First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 2943 - The Great Aberrant Ruins, the Price of Living Under Another’s Roof

An ancient forbidden zone lay along the western border of the Divine Wandering Continent. They called it the Great Aberrant Ruins!

The ruins were utterly barren. Nothing grew here, not even an inch of grass. The Grand Dao was fragmented and incomplete, and dense death qi hung over the area year-round.

It was a place even gods and ghosts reviled.

It had no spiritual energy, nor any good fortune to acquire, but it was full of danger. Throughout the ages, no cultivator had ever gone there willingly.

Long ago, during the Devastation, the Aberrant lineage occupied these lands. At their peak, they represented a force comparable to Heavenly Sovereign factions!

But following the end of the Devastation, the situation changed dramatically. A cataclysm befell the Aberrants, leading to massive casualties. Almost the entire race was wiped out.

They’d declined ever since, vanishing from the public eye. Few spoke of the Aberrants anymore.

The Great Aberrant Ruins, their former home, were now a dead zone reviled by all, a place almost never visited.

When the subject of the Great Aberrant Ruins came up, people remarked that “even dogs disdained to visit!”

Yet today, a little boat flew in carrying Su Yi, Wen Feng, and Fei Qiu. It landed just outside the ruins.

From afar, all they saw was an endlessly bleak, barren landscape shrouded in darkness. Dense death qi hovered in the air, gathering into leaden clouds that blanketed the skies. The ground was covered in rocks and dirt, but nothing grew there.

An area this devoid of life, with a Grand Dao so fragmented, was surely an abandoned zone.

And indeed, the Great Aberrant Ruins were exactly that.

“The people of the Heart-Tempering Sword House are hiding here?” Su Yi couldn’t help but find this surprising.

Jiang Wuchen’s memories contained information about the Great Aberrant Ruins. Su Yi naturally knew how barren and bleak this place was.

To cultivators, the worst, most objectionable part was that this place was all but devoid of spiritual energy. Without spiritual energy, how could they possibly cultivate?

That was why the Great Aberrant Ruins had seen so few visitors despite the passage of countless years.

“That’s right,” said Wen Feng, a complicated look on his face. “There’s nothing for it. If we want to stay hidden, this is our only choice.”

Fei Qiu added, “Fortunately, we came with ample coffers. They’ll be able to sustain us for a while.”

Su Yi nodded, then asked, “Did the Malevolent Sword Venerate arrange this?”

“That’s right,” said Wen Feng. “The founder has deep ties with the current leader of the Aberrants. When we first sought refuge in the Great Aberrant Ruins, their leader helped us and arranged a place for us to rest.”

Su Yi couldn’t help but exclaim, “The Aberrants still exist?”

“That’s right,” said Wen Feng. “They live deep in the ruins, in a place called Divine Aberrant Ancestral Mountain.”

He then went on to concisely explain the situation.

The Aberrants met with a cataclysm during the Devastation and only narrowly avoided complete annihilation, but countless years had passed, and they’d gradually regained some of their vitality.

They now had almost thirty thousand clansmen, including several hundred Eternals.

Of them, thirty were Grand Libationers comparable to Heavenly Monarchs!

In the outside world, such foundations would have made them a first-rate Heavenly Monarch faction. Still, they were a far cry from the Aberrants in their glory days.

After all, the former Aberrant Race was capable of duking it out with Heavenly Sovereign factions. Their foundations were far beyond even a first-rate Heavenly Monarch faction.

Only after hearing all this did Su Yi understand.

“Let’s go, then,” said Su Yi. He didn’t want to waste any more time.

Wen Feng and Fei Qiu led the way, and the group shot into the Great Aberrant Ruins.

Entering the ruins was like reaching a lifeless, barren world. All was desolate and bleak, and no matter where they looked, they saw no sign of life, not even vegetation.

Dense death qi hung in the air, lending the entire place a mysterious flair.

Along the way, they saw tribulations, windstorms, lightning bolts, and chasms in the sky all over the place. The fierce gales draped everything in a layer of flowing sand.

Given Su Yi’s current cultivation base, he had no need to fear such things, but he could tell at a glance that anyone beneath the Eternal level would have had a high risk of dying!

It was no wonder they said this place was reviled by both gods and ghosts. It really was too desolate and too dangerous.

After enough time to burn a stick of incense, a stretch of barren mountains appeared in the distance.

Wen Feng took a black bone talisman out of his sleeves, then circulated his cultivation base, sending strange power rippling from the talisman.

When the ripples reached the barren mountains, it was as if they’d slammed into an invisible barrier.

Two figures instantly floated into the air. Both were big-boned men dressed in beast skins. They had coppery complexions, and their brows were tattooed with blood-red Aberrant markings.

“I’ll have to trouble you to let us into the Heavenly Aberrant Hidden Realm.” Wen Feng clasped his fist and bowed from afar.

One of the big-boned men furrowed his brow. “You know the rules, don’t you?”

Wen Feng was stunned, but Fei Qiu just smiled and took out two pieces of Destiny Jade and passed them over from afar. “They’re paltry gifts, but please accept them with a smile.”

The man who’d demanded a tribute took them, then laughed coldly. “You really think you can fob us off with these measly trinkets?”

A hint of anger appeared on Wen Feng’s brow. These two Aberrants were just small fries, glorified guard dogs, yet they dared seize this opportunity to extort two Heavenly Monarchs.

Wen Feng was just about to say something when Fei Qiu pulled him back. Then, he said apologetically, “My manners were indeed lacking.”

He then took out a dozen more pieces of Destiny Jade and sent them over, too.

The man in beast skins accepted them, then snorted coldly. “You sword cultivators obviously have plenty of these Destiny Jades, yet you tried to fob us off with just two pieces. You sure are dishonest!”

Although he said that, he still opened the portal into the Heavenly Aberrant Hidden Realm. He took out a medallion carved out of a beast bone and waved it through the air, and a floating portal appeared.

“Go on, and be quick about it. Remember: we were generous this time and didn’t make trouble for you, but you’d better not push your luck next time!” said the man in beast skins.

Wen Feng’s face was ashen, and he said nothing, but Fei Qiu just smiled and nodded repeatedly.

Su Yi watched in silence this entire time. Inwardly, he sighed.

These were just guards, yet they dared to shake up and extort two Heavenly Monarchs of the Heart-Tempering Sword House!

This proved that the Heart-Tempering Sword House’s situation in the Heavenly Aberrant Ruins wasn’t at all good.

This was what people meant when they said, “When you live under another’s roof, you have to follow their rules.”

Before long, Su Yi and his companions passed through that floating portal and vanished.

“Those sword cultivators sure are rolling in it!” said the man in beast skins who hadn’t spoken earlier. “They took out a dozen Destiny Jades just like that. If I’d known, I’d have asked for more.”

The other shook his head. “Don’t get greedy. Pushing them too far would mean big trouble. In any event, they need our protection. We’re sure to find plenty of opportunities to squeeze even more benefits out of them!”

“Heh heh! That would be best!”

As they conversed, the two of them turned and passed through the spacetime portal. In the blink of an eye, both they and the portal had vanished, leaving no trace of their presence on the vast, desolate landscape.

Anyone who hadn’t seen them with their own eyes would never have guessed that there was a hidden realm tucked away here.

...

The Heavenly Aberrant Hidden Realm was a little world deep in the Great Aberrant Ruins.

It, too, was desolate, but it was still better than the lifeless plains outside. Here, there were rising mountains covered in vegetation. The ambient life force was faint, but it was there.

Although it was better, the spiritual energy was still sparse, and the Grand Dao was still fragmented. This place was thoroughly unsuitable for cultivating.

As soon as they arrived, Wen Feng and Fei Qiu led Su Yi to the east.

Along the way, Wen Feng grimaced. “We embarrassed ourselves in front of you, Fellow Daoist Su. We live under their roof, so we have no choice but to play by their rules. Fortunately, while many of the Aberrants are greedy, they won’t ordinarily make trouble for us.”

Su Yi nodded and didn’t comment. There was no way he’d have endured the guards’ provocations, but the Heart-Tempering Sword House’s situation was different from his. They’d lost their ancestral grounds, and they were now dependent on others’ protection. They needed the Aberrants, so they had to endure.

Furthermore, Su Yi didn’t understand the situation well enough to intervene. If he tried, he might well just make things worse.

“Fellow Daoist, see that mountain up ahead? It’s called Candlelight Peak. That’s where the survivors of the Heart-Tempering Sword House are currently living.” Fei Qiu gestured at a distant mountain.

The mountain was relatively tall and grand, but still lacking compared to mountains found elsewhere. Its vital energy was weak, and it had almost no spiritual energy at all. Little grew on its slopes.

This place barely had enough vitality to sustain ordinary mortals, let alone cultivators!

Su Yi took it all in but said nothing.

When he reached the foot of Candlelight Peak, he heard a sudden clamor of voices.

When he looked over, he saw a group of sword cultivators staring down a group of Aberrants. The sword cultivators looked furious, while the Aberrants looked fearless and decidedly unfriendly.

An Aberrant lay between both parties in a pool of blood, moaning in agony.

A young sword cultivator in silver robes stood not far away, gripping a sword still dripping with blood. He looked furious.

The two of them had held a clash of the Grand Dao here. The silver-robed swordsman won. According to the rules, he should have received a hundred pieces of Eternal Essence Gold as a reward.

But the other Aberrants refused to uphold their end of the bet!

They didn’t just refuse to cough up the money. No, they turned around and criticized the young man for using excessive force and injuring their clansman, then demanded compensation.

Moreover, they said they wouldn’t back down until they got it.

Thus, conflict broke out.

All of the swordsmen of the Heart-Tempering Sword House were tough and fearless. There was no way they’d accept such treatment.

At the same time, the Aberrants were no pushovers. Each was more ruthless and demanding than the one before.

All of that led to the standoff currently underway.

Some of the Heart-Tempering Sword House’s higher-ups had already been startled into action. They were trying to smooth things over and convince both parties to let this end here.

But the Aberrants disregarded them completely. All of them staunchly insisted that if they weren’t compensated, they’d take up their grievances with the leader of the Heart-Tempering Sword House!