First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1421 - You Must Break Before You Build

He won?

Sword Immortal Qingshi, the Universal Emptiness Sword Buddha, and the others were dumbstruck. Waves of shock coursed through their hearts.

Heaven and earth were deathly silent. Everything was silent on all sides.

Cui Zheng’s eyes bulged, his heart burning with humiliation.

He was once an immortal who gazed down upon the Human Realm, yet now, some kid was crushing him beneath his feet!

It was so humiliating that he felt as if countless swords were slashing his heart to bits, leaving him on the verge of collapse.

“Can you really only display twenty percent of your power now?” Su Yi looked down at Cui Zheng and asked softly.

“If not for the restriction of the Laws, you’d be the one lying here now!” Cui Zheng said through gnashed teeth.

Su Yi laughed, then murmured, “A loss is a loss. Saying such things is beneath your status, o lofty immortal.”

Off in the distance, the dog agreed completely. “A paltry little ghost immortal like you really is unseemly.”

Cui Zheng’s face reddened, and he hissed, “Death, that’s all. What’s there to be afraid of? I lost, so do with me as you see fit!”

“What did you come here for?” asked Su Yi.

Cui Zheng took a deep breath and said, “I’m here on orders to discuss something that will affect your life and death!”

“Oh,” said Su Yi. “Let’s hear it.”

“Our leader has announced that so long as you agree to break the curse of every revenant in the Flying Immortal Forbidden Zone, we can let bygones be bygones!

“Furthermore, so long as you offer up the power of reincarnation, we ancient orthodoxies will compensate you and sign a contract agreeing not to act against you going forward!”

Cui Zheng raised his head with great difficulty and looked at Su Yi. “You ought to understand just how generous these conditions are. Otherwise, what you did on Mount Luowu would mean facing retribution one hundred times over!

“So long as you agree to our conditions, you can effortlessly receive a new chance at leave. I hope you’ll consider it carefully. Don’t disappoint my leader’s good intentions in sending me here!”

As he finished making this offer, Cui Zheng’s heart filled with confidence. The way he saw it, that Su Yi hadn’t killed him obviously implied that he was afraid of the consequences of doing so.

Furthermore, the conditions they’d offered Su Yi were quite generous. It seemed to him that unless Su Yi was a fool, he’d realize what he ought to do next.

Sword Immortal Qingshi and the Universal Emptiness Sword Buddha couldn’t help but laugh coldly.

Were Su Yi anyone else, hearing such an offer might well have changed their mind. They might have chosen to make concessions in exchange for their safety.

But Su Yi was sure to turn up his nose at such an offer!

Just as they expected, Su Yi asked with great interest, “And if I refuse?”

Cui Zheng frowned. “Refuse, and every major faction in the Flying Immortal Forbidden Zone will become your enemy! I’m not afraid to tell you that, within two months, immortal revenants will be able to travel the world freely!

“When the time comes, immortals will join forces against you. No one in this world will be able to save you then!”

His words displeased the yellow dog, who snorted coldly. “Impudent! What do you take me for?”

On the surface, these words were an expression of displeasure, but in truth, they revealed the dog’s confidence that it could save Su Yi even from an army of immortals!

“You?” Cui Zheng laughed coldly.

Although he didn’t say anything else, he obviously didn’t take the dog seriously. This disrespect provoked the dog, who raised its paw to smack this blind, foolish ghost immortal.

But in the end, it held back, deciding against making trouble with such a paltry, insignificant little ghost cultivator; doing so would only lower its status.

Cui Zheng said gravely, “Su Yi, this is your last chance. I hope you can cool your head and think it over, then decide. After all, numerous immortals have set their sights on the Human Realm...”

Bang!

His voice came to an abrupt halt as Su Yi stomped, hard. Cui Zheng instantly broke and dissipated into ash.

“You killed him, just like that?” The yellow dog was flabbergasted.

“He’d already said everything he had to say,” Su Yi said distractedly. “Why leave him alive?”

The dog had nothing to say to that.

Meanwhile, Sword Immortal Qingshi and the others’ hearts shook. No matter what, Cui Zheng was once a true expert of the Immortal Dao!

Yet now, Su Yi had crushed him to death beneath his feet! If word got out, it would surely cause widespread uproar!

This was what it meant to slay immortals here in the Human Realm!

The dog snorted. “Kid, don’t get complacent. That ghost immortal was a revenant, a world apart from a true immortal, and he was subject to the restriction of the Laws. He could only display twenty percent of his strength. Someone like that is at best a bit stronger than a Cloud Soaring Transcendent.”

He was obviously trying to take Su Yi down a peg.

Su Yi smiled faintly. “I don’t even have a cultivation base right now, but even with my mortal flesh, I slew an immortal revenant. Can’t I be proud of myself?”

But before the dog could answer, he abruptly changed tacks. “That said, you were right. He... really wasn’t worth looking at.”

The dog was silent. And here it had wanted to warn Su Yi not to underestimate immortal revenants, only for Su Yi to turn its words against it!

“Are you really a mortal now?” the dog couldn’t help but ask. It was overcome with confusion, as if it had encountered an unbelievable riddle.

“I don’t have a cultivation base, so... Yes, I suppose.” Su Yi thought for a moment, then said, “But I already have one foot on the Path of Transcendence. It won’t be long before I can rebuild my cultivation base.”

The dog still had questions, but Su Yi had already moved on. He asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I...” The dog paused, then snapped, “I’m here because my mistress was worried you’d get yourself killed, you little punk!”

“When you go back, thank your mistress on my behalf,” said Su Yi.

“Are you kicking me out?”

Su Yi was stunned. “Surely you don’t intend to laze around the temple?”

The dog was stunned. Is that any way to talk?

It bared its teeth and said, “If not for my mistress’s ordering me to stick close to you, I’d just love to leave!”

“Go ahead and leave, then,” laughed Su Yi. Teasing the dog from time to time was quite entertaining.

The dog glared hatefully at him. “I refuse to leave! Little baldy, go fetch this lofty one a jug of wine!”

It felt stifled, but it had nowhere to vent, so it started ordering Illuminating Emptiness about.

Illuminating Emptiness agreed with a smile, then dashed off to do as he was told. This improved the dog’s mood considerably.

“Very well. I need to go back into seclusion for a while. All of you can act as you please.” Su Yi turned and went back to the temple.

The dog couldn’t help but remind him, “You really have to be careful! Don’t get complacent. The truly powerful immortal revenants have yet to awaken from dormancy, and their power is far more terrifying than you can imagine!

“I’ll put it like this. When the truly tough customers awaken, even my mistress will have to take them seriously!”

When Su Yi heard that, his gaze focused. He nodded, then walked away.

“Little baldy, give me something to eat. Remember, I don’t want any of you monks’ vegetarian fare,” ordered the dog, like a boss ordering about a flunky. “Serve me well, and one day, I can easily take you with me to the Immortal Realm!”

The dog couldn’t have been any smugger or more pompous.

But Illuminating Emptiness rejoiced, pounded his chest, and said, “Senior, just watch!”

The Universal Emptiness Sword Buddha and Sword Immortal Qingshi looked at each other, unsure of whether to laugh or cry. Is this what they mean when they say birds of a feather flock together?

The yellow dog took out a talisman, then gently crushed it. It had to report everything that had happened to Daoist Master Red Cloud.

......

Several hours later, a treasure ship slowly landed before Mount Clearmoon.

Mo Qingchou appeared out of nowhere, raised her hand, and put the ship away.

Only then did she notice the strange scenery around her. Mount Clearmoon had toppled, reduced to rubble.

But Universal Emptiness Temple still stood, and moreover, it was entirely undamaged.

A yellow dog sat ostentatiously before a table, wolfing down its food.

Illuminating Emptiness accompanied it, serving it food and keeping its cup full of wine.

“Celestial Mo, what are you doing here?” Sword Immortal Qingshi went up to greet her.

“I...” Mo Qingchou had a complicated look on her face as she explained why she’d come.

After hearing the full story, Sword Immortal Qingshi, Illuminating Emptiness, and the Universal Emptiness Sword Buddha couldn’t help but look impressed. They wouldn’t have thought the Mo Family would stand so resolutely by Su Yi’s side even if it meant becoming enemies with the entire Flying Immortal Forbidden Zone!

“A wise choice. I have to say, that Ancestor Xinglin of yours is a wise, courageous man,” the gorging yellow dog commented casually. “One day, the Mo Family will celebrate having made this decision.”

Had anyone else said this, Mo Qingchou would have sneered. However, this was Celestial Red Cloud’s Xing Que!

Mo Qingchou’s spirits soared, and her overcast look improved considerably. She then approached and bowed in gratitude. “Senior, after hearing your words, I feel reassured.”

She planned to visit Su Yi next, only to learn from Sword Immortal Qingshi that Su Yi had already re-entered seclusion.

Sword Immortal Qingshi arranged for Mo Qingchou and the Mo clansmen hidden within the Heaven-Soaring Vessel to stay within Universal Emptiness Temple.

The way Mo Qingchou saw it, with the esteemed Xing Que here to protect the place, there was no need to worry about the Mo Family’s safety.

At the same time, Mo Qingchou was increasingly aware of how extraordinary the connection between Su Yi and Celestial Red Cloud was. Were it not extraordinary, why would Xing Que have come to protect the place personally?

....

Su Yi sat cross-legged in his room.

During his month of seclusion, he’d already fully grasped the secrets of breaking through that his sixth incarnation had given him.

He’d already shattered his World of the Grand Dao, and his cultivation base was now in a tumultuous state, as if chaos were surging within his dantian.

To others, he really did seem like a mundane man. He showed no sign of a cultivation base whatsoever.

This was because he’d shattered his cultivation base and sealed it all within his dantian!

You had to break before you could build!

It was only after shattering everything he’d achieved that he could undergo nirvanic rebirth amidst the destruction and chaos!

Over the past month, Su Yi had focused wholeheartedly on grasping the mysteries of this path, and he finally understood on a visceral level just how wondrous it was. No wonder Wang Ye said it was unprecedented!

It really was unbelievable, with a forbidden air!

Perhaps others had tried to do as he was doing now, but they’d unquestionably perished in the process, their Daos destroyed.

The Contracts of the Gods didn’t permit anyone to step onto this path!

But Su Yi controlled the power of reincarnation, and he’d grasped the mysteries of Profound Ruin. This was what let him succeed, preventing him from dying instantly in the act of breaking through.

However, he’d yet to complete his breakthrough and truly step onto this unprecedented variant of the Path of Transcendence.

First, he had to face the threat at hand!

As Su Yi continued his cultivation, wisps of strange, calamitous power silently surged out of the void and into his body.

This was... the power of the Contract of the Gods!