First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 2161 – Persuasion

Night had fallen by the time Su Yi and A’Ling returned to Grassy Creek Village.

“A’Ling, you’re back! Did you have a good time in Fire Cauldron City?” Some of the villagers smiled and called out in greeting.

Several children went so far as to follow her around and pepper her with questions about the city.

To the villagers, Fire Cauldron City represented prosperity and grandeur! It was a place they could only long for but not reach.

Because that was yao and demon territory!

Li Changqing was already waiting outside A’Ling’s house. When he saw that she and Xiao Jian had returned safely, he visibly sighed in relief.

He was the only person in the village who knew what they’d gone to Fire Cauldron City to do.

He walked up to greet them, then asked, “Did everything go smoothly?”

“Mm.” A’Ling nodded.

“I’ve got to get some rest. You can talk more once A’Ling’s gotten me settled into my room,” said Su Yi.

Li Changqing smiled and agreed.

Once he was in bed, Su Yi couldn’t help but sigh. In my crippled state, I’m really most comfortable lying down.

But… this isn’t a long-term solution. I’ve got to gather power as quickly as possible. Even if I can’t recover my full strength immediately, I’ve got to at least recover enough to defend myself.

It won’t be too much longer. Within a month, I should be able to gather enough power to circulate my qi and take out the Divine Replenishment Furnace!

The Divine Replenishment Furnace was sentient, and over the years, it had refined so many Undying Materials that it wasn’t any weaker than an Epoch Treasure.

More importantly, the little monkey was inside it!

So long as he had the furnace and the monkey, Su Yi wouldn’t need to fear any trouble in the Billowing Blue Realm, no matter how slowly his wounds recovered.

As he pondered, Su Yi gradually drifted off.

……

In another room, Li Changqing sat in a daze, his expression shifting erratically.

A’Ling had just told him about everything they’d done in Fire Cauldron City. The tale left Li Changqing overcome with astonishment and completely dazed.

“Elder, do you know… just where Big Brother Xiao came from?” A’Ling asked tentatively.

Li Changqing’s gaze was complicated. He sighed, “By now, there’s no need to hide the truth from you any further.”

He then launched into an explanation of A’Ling’s true lineage, including the Yi Family’s past. He didn’t leave anything out.

The tale left A’Ling stunned.

Fortunately, she’d experienced so many unbelievable things over the past few days that she didn’t lose her composure over it.

After a while, she murmured, “So Big Brother Xiao came here to look for me?”

“Exactly.” Li Changqing nodded. “And he’ll find your big sister, too.”

“My big sister…” A’Ling fell into a daze. “What if… what if we meet, but she doesn’t acknowledge me as your sister?”

Li Changqing laughed. “That won’t happen. You’re biological sisters, and blood is thicker than water. Even though you’ve never met before, and even though you don’t know each other at all, there’s no severing the ties of blood between you!”

“Mm!” said A’Ling. She couldn’t help but feel a bit eager.

A moment later, she recalled something and said, “Elder, Big Brother Xiao said that now that the Sky Fire Yao Sect has fallen, an even greater threat is likely coming for Grassy Creek Village.”

Li Changqing’s eyes narrowed. “What exactly did your Big Brother Xiao say?”

“Uh…” A’Ling said softly, “Big Brother Xiao said that with him here, no matter how great the coming storm is, it’ll amount to no more than a gentle breeze blowing across our face. He said there’s no need to worry about something so trivial.”

Li Changqing was unwittingly stunned. Had anyone else said this, he’d have turned his nose up at them and berated them for their boastfulness.

But since this was Su Yi, he instead felt an indescribable ruefulness. Xiao Jian is obviously crippled, so where does he get all that confidence?

……

Time slipped by, one day after another.

The people of Grassy Creek Village returned to their peaceful lives.

Every few days, A’Ling went into the mountains to hunt. The rest of her time, she spent cultivating or listening as Su Yi guided her cultivation.

Su Yi, meanwhile, lay there like a salted fish. He did nothing all day except lie in the courtyard, sunbathing and staring into space.

And at night, he lay in bed and fell asleep.

A’Ling tended to him thoroughly as she did before, and soon, a whole month had passed.

Today, a guest A’Ling never would have anticipated had arrived.

Madam Cheng Bi, the proprietor of the Fire Cauldron City Branch of Heaven’s Net!

She smiled and greeted A’Ling. “We meet again, little sister.”

“What are you doing here, Big Sister?” A’Ling asked in confusion.

Su Yi’s voice resounded from the courtyard. “Let her in.”

Madam Cheng Bi smiled and patted A’Ling on the hand. “I’m here to discuss something with your Big Brother Xiao.”

With that, she turned and walked into the courtyard.

The sight astonished her. It was just too crude! It was no different from the home of an ordinary mortal.

At least, that was Madam Cheng Bi’s first impression, but she quickly disregarded all that, walked up to where Su Yi was sunbathing, and greeted him. “I’ve come to see you, Fellow Daoist.”

Su Yi got straight to the point. “Are you here to persuade me, or simply to pass on a message?”

Madam Cheng Bi’s beautiful eyes focused, and she sighed. “You’re perceptive indeed, Fellow Daoist. I’m here, first to deliver a message, and second, because I have no choice but to follow my orders and attempt to persuade you.”

Su Yi said calmly, “Then go ahead and explain in further detail.”

Madam Cheng Bi took a moment to calm herself, then slowly began her explanation.

Fire Cauldron City was on the Billowing Blue Realm’s southern border. It was extremely remote, and it drew little attention. It was but one of over a hundred cities along the border.

But over the past half month, word of the Sky Fire Yao Sect’s destruction had spread throughout the southern border, stirring up enormous waves.

This wasn’t because the Sky Fire Yao Sect had been so famous or powerful, but because a faction with multiple yao immortals had been wiped out in a single strike. It would have been all but impossible for such an incident not to have drawn attention.

Were that the full extent of it, it might have been such a big deal. It was just a destroyed faction of the Yao Path.

But so much about this incident seemed simply unbelievable!

For one thing, the culprit was a young human woman!

For another, she was only in the Profound Illumination Realm. She was pathetically weak compared to the dead yao immortals.

Yao and demons reigned supreme in the Billowing Blue Realm, and humans were the lowest of the low. Everyone knew that.

Who could have imagined that a girl of such lowly status and with such a piddling cultivation could destroy the Sky Fire Yao Sect?

Then there was that streak of blood-red sword qi!

It was just as Su Yi had said earlier. Everyone who’d explored the Demon Crow Mountains recognized it.

And it was this very blood-red sword qi that had destroyed the Sky Fire Yao Sect!

This was unquestionably far too shocking. It had drawn the attention of even the southern border’s eight top factions.

A single streak of sword qi had eradicated the entire Sky Fire Yao Sect. What faction could have remained seated after that?

These factors combined meant that the Sky Fire Yao Sect’s demise had caused an enormous commotion.

Of late, the region’s eight top factions had sent their experts into action. Other cultivation factions were marching upon Fire Cauldron City, too.

Their goal was to get closer to the truth!

By now, they’d learned enough that they’d turned their attention toward the little village at the foot of the Demon Crow Mountains!

“To tell the truth, even I didn’t anticipate that this storm would be so enormous,” Madam Cheng Bi said bitterly. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come all this way in person.”

Against her expectations, even after learning all this, Su Yi seemed perfectly calm and entirely unperturbed.

All he asked was, “Are there any gods involved?”

Madam Cheng Bi was stunned. A moment later, she said instinctively, “Well, no. In the Billowing Blue Realm, only a tiny handful of ruling factions have gods to oversee things. There… isn’t a single such faction on the southern border.”

“Then there’s no problem at all,” said Su Yi.

“…” Madam Cheng Bi didn’t know what to say. Does this young man seriously think that those yet to become gods are beneath his notice!?

“Go on, then. Tell me. On whose behalf are you here to persuade me?” asked Su Yi.

“The eight great orthodoxies of the southern border,” said Madam Cheng Bi. “All of them are top powerhouses by the standards of the southern border. Compared to them, the Sky Fire Yao Sect was nothing at all….”

She was just about to explain their strength in further detail when Su Yi interrupted her. “That stuff isn’t important.”

Madam Cheng Bi clamped her mouth shut, and she felt a stifled agitation in her chest. If this isn’t important, what is!?

This guy obviously can’t lift so much as a single finger. How dare he disregard the eight great orthodoxies of the southern border like this?

“They wouldn’t have sent you to persuade me if they weren’t after something. Am I right?” asked Su Yi.

“Indeed,” said Madam Cheng Bi. “They all know about the blood-red sword qi that appears periodically in the Demon Crow Mountains, but no one has ever been able to control it.

“That is, until Little Sister A’Ling used it to slaughter the entire Sky Fire Yao Sect!

“Now, they’re convinced that she has secret means of gathering and exploiting the Blood-Red Sword Qi.”

Su Yi finally understood. “They’re after that secret method?”

“Exactly,” said Madam Cheng Bi. “The experts of the eight great orthodoxies said that if you give it up, this can end peacefully, and they’ll let bygones be bygones.

“But if you refuse, they’d come to your door and take it.”

Su Yi snickered. “I can tell that they’re afraid of that blood-red sword qi. They must be too afraid to come in person. Why else would they bother sending you to persuade me?”

Madam Cheng Bi had a complicated look on her face. She sighed. “The demise of the Sky Fire Yao Sect serves as a vivid example. I wouldn’t dare to offend you lightly either, Fellow Daoist.”

“They’re afraid, but they still sent you here to persuade me. I can see that they’re dead-set on acquiring this secret technique,” Su Yi pondered out loud. “But are they really bold enough to come claim it?”

Madam Cheng Bi nodded. “Yes! They know that A’Ling is only in the Profound Illumination Realm; she’s no cause for concern. They’re only afraid of the blood-red sword qi.”

“If you refuse to give up the secret method, they’ll overwhelm you with sheer numbers. They’ll send endless experts to Grassy Creek Village to deplete your supply of blood-red sword qi.

“Once you no longer have it to rely on, defeating you will be as easy as turning over their hand.”

Madam Cheng Bi thought that this would startle Su Yi, and that he’d be worried or nervous.

Against all expectations, he seemed as calm as ever. Not only was he not nervous; he even seemed a bit distracted.

His sheer calm boggled her mind. How could he possibly be this calm?

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