First Immortal of the Sword - Chapter 1465: Targeted By the Gods
Wu Meng was nervous.
The goddess statue was far too sinister. As soon as he touched it, it exerted its terrifying influence on his heart and mind, plunging him into a nightmare of perpetual darkness.
Wu Meng suspected that if Su Yi hadn’t snatched the statue away in time, he would have lost himself to the nightmare completely.
“It’s fine.”
Su Yi raised the goddess statue aloft, quieted his heart, and sensed it.
His mind was instantly under its influence, and he suddenly found himself in a stretch of nightmarish darkness.
It extended endlessly into the distance, and it was cold and empty.
This strange power was dragging Su Yi’s heart and mind further into the darkness.
Su Yi furrowed his brow, then silently circulated the power of reincarnation.
Boom!
The nightmare-scape shook violently as if about to crumble.
But it was then that a woman’s figure appeared amidst the void-like eternal darkness.
She was like an unsurpassed goddess seated on a divine throne, lofty and superior. A jade crown rested on her forehead, and she held a treasure bottle in her outstretched palm, and a black sun shone behind her.
When her gaze landed on Su Yi, his soul trembled.
But then, the Sword of the Nine Hells rumbled and boomed within his sea of consciousness.
Boom!
The endless darkness split, and the woman seated on her divine throne popped like a soap bubble.
“Foredoomed Reincarnator, you’re finally here. It won’t be long before this goddess comes looking for you!”
Su Yi suddenly came back to his senses.
He wasn’t sure when, but the goddess statue had already split into pieces, the fragments sliding between the gaps in his fingers.
You’ll come looking for me? Don’t tell me that gods… can enter the Human Realm too? pondered Su Yi. Well, in any case, there’s just not enough information. I’ll see about that later, I guess.
“Your Eminence, are you alright?” Wu Meng couldn’t help but ask.
Su Yi nodded. “Let’s go.”
He’d come to the Epoch of Demonism with two goals: removing his heart devil and exterminating the Tailor.
Now that he’d accomplished both, he planned to take some time to relax before returning to the stars.
……
The skies were brightly lit.
The Shen clansmen had already returned to their former territory, but it now lay in ruin.
“Mom, our house is gone,” said a little girl with pigtails. She was on the verge of tears.
“Child, all’s well as long as we’re alive.” A woman gently embraced the girl. “Look! Our higher-ups are already rebuilding our home.”
Thousands of Shen clansmen were busying themselves amidst the rubble, all of their faces brimming with delight.
This was the joy of someone who’d survived catastrophe, mixed with longing for the days to come.
To powerful cultivators, restoring a ruined estate was a simple task.
Before long, one building after another rose from the rubble, followed by lakes, halls, and gazebos.
Su Yi watched from a distance, his heart tranquil and at peace.
The Shen Family wasn’t what Shen Mu remembered.
A long, long time had passed. The overwhelming majority of the people Shen Mu remembered had died, including his parents and many of his seniors.
There was no getting around it; it was an awful pity.
But nothing in life was ever perfect.
“When… are you going to leave?” Mu Zijin couldn’t help but ask.
After Lady Snowjade took her hostage, she was confined to the dungeons, her whole body covered in wounds. She’d looked utterly wretched.
But now, her wounds had healed, and a new pale green dress adorned her delicate figure. She was a moving sight.
“I have a few arrangements to make first. Once they’re in place, I’ll head back.” Su Yi turned to look at Mu Zijin, then teased, “I’m only just realizing now that you originally folded that paper crane for Shen Mu.”
The owner of the Pawnshop of the Heavens loved nothing more than folding paper cranes.
Mu Zijin couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the mention of it. “What, are you jealous of Senior Apprentice Brother Shen?”
Su Yi shook his head. “How could I be?”
When he met Mu Zijin in the WIlds, she had a fiery temper, like a raging storm. She was tyrannical and violent to the extreme, and she frequently gave Su Yi a headache. There was even one time he’d been so angry that he almost burned her pawnshop down.
But when Su Yi thought back to these incidents, he couldn’t help but feel nostalgic.
Back then, he was still the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force. He was the sole sovereign of the Wilds, and he could go wherever his heart took him. He was far more relaxed than Su Yi was now!
“What about you? Will you return to the stars?” asked Su Yi.
Mu Zijin shook her head. “No, I… I want to watch over the Shen Family.”
Su Yi patted her shoulder and said seriously, “Shen Mu was a fool. Don’t cling to his memory forever; he isn’t worth it. Just forget about him and focus on your cultivation. Do what makes you happy. Don’t mistreat yourself.”
The rims of Mu Zijin’s eyes reddened, then misted with tears.
But then, she took a deep breath and broke into a radiant smile. “I’ve understood for a long time that Senior Apprentice Brother Shen Mu is gone. Going forward? I’ll just run my pawnshop, shuttling across different worlds and planes, living free and at ease!”
Su Yi laughed. “That’s for the best.”
He’d already learned that Mu Zijin had indeed found out about Shen Mu’s reincarnation from Lady Snowjade and the Tailor. It was also they who’d helped her cross the River of Spacetime—so that they could use her to find him, of course. That was how Mu Zijin first appeared in the Wilds.
“Right, back then, how were you so certain that I was Shen Mu’s reincarnation?” asked Su Yi.
“A woman’s instincts,” said Mu Zijin. “You and Senior Apprentice Brother Shen Mu are completely different, but in one way, you’re startlingly similar.”
“What way?” Su Yi said with surprise.
“When it comes to cultivating the Dao of the Sword, you both possess the purest, staunchest of sword hearts!” said Mu Zijin. “There are too many sword cultivators in this world to count, but when it comes to pursuit of greater heights of swordsmanship, you and Senior Apprentice Brother Shen Mu were like two peas in a pod.
“The moment I first laid eyes on you, I couldn’t help but recall my senior apprentice brother. At the time, I still wasn’t certain that you were his reincarnation. It was only later, as I gradually got to know you, that I was increasingly certain that you and the Senior Apprentice Brother I once cultivated alongside were one and the same.
“But it’s a pity…” Here, Mu Zijin’s gaze turned bleak, and she sighed, “That woman cost Senior Apprentice Brother Shen his life…”
Su Yi instantly understood. Mu Zijin undoubtedly understood Shen Mu better than just about anybody. It was for this reason that the Tailor thought she stood the best chance of recognizing Shen Mu’s reincarnation! That was why he’d chosen to use her!
“This is for you.” Su Yi passed Mu Zijin a jade slip. “If you run into trouble you cannot resolve on your own, shatter it.”
The jade slip contained a Ten Thousand Demons Imperial Talisman.
With it, she could command Wu Meng, Bai Tuo, and the others to resolve her difficulties.
Mu Zijin straightforwardly accepted it. “I’ll keep it with me at all times.”
Su Yi left that very day. Wu Meng transformed back into a Three-Legged Demon Crow and carried him to the Ancient Wilds Demon Mountains.
She watched Su Yi fade from view, then muttered to herself, “Su Xuanjun, you and Senior Apprentice Brother Shen are the same person. In my eyes, if you’re alive, then Senior Apprentice Brother Shen is alive too. That… is enough for me…”
As she spoke, tears silently poured down her cheeks.
Seth’s Thoughts
Short chapter, not sure why