First Immortal of the Sword

Su Yi stopped in his tracks, turned, and looked over.

It was a simple movement, over in an instant, but that was enough time for something unbelievable to occur. The three Great Realm experts seething with murderous intent came to an abrupt halt, and their expressions shifted dramatically.

Fuck! It’s that Su guy!

Beads of sweat, each the size of a broad bean, appeared on the three Great Profound Stage experts’ foreheads. Chills coursed down their spines, and their faces stiffened.

All the while, their infuriated shouts still echoed through the air. It was a highly unusual scene.

Su Yi laughed. “You want me to scram?”

“A misunderstanding!” The man in ink-black robes laughed dryly. “We would never have guessed we’d encounter you here, Sovereign Venerate Su. If we offended you earlier, we humbly request your forgiveness.”

Someone else said hurriedly, “Consider that stalk of herbal medicine a token of our sincerity. Please accept it with a smile.”

“Yes, exactly!” The third nodded repeatedly. It was obvious that all three of them were terrified of Su Yi.

Off in the distance, even that silver centipede sensed that something was amiss, and it didn’t give chase. Its lamplike eyes were full of suspicion. Is a young Great Unity Stage cultivator really worthy of such trepidation?

“Who are you working for?” asked Su Yi.

The man in ink-black robes said hurriedly, “We are emissaries of Divine Son Wen An.”

Wen An, an altogether unfamiliar name.

Su Yi mulled that over, then said, “Leave behind your belongings. Then you can go.”

The three of them exchanged glances, but despite their hesitation, they obediently offered up their treasures in the end.

“Are you satisfied with this, Sovereign Venerate Su?” asked the old man in ink-black robes.

Su Yi nodded. “Go on.”

The three of them reacted as if they’d received an imperial pardon. They turned and left, not daring to linger even a moment longer than necessary. In the blink of an eye, they’d vanished.

Su Yi rubbed his nose. Am I really that terrifying?

Whoosh!

The Divine Replenishment Furnace shot forth and deftly gathered up the spoils.

Meanwhile, Su Yi turned his attention to the silver centipede. “Submit, and you can escape death.”

It was just one light, airy sentence, but if the centipede had had hair, it would have bristled. Its entire body surged with murderous intent, and it shot through the sky and charged at Su Yi.

Its countless legs swung about like knives, covering heaven and earth in a storm of sharp silver knives. It was ferocious and terrifying.

The chaos aura emanating from it gave its attacks a strange power of the Laws of the natural order. It was utterly extraordinary.

But when Su Yi raised his hand and pressed down…

Bang!!

The thousand-foot silver centipede was forced to the ground, its head buzzing as it saw stars and cried out in agony.

“This is your last chance. Submit, or die,” Su Yi said casually.

He’d leave the Immortal Realm sooner or later, so he wanted to seize this opportunity to subdue a few such natural variant species. He could leave them here to watch over his old friends.

The silver centipede hurriedly nodded. It was truly scared out of its wits. It couldn’t even imagine how a young Great Unity Stage cultivator could be so vicious.

“Come here.” Su Yi beckoned to it.

The silver centipede instantly shrank to the size of a fist and shot into Su Yi’s sleeves.

Su Yi, meanwhile, sealed it away, then turned and continued into the valley.

The precious elixir was only about the size of a fist, but as it swayed, it flowed with firelight and spurted misty purple radiance. A single whiff of its fragrance soothed Su Yi’s heart and mind and made his entire body feel comfortable.

I suspect this treasure has completely surpassed the bounds of the Great Realm. It’s comparable to a god-level medicine, thought Su Yi.

This was true divine medicine!

Such treasures were currently what Su Yi lacked the most, for the simple reason that medicines of the Great Profound Stage struggled to meet his needs.

This problem was currently Su Yi’s biggest headache. His foundations in the Grand Dao were so firm that his requirements for cultivation resources were incomparably stringent.

Fortunately, he was now in the Epoch Battlefield! Here, there were divine medicines all over the place!

As for the treasures he’d extorted from those three Great Profound Stage divine emissaries? Su Yi wasn’t all that interested.

After plucking the purple divine medicine and putting it away, Su Yi led the Divine Replenishment Furnace away, thoroughly satisfied with his harvest.

……

At the same time, the three Great Profound Stage cultivators gathered beside a mountain ravine, their expressions overcast.

“Bad enough that he stole the good fortune we found after taking great pains. He even stole all of our treasures! That Su guy pushed us too far!” someone said through gnashed teeth, loathing written all over his face.

“What’s there to be angry about? If anything, we ought to celebrate! Had he wanted to kill us, it would have been no more difficult than turning over his hand,” bellowed the old man in ink-black robes. “Getting out of this with our lives is already fortunate.”

“But are we really just supposed to let such an enormous setback go?” asked the third expert.

“Do you remember what the divine son told us when we left for the Epoch Battlefield? He said that if we encountered Su Yi before achieving divinity, we had to do our utmost to avoid him! Otherwise, our chances of survival would be minimal!” the old man in black said gravely. “It’s not just us. The experts of the other camps in the Epoch Battlefield are doing the same.”

His expression was instantly complicated. He sighed, “Even if Su Yi is the target of countless arrows, he’s terrifying. Who’d dare to disregard him? Not even the unparalleled divine children would dare attack recklessly!”

The other two sank into silence. They understood the facts. They just found it hard to take.

“But we naturally aren’t going to just ‘let this go.’ We’ll leave immediately to reconvene with the divine son, and spread word that Su Yi is in the area.” The old man’s eyes flashed. “I trust that others who hear this news will take action!”

……

Perhaps because he wasn’t concerned about achieving divinity, Su Yi’s trip through the Domain Boundary Battlefield went extraordinarily smoothly.

Furthermore, he didn’t hide his trail. He just proceeded openly through the mountains and rivers.

Against all expectations, everyone who sensed his presence from a distance scattered like startled birds, without the slightest hesitation, even the divine children!

Su Yi couldn’t help but find himself at a bit of a loss for words. Wasn’t I supposed to be the ‘target of countless arrows?’ Why is everyone running away? Since when did I have such a fearsome reputation?

The only thing Su Yi found gratifying was that although he didn’t get to kill or rob anyone, he did manage to find several wondrous treasures born of the Domain Boundary Battlefield.

By now, he’d found four stalks of divine medicine, two types of divine material, and three natural variant species. All of the materials and medicines were nowhere to be found in the outside world.

Two of the divine medicines he’d acquired through an unexpected opportunity: when his opponents fled, the items left behind became ownerless. Naturally, Su Yi was the one who benefitted.

As for the three variant species? None were any weaker than the centipede. One, a nine-headed, golden-furred lion, was even stronger. It was comparable to an unparalleled divine son! Here in the Epoch Battlefield, it was more than strong enough to threaten Great Profound Stage cultivators.

Unfortunately for it, the golden-furred lion had bumped into Su Yi, a sword cultivator who disregarded even demigods. It was knocked directly unconscious and subdued.

What Su Yi found an awful pity was that even after searching for six hours, he’d yet to encounter an Epoch Fragment.

He now understood on a visceral level that even in the Epoch Battlefield, Epoch Fragments representing a chance at divinity were few and far between.

“I wonder where Miss Xi Ning is…” wondered Su Yi.

Almost immediately afterward, as if by psychic connection, his communication talisman received a message from her.

“Fellow Daoist Su, activate this talisman, and I’ll be able to sense your location. Once I’ve made contact with Luo Tiandu, I’ll immediately come looking for you.”

Su Yi thought for a moment, then responded, “I’m the target of countless arrows. If you travel with me, you’ll inevitably implicate yourself. Don’t come looking for me. Search for good fortune on your own. If you run into trouble you cannot resolve on your own, send word immediately. That’ll be enough.”

It wasn’t long before Xi Ning responded. “Got it.”

It was just two words, simple to the extreme.

But they were simultaneously an expression of absolute confidence.

Su Yi smiled, put the talisman away, and continued on his journey. By now, he’d already started to piece together the rules of this place.

For instance, he was most likely to find divine materials and herbs in the mountains where the chaos energy was the thickest.

However, such places were also typically home to powerful variant species.

He also realized that as he traveled further east from his starting position, the chaos energy grew increasingly thick.

But that wasn’t true when he tried searching in other directions. Thus, after getting the gist of the situation, Su Yi proceeded due east without hesitation.

He trusted that others would be able to figure out these rules too, and when everyone was headed in the same direction, they were sure to cross paths sooner or later.

Su Yi wasn’t all that interested in the available opportunities to achieve divinity, but he was extremely interested in killing his enemies.

Time slipped by. Soon, another six hours had passed.

Suddenly, a heaven-shaking commotion rang out from afar. Su Yi’s spirits soared, and he raced right toward it.

A battle raged. There were two sides. One consisted of a group of Great Profound Stage cultivators. Their enemy was a ferocious bird swathed in blood-red lightning.

When Su Yi arrived, he recognized one of the combatants, an impressive figure in Daoist robes with an air of cold, aloof bluster.

This was none other than Huo Jianfeng, one of the Four Sons of the Dao of the Three Purities Daoist Court!

Su Yi had never seen him before, but he’d learned all about him from other people.

And he knew that Huo Jianfeng and his sect had orchestrated the demons’ invasion of the Immortal Realm from behind the scenes!

Thus, Su Yi had long since placed Huo Jianfeng on his must-kill list.

“Hm?” Practically simultaneously, Huo Jianfeng noticed Su Yi’s approach. His pupils constricted, and he bellowed, “Watch out!”

He immediately extricated himself from the battlefield.

The other Great Realm experts’ hearts shook. They immediately stopped what they were doing.

The vicious bird swathed in blood-red lightning was covered in wounds, and it obviously wouldn’t hold out much longer. It beat its wings like mad and flew into the distance.

No one paid it any heed.

Huo Jianfeng and the other Great Realm experts’ attention was completely focused on Su Yi. All of them looked utterly solemn.