First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 2520 – The Ancient Aberrant, a Key to Eternity

The woman’s figure was ethereal, and her features were bright and beautiful. She looked like a young woman.

However, when her eyes moved, they were full of the vicissitudes of countless years.

Su Yi had indeed seen her before. This was the woman whose avatar of will had appeared after he slew the Tailor in the Epoch of Demonism. It was only then that Su Yi learned that the Tailor had a goddess like her backing him.

He wouldn’t have expected to see her again here, atop Heavenly Aberrant Mountain in the Ruins of Supreme Simplicity.

“What should I call you?” asked Su Yi.

The woman said casually, “My title is Silent Darkness, and I’m an inheritor of the Aberrant tradition.”

Su Yi suddenly recalled something. “Do I perhaps have you to thank for the Dipankara Buddha’s Paired Heart-Guiding Worms?”

The Goddess of Silent Darkness smiled. “It’s a pity, but they weren’t enough to defeat you, Fellow Daoist.”

Su Yi sighed. “I really wouldn’t have guessed that a cultivator of the Human Realm like the Tailor was backed by such a mighty expert of the Aberrant Dao.”

“He’s a disciple I chose in the Human Realm,” said the Goddess of Silent Darkness, standing casually beside the bone altar. “His cultivation base wasn’t important. What mattered was his ability to implement my arrangements.”

She sighed. “It’s a pity, but I took action prematurely. I never even considered that you’d reincarnate repeatedly. Now that you’ve mastered reincarnation in this lifetime, the pawns I placed are no longer useful.”

Su Yi recalled his experiences in the Human Realm, and the different life paths of Shen Mu, the Temple Master, and Su Xuanjun.

There was no doubt about it. The Goddess of Silent Darkness had been working behind the scenes to influence their path of cultivation!

The Tailor was the most crucial pawn in this entire scheme.

“And what is your relationship with the Dipankara Buddha?” asked Su Yi.

The Goddess of Silent Darkness smiled, then pointed to where Lu Qingmei was bound on the altar. “You show up and do nothing but ask questions. Aren’t you at all concerned about her life and death?”

Su Yi said casually, “If she dies, she’ll no longer be useful to you, right?”

The Goddess of Silent Darkness agreed completely. “No matter what happens today, I’ll let her leave safely.”

She raised her hand and twirled a lock of her dark hair, then said casually, “As for my connection to the Dipankara Buddha… we’re simply like-minded people in pursuit of the Grand Dao. We cooperate frequently, but we aren’t in the same camp.”

Su Yi couldn’t help but take another look at her. She was being quite forthright, leaving nothing out. There was no beating around the bush, either.

At the very least, this proved one thing: she was quite confident! She disdained to hide anything any longer.

“And why did you threaten Lu Qingmei to bring me here?” asked Su Yi.

“The Ancient Aberrant wants to meet you.”

Su Yi’s brow furrowed. The Ancient Aberrant?

But before Su Yi could ask any further questions, the Goddess of Silent Darkness formed hand seals, then gently tapped the white bone altar.

Boom!

The altar formed of countless bloodstained divine bones rumbled. A strange, bloody, mysterious energy fluctuation shot into the heavens.

The turbulent spacetime surrounding Heavenly Aberrant Mountain rumbled and boomed, as if something were pulling it. All of it surged toward the depths of the firmament.

Heaven and earth swayed, and the firmament broke. Turbulent spacetime power revolved, transforming into a mysterious and grand portal in the sky.

Like a gateway to the stars!

Blood-red stars revolved within the portal, mysterious and strange. They gradually outlined an aged face.

The face was incomparably enormous, and it looked as if it were packed full of stars. It was so vast that even stars seemed as paltry and insignificant as motes of dust by comparison.

Its eyes were like black holes, and its features were decrepit, its wrinkles were like celestial pathways, and with every breath, countless blood-red stars resonated, putting indescribable pressure on the entire stretch of starry void.

That aged face was simply far too enormous. When Su Yi saw it through the portal, even he couldn’t help but feel stunned.

Is this the Ancient Aberrant that the Goddess of Silent Darkness mentioned? He must have stepped onto the River of Destiny a long time ago!

Even across a celestial portal formed of spacetime power, Su Yi could feel terrifying pressure bearing down on him.

“Ancient Aberrant, Fellow Daoist Su has arrived.” The Goddess of Silent Darkness stood there and clasped her fist in greeting.

That aged face spoke from beyond the portal, “First, let the hostage go. Don’t let Fellow Daoist Su look down on the Aberrants.”

His voice rumbled and boomed like a celestial sovereign issuing a decree. The sound shook countless stars, and the cosmos rumbled and boomed.

“Understood!” The Goddess of Silent Darkness walked up and directly shattered the black chains binding Lu Qingmei.

Then, she lifted Lu Qingmei into the air and passed her to Su Yi from afar.

“She doesn’t have so much as a hair out of place. Her soul has just entered a coma. She’ll wake up within three days,” explained the Goddess of Silent Darkness.

Su Yi picked up Lu Qingmei, gazed intently at her familiar, beautiful face for a moment ,then said, “Do you expect me to be grateful?”

The aged, enormous face answered from beyond the celestial portal, “It’s enough if this can alleviate your displeasure, Fellow Daoist.”

Su Yi put Lu Qingmei into the Divine Replenishment Furnace, then gazed beyond the portal. “When you err, you must pay the price. Words alone aren’t enough to smooth things over. Don’t you agree?”

The Goddess of Silent Darkness furrowed her brow. “Such methods might be unseemly, but would you have come here otherwise, Fellow Daoist?”

Su Yi glanced at her and said coldly, “Maybe, maybe not. It would have depended on my mood. Either way, that’s no excuse for using a hostage to threaten me.”

The Goddess of Silent Darkness was about to say more when the aged face sighed and interrupted her. “Silent Darkness, step back. Let me speak with Fellow Daoist Su.”

“Understood!” The Goddess of Silent Darkness stepped aside and said no more.

“We really were in the wrong this time,” said the aged face. “I’ve prepared compensation for you, Fellow Daoist.”

A black jade box suddenly appeared floating over the divine bone altar.

The jade box silently opened, revealing a bronze key. It was mottled with rust, and only about the size of a fist. The head of the key was round with a blood-red base, as if it were a bleeding eyeball. It was incomparably strange.

When Su Yi looked at it, the Sword of the Nine Hells quivered within his sea of consciousness, and the divine chains representing his first, second, and third incarnation’s Dao Imprints all clattered at once!

At the same time, the key laid in the black jade box quivered slightly. Strange, unearthly, dark red luster flowed over its surface.

But in the blink of an eye, the Sword of the Nine Hells returned to dormancy, and the key’s strange movements faded away.

The Goddess of Silent Darkness saw it all, and she couldn’t help but look astonished. Her eyes shone with strange light.

“What is that?” asked Su Yi.

“You don’t know, Fellow Daoist?” The aged face beyond the portal looked a bit reluctant. “There are a few Eternal Gateways on the River of Destiny. Enormous secrets are hidden beyond each gateway.

“Rumor has it that some of the Eternal Gateways hide a secret method to reach the Far Shore of Destiny, some contain unsurpassed Eternal good fortune, and some even contain entire epoch civilizations!

“In short, Eternal Gateways are among the greatest strokes of good fortune available in the River of Destiny, the kind that can only be happened upon by chance.

“This key is a divine treasure capable of opening Eternal Gateways. It’s called an Eternal Key.”

Even the Goddess of Silent Darkness was visibly stunned, her eyes wide with disbelief. How… could the Ancient Aberrant give away something so precious?

He’s really opened a vein this time!

Su Yi’s eyes flashed. A key to open Eternal Gateways?

It sounded like an incredible treasure. With it, he could enter Eternal Gateways and seek out unbelievable good fortune.

But Su Yi didn’t care about that.

He was still quite far from the Path of Eternity, and he didn’t expect to be able to use an Eternal Key to find good fortune in the near future.

What he really cared about was why the key had triggered such a reaction from the Sword of the Nine Hells!

The sword’s reaction told Su Yi that the Eternal Key was likely far more mystical than the Ancient Aberrant made it sound!

“It’s a pity, but perhaps due to insufficient luck, and perhaps because fate loves to play tricks, in all my countless years owning this Eternal Key, I’ve yet to find a single Eternal Gateway,” sighed the aged face. “Since that’s the case, using it to compensate you is quite suitable, too, Fellow Daoist.”

Su Yi examined the key briefly. The Sword of the Nine Hells made no further strange movements.

Su Yi couldn’t help but find this strange.

“You paid such a heavy price. Surely you didn’t go to such lengths just to compensate me?” Su Yi’s gaze shifted to look at the face beyond the portal.

“That’s right,” said the aged face. “I indeed have something to ask of you.”

“What is it?”

The face took a deep breath, then said, “I’d like to ask you to help me resolve my Karmic Tribulation!”

The Goddess of Silent Darkness only looked stricken. She was only just now realizing that the Ancient Aberrant had been afflicted by a Karmic Tribulation!!

Su Yi finally understood, too. No wonder this mysterious ‘Ancient Aberrant’ is so agreeable. No wonder he was even willing to part with that Eternal Key.

It turns out that he’s been afflicted with a Karmic Tribulation, just like the Dipankara Buddha!

All of this proved that the old-timer really was a Limitless Dao Lord of the Path of Eternity.

When you wanted something from someone, you naturally had to humble yourself and show sufficient sincerity!

Su Yi’s brow furrowed in confusion. “To the best of my knowledge, those Heavenly Sovereigns of the River of Destiny can resolve Karmic Tribulations, too. Why not ask one of them?”

Heavenly Sovereigns! The title didn’t just represent authority. Owning an Eternal Throne meant you had no need to fear the threat of Karmic Tribulations!

Even if you suffered such a tribulation, so long as a Heavenly Sovereign was willing to help you, they could resolve the problem with ease.

This was one of the wondrous applications of an Eternal Throne, and one of the key reasons that Eternal Sovereigns stood above the River of Destiny in perpetuity.

“I couldn’t negotiate a deal,” said the Ancient Aberrant after a moment’s silence. “In the Eternal Heavens Domain, every Heavenly Sovereign is like a ruler. I’ve tried asking all of them for help, but without exception, I was refused.”

All of them refused him? Su Yi was stunned. Is this old-timer really that unpopular in the Eternal Heavens Domain?