First Immortal of the Sword

Whoosh!  

A combat spirit of will attacked, saber swinging.

Surging saber intent swept forth like a river, boundless and turbulent.

Su Yi could tell at a glance that it was in the mid-stage Spiritual Revolution Realm, and that it had condensed a first-rate Grand Dao Spirit Wheel. Its saber intent had reached perfection.

In the Azure Continent, they would have seen it as a first-rate Spiritual Revolution cultivator. It was even stronger than the likes of Huan Shanglin and Xie Zhibei!

Su Yi stretched out and swung his hand.

Boom!

The sword intent filling the sky collapsed, and the attacking combat spirit was smacked into pieces. It quickly dispersed into a rain of the light of the Grand Dao.

Su Yi reached out and grabbed, gathering all of the scattered power into a bundle, which fell into his palm.

The combat spirits of the third layer had been left here by Meng Po Palace’s peak Spiritual Revolution experts. They were manifested of the experts’ Grand Dao imprints fused with the aura of the River of Forgetfulness Ancestral Origin. 

When the combat spirits dispersed, they left behind a portion of the pure power of the River of Forgetfulness Ancestral Origin.

That was the nature of the rain of the light of the Grand Dao Su Yi had gathered in his palm.

The so-called “River of Forgetfulness Ancestral Origin” was Xiantian Grand Dao source energy generated beneath the ninth layer of the Divine Cave of the River of Forgetfulness. It was a shockingly useful supplement to cultivators’ attempts to comprehend the Dao.

Furthermore, this energy was exceedingly pure. There was no need to refine it; it could fuse directly into a cultivator’s power of the Grand Dao.

As Su Yi circulated his qi, the bundle of energy surged into his body and fused with his pre-existing power.

Su Yi could clearly sense his Supreme Palace Dao Intent improving, but the difference was so subtle that it was almost negligible.

But Su Yi didn’t mind. 

He hadn’t come to the River of Forgetfulness Divine Cave to harvest the ancestral origin power in the first place.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Combat spirit after combat spirit attacked in a dense swarm.

Each had an extremely mighty aura, and they all mastered different powers of the Grand Dao. They weren’t living people, but they weren’t that different from true Spiritual Revolution experts.

Su Yi hesitated no further. He stepped into the sky and charged ahead.

His sleeves fluttered around him, and he darted about like lightning, unleashing the full extent of his cultivation base.

With a swoosh of his sleeves, a sharp sword rain descended, as if overturning the cosmos, illuminating the world like the light of dawn.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Explosions rang out in rapid succession, and in the blink of an eye, he cut down about a dozen combat spirits. All of them dispersed with a boom, filling the sky with a rain of the light of the Grand Dao.

Su Yi seemed utterly and unquestionably domineering. Nothing could slow him down; he charged ahead, like an axe through rotten wood.

Those who’d left their will imprints here in the third layer were all peak Spiritual Revolution cultivators of Meng Po Palace. 

All of them far surpassed ordinary cultivators of the same realm!

When hundreds of combat spirits attacked at once, they were no different from an army of Spiritual Revolution cultivators.

However——

It was already difficult for something like this to threaten Su Yi.  

Back in the Azure Continent, he’d once cut his way through sixty-three Spiritual Revolution cultivators over the course of a single battle, and he’d even defeated peak Spiritual Revolution experts like Wang Zhongyang and Ye Xiao.

When he used the experience of his past life to appraise his current strength, he realized that even if he searched all of the Nine Provinces, it would be practically impossible to find an opponent within the Spirit Dao.

Simply put, although he was only in the Spiritual Incarnation Realm, he was already supreme amongst Spirit Dao cultivators!

Rumble! Boom!

Heaven and earth shook, and the sound of the Grand Dao boomed.

The combat spirits of will knew nothing of fear. They charged at Su Yi, one after another. 

Alas, they were doomed to be little more than months to the flame or eggs flinging themselves against rocks.

Su Yi forged ahead like an axe through bamboo. With every gesture, sword intent flew through the air, fierce and tyrannical. Nothing could stand in its way!

It happened in a flash.

Su Yi swept through all three hundred and seventy-seven combat spirits of the third layer’s hidden realm.

When the battle ended and Su Yi looked around, he no longer saw even a single combat spirit. Despite himself, a lonely look appeared on his face, and he sighed.

If he had to describe this battle in a word, it would be “insipid.”

Search bit.ly/3iBfjkV for the original.

Years ago, that Yuan Linning took fifteen minutes to overcome the trial of the third layer, setting a record that none have broken until now….

But who today or in the days to come will be able to break my record?

As Su Yi pondered, the Dao Light filling the skies surged into his body, fusing with his own power of the Grand Dao.

The two supreme Mysterious Truths he was mastering, the Supreme Palace and the Void Cosmos, improved by quite a bit. However, they were still at the level of minor success.

He was still far away from major success, let alone perfection.

Boom!

Suddenly, a black stele rose from the ground. It was fully ninety-feet tall, flowing with Dao light, and glowing with divine radiance.

Upon closer inspection, names were carved all over the stele in tiny, dense text. Every name flashed with dazzling light.

Especially the names near the top. They seemed capable of single-handedly illuminating everything beneath the heavens. Just as other mountains seemed small after seeing Mount Tai, the other names paled in comparison to those at the top.

The Grand Dao Combat Stele!

Every Spiritual Revolution Realm cultivator who’d overcome the third secret world’s trial had left their name here.

Su Yi looked up. 

He quickly located Yuan Linning’s name, but she was only in thirty-ninth place.

But then, that makes sense. That woman overcame this trial three hundred years ago, and although no one has broken her record since, she’s only the strongest of the past thousand years, not of the past eighty thousand years.

Meng Po Palace’s Emissaries of the River had joined forces to establish the nine-layered trial grounds of the Divine Cave of the River of Forgetfulness eighty-thousand years prior.

Yuan Linning’s accomplishments in the Spiritual Revolution Realm were already top-notch.

She was ranked thirty-ninth on the stele. That meant that, throughout the past eighty thousand years, her achievements placed her in the top forty.

Su Yi looked up.

Mo Wuhen was twenty-ninth.

Yun Ziying was seventeenth.

…When he saw the name in the topmost position he looked a bit stunned, it was as if he’d had a sudden revelation.

So, it’s her!

Jian Lingzhen!

She’d dazzled the world for thirty thousand years, and she was famous throughout all six domains and thirteen realms of the Netherworld. They called her the Lonely Annihilation Netherworld Empress!

She was publicly acknowledged as an unmatched Empress. Her beauty was unmatched in her generation, and she was extraordinarily talented. Over the years, numerous books had been written about her accomplishments.

Her name was, even now, written at the top of the Grand Dao Combat Stele. This meant that, despite countless years, no one had broken the record she’d set back when she was still in the Spiritual Revolution Realm!

It was easy to imagine just how extraordinary her foundations and aptitude were.

In his past life, he’d met her while exploring the Netherworld. At the time, Jian Lingzhen had only recently entered the Profound Illumination Realm, but she’d already started making a name for herself.

Naturally, at the time, Su Yi hadn’t paid much attention to her.

After all, at the time, he’d long since become the renowned Swordmaster of Abstruse Force. Why would he pay attention to someone who’d only recently proven her Dao and became an Empress?

It was in the years that followed, as Jian Lingzhen rose to prominence among Emperors, that she gradually drew his attention.

Of course, all of that was in the distant past.

Su Yi cast aside his scattered thoughts and approached the stele. After a moment’s thought, he used his fingertip as a brush, circulating the power of his Dao to carve a few characters in the stone:

A passerby.

The text flowed together, smooth yet forceful, with a leisurely, transcendent air.

When Su Yi removed his hand from the stele, the Grand Dao Combat Stele rumbled. Misty light circulated around it, and the words arced like a rainbow and soared upward.

When they reached the top of the stele, the name Jian Lingzhen shook violently before it was forced downward together with all the names underneath.

The words “a passerby” surpassed all who’d come before it, replacing the former greatest, utterly radiant!

There was no doubt about it; Su Yi hadn’t just far surpassed Yuan Linning’s record. He’d even surpassed the former strongest, Jian Linning, creating a brand-new record in the Divine Cave of the River of Forgetfulness’s third trial in a single attempt!

Were the experts of Meng Po Palace to see this, it’d inevitably lead to massive uproar.

Su Yi saw this, then smiled, turned, and left.

In his eyes, the third trial was merely a way to test himself. No matter how dazzling his record was, he felt little sense of accomplishment. 

……

The hidden world of the fourth layer.

This trial was targeted at early-stage Profound Illumination Emperors.

Throughout Meng Po Palace’s history, any of their disciples who proved their Dao and became an Emperor left their will imprint here to temper future generations’ cultivations.

Here, too, the world was boundless, dusky, and devoid of life.

Whoosh!

Following a spatial fluctuation, Su Yi’s tall, upright figure appeared out of nowhere.

Practically simultaneously, misty light flowed, and a combat spirit of will appeared.

He was a thin elder shrouded in wisps of the Laws of the Profound Dao. As soon as he appeared, the characteristic aura of an Emperor permeated heaven and earth.

His momentum alone was enough to make a Spirit Dao cultivator give in to despair!

Starting from the fourth layer, trial-goers would only face one combat spirit at a time. They had to defeat their first opponent before they could challenge the second, and so on.

The first to appear was typically the weakest, but the combat spirits of will got stronger as the trial went on.

Although its aura cannot compare to a true early-stage Profound Illumination Emperor, it’s stronger than their Imperial talismans and whatnot by quite a bit, thought Su Yi.

When he faced the distant combat spirit of will, Su Yi felt pressure bear down on him. It stimulated his qi, which rumbled and circulated through him. 

This didn’t startle him. No, it delighted him.

He’d come to the Divine Cave of the River of Forgetfulness for the explicit purpose of sparring with early-stage Profound Illumination combat spirits and seeing who was stronger!

“Whoever left this combat spirit had obviously condensed an intact Law of the Profound Dao. In this regard, that Yuan Linning woman can’t compare…”

Su Yi’s eyes flashed. “But it’s just a combat spirit, so overall it’s far from comparable to a true Empress like her.”

With the experience of his past life, Su Yi could discern numerous secrets at a glance. He could roughly estimate the level of his opponents in this fourth trial.

Boom!

Heaven and earth trembled.

That thin old man suddenly stepped into the sky, waved his sleeves, and threw a punch at Su Yi.

He struck with the momentum of a deity going into battle!