First Immortal of the Sword

Heaven and earth were silent.

The distant onlookers stood there, rooted to the spot, their eyes vacant.

The Imperial Realm was supreme, its experts like gods!

To the world’s cultivators, the Imperial Realm was like a legend. It represented the loftiest, most distant extremes of the Dao and unshakeable power.

Who’d have thought that a young Gathering Stars Realm cultivator like Su Yi could swing his sword through the air and cut down an Emperor?

Even if it was merely a remnant of will a true Imperial Realm cultivator had left behind, it was enough to strike awe and dread into the heart of any cultivator beneath the Imperial Realm.

Yet now, an existence like that had fallen beneath Su Yi’s sword!

This was too terrifying.

It completely overturned their predictions and imaginations. Despite seeing it with their own eyes, they still couldn’t believe it was real.

They felt as if they were dreaming.

Huan Shaoyou was similarly dazed. He stared unblinkingly at the spot where the dark-robed elder had fallen as if he’d been struck by lightning.

An unprecedented sense of defeat washed over him like a tidal wave, assailing his mind. Everything seemed to turn dark in front of him, and he couldn’t help but cough up blood.

“No, this isn’t possible. How could the remnant of will Ancestor left behind have been defeated…? This isn’t possible, it absolutely isn’t possible….” Huan Shaoyou muttered to himself, too dazed and disconsolate to speak clearly.

He was a descendant of the Huan Family, and he was famous for his ruthlessness and insanity.

But now, it seemed he really had gone insane…

The distant onlookers gradually awakened from their daze. When they next looked at Huan Shaoyou, they saw him looking as bereaved as if he were attending his parents’ funerals. It seemed he’d completely lost his mind. 

They couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. Indeed, Huan Shaoyou had taken far too grievous a blow.

Back at the Orchid Terrace Dharma Assembly, Su Yi had crippled his right arm, shattered his bones and tendons, and left him as paralyzed and helpless as a dead dog. He then inflicted torture cruel enough to make a man long for death. Worse, he’d done so in front of thousands of spectators, leaving Huan Shaoyou’s reputation in shambles.

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He’d even cut down the primordial spirit of Huan Shaoyou’s great uncle, the Spiritual Integration Realm Huan Tianzhong.

Now, Huan Shaoyou had already stepped into the Spiritual Manifestation Realm. His strength had soared, and moreover, he’d formed an alliance, combining his power with that of eight other monsters of the ancient era. This had left him smugger and more assured than ever before.

Who’d have thought…

That his allies would die in battle, one after the other?

In the end, even the wisp of an Imperial Realm cultivator’s will was cut down!

These blows came in rapid succession. It was as if he’d built a tower and hosted a banquet… only for everything to come crashing down around him!

It was clear that Huan Shaoyou couldn’t withstand the shock.

He seemed to lose control of himself, and he was showing signs of an imminent mental collapse.

Su Yi stood in the air, his expression calm, without the slightest sympathy or pity.

People like Huan Shaoyou were ruthless and frenzied to their very bones. You had to eliminate them completely. Otherwise, if they seized even the slightest opportunity, they’d undoubtedly turn around and rip a chunk out of you. 

Fortunately, Huan Shaoyou would never get that chance.

“Su Yi, if I hadn’t chosen to become your enemy back then… None of this would have happened, right?” Huan Shaoyou looked up, stared vacantly at Su Yi, and asked in a low, raspy voice.

“You’re wrong.” Su Yi shook his head. “In my eyes, you’ve never been qualified to be my enemy.”

Huan Shaoyou let out a bleak laugh. “Had you said that to me when we first met, there’s no way I would have believed you. I would have interpreted it as an attempt to provoke me…”

He paused here and let out a deep sigh. “The crux of the matter is that no one could have anticipated that someone of your cultivation and your background… would be the type to eat a man alive without so much as pausing to spit out the bones!”

This declaration resonated with many of those present. They couldn’t help but think back to earlier encounters with Su Yi.

The first time Gu Cangning met Su Yi, he suffered a bitter defeat.

Yu Wenshu recalled their “duel” on Goldenscale Lake, when Su Yi ignored his declaration of war and cut down Zhou Fengzhi.

 Li Handeng thought back to Su Yi’s lofty air of superiority when they conversed a few nights ago.

The monsters of the ancient era that Su Yi had robbed—Mei Yanbai, Feng Zidu, Dou Kou, Nie Li, and Qian Yun—couldn’t help but feel sympathetic.

It was true. Su Yi’s cultivation was inferior to theirs, and so was his background, yet he was so shockingly strong!

Su Yi’s eyebrows shifted upward. And here he’d thought that Huan Shaoyou couldn’t take the shock and that he’d had a mental breakdown. Now, it seemed he still retained some of his mental clarity and rationality. 

“If you’ve said your last words, it’s time to send you on your way,” said Su Yi. As he spoke, he prepared to deal the lethal blow.

Only for Huan Shaoyou to throw back his head and laugh, “Su Yi, my life and death are mine to control. Want to kill me? There’s no way!”

As his voice reverberated throughout the skies, his body cracked and burst, inch by inch. Immediately afterward, surging black demotic flames blazed from within him, incinerating him into nothingness.

The onlookers could never have anticipated this shocking development. In the end, Huan Shaoyou decisively ended his own life!

As the demonic flames burned, Huan Shaoyou’s hair danced and billowed around him as he shouted, “Just you wait! When you leave Sumeru Immortal Island… The whole world will be against you! Everyone! Will! Be! Your! Enemy!”

Every word went off like a crack of thunder, booming throughout heaven and earth.

By the time his voice faded away, Huan Shaoyou had already been reduced to ash, which the wind swept away and dispersed.

Witnessing left the onlookers’ hearts churning with emotion. 

As of now, nine monsters of the ancient era, Huan Shaoyou included, had died upon the Platform of Heaven’s Ascension!

Between Su Yi’s arrival and when the curtains fell, the battle’s twists and turns had repeatedly shaken their hearts and souls. A long time passed before they could truly calm themselves down.

“I suppose that counts as choosing a dignified way to go,” Su Yi muttered to himself.

He then turned and looked at Ge Qian.

Ge Qian was still astonished, but when he sensed Su Yi’s gaze, he jumped, and his head instantly cleared.

It was as if he could read Su Yi’s mind. He scampered over to the battlefield and deftly gathered up the spoils of war.

When this was over, Su Yi felt no need to linger here. “Let’s find a place to rest. It won’t be too late to visit Sumeru Mountain after the power of the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness disappears.”

With that, he turned and proceeded into the distance.

He was pleased with how this battle had gone. At least, up until the point that it turned into a battle of whose trump cards were greater.

The danger, the sensation of being wounded, the lethal threat… All of this made his blood heat up for the first time in a long time, igniting his will to fight. It was downright joyous.

However, when they started resorting to their various reserves and life-saving treasures, the battle ceased to interest him. 

That was no longer a competition of their attainments in the grand dao, but rather, a contest to see whose hidden cards were greater. It was like gnawing on a candle; it had no flavor at all.

Even though he achieved a complete victory in the end, Su Yi felt no sense of accomplishment whatsoever.

“Uh…. Now?” Su Yi’s words made his companions feel as if they were awakening from a dream. All of them hurried up to him.

As the onlookers watched their group disappear, all of them unwittingly sighed in relief, as if a massive weight had lifted from their hearts.

A moment later, their expressions grew complicated.

“Now, for the first time, I realize it’s possible to possess such heaven-defying combat prowess in the Gathering Stars Realm…” Zeng Pu muttered.

He’d inherited the mantle of the Profound Bone Demon Emperor. He was an extremely heaven-defying monster of the ancient era in his own right, and he understood the cultivation world of thirty thousand years ago like the back of his own hand.

Yet even with all his knowledge and experience, he’d never even heard of a Gathering Stars Realm cultivator as terrifying as Su Yi.

“It’s not just his cultivation. His trump cards aren’t simple either,” said Chi Jiansu, an inscrutable look in her eyes. “A remnant of an Imperial Realm cultivator’s will is enough to threaten even a Spiritual Revolution Realm cultivator. Although that remnant of Demon Emperor Heavenly Avarice’s will was severely damaged, Su Yi destroyed it in a single slash. That’s far too shocking.”

The two of them saw this differently from the rest, but they were both well aware that going forward, they absolutely couldn’t provoke Su Yi!

“Now do you think Su Yi would have implicated us had we joined forces with him?” Jiang Li looked at Buddhist Son Chen Lu and his junior apprentice brother Chen Xing.

Chen Xing’s expression filled with uncertainty. He had nothing to say to that.

Chen Lu sighed. “You’re wrong. Even if we had invited him to join us, with his temperament, I’m afraid there’s no way he would have agreed.”

The group was silent.

It was true; Su Yi was strong enough to single-handedly kill Huan Shaoyou and his allies. How could he possibly have joined their alliance?

“I can picture it already. When word of what happened here today spreads to the outside world, it will shake the entire Great Xia, and Su Yi’s name will echo throughout the world once more!” Yu Wenshu said with conviction.

“But at the same time, this will bring unexpected danger and difficulties upon him,” Chen Lu said softly. “It’s just as Huan Shaoyou said. It’s highly likely that the various ancient factions will be dead set on killing him after this.”

The group’s expressions shifted.

Huan Shaoyou and his allies had fallen. There was no way to hide this. When the factions behind them learned of this, how could they possibly just let it go?

Off in the distance.

“Now, I finally understand how fortunate we were to have escaped our encounter with him alive…” Mei Yanbai muttered to himself.

Feng Zidu and the others subconsciously nodded.

When Su Yi stole their treasures, they felt incomparably humiliated and indignant. They’d even considered finding an opportunity to get revenge.

But now…

After witnessing Huan Shaoyou and his companions’ deaths, all that remained was joy at their good fortune.

Dou Kou’s eyes darted about, and she looked at Qian Yun. “Even if you wanted to declare Su Yi your ancestor, I’m afraid he’d turn you away at the door.”

Qian Yun looked at her. “????”

He was beside himself with anger, and his face flushed red. Why can’t she just let this go? Does she really have to keep bringing that up!?

……

As night fell over the valley they’d chosen, Su Yi slumped lazily in his wicker chair, drinking from a gourd of wine.

There was a hint of regret in his heart.

With his power, he naturally had no need to fear the threat of the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness. He could have effortlessly entered Sumeru Mountain.

However, over the course of today’s grand battle, he’d accumulated numerous injuries. Although most were mere flesh wounds, they meant he couldn’t display his full strength.

Furthermore, he’d called upon the aura of the Sword of the Nine Hells to slay his foes, almost draining his soul power. By now, both his body and soul were in a highly weakened state.

Given the circumstances, it wouldn’t do to rush into Sumeru Mountain right away.

Yue Shichan was beside him, medicines in hand as she carefully cleaned the wounds on Su Yi’s shoulders. Her picturesque, beautiful face was focused, but her expression carried a hint of pity.

This was a trivial matter, but to her, it seemed worthier of her attention than anything else in the world.

Not far away, Wen Xinzhao was helping Ge Qian take inventory of the day’s spoils.

Su Yi smiled, raised his wine gourd, threw back his head, and took a big swig.