First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1311 - A Lead to Ol’ Wei

The light of the setting sun illuminated the scattered vegetation.

As the crows beat their wings and flew away, a cultivator arrived, a bony old man with a sparse head of hair.

He was dressed in long, bright red robes, with an angled sword scar cutting across his nose and forehead. It almost looked like a centipede lying on his face, and it made him extraordinarily hideous.

As soon as the old man arrived, he fixed his icy gaze on the distant Su Yi and asked in a raspy voice, “Temple Master, do you remember me?”

Su Yi turned to face him, then gazed intently at him briefly before furrowing his brow. “Who are you?”

“You don’t recall?” the old man asked with a self-deprecating laugh. “But then, that makes sense. They say great men have short memories. Furthermore, at the battle of Divine Ocean Pass, I couldn’t block even a single one of your strikes.”

“Oh,” said Su Yi.

The old man in red couldn’t take it anymore. “Do you remember me now?”

Bone-deep hatred appeared on his face.

“I don’t,” said Su Yi with a shake of his head.

“....”

A moment later, he pointed at the scar on his face with shame and indignation. “You gave me this scar! You... actually forgot?”

He was whole-heartedly focused on revenge, but his enemy didn’t even remember who he was. What could possibly have hurt more than that?

Su Yi struggled to recall. “All I remember is that during the battle of Divine Ocean Pass, I slew thirty-nine self-proclaimed ‘extraordinary’ old-timers, as well as over a hundred shrimp and other small fish. Were you... perhaps one of them?”

“Shrimp and...small fish?” Veins bulged on the red-robed elder’s forehead, and his expression darkened.

“Old-timer, don’t tell me you’ve come here just to humiliate yourself?” Wei Shan couldn’t help but laugh.

The red-robed elder took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. “Fine. Call me a little shrimp and forget about me if you want. I don't care. I only have one reason for coming here.”

“Let’s hear it,” said Su Yi.

The old man in red suddenly laughed. “Temple Master, do you wish to know of Ol’ Cripple Wei’s whereabouts?”

It was as if Wei Shan had been struck by lightning. His face filled with disbelief, and his voice quavered. “My foster father... isn't dead!?”

Su Yi couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows. He could never have anticipated that response. After taking a moment to steady his heart, he said, “Tell me, is Ol’ Wei really still alive?”

The red-robed old man threw back his head and laughed, seemingly perfectly calm. “Want to know? Very well. I heard that the Temple Master has never lowered his head to anyone, but I don’t believe it. Lower your head and beg, and I’ll tell you immediately.”

The depths of Su Yi’s gaze flashed with cold light, but just as he was about to say something, the old man in red warned him, “If you dare attack me, I promise you won’t learn anything at all!”

Wei Shan bellowed, “Old Bastard! Are you truly unafraid to die?”

The red-robed old man laughed coldly. “If I were afraid of death, I would never have come here!”

He then gazed at Su Yi. “Temple Master, it’s time to make your choice!”

“You think spouting a bit of nonsense is enough to make me lower my head?” Su Yi suddenly took a step toward the old man in red.

Formless pressure spread out around him, enveloping the dusk on all sides. The fallen leaves rustled, and the landscape swayed.

The old man’s expression shifted. “I dared come here. How could I possibly just be here to mess around? Stop right there! Come any closer, and you can forget about learning of Ol’ Cripple Wei’s fate in this lifetime!”

He gripped a talisman and prepared himself for battle.

Su Yi didn’t stop. He just continued ahead, entirely unperturbed. “You know that I’ve never lowered my head to anyone, so you ought to know that I’ve never feared others’ threats. If you’re willing to cooperate, tell me why you’re really here. If you don’t want to cooperate...”

The old man in red caved before he could finish, seemingly unable to withstand that terrifying pressure. “I’ll speak!”

Only then did Su Yi stop, take out and drink from a jug of wine, and laugh, “So, that’s all your courage amounts to.”

The red-robed elder’s expression was unsightly, shifting, and uncertain. Still, in the end, he dared not cause trouble.

He gnashed his teeth and said, “I came here on orders. I’m to invite you somewhere. When you arrive, you’ll naturally learn of Ol’ Cripple Wei’s whereabouts.”

“Whose orders are you acting on?” asked Su Yi.

The old man in red shook his head. “I’m just an errand boy. If you come with me, you’ll naturally find out who’s behind this.”

Su Yi’s eyebrows rose. “Then I’ll ask you this. Is Ol’ Wei still alive?”

This time, the old man’s answer changed. “I... don’t know either.”

“Dammit! Were you just messing with us!?” Wei Shan cursed.

The old man in red said coldly, “We’re using the old cripple to invite the Temple Master to join us. That naturally implies he’s still alive. Were he dead, how could he be of any use?”

Su Yi said directly, “Where do you want me to go?”

He turned, then shot into the distance.

But a moment later, a large hand wrapped around his throat. His body stiffened, and he cried out in rage and alarm, “Temple Master, what’s the meaning of this?”

It was naturally Su Yi who’d grabbed him.

Su Yi said plainly, “I don’t like being restricted. You found us, and you’re surely after something. In that case, you should be good and show yourselves.”

With that, he relaxed his grip on the red-robed man’s throat and patted him on the shoulder. “Tell whoever sent you that I’ll be waiting here. If he’s not here by morning, forgive me for not waiting any longer. Go on.”

The red-robed man had yet to settle down. “You... Aren’t you afraid that if you cast aside all pretenses of cordiality, you’ll never learn of Old Cripple Wei’s whereabouts?”

Su Yi said plainly, “It’s just as you said. A dead man isn’t worth exploiting. If you’ve taken Old Wei captive, there’s no way you’ll kill him until you’ve achieved your aims.”

After a moment’s silence, the old man in red turned and left without another word.

This time, Su Yi didn’t stop him. It was only after watching the old man in red fade into the curtain of darkness that Su Yi retracted his gaze.

“Young master, aren’t we going to chase him?” Wei Shan couldn’t help but ask.

“If we did, how would that be any different from accompanying him there?” said Su Yi. “We only just returned home, yet our enemies are already upon us, and they’re using Old Wei to threaten us. This time, our enemies... are obviously extraordinary.”

Here, he sighed in apparent relief. “But this is still good news. At the very least, this means that Old Wei is most likely still alive. That’s enough.”

Wei Shan froze. He too felt his heart course with emotion. It was true; it would have been much harder to accept if his foster father had died during their earlier crisis.

“Young Master, should we just wait here then?” asked Wei Shan.

Su Yi subtly inclined his head, took out his wicker chair, and sat down. “Let’s just wait quietly until the time comes.”

He then took out a jug of wine and started drinking. Bathed in the fiery light of dusk, he seemed utterly peaceful and composed.

Wei Shan watched, and soon, he too had calmed down completely. He stood silently to Su Yi’s side.

“Actually, I do recall who that guy was,” said Su Yi. “During the battle at Divine Ocean Pass, the Six Extremes Demon Monarch led a group of Cosmic Enlightenment World Kings in placing a trap for me. That old man was one of the Six Extremes Demon Monarch’s subordinates.

“I was in a hurry then, so after killing my way through their encirclement, I rushed off instead of stopping to kill every last one of my enemies. He must be one of the survivors.

“I just don’t understand why he’d come looking for me now of all times. Didn’t the Six Extremes Demon Monarch and the Heaven’s Blood Demon Sect fall a long time ago?” Su Yi couldn’t help but furrow his brow.

The Six Extremes Demon Monarch was once an extremely powerful existence, but he’d died brutally beneath the Temple Master’s sword during the battle of Divine Ocean Pass.

Word of the battle took the world by storm, causing widespread commotion.

Afterward, the Six Extremes Demon Monarch’s peak Demonist orthodoxy, the Heaven’s Blood Demon Sect, was like a pack of dragons without a leader. They said that when a tree fell, its monkeys scattered, and indeed, it wasn’t long before the sect collapsed.

“I’m curious too. I’ve been wandering the stars all this time, but I haven’t heard anything about the Heaven’s Blood Demon Sect rising from the ashes,” said Wei Shan. “We should have kept that guy here to question him.”

Su Yi laughed. “He was just an errand boy. I’m sure whoever sent him didn’t tell him any of the inside story so he couldn't leak it. I can say with certainty that we wouldn’t have learned anything even if we’d searched his soul.”

Wei Shan thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

The skies gradually darkened as the dusk receded and the curtain of night fell.

The distant All Willow City was thoroughly lamplit, illuminating the night skies. It was indistinct, but the sounds of lively city streets emanated from afar.

This only made Su Yi and Wei Shan’s location seem all the more desolate.

Time slipped by.

In the wee hours of the morning, dark clouds suddenly enveloped the dome of heaven, blotting out the stars. An oppressive atmosphere permeated the surrounding area.

Wei Shan felt a chill on his skin. He suddenly raised his head and looked into the distance.

Fog spread through the darkness of the night as a figure silently shifted through the air. He was headed right toward them.

He was a man in black, his face obscured beneath a copper mask. He was tall and thin, and he made no effort to hide his presence.

With every step he took, space seemed to condense beneath his feet. He arrived in the blink of an eye.

A solemn look appeared on Wei Shan’s face, and he readied himself for battle.

In stark contrast, Su Yi remained sprawled out in his wicker chair, his eyes closed as if in slumber.

“This is Ol’ Cripple Wei’s jade pendant,” said the man in the copper mask. He stood in the air a thousand feet away and flung the pendant.

Wei Shan silently circulated a secret art and caught the pendant. After confirming that it wasn’t a threat, he examined in closely.

Moments later, he took a deep breath and said gravely, “Young Master, this really is Foster Father’s Heart-Nourishing Jade Pendant.”

Su Yi silently opened his eyes, then gazed at the distant man in the copper mask. “Tell me your conditions.”

The masked man obviously wasn’t the type to waste words. “Come with me.”

His demands were the exact same as the man in red.

But a moment later, the masked man added, “If you don’t come, the old cripple is dead beyond a doubt.”

His voice was calm, but his tone was incontrovertible.

Wei Shan’s heart shook, and he subconsciously glanced at Su Yi.

Only to see Su Yi rise from his chair, his gaze calm, without so much as the slightest ripple of emotion. “It seems you aren’t the true person behind this. Go back and tell whoever you work for that if they want to discuss terms, they should bring Old Wei to see me. If Old Wei dies, I’ll kill every last one of you.”

“Little Wei, let’s go.” With that, Su Yi put away his wicker chair, turned, and left.

The man in the copper mask was stunned. Is this guy... really impossible to threaten!?