First Immortal of the Sword - Chapter 2649 - Who Isn’t a Frog in a Well?

Chapter 2649 – Who Isn’t a Frog in a Well?

It was late at night, but Old Lord Gouchen’s eyes blazed like torches. They seemed capable of illuminating the secrets in the deepest recesses of the human heart.

Su Yi felt intense pressure beneath his gaze. His skin silently tensed.

But he stood there calmly, unflinchingly meeting Old Lord Gouchen’s gaze.

“It seems someone told you a bit about me, but you ultimately aren’t that swordsman. You’re too weak.” Old Lord Gouchen’s gaze silently grew calmer, his eyes as still as lakewater. All of that imposing pressure vanished.

As he spoke, he raised his hand and rubbed his forefinger and thumb together. “Compared to that swordsman, you’re just a little bug. I could easily crush you to death.”

Su Yi said calmly, “You didn’t just come here to boast at me, did you?”

“No, and I didn’t come here to see you,” said Old Lord Gouchen. “It might be grating to the ears, but I’ve always been this way. I disdain to hide my true thoughts.”

He paused, suddenly melancholy. “I should have known you weren’t him. After all… if you were, why would you bother struggling in a shallow pool like the god Domain? You’re no more than a frog in a well. You aren’t even worthy of speaking with me.”

He really wasn’t the least bit polite, and he said exactly what he thought. It might have seemed like he wasn’t deliberately insulting Su Yi, but there was no hiding that blatant disregard.

Rather, it was just as he said. He disdained to hide how he really felt!

“Who beneath the heavens isn’t a frog in a well?” Su Yi asked casually. “You think you stand higher than me and can see further, but to those higher than you, how are you any different from a frog in a well?”

Old Lord Gouchen was briefly stunned, as if moved. He gazed into the dome of heaven and murmured, “It’s true. Who beneath the heavens isn’t a frog in a well? There’s a heaven beyond the heavens, and there’s always someone better out there. The higher I climb, the more I discover how foolish I was in the past.”

After a moment’s silence, he continued. “I came here to tell that sword cultivator that someone has already broken the Eternal Pact he established in the All-Profound Dominion back then.

“The All-Wonder Dominion has changed, too. Some old-timers predict that within just a few years, an unpredictable cataclysm will sweep across creation.”

Su Yi was unwittingly stunned. Someone broke the Eternal Pact of the All-Profound Dominion? Does that mean something bad will happen?

And the All-Wonder Dominion changed, too?

Why say that in just a few years, a cataclysm will sweep across creation?

When Old Lord Gouchen saw Su Yi furrow his brow and sink into thought, he shook his head. “You aren’t him. It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand. Just commit my words to memory. When you become him, you’ll naturally grasp what I’ve told you.”

Although he said that, there was no hiding the disappointment in his voice.

“Why not explain in detail?” pushed Su Yi.

Old Lord Gouchen said calmly, “Seems to me that you ought to be more worried about how you’ll face the Battle for Order.”

He pointed into the heavens. “When I came here, I discovered that countless experts of the River of Destiny have already set their sights on the God Domain.

“They’re… far beyond your ability to contend with, to the point that I can’t for the life of me see how you’ll even survive this,” said Old Lord Gouchen. “But you are, after all, that swordsman’s reincarnation. I’m sure you have cards up your sleeves. Still…”

He looked up and gazed directly at Su Yi. “The current you is far too weak.”

From the very start, he made no attempt to disguise his disappointment in Su Yi’s abilities. That hadn’t changed.

No matter how even-tempered Su Yi was, repeated provocations and blatant disdain weren’t at all pleasant.

“You’re just a shepherd. Who are you to insult me?” Su Yi extended a finger and said, “If we fought at the same level of cultivation, I could pummel you to death one handed. No, I could do it even if you were a level beyond me!”

Old Lord Gouchen was stunned. He gazed at the youthful man in blue robes for a moment before bursting into laughter. “In a fight to the death, who’d restrict themselves to your level of cultivation? When the Battle for Order begins, will those experts from the River of Destiny give you that kind of opportunity?”

Su Yi wasn’t at all moved. “You’re jumping to conclusions. I’m saying that simply to tell you that I won’t become the swordsman you speak of. No, I’m going to surpass him.”

All Old Lord Gouchen had to say to that was, “Oh.”

It was then that an enraged voice said out of nowhere, “Don’t you ‘oh’ at me!”

Old Lord Gouchen then watched in a daze as a rusted sword sheath floated into the air, and the heart devil’s cold laughter emanated from within. “Shepherd, who are you to put on airs? You and Qiyao joined forces back then, and I still trounced you so badly that you pissed and shat yourselves. What right do you have to be so arrogant? Must I recount the way I pummelled you back then to take you down a peg?”

Old Lord Gouchen wasn’t the least bit bothered by this pelting rain of insults. On the contrary, he laughed and applauded. “So, you’re still around after all, swordsman!”

His eyes flashed like torches as he gazed at the sheath, and his smile came straight from the heart.

“You’re mistaken. He died a long time ago. I’m his heart devil!” said the voice within the sheath. “Were he still around, he’d have decapitated you by now. He’d never have wasted his breath like that.”

Old Lord Gouchen looked enlightened. “Ah, so that’s it. In any event, I didn’t make this trip in vain!”

He looked utterly delighted. It seemed he wouldn’t lose his temper no matter how the heart devil insulted him.

“Ah, I get it now,” said the heart devil. “You insulted Su Yi like that to probe me and see if you could provoke me into exposing myself. Am I right?”

Old Lord Gouchen shook his head. “No, I just wanted to see how that swordsman’s reincarnation would respond to my insults and mockery.”

“…” Su Yi didn’t know what to say to that. This old codger sure is insidious!

“I had no idea you’d show up,” sighed Old Lord Gouchen. “That makes this simple. What I said earlier wasn’t just alarmism. All of that is really happening.”

The heart devil said, “Why come all the way here to tell me this? I don’t get it. You’re just a shepherd, and you suffered badly by my hands. Why go to all this trouble?”

After a moment’s silence, “Make it to my real body alive, and I’ll naturally tell you the full story.”

He looked at Su Yi. “Ultimately, he’s just too weak, and you… are just that swordsman’s heart devil.”

With that, he sighed and turned to leave.

As he faded into the sky, his voice emanated from afar. “I brought that black sheep from the River of Destiny. It’s of no further use to me. At most I could use it as a mount. Kill it or spare it, I don’t care. Do as you see fit.”

Then, before his voice had even finished echoing through the air, he vanished from view.

After a moment’s silence, the heart devil said, “Those who offer their aid unsolicited surely have malicious intentions. The Shepherd… is definitely up to something!”

Su Yi rubbed his forehead. “I really don’t understand. Why would someone of his level come all the way to the God Domain just to tell us that? Can you guess?”

“All I can tell you is that the Eternal Pact is like a Law connecting the River of Destiny and the All-Profound Dominion. Those who accept the pact can no longer transgress the Laws and interfere in what happens on the River of Destiny.

“The Eternal Pact maintains a sort of order. It prevents certain old-timers from getting up to trouble.

“The Eternal Pact also touches on a few other secrets, but describing them would be dull, and in any event, they have nothing to do with you.

“In any event, if someone really broke the Eternal Pact like the Shepherd said, that means that someone is no longer subject to it,” the heart devil said gravely. “That’s a bad sign.”

“And what’s the deal with the changes in the All-Wonder Dominion?” asked Su Yi.

“Never mind that. It’s too far removed from you. Besides… how could I possibly know?” the heart devil sighed. “I suspect that the Shepherd was telling the truth, but that his reasons for coming here weren’t nearly as simple as he claims. After all, the Battle for Order will soon begin, yet he left his fields in the All-Profound Dominion and came all the way here just to see us. I’m sure he’s after something.”

Su Yi’s eyes narrowed. He felt the same way!

The heart devil had nothing more to say, so Su Yi put the rusted sword sheath away.

When he gazed into the distant darkness, he saw the black sheep headed his way.

Su Yi looked at the black sheep, and it looked back at him. Their eyes met in silence.

After a while, Su Yi walked up to it and patted it on the head. “The Shepherd left you behind. It seemed far too deliberate, as if he wanted me to be on guard against you. It’s even possible he wanted to borrow my hands to kill you.”

The sheep said nothing. It just lowered its head.

“And of course, killing you would unquestionably be one less thing to worry about,” said Su Yi. “But… I’ve always liked to challenge the unknown, so I won’t.”

The black sheep stretched out its hoof and wrote, “It’s strange. I forgot who I am, and where I came from. I suspect something’s gone wrong with me.”

Su Yi instantly understood. The Shepherd must have been worried that it’d leak his secrets, so he erased its memory.

But Su Yi hadn’t had any intention of prying valuable intelligence out of the sheep, so he wasn’t bothered.

“The Shepherd said that you were from the River of Destiny, and that you weren’t good for much, but that you could at least serve as a mount. Come on, then. Carry me. Let’s see whether or not you’re capable of serving as my mount,” said Su Yi.

He flipped through the air as if to sit on its back, only for the sheep to bleat and move further away.

It furiously wrote another line of text in the dirt. “Want to mount me? No way!”

“Why not?” asked Su Yi.

The black sheep wrote, “I’m a lady, not a beast. How could I let you ride me?”

Su Yi was stunned.

After a while, he looked at the sheep and sighed. “…Huh!”