First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1504 - A Karmic Backlash

A’Cai thought for a moment, then understood.

“Earlier, the lightning pool was covered in what I suspect was the power of a god, and that fish hook treasure was embedded in the grass’s roots. From this, it’s clear that a god really did set his sights on the grass a long time ago!” said A’Cai. “Just now, when he tried to pick the grass, we obviously startled the god into action. That’s why he attacked us and tried to claim the Heaven-Adjudicating Grass.”

Su Yi inclined his head. “That’s most likely the case.”

“Fellow Daoist Su, could you tell where that thread on the fish hook went?” asked A’Cai.

Su Yi mulled that over, then said, “That fine thread most likely passed through the void and between time and space. Furthermore, if a god really placed that hook here, it's highly likely that they are at its far end!”

A’Cai’s beautiful eyes were instantly solemn. A god intervened earlier!?

“But I can say with certainty that whoever they are, they can’t enter the Domain Boundary Battlefield. All they could do was use that thread and fish hook to reel in the Heaven-Adjudicating Grass. It’s like fishing at the edge of an abyss; the angler sits on the shore, not daring to enter those deep waters recklessly,” Su Yi said quickly.

As he spoke, he removed the hook embedded in the grass. It really looked no different from an ordinary fish hook, except that it was almost translucent and as thin as an ox hair.

When Su Yi’s fingertip brushed against it, he felt a stabbing pain. A bead of blood dripped from his finger, only for the fish hook to absorb it immediately!

The power he had protecting his body wasn’t enough to block it!

Weng!

The fish hook silently lit up, and an extremely ethereal figure emerged.

He was a thin old man in plain cloth robes. His hair and beard were coarse, and the endlessness of outer space was reflected behind him. It was as if hundreds of millions of stars were orbiting around him.

“This...” A’Cai was inwardly solemn, and she prepared to meet a powerful foe.

The old man in plain cloth robes was incomparably ethereal, but the aura emanating from him was terrifying beyond imagination!

His gaze was as deep as an abyss, and he spoke with the dignity and majesty of a god issuing a divine decree.

“You dare seize this deity's treasure? I don’t care who you are! You’ll one day face a karmic tribulation for this!”

Su Yi’s eyes shone with a hint of disdain as he threw an explosive punch.

Bang!!

The old man in undyed robes exploded into a rain of light and disappeared.

“????” A’Cai looked baffled.

Su Yi muttered, “The old codger was just a wisp of the real thing’s aura, not even a real avatar of will. There’s no need to even take him into account.”

A’Cai’s gaze was strange.

Even if it was just a wisp of aura, it surely originated from a true god! No ordinary cultivator could have shaken it. Yet Su Yi had shattered it in a single punch!

“This fish hook is extraordinary. I suspect it's forged of true divine materials,” murmured Su Yi.

It was dull and lustrous, without the slightest trace of any energy fluctuations. But to Su Yi’s surprise, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t shatter it! Furthermore, after examining it, he could tell that its materials were even more wondrous than those used by immortals.

“Fellow Daoist, if you like it, you might as well hold onto it,” A’Cai said with a charming smile.

By now, she understood full well that if not for Su Yi, she could never have seized the Heaven-Adjudicating Grass a god had long since set his sights on!

“In that case, I won’t be polite,” said Su Yi. He took out the Divine Replenishment Furnace and tapped the air.

The furnace rumbled and boomed as it started absorbing the Void Annihilation Immortal Lightning essence from the pool.

A’Cai stood to the side, staring intently at the furnace. From time to time, she snuck glances at Su Yi, as if she were pondering something.

......

The boundless River of Epochs traversed the endless void.

A thin figure sat cross-legged on a platform built on the riverbank. He was dressed in plain cloth robes, and his hair and beard were unkempt.

A vision of the endless starry sky appeared reflected behind his head. Millions of stars orbited within it, making him seem like their unsurpassed sovereign.

He’d placed a black fishing rod in front of him. It was about thirty feet long and as thick as an infant’s fist. Its surface was carved with strange and intricate markings of the Laws.

The tip of the fishing rod split into tens of thousands of fishing lines, each as fine as an ox hair. They extended into the River of Epochs.

He sat alone atop a platform, fishing in the River of Epochs!

It was an unquestionably shocking scene.

It seemed the old man had sat there, entirely unmoving, for countless years. He was like a stone statue. No matter how fierce the current, it couldn’t sway him.

Suddenly, the black fishing rod sank.

One of its fishing lines tensed, tilting the entire fishing rod.

The old man silently opened his eyes.

A fish took the bait?

No, that isn’t it! I placed that fishing line in a newly sprouted Heaven-Adjudicating Grass one hundred and eighty thousand years ago.

It still needs another sixty thousand years to grow its fourth leaf. Only then will it reach maturity and become a true Xiantian divine material. Only then can I refine its Xiantian Dao Marking!

Something’s obviously gone wrong.

“Someone actually broke my Karmic Prohibition and seized the Heaven-Adjudicating Grass?” exclaimed the old man in undyed robes.

He raised his fishing pole into the air. The taut fishing line and pole bent, forming an arc.

But a moment later, a loud twang rang out.

The fishing line snapped, and the entire fishing pole shook.

The old man’s expression darkened.

He stretched out his left hand and performed a series of divinations.

“So, the Domain Boundary Battlefield has reappeared between the Human and Immortal Realms. No wonder something unexpected happened!

“But a Cloud Soaring cultivator could never have broken my Karmic Thread, and the Karmic Hook’s power would have crushed them like an ant...”

As he realized this, his gaze grew solemn. He slipped a blood-stained turtle shell from his sleeves and pressed down on its surface, his expression suddenly solemn.

“I’d actually like to see just who it was who dared sever my Karmic Thread and steal my Heaven-Adjudicating Grass!” The old man inhaled, and his gaze as deep as the pits of the netherworld suddenly shone with cold, startling light.

Weng!

A strange power of the laws shot from his fingertips and into the blood-stained turtle shell. The turtle shell quivered, and the bloodstains seemed to catch ablaze. Strange visions rose into the air and flashed by.

The first scene depicted the Domain Boundary Battlefield as a whole, then the First Battleground, then those blood-red wastes. When it zoomed in on the mountain covered in Void Annihilation Immortal Lightning, the old man could dimly discern two figures standing on the mountaintop.

The image was indistinct. All he knew was that they were a man and a woman. But just as the next image was about to appear——

Bang!

The image fell apart, and the blood-stained turtle shell suffered a terrifying impact. It shook violently, and a crack appeared on its surface. The look on the old man’s face shifted abruptly, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Splurt!

Blood splattered the turtle shell a startling shade of red.

The old man’s thin face suddenly seemed much older, and his eyes filled with irrepressible alarm, terror, and rage.

Reincarnation!!

Only the power of reincarnation wasn’t subject to the fetters of karma. It was impossible to divine anything about him with the Xuanwu Divination Shell!

“The Reincarnator! You again!” The old man furrowed his brow, his expression shifting and uncertain.

The turtle shell he carried was called the Xuanwu Divination Shell. It could predict fate and extrapolate cause and effect, letting him glean insight into the workings of karma.

But its divinations sometimes failed.

Especially when it attempted to divine anything connected to the power of reincarnation. Then, it wouldn’t just fail; it’d cause a backlash, too!

In the distant past, the old man in plain cloth robes twice attempted to divine matters relating to reincarnation.

The first time, he damaged his vitality and even his foundations in the Grand Dao. His cultivation almost fell as a result.

It took him close to ten thousand years to just barely recover his vitality.

The second time, he prepared thoroughly before making the attempt, carefully arranging treasures and secret arts to stave off the backlash. He figured that this would be enough to let him divine at least a few hints regarding reincarnation.

Against all expectations, he failed all the same!

Furthermore, his countermeasures and defenses might as well have not existed. He suffered yet another backlash, and it was even worse than the first one!

The bloodstains of the Xuanwu Divination Shell were left over from that backlash. Even now, all these years later, he couldn’t wipe them off.

Furthermore, the Xuanwu Divination Shell had been damaged. One of its corners was corroded. Even now, the thought made his heart ache, and he still nursed a grudge.

But the old man would never have guessed that he’d suffer yet another backlash when trying to divine who had stolen his Heaven-Adjudicating Grass!

Not only had he suffered heavy injuries again, even the Xuanwu Divination Shell had cracked!

How could he not be furious?

“Fortune and disaster go hand in hand, and cause and effect complement each other. I might have suffered heavy injuries, but at the same time, I know the Reincarnator’s whereabouts!” the old man muttered to himself. “Since he’s in the First Battleground, he’s sure to head to the Immortal Realm!

“Back then, those madmen went so far as to unleash a cataclysm upon the Immortal Realm, destroying its pre-existing order, all to impede the Reincarnator’s cultivation. Now, after countless years of dormancy, unpredictable variables are arising in the Immortal Realm....

“All of this means that the Immortal Realm’s future will soon be beyond their control. No one will be able to meddle with its Laws. But knowing that you’re headed to the Immortal Realm is enough for me, Reincarnator! This is initiative!”

At this thought, the fury on the old man’s face receded, silently giving way to an inscrutable grin.

He sank into thought, then took out a talisman and waved it gently in the air.

Kcch!

The talisman suddenly caught ablaze, and before long, a curtain of light floated forth.

It reflected a prostrating figure. He said respectfully, “Your servant, Sun Xiaocheng, greets his god!”

He was a dignified middle-aged man in golden purple robes that gave him a majestic air.

Except now, he was nothing more than a pious devotee prostrating before his god. His voice was as humble and subservient as could be, and it was tinged with fanaticism and excitement!

“How is the faction I ordered you to establish coming along?” asked the old man in undyed robes, as majestic as a sovereign.

That prostrating figure said respectfully, “Divine Venerate, the faction your subordinate leads, Immortal Cloud Manor, has already unified three provinces of the Immortal Realm. We’re a first-rate faction by the standards of the Immortal Realm!”