First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1468 - The Spirit Pearl Flower

Splurt!

A black wooden sword pierced the blue-robed man’s throat with a spray of blood. In the blink of an eye, a Saint Realm Immortal Lord had been run through!

It all happened so suddenly that it left the distant onlookers flabbergasted. And the attacker was... none other than the blue-robed man’s companion, the swordsman in hemp.

He was a man of few words, as stalwart and steady as a mountain. He had a wooden sword on his back, and although he said nothing, he put far greater pressure on those around him than the man in blue.

Yet now, he’d gone and stabbed his companion in the back—well, the throat.

“You... How could you... betray the... Blood Firmament... Immortal Sovereign?” the man in blue rasped, his voice starting and stopping. Disbelief was written all over his face.

He dared not turn his head, as the sword was still in his throat. Moving would only make him die faster.

“I didn't. I was never actually his subordinate,” the man in hemp said indifferently. Then, he flicked his wooden sword.

Bang!!!

The blue-robed man simply exploded. A Saint Realm Immortal Lord, dead in a flash!

As for the golden lantern? Mu Jing caught it and held it aloft. He then put away his sword and knelt in midair, solemn respect rising on his steely face as he kowtowed to the distant Su Yi.

“Mu Jing of the Green Mulberry Mu Family greets you, Sovereign!”

He was tall, big-boned, with a terrifying presence. He’d only just killed a Saint Realm Immortal Lord with a single thrust of his sword. Yet now, he was like a pious devotee prostrating before his god.

The sight shook everyone present.

Furthermore, he addressed Su Yi as “Sovereign”!

Even after the passage of countless years, His Eminence’s prestige is still so powerful! Wu Meng and the others’ hearts churned. They couldn’t stay calm.

Meanwhile, Su Yi was holding the Soul Prison Chain in his hand and examining it closely.

He casually ordered, “First, let Shi Zhuo out.”

“Yes!” Mu Jing raised and tapped the golden lantern. He instantly released the trapped Shi Zhuo. Wu Meng and the others rushed to help him up.

“Get up,” said Su Yi. He drew his fingertip across the chain, shattering it into snow-white fragments, which scattered and dispersed.

Had the now-dead man in blue seen this, he would have been incomparably astonished.

Because the Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign had refined that chain personally. It could easily bind even the souls of Immortal Lors, and it was strange and terrifying to the extreme. Yet now, Su Yi had broken it with casual ease.

This was unquestionable proof that even if Su Yi had let the chain bind him, he could have broken it with minimal effort.

It was only after receiving Su Yi’s permission that the prostrating Mu Jing slowly rose. However, his head was still lowered, and his gaze was awed and pious.

Wu Meng and the others couldn’t help but sigh to themselves just watching. This is His Eminence’s prestige! Even Immortal Lords must avert their gazes before him and respect him as they might a god!

“Cwith me. I have questions for you,” said Su Yi as he turned and re-entered the hall.

Mu Jing hurried after him.

......

About ten minutes later, Su Yi got the gist of the situation from Mu Jing.

First, the Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign really had led a group of experts of the Immortal Realm to the Epoch of Demonism to search for Wang Ye’s reincarnation!

His subordinates had searched the entire Epoch of Demonism, but they learned nothing at all.

Nonetheless, the Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign was convinced that Wang Ye’s reincarnation would appear in the Epoch of Demonism. Thus, prior to departing the Epoch of Demonism, the Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign left a group of his subordinates to continue searching for Wang Ye’s reincarnation.

Second, a long, long thad passed, and much had changed.

The most notable of these changes was the catastrophe that had befallen the Immortal Realm. The Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign had lost contact with his forces in the Epoch of Demonism ever since.

In the years that followed, his subordinates attempted to return and re-establish contact, but without exception, all who made the attempt perished while crossing the River of Spacetor went missing while attempting to cross the Path Heaven Forbids.

Countless years had passed, until only Mu Jing and Yu Liushan remained; the latter was the blue-robed man Mu Jing had just killed.

Third, long ago, Yu Liushan inadvertently learned that Lady Snowjade’s Dao Partner, Shen Mu, was suspected to have undergone reincarnation and rebirth. Naturally, Yu Liushan immediately suspected that Shen Mu, whose Dao Heart Lady Snowjade had destroyed, was the reincarnation of Wang Ye!

Unfortunately for him, by the the realized this, it was too late.

However, it was then that Yu Liushan and the Tailor got acquainted. The Tailor told him that he suspected that Shen Mu’s reincarnation had reappeared amongst the stars!

But neither Yu Liushan nor Mu Jing dared recklessly traverse the River of Spacetime. For experts of the Immortal Dao like them, doing so would mean almost certain death!

Fourth, Yu Liushan and Mu Jing might not have found their target, but they certainly hadn’t accomplished nothing in their there. They’d found one of Wang Ye’s subordinates, Shi Zhuo, and they took him hostage!

Yu Liushan had managed to locate them because a few days prior, the Ten Thousand Demons Imperial Talisman had tried to summon Shi Zhuo. Yu Liushan had sensed this immediately.

And last night, Su Yi led Wu Meng and the others to crush the Six Desires Demonist Sect. Word had already taken the entire Epoch of Demonism by storm. Naturally, Yu Liushan knew about it too.

Just the day before, Yu Liushan had received word from the Tailor. The Tailor directly stated that Shen Mu’s reincarnation, Su Yi, had already arrived in the Epoch of Demonism. He hoped to work with Yu Liushan to take Su Yi down!

Yu Liushan got to work immediately after receiving this message.

But by the the arrived, it was too late. The Six Desires Demonist Sect had fallen, and there was no further word from the Tailor.

After learning all this, Su Yi pondered out loud, “How did Blood Firmament know that I wasn’t really dead, and that I’d instead chosen to undergo reincarnation? And how did he know I’d show in the Epoch of Demonism?”

Mu Jing stood to the side, head lowered, as he said gravely, “Sovereign, Blood Firmament saw that information as top secret. He didn’t even tell any of his subordinates.”

Su Yi subtly inclined his head. “That means that Blood Firmament hasn’t appeared since that catastrophe befell the Immortal Realm?”

“That’s right.”

“And why did you choose to serve Blood Firmament?” Su Yi looked at Mu Jing.

Mu Jing was from the Green Mulberry Mu Family, one of the most famous races of Xiantian spirits in the Immortal Realm. His ancestors once protected the Dark Battlefield on the Immortal Realm’s borders, achieving enormous merit.

Wang Ye had memories of an ancestor of the Green Mulberry Mu Family, Mu Chaosheng. He’d once followed Wang Ye, fighting alongside him on the Dark Battlefield.

And Mu Jing was one of Mu Chaosheng’s descendants!

Mu Jing said solemnly, “Sovereign, this junior infiltrated Blood Firmament’s ranks on behalf of the Starlight Immortal Sovereign.”

The Starlight Immortal Sovereign, Xing Zhao!

The image of a woman with long, blood-red hair floated into Su Yi’s mind. She stood proudly amidst outer space, countless stars clustering around her, gorgeous and aloof, as proud as a goddess!

She was one of the three great yao sovereigns of the Immortal Realm’s Dark Northern Sea!

She was once one of Wang Ye’s closest friends. They once discussed the Dao in the Dark Northern Sea for eight hundred years, defeating a ferocious Ba Serpent and slaying an immortal corpse hidden in the ocean’s depths. They’d explored the ruins of the north, facing life and death together and proving their Daos side by side.

In simple terms, Wang Ye could count the people he saw as his close friends on his fingers, but the Starlight Immortal Sovereign was one of the few.

Su Yi sank briefly into silence. “Explain in more detail.”

Mu Jing dared not be negligent. He immediately launched into a thorough explanation.

It turned out that when Wang Ye was attacked by a group of his most powerful enemies, his death shook the entire Immortal Realm. Everyone thought the Eternal Night Immortal Sovereign who’d dominated his era was gone for good.

But the Starlight Immortal Sovereign didn’t think so.

She spent years planning and contacting numerous immortal factions in secret, arranging for her experts to infiltrate the ranks of Wang Ye’s enemies.

Mu Jing of the Green Mulberry Mu Family was one of them. He’d been ordered to serve the Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign. There, he had lain low for years before finally accompanying the Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign to the Epoch of Demonism to search for Wang Ye’s reincarnation.

After learning all this, Su Yi couldn’t help but be rueful.

There was no doubt about it. After Wang Ye reincarnated, his old friends hadn’t remained uninvolved!

“Blood Firmament is shrewd and calculating, and he has all kinds of methods to see through a person’s heart. He really never suspected you?” asked Su Yi.

Those worthy of becoming Wang Ye’s greatest enemies were all top experts of the Immortal Dao. Each was an all-powerful being, and they could shake the entire Immortal Realm with a stomp of their feet.

That was true for the Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign too.

Mu Jing’s eyes flashed with nigh imperceptible dread. “I won’t lie to you, Sovereign. He saw through my goals and identity as soon as I joined his forces. But he didn’t kill me. Instead, he keptby his side to use as a pawn. He said I’d cin handy later.”

Su Yi inclined his head. “That really does sound like the old-timer’s style. In his eyes, killing you would be a waste. Better to use you toward his own ends and squeeze as much value as possible out of you.”

Here, Su Yi turned to look at Mu Jing. “Did he perhaps plant a Spirit Pearl Flower in your soul?”

Mu Jing shivered, then said in a low voice, “He did.”

Spirit Pearl Flowers.

A wondrous lifeform that grew in the Immortal Realm’s Severed Heavens Abyss. They were extremely hard to pick.

If their seeds took root in a cultivator’s soul, it didn’t matter how strong their cultivation base was. They couldn’t break free no matter how hard they struggled, and they were doomed to live their lives as helpless puppets!

The Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign had relied on these flowers to suppress too many powerful foes to count.

Their ranks included even Immortal Sovereigns. He was in control of their fate, and he could command them as he pleased!

“The Spirit Pearl Flower in your soul remains. That proves that not even the Immortal Realm’s catastrophe was enough to destroy Old Blood Firmament. In other words, he’s... still alive,” Su Yi said thoughtfully.

Spirit Pearl Flowers were under the Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign’s control. If something happened to him, the flowers would wither!

Mu Jing sighed. “It’s as you say, Sovereign. About twenty years ago, Yu Liushan received a message from the Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign’s eldest disciple, Qi Nie. The message said that the Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign has been in seclusion in a mysterious place all this time. And that wasn’t all. The message discussed you as well, Sovereign!”