First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1776 - Awaiting My Sovereign’s Return

Su Yi narrowed his eyes.

Immortal Kunwu has met with disaster and is in grave danger? I sent Daoist Master Red Cloud and Xing Que to look for him. Doesn’t that mean that they’re in danger too?

Su Yi noticed that the line of text within the jade slip had appeared twenty days ago. That meant that Immortal Kunwu had sent the message during his tenth year of secluded cultivation.

The Spring and Autumn Space was cut off from the outside world, so Su Yi couldn’t sense the message until he left.

Immortal Kunwu asked for help twenty days ago... Is he still alive?

Su Yi looked down at the jade slip. The Five Elements Origin-Suppressing Edict had already broken and dissipated.

In other words, this item could only be used once. When its power ran out, it was useless.

After a moment’s thought, Su Yi made up his mind. Whether Immortal Kunwu is alive or not, I have to go!

......

Two days later, the Little Spirit Province, the ruins of Bluewater Grotto.

Within the Kunwu Hidden Realm, in an old-fashioned hall, a man identical to Immortal Kunwu except for his red robes smiled.

“Ol’ Metal, the Grounds of Divine Sacrifice are already complete, and the Eastern Seas’ Floating Mountain have already sent the nine formation flags bequeathed to them by their deity. All we need now is to set up and conduct the ritual to usher in the divine son!”

Not far away, the white-robed Immortal Kunwu had a bleak look on his face as he stood there in silence. He was bound completely in thin chains that looked as if they were forged out of fire. His neck, arms, legs, and body were wrapped so thoroughly that he couldn’t even budge.

Daoist Master Red Cloud and Xing Que were imprisoned in a cage beside him.

Twenty days ago, the man identical to Immortal Kunwu save for his red robes appeared out of nowhere, finding their hiding spot and suppressing all three of them. He didn’t just imprison Immortal Kunwu; he imprisoned Daoist Master Red Cloud and Xing Que too!

It was only later that Daoist Master Red Cloud and Xing Que learned that the white-robed Immortal Kunwu and the red-robed man were, in fact, two of the original Immortal Kunwu’s clones!

Prior to the Age of Fallen Immortals, Immortal Kunwu had used his innate source power of the five elements to condense five full-fledged bodies, each with its own soul! Each controlled one type of elemental source power: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

The white-robed Immortal Kunwu controlled metal, and he was the eldest. The others called him Ol’ Metal.

The red-robed Immortal Kunwu was the fourth among them, and he controlled the power of fire, so they called him Ol’ Fire.

The five of them could fuse into one, but they could also split and act independently. This was a wondrous innate divine ability, and in the old days of the Immortal Realm, none but Immortal Kunwu had been capable of it.

His strength was terrifying even among Great Realm Immortal Sovereigns. He was just one person, but he was like five experts in one. Back then, he was among the Eternal Night Immortal Sovereign’s strongest generals.

However, during the Age of Fallen Immortals, Immortal Kunwu suffered beneath the cataclysm. Three of his five bodies were destroyed. Only his metal and fire bodies lived, but their vitality was badly damaged, and they were far from their former peaks.

When he saw that the white-robed Immortal Kunwu wasn’t responding, the red-robed Immortal Kunwu couldn’t help but chuckle. “Relax. Although I’ll sacrifice your source power during the ritual to usher in the divine son, I’ll still be alive!”

The red-robed Immortal Kunwu’s eyes blazed. “When the divine son arrives, he’ll teach me a method to recover my source power of the Grand Dao! When the time comes, given my abilities, I’ll be able to recover my peak strength. Rebuilding our other four bodies is entirely within the bounds of possibility!”

His gaze was already red-hot with anticipation.

A moment later, he chuckled, his gaze suddenly playful as he looked at the white-robed Immortal Kunwu and said, “You needn’t give in to despair. After all, you and I are the same person. Isn’t giving me what I want the same as giving you what you want?”

The red-robed Immortal Kunwu then rose and said, “That’s that, then. I’ll send you on your way tonight.”

But before he could leave, the white-robed Immortal Kunwu suddenly broke his silence, “I’m not afraid to die, but can you let the two of them go?”

The red-robed Immortal Kunwu snickered. “Sure. Just tell me why they’re here, and I’ll happily let them go.”

The white-robed Immortal Kunwu sank back into silence. The red-robed Immortal Kunwu shook his head, then turned to leave.

“Senior, how... how did he change so much?” Daoist Master Red Cloud couldn’t help but ask.

Xing Que pricked up its ears, too.

The white-robed Immortal Kunwu said bleakly, “It’s connected to our innate talent. During the cataclysm of the Age of Fallen Immortals, three of our bodies were killed, and Ol’ Fire was badly damaged.

“Worst of all, disagreements have arisen between us.”

“After everything he suffered, his personality changed, and he chose to cooperate with the Eastern Seas’ Floating Mountain. He wholeheartedly longs to rebuild our source power of the Grand Dao, and to that end, he’d even go so far as to offer me as a sacrifice to usher in a divine son!

“It’s also only by destroying me that he can seize exclusive control of the Kunwu Divine Tree!”

Here, he let out a long sigh. “Simply put, he and I were once one, but now, I’ve become nothing but a burden to him, and he has to get rid of me.”

Daoist Master Red Cloud and Xing Que were horrified. They were obviously once the same person, yet now, they were irreconcilable enemies intent on destroying each other!

“Senior, do you know who that divine son is?” Xing Que couldn’t help but ask.

The white-robed Immortal Kunu shook his head. “I’m not sure. All I know is that Floating Mountain has been serving someone they call Divine Venerate Qing Di for a long time! The divine son they’re trying to usher in is presumably one of Divine Venerate Qing Di’s subordinates.”

Divine Venerate Qing Di!

The name seemed to contain invisible yet imposing power. Daoist Master Red Cloud and Xing Que’s hearts clenched.

A deity! An existence above immortals, an expert who lived without fear of the alternation of epochs. To the inhabitants of the Immortal Realm, an existence like Divine Venerate Qing Di was as lofty as the heavens themselves!

“My apologies. I implicated you both,” the white-robed Immortal Kunwu suddenly apologized.

Daoist Master Red Cloud shook her head. “I’ve never been afraid to die.”

“Me neither!” barked Xing Que.

The white-robed Immortal Kunwu sighed. “More than twenty days have passed, but there’s still no word from the Eternal Night Immortal Sovereign. I really wanted to see him again before I died, but now, even that seems like an unattainable luxury...”

His expression was utterly bleak and dejected.

Daoist Master Red Cloud said, “I’m certain that even if we die here, when His Excellency the Eternal Night Immortal Sovereign finds out what happened, he’ll be sure to avenge us.”

Her voice was calm, yet it contained incontrovertible force.

Xing Que nodded repeatedly. “There’s no way that Su guy... Err, I mean, there’s no way the Eternal Night Immortal Sovereign will remain unmoved!”

The dog felt awkward just thinking about it, but back when they first met in the Eastern Profound Star Domain, it took Su Yi for a junior, and it frequently put on the airs of a senior.

Only now did it realize how juvenile and ridiculous its behavior was. The mere thought made it want to dig a hole in the ground to hide itself in.

“Rest assured. I’ll do everything in my power to prevent you from being hurt,” the white-robed Immortal Kunwu said with staunch determination.

But it was then that someone appeared out of nowhere. He was tall, upright, and dressed in blue, with his long hair tied into a casual topknot. A gourd of wine hung from his waist.

This was none other than Su Yi!

Daoist Master Red Cloud and Xing Que were delighted, but when they saw who this new arrival was, they were unwittingly stunned. They almost dared not believe it.

Su Yi? No! That’s His Excellency the Eternal Night Immortal Sovereign!!

The white-robed Immortal Kunwu was briefly bewildered, but a moment later, he realized the implications, and his expression filled with excitement.

This is the Kunwu Hidden Realm! Even those Immortal Kings of the Floating Mountain couldn’t have entered this place without Ol’ Fire’s help. Me and the other clones aside, the Eternal Night Immortal Sovereign is the only person capable of entering this hidden realm unaided!

“Your Excellency, is... is... is that you?” he couldn’t help but blurt.

Su Yi inclined his head. “My apologies. I was in seclusion, so I only saw your message two days ago.”

Nine provinces separated the White Reed and Little Spirit Provinces. Su Yi had crossed countless miles to get here. Even rushing at top speed, it took Su Yi two days to arrive.

He then used the power of the Tree of All Worlds to slip into the Kunwu Hidden Realm undetected.

“Your Excellency, it really is you! Wonderful! Wonderful!”

The white-robed Immortal Kunwu trembled from head to toe, too excited to even speak coherently.

Daoist Master Red Cloud and Xing Que were excited too. It had been three years since they’d last seen him. Moreover, they were trapped, and their lives hung in the balance. Seeing Su Yi now was seeing the light of new hope amidst the darkness!

But then, a rueful voice resounded throughout the hall.

“It’s wonderful indeed. I’ve finally waited long enough for the man I admire, respect, and worship above all others to arrive!”

The crowd was startled. All of them looked over.

They weren’t sure when, but the red-robed Immortal Kunwu was already standing outside the hall. His eyes blazed with divine flames as he stared intently at Su Yi, his gaze wistful and emotional. But the mockery within his words would have been obvious to anyone.

“Impudent! Ol’ Four, how dare you treat the Sovereign with disrespect?” The white-robed Immortal Kunwu’s expression darkened, and he bellowed in fury, “Surely you haven’t forgotten? If not for the Sovereign, we would have died countless times over!”

The red-robed Immortal Kunwu couldn’t help but laugh. “The former Immortal Kunwu really died during the Age of Fallen Immortals. His Excellency is no longer the man we once knew either. As the saying goes, ‘The places remain, but the people have changed.’ Why speak of past benevolences?”

His gaze then shifted to Su Yi. “Don’t you think, Your Excellency?”

Instead of answering, Su Yi looked the red-robed Immortal Kunwu up and down and asked, “You guessed I’d show up, didn’t you?”

“That’s right.” The red-robed Immortal Kunwu smiled faintly and admitted it. “When that woman and her dog entered the Kunwu Hidden Realm, I guessed that they were somehow connected to you. After all, besides us, you’re the only one who knows how to carve the Five Elements Origin-Suppressing Edict.”

He paused, then continued, “And I knew that if Ol’ Metal knew you’d returned through reincarnation, he was sure to contact you right away. Thus, I’ve been waiting all this time for your return.”

He broke into a smile. “Fortunately, it seems... my waiting was not for nothing!”