First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 2532 – Xiao Jian Reappears

As the Fire Jujube rustled, it cast dreamlike, fiery light.

Sovereign Venerate Ling Ran stood beside it in robes whiter than snow, ethereal and extraordinary. She was dressed like a man with her black hair casually tied up, revealing her unparalleled, beautiful face, bright eyes, pearly teeth, and radiant charm.

Hers was a beauty that transcended the material, with natural, amorous charms. Even just standing there casually, she was like the most beautiful flourish in the “painting” of heaven and earth.

Everything around her served only to highlight her beauty! Indeed, even heaven and earth paled by comparison.

It wasn’t that Qing Chi had never laid eyes on Sovereign Venerate Ling Ran before, but that every time he saw her, he couldn’t help but feel astonished and ashamed of his own unsightliness.

Sovereign Venerate Ling Ran raised her hand, pulling the Fire Jujube Tree out of the courtyard. It shrank until it was just a foot tall, then shot into her sleeves.

“Let’s go.” She turned and left the courtyard.

Every movement and every gesture was one with heaven, earth, and all of creation. It seemed that, so long as she willed it, heaven and earth would all become part of her.

Qing Chi reacted as if awakening from a dream. He instinctively said, “Mistress, the Dark Days of Legend have only just begun, and there are still numerous unknown variables at play. If we leave now, I’m afraid we’ll run into catastrophe.”

“Ah, but I’m here,” Sovereign Venerate Ling Ran whispered.

Before her voice had even finished echoing through the air, her graceful, extraordinary figure started fading into the distance.

The temple she’d turned into her prison silently popped like a soap bubble and vanished behind her.

Qing Chi hurried after her, her last sentence still echoing through his ears. She’s right! No matter the world’s turmoil, and no matter what disasters break out, with my mistress here, what do I have to worry about?

……

A lamp illuminated a corner of the fog-shrouded darkness of the Abyssal Ruin at the far end of the Path of the Ancient Gods.

Xiao Jian sat there, tall, thin, and dressed in long, wide-sleeved robes. He was flipping through a book.

He looked like a scholar. Every last inch of him emanated a bookish air.

A bronze cauldron laid in the fog behind him, supporting the lamp.

“Master, the Path of the Ancient Gods is collapsing!”

“Is… is this the start of the Dark Days of Legend?”

“I feel it too. The Path of the Ancient Gods connects the past, but now, it’s shifting!”

Deep within the mists of the Abyssal Ruin, one voice rang out after another. All of them sounded excited.

From beginning to end, Xiao Jian just sat there reading. His thin face looked utterly absorbed.

Gradually, the voices in the Abyssal Ruin died down.

A long time passed before Xiao Jian turned the past page of his book and stretched languidly, a satisfied look on his face.

He liked to read.

He didn’t read the words of the sages, nor did he read sutras or scriptures. He preferred lighter reading, tales of gods, demons, ghosts, and legends of strange occurrences. These were the types of stories mortals liked to read.

Xiao Jian liked them too, and he read them with great relish.

During his lifetime of cultivation, whenever he went somewhere new, he gathered a new batch of such books, and whenever he had free time, he’d read them to pass the time and stave off boredom.

He’d only just finished yet another book, one he suspected was a holdover from the Spirit Martial Epoch. It recounted legends of a figure they called Demon God Lin.

The book’s contents were typical of popular stories, nothing but love and hatred, friendships and enmities.

The author wasn’t a particularly good writer, either. Many of the descriptions of cultivation were erroneous or lacking. It was absurd.

But Xiao Jian finished the book anyway, because the story was well told. He hated nothing more than stories that ended abruptly halfway through.

“The Dark Days of Legend have indeed arrived.” Xiao Jian put away the book and rose from his chair.

It was just one light airy sentence, but it caused an enormous uproar in the mysterious, taboo Abyssal Ruin.

“It really is true!”

“Wonderful! We’ve finally waited long enough for our second chance at life to arrive!”

“Daoist Brother, when do we leave?”

A clamor of voices rose and fell in waves.

Xiao Jian turned and raised his hand. The bronze coffin shrank until it was just a nine-inch-long hairpin, which he stuck in his topknot at an angle.

Then, he plucked the bronze lamp from the air, held it aloft, and started walking toward the ruins at the bottom of the abyss.

This was the far end of the Path of the Ancient gods. All of the bygone epochs that had vanished into the past were buried here.

No matter how the epochs alternated, the ruins never changed.

That is, until recently, when numerous cracks appeared in the abyss, and many of the ruins showed signs of splitting, too.

Xiao Jian knew that this was happening because the natural order maintaining the separation of the past, present, and future was collapsing. Everything was in chaos and disarray.

He and the other old-timers’ second chance at life had arrived!

The lamplight swayed, dispelling the mists.

As Xiao Jian walked through the ruins, the clamor of voices died down once more.

“I can get all of you out of here, but I have a request.” Xiao Jian stopped in the ruins, then swept his gaze across the mist-shrouded darkness. “Going forward, you are not to act in my name. Whether you live or die will depend on you and your fortune.”

His voice boomed throughout the ruins.

“Do you look down on us, Daoist Brother? Is that why you’re trying to draw a line between us?” someone said gravely.

“I wouldn’t say I look down on you,” Xiao Jian said calmly. “I’m just accustomed to acting on my own, that’s all.”

“Very well. We agree!”

In the end, all of the old-timers who, like Xiao Jian, ought to have vanished with their epochs of origins, agreed.

Xiao Jian held his lamp aloft, then continued further into the ruins. “Follow me.”

The mists churned as one terrifying figure out of another stepped out of the darkness. All of them seemed mighty enough to have ruled their respective epochs.

But all of them trailed after Xiao Jian obediently. None dared to act out.

Suddenly, Xiao Jian seemed to recall something. He stopped in place and said, “If you run into Su Yi, you are not to attack him.”

“Why?” someone couldn’t help but ask. “Daoist Brother, we didn’t complain when you tried to draw a line between yourself and us, but now you’re going to forbid us from competing over the Epoch Spark and reincarnation, too?”

The displeasure in the speaker’s voice was clear.

Xiao Jian turned to face the speaker. “I want to kill him myself. Got that?”

The speaker was a thin man in Daoist robes, his whole body emanating unsettling silver flame totems.

When he met Xiao Jian’s gaze, he instantly looked stricken, and he instinctively lowered his head, not daring to look Xiao Jian in the eye.

“If anyone has any objections, go ahead and tell me now,” Xiao Jian said calmly.

These rulers of long-lost epochs looked at each other, but in the end, all of them chose to remain silent.

“Since you all agree, let me get the unpleasantness out of the way first. If anyone tries to target Su Yi, I’ll kill them, no matter who they are.”

With that, Xiao Jian turned and walked into the distance. The terrifying experts following him remained silent; it seemed they’d all been intimidated.

That very day, the Path of the Ancient Gods split. The natural order collapsed, and everything was plunged into endless disarray.

The spatial and temporal divisions of the past, present, and future were thrown into chaos.

It was also that very day that Xiao Jian led a group of terrifying existences to safety and escaped the Path of the Ancient Gods!

……

When the curtains opened on the Dark Days of Legend, numerous calamities befell the River of Epochs.

Terrifying figures emerged from many of its forbidden zones. All were rulers of their respective territories, much like Luo Xuanji had once been!

Throughout the ages, they’d been trapped in their forbidden zones due to the threat of the Laws of the present day.

But now, all of them were re-entering the world!

…

“The Dark Days of Legend have only just begun, but all of the creepy crawlies are already leaving their holes.”

The River Lord stood before the Tower of Ancient Evils and laughed coldly.

A low, steely voice emanated from within the tower. “The power of reincarnation has faded, and the natural order is no more. Fellow Daoist Su returned too late. Otherwise, this disaster could never have taken place.”

“No, reincarnation does not lie at the foundations of Fellow Daoist Su’s Dao, and there’s no way he’ll use reincarnation to restore order to the world.” The River Lord shook his head.

Then, he walked into the Tower of Ancient Evils and headed straight for the top floor, the room in which Su Yi had acquired the Epoch Spark.

When he arrived, he found an ethereal figure seated there. Had Su Yi been there, he’d have recognized the man at a glance. This was Gongye Futu!

A mysterious existence who’d once served Su Yi’s first incarnation.

When Su Yi traversed the Tower of Ancient Evils, he played chess with Gongye Futu!

“The Dark Days of Legend have begun, and the natural order of the past, present, and future has collapsed. Unparalleled figures are descending from the River of Destiny and other spacetimes. Do you… want to check it out, too?” asked Gongye Futu.

“There aren’t very many opportunities for me to intervene,” said the River Lord. He scratched his head and laughed bitterly. “Fellow Daoist Su’s first, second, and third incarnations will all be there. Tell me, if I go, who should I support?”

Gongye Futu was stunned, then silent. This was a thorny problem indeed.

“He must solve his own problems. When others are involved, I can intervene on his behalf, but when he competes with his past selves, I absolutely have to stay out of it,” sighed the River Lord. “Especially Xiao Jian; he’s already unhappy with me.

“And that sheath contains the heart devil of Fellow Daoist Su’s first incarnation. No matter who I help, I’ll be the one to suffer. Even if I exhaust myself, it’ll do me no good.”

“Then do you plan to do nothing?” asked Gongye Futu.

The River Lord fell silent.

After a while, he said, “Ask again when the Battle for Order begins. If someone dares violate the Eternal Pact to get involved, I naturally won’t remain a bystander!”

The depths of his turbid gaze suddenly shone with startling radiance.

Gongye Futu whispered, “I just hope this disaster comes to a close quickly. Personally, I’m hoping that the one who brings order will be…”

Here, he clamped his jaw shut. Still, the River Lord seemed to understand. He frowned, then shouted, “You ought to understand better than anyone that no matter how many times he’s reincarnated, Fellow Daoist Su is the one you followed back then, not the heart devil sealed in that sheath!”

His tone was heavy and severe.

Gongye Futu said nothing. He just stood there in silence.

The River Lord said no more, either.

They just stared wordlessly at each other.