First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1522 - The Man Behind the Scenes

Beneath the distant dome of heaven.

A man in Confucian robes appeared out of nowhere, a group of experts clustered behind him.

Su Yi couldn’t help but find this surprising. This was the same man who’d conversed with him in secret back in the Ascension Grounds. The one Liu Yunjing and the others called “the fake Hu Hai!”

He was actually an expert of Cloud Apparatus Immortal Manor.

The man in Confucian robes led his group over. His gaze swept past Su Yi and landed on Qi Fufeng.

He frowned. “I didn’t realize that you were scheming something too, old-timer. So, you snatched the boy away from Liu Yunjing!”

Su Yi’s expression was strange, but he quickly understood. The man in Confucian robes had run away before Qi Fufeng made his move, so he didn’t know what had happened in the Ascension Ground!

“How did you find me?” asked Su Yi.

He and Qi Fufeng had left White Deer Mountain a while back. They hadn’t hidden their trail, but not just anyone could find them, much less so quickly.

Yet the man in Confucian robes had appeared as if he had precognition, lying in ambush to intercept them. How could Su Yi not be surprised?

The man in Confucian robes grinned. “If I want to find someone, neither gods nor Buddhas can hide them from me!”

He suddenly waved his hand through the air. “Capture them!”

Boom!

The ten or so immortals behind him attacked without hesitation. All of them charged at Qi Fufeng!

There was no doubt about it; they saw Qi Fufeng as a threat. As for Su Yi? They disregarded him completely.

Qi Fufeng stretched out his hand in a grabbing motion.

Terrifying pressure burst forth, and the charging immortals froze in midair, trapped like flies in glue!

And when Qi Fufeng closed his fist...

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sealed, unmoving immortals exploded!

Blood splattered the air, staining it red.

From beginning to end, Qi Fufeng’s expression was calm and indifferent. He didn’t say a single word. Yet he’d killed a whole group of immortals with a single gesture. This was unquestionably terrifying!

“Fuck!” The man in Confucian robes instinctively cursed, and his smile froze in place. A chill coursed down his spine, and his entire body stiffened. He was now fully aware of his predicament.

“Might we have ourselves a nice chat now?” Su Yi asked with a smile.

“I....” The man in Confucian robes gulped with great difficulty, then turned to flee.

Bang!

He shattered a talisman, transforming into a wisp of mist.

But just as he was about to vanish, a large hand with strong joints seized him by the throat.

Su Yi’s calm voice rang out. “A Misty Rain Cloud Apparatus Talisman won’t save you from me.”

The man in Confucian robes whipped his head around and saw that the one holding him by the throat was actually Su Yi, the recent ascender from the Human Realm!

This left him on the verge of a mental breakdown. He couldn’t help but blurt, “How... Did you do that?”

Su Yi just laughed and tossed him to Qi Fufeng. “I’ll leave him to you. All I want to know is why Cloud Apparatus Immortal Manor is targeting me.”

Qi Fufeng nodded. “Understood.”

“Don’t! I admit defeat! Whatever you do, don’t search my soul. If you do, I’ll die beyond a doubt, and you won’t learn anything at all!” the man shouted in terror.

Su Yi and Qi Fufeng exchanged glances. They instantly understood. Someone had almost certainly placed a restriction in the man’s soul. The moment someone searched it, he’d die beyond a doubt!

This was common practice in both the Human and Immortal Realms. The older an orthodoxy, the greater emphasis they placed on protecting their disciples’ souls.

This was to prevent their enemies from searching their disciples’ souls. Sects used all manner of methods, treasures, and secret arts to seal their disciples’ souls.

Of course, this wasn’t to restrict their disciples, but to prevent enemies from searching their souls to extract their sects’ secrets.

Su Yi thought for a moment, then said, “Answer two of my questions, and I won’t kill you. I’ll even point out a path to life.”

The man in Confucian robes hurriedly said, “Ask.”

“Why did you set your sights on me back in the Ascension Ground?” asked Su Yi.

The man in Confucian robes said bitterly, “To tell the truth, I have no idea who you are or where you come from. I know nothing about you whatsoever. I picked you out of the crowd using a secret art.”

“Oh?” said Su Yi. “What kind of secret art?”

The man in Confucian robes said, “It’s used for finding someone. It produces a unique resonance that can lock onto my target—in this case, you.”

Su Yi’s eyebrows rose in realization. The man in Confucian robes really didn’t know who he was. Rather, he’d used this secret method to confirm that he was his target!

This also explained the man’s “precognition.” It was that same method that let him intercept Su Yi’s path and lay in ambush!

“Who told you to do this?” asked Su Yi.

The man in Confucian robes didn’t even pause to think. “My sect leader!”

Qi Fufeng said in a low voice, “The current leader of Cloud Apparatus Immortal Manor is named Sun Xiaocheng. He’s suspected to have survived the Age of Fallen Immortals. He’s crafty and shrewd to the extreme, a true Miracle Realm Immortal King.”

A Miracle Realm Immortal King? Su Yi rubbed his forehead. With his current strength, he was indeed far from capable of handing someone on that level.

In truth, never mind an Immortal King; he’d have no hope against an Immortal Lord unless he went all out and risked it all.

“This time...” Su Yi was just about to say something when the man in Confucian robes cried out in agony, his life force withering away.

Qi Fufeng’s expression darkened. “Sovereign, his soul shattered and dissipated! It seems someone sensed that he’d been captured alive, and they killed him without hesitation!”

As he spoke, he hurriedly searched the man’s belongings, hoping to find worthwhile leads.

But in the end, he came up empty-handed.

This told him that something wasn’t quite right here.

“No need to guess. I can tell who Cloud Apparatus Immortal Manor is working for,” Su Yi said softly.

The Angler!

The god that the spearwoman called Old Man Providence!

The Angler controlled the power of Karma, and Su Yi had snatched the Heaven-Adjudicating Grass the god had had his sights on back in the First Battleground. In the process, he acquired the Angler’s Karmic Hook. Now, even if he threw the hook away, he couldn’t get rid of the accompanying karma.

Now, Su Yi had only just arrived in the Ascension Ground when a member of Cloud Apparatus Immortal Manor immediately used a secret method to find him. This was clearly out of the ordinary.

There was no need to even think. Su Yi dared say with certainty that Cloud Apparatus Immortal Manor had targeted him at the Angler’s orders, and it was that so-called “power of Karma” that let the man in Confucian robes locate him.

But Su Yi didn’t find this overly surprising. The spearwoman had told him that she had means of resolving this impending karmic tribulation, yet he had refused her aid.

His reasoning was simple. He had means of resolving this trouble on his own!

He hadn’t done so simply because he wanted to use himself as bait to see just what the Angler was capable of.

Now, he had a rough idea. The Angler might well be a god, but he couldn’t enter the Immortal Realm personally. All he could do was issue commands and have Cloud Apparatus Immortal Manor act on his behalf!

“Have you seen any gods in the Immortal Realm?” asked Su Yi.

“I haven’t.” Qi Fufeng shook his head. “But I’ve heard that the will of the gods has silently started permeating the Immortal Realm. It seems that unknown deities stand behind some prominent immortal factions!”

Su Yi subtly inclined his head.

This was perfectly normal. Gods might not be able to enter this world, but they could send their emissaries to wander the Immortal Realm in their stead.

“Sovereign, you perhaps don’t know this yet, but right now, in the Immortal Realm, not even legendary experts of the Great Realm dare travel lightly, let alone deities,” said Qi Fufeng. “Those mighty experts are practically all in seclusion. I suspect they’re hiding from some unknown threat. Take Blood Firmament, for instance. They say he went into seclusion a long time ago. There’s been no sign of him since.”

Su Yi exclaimed, “They’re in hiding?”

“That’s right,” said Qi Fufeng. “At least, that’s what the rumors say, but no one knows for sure what they’re hiding from.”

In the Immortal Realm, those considered “almighty powerhouses” or “unparalleled legends” were those who’d reached the pinnacle of the Immortal Dao. That is to say, they’d stepped into the Three Stages of the Great Realm!

Back then, Wang Ye was one such legend.

“It seems the Immortal Realm really is different from what I remember...” Su Yi sighed.

Qi Fufeng said solemnly, “Sovereign, you’ve only just returned. You’ll naturally grasp the situation and return to the pinnacle of the Immortal Dao soon!”

Su Yi laughed and shook his head. “There’s no hurry.”

He had a clear plan and cultivation goal for his return to the Immortal Realm.

Before he did anything else, he had to resolve Wang Ye’s regrets and lingering karmic ties. It was only by amending past regrets and severing karmic ties that he could achieve complete victory over Wang Ye in their battle of the heart!

In this way, his mental state would no longer be flawed!

On the road ahead, Su Yi asked about Qi Fufeng’s Dao Wounds in detail.

There was no denying that his wounds were indeed severe. It would take a supreme powerhouse or unrivaled legend’s intervention to repair them!

But this naturally couldn’t stop Su Yi.

He had Wang Ye’s lifetime of memories and experiences. He couldn’t treat Qi Fufeng’s wounds personally, but he could teach Qi Fufeng a secret method that’d let him cure himself!

“Take this. Cultivate assiduously, and your wounds will fully recover within three years,” said Su Yi. He took out a jade slip, inscribed a legacy known as the Sculpting Spirit Rain Transformation Sutra into it, and handed it to Qi Fufeng.

Qi Fufeng was overcome with joy, to the point that he wept tears of gratitude.

Su Yi then took out a talisman and handed it to him. “Once you’ve got the ascendents settled in, take this talisman to the White Reed Province’s Floating Cloud City. I’ll be visiting later, and there’s some things I’d like you to investigate for me before I arrive. All of that is recorded in this talisman.

“When I arrive in the White Reed Province, so long as you carry this talisman on your person, I’ll be able to make contact with you.”

Qi Fufeng solemnly accepted it and nodded his agreement. Then he asked, “And what will you do, Sovereign?”

“Me...?” Su Yi’s eyes flashed with a hint of longing. “First, I plan to have a look around and see what the world’s become. While I’m at it, I’ll break through again.”