First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 2472 – Lives Past and Present, Kowtowing With Eyes Wet With Tears

A figure silently appeared outside Symphony of Waves Palace. He was an old man, but his figure looked incomparably ethereal, as if he were condensed out of mist.

“Ancestor! What are you doing here?” Qi Jingxiao and the other higher-ups exclaimed, then rose to greet him.

Qi Wei was unwittingly stunned. She looked a bit dazed.

She remembered living by the Ancient’s side for just three years in her youth, but she hadn’t seen him even once since.

According to her father, living by his side for three years was already cause for celebration!

Because, throughout the clan’s history, practically no one had ever gotten the chance to see the Ancient, let alone cultivate by his side for years!

Yet now, here he was!

That indistinct figure was obviously a condensed avatar of will, but even so, his arrival was an unexpected delight, and it filled the Qilin experts with incomparable excitement.

That indistinct figure was the Ancient of the Qilin Race. Even among the Qilin, only a select handful knew his true name and title. He was an incomparably mysterious figure.

In the outside world, others referred to him as the Qilin Ancient.

“I’ve always been here. It’s simply that I’ve been deep in seclusion,” said the Qilin Ancient in his hoarse voice.

Just listening to his voice made everyone feel the weight of the vicissitudes of countless years.

It was as if the elder before them had witnessed the shifting of countless ages. He was like a living fossil!

“Ancient, does that mean you already know what’s happened to the clan?” Ji Qingxiao couldn’t help but ask.

The others couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy. They were afraid that the way they’d handled the situation with the Great Yin Divine Race had displeased the Ancient.

But against all expectations, the Qilin Ancient just inclined his head and said nothing. It was as if everything that had happened with the Great Yin Ancient Race wasn’t even worth mentioning.

The Qilin Ancient then turned his attention to Su Yi and clasped his fist in greeting. “Fellow Daoist, if you aren’t opposed, please come see me in the Ancient Eternity Secret Realm.”

Everyone’s expressions shifted. The Ancient… actually took the initiative to greet Su Yi!

Even Qi Wei couldn’t help but gasp. It had been hard enough for her to process her father and the others’ respect for Su Yi. Now, seeing the Ancient act in the same manner, she felt as if her mind couldn’t quite keep up.

What exactly is going on here? Don’t tell me that Su Yi’s status is so lofty as to place him on equal footing with the Ancient?

No, if they were just on equal footing, how could the Ancient have greeted him like that?

She wasn’t the only one stunned. The other higher-ups stared in astonishment, too. They had a rough picture of the situation, and they knew that the Qilin had an extraordinary relationship with one of Su Yi’s past lives.

However, they would never have considered the possibility that even someone like the Ancient would treat Su Yi with such respect, or greet him so solemnly in their first meeting!

Su Yi nodded. “I just so happen to have questions for you.”

“Fellow Daoist, I can roughly guess what you have to ask me. I’ll be sure to answer you in full when we meet,” said the Qilin Ancient, gesturing for Su Yi to follow him.

Su Yi turned to Xi Ning and said, “A’Ning, wait here for me.”

Xi Ning nodded. She had an extremely private matter she wished to discuss with Su Yi, too.

Then, Qi Jingxiao and the other higher-ups watched with strange looks on their faces as Su Yi left with the Ancient

It was only after they’d both left that someone couldn’t help but say, “Before this, the Ancient just commanded that we were to treat Su Yi as our most distinguished of guests, but he never told us why. Do… any of you know?”

The group exchanged glances, then shook their heads.

“Did you notice? I’m afraid the Ancient wouldn’t have revealed himself if Su Yi hadn’t shown up,” someone else whispered. “Actually, I suspect… that he’d have left seclusion for Su Yi even if no such incident had taken place.”

Waves of emotion coursed through their hearts. Their minds raced. Just what kind of relationship exists between Su Yi and the Ancient?

Xi Ning stood there alone, taking in the Qilin experts’ confusion. She couldn’t help but feel a bit strange. His identity… isn’t just for anyone to know.

Meanwhile, in the Ancient Eternity Secret Realm, an independent world opened in the Qilin Race’s forbidden ground.

When Su Yi arrived, he couldn’t help but furrow his brow.

The entire hidden realm was covered in chaos clouds, with ancient, primeval powers of the Grand Dao all over the place. This was unquestionably a rare, precious ground for cultivation.

But Su Yi could sense death qi intermingled with the hidden realm!

It wasn’t just a trace, either. It was dense!

“I’ve stayed here in the Ancient Eternal Secret Realm since I first brought my clansmen to the God Domain,” said the Qilin Ancient’s ethereal figure. “I’ve never once truly left.”

His gaze was a bit bleak. “It’s not that I didn’t want to, but that I couldn’t.”

He paused, then said with self-deprecation, “The experts of the God Domain think I’m mysterious. Even the clan juniors think that.

“They have no idea that I had to create a cage for myself just to survive in the God Domain, and that even then, I’m gasping for breath and clinging to life.”

Su Yi couldn’t help but take another look at the Qilin Ancient. “Fellow Daoist, are you too at risk of divine punishment?”

The Qilin Ancient shook his head. “That’s just part of it.”

With that, he led Su Yi inside.

Along the way, they passed mountains and rivers, all shrouded in chaos energy. All of the scenery was ancient and primeval.

Kaboom!

Before long, a heavy impact rang out. Heaven and earth shook, and the mountains and rivers swayed.

In the distance, countless streaks of resplendent power of the Laws rose into the firmament, outlining a grand and mysterious formation.

A massive lake floated at the center of the formation. Its vast surface billowed with chaos mist.

When Su Yi looked over, an enormous body rose out of the lake’s depths, scattering chaos mist and making the sky tremble.

Even just standing there, that massive figure’s head pierced the clouds. It looked big enough to burst the hidden realm’s curtain of heaven.

Its body was like an endless, ancient mountain range. There was no end to it in sight!

It was shaped like a lion or a tiger, but it had a dragon’s horns and whiskers. When its eyes opened and closed, it was like the alternations of celestial bodies. Its breath was like the wind and thunder of heaven, booming far and wide, and its body was covered in thick black scales seemingly forged out of divine metal.

Even just the aura naturally emanating from it was enough to shake the entire hidden realm. It seemed this world couldn’t withstand its imposing pressure!

Su Yi seemed utterly paltry by comparison. The disparity was astonishing.

A Qilin! This was a true, pure-blooded Qilin, a legendary ancient divine beast spoken of in all epoch civilizations!

It was unimaginably huge, seemingly capable of bursting the nine heavens and the ten earths. It bore down on the starry skies, its aura so intense as to make even Nine-Tribulation Gods feel minuscule and helpless!

The moment Su Yi laid eyes on it, his divine sense shook, and the long-dormant Sword of the Nine Hells awakened. One of the Divine Chains wrapped around its blade clattered violently.

That was the Divine Chain representing his second incarnation’s Dao Imprint!

Su Yi thought, Indeed, I expected as much.

The first time he met Qi Wei, he was disguised as Xiao Jian, but she recognized him anyway. That was the start of Su Yi’s suspicions.

Later, when Qi Wei took out the Divine Pearl of Heavenly Fate, the second Divine Chain on the Sword of the Nine Hells shifted erratically.

Su Yi had suspected that the Qilin were connected to his second incarnation ever since.

Now that he laid eyes on this ancient Qilin and sensed the second Divine Chain shift once more, Su Yi was absolutely certain of it!

Meanwhile, the Qilin Ancient’s indistinct avatar of will looked relieved, gratified, and excited.

“This day… has finally come…” he murmured.

He silently blurred into a beam of light, then shot into the Qilin in the distance.

The massive Qilin threw back its head and roared, shaking the dome of heaven. Countless cracks formed in the firmament, and the entire landscape shook.

An air of excitement, delight, and celebration spread throughout the hidden realm.

But when the Qilin saw that the hidden realm was on the verge of breaking, it abruptly stopped roaring, and its massive figure rapidly shrank.

When it was just ninety feet tall, it emerged from the lake billowing with chaos mist.

The commotion died down, and everything returned to stillness.

“Master, you’ve finally returned. Your old servant has been waiting for you!” The Qilin Ancestor, now in Qilin Form, walked over to Su Yi and prostrated himself before him, his eyes wet with tears.

Su Yi was stunned. Master? The Qilin Ancestor was my second incarnation’s servant?

Even though Su Yi had guessed this, he couldn’t help but feel stunned to hear it confirmed. In other words, the Qilin Race are the descendants of one of my servants?

Even Su Yi couldn’t help but sink into silence. The reality was just too unbelievable. Anyone in his position would have found it difficult to accept.

After a brief pause, Su Yi said, “I’m sorry, but I still haven’t regained the memories of all of my past lives.”

In the Human Realm, the Immortal Realm, and now here in the God Domain, he’d managed to awaken the memories of his past lives. Whenever he did, he learned everything about them in full detail.

But things had been different of late. Never mind his second incarnation; he still hadn’t awakened the power of Xiao Jian’s Dao Imprint.

Thus, in the Boundless Battlefield, when the Buddha of the Future told him that one of his past selves was from a place called the Eternal Heavens Domain, Su Yi was surprised.

Now, the sight of the Qilin Ancestor kowtowing and acknowledging him as its master left him similarly surprised.

All of this was because he’d yet to awaken the rest of his past lives’ Dao Imprints.

“Master, you might not remember your past, but I’m sure of your identity!” said the Qilin Ancient, his eyes flowing with tears. He’d completely lost his composure.

Had Qi Jingxiao, Qi Wei, and the others been here to see this, they likely wouldn’t have believed it.

“Quick, get up,” said Su Yi. Inwardly, he was deeply rueful. It was obvious that the Qilin Ancient’s bond with his second incarnation ran deep!

This reminded him of numerous other old friends, like the Temple Master’s old servant, Old Cripple Wei, Li Fuyou’s brothers-in-arms, and Yi Daoxuan’s sworn brothers.

In each of his nine past lives, he’d lived a completely different life.

All of these different life experiences were fusing with Su Yi’s current path. It was a feeling others couldn’t possibly understand.

Words alone were inadequate to describe it.