First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 2466 – The Ancestral Precept Cannot Be Defied

Qi Rongshan’s expression shifted in response to Su Yi’s words.

He smiled bitterly, “The Battle in the Hazy Sea Forbidden Zone proved your strength. Even if you gave this old man a hundred times the courage, he wouldn’t dare to fight you.”

The worry on his brow left Shi Jian unwittingly tongue-tied. Just what is going on for the ancestor to look so frustrated?

Su Yi’s brow furrowed. “Then just where did the Great Yin Divine Race come from? Why don’t the Qilin dare let me go see them? Don’t tell me… that they’re even more dangerous than Di E?”

Qi Rongshan pondered briefly, then said, “The Great Yin Divine Race are the descendants of Eternals, and their ancestors include numerous experts of the Path of Eternity, but… the Qilin Race isn’t afraid of that.

“Rather, it’s because of… extraordinary circumstances that exist between us and them that we had no choice but to agree to this marriage alliance.”

Qi Rongshan paused, then said solemnly, “Most importantly, you cannot get involved!”

“Just tell me your reasoning, and I’ll naturally think it over carefully,” said Su Yi.

Qi Rongshan’s expression shifted erratically, but in the end, he just sighed. “Forgive me, but this old man cannot divulge the reasons. I’ve said all I can say. Please, Fellow Daoist, reconsider. Halt your journey here.”

With that, he turned to leave, as if terrified that Su Yi would ask further questions. In the blink of an eye, he’d vanished.

Shi Jian was unwittingly flabbergasted. The ancestor left, just like that?

Su Yi rubbed his forehead. “It seems there’s a major issue with the Great Yin Divine Race’s origins. Otherwise, why would the Qilin find themselves in such a predicament? They don’t even dare to let me attend the wedding banquet.”

Shi Jian said softly, “Senior Su, are you still going to continue?”

“Yes. Why shouldn’t I?” said Su Yi. “Your young mistress is getting married. I have to give her a wedding gift even if I have to overcome endless trouble to do it!”

Shi Jian didn’t dare to make any further attempts at persuasion. He just steered the boat and continued the journey.

Just two days later.

Someone else arrived to dissuade Su Yi from visiting the Qilin. This time, the new arrival was none other than Shi Jian’s master, Li Sanjiu!

“You’re here to dissuade me too?” Su Yi held a jug of wine and gazed quietly at Li Sanjiu.

A hint of exasperation appeared on Li Sanjiu’s steely face. “If I had any other choice, I would never have chosen to stand in your way.”

With that, he took a sealed message out of his sleeves and proffered it to Su Yi. “The young mistress wrote this herself. You’ll understand once you’ve read it, Fellow Daoist.”

But Su Yi didn’t even look at it. He just ripped the letter to pieces.

Li Sanjiu and Shi Jian were flabbergasted.

Su Yi said casually, “Even without reading it, I already know she’s going to try to dissuade me from going, so why bother?”

He paused, then said, “Even if Qi Wei doesn’t want me to come, surely I can at least go visit the Xi Family?”

Li Sanjiu fell briefly silent, then said, “If the Great Yin Divine Race finds out you’re on your way, it will lead to unpredictable peril.”

Su Yi’s eyebrows rose. “So, the Great Yin Divine Race sees me as an enemy?”

Li Sanjiu seemed to steel himself. He gnashed his teeth, then said, “That’s right! If that were the extent of it, it would be fine, but if conflict breaks out, the Qilin are restricted by our ancestral precept and a Vow to the Heavens. We’d have no choice but to follow their orders!”

With that, he let out a deep sigh.

Su Yi’s eyes narrowed. He finally realized the source of the problem. If he went, the Great Yin Divine Race just had to give the order, and the Qilin would become his enemies, too. How could they possibly be willing to see that happen?

But if the Qilin refused to follow orders, they’d be violating their ancestral precept, and more importantly, their Vow to the Heavens. They wouldn’t be able to bear the weight of that either!

This was the Qilin Race’s predicament!

Su Yi pondered briefly. “So you had no choice but to accept their marriage alliance because you have to follow their orders?”

Li Sanjiu nodded bleakly. “The marriage alliance is just a pretext. What they really want is to force us to submit to them.”

Su Yi furrowed his brow. He could tell that the Qilin Race’s ancestral precept and Vow to the Heavens were the reason the Qilin were in such a passive position.

Even knowing the Great Yin Divine Race’s true intentions, they’d had no choice but to agree to their marriage alliance!

Li Sanjiu continued, “But they already agreed that, so long as we accept their marriage alliance, they’ll show leniency. They won’t force us to become your enemies.”

Su Yi was unwittingly stunned. They agreed to the marriage alliance on my account?

For a moment, Su Yi was overwhelmed by the absurdity of it all.

An ancestral precept and a vow had forced the Qilin to follow orders.

Now, for the sake of avoiding becoming his enemy, they’d had no choice but to passively accept the Great Yin Divine Race’s conditions and agree to their marriage alliance!

“What are the ancestral precept and Vow to the Heavens?” asked Su Yi. “Is there any way to get around them?”

Li Sanjiu shook his head. “I don’t know. Only a select handful of the clan’s old-timers know the details.”

Su Yi furrowed his brow. He was finally starting to understand why Qi Rongshan had tried to intercept him, and why he looked so stressed and concerned.

He also finally understood why Qi Wei wasn’t contacting him.

Everything was because of the Great Yin Divine Race. They considered him their enemies, and they could command the Qilin!

Li Sanjiu said gravely, “This is why we don’t want you to come visit us right now, Fellow Daoist. So long as you stay out of this, once the young mistress’s wedding is over, we’ll no longer be subject to as many restrictions, and we won’t need to worry about being forced to oppose you.”

Su Yi shook his head. “You’re wrong. I’ll just ask you this: if the Great Yin Divine Race ordered you to use the Qilin Trading Company as a pawn to gather information about me, would you agree?”

Li Sanjiu’s expression shifted.

Su Yi continued, “Admittedly, you might well be able to avoid direct conflict with me once the marriage goes through, but what if the Great Yin Divine Race orders you to attack those around me? What would you do then?”

Li Sanjiu opened his mouth to speak, then hesitated. In the end, he just fell silent.

Not even he knew what choice the Qilin would make under the circumstances Su Yi was describing.

Su Yi’s gaze was calm and deep. “Ultimately, the source of the problem is your ancestral precept and Vow to the Heavens, but from my perspective, this is actually easily resolved.”

Li Sanjiu couldn’t help but say, “Please explain, Fellow Daoist.”

“Tell me where the Great Yin Divine Race’s home base is,” said Su Yi. “I’ll level the place, and the problem will resolve itself.”

Shi Jian had been listening in all this time, and when he heard that, he couldn’t help but gasp. I have to admit, as crude as that method seems, it’s quite tempting!

Even Li Sanjiu was unwittingly flabbergasted.

But then, he shook his head. “The Dark Days of Legend have not yet arrived, and the Great Yin Divine Race are not of this era. They’ve just sent a group of their experts across time and space through their base in the Thunderwind Sea. Given the circumstances, you cannot possibly destroy them all.”

“Then I’ll just kill the ones in the Thunderwind Sea for now,” said Su Yi. “Then, I can destroy the Thunderwind Sea and destroy their hopes of entering the God Domain once and for all!”

Spacetime forbidden zones were, in truth, spacetime nodes. They served as coordinates, and when the Dark Days of Legend arrived, experts of other spacetimes could use them to enter the present day.

Su Yi had visited a few spacetime forbidden zones over the past few years.

When he entered the lowest layer of the Dao Transformation Blood Cave to save the Lord of Sleepless Nights, he clashed with an expert from the Epoch of the Five Sovereigns. He called himself Taishu Gong, the Sovereign of Celestial Polarity, and he was a true ruler of his epoch of origin.

But he’d had no choice but to compromise with Su Yi. Why? Because he was terrified that his spacetime forbidden zone would be destroyed. If that happened, he and his people wouldn’t be able to enter the God Domain during the Dark Days of Legend!

Thus, Su Yi suggested destroying the Thunderwind Sea. That would sever the Great Yin Divine Race’s hopes of one day entering the God Domain.

Then, the Qilin Race’s predicament would naturally resolve itself.

But Li Sanjiu couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. “It won’t work. Last year, two of our ancestors left to stand guard over the entrance to the Thunderwind Sea. They’re now the Great Yin Divine Race’s guardians.”

Su Yi’s brow furrowed. “Did they order you to do that?”

Li Sanjiu nodded.

This really was troublesome. Even Su Yi found this problem rather thorny.

If he wanted to fight his way into the Thunderwind Sea, he’d first have to get through members of the Qilin Race. How could he attack then?

“Since you’ve been ordered to do this, could you feign obedience and let me slip past you?” asked Su Yi.

Li Sanjiu shook his head. “If we’re discovered, it’ll provoke the Great Yin Divine Race, and they might well issue even more stringent orders. It’s a bad idea.”

Su Yi sank into a lengthy silence. “I can’t solve the problem without understanding it. If I can figure out the nature of your ancestral precept and Vow to the Heavens, I might well be able to help you.”

“Fellow Daoist, now that you understand the situation, might you please stop here?” asked Li Sanjiu.

Shi Jian looked at Su Yi, too.

Su Yi shook his head. “I’m going, even if it makes me the enemy of the Qilin Race.”

Li Sanjiu’s eyelids twitched. “Why?”

Su Yi took a sip of wine. “Miss Qi Wei has helped me on numerous occasions. I cannot possibly just stand back and watch as she’s mistreated.”

Li Sanjiu was instantly moved. He suddenly realized that in Su Yi’s eyes, none of the dangers he spoke of mattered.

What mattered was his friendship with Qi Wei. He didn’t want her to suffer mistreatment because of her clan’s affairs!

Waves of emotion coursed through Shi Jian’s heart, too. Su Yi’s answer was outside of his expectations, and he too found it moving. It’s true! The young mistress is the one suffering the most in all of this!

Because of an inviolable ancestral precept, and to avoid letting the Qilin become enemies with Su Yi, she had no choice but to agree to his evil-intentioned marriage alliance. How… how could that possibly be easy for her to endure?

Fortunately, Su Yi cares about her! He’ll definitely do everything in his power to stop the wedding from proceeding!

Shi Jian couldn’t help but feel respect and admiration growing in his heart.

Senior Su really is the most unparalleled legend beneath the heavens! Who could possibly compare to him in courage and breadth of spirit?