First Immortal of the Sword

The first light of dawn illuminated the human world.

However, before long, a stretch of dark clouds filled the air, blotting out the skies over the Jade Capital and shrouding everything in gray.

Plip plop plop!

Before long, it started raining.

Those above the Grandmaster level could use their astral qi to block the rain, but most people couldn’t. Those that hadn’t brought an umbrella could only let the rain soak them.

It was then that they saw two people emerge from the towering, majestic gate to the Su Family estate, first one, then another.

The first to emerge was a man in long, dark robes, with his hair tied up. He looked thirty or forty, with handsome features, and his every movement had a distinctive charm. He looked as tranquil as a deep pool and as imposing as a mountain.

Su Hongli!

The sound of private, whispered conversation instantly disappeared from the area near the Su Family estate. Countless eyes turned towards this new arrival.

The atmosphere was oppressive and silent save for the pitter-pat of falling rain, but Su Hongli didn’t even seem to notice.

His gaze swept across the area, and he turned to the elder behind him. “Daoist Brother, wait here for now.”

The old man nodded, then stepped back into the gateway and stood there in silence.

Although he kept a low profile, the Cloudstone Venerate, Lonely River, Yun Zhongqi, and the other Earthly Immortals couldn’t possibly overlook his existence!

“Why is it that… Su Hongli’s aura is still that of the Anāsrava Realm?” someone exclaimed in bewilderment.

One stone could stir up countless ripples. Countless people were flabbergasted.

They found it hard to believe. Su Hongli has been in seclusion for a decade, but he still hasn’t broken through? In that case, how is he planning to fight Su Yi?

Even the Earthly Immortals were bewildered and uncertain.

However, Su Hongli ignored their strange gazes completely. He just stood there in the rain, his expression calm, not saying a word.

Rumble~!

Dark clouds filled the dome of heaven, and the sound of low, rolling thunder boomed overhead.

The rain was intensifying.

It was then that they heard a disturbance from afar.

“Su Yi is here!” someone cried out.

They then watched as the distant crowd parted, and a young man in blue strolled through the curtain of rain carrying an umbrella.

He was tall and lean, with handsome features, and his gaze was deep and tranquil. Despite countless eyes evaluating him, he looked as relaxed as if he were out for a stroll.

This was none other than Su Yi.

At that moment, Su Hongli looked over, and the depths of his gaze seemed to spark with lightning. He took to the skies, then shot over.

Su Yi’s gaze turned toward Su Hongli as well.

Despite the distance, their staredown was like a clash of sharp, invisible swords.

Bang!

The sound of an invisible clash emanated from the skies.

One formless fluctuation spread with the two of them and its center, like a sudden tidal wave filling the space between father and son. It tore open a massive, thousand-foot rift.

Rain splashed and scattered around the edges of the long rift!

“Divine sense!” Without exception, the Earthly Immortals gasped.

Were the combatants Earthly Immortals like them, it wouldn’t have been strange for them to wield divine sense.

But now, this power had appeared on both the Anāsrava Realm Su Hongli and the Inner Furnace Realm Su Yi. This was simply unbelievable!

Su Yi’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Su Hongli might be a Xiantian Martial Ancestor, but judging from his aura, he was the strongest Su Yi had seen since his reincarnation.

His aura was connected to the origin energy of heaven and earth. Even just standing there casually, his mind and spirit were perfectly smooth and focused, without the slightest flaw. He might seem unassuming, but in truth, this was a return to his origins, a feat possible only after cleansing all impurities.

Attaining divine sense as a Xiantian Martial Ancestor would make him a dazzling figure even in the Nine Provinces of the Wilds. It seems that the cultivation technique my mother taught him enabled him to achieve a true rebirth in the Anāsrava Realm.

Alas, to me, power like this isn’t even worth looking at. Su Yi shook his head slightly.

Su Hongli might well have countless hidden tricks and trump cards. He might still be hiding much of his power.

However, Su Yi had seen countless proud sons of heaven in his past life, and he’d killed countless peerless experts capable of shocking antiquity. He had 108,000 years of experience to draw on, and he’d once reigned supreme over the Wilds. It didn’t matter how many methods Su Hongli had at his disposal; Su Yi would still take him down today!

“This is a private Su Family matter, yet it seems we’ve provoked a storm and disrupted the entire nation. Numerous friends have come to watch the fight,” said Su Hongli as he stood amidst the downpour. His voice filled the air like the ringing of a bell, reverberating throughout heaven and earth.

“Very well. Today, I, Su Hongli, shall allow you to bear witness as I slay my outrageous, unfilial, unworthy son and take out the Su Family’s trash!”

Every word emanated vast and majestic power. His voice echoed throughout the crowd’s ears.

Then, beneath countless gazes, Su Hongli stepped into the air and soared into the sky.

With each step, it seemed as if he were climbing a set of invisible stone steps, carrying him higher and higher.

What left the onlookers shocked was that, with each “step” he climbed, Su Hongli’s aura soared to new heights.

By the time he was a hundred feet in the air…

Boom!

The curtain of rain burst around Su Hongli, and his aura acted like a fist punching through heaven’s gate—he entered the Earthly Immortal Realm in one fell swoop.

The crowd saw it clearly. Su Hongli’s energy arced like a rainbow and soared into the firmament, piercing a hole ten feet wide in the dense layers of dark cloud.

He stood in the air without using any skills, magic, or techniques. He just stood there, as if heaven and earth were holding him up. Every movement seemed at one with all of creation, as if there was no distinction between him and the world around him. Everything he did was full of the incomparable charm of the Dao, filling every movement of his hands and feet with seemingly limitless power.

The light of the heavens poured through the gap in the clouds, illuminating Su Hongli’s tall, solitary figure. He shone with dazzling light, like a god or immortal, the sight stinging the eyes.

Everyone present was stunned.

Stepping into the air, soaring into the heavens, then, beneath countless onlookers’ collective gazes, breaking into the Earthly Immortal Realm!? Who wouldn’t have been surprised?

“My heavens!”

“This is just too terrifying!”

Countless martial artists were tongue-tied and dumbstruck.

Earlier, they’d been confused as to why Su Hongli was still a Xiantian Martial Ancestor even after a decade of seclusion. However, their doubts vanished without a trace as the scene unfolding before them left them all stunned.

Su Hongli stood in the sky, only air below his feet and dark clouds gathered above his head, lightning dancing around him. To the mundane martial artists, he looked like a deity, straight out of a legend!

“He only just broke through, but his majesty is so overwhelming that it’s beyond imagination… Just how terrifying are Su Hongli’s foundations in the Grand Dao? How could he be so mighty so soon after breaking through?” Shanglin Temple’s Lonely River’s expression changed dramatically.

He could tell at a glance that Su Hongli, despite having only just become an Earthly Immortal, was even mightier than You Tianhong had been at the peak of the Grain Avoidance Realm!

It was simply unbelievable!

“His body guides the force of heaven and earth, and his mind focuses their ambient energies. Having such an invincible bearing immediately after a breakthrough is just… It’s just too terrifying…” Yun Zhongqi muttered to himself, his expression solemn.

The Cloudstone Venerate, Shi Fengliu, the Pineflame Daoist, and the other Earthly Immortals in attendance looked dazed too.

Even if you searched the entire area, who here dared look down on Su Hongli now?

“So, Father is this strong!?” Su Boning watched from within the family estate, his gaze heated.

He finally understood just why his mother said that, so long as he wished it, Su Hongli would be practically invincible within the Great Zhou.

“This is only natural. It’s just that your father has kept a low profile over the years; he disdains showing off his strength in the mundane world,” said You Qingzhi with pride.

The entire Su Family, regardless of rank and status, was boiling over with excitement!

“Unworthy son, come here and accept your death.” Su Hongli’s indifferent voice boomed throughout heaven and earth. His robes fluttered around him. He truly was just like a deity.

Whoosh!

All gazes landed on Su Yi.

They watched as Su Yi put away his umbrella and took the skies. As he hovered overhead, the curtain of rain dispersed before the water hit him, as if a formless power were pushing it away.

If you said that Su Hongli was majestic and domineering, then Su Yi was transcendent and detached, an aloof immortal with no trace of mundanity.

“‘Unworthy son?’” Su Yi laughed. “I guarantee I’ll slap that mouth of yours into a meaty pulp.”

He stood in the sky, facing the distant Su Hongli. Years of accumulated obsession and hatred burst forth like a volcanic eruption.

He didn’t suppress it.

There was no need to suppress it; he was here today precisely to rid himself of this obsession!

When they heard this conversation, the crowd’s hearts churned with emotion. How much must they hate each other to view each other with such enmity?

Su Hongli glanced at Su Yi, but he didn’t get angry. On the contrary, he laughed. “Unworthy child, do you really think inheriting an ancient expert’s legacy means you can overturn the heavens?”

He paused, then continued, “I’ll admit that your foundations in the Grand Dao run deep. They’re so mighty, millennia might pass without seeing their equal. You possess divine sense, you’ve mastered the charm of the Dao, and you can control spiritual Dao Light. Any one of those feats on its own would be enough to startle true cultivators. Even your attainments in the Dao of the Sword are far beyond those Earthly Immortals of the mundane world. But—!”

He paused, his gaze growing distant and cold. “In the end, your cultivation is too low. You’re still within the Realm of Mortality, and you cannot truly transcend the mundane like an Origin Dao cultivator. This is the difference between us, and it is as vast as the gulf between heaven and earth.”

As he spoke, Su Hongli’s aura suddenly expanded. The surging origin energy of heaven and earth poured into his body, as if he were a bottomless hole. His cultivation, soul, and physique transformed at speeds clearly visible to the naked eye.

In just the time it took to speak those few sentences, his freshly broken-through cultivation expanded, and his power at least doubled!

When they saw these, even the Earthly Immortals in attendance could no longer remain calm. Su Yi was monstrous enough already. Who would have thought that his father was so heaven-defying too?

“The gulf between heaven and earth? Hah? Su Hongli, are you worthy of discussing cultivation in my presence? Were I willing, I could enter the Origin Dao at the snap of a finger, open my origin palace, gather origin stars, and soar into the Spirit Dao.

“But there’s no meaning in that,” said Su Yi with a sneer. “Nor is that the path I seek. During today’s duel, I’ll show you just how a ‘mortal Grandmaster’ suppresses an Earthly Immortal!”

With that, Su Yi’s aura rose like a river at high tide, shooting straight into the clouds.

Boom!

His clothes billowed, and his long black hair fluttered around him.

Beneath the crowd’s disbelieving gazes, his aura reached unprecedented heights in the blink of an eye. It was no weaker than Su Hongli’s!

The area instantly fell silent. All of the onlookers were stunned.

Without exception, the Earthly Immortals in attendance gasped. Su Yi, now a fifth-level Grandmaster, was even stronger than he’d been after killing You Tianhong, and by no small margin, either!

Even Su Hongli couldn’t help but arch his eyebrows.