First Immortal of the Sword

After Su Yi and Xi Ning left, Jing Cheng’s expression darkened.

He’d come dangerously close to being killed! The thought filled his heart with indescribable lingering terror and murderous intent.

After we’ve left for the ruins of the Dragon Palace, I’ll have you both die unseemly deaths!! Jing Cheng gnashed his teeth, his gaze sinister.

“High Elder, that woman, Xi Ning, is most likely a Divine Daughter from the God Domain!” Jing Hongyu said in a hushed whisper.

Jing Cheng said expressionlessly, “So what if she’s a divine daughter? The divine children might have far-reaching abilities and unimaginable cultivation bases, but they too are subject to the threat of divine misfortune! They can only suppress their cultivation bases. They dare not use their full strength for fear of influencing their path to divinity. They cannot bear the consequences of that!”

A cold grin tugged at his lips. “I anticipated that when word of the ruins of the Dragon Palace spread, it would draw divine children to the auction! I auctioned off that Great Unity Stage treasure, in part to neutralize the divine misfortune afflicting me, in part to see just how many divine children are hidden among our collaborators! Now, I’ve already achieved both goals. After we proceed to the ruins…”

Here, Jing Cheng laughed coldly and said no more.

Jing Hongyu couldn’t help but interject, “But Grand Elder, what if something goes wrong? Won’t we… irrevocably offend the gods behind the divine children?”

Jing Cheng said coolly, “The Grand Dao is unworthy of terror, and gods are unworthy of dread! You’ve yet to step into the Great Realm. You naturally don’t understand that the so-called ‘gods’ are really just cultivators a level beyond us. Besides, they’re subject to the restriction of the natural order, so they cannot enter the Immortal Realm!”

He paused, then said, “Relax. Even if they are unfortunate enough to meet with disaster in the ruins of the Dragon Palace, no one will hold us accountable!”

After a moment’s silence, Jing Hongyu said, “But Li Xuanjun and Xi Ning didn’t leave their mark on the Talisman Contract. After the ruins, isn’t it possible that… something unexpected will happen?”

Jing Cheng smiled. “Even if two fish slip through the net, they cannot stir up any big waves. Go invite Gongyang Yu over. He took the Great Unity battle clothes, so he ought to make good on his promise and neutralize my divine misfortune.”

“Understood!” Jing Hongyu dashed off to carry out his orders.

Jing Cheng watched him fade from view, then sat there alone, deep in thought.

A dark, inscrutable shadow silently floated behind him, outlining a book. The book silently opened, revealing a blank white page.

Lines of text appeared upon it.

“Every move you make is preordained. The gods wish to seize my power, so they’ve already buried the seeds of a future disaster.

“This time, cause and effect shall determine the order of events. All shall end in death, and the greed of the human heart shall set the stage for what is to come. The ruins of the Dragon Palace are the burial ground I’ve chosen for them. It's up to me to write the conclusion of this story.

“None of the characters in this story shall escape death!”

Each of the characters looked as if they’d been emblazoned with red ink, and all of them emanated an air of death and desolation.

But as the book “wrote” the last sentence, it suddenly trembled. Countless cracks appeared on the page.

A moment later, the page split into pieces!

Kccch!

A burnt line erased the words, “None of the characters in this story shall escape death!”

Everything instantly returned to stillness. The book no longer quivered, and the countless markings on its surface vanished.

But the last line of text had been erased!

New lines of text quickly appeared.

“A mysterious, unknown power has appeared in the story, one not subject to the fetters of karma. They’ve forced me to change the ending. Who are they? A god of the dogs? The beloved child of heaven?”

“Forget it. No matter who they are, when they enter the story written on my pages, interweaving karmic threads will determine their life and death!”

Here, the book trembled as countless lines of text appeared on its pages once more.

Kccch!

Suddenly, a burnt streak of black crossed out the last sentence, erasing it completely.

Only then did all the strangeness die down.

“Fuck!!”

“Just who is it? Why aren’t they subject to the effects of karma? Have the gods taken action personally? Impossible! In the current epoch, the gods cannot interfere in the Immortal Realm’s affairs!

“Whoever you are, don’t let me catch you!”

That last line of text appeared with incomparable speed, as if the book were cursing. The text was tinged with irascible anger.

“It’s a pity that Little Sister Sky-Stealing Hook isn’t around. With her abilities, we could seize the initiative and determine just who this unexpected anomaly is! Whoever they are, they’re completely immune to karmic fetters!

“Argh! Boss Tribulation Umbrella isn’t here either. With his help, I could place a deathtrap at every step of the story unfolding on my pages. With his help, I could destroy them all!”

A moment later, the infuriated writing faded away completely. A while passed before new lines of text appeared.

“Anomalies influence karma, but they cannot change the end of this story. When the story’s climax arrives, its characters are sure to march toward their respective ends. Next, I’ll record cause and effect in detail, including the variables, twists, climaxes, and endings.”

Nothing changed after it wrote this sentence.

A moment later, the illusory book blurred into a beam of light and disappeared from Jing Cheng. From beginning to end, Jing Cheng remained lost in thought. He didn’t sense the book's presence at all.

……

The Precious Gem Workshop.

Su Yi and Xi Ning sat alone in a restaurant’s tranquil private room. All manner of delicacies were laid out all over the table, representing a huge array of colors and flavors. There was aged wine, too.

Su Yi sampled the dishes between sips of wine, leisurely and relaxed.

Xi Ning sat across from him. Beneath the lamplight, her fair, beautiful face shone with dreamlike luster. The sight was enough to make a man’s heart shake.

When she saw Su Yi eating and drinking as if there were no one else around, she took the initiative to start the conversation. “Fellow Daoist, aren’t you curious what I brought you here to discuss?”

Su Yi laughed. “You’ll tell me even if I don’t ask, won’t you?”

Xi Ning was stunned, and she felt a bit strange. She hailed from the God Domain, and she had an extraordinary status. Moreover, she had Great Profound Stage cultivation. Although she wasn’t comparable to the gods, she was an unparalleled Immortal Sovereign of her generation.

In the God Domain, even other Great Realm experts had to treat her with the utmost respect. None dared show even the slightest negligence.

Yet this young man, despite knowing full well that she was from the God Domain, didn’t care about any of that in the slightest. He wasn’t at all reserved, either.

Xi Ning felt an unprecedented hint of some emotion she’d never felt before.

After a moment’s silence, she said, “After learning the contents of those records from the Dragon Palace, I reached a tentative conclusion. I suspect that a certain treasure was behind the Dragon Palace’s demise.”

Su Yi was instantly intrigued. He set down his chopsticks and said, “A treasure?”

“That’s right.” Xi Ning nodded. “They call it ‘the Book of Karma.’ It’s an Epoch Treasure born of the Immortal Realm’s chaos source during the early days of the Primeval Era. It’s full of the karmic power of the natural order, and it's one of the Nine Mysteries of Chaos.”

The Book of Karma, one of the Nine Mysteries of Chaos!!

Su Yi suddenly recalled how Wang Ye had searched numerous ruins connected to the Primeval Era, and he’d learned numerous ancient rumors from the sword-bearing ape.

These included tales of the Nine Mysteries of Chaos.

But all the ape knew was that the Nine Mysteries of Chaos were supreme treasures born of the Immortal Realm’s source. Even in the early days of the Primeval Era, they’d been like fleeting legends.

In truth, not even the sword-bearing ape knew whether the rumors were true or not. He proved his Dao and became a Great Realm expert in the later days of the Primeval Era. By then, rumors of the Nine Mysteries of Chaos had already been circulating for a long time. In the ape’s era, no one beneath the heavens had ever laid eyes on the Nine Mysteries of Chaos!

Yet now, Xi Ning said that the demise of the Dragon Palace was connected to the Book of Karma, one of the Nine Mysteries of Chaos. How could Su Yi not be surprised?

“Do the Nine Mysteries of Chaos really exist?” Su Yi couldn’t help but ask.

Xi Ning’s eyes flashed with a hint of inscrutable light. She teased, “Fellow Daoist, you can decipher the glyphs of the Dragon Palace. I assumed you knew the other secrets of the Primeval Era, too!”

Su Yi laughed and said honestly, “I most certainly don’t know everything.”

Xi Ning said, “According to my ancestor, the Nine Mysteries of Chaos do indeed exist. However, even in the early days of the Primeval Era, they were a taboo. Even unparalleled experts of the Great Realm knew almost nothing about them.”

Xi Ning’s ancestor? Su Yi immediately realized that this ancestor of hers had to be a deity!

Xi Ning continued, “I know of only four of the Nine Mysteries of Chaos: the Sky-Stealing Hook, the Umbrella of Tribulations, the Book of Karma, and the Sword of Proximity.”

“During the early days of the Primeval Era, someone acquired the Sky-Stealing Hook and Umbrella of Tribulations. They say that unparalleled expert left the Immortal Realm, taking two of the Nine Mysteries of Chaos with him.”

“By coincidence, the Book of Karma landed in the hands of the Dragon Palace of the Eastern Sea. They watched over it, but because its power is so unique and taboo, they couldn’t control it.”

Here, Su Yi recalled the damaged text on the bronze fragments.

All that stuff about “people bringing their fates onto themselves” and the “results of your actions following you like a shadow,” and how greed was the source of all evil…

It was full of mysterious, taboo flair. Knowing that the Dragon Palace had watched over the Book of Karma really did make their demise seem suspect!

It was no wonder that Xi Ning thought that the Book of Karma had brought about their annihilation.

A moment later, Su Yi asked with great interest, “Can you tell me more about the Sword of Proximity?”

As a sword cultivator, he was naturally extraordinarily interested in weapons, especially swords. Besides, the Sword of Proximity was one of the Nine Mysteries of Chaos, a taboo treasure that contained an Epoch Law.

Xi Ning didn’t hide it. She said, “According to my grandfather, the sword is six inches long, with unpredictable, undetectable power. It's capable of completely disregarding space and striking down enemies regardless of distance.

“However, it was acquired by a mysterious sword cultivator called Li Fuyou during the early days of the Primeval Era, and I suspect the sword left the Immortal Realm a long time ago.”

Su Yi was instantly stunned.

What a coincidence!