First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1310 - Former Home

The ancestral garden of the Church of the River of Stars had been flattened!

That very day, word of this incident took the Divine Origin Star Realm by storm, causing widespread astonishment.

The Church of the River of Stars was one of the most famous, powerful factions around. Now, even their ancestral garden had been flattened. This was simply unprecedented, and the resulting storm was vast beyond imagination.

The factions subordinate to the Church of the River of Stars were astonished. They couldn’t even eat or sleep in peace.

It was also that very day that an old-timer of the Church of the River of Stars stepped forth and indignantly rebuked the Temple Master for his despicable behavior in taking advantage of their moment of weakness. He also announced that the Church of the River of Stars had suffered no casualties, and furthermore, that their founder would soon step onto the Path of Transcendence and cut the Temple Master down to avenge this grudge!

When word spread, it shook the star realm once more.

Only then did the general populace realize that it was the Temple Master’s reincarnation who’d destroyed the ancestral garden of the Church of the River of Stars!

“The Temple Master already stands where the wind and waves are at their fiercest, yet he isn’t reining it in or lowering his profile at all. On the contrary, he seems more domineering than ever. Is he... really not afraid of someone getting even?”

Many people found this difficult to believe. After all, throughout the stars, the curtains were already opening on a new era. The long-vanished Path of Transcendence was due to re-enter this world, and Transcendents were sure to become the leaders of this new age!

Furthermore, recently, the stars had practically been boiling over with news of the Temple Master’s reincarnation and return. Even ordinary cultivators knew that someone was stirring up waves from behind the scenes to make the Temple Master the target of countless arrows.

Yet even now, the Temple Master was still this domineering. He wasn’t at all concerned about the changing situation. He’d actually gone and destroyed the ancestral garden of the Church of the River of Stars!

Who wouldn’t have been surprised?

“What good would keeping a lower profile do? Do you really think he can remain uninvolved? That’s impossible!”

“I can see it already. Attempts on the Temple Master’s life will only increase. I just don’t know how long he’ll survive...”

“Agh. Perhaps his death will mark the curtain call of this era?”

......

As the outside world was in uproar, Su Yi and Wei Shan left the Divine Origin Star Realm.

Seven days later.

A flat boat shuttled through the boundless void of outer space, carrying Su Yi and Wei Shan.

“Young Master, that’s the Divine Capital Star Realm up ahead,” Wei Shan said softly. His gaze was complicated and full of emotion.

The Divine Capital Star Realm! It was the greatest of the star realms!

It had numerous rings of light, and they called it the heart of the Eastern Profound Star Domain. It was the star domain’s center, a pure land the Immortal Realm had left behind, one of the four great ancestral origin star realms, and...

This long list of illustrious titles gave the Divine Capital Star Realm endless mysterious flair.

Here, orthodoxies were as numerous as trees in the forest, and countless races lived side-by-side. This star realm was also home to the ancestral lands of the Six Ancient Guardian Clans of the Dao. Moreover, the Eight Great World King Clans, each a famous top powerhouse of the stars, each occupied territory here!

It was no exaggeration to say that the Divine Capital Star Realm was the center of the Eastern Profound Star Domain, and a sacred ground of the Grand Dao in the heart of trillions of cultivators. The rest of the Eastern Profound Star Domain’s star realms couldn’t compare, not even if you added them together. Rumor had it that back in the day, the Divine Capital Star Realm had a path leading directly to the Immortal Realm!

But to Wei Shan, the Divine Capital Star Realm had just one name that mattered: home.

He and the young master were both raised here. It was here that they’d begun their cultivations and explorations, creating far too many memories to count.

At the tail end of the boat, Su Yi silently opened his eyes and gazed into the distance.

An unimaginably massive outline hovered in the distant void. Even gazing upon it from afar, he could only see a corner of it!

Countless celestial bodies slowly revolved around it, and rivers of stars surrounded it. Compared to this massive plane, all of them seemed tiny and insignificant, like grains of dust beneath the foot of a giant.

This was the Divine Capital Star Realm!

Unlike other star realms, which encompassed numerous other worlds and planes both big and small, the Divine Capital Star Realm had just one world: the Divine Capital.

When Su Yi saw it, memories of the Temple Master’s life arose in his heart, one after another. The Temple Master had once explored a great many many star realms, visiting numerous unknown and mysterious lands like a wanderer. But the Divine Capital was the place he was most reluctant to leave behind.

Because this was his home!

“First, let’s have a look at All Willow City,” ordered Su Yi.

“Got it!” said Wei Shan.

......

The Divine Capital was divided into thirty-six provinces. Each province was the size of a massive, independent plane, with boundlessly vast territory.

Aside from the thirty-six provinces, there were numerous mysterious regions, as well as numerous hidden realms and forbidden grounds both great and small. Even at the Temple Master’s former peak, he couldn’t measure the territories of the Divine Capital despite countless years of exploration.

All Willow city was one of thousands of cities in the Red Province.

In the eyes of the cultivators of the Red Province, All Willow City wasn’t at all remarkable. It was even a bit rustic and remote. However, that was only in comparison to the province’s other cities. By the standards of the Azure Continent, it was an entirely different story. Willow Province alone was comparable in size to the entire Great Xia.

Two days later, Su Yi and Wei Shan arrived in All Willow City, travel-worn and covered in dust.

A misty drizzle poured down from the dome of heaven. The streets were bustling and packed with carts, horses, and human traffic. And Su Yi and Wei Shan walked amidst it all, like travelers returning home. The familiar sights brought back memories, and visions of their youths flooded into their minds.

These memories and experiences were the Temple Master’s, not Su Yi's, but they didn’t feel foreign or disconnected from him. On the contrary, the emotions within these memories stirred his heart deeply.

Alas, so much time had passed that although the city remained, it had changed. All Willow City was still All Willow City, but it had long since ceased to match the place Su Yi remembered.

“Do you still remember? There was a brothel there. Every girl was prettier than the one before. I brought you there for a drink, but you were all red-faced and flustered. Even the girls teased you,” said Su Yi, gesturing to a distant restaurant. “Later, you ruthlessly proclaimed that one day, you’d buy the entire brothel and every girl in it.”

Wei Shan froze, instantly awkward. “I was young and impetuous. Why bring that up now? Besides, I was an honest kid, not a dissolute playboy like you. You were so young, but you were already a frequent patron of the city’s brothels.”

“Youths ought to be amorous,” Su Yi said leisurely. “Also, I only went there to drink. I didn’t do anything else.”

The two of them continued further into the city, chatting as they walked. By nightfall, they arrived at a barren, mountainous ground in the eastern district.

A forest of ancient trees towered into the heavens, and numerous run-down buildings lay strewn about. Flocks of crows flew in circles around the branches, letting out grating, harsh cries.

When they arrived here, Wei Shan’s smile disappeared without a trace, replaced by lingering somberness. He said softly, “Young Master, the Glittering Jewel Hidden Realm has been completely destroyed. We... can never go back.....”

A long time ago, an ancient manor stood in this barren, primeval forest. Inside the manor was an entrance to the Glittering Jewel Hidden Realm.

It was there that the Temple Master and Wei Shan grew up. It was their home.

“Has the Glittering Jewel Hidden Realm broken and vanished completely?” asked Su Yi.

Wei Shan nodded, his expression bleak. Back then, a group of mysterious experts invaded the Glittering Jewel Hidden Realm, stirring up a wave of bloodshed. These enemies burned his wife alive.

His foster father, Ol’ Cripple Wei, stayed behind, risking his life to hold their enemies off. Only Wei Shan and his daughter, the then three-year-old A’Jiu, escaped by carving a path of blood. Even after all this time, he had yet to uncover the killers’ origins, or whose orders they were acting upon.

Su Yi stood with his hands behind his back, sitting alone amidst the uninhabited, endless wilderness. Irrepressible murderous intent arose within his heart. The killers had obviously intended to wipe the entire family out to prevent any future trouble!

“I’ll naturally get to the bottom of this and make them pay,” said Su Yi after a lengthy silence. Beneath the light of the setting sun, his clear, handsome face didn’t so much as ripple with emotion.

Suddenly, he heard someone flying through the air.

The crows roosting on nearby branches beat their wings and soared toward the distant setting sun.