First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 2269 – The True Secrets of the Sheath

Taishu Gong watched Su Yi and Feng Wuji fade from view before finally looking away.

He slowly returned to his seat, then sank deep into thought.

“Your Eminence, why not kill him? Had you given the order just now, I’m certain I could have destroyed him!” A voice suddenly emanated from the black earthenware jar atop the altar.

“We couldn’t risk it.” Taishu Gong shook his head. “The master of reincarnation is too special. Had he lost, he’d have simply lost his life, but had we lost… we’d be rendered forever unable to enter the present age. That price… would be far too great to bear!”

He sighed.

“But you suffered such a grave humiliation. We absolutely cannot just let this go!” said the voice within the earthenware jar, seething with murderous intent. “Who in the Epoch of the Five Emperors would dare treat you with such disrespect?”

“Enough,” Taishu Gong interrupted. “A little humiliation, that’s all. It’s not like it was some kind of life-or-death struggle, so why even speak of it?”

The voice in the earthenware jar instantly fell silent.

Taishu Gong’s gaze was suddenly deep and heavy. He whispered, “Wouldn’t it be a good thing if I managed to establish a positive karmic connection with Su Yi?”

Even though he said this, he crushed the teacup he was holding into powder, which fell through the gaps between his fingers.

The entity in the black earthenware jar noticed. His Eminence isn’t as calm as he appears!

……

Outside the Dao Transformation Blood Cave.

Feng Wuji let out a deep breath. The ninth level of the cave had been so terrifying that he couldn’t help but feel like a lifetime had passed since he’d last stood here.

He couldn’t help but say, “Brother Su, if you ask me, you absolutely shouldn’t believe a thing that Taishu Gong guy said. What ‘positive karma’? What ‘alliance’? He obviously has ulterior motives!”

Su Yi laughed. “All of that is in the future. No need to worry about it.”

Taishu Gong was the terrifying existence known as the Celestial Polarity Great Sovereign. People like him were the hardest to fathom, but Su Yi had no intention of trying to fathom him. It was just as he’d said; all of that was in the future.

He glanced at the Rahu Yao Ancestor, who was still on Feng Wuji’s back, and said, “The old man woke up a long time ago. How about you two go have a private chat?”

Feng Wuji was stunned. He’s already awake?

The Rahu Yao Ancestor didn’t react in the slightest. He still looked comatose.

“He still isn’t certain what I’ll do to him, and he doesn’t understand why the two of us worked together to save him. Naturally, all he can do is keep feigning unconsciousness,” jeered Su Yi. “Go on and have a chat.”

Feng Wuji hurriedly turned and carried the Rahu Yao Ancestor off.

Su Yi, meanwhile, set the Lord of Sleepless Nights on the ground. After examining him briefly, he couldn’t help but frown. The old-timer’s wounds are serious!

His body is full of dense death qi, and his vitality is extremely weak.

Su Yi thought for a moment, then took out the last of the divine brew Qi Wei had given him, “Seeking Something.” Then, he poured it all into the Lord of Sleepless Nights’ mouth.

Moments later, the Lord of Sleepless Nights’ gaunt frame quivered, and he slowly opened his eyes.

“Who… are you?”

“An aimless wanderer, as insignificant as a single drop of water in the boundless ocean,” Su Yi said with a laugh. “Now do you know who I am?”

The old man’s turbid eyes suddenly lit up with excitement. “Old Brother Fuyou, it’s you!”

But then, he broke into a hacking cough. His face paled, and he instantly slumped listlessly, his expression full of despair.

Su Yi promptly took out another handful of divine recovery medicine, but just as he was about to treat the Lord of Sleepless Nights’ wounds, the old man refused.

“It’s useless. My vital source energy is severely damaged. Those divine medicines would be wasted on me,” he said hoarsely, his voice starting and stopping. “Old Brother, if I die, refine my body. Into a sword sheath, perhaps. After all, I’m a chaos tree born in the earliest days of the God Domain’s history, and…”

“Don’t let your imagination get the best of you,” interrupted Su Yi. “Now that I’m here, there’s no way that anything will happen to you.”

The old man’s lips twitched, and a smile appeared on his pallid, aged face. “Never mind all that now. Do you know how I wound up in this state?”

His chest heaved violently, and he opened his mouth and spat out a piece of black jade.

“It’s because of this!” said the Lord of Sleepless Nights. “The last piece of Profound Chaos Stone in the Dao Transformation Blood Cave!”

A Profound Chaos Stone!

Profound Chaos Stones contained Profound Chaos Qi. Their mysterious power could help cultivators break through impermanence and strive for the mysteries of Eternity.

They were one of the most precious treasures in the God Domain, true, unsurpassed good fortune! They were immensely beneficial for any Nine-Tribulation Master God striving for the mysteries of the River of Destiny!

They were the reason Li Fuyou had come here back then, and the Rahu Yao Ancestor had gotten trapped while searching for them.

Now, one of these precious treasures had appeared before Su Yi.

“That Taishu Gong guy was really quite something. He’d already touched the threshold of the River of Destiny. He knew that I had this Profound Chaos Stone hidden in my body, and he could have killed me and taken it,” the Lord of Sleepless Nights said feebly. “But he didn’t. Instead, he said that sooner or later, he’d convince me to submit to him of my own free will, and that he’d naturally ask for the stone then.”

He suddenly seemed to realize something. “Why did he let you leave with me?”

Su Yi said casually, “Circumstances forced his hand, and he had no choice but to lower his head. Never mind all that. I’m going to get you out of here, then treat your wounds. All you need to do is relax and get some rest.”

“Take the Profound Chaos Stone first,” said the Lord of Sleepless Nights. “Then I’ll go with you.”

Su Yi said irritably, “Don’t be so polite with me!”

The Lord of Sleepless Nights laughed. “Then you stop being so polite with me!”

Su Yi no longer hesitated. He put the stone away, then said, “Will that do?”

The Lord of Sleepless Nights nodded. “Old Brother, now that I’ve seen you again, even if I dropped dead this second, I’d die without regrets. Don’t fixate on treating my wounds. For now… Just leave me be… So much time has passed that… I’ve long since ceased to fear death!”

Before his voice had even finished echoing through the air, he transformed into a withered little tree only a foot tall. Its branches were burnt and yellowed, and its trunk was shrouded in dense death qi.

This was the true body of the Lord of Sleepless Nights.

A tea tree born in the earliest days of the God Domain’s history.

Su Yi put the tea tree into the Divine Replenishment Furnace and ordered the furnace to water the tree with the power of Undying Divine Crystals daily.

This would keep the Lord of Sleepless Nights alive. It would cost a shocking sum, but Su Yi didn’t mind in the slightest.

Later, he planned to seek out divine materials that could repair the Lord of Sleepless Nights’ damaged vitality!

“I did you such an enormous favor earlier. Don’t you think you ought to give me that Profound Chaos Stone as a reward?” A voice said out of nowhere.

Su Yi’s gaze didn’t so much as ripple. “You’re just a heart devil. What do you need a Profound Chaos Stone for?”

“You needn’t try to guess my intentions. I just want you to pay the price for my assistance. As you know, everything in this world exists in a balance.

“Losses and gains, life and death, permanence and impermanence, and even ordinary things like strength and weakness or good and evil. There are no exceptions.

“At Skybright Mountain, I helped you fight off your foes. In the Dao Transformation Blood Tunnel, I did you yet another enormous favor. Don’t… you think you ought to pay the price for that?”

The words flowed continuously, but there was no determining their source.

“But you’ve already received your reward, haven’t you?” Su Yi took out the sheath. “Making demands like this now is ridiculous.”

“What reward did I receive?”

This time, the voice clearly emanated from inside the sheath.

“Do you really think I don’t know? Every time I use the sheath, you can seize the opportunity to devour all types of power to strengthen yourself,” Su Yi said calmly. “That’s your reward, isn’t it?”

“Nonsense!” The voice in the sheath shouted, “Those powers are as useless to me as chicken ribs!”

Su Yi said calmly, “Perhaps, but don’t even try to tell me that you don’t want to help me.”

The voice instantly fell silent. Some time passed before he spoke once more. “You… realized?”

“That’s right,” said Su Yi. “You long for me to use your power in the face of danger. Only then will I gradually grow dependent on you, and eventually, I won’t be able to get rid of you.

“If that day arrives, you’ll be able to invade my heart without difficulty. Then… perhaps your true, ultimate goal is to replace me.”

Su Yi shook his head. “It’s a pity, but you cannot succeed. One of my past lives tried to do the same thing, but… he failed, too.”

“Does that mean you know who I am?” said the voice within the sheath, suddenly calm.

“Of course,” said Su Yi. “You’re my first incarnation’s heart devil.”

“Heart devil?” said the voice within the sheath. “No, he and I were simply two sides of the same coin, like light and darkness. Without light, how could the people of this world understand darkness?

“And without darkness, who could possibly understand light?

“Opposing forces exist in a balance. That’s the true, eternal natural order of the world, and it applies to all things, from the Grand Daos of the heavens to the paths sought by each individual person.

“Back then, he won our mental battle, proclaimed me his heart devil, and sealed me in this sheath.

“But have you considered what would have happened had I won? I’d have seen him as my heart devil and sealed him instead!”

Su Yi understood what he was getting at.

His first incarnation had most likely run into problems with his mental state during his pursuit of an unsurpassed Dao of the Sword. Thus, he’d severed his heart devil and sealed it in his sheath.

Heart devils were born of the heart’s fantasies, obsessions, idle thoughts, and wicked intentions… Sometimes, even confusion could grow into a heart devil!

There was no doubt about it. His first incarnation’s heart devil was the result of a bifurcation of his pursuit of the Dao of the Sword!

As the heart devil said, he sought a balance of opposing forces.

This inevitably led to disharmony and conflict in his first incarnation’s Dao of the Sword.

Thus, his first incarnation decisively cleaved his heart devil and chose to reincarnate to cultivate anew!

Had his first incarnation thought the heart devil’s path correct, he would have given up all thoughts of reincarnating!

But even though Su Yi understood, that was the full extent of it. From his perspective, the rusted sheath was just a whetstone.

A whetstone he could use to sharpen the “sword of the heart!”