First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 837: The Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow

The Cui Family’s Northview Pavilion.

“So, the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow is headed toward Ziluo City.” Su Yi’s eyebrows rose.

Cui Chang’an sighed and grimaced. “That’s most likely the case. During the Lantern Festival forty-five thousand years ago, the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow appeared near Ziluo City. According to the ancestors of the Cui Family, that jinx either bears an ancient grudge against the Bureau of Adjudication, or against the Infernal Palace as a whole.

“Uncle Su, as I’m sure you’re aware, Ziluo City was once a core territory of the Infernal Palace, while the Bureau of Adjudication was the division of the Infernal Palace with the most blood on its hands. Every time the Lantern Festival arrives, Ziluo City faces the greatest onslaught.”

Su Yi nodded. In ancient times, the Infernal Palace was an organization consisting of numerous great factions.

Of them, the Bureau of Adjudication was charged with meting out justice. They’d killed countless imprisoned terrifying entities.

Although the executed perished and their Daos were extinguished, remnants of their baleful qi, viciousness, resentment, and other such powers had accumulated in Ziluo City over countless years.

It was no exaggeration to say that without the Cui Family to protect it, Ziluo City would have long since been reduced to a forbidden zone full of malevolent power.

Examining the forbidden grounds to the east of the city, the abandoned area around the ruins of the Bureau of Adjudication, was enough to discern this.

“I’m going to go have a look outside the city,” said Su Yi. With that, he rose and headed out.

“Uncle Su, where are you going?” Cui Chang’an couldn’t help but ask.

It was already the tenth day of the seventh lunar month. It was just five days until the Ghost Festival, which in turn meant it was only five days until the millennial Lantern Festival!

But Su Yi wanted to go outside the city at a time like this. Cui Chang’an naturally found this strange.

“I’m going to undergo tribulation and see if I can catch that Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow while I’m at it,” said Su Yi without so much as turning around to look.

Cui Chang’an was stunned. Then, he hurried after Su Yi. “Do you need a dharma protector?”

“No need.”

“But what if…”

“It’s just a tribulation. Why are you so nervous?” As he spoke, Su Yi was already on his way.

Cui Chang’an watched him leave, then sank into silence. After a while, he sighed, “Uncle Su’s current cultivation might still be a bit weak, but his conduct is as proud and contemptuous as before.”

……

“In less than a month, Ziluo City has really emptied out…” As he walked through the empty, desolate streets, Su Yi only saw the occasional pedestrian, all of them in a hurry.

The tea shops and taverns, once gathering places, had all closed their doors.

Su Yi could already guess what had happened, and a mocking smile rose on his lips.

Psychological warfare!

In the days leading up to the Lantern Festival, it would take just a few rumors disadvantageous to the Cui Family to make the passes flee in panic and terror.

This would in turn put pressure on the Cui Family and affect their will to fight.

It was even possible that some of them would plan an escape route and betray the family, much like Cui Weizhong.

One man’s loss was?another’s gain. This hurt the Cui Family, but it was unquestionably advantageous to their enemies.

Su Yi didn’t even need to think to know that the Qu, Hong, and Tantai Families were stirring up waves behind the scenes!

But then, Su Yi didn’t care. Such methods were, ultimately, just petty schemes unworthy of the public eye.

Clashes between cultivators ultimately came down to strength.

The winner was king, the loser, a bandit!

When Su Yi stepped past the city gates, he stopped before the two ancient stone statues.

A Xiezhi and a Bi’an. Even after countless years, they stood there in silence, bearing witness to the world’s changes.

Unlike before, a group of the Cui Family’s elite guards was stationed near the statues, all of them emanating austere, ferocious auras.

Su Yi’s gaze shifted, and he glanced at a spot atop the city walls, seemingly inadvertently. Moments later, he retracted his gaze and continued into the distance.

The walls were covered in an invisible, profound formation.

Two Emperors of the Cui Family were seated within it.

“Did Young Lord Su sense us?” exclaimed a man in white.

“Most likely not. He’s just a Spiritual Incarnation cultivator. Rumor has it that he’s won Jingyan’s affections, which is quite impressive. I’m sure you know how picky she is,” laughed an elder in blue.

“But what’s he leaving the city for?” said the white-robed man with a frown. “Don’t tell me he’s just like the ignorant masses, and that he too thinks the Cui Family is unable to defend Ziluo City? Is he planning to run away?”

The old man in blue froze, and his smile disappeared.

After a while, he sighed. “You can learn a man’s true character in a crisis. After this, Jingyan will surely understand just what kind of person Su Yi is. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

The man in white nodded.

Both were older experts of the Cui Family. They’d already heard that when Cui Jingyan came home, she brought a young man named Su Yi with her.

Even the family head and his wife ordered that Su Yi was to be treated as a distinguished guest, and that no one was to be negligent.

But now, seeing Su Yi disappear into the distance, both men felt he was unworthy of Cui Jingya. How could she fall for a coward like that? He’s a waste of his good looks.

Su Yi naturally had no idea about any of this. When he left Ziluo City, he activated a flight technique and shot through the air, robes billowing around him.

Enough time to brew a cup of tea passed before an uninterrupted stretch of mountains appeared within his field of view.

Redcloud Ridge.

A mountain range roughly one hundred miles across. The numerous peaks were shrouded in mist.

It was the middle of the day, and the light of heaven was radiant.

Su Yi drifted onto a mountaintop deep within Redcloud Ridge.

Su Yi looked around. “Do you think the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow is within the mountains?”

“Hard to say. This type of inauspicious bird is a master of aerial evasion techniques. It comes and goes undetected, and when it senses a threat, it immediately rips open the surrounding space and flees. I’ve never heard of anyone capturing one alive,” said a voice as pleasing as the music of the heavens. The white-haired Po Suo appeared out of nowhere accompanying it. The red dot between her eyes glinted beneath the light of the heavens.

Su Yi nodded. “No matter what, I’ve at least got to try.”

He stepped into the sky and started searching the mountains.

Before long, Su Yi appeared in a clearing next to the corpse of a deer. It had been dead for several days, and it was starting to rot. A putrid smell emanated from the body.

Su Yi, however, examined it seriously.

“Fellow Daoist, what are you doing?” Po Suo scrunched up her nose and asked curiously.

“They say dogs can’t help but eat shit—old habits die hard,” said Su Yi. “No matter how impressive the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow may be, a crow is a crow. It ought?to love eating carrion. I want to see if the deer shows signs of having been nibbled on. I might even be able to figure out if the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow has been here or not.”

“....”

Po Suo found this absurd. She couldn’t even imagine why someone like the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force would do something so ludicrous and juvenile.

This was the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow, a harbinger of disaster. Rumor had it that it was the inauspicious incarnation of calamity. How could he compare it to an ordinary crow?

After a while, Su Yi retracted his gaze and shook his head, seemingly disappointed.

Po Suo couldn’t help but laugh. “There’s no way something like that would work.”

“Forget it. Let’s go.” Su Yi turned to leave, and Po Suo followed.

Shortly afterward.

A crow only about a foot tall appeared beside the deer’s corpse. Its feathers were the serene black of an eternal night, and its eyes were red as blood. Its presence seemed to blend fully with its surroundings; even after it appeared, not even the slightest fluctuation of energy accompanied the reveal.

The crow looked at the rotting deer, its ruby-like eyes flashing with cold light.

Dogs can’t help but eat shit?

Just like crows love eating carrion?

That bastard… really?ought to die!!!

Hm?

Ripples of dark light surged from its wings, and it disappeared into thin air.

Before long, Su Yi and Po Suo returned.

“Fellow Daoist, why did we come back?” asked Po Suo.

Su Yi said casually, “I plan to set a trap. What if the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow can’t resist its urge to eat the rotting deer and shows?up?”

As he spoke, he swooshed his sleeves, and a talisman shot silently into the corpse.

Po Suo looked at him strangely. “Fellow Daoist, I’m afraid anyone with even a modest cultivation base would see through a clumsy trap like that. How could the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow possibly fall for it?”

“I hope it sees through it,” said Su Yi.

Po Suo was stunned, but Su Yi didn’t explain. Without any further delays, he turned and walked off. “Come on, let’s find a place for me to undergo tribulation.”

Despite her numerous doubts, Po Suo followed him.

After both of them faded from view, that black crow appeared silently once more. It stared at the “trap” Su Yi had placed earlier, its blood-red eyes full of wordless confusion.

It was a bit baffled.

As the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow, others typically paled?at the mere mention of its name. Even Emperors were helpless against it.

Yet now, a Spiritual Incarnation Realm youth was stupid enough to set a trap for it inside a hunk of rotting meat, hoping that this would let him track it down…

In that kid’s eyes, am I, the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow, really… that inept!?

So stupid that even a dogshit trap like that can fool me?

No, he did that intentionally. He wanted me to see it. It’s even possible that he’s just trying to provoke me, but… why was he so certain that I’d show up here?

Also, the world’s cultivators all view me as the incarnation of calamity, a harbinger of disaster. They fear nothing more than failing to flee in time. Why is that kid so ballsy as to seek me out? How is that any different from going insane or seeking out one’s own demise?

The crow couldn’t understand it. The more it thought, the more confused it felt. action

However, it dared say with certainty that the spiritual body accompanying the young man in blue had extraordinary origins!

If not for that spiritual body, it couldn’t have been bothered to spare a Spiritual Incarnation Realm young man so much as a single glance.

No matter what, you provoked me, so I ought to teach you a lesson!

Should I have him die undergoing tribulation? That might be a good punishment…

As it pondered, the bird bathed in serene, cold darkness disappeared without a trace.