First Immortal of the Sword

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The Spiritual Revolution cultivators' bodies exploded into bits, like twenty-some bright red fireworks blooming in the air.

Beautiful, yet horrifying.

In this slash, Su Yi didn’t actually activate the aura of the Sword of the Nine Hells.

The reason he could nonetheless take out so many fleeing opponents in one fell swoop was simple: their mental state and will to fight had already crumbled!

Opponents like that were no threat at all.

Heaven and earth were painted in blood, and an aura of destruction lingered in the air.

Su Yi stood alone in the skies, gazing proudly down upon the world below.

Like an undefeatable god or immortal!

The distant onlookers stood there in a daze, eyes wide but vacant.

Every peak experts of seven top factions had joined the fray, fighting side-by-side and creating layer upon layer of formations. They’d even used all sorts of ancestral supreme treasures.

Even so, they fell in the end!

Su Yi had single-handedly killed every last one of them!

Sixty-three Spiritual Revolution experts and over one hundred Spiritual Incarnation experts. All of them had fallen in battle. Not one had survived!

Who’d have dared imagine this? It was too terrifying!

Heaven and earth were silent, stifled, and oppressive.

“One man and one sword flattened the alliance of seven great factions. Even thirty thousand years ago, none could achieve such magnificence…” some of the older-generation cultivators sighed to themselves.

This unmatched grand battle had attracted attention from all over the world. It would determine the trend of the future.

Now that the seven allied factions had suffered a crushing defeat, the onlookers could already predict that Su Yi alone would stand at the pinnacle of the Azure Continent!

In other words, he and his sword would reign supreme. Everyone beneath the heavens would have no choice but to submit!

“Earlier, I suspected that even an Imperial expert would fall flat on their face against such a densely-layered deathtrap. Who’d have thought that Su Yi could cleave through it and cut down his enemies as if they were made of rotten wood, all on his own?” Some of the allied factions’ experts’ hearts quivered, and they shook with terror.

The defeat of these seven factions meant that even other top factions would be forced to lower their heads before Su Yi!

“They’re finished! These seven factions are completely finished….” Some of the onlookers’ hearts churned. 

Su Yi had single-handedly swept through the forces of seven allied factions, leaving none of the participating combatants alive. Even if Su Yi stopped here, the allied factions’ remaining forces would be reduced to little more than meat on the chopping block for other factions to divvy up as they pleased!

“One person can actually be this strong? Even in the Radiant Epoch, who else can stand shoulder to shoulder with him?”

“The populace has started referring to him as a ‘banished immortal’, and indeed, they’re right on the mark!”

“Alone save for his sword, he dominated an entire era. Has anyone else ever achieved this?”

Gu Cangning, Buddhist Son Chen Lu, Zeng Pu, Chi Jiansu, and the others were all elites of the younger generation, but even their hearts swelled with emotion. 

The Bluecloud Tower Master, Fu Qingyun, stood within the crowd. He’d watched this entire battle play out too, and his heart shook too.

He took out a jade slip and was just about to record the proceedings when—

The sound of applause suddenly emanated through the air. Against the tense, stifled silence, it was unusually noticeable, even jarring.

“Wonderful! Within the Spirit Dao, a battle of that level is rare indeed!” A deep, melodious voice rang emanated from over the horizon.

It was like the ringing of a morning bell or the beat of an evening drum, the music of the Grand Dao. It echoed throughout heaven and earth, and its majesty directly affected the crowd’s hearts.

Everyone instinctively looked toward its source.

Someone was approaching from far away.

He was tall, thin, and dressed in long black robes. Unsettling, dark shadows revolved around him, and with each step he took through the air, black lotuses of the Grand Dao bloomed beneath his feet.

As if the Grand Dao itself were supporting his movements.

He was extremely far away and shrouded in dull, flowing light. This made his features difficult to discern.

But even just gazing upon him from afar, irrepressible dread and unease rose within the onlookers’ hearts. Their hair stood on end, and chills coursed down their spines. 

He seemed like a demonic god straight out of hell, as towering as the heavens!

“Is that… a god?” Countless onlookers were astonished, their faces overcome with shock and dread.

Even the experts of the top factions looked utterly grave, and their bodies stiffened. 

Even from this distance, even just watching the man in black, terror welled within their hearts. Just what kind of terrifying existence was this? 

The Bluecloud Tower Master, Fu Qingyun, was visibly stunned, and his pupils constricted. Is that… an Emperor?

No, he can’t be. The Laws of the Azure Continent have already collapsed; this world couldn’t possibly withstand an Emperor’s power.

Fu Qingyun was bewildered and uncertain. Although he couldn’t discern this new arrival’s origins, he dared say with certainty that he was here for Su Yi, and furthermore, that he’d been lurking in the shadows for quite some time!

After a moment’s silence, Fu Qingyun put away his secret talisman.

The grand battle everyone was paying attention to had already ended, but the curtains had yet to fall. The threat to Su Yi’s life obviously wasn’t over yet.

Fu Qingyun decided to wait and watch a while longer.

Su Yi stood in the skies above Starpluck Mountain. When he saw this tall, stalwart figure arrive, a smile tugged at his lips.

He took out a jug of wine, threw back his head, and drank with relish. Only then did he sigh, “I’m just glad you showed up. Otherwise, this battle would have seemed rather dull and insipid.”

This left the crowd flabbergasted. They suddenly realized that Su Yi recognized this person, and furthermore, he’d anticipated his arrival!

“Does that mean you long since anticipated my arrival?” asked the distant man in long black robes.

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Misty, dark gray light circulated around him, and the image of a Grand Dao Black Lotus flickered beneath his feet. He seemed incomparably mysterious and imposing.

Even more unbelievably, the crowd suddenly realized that as the black-robed man approached, everything behind him was plunged into the darkness of an eternal night.

It was a darkness that devoured the light of the heavens, tainted the landscape, blanketed the skies, and blotted out the sun!

From a distance, the man in black looked like a person, yet he carried with him the eternal night of the eons. As he descended upon the world, everything was plunged into darkness.

This strange and unsettling scene left the onlookers’ scalps numb with fright, and their entire bodies were covered in goosebumps. 

What kind of existence was this, that his imposing power alone could darken the skies and blot out the sun?

Su Yi naturally noticed this too; he just didn’t care at all.

He drank on his own, perfectly content, and said, “The day I left Meteor Abyss, I knew that sooner or later, you’d come looking for me.”

Here, Su Yi laughed. “But this time, I guessed wrong.”

“Oh?” said the man in black. “What were you wrong about?”

His gait seemed leisurely and unhurried, but in truth, every step carried him hundreds of feet. He was now only three thousand feet away from Su Yi.

Only now could the onlookers see his features clearly.

His skin was as fair as jade, with a thin face. His eyes were like portals to hell; when they opened and closed, strange and mysterious gray light hung in the air like mist. It was an incomparably unsettling sight. 

Of particular notice was the blood-colored totem between his eyebrows. It was as bright as fire!

“I assumed that the major factions had long since made contact with you, and that they saw you as their pillar of support. I figured that was why they dared declare war against me so fearlessly,” Su Yi said casually. “It seems I let my imagination run away from me.”

The man in black’s eyes revealed unconcealed disdain. “The so-called ‘major factions’ of the modern age might seem lofty and unattainable to this world’s inhabitants, but in my eyes, they’re nothing but motley rabble. They aren’t even worthy of carrying my shoes. How could I possibly consort with them?”

His words were utterly contemptuous. This was no mere act, either; his contempt ran bone deep.

The distant onlookers were increasingly uneasy and afraid. None dared speak; they were as silent as cicadas in winter.

This was because, with each step the man in black took, a formless, terrifying majesty permeated heaven and earth, bearing down on the crowd. Their hearts and bodies trembled.

Quite a few cultivators were so terrified that they were drenched in sweat, and they almost collapsed on the ground.

They felt like ants watching helplessly as a deity from on high approached, step by step!

“Much less against a little monster like you. I alone… am enough.” As he spoke, the man stopped his approach a thousand feet away from Su Yi.

In front of him, the skies were clear and sunny; it looked like the middle of the day.

But behind him, it was as if a curtain of eternal night had descended upon the heavens, blotting out the sun and obscuring the entire landscape.

It was simply bizarre. There was no other way to describe it.

The formless terror filling the atmosphere made the crowd feel as if they’d plunged into an icy abyss, leaving them panicked and ill at ease.

“Don’t be in such a rush. I know you’re here for the Seed of the Azure, but how about we chat a bit first?” Su Yi, however, seemed quite patient. 

The man in black was briefly stunned, and his eyes flashed. “It seems you… are curious about my origins?”

“Of course I am,” Su Yi said forthrightly. “I’ve long suspected that you were a jailer, and I need you to confirm that hypothesis.”

A jailer!

Most of the distant onlookers had no idea what Su Yi meant by that. Only Fu Qingyun seemed to realize something, and his expression changed dramatically. 

“This is rather interesting,” said the man in black, stroking his lower jaw as he re-evaluated Su Yi. “If you give me the Seed of the Azure right away, I actually wouldn’t mind satisfying your curiosity.”

Su Yi furrowed his brow. “So you’re saying you won’t talk unless I overpower you first?”

The man in black reacted as if he’d just heard a ludicrous joke. He couldn’t help but laugh, “Are… you capable of that?”

His eyes flashed with dim luster, and he looked utterly playful.

A moment later, he said slowly, “Young man, don’t blame me for putting on the airs of an elder. It’s true that your aptitude and cultivation base are rare; even in other plans, such talent is as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.

“But in my eyes, those beneath the Imperial level are unworthy of notice, no more than clay chickens and porcelain dogs.” The man in black looked up at Su Yi and said solemnly, “You… are no exception. And I’ve always been lenient with people like you. So long as you proffer up the Seed of the Azure, I swear to leave you a path to life. If you take my words for empty threats, you’ll… truly be seeking out your own demise.”

He spoke peacefully and casually, like a senior earnestly instructing a junior. However, reading between the lines, he seemed utterly contemptuous, with an air of lofty superiority. It seemed he looked down on everything and everyone. 

His attitude made the distant onlookers’ hearts course with emotion.

Su Yi had just defeated an alliance of seven great factions. His cultivation base was terrifyingly powerful.

Yet despite witnessing all of this, the man in black didn’t seem to care. He saw Su Yi as no different from anyone else, a clay dog or porcelain chicken unworthy of his attention!

In other words, only Emperors were worthy of the black-robed man’s notice!

When Su Yi saw this, he merely sighed, threw back his head, and drained his jug of wine.

The black-robed man’s words had frittered away what little remained of his patience.