First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1448 - Climbing the Stairs

The old long-robed bald man’s voice rang out, rife with mockery. “Trying to avoid your problems won't solve them!”

Su Yi chuckled, but he couldn’t be bothered to argue. He just shot toward the Path of Endless Tribulations.

The old man seemed to sense the implied meaning of Su Yi’s laughter, and his expression instantly stiffened, becoming rather unsightly.

If they were to accuse each other of avoiding problems, well, he’d hidden himself right from the start out of fear of the power of reincarnation. He dared not clash with Su Yi head-on. Thus, his words were effectively a slap in his own face!

Meanwhile, Su Yi reached the first stone step of the Path of Endless Tribulations.

The stone steps were each as black as ink and covered in strange, intricate Dao Markings, similar to those on the thousand-foot stone stele outside.

Su Yi didn’t hesitate.

Boom!

The moment he stepped onto the first stone step, the sound of the Dao rumbled and boomed. The scenery instantly transformed around him, manifesting a blood-colored heaven and earth.

Su Yi could tell what was going on at a glance.

“Each step, a different heaven and earth. This is a plane formed from the power of those Dao Markings!”

Crunch!

Heaven and earth collapsed abruptly. Blood-colored tribulation lightning poured down, manifesting countless terrifying cultivators. All of them charged at Su Yi.

Every cultivator was comparable to an immortal revenant!

Except that they were entirely shrouded in a blood-red calamitous aura, and their auras were even more terrifying. They were like incarnations of a catastrophe!

“Die! Die! Die!”

Shouting shook the air, and a calamitous aura stretched into the heavens.

Countless cultivators attacked, so packed and numerous as to blanket heaven and earth. They were like an army of demon gods emerging from a catastrophe! Even just gazing upon them from afar would have made any cultivator give in to despair.

Su Yi’s gaze silently turned cold and cruel. Terrifying murderous intent surged around his tall, upright figure.

The power of the Six Paths of Reincarnation manifested a divine cycle behind him, and he didn’t retreat. Instead, he advanced and attacked.

In that moment, Su Yi transformed into an unstoppable beam of light, ripping through the sky and piercing deep into his enemies’ ranks.

Bang bang bang!!

Explosions rang out in rapid succession.

Countless figures like demon gods exploded, offering no more resistance than paper.

Su Yi had opened a perfectly straight rift in the enemy army, like a sharp knife splitting fabric.

The tyrannical power of reincarnation swept outward, like a wind scattering fragments of cloud, eradicating the calamitous aura filling the skies!

Those blood-colored figures weren’t living creatures, and they had no fear of death. They relentlessly continued their onslaught.

Su Yi leaped about the battlefield. Nothing could stand in his way! Wherever he passed, his enemies crumbled.

Within just a few blinks of the eye, the massive army fell apart and disappeared into heaven and earth.

Su Yi then leaped into the air and flung a punch at the dome of heaven.

Boom—!

The dome of heaven abruptly exploded and the entire plane collapsed and disappeared.

The old bald man was watching from the depths of the thunderclouds. When he saw this, he couldn’t help but gasp.

He’s actually this domineering!?

But the old bald man wasn’t panicking yet.

The Dao Markings on the Path of Endless Tribulations originated from a Law created by the Gods. They were full of taboo power, and the higher you went, the more terrifying the danger.

Su Yi had only just stepped onto the staircase. This didn’t amount to anything.

“Stepping onto this path means he’s unquestionably doomed!” the old man thought to himself.

The staircase had ninety-nine steps in total, all of them designed to destroy the Reincarnator!

......

The second step manifested a similar plane. As soon as Su Yi’s foot landed, he found himself in a boundless black ocean.

Countless enormous oceanic beasts shot out of the water and charged at Su Yi.

There was a hundred-thousand-foot Ba Serpent, a Ghost-Faced Bird with wings of lightning, a turtle as massive as a continent...

All of them were far mightier than the enemies of the first step, and they were completely bathed in strange, calamitous power.

When all of them attacked at once, they threw the entire stretch of sea into disarray, overturning heaven and earth.

“And here I thought you’d have new tricks up your sleeves. So, this is all you’ve got.” Su Yi shook his head and casually pressed his hand down.

Boom!

Eighty thousand feet of ocean collapsed as a vortex formed of the power of reincarnation, instantly swallowing and destroying over a hundred aquatic beasts!

It was over in a flash this time too. Su Yi slew his enemies and destroyed this plane in a single gesture!

Then, without the slightest dilly-dallying, Su Yi proceeded to the third step.

......

This sort of taboo, calamitous power was lethal to other cultivators.

Every enemy Su Yi faced was manifested of this power. They could easily destroy the bodies and souls of even immortals!

But to Su Yi, this was no different from the trials cultivation factions built for their disciples. After all, his power of reincarnation was a natural counter to this calamitous power!

Going forward, Su Yi destroyed yet another plane and ascended to yet a higher level every minute or two. He wasn’t particularly quick, but he didn’t run into trouble, either. Just an hour later, he’d reached the thirty-sixth stone step!

And he was still going strong!

......

“Isn’t that bastard too strong? It’s unreasonable! Is he really a Transcendent?” Within the depths of the tribulation clouds, the old bald man’s emotions churned.

He’d been watching this entire time. He’d been there as Su Yi took just an hour to reach the thirty-sixth floor, and he could no longer keep his cool.

Before Su Yi arrived, he’d learned a bit about him from the attendant controlling Gu Yuanque’s body. He knew that it hadn’t been long since Su Yi had stepped onto the Path of Transcendence. If not for his fear of reincarnation, the old bald man could have crushed someone like him to death with a single finger!

Or so he’d thought.

He suddenly shook himself out of his daze and realized that something wasn’t right here.

“He’s a fresh fucking Transcendent!? No way! Even disregarding his power of reincarnation, he’s stronger than a Cloud Soaring Transcendent. He could contend with Universe Realm Immortals!”

The old bald man found this difficult to take.

Su Yi was so strong that it seemed downright unreasonable! People like him were all but unheard of!

He was a divine emissary, and he’d lived too long to count, but this was his first time seeing anyone so heaven-defying.

“No wonder the gods joined forces to eradicate reincarnation. This power... really is taboo!” the divine emissary sighed to himself.

“It’s just a pity that this is the Human Realm. The taboo divine markings carved on the Path of Endless Tribulations are severely restricted. I gave it my all, but this was the best death trap I could manage.

“Were this a plane like the Immortal Realm, that kid would never have made it to the third step alive!”

The bald old man’s thoughts raced.

He’d remained here all this time because the Laws of the Human Realm restricted him! There was no way he could leave the Abandoned Monument!

At the same time, the taboo divine markings covering the Path of Endless Tribulations couldn’t absorb sufficient power in the Human Realm, which resulted in them being severely weakened.

Of course, even so, the Path of Endless Tribulations could kill immortals with ease. But that only made the old bald man even more frustrated that it still hadn’t managed to kill Su Yi.

He gnashed his teeth and murmured, “The higher you climb, the more terrifying the danger. I’d like to see whether or not you can hold out until the end!”

......

He reached the fiftieth layer, then the fifty-first and fifty-second.

It was only upon reaching the fifty-third layer that Su Yi stopped his ascent, took out a bottle of immortal pills, and sat down to recover.

He’d fought continuously until this point. No matter how firm his foundations were, he was running out of steam. By now, his entire body felt weak and drained.

Fortunately, he’d recently killed numerous Void Realm True Immortals, netting him an abundance of trophies, including no shortage of immortal-level pills. And in addition to his trophies, he’d also received treasures from Old Monster Yellow Eyebrows and his cohort. They included a whole pile of immortal medicinal ingredients and materials. Everything was of the immortal level!

In other words, at this point, Su Yi was filthy, stinking rich! Here in the Human Realm, such wealth was enough to make even immortal revenants lower their heads in shame.

As Su Yi started refining an immortal medicine, his cultivation base was rapidly replenished.

Like river waters rising after a flood!

But it was different from before.

After inheriting knowledge and cultivation experience of his sixth lifetime, Su Yi now knew numerous unrivaled cultivation techniques he could put to use during meditation.

For instance, he was currently using an unrivaled Daoist canon known as the Divine Chaos Devours the Sea to refine immortal medicines.

It was utterly wondrous.

This didn’t advance his cultivation boundary, nor could it strengthen him. Rather, it was like expanding a pool, letting him accumulate reserves many times greater than his cultivation base!

This let him fight a lot longer than he otherwise could have.

“That kid... is actually meditating on the Path of Endless Tribulations!?”

When the bald old man saw Su Yi sit down to meditate, the corners of his lips twitched, and his expression filled with uncertainty.

“I won’t let you get away with this!” He gnashed his teeth, shifted through the air, and silently appeared not far from the Path of Endless Tribulations. His hands formed seals, and he silently swept his palm at Su Yi.

Boom!

His palm was like a divine mountain condensed entirely out of calamitous power, and it descended with intent to kill.

Practically simultaneously, Su Yi disappeared into thin air and leaped into the nine heavens.

Clang!

The Sword of the Human Realm let out a clear hum. It was enveloped entirely in the mysteries of reincarnation as it swept through the sky.

And its sword qi was full of the power of the Sword of the Nine Hells!

That terrifying sword force made the old bald man tremble, and he turned to flee without hesitation.

Boom——!

The dome of heaven collapsed, and the blood-red tribulation clouds exploded. As terrifying sword light passed, it tore open a hundred-thousand-foot rift.

The old bald man dodged immediately, but the power emanating from the sword qi brushed him.

Bang!

His body split, then broke into pieces, transformed into tribulation light, and disappeared.

But before long, tribulation clouds surged beneath the distant dome of heaven, and the old bald man reformed.

However, his face was deathly pale and filled with astonishment. His whole body trembled uncontrollably.

The power of reincarnation really is taboo! It’s terrifying!

The old bald man was a spirit body born of the catastrophic power of the End of the Dharma. He feared nothing more than the power of reincarnation!