First Immortal of the Sword-Chapter 2072 - The Three Libationers

Bang!

Su Yi tossed the old man in black away. Then, he looked at Lie Leng, Zhou Bing, and the other guards. “What about you? Do you plan to keep letting someone use you as weapons?”

Lie Leng fell silent, but Zhou Bing gnashed his teeth. “We’re conducting official business, and everything we do is in accordance with the rules. It’s nothing like you make it seem!”

Su Yi laughed dryly. “Rules are good, but people are unreliable. They’ll inevitably exploit the rules toward their own selfish ends.”

He shook his head, then started to leave.

“Stop!” Zhou Bing shouted.

But it was as if Su Yi hadn’t heard him. He continued ahead, entirely unperturbed, ignoring Zhou Bing completely.

This left Zhou Bing gnashing his teeth with fury, and his face filled with murderous intent. “Your Excellency Lie Leng, if we really let him leave like this, won’t the city’s rules become nothing but empty posturing?”

Lie Leng said coldly, “If you care so much, you’re welcome to capture him yourself!”

With that, Lie Leng turned and left too.

Zhou Bing froze, suddenly uncertain.

Meanwhile, throughout the surrounding area, the onlookers couldn’t help but laugh.

After witnessing this entire exchange, they realized that Su Yi had been right on the mark. The rules of the City of the Beginning were good on paper, but the guards were unreliable. They’d found ways to exploit the rules toward their own selfish ends!

“The hell are you laughing at? Scram, the lot of you!” Zhou Bing bellowed in shame and fury, then quickly led the other guards away.

Their failure to arrest Su Yi hadn’t just brought shame on them, the guards; it had dealt a heavy blow to the city’s law and order!

They had to report to their superiors as soon as possible.

......

“I truly didn’t expect him to resist the urge to kill anyone.”

“There’s no rush, though. He’s arrived in the City of the Beginning, and here, there’s no River Lord to back him up. He won’t escape disaster this time!”

Off in the distance, a group conversed in hushed voices.

Had Su Yi been there, he’d have recognized them at a glance. These were all Greater Gods of the God Domain’s top factions!

These same Greater Gods had all appeared earlier, at Ancient God Ridge, to work alongside the Master Gods.

“The subordinates of the rulers of the forbidden zones have entered the City of the Beginning, too. We can’t let them beat us to the prize.”

“Don’t do anything reckless. Everyone must follow the rules of the City of the Beginning, no matter who they are. Break the rules, and even we’ll suffer the consequences.”

“We really can’t afford to get complacent. That said, after what happened today, the city’s three libationers won’t let Su Yi off!”

“You want to borrow their hands to kill him?”

“Exactly!

Then, having completed their conversation, the Greater Gods walked off.

......

The City of the Beginning was the starting point of the Path of the Ancient Gods.

In addition to the guards, there were three libationers tasked with protecting it.

Chief Libationer Fa Tianming doubled as the city lord. Second Libationer Qin Wenxiao was responsible for meting out justice, while Third Libationer Lie Xingqu was responsible for maintaining law and order.

Each hailed from a different top ancient clan of the Path of the Ancient Gods.

Of them, Fa Tianming, a scion of the Fa Family, had the loftiest position and the most illustrious background. He lived in the city lord’s manor, an ancient residence built at the city’s center.

City Lord and Chief Libationer Fa Tianming stood in the grand hall of the city lord’s manor, his hands behind his back. He spoke softly, but his voice echoed throughout the hall.

“After gathering dust for countless years, the Path of the Ancient Gods has finally reopened. Outsiders not of our era will flock to the City of the Beginning in the days to come.

“According to the rules, we’re responsible for issuing each outsider an identity marker and for seeing them to their respective trial grounds.”

He wore old-fashioned clothing and a tall hat, and his features were cold and firm.

“That aside, we’re responsible for maintaining law and order within the city. All who violate the rules must be severely punished in accordance with those same rules, even gods!”

“Understood!” an old man in plain clothing said respectfully.

“Right, has that Su Yi person arrived yet?” Fa Tianming asked suddenly.

It had been three days since the Path of the Ancient Gods had opened, and numerous outsiders had flooded in, including quite a few terrifyingly powerful Greater Gods.

But it was Su Yi, the one who controlled the Epoch Spark, who’d long since drawn Fa Tianming’s attention.

“There’s no word of him yet,” said the old man.

But he’d only just said this when a guard scurried into the hall and delivered a report. “City Lord, just now, Su Yi arrived in the City of the Beginning”

Fa Tianming instantly perked up, his eyes shining with strange light. “Is that so? Where is he now?”

The guard dared not hide the truth, so he immediately recounted the earlier conflict in full detail. That included Su Yi’s staredown with Lie Leng and Zhou Bing, as well as how Su Yi had suppressed the old man in black robes. The guard laid it all out in the open.

After hearing the full story, Fa Tianming furrowed his brow and fell silent.

“Lie Leng is the Third Libationer’s nephew, yet he tried to arrest Su Yi on the Second Libationer’s orders, almost coming into conflict with him?” After a moment, Fa Tianming snorted coldly. “Fortunately, Lie Leng held back in the end. Had anything happened to him, there’s no way the Third Libationer would have let it go.”

The old man in plain clothing mulled that over. “Your Excellency, you’re saying the Second Libtioner was using Lie Leng as a pawn?”

“Do you even need to ask?” Fa Tianming sighed softly. “Had Lie Leng given in to his impulses and attacked, he’d inevitably have dragged the Third Libationer into this mess.

“Alternatively, were Su Yi the one who’d given into his impulses and attacked, he’d have violated the city’s rules, and in doing so, made himself a criminal!”

“It seems like a simple, one-note scheme, but the slightest incaution could have led to unpredictable consequences.”

Fa Tianming paused, his expression suddenly dark. “And those outsider gods are involved in this too. They used a Mid-Rank God as a pawn to lure Su Yi into attacking. All of them harbor malicious intent!”

A moment later, he sighed. “I understand what the Second Libationer is thinking, and I know that this storm was inevitable the moment someone arrived with the Epoch Spark. Still, I didn’t anticipate that they’d be so impatient. They launched their despicable schemes the very moment Su Yi arrived.”

His voice was full of hatred and displeasure.

The old man in plain cloth robes said, “Should we do something then, Your Excellency?”

Fa Tianming fell silent. He looked up and gazed at the wall above him. A mirror had once hung there: the Mirror of Acuity, the foremost divine artifact of the City of the Beginning.

With this treasure, he would've had everything in the city in his grasp. No one who violated the rules could possibly have gotten away with it, for the mirror saw everything in full detail.

Alas, this incomparably wondrous divine treasure had been stolen a long time ago.

A while later, Fa Tianming made a decision. “A storm is brewing, and dark currents are flowing beneath the surface. No matter what we do, we cannot stop this from happening. Given that that’s the case, we might as well sit back and see how great the resulting disturbance is before we decide.”

“Very well!” The old man in undyed robes nodded.

But then, another guard came to deliver a report. “Your Excellency, someone who calls himself ‘Daoist Master Endless Tribulations’ is here to see you.

Daoist Master Endless Tribulations! The ruler of one of the Eight Great Forbidden Zones, the Forbidden Demon Isle!”

“Turn him away,” said Fa Tianming. “No matter who requests an audience, tell them that I’ve encountered a problem in my cultivation and cannot accept guests. Refuse them all.”

“Yes, Your Excellency!” The guard turned and left to carry out his orders.

The old man in plain robes couldn’t help but ask, “Your Excellency, what if the Second and Third Libationers come calling? Will you turn them away too?”

Fa Tianming’s gaze was deep and heavy. “If they really have no choice but to come looking for me, it’ll mean the time has come for this storm to end. Then... I may meet with them, or I may not. It depends on how things go.”

The old man inclined his head. “We’ll stay out of it, survey the storm, then decide our next actions. That’s indeed the safest approach, Your Excellency.”

“Safe?” Fa Tianming murmured, “I’m the Chief Libationer, and the lord of the City of the Beginning, yet I’ve been reduced to a mere bystander. It’s truly... tragic!”

......

Time slipped by.

Meanwhile, in a simple, old-fashioned residence, Third Libationer Lie Xingqu stood beneath a leafless plum tree, gripping a fan as he sat in a bamboo chair.

He had the look of an elegant Confucian scholar.

“Backing down might have seemed shameful, but it was a smart decision. No, it was the smart decision,” said Lie Xingqu as he gently waved his fan. He sounded gratified. “Well done.”

Lie Leng had been fraught with worry, and when he heard that, he was unwittingly stunned. “You don’t blame me, Uncle?”

“You did nothing wrong. That old bastard the Second Libationer was just using you. Why would I blame you for that?” said Lie Xingqu. “Besides, you don’t understand what it means for Su Yi to control the Epoch Spark. You were just about to commit a massive blunder, but fortunately, you changed course before it was too late. That’s enough.”

Lie Leng couldn’t help but ask, “Uncle, why did the Second Libationer want to use me to take down Su Yi?”

“To drag me into this mess and force me to join his side, of course,” said Lie Xingqu. “After all, even if you survived, how could I have remained a bystander after something bad happened to you? And had Su Yi attacked, even if he wasn’t in the wrong, I would've had to punish him severely in accordance with the city’s rules. That’s what the Second Libationer was really after.”

Lie Leng felt a chill course down his spine. He really hadn’t anticipated that these waters ran so deep!

His expression soured. “How could the Second Libationer do such a thing? Doesn’t the Chief Libationer care?”

Realizing how he’d been exploited infuriated him.

“The Chief Libationer...?” Lie Xingqu sighed, then shook his head. “He might be the city lord, but he’s like a de-fanged tiger. Even if he got involved, he wouldn’t be able to change anything. On the contrary, he’d inevitably fall flat on his face.”

“Is the Chief Libationer’s passivity connected to the theft of the Mirror of Acuity?” asked Lie Leng.

Lie Xingqu nodded. “Losing the mirror is part of it, but it’s also because of the Second Libationer’s backer. The Fa Family is powerful, but it's far from what it once was.”

Lie Xingqu paused to think for a moment, then added, “Get ready. I’m going to bring you into the city.”

“What for, Uncle?”

“We’re going to pay Su Yi a visit.”

“Why?”

Lie Xingqu rose from his bamboo chair and said, “In part to make my position clear, in part to resolve this misunderstanding on your behalf. I’d hate for the Second Libationer to make a scapegoat out of you or for Su Yi to take you for a latent enemy.”

Lie Leng instantly felt awkward and overcome with embarrassment.