First Immortal of the Sword

In ancient times, the Ghost Emperors of the Five Directions each oversaw a Ghost Gate.

The Ghost Emperor of the East oversaw Peach Haven Mountain.

The Ghost Emperor of the North oversaw Luofeng Mountain.

The Ghost Emperor of the South oversaw Luofu Mountain.

The Ghost Emperor of the West oversaw Fanzhong Mountain.

And the Ghost Emperor of the Center oversaw Baodu Mountain.

Rumor had it that each of the five divine mountains contained a tunnel to realm of the living, and that every dead mortal would pass through the ghost gates, crossing over to the Netherworld.

But those were only rumors of ancient times.

The Ghost Emperors of the Five Directions no longer existed, and the Ghost Gates had long since disappeared into the long river of history.

Even Peach Haven Mountain was just one of the Six Paths Royal Territory’s spirit mountains, albeit an extremely famous one.

A long time ago, a mighty expert of the yao path occupied this mountain. Everyone called him the Peach Haven Mountain Monarch.

However, Su Yi preferred to call him “Old Rooster.”

In his past life, in preparation to cross the Sea of Bitterness, he’d visited Peach Haven Mountain. After a game of chess with the Peach Haven Mountain Monarch, he won a piece of heartwood from the Peach Haven Divine Tree, which he used to refine an Unsinkable Boat.

When he crossed the Sea of Bitterness, this treasure helped him turn disaster into good fortune on numerous occasions.

This time, Su Yi had come in part because it was on the way, and in part because he wanted another piece of Peach Haven Divine Tree heartwood to refine another Unsinkable Boat in preparation for when he next visited the Sea of Bitterness.

Night was rapidly setting in, and a hooked, purple moon floated over the horizon.

Su Yi had his hands behind his back as he shot toward Peach Haven Mountain.

“Hm? Why is this place shrouded in such dense miasma?” Su Yi’s eyebrows rose.

The grand, majestic Peach Haven Mountain was shrouded in baleful energy like churning fog. It covered the skies, and everywhere he looked, he saw turbid, sinister, blood-red baleful fog.

He remembered Peach Haven Mountain as a blessed ground with clear waters, burbling streams and waterfalls, and towering, ancient trees, like an otherworldly paradise.

Yet now, it seemed like a frightful, perilous zone!

“What happened here? With the old rooster’s cultivation, how could he let Peach Haven Mountain wind up in such a state?” 

As Su Yi pondered, he continued ahead.

As he neared the foot of the mountain, the wind carried over the sound of rustling vegetation and intermittent conversation.

People? Su Yi thought for a moment, then walked right toward the source of the sound without hiding himself.

Before long, a group of cultivators came into view.

There were seven of them in total, both men and women. All were dressed in dark blue robes, each with the same emblem embroidered on their shoulders: a blue bird spreading its wings.

They were obviously all from the same faction.

The leader was a tall, slender woman with quite an impressive figure. Her dark robes only served to emphasize how impressive her physique was. A golden ribbon tied her hair behind her head, and a sword was strapped across her back in a black scabbard.

She was currently conversing with a tiny, thin old man.

As Su Yi approached from afar, he immediately drew these cultivators’ attention.

“Who is it!?” bellowed a tall, stalwart man.

Everyone else looked over.

When they saw that this new arrival was just a young man traveling on his own, they were stunned, and all of them were visibly on guard.

Peach Haven Mountain was a danger zone famous far and wide, especially at night. Even valiant, capable cultivators wouldn’t come here lightly.

Yet now, a young man was leisurely strolling over all on his own. This was unquestionably out of the ordinary.

The leader, the lady swordsman, was the first to speak up. “My name is Xie Yunyan, and I’m a cultivator of the Blue Firmament Sword Sect. Might I ask your name, sir?”

Her voice was pleasant to the ear, quick, and snappy.

The Blue Firmament Sword Sect?

Su Yi thought for a moment, but he couldn’t recall which faction that was.

But then, that wasn’t at all strange. The Netherworld consisted of six territories and thirteen realms. Never mind the others, even just the Six Paths Royal Territory had, in addition to several peak clans and orthodoxies, all manner of factions big and small.

The Blue Firmament Sword Sect was just one of them.

“I’m just a passerby. My name isn’t worth mentioning,” Su Yi said casually after a moment’s thought. “I approached you because there’s something I’d like to ask you about.”

He’s here to ask a question?

The group looked at each other. They found this increasingly strange.

“Please, go ahead and ask,” said the woman who called herself Xie Yanyun. 

Su Yi looked at Peach Haven Mountain. “When did Peach Haven Mountain become like this?”

This guy seriously doesn’t even know that?

The group was stunned.

Although Xie Yanyun found this strange, she patiently explained, “About eighteen years ago, Peach Haven Mountain faced a sudden change. Turbid, baleful energy surged out of the mountain, and ghosts frequently haunt its slopes.”

“In just eighteen years, it’s become a famous danger zone. Especially recently; every night, bloody, baleful energy soars into the heavens, manifesting all manner of strange and imposing scenes.”

Xie Yunyan paused, then continued, “Over the years, numerous cultivators have come to explore it, but they all either died or fled in panic. They say the mountain has become a ghost domain occupied by numerous ancient and ferocious evil ghosts.”

Su Yi couldn’t help but find this increasingly strange. The old rooster detests all things wicked. How could he possibly let his home become a miasma-ridden ghost domain?

After a moment’s thought, Su Yi asked, “Then do you know where the Peach Haven Mountain Monarch who used to live here has gone?”

The Peach Haven Mountain Monarch!

Xie Yanyun shook her head. “I don’t know.”

The tiny old man beside her said, “His Excellency the Peach Haven Mountain Monarch most likely left a long time ago. Otherwise, there’s absolutely no way he would just sit back and watch as Peach Haven Mountain was reduced to this.”

Su Yi nodded. “Many thanks.”

With that, he continued toward Peach Haven Mountain. He had to investigate this for himself.

When they saw this, the Blue Firmament Sword Sect cultivators finally relaxed their guard a little. They could tell that this young man in blue was no evildoer.

“Please wait, sir,” Xie Yanyun suddenly called out.

Su Yi stopped in his tracks. Then, without so much as turning his head, he asked, “What is it?”

Xie Yanyun hesitated, then said, “Peach Haven Mountain is most perilous at night. Ghosts with over a thousand years of cultivation lurk throughout the mountainside. I’m afraid going there by yourself will be too dangerous. If you want to explore Peach Haven Mountain, I suggest waiting for daylight.”

This was a well-intentioned warning.

Su Yi laughed. “If you know it’s dangerous, why are you here just as night sets in?”

The moment they first met, he sensed that of the Blue Firmament Sword Sect, only the lady swordsman and the little old man were in the Spiritual Revolution Realm. The others were only in the Spiritual Incarnation Realm.

Within the Spirit Dao, such a lineup wasn’t bad at all.

But it was a little weak to explore a place as shrouded in miasma as Peach Haven Mountain.

“Err….” Xie Yanyun couldn’t help but hesitate.

Su Yi saw this, but didn’t ask any further questions. He just said, “It seems to me that no matter why you’re here, you’d be better off not entering the mountain.”

Then, before his voice finished echoing through the air, he disappeared into the distance.

As night set in, darkness swept in like waters at high tide, enveloping heaven and earth, including Su Yi’s tall, upright figure and all of Peach Haven Mountain.

The purple crescent moon was the only source of light. It flickered against the night sky, casting its faint purple glow. However, it was nowhere near enough to disperse the darkness.

“Senior Apprentice Sister Xie, you warned that guy out of the goodness of your heart, but he didn’t just disregard your advice; he even shamelessly warned us not to enter the mountain. He really doesn’t know what’s good for him,” muttered a young man with a martial bearing.

The tiny old man said thoughtfully, “It seems to me that that young man was no ordinary person.”

“I agree, Martial Uncle Liu. He looked young, but his presence was extraordinary. There’s truly no way that he’s an ordinary person. However, none of that has anything to do with us.”

As Xie Yanyun spoke, she continued ahead. “Come on, we ought to get going. Tonight, the moon is purple. That makes this the perfect time for us to seek out the Peach Haven Divine Tree.”

The others hurried after her.

……

Peach Haven Mountain was enormous; it covered over three thousand miles and contained numerous peaks and gorges.

Beneath the darkness of the night sky, bloody, baleful mist permeated the numerous peaks. From time to time, the high-pitched, strange cries of ghosts rang out, giving the entire mountain an unsettling, dangerous air.

Su Yi continued ahead, his gait leisurely. It looked as if he were moving slowly, but in truth, each step carried him a hundred feet.

Along the way, the bloody, baleful mist potent enough to make even Spirit Dao cultivators proceed with caution couldn’t taint him in the slightest. Instead, faint golden light shook and dispersed it.

This was the aura of the Heaven’s Writ Lotus Lantern.

This supreme Buddhist treasure once belonged to Buddhist Master Hidden Leaf of the Little Western Paradise. It had an innate ability to expel evil spirits.

There was no need for Su Yi to even activate it; its mere presence cleared the pale of bloody, baleful power.

Although he saw the occasional ghost further down the path, when they saw the golden light around Su Yi in the distance, all of them scampered off.

Su Yi ignored all of this completely. He naturally wouldn’t pay good-for-nothing ghosts like them any heed.

He also saw numerous bones and complete corpses along the way. All had obviously belonged to cultivators, all of whom had died miserably.

There was no doubt about it; these were people who’d ventured into the wilderness of Peach Haven Mountain in search of good fortune.

Fifteen minutes later.

Su Yi arrived at a steep, solitary peak.

Here, the bloody, baleful energy was so dense that it was like a curtain blotting out the sun. Through it, he could faintly discern a trail winding up the peak, all the way to the top.

There were numerous old buildings on the slope, but all had long since collapsed into rubble.

Even from a distance, it was a shocking sight.

“Even the old rooster’s nest lies in ruin…” Su Yi couldn’t help but furrow his brow.

This place was called Vast Sun Peak, and it was where the Peach Haven Mountain Monarch lived in seclusion. Historically, this place was bathed in divine radiance and shrouded in auspicious clouds. It was a first-rate blessed ground.

Yet now, everywhere he looked, it was shrouded in miasma!

However, Su Yi quickly discovered that something was amiss.

Although Vast Sun Peak was shrouded in dense, blood-red smog, there wasn’t even a single ghost to be found. It was deathly silent.

As if this were forbidden ground, and not even vicious ghosts dared approach.

Of course, there was also another possibility: a terrifyingly powerful ghost had occupied this territory, and its presence terrified the other apparitions!

Su Yi naturally wasn’t afraid of that, though.

He shot forward in a flash, drifting onto Vast Sun Peak.

Here, he saw a run-down temple. The halls had already collapsed, save for the central grand hall. However, it too was severely damaged.

Su Yi walked right up to it and went inside.

This was once where the old rooster meditated, and it had once been covered in all manner of wondrous formations.

But now, none remained.

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All of these changes made Su Yi’s frown deepen.

The moment he passed through the dilapidated gates, a glinting blade appeared out of nowhere. It was aimed at the spot between Su Yi’s eyes.

It struck without warning, quick as lightning!