colluded with others to sneak into the forbidden ground our family keeps watch over?”

Qu Mingwei’s expression darkened, and he said coldly, “What’s the point of all that talk? I’m imprisoned here. Maim me, kill me, do whatever you want!”

“Want to die? That’d be letting you off too easily.” A cold smile rose on Cui Chang’an’s face. “The third layer of the prisons of the Bureau of Adjudication have existed since antiquity to suppress the world’s most heinous, malevolent offenders. Their ranks include quite a few who long for death, yet are unable to die.”

“What do you mean by that?” said Qu Mingwei, his expression unsightly.

Cui Chang’an said slowly, “Simply put, a life worse than death is the best way to punish scoundrels such as yourself. In a bit, I’ll personally imprison you on an Armillary Sash Demon-Suppressing pillar and let you taste ‘a life worse than death’ for yourself.”

His words were light and airy, but they scared Qu Mingwei out of his wits. His expression changed dramatically, and he shouted in surprise and anger, “Cui Chang’an, aren’t you afraid of the Qu Family’s revenge!? Let me tell you, when the Lantern Festival comes, the entire Cui Family is doomed!”

Cui Chang’an couldn’t even be bothered to respond. He just flicked his fingers.

Bang!!

Qu Mingwei was a Profound Illumination Emperor, but his eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell directly unconscious.

Fei Changting had witnessed this entire exchange, and he couldn’t help but say coldly, “Cui Chang’an, you might have seized the advantage for now, but there’s something you have no choice but to admit: your father, Cui Longxiang, won’t be returning from the Sea of Bitterness, and the Cui Family will soon face annihilation!”

He paused, then added, “But so long as you let us go, I guarantee that the Denglong will not act against the Cui Family within the next thousand years.”

“But if you refuse, no matter whether you kill us or imprison us, you’ll become irreconcilable enemies with the Denglong Race. The consequences of that… I imagine you don’t wish to see that happen either.”

Cui Chang’an couldn’t help but laugh. “You dared barge into our territory, and now you’re making conditions? Nonsense! Do you really think I’m a pushover?”

He stretched out his right hand.

Whoosh!

A dazzling, three-foot snow-white blade condensed in the air. Terrifying wisps of murderous intent emanated from it, permeating the air.

The Blade of Adjudication!

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This was the core legacy of the Bureau of Adjudication’s Cui Family.

Over the family’s countless years of history, the experts of the Cui Family had relied on this inheritance to adjudicate countless fierce and wicked enemies.

But then, Cui Chang’an tapped the blade, and it disappeared.

Splurt! Splurt!

Lines of red appeared on the throats of the man in beast skins and the woman in black. Their eyes bulged, and their bodies silently crumbled to ash and dispersed.

They were destroyed, both body and soul!

This was the power of the Grand Dao of Adjudication. When it hit a target, even if they were mighty Emperors, it would strip them of their life force instantaneously, reducing both their bodies and souls to ash.

In ancient times, the Cui Family presided over the Bureau of Adjudication, and they’d used the power of adjudication to execute countless prisoners guilty of heinous crimes. In doing so, they struck terror into the hearts of the world’s cultivators.

When he saw his companions die, Fei Changting’s eyes bulged. He wouldn’t have thought Cui Chang’an would execute them without the slightest warning!

The imposing majesty of the leader of the Cui Family was now on full display. Cui Chang’an was now steely, domineering, forceful, and contemptuous.

“That’s the price of threatening me,” said Cui Chang’an warmly. “Generations of the Cui Family have presided over the Bureau of Adjudication, and we’ve seen prisoners of all stripes. We’ve killed too many evildoers to count, too. If we feared threats, how could we possibly have taken up leadership of the Bureau of Adjudication all those years ago?”

Fei Changting’s expression was hideously contorted as he rasped, “In that case, why not kill me?”

“I’ve spared you because I have questions for you,” Cui Chang’an said casually. “Of course, you’re welcome to refuse to answer them. I trust that with the Cui Family’s punitive abilities, it won’t matter how strong your heart is; you won’t be able to withstand the torture. Unless you choose to kill yourself. But no, you’re already completely sealed. Even if you wanted to commit suicide… it’s too late.”

Fei Changting’s expression was bleak, as if he’d lost the only hope he had left.

Cui Chang’an said gently, “Please rest assured. So long as you cooperate and answer my questions, I promise to let you die painlessly.”

Suddenly, Su Yi’s voice emanated from the peak of Heavenly Tripod Mountain. “Make sure you ask about the transmission array he planned to set up here.”

Fei Changting suddenly took a deep breath and hissed, “I can answer your questions, but first, can you tell me who exactly that kid is!? Even if I die, you ought to at least let me rest in peace!”

His voice revealed his deep hatred.

There was no doubt about it: this peak Profound Illumination Emperor of the Denglong Race loathed Su Yi to the core.

Cui Chang’an fell briefly silent. “I say this with the utmost sincerity: not just any Emperor has the opportunity to lose to Young Lord Su. Even if you die, you can go to the Nine Springs with a smile on your face. Oh, I forgot: the Nine Springs of the Netherworld no longer exist. Well, in any event, you’re going to die, but… it’s a worthy death. You should be honored!”

“???” Fei Changting’s eyes bulged as if they were about to burst. He obviously thought Cui Chang’an was trying to belittle and humiliate him.

But a little while later, he slumped and shook his head. “Forget it. What do you want to know? Just ask directly.”

Cui Chang’an smiled. “Indeed. I just knew that someone capable of proving his Dao and becoming an Emperor had to be smart.”

……

The peak of Heavenly Tripod Mountain.

Su Yi paid no attention to Cui Chang’an’s interrogation.

He stood with his hands behind his back. Ever since he’d come here, he’d fixed his gaze on the altar.

At just nine feet tall, it wasn’t particularly large. It was forged of a secret concoction of Profound Iron, and it emanated faint silver light.

There was a hole at the center of the altar.

A sword was inserted into it. Only the hilt was visible.

The hilt was inlaid with thumb-sized pieces of black jade. At the far end, there were two characters carved in ancient Dao Markings——

Moonlit Shadow!

The name came from a line of poetry: “I dance with my moonlit shadow. How unlike the human world!”

This was a sword Su Yi had forged during his time in the Netherworld, and it had accompanied him in battle for years, taking the heads of countless powerful foes and drinking its fill of fresh blood.

It was only shortly before he left the Netherworld that he decided to leave Moonlit Shadow here.

The black jade in the hilt was called a Dao-Bearing Stone, an unsurpassed miraculous material found within the Pool of Rebirth. It could store the fruit of one’s cultivation!

In other words, this stone could contain a portion of the power of someone’s cultivation base!

This was different from the power of will emblazoned within talismans or the Imperial treasures Emperors refined. It stored the true power of one’s cultivation base.

No matter who used it, so long as they activated this treasure, they could create a wondrous effect, like a divine spirit possessing their body. They then display the power of the cultivation base sealed within the stone!

If a Dao-Bearing Stone contained a Profound Illumination Emperor’s cultivation base, whoever circulated it would effectively transform into a Profound Illumination Emperor.

The value of such a treasure was simply inestimable.

Years ago, Su Yi searched the whole Pool of Rebirth but only found a few pieces. This particular piece had been emblazoned with a portion of his cultivation base, then embedded in Moonlit Shadow’s hilt. 

When Su Yi left the sword here to help maintain the formation, Cui Longxiang laughed, “If I ever run into trouble too great for me to resolve, I’ll be sure to try the power you left behind.”

He was, of course, joking.

Because this piece of Dao-Bearing Rock was only about the size of a thumb, and it could only support so much power. The power Su Yi had left within it was only about a tenth of what he’d had at the peak of his past life.

Furthermore, the Dao-Bearing Stone could only be used once, and it would only last for about ten snaps of the finger before shattering and disappearing.

Ten snaps of the finger. How brief was that?

However, ten snaps of the finger was already quite a lot for Su Yi. Sometimes, that was long enough to determine victory and defeat in battle!

“Tens of thousands of years have passed. Moonlit Shadow is still here, but who knows whether the old fox Cui Longxiang is alive or dead. It’s truly dispiriting,” sighed Su Yi.

He didn’t touch Moonlit Shadow.

If he did, the power of the formation could still suppress the old monsters beneath Heavenly Tripod Mountain, but it wouldn’t be able to suppress them completely. Some of the more terrifying entities could seize the opportunity to cause trouble.

Much like how the “patriarch” the Denglong Fei Changting spoke of could manifest an avatar of will even after countless years of suppression!

Su Yi wasn’t afraid of trouble, but he absolutely wouldn’t seek it out unnecessarily. 

Without any further delays, Su Yi swooshed his sleeves.

The densely-layered blood-colored chains blanketing the ground before the altar suddenly dispersed, revealing a hole so deep, it appeared bottomless. 

“Fei Changting, are you there?” As soon as the hole appeared, a voice emanated from its depths. The speaker feigned indifference, but their tone revealed a hint of frantic concern.

This was none other than the patriarch of the Denglong Race!