First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 2506 – I Cannot Return to the Past.

Outside the city.

The light of the setting sun illuminated the grassy wilderness.

Su Yi walked ahead, entirely unperturbed.

The proprietor gripped his wooden sword as he silently trailed after him.

“This is far enough.” Su Yi abruptly stopped in place and whirled to face his companion.

The proprietor of Auspicious Delights, or rather, Hua Hongzhen, stopped too. “I don’t regret what I did back then.”

He spoke with staunch assurance.

“Oh?” said Su Yi. “I don’t care whether you regret it or not.”

Hua Hongzhen had a complicated look on his face. He sighed, “You don’t have to care, but I have to say it. Otherwise, I won’t be able to rest in peace if I die!”

Su Yi thought nothing of it. “In that case, go ahead and say it before the sun fully sets.”

Hua Hongzhen took a deep breath and said, “The way I see it, it was wrong for you and Senior Apprentice Sister Yu Xinyao to become Dao Partners in the first place! You’re the one who got her killed! You almost destroyed Qingwu Divine Court, too!

“I worked with the Dipankara Buddha, Gu Huaxian, and the others to defeat you in order to save Senior Apprentice Sister’s life, and the lives of everyone in QIngwu Divine Court!

“You see me as the man who betrayed you and Senior Apprentice Sister, an irredeemable villain, but the way I see it, if I hadn’t done what I did, Senior Apprentice Sister would have died anyway, and she wouldn’t have been the only one. All of Qingwu Divine Court would have met with disaster, too!”

His voice boomed throughout the windswept darkness.

Su Yi looked at him calmly. He could tell that Hua Hongzhen had buried these words deep within his heart for a long, long time.

“It’s just…” Hua Hongzhen’s expression was suddenly complicated. “I never anticipated that Senior Apprentice Sister would sacrifice herself for you in that battle outside Qingwu Divine Court…”

His voice was a bit hoarse, and the rims of his eyes reddened. “That’s the one thing I regret!”

Yu Xinyao had been his senior apprentice sister in Qingwu Divine Court. They’d been as close as biological siblings, and she’d looked after him from a young age.

Yu Xinyao’s death had dealt Hua Hongzhen an incomparably heavy emotional blow.

“Right from the start, I disapproved of her relationship with you, because you were surrounded by far too much trouble. The gods and Buddhas of the God Domain viewed you as their common foe. Anyone who got together with a harbinger of disaster like you risked being swept into your mess.

“But Senior Apprentice Sister stubbornly refused to listen…” Hua Hongzhen’s face was instantly somber. “And you, Yi Daoxuan, knew how wretched and dangerous your situation was. Why didn’t you stop for a moment to consider Senior Apprentice Sister’s safety? Why insist on having her face all of that danger with you?

Here, his expression filled with grief. “You’re… just too selfish!”

Su Yi took a sip of wine and said, “I now stand over the God Domain, sword in hand, intimidating everything beneath the heavens. You know I seek revenge against you, so why hide amidst the red dust of mundanity? Why get married and have children? Aren’t you afraid of implicating them?”

Hua Hongzhen’s expression shifted erratically.

“You dared because you know that when I conduct my business, I never implicate the innocent,” Su Yi said calmly. “Were I more like the Dipankara Buddha and the Angler… would you have dared?”

Su Yi sighed. “You willingly worked with those with no scruples, and now you’re turning around to chastise someone who does have scruples?”

Hua Hongzhen sank deeper into silence.

“Back then, Lu Xinyao and I paved your path. We helped you soar in your pursuit of the Grand Dao and ultimately reach the Undying Realm.

“But you were so afraid that the dangers we faced would reach you that you sank to colluding with our enemies and plotting against us,” Su Yi said calmly. “Tell us, which of us is the selfish one?”

Hua Hongzhen’s face was ashen. “Our situations are different, and our positions are different. You have your reasoning, and I have my considerations. Is there anything wrong with that?”

Su Yi didn’t argue. He looked at the last sliver of the sun fading over the horizon and said, “Did you know? In the last moments before her death, Yu Xinyao asked me not to hate you, and not to seek revenge against you.”

Hua Hongzhen shook from head to toe. His eyes widened in disbelief.

“But I didn’t agree,” said Su Yi. “I’m not that broadminded. You might not have been the primary culprit behind Yu Xinyao’s death, but you were their most hateful accomplice!”

Hua Hongzhen’s gaze was instantly conflicted. He stood beneath the light of the setting sun in silence.

“You refine your heart amidst red dust and temper your sword with those you love most. That’s how Gu Huaxian cultivates. She strives for supreme heartlessness.

“If I’m not mistaken, she taught you this secret art in exchange for helping them back then. Am I right?”

Hua Hongzhen fired back, “And what’s wrong with that?”

Su Yi’s gaze frosted over. “Right and wrong are no longer important, but you ought to at least acknowledge that you brought this upon yourself by betraying me and Xinyao!”

Hua Hongzhen sighed. It was as if the energy had drained out of him. “I knew you’d see it that way. Very well. Let’s fight.”

His gaze silently filled with staunch determination, and he raised his black wooden sword into the air. His aura transformed, startling both heaven and earth.

Su Yi put away his jug of wine. “You just missed your chance.”

Hua Hongzhen was stunned. “What chance?”

Su Yi said, “I didn’t agree to just spare you unconditionally, but I did promise Yu Xinyao to spare you if you repented.”

Hua Hongzhen’s pupils constricted. He looked dazed.

“Unfortunately for you, you didn’t.” Su Yi shook his head slightly. “Now, it’s too late.”

The last sliver of the sun sank beneath the mountains, its fiery radiance rapidly receding. The leaden curtain of night took its place, enveloping what little light remained.

“I…” Hua Hongzhen opened his mouth as if to speak when a heaven-shaking sword hum interrupted him.

Su Yi had attacked!

……

Shortly after.

The darkness of night had fully replaced the fiery light of dusk. The moon shone overhead, accompanied by sparse stars.

Su Yi sat on a little hill, gazing quietly into the distant night skies.

Hua Hongzhen was dead, but Su Yi wasn’t particularly happy or excited. He’d just ended one of the blood debts of his past lives, that’s all.

He sat there, thinking of his time as Yi Daoxuan, and the days he and Yu Xinyao had spent together.

A while later, Su Yi rose in silence and returned to the ancient city.

…

A run-down courtyard.

“Mommy, where did Daddy go? When is he coming back?” A little girl sat by the table, her adorable little fade glowing red beneath the candlelight.

“Go to bed, and he’ll return before you wake.” The mother smiled tenderly and lifted the girl into her arms.

But her brow was fraught with worry.

Her husband had finished a pot of congee, then left suddenly without saying goodbye. It was already late at night, but there was no sign of him. Inwardly, she was indescribably frantic.

She was just putting on a strong front for her daughter, that’s all.

“Mm! I’ll go to bed, then!” The little girl nodded.

“Good.” The mother blew out the candles, then sang the little girl to sleep, her voice joined by the rustling of the insects.

Su Yi silently left the courtyard. It might have seemed like this innocent mother and daughter had lost their husband and father respectively, but this was actually a good thing for them.

Cultivated to mastery, Gu Huaxian’s path of ultimate heartlessness required severing all humanity. When the time came, Hua Hongzhen would have struck both mother and daughter down without hesitation to prove his Dao!

Fortunately, none of that would happen now.

I cannot return to the past, but I still have the future to look forward to. Now, the grudges and enmities of my past lives can no longer throw my heart and will into chaos.

Su Yi strolled through the sea of clouds hanging beneath the curtain of night, his sleeves billowing around him. He felt indescribably relaxed and at ease.

Next, I ought to return to Sunset Perch Island, thought Su Yi.

He’d spent the past year fighting all across the God Domain, running all over the place to sever past grudges.

He hadn’t yet settled all of his grudges, nor had he slain all of his enemies, but Su Yi’s heart already felt considerably lighter.

Even rarer and more precious, the past year of fighting had improved his cultivation base considerably. Every grudge he severed cleared up a mental knot, further transforming his heart.

By now, he was already touching upon the threshold of the next level!

It was a level completely different from No Laws, No Heavens and No Beginning, No End.

It was a level centered around testing the Dao Heart!

Su Yi had a strong premonition that when he entered this level, he’d effectively have reached the end of his unique Undying Realm!

Then, he’d be able to strive for the secrets of Eternity, just like Nine-Tribulation Master Gods did.

No Laws, No Heavens tempered by powers of the Grand Dao, while No Beginning, No End tempered my cultivation base. The next level will test my Dao Heart. I wonder how grand its secrets are.

As he pondered, Su Yi rushed along. His Undying Realm cultivation base was different; he’d cleaved open a unique path all his own.

The first level was called No Laws, No Heavens. The second, No Beginning, No End.

The next level was all about the mysteries of the heart!

Su Yi planned to research this unknown level after returning to Sunset Perch Island.

If he could step into this level before the Dark Days of Legend, he was confident that he’d be able to suppress even Half-Step Eternals like Di E with ease!

Hm? Suddenly, Su Yi’s eyebrows rose, and he pulled a flashing talisman from his sleeves.