FIRST IMMORTAL OF THE SWORD

Chapter 992 - One of Two Paths

They were master and apprentice, yet they were killing each other. What kind of cruel irony was that?

Ye Luo’s heart filled with grief and pain too great to express in words.

In his eyes, their master had never once mistreated any of his disciples.

His seventh disciple, Xuan Ning, was a bit dim. After joining the sect, his cultivation lagged far beyond his sectmates, and he often felt poorly about himself.

Yet his master said that Xuan Ning’s diligence made up for his failings, and that a great talent matured slowly.

Rivers didn’t strive to outpace others. Instead, they strove for an endless flow. The same went for cultivating the Grand Dao.

Then there was Ye Luo’s fifth senior apprentice brother, Wang Que. Wang Que had walked a bumpy road, and he carried the weight of a blood debt.

It was their master who helped him gather information in secret. He paved the way for Wang Que to realize his goals, get revenge, and undo the knots in his heart.

Then there was Ye Luo’s second senior apprentice brother, Jing Xing. He was agreeable, modest, and polite by nature, and he detested killing. Once, while he was out wandering, some old-timers of the demonic path used “discussing the Dao” as a pretense to bully him.

When their master learned of this, he flew into a rage, beating those old devils until they bled and cried for their mommies and daddies.

It was this incident that earned the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force a new nickname: the "mother bear"!

But it wasn’t just Jing Xing, Xuan Ning, or Wang Que. Which of his disciples hadn’t he treated like his own flesh and blood?

Setting the others aside, their master had brought Huo Yao back to the sect as an infant. He kept the young Huo Yao by his side, guiding and teaching him. He’d never neglected him!

Everyone in the Grotto of Abstruse Force knew that.

Now, seeing Huo Yao kneel on the ground and beg frantically, Ye Luo felt a complicated mixture of emotions.

He felt no pity. Huo Yao simply seemed tragic and pitiful!

“Master, your disciple was wrong! I’ll never do it again!” Huo Yao’s eyes overflowed with tears, and snot dripped from his nose.

After a moment’s silence, Su Yi said, “Did you come to the Netherworld of your own accord, or at Pi Mo’s orders?”

Huo Yao hesitated, then said, “It… It was Eldest Apprentice Brother’s decision.”

“How were you certain that I’d come to the Burial Ground of the Dao?”

Huo Yao said in a low voice, “Your disciple captured that inheritor of the Ghost Lantern Sarcophagus Bearer lineage, and he gave me some leads. Also, I learned from the Peach Haven Mountain Monarch that you once explored the Burial Ground of the Dao, and that you spent three years trapped there. From this, I inferred that had you truly reincarnated, you would be sure to come to the Burial Ground of the Dao as soon as you learned that it had re-entered the world.”

“And where is the Peach Haven Mountain Monarch now?” asked Su Yi.

Huo Yao lowered his head. “He suspected me of having ulterior motives, and he fled shortly after arriving in the Burial Ground of the Dao. He ventured into the depths of the Mausoleum of the Gods, and… there’s been no sign of him ever since.”

Su Yi fell silent once more.

A long time passed before he said, “I’ll let you choose one of two paths. Your first option is to cripple your own cultivation. After that, neither of us will owe any further debts to each other, and we’ll have nothing to do with one another.”

Huo Yao’s expression changed dramatically. He said frantically, “And the second option?”

Su Yi’s expression showed neither joy nor sorrow as he said flatly, “I cripple you personally.”

Boom!

Huo Yao felt as if he’d been struck by lightning, and his kneeling figure quivered.

He’d once commanded the wind and clouds, traveling the Wilds without fear and basking in endless wealth and glory. No matter where he went, he welcomed endless praise and flattery.

But if his cultivation was destroyed, that’d be like falling from the clouds and into an endless abyss. Everything he had would go up in smoke!

Who’d be willing to accept such a disparity?

Huo Yao seemed to break down. He rasped, “Isn’t that punishment tens, no, hundreds of times crueler than simply killing me? Wouldn’t that be a life worse than death?”

“No! Even if I die, there’s no way I’ll accept a fall into mortal dust, clinging to life in degradation!” He suddenly looked up and stared at Su Yi, eyes bulging, bloodshot, and full of explosive ferocity. “Master, your disciple has already sincerely repented. I regret what I’ve done, so why… why not give your disciple an opportunity to turn over a new leaf?”

His voice was already full of madness.

Su Yi just looked at him in silence. He didn’t utter so much as a single word.

Huo Yao seemed to sense the incontrovertible determination beneath Su Yi’s composed exterior, and he completely broke down, bursting into laughter. “Very well. Master, if you want to kill me, go right ahead! Then, everyone in the Wilds will know just how cruel and heartless you are!”

Ye Luo’s brow tightly furrowed, and he couldn’t help but say, “Master, please let me send Huo Yao on his way!”

His heart was full of anger too great for words.

A traitor to his sect, someone who mere moments prior had brazenly attacked his master, had now turned around and accused his master of heartlessness? How absurd was that? And how depraved?

“Don’t get involved.” Su Yi took a deep breath and suppressed the disappointment filling his chest.

He no longer hesitated.

His hands formed a seal, and he pressed down on Huo Yao’s forehead.

Boom!

Huo Yao’s Profound Serenity Realm cultivation base instantly shattered and dissipated into smoke.

His originally handsome face instantly aged countless years, and his skin dried up and lost its luster.

“My cultivation! My cultivation!!” The disheveled, bedraggled Huo Yao shrieked hysterically, “Su Xuanjun, you’re ruthless! I understand. You’re venting your hatred by tormenting me, trampling me, and making me live a life worse than death!!”

Su Yi said softly, “Your hatred of me has long since become your heart devil, so you might as well forget about all of it.”

As he spoke, he placed his right index finger between Huo Yao’s eyebrows.

The Soul-Stripping Incantation!

This was a secret soul art from Meng Po Palace’s supreme legacy. It could erase an opponent’s memories and manipulate their heart!

A long time passed before Su Yi lowered his finger.

Huo Yao fell to the ground, limp, unconscious, and entirely unaware of his surroundings.

“Master, why not just give him a quick, clean death?” Ye Luo couldn’t help but ask.

“We were once master and apprentice, and I’m the one who raised him. No matter how disappointed in him I may be, it’s hard to strike the killing blow.” Su Yi sighed.

Ye Luo couldn’t help but fall silent, and his heart churned with emotion. That traitor Huo Yao’s betrayal hurt him to the core, but Master still couldn’t bear to end his life.

How could Ye Luo not be moved?

“I’ve already wiped away all his memories of me. Going forward, I’ll just let him live or die in the mundane world.” Su Yi took a deep breath and said, “I’ll just pretend I no longer have such a disciple.”

He then ordered Ye Luo to take Huo Yao away. Once they left the Sea of Bitterness, they’d leave him amidst the boundlessly shifting mortal dust.

Ye Luo nodded his assent.

Clang!

Su Yi put away the Scarlet Dome of Heaven, then looked at the distant Gu Ziming.

Pi Mo’s disciple had long since been terrified out of his wits. He was overcome with panic, and when he sensed Su Yi’s gaze, he immediately lowered his head to the ground and stammered, “Founder, please, show mercy and spare my life!”

“You guessed who I was a long time ago, didn’t you?” asked Su Yi.

Gu Ziming said in a quavering voice, “Earlier, it was only a guess.”

“Why don’t the others know?” asked Su Yi.

Gu Ziming hesitated, but Ye Luo answered on his behalf. “Master, in the years since Eldest Apprentice Brother established the Abstruse Force Alliance, he’s continuously used your name to rally his supporters. Never mind the other members of the alliance; even Eldest Apprentice Brother’s disciples call themselves disciples of the Grotto of Abstruse Force.

“Furthermore, they respect and admire you above all others. If the others found out that the ‘enemy’ they were after today was you, I’m afraid their ranks would have long since descended into chaos.”

Here, Ye Luo’s expression filled with self-deprecation. “When I came to the Netherworld, even I had no idea that you were the person Huo Yao was putting so much effort into defeating.”

Su Yi instantly understood. “So, throughout the Abstruse Force Alliance, only a select few know of Pi Mo’s betrayal?”

Ye Luo said glumly, “That’s most likely the case. They kept me in the dark too. Eldest Apprentice Brother always insisted that Little Apprentice Sister betrayed you by seizing the Grotto of Abstrue Force and monopolizing everything you’d left behind. Who’d have thought that…”

He let out a long sigh, and his words trailed off.

Su Yi suddenly asked, “Knowing what you know now, do you think your little apprentice sister is really a traitor like Pi Mo told you?”

After a lengthy silence, Ye Luo shook his head. “After everything I’ve experienced today, and after seeing Huo Yao and Eldest Apprentice Brother’s true nature for the first time, I dare not say.”

There was no doubt about it: all of this had dealt an enormous blow to Ye Luo.

Su Yi, meanwhile, looked at Gu Ziming once more. “You obviously already guessed my identity, but you still dared attack me. You really are brazen.”

Gu Ziming seemed to realize that this didn’t bode well, and he frantically begged, “Founder, please, spare me! Everything I did today was on Martial Uncle Huo Yao’s orders. He….”

But Ye Luo coldly interrupted him before he could finish. “How dare you make excuses? You’re truly deserving of death!”

Splurt!

With a swing of his sleeves, his heavy wooden sword flew into the air and killed Gu Ziming where he stood.

Su Yi paid none of this any heed. He stared at the distant bronze temple in silence for a while, then looked away and ordered, “Clean up and let's be on our way.”

“Yes, sir!”

Neither master nor apprentice had any desire to stick around any longer, so they picked up the unconscious Huo Yao and left.

Silence soon returned to the mysterious, forbidden Divine Cave of the Six Paths.

……

Outside the Divine Cave of the Six Paths.

The radiant full moon still hung overhead, casting misty moonlight on the world below.

After they emerged, Su Yi let out a breath of turbid air, as if to dispel the despondency pent up in his chest.

“Master, you needn’t grieve for a traitor like Huo Yao. In your shoes, I’m afraid I would have cut him down in a rage a long time ago,” said Ye Luo. “Besides, our reunion is a truly joyous occasion. You don’t know this, but after I learned of your passing, I had a complete mental breakdown. I hid myself in uninhabited territories and wept my heart out on multiple occasions. Seeing you now, it seems you’re even more impressive than before. There’s no need to even explain how happy and excited I am.”

Su Yi was briefly stunned. Then, a faint smile rose unbidden to his lips. “But why do I recall someone stubbornly trying to steal my Threelives Rebirth Stones not long ago in the Sea of Bitterness?”

Ye Luo instantly felt awkward to the extreme. Thinking back on it now, he felt that he’d been a complete fool!

Seeing this, Su Yi’s low spirits improved considerably.

“Let’s go. Come with me to the Mausoleum of the Gods.”

With that, Su Yi put his hands behind his back and strode into the distance.

Huo Yao had told him that not long after the old rooster arrived in the Burial Ground of the Dao, he jumped into the Mausoleum of the Gods. Su Yi couldn’t help but worry about him.

After all, even at the pinnacle of his past life, he still got stuck in the Mausoleum of the Gods for three whole years!