First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 2513 – His First Incarnation’s Path

The heart devil naturally knew his first incarnation’s cultivation better than anyone.

Su Yi had never been able to figure out just how strong his first incarnation was at his peak. He’d tried to find out in a roundabout way, hoping to get answers from the heart devil. Unfortunately, the heart devil’s lips were tightly sealed.

“The Far Shore of Eternity?” The heart devil just chuckled. “Your horizons are too narrow. Don’t let a little box like ‘Eternity’ limit your thinking. As for exactly how high my cultivation was back then, well… think it over for yourself.”

A sudden impulse rose in Su Yi’s heart: the urge to smack someone. He’s obviously whetting my appetite on purpose!

This was unquestionably in poor taste.

Su Yi’s brow furrowed. “Don’t tell me my first incarnation was just like you?”

“No, no, no! He and I have completely different personalities,” said the heart devil with absolute certainty. “His personality was far too dull. He had eyes only for the Dao of the Sword, and a heart with room for nothing but cultivation. When he didn’t want to talk, he could go tens of thousands of years without speaking a word. Even when he was feeling relatively chatty, words were as precious to him as gold is to a miser; no one sentence was ever longer than four words long!”

The topic of Su Yi’s first incarnation seemed to have gotten the heart devil riled up. The words flowed out of him as if he were venting.

“He wasn’t interested in women, he didn’t drink wine, he had no want of authority, and he paid no heed to strife. He avoided all karmic ties, be they positive or negative, never getting involved in any kind of enmity.

“Can you even imagine it? How could someone so dull exist in this world?”

Su Yi was stunned. Was my first incarnation really so cold?

He actually sounds a bit like Li Fuyou, but no matter how cold and indifferent Li Fuyou might have seemed, he had a group of loyal friends, and he faced life and death alongside them.

By comparison, my first incarnation sounds truly alone, without a single care or connection.

“Did he… really never have any emotional ties whatsoever?” Su Yi couldn’t help but ask.

The heart devil sighed. “Do you have any idea how long I lived? I’ve watched the alternation of the epochs, and I’ve seen entire ages come and go.

“In my youth, I indeed had a few personal connections. I too was once young and carefree. I too drank and sang to my heart’s content…” His voice was full of reminiscence. “But those memories are incomparably indistinct. Far, far too much time has passed…”

Here, the heart devil’s interest seemed to wane.

“Forget it. Later, you’ll naturally understand for yourself. After all, you and I are ultimately just different incarnations of the same person.”

Su Yi, however, felt his heart stir. He muttered to himself, “His heart was focused on the Grand Dao, and he sought nothing outside it. To him, worldly strife was as meaningless and fleeting as soap bubbles. Only the Dao is truly indestructible, and the only constant in his life was himself. That kind of mentality is far more unbelievable than I imagined.”

This was someone who’d experienced the alternation of the epochs in all their facets, and who spent all that time wholeheartedly pursuing the sword. In terms of mentality and spirit, who else could possibly have compared?

Perhaps this was what it meant to be truly at ease, carefree, and detached!

The heart devil suddenly asked, “Don’t you think a life like that… sounds lonely?”

“He had the Grand Dao as his companion,” said Su Yi. “Why speak of loneliness?”

The heart devil kept pushing. “Do you want to become that silent and solitary, too?”

Su Yi shook his head. “I can’t, and I don’t want to. In my eyes, true freedom means grasping the enormity of the universe, yet still caring for each tree and blade of grass.

“It means delighting in the red dust of mundanity, reveling in the liveliness of its hustle and bustle, and trusting myself to follow my heart without overstepping the bounds of righteousness.

“It’s fine to love, and fine to hate. All of those experiences are part of my Dao of the Sword.” A smile appeared on Su Yi’s face. “Even if I one day reach the very limit of the Grand Dao, I’ll still find peace in the turbid wines of the red dust of mundanity.”

“Heh. ‘Grasping the enormity of the universe, yet still caring for each tree and blade of grass’, huh?” The heart devil burst into laughter. “Gods sever their humanity in pursuit of Eternity, yet here you are, doing the exact opposite. Wonderful!”

“Is it wonderful?” asked Su Yi.

“It’s absolutely splendid!” said the heart devil. “When you step onto the Path of Eternity, the Grand Dao will eat away at your humanity. For the sake of Eternity, one cultivator after another becomes an inhuman monster. It’s as if… they become spirits of the natural order, without the slightest trace of humanity left. All that remains is the aura of the Grand Dao.

“And that’s no good! Cultivating is about the supremacy of the self; the Grand Dao is secondary! If you erase your humanity and replace it with the Grand Dao, how will you be any different from a cold, unfeeling incarnation of the natural order?”

The heart devil was obviously speaking straight from the heart. “The most ridiculous part is that some who reach the end of the Path of Eternity erroneously believe that the ultimate level of cultivation found on the Far Shore of Destiny requires using their bodies to enter the Dao, thereby transforming themselves into supreme Laws of the Grand Dao. Hah! They really let their imaginations go wild!”

He paused, then added, “The strongest enemy I ever faced was one such monster.”

“Who was he?” asked Su Yi.

“Alpha Origin.”

“Alpha Origin?”

“You wouldn’t understand even if I explained. In any event, all you need to know now is that the highest level of the Dao isn’t transforming yourself into the Dao. That’s enough.”

Suddenly, the heart devil seemed to decide that he’d said too much, and he abruptly ended the conversation.

Still, Su Yi had learned numerous useful secrets.

These included information about Eternal Thrones, the Far Shore of Eternity, his first incarnation’s conduct, and a preliminary discussion of the highest level of cultivation.

But that wasn’t the part that intrigued Su Yi the most.

Rather, it was Alpha Origin!

Just how strong were they, for my first incarnation to think of them as his strongest enemy?

Su Yi sat in his wicker chair and pondered in silence for a while. In the end, he couldn’t help but laugh. All of this is still too far away for me to grasp. What I ought to do now is focus on my own cultivation and advance one step at a time.

If I keep that up, one day, I’ll reach the same heights as my first incarnation, and surpass him, too!

……

Several days later.

The Endless Ocean, Sunset Perch Island.

When Su Yi returned, Sunset Perch Island was instantly lively. Many old monsters left seclusion to welcome him.

That night, they held a sumptuous banquet. Su Yi sat in the seat of honor, drinking and feasting with his old friends. Laughter and conversation rang out without end. It was joyful and harmonious.

Sunset Perch Island really had changed. Aside from Yi Chen and Mu Bai, the two juniors, practically everyone there was one of Su Yi’s dear friends.

There was Demon Ancestor Treasure Leaf, Yan Chizhen, Demon Venerate Five Desires, and other old friends of Yi Daoxuan.

There was also Zang Wushu, Wan Zitian, Wen Qingfeng and others who’d been close to Li Fuyou.

Them aside, there were the ancient divine wraiths, as well as the Lord of Sleepless Nights and the Luo Siblings, among others.

Pick any one of them at random, and you’d have a top expert of the Undying Realm, an unparalleled figure who could intimidate an entire region.

This lineup was a supremely powerful force by the standards of the present-day God Domain! They could have easily swept across the world unimpeded!

And that was even before factoring in those allies not currently present, like the Heaven-Swallowing Toad Ancestor, Divine Priestess Celestial Rains, Divine Corpse Blood Robe, Xu Zuizhen, and the old man who refused to die.

Add the Qilin Race to the mix, and this was a force like nothing else in the God Domain. It was entirely unparalleled!

In truth, over the past year, people had been talking about this subject all over the God Domain. Some people were even certain that Su Yi had already taken Di E’s place as the strongest in the God Domain!

The forces at his disposal had reached unprecedented heights. No one else could compare!

Some busybodies had even taken to calling Su Yi “the Master of the God Domain!”

Of course, all of this was just rumors and chatter.

Still, every faction, and every cultivator regardless of strength, had no choice but to admit that the sharpness of Su Yi’s edge suppressed all others. There was no one else like him!

But when a tree rose above the canopy, the wind was sure to batter it first.

When one stood proudly atop a mountain, they drew countless gazes, but also all types of criticism.

And indeed, some disadvantageous rumors surrounding Su Yi had started to circulate.

“When a mountain is without a tiger, monkeys proclaim themselves kings. Su Yi is getting away with his wanton arrogance, not because no one in the God Domain can suppress him, but because those truly terrifying existences are all busy preparing for the Dark Days of Legend!”

“Just you wait. When the Dark Days of Legend arrive, Su Yi will be the first to meet with disaster! The higher he jumps now, the more painful it will be when he falls!”

“In an age without heroes, even petty scoundrels can become famous. It’s horrible!”

Such criticisms and insults mixed with the praise and spread across the God Domain.

But no matter whether people criticized or complimented him, Su Yi paid it no heed. Worldly strife and empty titles were fleeting. He’d never sought authority or reputation.

He naturally didn’t care about any of this.

At the banquet, Su Yi announced that he was done getting revenge for now, and that he planned to spend the next few years preparing for the Dark Days of Legend.

In truth, over the past year or so of combat, he’d slain every enemy he could. Only those who’d hidden themselves the deepest had slipped through his net.

These included the Dipankara Buddha, the Angler, Jiao Mu, and Gu Huaxian.

Trying to hunt them down would be no different from trying to fish a needle out of the ocean.

And Su Yi wasn’t in a rush.

When the Dark Days of Legend arrive, those old-timers would be sure to come out into the open!

“Daoist Brother Fuyou, I heard that when the Dark Days of Legend arrive, Eternals from the River of Destiny will be able to enter the God Domain. In that case, things will be far too dangerous,” Wen Qingfeng said suddenly.

All eyes were instantly on Su Yi.

During the Dark Days of Legend, terrifying existences from spacetime forbidden zones would enter the present day, and old-timers who’d long lain dormant would re-emerge.

But as great a threat as they represented, they didn’t mean much to the experts gathered here. It was the experts of the River of Destiny who really worried them.

To the best of everyone’s knowledge, Di E was backed by a group of Eternals acting under the leadership of Lu Shi.

Then there was the young man who owned the Book of Legends.

Them aside, there was the Eternal Heavens Domain’s Malevolent Sword Venerate, and Heavenly Sovereign Wen of the Limitless Palace…

When these powerful existences from the River of Epochs descended, peak Nine-Tribulation Master Gods like them wouldn’t even be worth looking at!

“No need to worry,” Su Yi said with a laugh. “The Dark Days of Legend won’t appear all at once, and the Laws of the God Domain won’t collapse all at once, either. It’ll take at least three to five years.

“It’s only after the Laws of the God Domain collapse completely that experts of the River of Destiny will be able to intervene in the God Domain’s affairs directly. That’s when the true Battle for Order will begin!”

This wasn’t just Su Yi’s guess. Rather, this was his first incarnation’s heart devil’s prediction.