First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1430 - Celestial Red Cloud’s Magnificent Bearing

No trace of murderous intent remained between heaven and earth.

A tranquil, auspicious atmosphere silently enveloped the battered landscape. This sort of invisible change made the hearts of every immortal present shake.

Daoist Master Red Cloud had arrived. Even without taking any sort of action, her mere presence transformed everything around her.

When she wanted something, all of creation obeyed her will.

Where she went, the Grand Dao followed.

This went far beyond the world merely obeying her commands!

After she arrived, she completely disregarded the crowd of experts, instead walking right up to Su Yi for a chat, like an old friend hoping to reminisce.

Su Yi’s gaze was a bit strange. Daoist Master Red Cloud had shown up at the battle of the Violet Heavens Platform as well, and she’d offered him a jug of wine then, too.

Now, she’d arrived yet again, as if she were visiting an old friend simply to drink and make merry.

Su Yi smiled. “This place doesn’t suit your newest brew, Fellow Daoist.”

Daoist Master Red Cloud swept her gaze across the area. “The stench of blood is indeed a bit dense, enough to affect the wine’s flavor.”

She paused, then said, “How about we have a drink after we’ve left the Flying Immortal Forbidden Zone?”

Su Yi said with delight, “That would be great.”

The two conversed as if there were no one else around. The onlookers couldn’t help but marvel over their sheer composure.

Especially Mo Xinglin, who was beside himself with excitement. Just as I thought. Celestial Red Cloud showed up!

This was a mysterious existence who’d once dined in the Central Immortal Court’s Central Palace during the Immortal Peach Banquet. Even the ancestors of the Mo Family viewed her with deep dread!

Her origins were extraordinary, and she was both powerful and mysterious.

Even in the Immortal Realm, practically no one knew what she was really capable of.

It was only because they didn’t understand her that most took her for just another descendant of immortals, someone like Mo Qingchou or Fu Dongli.

Even Feng Jinghai, Lu Dongqiu, and the other immortal revenants shared this misconception.

But those who knew more about her understood just how extraordinary of an existence this mysterious woman was!

The three Void Realm True Immortals’ expressions were already much grimmer. There was no doubt about it. They knew about Daoist Master Red Cloud!

“Celestial Red Cloud, if you wish to lead our young friend away, we naturally won’t stop you. But before he leaves, we’d like to ask him to share the secrets of reincarnation,” said the stick-thin Daoist, his expression solemn. “Otherwise, we three old-timers won’t be the only ones to object. Many of our fellows have yet to emerge, and I’m afraid they won’t relent either.”

But Daoist Master Red Cloud ignored him completely!

Instead, she faced Su Yi and said softly, “The situation today is a bit complicated. Just watch; I’ll resolve this.”

Su Yi felt a bit strange. Is she really going to force me to mooch off of her?

“Seems to me...” Su Yi opened his mouth to speak, only for Daoist Master Red Cloud to interrupt him.

“I might well need your help later,” she said directly. “As they say in the mundane world, later... I’ll be the one riding your coattails.”

“....” Su Yi had nothing to say to that.

The dog broke into violent, hacking coughs.

Mo Xinglin’s eyes widened, and he was at a loss for words.

The crowd was flabbergasted.

The stick-thin Daoist, who Daoist Master Red Cloud was completely ignoring, felt like he had no face left. “Celestial Red Cloud, you...”

He’d only just said this when she suddenly whipped around to look at him.

The stick-thin Daoist’s heart shook. He felt a strong sense of foreboding.

Countless years of combat experience took over, and he instinctively waved his bone flute.

Boom!

Layers of white immortal light surged forth, forming barrier upon barrier upon barrier in front of him.

At the same time, the stick-thin Daoist opened his mouth and exhaled. An immortal talisman shot out of him and transformed into golden armor, which covered him completely.

He’d only just done this when Daoist Master Red Cloud raised her black scabbard and tapped the air.

An arc of light exploded into being.

Bang!!!

The countless barriers, each like a world in its own right, popped like soap bubbles. The arc of light continued, its power undiminished, and cleaved through the stick-thin Daoist’s golden armor as if it were made of rotten wood.

Crunch!!

The golden armor cracked and split. A bowl-sized hole opened right through the stick-thin Daoist’s chest.

His eyes widened, and his lips quivered. “You...”

But before he could finish his sentence, his body broke into pieces, dissipating into a rain of light.

His bone flute clattered to the ground. It was the only thing that remained of him.

A light, airy strike! Yet she’d destroyed a Void Realm True Immortal revenant!

The stick-thin Daoist’s companions, the red-robed man and the curly-bearded middle-aged man, were overcome with astonishment. Their whole bodies stiffened.

The others present were stunned too, no exceptions. All of them sank into a daze.

Void Realm True Immortal revenants were far more terrifying than other immortal revenants.

Who could have imagined that an existence of that level would fail to block even a single strike?

Su Yi couldn’t help but narrow his eyes.

He couldn’t help but glance at the black scabbard in Daoist Master Red Cloud’s hands.

The scabbard was mottled with rust and stained with dried blood. It was cracked in numerous places, but it was obvious that someone had mended it.

No matter how he looked at it, it seemed worn out and old. He couldn’t discern any of its mysteries.

But within Su Yi’s sea of consciousness, the Sword of the Nine Hells was ready and raring to go, like a cat after catching a whiff of blood!

There was no doubt about it. The sword had set its sights on the scabbard, which it saw as an enticing delicacy!

Su Yi’s expression didn’t waver on the outside, but inwardly, he used his soul to warn the Sword of the Nine Hells to behave itself. Only then did it calm down.

“Run!”

The red-robed man turned tail and fled. His hands tore a rift in the air, and he tried to teleport away.

Daoist Master Red Cloud’s gaze was tranquil. All she did was raise the black saber scabbard and smack the air.

Boom!

One hundred thousand feet of sky split.

Explosive spatial Laws shattered, transforming into a rampaging current of destructive power.

The red-robed man was like straw swept into a raging tidal wave. He had to struggle with all his might to prevent himself from being enveloped completely!

Even though he managed to hold on, by the time he fled, his body was covered with holes and startling gashes.

“I admit defeat——!” The red-robed man cried out with all his might, astonishment written all over his face.

He understood some of Celestial Red Cloud’s astonishments, but that was all. He'd had no idea just how strong she was.

Now, he finally understood on a visceral level just how terrifying of an existence this mysterious woman really was.

“Who’d let you admit defeat? You were quite aggressive just now, weren’t you?” barked the dog.

But by the time its voice rang out, Daoist Master Red Cloud had already attacked. A slender, snow-white fingertip swept through the air. It was a crisp, quick gesture, as casual as if she were harvesting straw.

Kcch!

A perfectly straight rift formed in midair, and the red-robed man’s head fell from his shoulders.

A moment later, his severed head and headless corpse crumbled into nothingness.

Even Su Yi couldn’t help but gasp.

This time, Daoist Master Red Cloud couldn’t even be bothered to use her black saber scabbard. All she did was draw her finger through the air, and the red-robed man was eradicated on the spot!

What kind of terrifying cultivation base did it take to slay a Void Realm True Immortal with such casual, understated ease?

Deathly silence ensued.

An invisible, chilling current of dread coursed through the crowd. The way they looked at Daoist Master Red Cloud had changed completely!

“Why not flee?” Daoist Master Red Cloud noticed that the curly-bearded middle-aged man hadn’t tried to escape.

“Celestial, with you here, there’s no escape. Why... Why attempt to flee?” The curly-bearded middle-aged man sighed. He’d said little during the prior confrontation, and he was clearly a man of few words.

Now, he raised the battleaxe on his back, his gaze steady and determined. “I already know I’m doomed, so... I might as well die with dignity.”

Boom!

He leaped into the air, furiously swinging his battleaxe.

Heaven and earth shook, and the sky collapsed.

The power of a Void Realm True Immortal was unimaginably terrifying. His divine majesty alone left the crowd so stifled they could barely breathe.

But in the face of this attack, Daoist Master Red Cloud just stretched out and snapped her fingers.

Crunch!

The immortal light filling the sky exploded into bits, and the battleaxe was split in two.

The curly-bearded middle-aged man flew back like an arrow loosed from a bow. Countless startling gashes tore open on his body, then spread like spider webs.

He looked like cracked porcelain!

“You’re... an Immortal Lord!?”

The curly-bearded middle-aged man’s eyes widened, and his voice was tinged with disbelief.

An Immortal Lord!

In the Immortal Realm, only those who presided over their own territories were called Immortal Lords!

They were far beyond Void Realm True Immortals.

A single Immortal Lord could support a prominent immortal faction!

Mo Xinglin’s Mo Family, for instance, was called an Immortal Lord clan because they’d once given rise to an Immortal Lord.

“An Immortal Lord?” Daoist Master Red Cloud shook her head.

Off in the distance, the curly-bearded middle-aged man couldn’t help but be stunned. “Then... why are you so... so...”

His voice started and stopped, and before he could even finish speaking, his body shattered into bits and vanished.

Now, three Void Realm True Immortals had perished!

They’d survived the End of the Dharma and the shifting of countless years. It hadn’t been at all easy to endure long enough to re-enter the world.

Yet now, all of them had been cut down like grass!

Heaven and earth were still. All of creation fell silent.

The simply clad, unexceptional-looking Daoist Master Red Cloud now seemed like an unparalleled sovereign.

Everyone felt dread well within their hearts, and chills coursed through them.

Feng Jinghai and the others broke down completely, their hopes extinguished.

She’d slain even Void Realm True Immortals with such casual ease. How could the likes of them have any hope of survival?

Daoist Master Red Cloud was ignoring them completely. Perhaps this was out of disdain, or perhaps, she just didn’t take immortal revenants of their level at all seriously.

Her clear eyes focused on a distant section of lake, and she said suddenly, “What, you still haven’t given up? Must I force my way into your hiding place?”

Her words were calm, and sudden.

Su Yi’s gaze focused as he realized that extraordinarily powerful existences were hiding themselves in the surrounding area!

It wasn’t just Su Yi. The others present realized this too, and they couldn’t help but be stunned. It wasn’t just those three? There are even stronger hidden experts watching from the shadows?

“Red Cloud, trying to monopolize the power of reincarnation will only bring about your doom!” A cold, icy voice rang out. The sound was ethereal, and it was impossible to tell where the speaker was.

Daoist Master Red Cloud’s gaze was tranquil. She suddenly swung her saber scabbard and tossed it through the air.

Boom!

Several tens of thousands of feet away, the air exploded with a burst of immortal light.

The entire stretch of heaven and earth seemed to collapse as everything was annihilated.

Immediately afterward, that dignified voice rang out once more. This time, however, it was tinged with fury.

“The day we break free will be the day you face retribution!!!”

Daoist Master Red Cloud’s gaze was as tranquil as ever. She said casually, “Very well. I’ll wait for you in the Starjade Forbidden Zone.”

That tranquil voice instantly fell silent.