First Immortal of the Sword - Chapter 2362 - Ill Tidings
Chapter 2362 – Ill Tidings
After a moment’s silence, Su Yi asked, “What is that taboo treasure called?”
“I don’t know.” Zhang Wushan shook his head. “Sect Leader Mo Xuchou just said it’s a mysterious black rock.”
“A black rock?” Su yi’s eyebrows rose as he committed this description to memory.
Next, he asked, “Why is Mo Xuchou so certain that I’ll go to this Sunset Perch Dao Assembly?”
This question was critical too.
Zhang Wushan’s expression shifted slightly. “Fellow Daoist, surely you haven’t forgotten that Spirit Vessel Yao Court attacked Yan Beixue on Divine Billows Palace’s request?”
Su Yi rubbed his forehead. “Hostages again?”
Zhang Wushan said, “Hostages have always been the most effective way to threaten people!”
He paused, then said, “There’s another reason, too. For instance… Fellow Daoist, can you really tolerate seeing Divine Billows Palace claim Sunset Perch Island for its own?”
Su Yi’s eyes flashed. Everyone knew that Sunset Perch Island had been Yi Daoxuan’s cultivation grounds.
Even if it had long since been reduced to ruin, taking it over was unquestionably the greatest act of provocation Divine Billows Palace could have committed!
Zhang Wushan said, “They might have made other preparations too, but I can’t say for sure.”
He took a secret message out of his sleeve, then proffered it to Su Yi with both hands. “This is the letter Mo Xuchou sent me several years ago. Please, have a look.”
Su Yi waved dismissively. “No need. If you lied to me, I’ll just come back for another visit.”
The crowd’s lips twitched, and their hearts filled with bitterness.
“We’ve agreed to all your conditions. Are you willing to let this go now, Fellow Daoist?” asked Ancestor Hunshan.
“One last thing,” said Su Yi.
“???” The crowd’s eyes widened, and they all lost their cool. Has he just gotten addicted to bullying us? Or is he planning to renege on our agreement?
Su Yi couldn’t help but find this amusing. He could tell that they were nearing the limits of their patience.
He pondered briefly, then said, “Rest assured. I just want to ask you about someone.”
He opened his right hand, and a streak of divine radiance rose, then transformed into a ten-foot-tall figure with protruding lips, shiny, luminescent fur, and glittering golden eyes. He was utterly fierce and imposing.
This was none other than the little monkey!
When they saw him, the crowd was in uproar.
“All of you are prominent experts of the Endless Ocean. I’m sure you’ve seen this person before,” said Su Yi.
Many of them shook their heads.
“He came to the Endless Ocean about two years ago,” said Su Yi. “I’m sure that a yao god like him would have drawn at least some attention even if he kept a low profile. I refuse to believe that you really don’t know anything.”
Su Yi took a sip of wine. “Let’s say this. If you don’t find out where he is, I won’t leave.”
The crowd was instantly flustered.
“Fellow Daoist, please wait. Most of us old-timers live deep in seclusion, seldom heeding worldly affairs. If that yao god appeared in the Endless Ocean, I’m sure that someone in the sect must have seen him,” Ancestor Hunshan said hurriedly. “We’ll go look into this immediately!”
There was no denying it. The experts of Spirit Vessel Yao Court were being extraordinarily cooperative in the name of seeing off their unwanted guest.
Just fifteen minutes later, they had information. Someone really had seen the little monkey before!
Interestingly, it was Luo Yunxiu who’d spotted him.
“Junior Luo Yunxiu greets you, Senior Su. It’s been only a few days since we last saw each other. Seeing you again so soon is truly the blessing of three lifetimes!” Luo Yunxiu approached respectfully. He was far more cooperative than even the sect’s old-timers.
His toadyish, servile demeanor left many of them at a loss for words. Shameless! Truly shameless!
“Tell me in detail where you saw that yao god. If I’m pleased with your answer, you’ll have achieved an act of enormous merit for your sect,” said Su Yi. “I trust that the sect leader will see you in a new light and reward you generously.”
Zhang Wushan hurriedly agreed. “But of course!”
Luo Yunxiu was startled and flattered. His spirits rose, and he said with undisguised delight, “It was half a year ago. I went to visit a friend at Divine Billows Palace, and I just so happened to see a corpse hanging above one of their ritual grounds.”
Here, Luo Yunxiu lowered his head, and the smile faded from his face. “That corpse was the esteemed yao god you’re looking for.”
An oppressive atmosphere descended over the hall.
Everyone could tell that although Su Yi remained outwardly calm, this was a different kind of calm, the kind that filled their hearts with terror and unease.
“He’s… dead?” asked Su Yi.
“That’s most likely the case,” said Luo Yunxiu, suddenly nervous. “At the time, I was curious why they had a yao god hanging there like that. My friend from Divine Billows Palace said that the yao god had been surreptitiously asking questions about the Divine Billows Sage Monarch, only for Divine Billows Palace to set its sights on him.
“Later, they captured and tortured him, but no matter how they interrogated him, they couldn’t get him to reveal his origins or motives.
“In the end, they killed him. They hung his corpse over the ritual ground, revealing him to the public, primarily as bait. They wanted to see whether anyone would come to collect his corpse.
“It was also intended as a warning to whoever stood behind him.”
Su Yi fell silent. No wonder I couldn’t contact the little monkey. He… died months ago…
Self-recrimination, grief, and fury welled in the depths of Su Yi’s heart, then erupted like a volcano.
But he remained outwardly calm.
“All he did was ask about Old Yao Divine Billows, but they tortured and killed him. Divine billows Palace sure is tyrannical…” murmured Su Yi.
The crowd felt an inexplicable chill course down their spines.
Luo Yunxiu said suddenly, “Senior, it’s possible that that yao god isn’t entirely dead. After all, a corpse will just infuriate your enemies, and only living people are worth something as a hostage.”
Su Yi fell briefly silent, then calmed down. Indeed, sometimes excessive concern muddled your rationality.
The little monkey had accompanied him since they’d met in the Immortal Realm’s Epoch Battlefield, and he’d accompanied Su Yi ever since. They’d traveled together through the River of Epochs, the Path of the Ancient Gods, and they’d even come to the God Domain together.
How could Su Yi not be enraged when he learned that something had happened to the little monkey?
No one could ever be truly heartless.
Even Su Yi had his bottom line. He just didn’t fear others’ threats, that’s all.
“You’re right.” Su Yi looked at Luo Yunxiu. “It seems I underestimated you. Should I ever declare war on Spirit Vessel Yao Court, I’ll be sure to spare your life.”
The crowd was once more at a loss for words.
Luo Yunxiu was inwardly mad with delight, but he knew better than to express it. If he did… the old-timers here were sure to get even with him later!
“Enough. This ends here.” Su Yi rose. “Give me the treasures we agreed to, and I’ll leave immediately.”
It was as if they’d received an imperial pardon. All of them sighed in relief.
They’d been terrified that Su Yi would demand something else excessive.
……
Fifteen minutes later, Su Yi left Spirit Vessel Yao Court.
He left with new treasures. The first was the Endless Lightning Golden Bamboo growing in Chaos Lightning Soil.
The bamboo was fully one hundred feet tall, which meant that it was at least a million years old!
Even the Endless Lightning Golden Bamboo it grew in was an unparalleled, precious treasure.
Su Yi carried the Osmanthus Tree of the Toad Palace and the Lord of Sleepless Nights, now in the form of a tea tree, with him. Both could be planted in this soil.
Then there was the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl!
This was an even more extraordinary treasure, and it was wondrously powerful. There was nothing else like it in this world!
More importantly, it was unbelievably useful here in the Endless Ocean.
Although no one knew it, Su Yi had had two real goals for this trip to Spirit Vessel Yao Court.
The first was to ask about the little monkey’s whereabouts.
The second was to acquire the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl!
His other conditions were just bonuses. He’d never really expected Spirit Vessel Yao Court to just tell him where Master Golden Crane was.
The experts of Spirit Vessel Yao Court had gathered by the sect’s gates. They watched as Su Yi vanished into the distance, then gnashed their teeth. “That god of plague finally left!”
“The Endless Lightning Golden Bamboo! The Chaos Lightning Soil! The Sea-Stabilizing Pearl! They’re all gone!” someone roared in grief.
The other old monsters felt as if their hearts were dripping blood.
This price had unquestionably been far too heavy. The most humiliating part was that they hadn’t dared to fight back. They’d instead chosen to lower their heads.
If word got out, they’d become the laughingstocks of the entire God Domain!
Zhang Wushan wasn’t at all happy, either. On the contrary, he felt incomparably stifled.
These were the founder’s arrangements. They weren’t permitted to resist. He’d commanded them to submit!
Were that not the case, they would never have lowered their heads so easily today!
“Sect Leader, just what was in the founder’s third brocade pouch?” someone couldn’t help but ask.
From beginning to end, Su Yi hadn’t opened it. The old monsters couldn’t help but be curious.
Zhang Wushan shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“…”
“I really don’t know. The founder commanded me not to look inside,” explained Zhang Wushan. “But it looks like Su Yi guessed whatever it was, which is why he just took a few external objects and left without causing more of a disturbance.”
He ‘just’ left with a few external items?
‘Just?’
Those were our sect-protecting treasures! They’re irreplaceable!
But when they considered that Su Yi hadn’t actually attacked them, they felt somewhat comforted.
In truth, all of them understood that had a battle broken out, they wouldn’t necessarily have been able to defeat Su Yi. Worse, they’d have suffered massive casualties either way!
One look at Su Yi’s record was more than proof enough.
No one dared to look down on him!
“Sect Leader, are we still going to work with Divine Billows Palace at the Sunset Perch Dao Assembly?” Luo Yunxiu asked out of nowhere.
Everyone’s hearts clenched. All of them looked at the sect leader.
The sect leader had just sold Divine Billows Palace out! Zhang Wushan’s expression shifted erratically. After a while, he said, “We’ll stay out of it and watch tigers fight from afar!”
The crowd instantly sighed in relief. That was the safest way to handle this!
Luo Yunxiu couldn’t restrain his delight. He said eagerly, “Sect Leader, I achieved an act of supreme merit today, right?”
The crowd’s lips twitched. The sect paid such a heavy price, but you’re still hungry for a reward, you punk kid!?
Meanwhile, Su Yi finally opened the Brocade Pouch Master Golden Crane had left him.
