First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 446: The Demonic Womb

“Master, that guy’s expression is really unsightly.” Qing Ya noticed Huo Yunsheng and his companions, as well as Huo Yunsheng’s incomparably unsightly expression.

“Don’t talk nonsense,” barked Ling Yunhe.

Huo Yunsheng ignored both master and apprentice, took a deep breath, and repressed the raging fires of his jealousy. He walked right into the palace, smiled, and clasped his fist in greeting. “Senior Apprentice Sister Wen, we’re back.”

Wen Xinzhao grunted distractedly, but she didn’t so much as turn her head to look at him. Instead, she continued asking Su Yi for guidance. “Fellow Daoist, do you think I ought to emphasize tempering my foundations in the Grand Dao?”

Her beautifully contoured eyebrows were utterly focused, solemn, and even expectant, like a good pupil eager for her master to resolve her doubts.

Su Yi said casually, “That’s natural, but more importantly, you need real combat experience. It’s only through combat that you can recognize your own deficiencies and discover the inadequacies of your Dao of the Sword. Only by recognizing your flaws can you effectively improve. I’m sure you understand that already, but knowing something is easier than implementing it. You must put your knowledge into practice with single-minded determination.”

He, too, didn’t so much as glance up at Huo Yunsheng. It was as if he didn’t exist.

The overlooked Huo Yunsheng felt embarrassed and awkward. His expression shifted erratically, and he almost longed for a hole to hide himself in.

Qian Tianlong and Sun Feng almost couldn’t bear to watch.?They were ignoring Huo Yunsheng so egregiously. After that, anyone would feel too embarrassed to show their face, right?

Yet against all expectations, Huo Yunsheng repressed his shame at being ignored, forced a smile, and tried again. “Senior Apprentice Sister Wen, we asked around and heard rumors that two days from now, at the Spiritbend Assembly, they’ll be auctioning off a Demonic Womb from thirty thousand years ago. Are you perhaps interested in it?”

Wen Xinzhao’s painted eyebrows knit together in mild displeasure. “Junior Apprentice Brother Huo, can’t you see that I’m busy asking Fellow Daoist Su about the cardinal principles of the Dao of the Sword?”

That cold tone and impatient attitude were like hammers slamming into Huo Yunsheng’s heart. Even his face turned green, and his heart surged with indescribable shame, rage, and displeasure.

When they saw that the atmosphere was a bit off, Sun Feng and Qian Tianlong hurriedly tried to make peace and led Huo Yunsheng away.

“Fellow Daoist Su, let’s continue.” Wen Xinzhao’s pursuit of swordsmanship was simply obsessive. There was nothing for it; Su Yi’s knowledge and understanding of the Dao of the Sword didn’t just resolve numerous lingering doubts; over the course of their conversation, she often felt enlightened, as if the mists had suddenly parted before her.

It was as if the Buddha had opened a brand-new door leading to an even vaster world.

However, Su Yi waved his hand and said, “Let’s stop here for now. If you ever run out of things to learn at Cloudsky Divine Palace, and so long as you’re willing, I wouldn’t mind becoming your guide to the Dao of the Sword.”

He’d once made a similar offer to Yue Shichan, only for her to refuse him by saying she needed time to think it over.

Now, when he saw the Little Sword Demon’s graceful bearing and sensed her infatuation with the Dao of the Sword, Su Yi couldn’t help but let his love of talent move him.

In simple words, when it came to the Dao of the Sword, this?matchlessly?beautiful young woman had keen eyes and a passionate heart!

As the man who’d once dominated the Nine Provinces of the Wilds with his Dao of the Sword, and as someone pursuing ever greater heights of swordsmanship, how could Su Yi?not?admire her?

“A guide?” Wen Xinzhao’s eyes lit up, giving her stunningly beautiful face an all-new radiance. She said, seemingly in disbelief, “Fellow Daoist Su, are you willing to guide me?”

“I said I was, but only if you’re willing.” Su Yi drank a glass of wine, then admired the young woman’s overwhelming good looks. “However, I’m not taking you on as an apprentice. I’m just going to point you down the right path in your pursuit of the Dao of the Sword.”

Wen Xinzhao nodded in delight. “Your guidance is the greatest blessing I’ve ever received.”

This was no exaggeration.

During their earlier conversation, the wisdom and understanding of the blade Su Yi revealed completely surpassed Wen Xinzhao’s imagination; it practically overturned her perception of the Dao of the Sword!

In her heart, Su Yi was a true paragon of the Dao of the Sword, like a towering mountain she could only look up to.

Not far away, Ling Yunhe sighed.?It’s over! I’m afraid Junior Apprentice Sister Wen’s sword heart has now completely latched onto Su Yi…..

“Martial Aunt, did you let him kidnap you so easily? If the old-timers of Cloudsky Divine Palace find out, I’m afraid they’ll fight Big Brother Su Yi with everything they’ve got!” exclaimed Qing Ya.”

‘Kidnap me’? What’s that supposed to mean??Wen Xinzhao couldn’t help but smile. “Qing Ya, you don’t understand. That Fellow Daoist Su is willing to be my guide to the Dao of the Sword is the type of good fortune that might not come even once in a thousand years!”

Qing Ya giggled and teased her. “Right! You haven’t been kidnapped; you went willingly! If you’re both willing, there’s rejoicing all around. How simply grand!”

Although Wen Xinzhao was infatuated with the Dao of the Sword, she wasn’t ignorant of worldly affairs, and when she heard this, her jade-like face flushed slightly red.

Ling Yunhe was in no mood for jokes. He said with great concern, “Junior Apprentice Sister Wen, what will you do about Cloudsky Divine Palace?” action

Wen Xinzhao hesitated momentarily, then said, “When I get back to the sect, I’ll naturally tell my master about this. Given her temperament and way of handling things, I’m sure she won’t make trouble for me.”

Wen Xinzhao had her own aspirations; Ling Yunhe was in no place to say anything.

She’d only just met Su Yi, yet his bearing and swordsmanship had already won her over. Ling Yunhe almost felt as if he were dreaming; it didn’t seem quite real.

How could this have happened?

They’ve only just met, yet they’re like old friends. Was this an act of fate?

Ling Yunhe didn’t know it, but to someone as fixated on the sword as Wen Xinzhao, obtaining Su Yi’s guidance really was an enormous stroke of fortune, the kind that could only be found by chance but not sought!

In Su Yi’s past life, countless peerless, fairy-like beauties from ancient sects recommended themselves as potential bedfellows, only for Su Xuanjun, the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force, to disregard them completely.

In terms of swordsmanship, throughout the entire Nine Provinces of the Wilds, none surpassed Su Xuanjun!

Ling Yunhe might have thought Wen Xinzhao’s decision careless, but although he didn’t know it, Wen Xinzhao had just seized an opportunity that would make countless sword cultivators red-eyed with envy!

As they conversed, Yuan Heng and Bai Wenqing returned from their trip into the city.

“Master, I exchanged the treasures you entrusted me with for fifty tier-six spirit stones and four hundred and thirty tier-five spirit stones. I asked around, that that price seems fair,” transmitted Yuan Heng as he passed Su Yi a jade storage pendant.

Su Yi nodded.

So many spirit stones were a massive sum for any cultivator, but for Su Yi, even combined with the resources he already had on hand, they were only enough to sustain his cultivation for three months.

Yuan Heng thought for a moment, then added, “Master, while we were in the city, we heard that they’ll be auctioning off a bunch of treasures from thirty thousand years ago at the upcoming Spiritbend Assembly. Of them, the most noteworthy is something called a Demonic Womb. They’re discussing it all over Spiritbend City.”

Su Yi couldn’t help but feel a bit intrigued. “If it’s really a Demonic Womb, no ordinary treasure can compare with it. It’s highly likely that it’s nurturing some unique spiritual lifeform.”

“Big Brother Su Yi, is it possible that the Demonic Womb is still alive?” asked Qing Ya curiously.

“It’s possible,” said Su Yi, his eyes shining with a hint of strange light. “Two days from now, let’s go see it. We’ll know then.”

Only top powerhouses of the demonic path could create Demonic Wombs, and the requirements were incomparably stringent. Anyone who hoped to make one first needed to gather a divine material called “Heavenly Demon Source Essence” to form the core of the womb. Then, after using numerous secret methods to seal it, they nourished the womb in the “source” of a given landscape.

Only then could the spirituality and vitality of the lifeform within receive nourishment, undergo metamorphosis, and evolve.

Simply put, a Demonic Womb was like a mother’s womb. It could nourish divine treasures, but it could also nurture true living things.

For instance, the eggs of divine birds, the cubs of divine beasts, and even human fetuses could all be sealed within the Demonic Womb to receive nourishment and undergo metamorphosis.

In his past life, while exploring an ancient danger zone, Su Yi once obtained a Demonic Womb nourished in a natural source of flames.

A shockingly talented fire demon fetus was growing inside it.

Afterward, that fetus grew up to become Su Yi’s third legacy disciple, Huo Yao!

In short, Demonic Wombs were a rare treasure even in the Nine Provinces of the Wilds.

Yet now, here in the Great Xia’s Southern Skies Province’s Spiritbend City, it seemed someone was auctioning one off. Of course Su Yi was curious. How could he not be?

“Master, we asked around, and to participate in the Spiritbend Assembly, you need one of the city’s three great trading companies’ jointly-issued identification tokens. Otherwise, you can’t get in,” whispered Yuan Heng.

The city’s three great trading companies were the Golden Tripod Trading Company, the Nine Provinces Pavilion, and the Tower of the Four Seas. These were branches of the top trading companies of the Great Xia, all three of which had forces spread across all thirteen of the nation’s provinces.

Each trading company had a powerful backer.

For example, the Nine Provinces Pavilion was backed by the Great Xia’s imperial family.

The identification tokens Yuan Heng spoke of were jointly issued at the three companies’ local strongholds. Each was registered and impossible to counterfeit.

Before Su Yi could respond, Wen Xinzhao smiled faintly. “I came to Spiritbend City for the express purpose of participating in the Spiritbend Assembly. When the time comes, you and Fellow Daoist Su can just come with me.”

It was clear that the famed Little Sword Demon of the Great Xia had an identity token.

“That’s great! I want to see what secrets lie within the Demonic Womb too!” Qing Ya whooped for joy.

….

Spiritbend City.

A restaurant’s private dining room.

“Gu Cangning is a direct-line descendant of the Gu Family, an imperial-level clan from thirty thousand years ago. His grandfather, the Sky-Dominating War Emperor, was one of the Azure Continent’s Nine Emperors. Thirty thousand years have passed since then, and the Gu Family’s forces have disappeared into the river of history. Still, as a Gu clansman who survived the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness and reawakened in the present day, Gu Cangning possesses terrifying strength and trump cards.”

The speaker, a fair, utterly charming woman in a long black dress, whispered, “Alas, he’s unwilling to cooperate with us.”

The woman’s blue eyes were like limpid pools, and their depths shone with a hint of melancholy.

A handsome young man in red robes sat off to the side. He furrowed his brow and said, “Even if Gu Cangning’s origins were even more impressive, now, he’s just another monster of the ancient era, no different from the rest of us. Why are you so dead-set on working with him?”

Were Su Yi here, he’d have recognized this man at a glance. This young man in red was the Nirvanic Winds Holy Son, whom he’d clashed with and almost killed in “Little Ghost City Fengdu”!