First Immortal of the Sword

Su Yi looked around. “Do you still plan to attack together?”

The crowd exchanged glances.

Yu Linfeng had lost. Now, even Gong Nanfeng had been defeated!

The crowd’s will to fight wavered.

“Everyone, it seems to me that we might as well go all out. Even if we lose, we’ll just be disqualified. It’s no real loss,” Weng Changfeng said solemnly. “But if we win, we can turn the situation around!”

Many others were tempted.

“Oh,” said Su Yi. He walked toward Weng Changfeng and said, “Go ahead and try it, then.”

Weng Changfeng’s eyes flashed with murderous intent, and he bellowed, “Everyone, why aren’t you attacking? What are you waiting for? Get him!”

He took out a Daoist seal and attacked explosively.

Several of the other unrivaled Immortal Lords exchanged glances, then gnashed their teeth and attacked, encircling Su Yi.

“Even if I miss out on this place’s good fortune, I’ve got to take him down! He acts like no one else even exists!”

“That’s right! Crush him!”

“Die!”

The Immortal Lords attacked en masse, their shouts shaking the heavens. All of them were as fierce as wolves and tigers, their divine majesty shocking to behold.

Those who didn’t understand the situation might well have thought Su Yi had done something so horrible as to provoke the wrath of both man and heaven.

Even Tang Yuyan was surrounded and targeted.

Zhuo Yun was quicker, and he fled further away just in time. He in no way dared to get mixed up in this.

Su Yi had already run out of patience. He attacked without hesitation, hoping to end this as quickly as possible.

Clang!

The humming of a sword swept outward, rising like the tides.

Su Yi rose to his full height, and dense sword qi whooshed forth, accompanying him as he launched himself into the fray.

Boom!

Sword qi swept outward.

One treasure after another was forced backward. He charged through whole groups of Immortal Lords, leaving them battered and broken. Blood splattered the sky.

At a critical juncture, they had no choice but to shatter their life-saving talismans.

When Su Yi attacked without reservation, he charged right through the chaotic battlefield. He was just one person, but he seemed invincible. Nothing could stand in his way.

What all-powerful secret arts? What wondrous and profound treasures? None of them could take even a single hit. All of them shattered like soap bubbles on contact with Su Yi’s sword qi.

Wherever Su Yi went, he was like a fierce gale sweeping away remnants of cloud, suppressing one opponent after another.

One person let out a heaven-shaking shriek as their body was ripped into pieces.

Someone else took a powerful blow to their soul as they scampered away in panic.

Even the unrivaled Immortal Lords were no different from clay chickens and porcelain dogs. They too met with grisly defeats, one after another.

“Why was this necessary?” Off in the distance, Zhuo Yun whispered. A sentence rose unbidden to his mind: compassion cannot save those determined to seek their doom!

“Dammit!” Cen Baili shouted as a slash struck him right in the buttocks, reducing them to meaty pulp. He jumped into the air, crying out in agony, only for Su Yi to smack him to bits mid-jump.

As his life hung in the balance, he had no choice but to endure the endless humiliation and crush his life-saving talisman.

Boom!

Heaven and earth were thrown into upheaval. Sword qi fell like rain.

Four Immortal Lords had Tang Yuyan surrounded, but as the rain fell, it tore their flesh open.

Weng Changfeng, the one who’d called the others into battle, turned and fled without another word, as quick as could be.

When Zhuo Yun saw this, he couldn’t help but silently curse him out for his despicable behavior. He shot through the air to intercept Weng Changfeng, raising his brick-like treasure seal with ruthless decisiveness.

He didn’t even bat an eye.

Bang!!

Weng Changfeng staggered on his feet. Although he blocked Zhuo Yun’s strike, his blood and qi churned on impact.

“Zhuo Yun, didn’t you say you wouldn’t participate?” Weng Changfeng cried out in fury.

Zhuo Yun gazed at him pityingly. “I am not participating. Am I fighting on either side now? No. It's simply that this humble monk’s heart has been ill at ease ever since you called me a coward. I cannot keep my hands under control!”

With that, he raised and swung his treasure seal.

Bang!!!

Weng Changfeng wanted to flee, yet Zhuo Yun was interfering. He gnashed his teeth so hard they almost broke.

“See that? My hands just aren’t listening to me. They insist on smacking you around… It’s hard to stay still when your heart is ill at ease, isn’t it?” Zhuo Yun sighed, his expression full of compassion.

But for all his “compassion,” he struck with incomparable ruthlessness, smacking Weng Changfeng around in a flurry of blows.

Weng Changfeng couldn’t find an opening to escape. Zhuo Yun blocked him at every turn.

“Shen Mu, we’ve admitted defeat! Why must you disqualify us all?” Fei Zhen’s infuriated roar suddenly emanated from afar.

But before he could say anymore, his shouts gave way to agonized cries.

Weng Changfeng’s heart shook. He glanced over out of the corner of his eye and saw tyrannical sword qi slam into his junior apprentice brother, practically splitting him in two!

In the end, only his soul escaped disaster. Fei Zhen crushed his life-saving talisman and disappeared right in the nick of time.

By now, almost none of the Immortal Lords were left on the battlefield!

When Weng Changfeng saw this, his courage failed him. He glared hatefully at Zhuo Yun, then said, “Just you wait, you bald donkey!”

With that, he too crushed his life-saving talisman and vanished into thin air.

“I’ll just wait, then. When the time comes, this humble monk will be sure to redeem you with the utmost compassion,” muttered Zhuo Yun.

A moment later, he was stunned to discover that the battle was already over. The battlefield was empty save for him, Su Yi, and Tang Yuyan.

Zhuo Yun took a deep breath and exclaimed, “Praise to the immeasurable power of the Buddha! Daoist Brother Shen, your magnificent bearing outshines the very sun itself. In my eyes, you are the greatest Immortal Lord of the present day. Nay, throughout the ages, there has never been anyone else comparable!”

The worlds flowed out of him, and he wasn’t at all stingy with his praises. Tang Yuyan felt ill at ease just listening to him. Who flatters people like this? You sure are laying it on thick! Is this any way for the unrivaled Immortal Lord of Lotus Temple to behave? Can’t you at least try to act like a disciple of Buddhism?

“Are you hoping to explore the hidden realm from the Primeval Era with me?” asked Su Yi, a faint smile on his face.

Zhuo Yun scratched his head in embarrassment, then coughed dryly. “If at all possible, yes. I’d be most appreciative if you could assist me.”

Su Yi directly refused. “No.”

Zhuo Yun froze, opened his mouth to speak, then trailed off. In the end, he just sighed and turned to leave. He really had hoped to seize this opportunity to establish positive karma with Su Yi, but he’d obviously been rejected.

Suddenly, a voice brushed past his ears.

“Since you cultivate the Lotus Bodhi Sutra, though, allow me to offer you a little guidance. When you grasp the wondrous truths of the phrase ‘the bodhi has no concept of self,’ you’ll immediately become a Buddha, and at the same time, an Immortal King.”

It was just a few sentences, but Zhuo Yun froze in place, completely dumbstruck, as if he’d been struck by lightning.

“The bodhi has no concept of the self…. No concept of the self… no concept…. I understand! The bodhi has ten thousand leaves and thousands upon thousands of wonders of the Dharma. It’s easy to fixate on a single leaf, but obsession with the concept of ‘self’ is like letting a single leaf blind you to the bodhi tree!

“It’s only by shattering this obsession, forgetting the boundary between the ‘self’ and the ‘external,’ that I can break into the Miracle Realm!

“This is what they mean when they say that the bodhi has no tree, and the mirror-like mind has no platform. If there’s nothing there to begin with, how can it accumulate dust?”

Zhuo Yun felt as if he’d suddenly pierced the paper window paneling obscuring his vision. Countless revelations flooded into his mind. He felt thoroughly enlightened.

A long time passed before a smile spread across Zhuo Yun’s face. He could sense that he’d break through and become an Immortal King within a year.

He whipped around, his expression solemn as he inclined his head and clasped his palms together. “Daoist Brother Shen, many thanks….”

He’d only just said this when he realized that there was no longer any sign of Shen Mu! The only other person here was Tang Yuyan.

“You’re finally awake.” Tang Yuyan couldn’t help but laugh, a strange look in her eyes.

Zhuo Yun was stunned. “Fellow Daoist Shen already entered that hidden realm from the Primeval Era?”

Tang Yuyan nodded. “He saw through the altar’s secrets an hour ago and slipped inside. It’s just a pity that the portal only let one person through. As soon as he went inside, it disappeared.”

“An hour ago…” Zhuo Yun was only just starting to realize how long he’d been immersed in his enlightenment!

He took a moment to calm himself, then said, “Do you know who Shen Mu really is?”

Just one sentence, and Shen Mu helped him break through the barrier blocking his cultivation. It was simply unbelievable!

Especially since he practiced the Lotus Bodhi Sutra. Even in Lotus Temple, only a select few could comprehend and cultivate this legacy.

By this point, even the temple’s old-timers couldn’t offer Zhuo Yun much assistance with his cultivation. In other words, if Zhuo Yun wanted to break through, he had to contemplate on his own.

Yet now, an outsider like Shen Mu saw through all of his abilities with ease, right down to the nature of his bottleneck. Just one sentence, and he’d thoroughly enlightened Zhuo Yun. Of course the monk was astonished! How could he not be?

This was an enormous act of benevolence!

After calming himself down, Zhuo Yun concluded that Shen Mu had to have a deep connection to Lotus Temple, and he surely knew the Lotus Bodhi Sutra like the back of his hand. Otherwise, he could never have accomplished such a thing.

Zhuo Yun couldn’t help but recall the first time he lost to Shen Mu. Shen Mu had immediately seen through his Thousand-Leaf Bodhi Body, and even mentioned their founder, Nie Ti!

Tang Yuyan sighed. “And here I thought you knew who Shen Mu was. I was actually planning to ask you the same question.”

Zhuo Yun was gobsmacked. “You don’t know either?”

Tang Yuyan said, “Why would I lie to you about that?”

Zhuo Yun sank into silence as he recalled something Shen Mu said to him: “Buddhists attach great importance to fate. When fate wills it, you’ll naturally have your answers.”

“Very well. There’s no need to force things. Given Daoist Brother Shen Mu’s aptitude and foundations, he’s sure to become world famous as soon as the Divine Hunt ends. Perhaps then I’ll find out where he came from.”

With that, Zhuo Yun turned to leave.

Tang Yuyan’s gaze was strange. If the Tang Family chooses not to divulge Shen Mu’s identity, who’ll guess that he’s really Su Yi? Everyone in the Immortal Realm knows that Su Yi is in the Universe Realm!

Meanwhile, the Divine Illusion Ice Silk robes have changed his energy fluctuations. Everyone thinks that ‘Shen Mu’ is an unrivaled Immortal Lord!

No one’s seen through his fake cultivation yet. Given the circumstances, how could anyone link him with Su Yi?

But Zhuo Yun wasn’t entirely wrong. After the Divine Hunt, Shen Mu’s name is sure to spread throughout the whole world!

Only three days remained until the end of the Divine Hunt. Su Yi had long since disqualified Gong Nanfeng, Wen Changfeng, Cen Baili, and the other unrivaled Immortal Lords.

Going by accumulated merit, Su Yi was unquestionably in first place. He’d completely crushed the competition!

Meanwhile——

Su Yi was walking through a hidden realm. Everything around him lay in ruin. It seemed the entire hidden realm was on the brink of destruction. Along the way, he saw nothing noteworthy.

A while later, Su Yi abruptly stopped in his tracks. Someone had just shouted in agony.

Seth's Thoughts

Su Yi’s advice to Zhuo Yun was fairly hard to translate, and it’s supposed to come across as profound and inscrutable. That said, it references relatively well-known Buddhist texts and concepts, so here’s a little background info for those curious.

无我, also sometimes called 非我, is the Chinese translation of Anattā, which wikipedia describes as “the doctrine of "no-self" – that no unchanging, permanent self or essence can be found in any phenomenon.”

Anatta doesn’t reject the concept of “self” entirely, just that of a permanent, unchanging self. It’s fairly hard to grasp and I will freely admit to not really getting it. You can read more about it here.

The stuff about the lotus platform and the mirror comes from the platform sutra, which presents two different views on enlightenment. The one quoted in the novel goes like this:

“Bodhi originally has no tree,

The mirror(-like mind) has no stand.

Buddha-nature (emptiness/oneness) is always clean and pure;

Where is there room for dust (to alight)?”

You can read the rest, with further explanation here.