First Immortal of the Sword

To the far west of the Immortal Realm, deep below a never-melting field of ice, beneath layer upon layer of overlapping hidden realms, there stood an underground palace. The great hall was dark, with only a single lamp for light.

Jiang Tai’e opened the secret message he’d just received. When he finished reading it, a complicated look appeared on his beautifully handsome face.

A little while later, he let out a deep sigh. “You’re obviously well aware that this is a death trap, and a meticulous one at that, but you’re still going to jump right into it… Impressive, Wang Ye!”

There’d been bad blood between Jiang Tai’e and Wang Ye since before the Age of Fallen Immortals. They were irreconcilable, and Jiang Tai’e hated Wang Ye more than anyone.

But he couldn’t deny that Wang Ye was also the person he admired most.

It wasn’t just that his cultivation base was terrifying. Jiang Tai’e also admired his courage, ability to see the bigger picture, and breadth of spirit. They would have been dazzling in any era, and you could have searched the entire Immortal Realm without finding anyone else like him.

Take this death trap, for instance. In Su Yi’s shoes, Jiang Tai’e would never have gotten involved. After all, even disregarding all the divine children in the mix, numerous old monsters who’d proven their Dao and reached the Great Profound Stage during the Primeval Era had been released from captivity. All of them were targeting a single person. Who’d dare accept such a challenge?

But Wang Ye had done just that!

“Very well. I’ll just have to prepare a generous farewell gift for you. I hope you… kill to your heart’s content and die satisfied!”

Jiang Tai’e’s gaze shifted to the palace walls and the rows of human skins hanging there. They were fully intact, and from a distance, they almost seemed alive. In life, all of them had been Wang Ye’s subordinates. Pick any of them at random, and you’d have found a famous, influential expert of the days prior to the Age of Fallen Immortals.

“I know that you long to reunite with Wang Ye, so…. I’ll just send you to him.”

Jiang Tai’e took out a jade bottle patterned like lamb suet.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Souls shot out of the bottle and entered the hollowed-out skins. The skins instantly bulged as flesh, blood, and tendons formed within them. In the blink of an eye, they transformed into people!

Their ranks included men and women of all ages, and their entire bodies were shrouded in dense death qi. Their eyes were numb and vacant.

Living Corpse Puppets!

These were an extremely rare and insidious variety of corpse puppet fashioned from the bodies of living cultivators. The puppeteer skinned them alive, then refined their soul and flesh. It was an intricate process with numerous steps. The hardest part was maintaining the cultivation base the cultivator had in life. Only then was a Living Corpse Puppet considered complete.

Throughout the Immortal Realm, no one was a greater expert at this than Jiang Tai’e, the founder of the Church of Supreme Oneness. Before the Age of Fallen Immortals, he'd refined an army of Living Corpse Puppets, each of them comparable to a living Immortal King.

Not long ago, Jiang Tai’e sent Xing Yuanzi, who he’d refined into a puppet, to ambush and kill Su Yi.

Weng!

Jiang Tai’e drew his fingertip through the air, and a spatial portal appeared.

“Go. Find Sect Leader Xuan Zhong of the Church of Supreme Oneness. He’ll arrange for you to reunite with Wang Ye,” ordered Jiang Tai’e.

His voice was so gentle that it seemed he was bidding his friends and relatives farewell before a long journey.

……

The south of the Immortal Realm, in a mundane country known as the Donglai Kingdom.

Most of the Donglai Kingdom’s inhabitants were ordinary mortals. There were some cultivators, but practically all of them were small fries.

An old beggar leaned in a corner in one of the kingdom’s cities. He gazed at the secret message he’d just received and sank deep into thought.

Even now, no one knew that this old beggar was an unparalleled powerhouse who’d reached the pinnacle of the Immortal Dao prior to the Age of Fallen Immortals. He was Immortal Sovereign Leveling Heavens, Nan Pingtian, the founder of one of the Immortal Realm’s Three Great Demonist Sects: the Church of Divine Flame!

The descendants of the gods have appeared. Aren’t you afraid at all, Wang Ye? If not, why? Are you just that much braver than us? Hmph! You lost at the Battle of Eternal Night. This time, I’m afraid… you won’t even get the chance to reincarnate!

For some inexplicable reason, Nan Pingtian was angry.

He wasn’t angry that Wang Ye was effectively throwing his life away. He was angry that old-timers like him had no choice but to hide, while Wang Ye was bold enough to charge into an obvious death trap!

Sometimes, people are just that strange. Some people nurse a grudge whenever they sense they are inferior to someone in any way.

Take now, for instance. The way Nan Pingtian saw it, the reincarnated Wang Ye was just an Immortal King, but he was still completely fearless. By comparison, he himself only seemed even more cowardly, hiding himself away for fear of divine misfortune…

The thought wasn’t at all pleasing.

No matter how bold you are, you’ve fallen for our tricks this time, and you’ll die beyond a shadow of a doubt! Besides, you’re just an Immortal King. Even if you live to see the Path of Divinity appear in three to five years, you won’t be qualified to vie for the opportunity!

Nan Pingtian gnashed his teeth, then ripped the secret message to shreds.

He wouldn’t stupidly throw his life away like Wang Ye. No, he was waiting for the Path of Divinity. He’d waited for ages already; of course he could wait another three to five years!

……

Chu Shentong, Blood Firmament, and Wang Ye’s other old enemies soon learned that Su Yi would show up to the ceremony.

All of them reacted differently, but there was one thing they had in common. All of them ordered their disciples and subordinates to act on their behalf. None of them would participate directly.

As wonderful as it would be to seize this opportunity to attack, it’d be risky, too.

This was because of the threat of divine misfortune, as well as the threat of the divine children!

Their primary concern was achieving divinity!

……

A barren, lifeless hidden realm.

The Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign sat atop a hillock beneath the gray skies, drinking alone.

“Wang Ye, this time, you’re sure to lose at our hands!”

He felt deeply gratified.

He thought back to long ago, when he'd meticulously made arrangements for a group of top experts to ambush Wang Ye in seclusion. In the battle that followed, the Battle of Eternal Night, they worked together to defeat him. True, they suffered massive casualties in the process, but they defeated the Tyrant!

Soon, the curtains would open on yet another of his death traps. He dared say with certainty that this time, Wang Ye would die, and moreover, he’d get no chance to reincarnate. Because the divine children were tasked with preventing precisely that.

The only thing the Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign found a pity was that he wouldn’t be able to participate in the proceedings personally. All he could do was hide in the darkness and scheme. It was truly a pity.

He was the one truly behind the re-establishment of the Central Immortal Court. His disciple, Qi Nie, was simply carrying out his plans.

No one understands a man better than his enemies.

The Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign knew Wang Ye, and he knew that there was no way he’d tolerate the Church of the Pure One rebuilding the Central Immortal Court. More than that, there was no way in eighteen hells he’d tolerate the demons’ involvement. And that was before even factoring in their plans to ritually sacrifice those connected to him. With all these combined, there was no way Wang Ye could stay out of this.

Indeed, just as the Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign predicted, Wang Ye couldn’t resist the bait. He’d jumped out into the open!

“So long as we destroy you, Wang Ye, it’ll all have been worth it… Even if the Church of the Pure One is destroyed in the process!” The Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign let out a long breath, then took out a talisman and emblazoned it with his voice. “You are not to provoke Wang Ye any further before the opening ceremony. At the same time, watch out for the divine children. We’re borrowing their hands to defeat Wang Ye, but we have to make sure they don’t bite us, too.”

When he finished delivering his message, he shattered the talisman.

“Wang Ye, you came back far too late. Now, even if you search the entire Immortal Realm, I’m afraid you won’t find any of your old friends…”

The Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign’s eyes shone with pity. Most of Wang Ye’s dearest friends, the people he trusted with his life, had long since left the Immortal Realm.

Some left to escape divine misfortune. Others ventured into the River of Epochs in search of the Path of Divinity.

Their ranks included Ye Chunqiu, Xu Fushi, Xiao Ruyi, Yao Sovereign Xing Zhao, Ying Shanxue, and... that was about it. Wang Ye only had a tiny handful of close friends. After all, only so many Immortal Sovereigns of that level existed in Wang Ye’s era, and few remained in the present-day Immortal Realm.

Wang Ye’s old friends weren’t the only ones who’d left. Many of his enemies had left a long time ago, too. Only the Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign, Jiang Tai’e, Chu Shentong, and a handful of other old-timers had chosen to hide from divine misfortune and bide their time.

“Now, you’re the only one left. You’ll have to go to your death alone. How pitiful,” Blood Firmament said wistfully.

……

Beneath the bright moon and sparse stars, all was tranquil.

The home of the ancient Tang Family, a pavilion built near the cliffside.

A night wind blew past. Su Yi leaned against the railing, drinking alone. He was remembering Wang Ye’s old friends.

“If any of them were still in the Immortal Realm, they’d have come looking for me as soon as they heard that I’d returned…” whispered Su Yi.

But no such thing had happened. Thus, Su Yi had long since concluded that his past life's friends had left the Immortal Realm a long time ago.

After all, the cataclysm of the Age of Fallen Immortals had been utterly terrifying, and it targeted every Great Realm expert beneath the heavens. His old friends all had ambitions of achieving divinity, so leaving the Immortal Realm in search of such opportunities was obviously their best choice. Besides, at the time, no one knew that Wang Ye wasn’t really dead. They certainly couldn’t have anticipated that his reincarnation would return hundreds of thousands of years later.

His old friends’ absence made things a bit lonely, but at the same time, knowing they were gone was a comfort. The reason for this was simple: Su Yi didn’t want them to get mixed up in the coming storm. Even if they were here, he’d have tried his utmost to discourage them from participating.

After all, the dangers involved were too great.

Someone who truly cared about his friends would rather face danger alone than embroil his friends in trouble of this magnitude.

But true friends would nonetheless insist on helping. Were Wang Ye’s old friends here, there was no way they’d let him face this alone!

Su Yi stood there in silence for a long time.

Suddenly, he realized something, and he immediately called Tang Lingqi over.

“Do me another favor and tell the world that those connected to me are not to get involved in these muddied waters! If anyone dares show up, they shouldn’t blame me for refusing to acknowledge them!”

Tang Lingqi was stunned, but in the end, he just agreed and didn’t ask any questions. He knew that Wang Ye’s former subordinates and those factions who’d benefited from his benevolence were all but certain to show up when they learned what was happening.

Wang Ye was the supreme ruler of his era. His influence was too great to sum up in a few sentences.

Su Yi dared say with certainty that even now, despite the passage of countless years, all he had to do was call, and countless people would rush to his aid.

This was Wang Ye’s prestige. Throughout the ages, no one else could compare!