First Immortal of the Sword

“Li Changsheng took advantage of my absence to attack the Academy of Eternal Night. His paltry courage is truly disappointing,” Su Yi whispered to himself.

He stood alone in the grand, empty hall, casting an elongated, angular shadow. He looked completely, utterly alone.

Now, Su Yi roughly understood why the academy had fallen during the Age of Fallen Immortals.

Back then, the cataclysm of the Age of Fallen Immortals swept across the Immortal Realm. It had a major impact on all of its top factions, and the world was thrown into turmoil.

Demon Sovereign Li Changsheng seized the opportunity to lead five of the nine great demon races—the Formless, Goldenflame, Floating, Silvermoon, and Wind Ray Demons—past the Nine Gates of Heaven. As soon as they made it into the Immortal Realm, they stirred up a storm of bloodshed.

Countless lives were lost, and the ground ran red with rivers of blood!

Wang Ye was the founder of the Academy of Eternal Night. Thus, the demons saw it as one of their primary targets. They were dead set on uprooting it.

Thus, enormous disaster befell the academy.

Cruellest of all, Sixth Teaching Elder Yuan Gang had long since betrayed them, colluding with the demons of the Beyond. It was he who ensured the academy’s complete demise!

By the time the curtains fell on the battle, the Academy of Eternal Night had fallen. It had now vanished forever into the long river of history.

Why did Yuan Gang betray them back then? Su Yi couldn’t be bothered to consider that question any further. Betrayal was betrayal. Nothing could wash that away!

According to Li Changsheng, not every member of the academy who participated in that fight died. Perhaps I’ll be able to meet with the survivors one day… thought Su Yi.

Perhaps then he’d learn additional truths.

For instance, why hadn’t any word of the truth of the academy’s demise reached the outside world? Just who had sealed off word of what happened here?

And what role had the Church of Divine Flame played in the battle?

How had that gaunt old man, Le Yunhai, gotten trapped outside the Underground Palace of Seeking the Profound?

According to Lu Yunhai, when the forces of five of the great demon races attacked the academy, several factions of the Immortal Realm joined in. These included the Church of the Pure One, the Church of Supreme Oneness, the Floating Temple of the Eastern Seas, and the Jade Firmament Immortal Palace, among others.

All of these factions had an expert at the pinnacle of the Immortal Realm behind them! And all of them were among Wang Ye’s greatest enemies!

They most certainly hadn’t come to the Academy of Eternal Night to reinforce them!

But were they just taking advantage of the chaos to loot a burning house? Or had they long since colluded with the demons to take the academy down?

If they were simply opportunists, that was one thing. They were just trying to get revenge against Wang Ye and turn a profit doing it. While still good cause for revenge, it was at least understandable.

But if the latter possibility proved true, and they were colluding with demons? That would be absolutely intolerable! That would mean they'd betrayed the entire Immortal Realm!

Su Yi would naturally investigate that possibility in further detail later.

After a lengthy silence, Su Yi’s hands formed seals, and immortal light surged forth. The little table in front of him instantly shrank until it was the size of a palm.

“Li Changsheng, when I suppress you, I’ll have you repeat the words on this table to my face!” said Su Yi. His eyes glinted with cold, distant light.

He took a moment to calm himself, set aside his scattered thoughts, and gazed at the nearby palace walls.

A moment later, he took out a black jade box and held it aloft. It was formed of the Great Realm-level Divine Mysteries Rock Jade. Su Yi had retrieved it from the beams of the Palace of Scriptures not long ago.

The nearby wall instantly surged with strange power. Countless intricate Dao Markings silently bloomed like layers of flower petals.

In the end, the wall transformed. It was like a slowly shifting, boundless expanse of outer space. Countless stars danced about in a continuous cycle.

Crack!

Su Yi opened the jade box and removed the flying sword-shaped bronze key.

Boom!

The entire palace shook. The countless markings on the wall suddenly formed an indentation, which deepened into a tunnel. A rain of light scattered. It all seemed incomparably mysterious.

Su Yi stared intently at it for a little while, then confidently walked inside.

……

This was a space born of the void. It was permeated with an air of chaos and interwoven with the colorful power of the Laws.

It was as if time had frozen here.

When Su Yi appeared out of nowhere, the world shrouded in chaos power shook violently. At the same time, a strange power of the Laws silently enveloped Su Yi.

“This place hasn’t changed a bit,” murmured Su Yi.

This place was known as the Spring and Autumn Space!

“Spring and Autumn” referred to the passage of time. In this chaotic space, the Laws of Time were starkly different from the outside world.

If you cultivated here for a year, only a day would pass in the outside world.

However, this was a chaotic space, so you could only cultivate here for sixty years per session. In the outside world, that translated to just sixty days.

Long ago, while exploring the River of Time, Wang Ye discovered this strange chaotic space in a wave of temporal power.

He used an unsurpassed divine ability to seal this chaotic space completely, bring it back to the Immortal Realm, and install it in the Underground Palace of Seeking the Profound.

This was the origin of the Spring and Autumn Space.

Afterward, Wang Ye carved the spatial node into a secret key and considered the Spring and Autumn Space a sacred ground for cultivation for the Academy of Eternal Night.

Back then, only Wang Ye and the First Teaching Elder, Yu Daolu, knew how to enter it!

Su Yi stood there in silence for a moment, then sat down, crossed his legs, and started cultivating.

He planned to spend a while here focused on his cultivation. He’d spent almost no time in seclusion since arriving in the Immortal Realm, and despite his rapid progress, there were numerous inadequacies he needed to resolve.

For example, his comprehension and mastery of Immortal Laws and immortal secret arts. He also needed to reforge the Sword of the Human Realm. Otherwise, his weapon wouldn’t be enough to allow him to display his full strength.

Whoosh!

As his qi circulated through his body, Su Yi lit up with Dao Light, and he sank into deep meditation. The chaotic power of this strange place resonated with his vital energy.

…

Time slipped by, and soon, a whole year had passed inside the Spring and Autumn Space.

Su Yi awakened from his meditation, took some immortal medicine out of the Divine Replenishment Furnace, and resumed his cultivation.

Over the past year, he fully transformed his power of the Grand Dao into Immortal Laws!

……

His third year of seclusion in the Spring and Autumn Space.

Su Yi’s cultivation advanced, entering the mid-stage Universe Realm, and he began reforging the Sword of the Human Realm.

……

The fifth year.

Clang!

The grand, ethereal hum of a sword rang out.

The Sword of the Human Realm hovered in front of Su Yi. Its appearance had transformed completely.

The Sword of the Human Realm was originally shaped like a cross, old-fashioned, and heavy. When it was still, it was like a dragon lurking at the bottom of an abyss. When it moved, it struck with astonishing murderousness.

It was now three feet long and four fingers wide. The blade was blue-gray, like the skies as the first light of dawn broke through the darkness. Its edge was as fine as a cicada’s wing, clear, and sharp.

The words “the Human Realm” were carved on the hilt in characters the size of a fly’s head.

The brand-new Sword of the Human Realm clanged and hummed. Dreamlike, starry radiance flowed within its blue-gray blade, and flecks of sword light fell from its edge, glowing like celestial fire.

An extraordinarily sharp, murderous aura soared into the firmament as if intent on boring through the void and ripping the skies asunder!

When Su Yi drew his fingertip across the flat of the blade, the sword returned to stillness, and its light receded. A true treasure was unassuming.

Hah~

Su Yi let out a deep breath, and a satisfied grin tugged at his lips.

He’d spent almost two years and expended almost every divine material at his disposal, but he’d finally succeeded in reforging the Sword of the Human Realm. Its power wasn’t even remotely comparable to what it had been before.

Although it was still a Universe Realm treasure, its wondrous power far exceeded the typical bounds of its level. It was even stronger than the vast majority of Void Realm immortal treasures!

“I’ve used the Sword of the Human Realm to cut down immortals! That was the Temple Master’s greatest wish, and I’ve achieved it many times over. Going forward, I ought to use this sword to slay my foes in the Immortal Realm and resolve Wang Ye’s lingering enmities too!”

Su Yi raised his finger and tapped the Sword of the Human Realm. It shrank repeatedly and transformed into a sword pellet, which shot into Su Yi’s sleeve.

……

During Su Yi’s seventh year in the Spring and Autumn Space, he combed through all of his legacies of the Dao of the Sword, from both this lifetime and those before it. In the end, he created his first immortal-level sword strike perfectly imbued with the Laws of Reincarnation.

A Moment of Silence!

The mysteries of reincarnation were a taboo Grand Dao he’d only mastered in this lifetime. He’d created secret sword arts based on its power before, sure. But when he looked at him now, their power seemed lacking, and they had numerous flaws and inadequacies.

Now, he had Wang Ye’s lifetime of experience and attainments in the Dao of the Sword, and he’d condensed his power of reincarnation into Immortal Laws. Thus, after two years of hard work, divinations, and tempering, he created this first strike. It was unquestionably the strongest attack currently at Su Yi’s disposal, as well as the one he took the most pride in!

But this first attack was just the beginning. Su Yi had long since planned to fuse his knowledge from across different lifetimes and create a legacy of the Dao of the sword based on the power of reincarnation!

The first step was always the hardest, but now, Su Yi had finally taken it!

“I’d just love to find someone powerful to test this attack against…” Su Yi muttered, feeling a bit impatient.

A moment later, he shook his head, cast aside his scattered thoughts, and resumed his cultivation.

……

Seven days had passed in the outside world.

It was dawn again, and the skies were resplendent and colorful.

Tang Lingqi and Tang Bao’er stood in a distant stretch of hills near the Luo River.

“Grand Uncle, what if Su Yi never comes out? Don’t tell me we’re just going to wait here forever?” Tang Bao’er couldn’t help but ask.

They’d left the Luo River Forbidden Zone, but they didn’t go any further. Instead, Tang Lingqi decided to wait just outside it.

They’d waited for seven days, but nothing had happened at all. Tang Bao’er was still young, and she felt that just waiting like this was far too dull.

Tang Lingqi shook his head slightly. “Bao’er, we aren’t just waiting for Fellow Daoist Su. We’re also waiting to see the Church of Divine Flame's response."

He’d only just said this when he seemed to sense something. He whipped his head around and gazed into the distant, dusky dome of heaven.

Seth's Thoughts

This is the second time Su Yi reforged the Sword of the Human Realm.

As a refresher, when the sword was first introduced, it looked like this:

...at the center of the “cross” formed by the blade and hilt, there was a name carved in simple text: the Human Realm! (...) Its ring-like guard was like an endless cycle, and it seemed perfect in its completeness. (Chapter 1005)

And after it was reforged, it looked like this:

It was three feet, three inches long, and the simple blade was the deep blue of lapis lazuli. The edge was as thin as a cicada’s wing, and it had a subdued yet sharp glint. There were two characters the size of a fly’s head on its hilt, but they didn’t look carved. Rather, it was as if they’d formed naturally. (Chapter 1337)