First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1451 - Punishment on Behalf of the Gods

He saw the gods as a joke!

Had any ordinary person heard Su Yi say such a thing, they perhaps would have just considered him wantonly arrogant.

But Mi Zhen was an attendant of the gods. In his eyes, Su Yi’s words were no different from the vilest slander and humiliation.

His expression darkened, and he said, “If not for the power of reincarnation, you would have died a long time ago! You’re no more than a defeated loser. Where do you get the courage to talk like that?”

Su Yi laughed. “Verbal arguments have always been meaningless.”

He could tell that for some reason he couldn't understand just yet, the gods were struggling to locate him.

Otherwise, wouldn’t they have killed Wang Ye a long time ago? Or Shen Mu, or the Temple Master, or Su Xuanjun?

It was because the gods couldn’t find him that they’d severed different worlds’ and planes’ connections to higher paths. All of this was to prevent him from growing stronger!

It was as if they were saying, "We can’t find you? Very well! We’ll just destroy the path ahead and prevent you from advancing!"

Perhaps it’s because of the Sword of the Nine Hells that they can’t find me... Su Yi thought to himself. Or perhaps, some other type of power is interfering. Maybe that’s why they still have yet to locate me.

They found me this time, but it wasn't because their methods were lofty or impressive. They only found me because they set a trap for me, and they waited countless years for me to arrive.

“It’s just about time.”

Mi Zhen suddenly glanced up at the dome of heaven and stretched out his hand.

Boom!

The sky split, and a stone stele floated into the air.

This was none other than the thousand-foot stele protecting the entrance to the Abandoned Monument. However, it had since shrunk to just a single foot tall, and it shone with stinging black tribulation light.

Su Yi’s brow tightly furrowed. His keen senses told him that when Mi Zhen controlled the stele, he effectively controlled everything in the Abandoned Monument.

And Su Yi, who stood within this stretch of heaven and earth, was like a beast in a cage!

“Now, I’ll take you away from the Human Realm to the River of Spacetime, where I’ll use the power of divine punishment to eradicate reincarnation. Are you... scared?” Mi Zhen looked at Su Yi, his gaze pitying but playful, as if he hoped Su Yi would cry out in alarm or terror.

But against his expectations, Su Yi was just as calm as before. His emotions didn’t waver in the slightest.

Mi Zhen thought Su Yi was doomed, but when he looked over, Su Yi couldn’t help but laugh!

Yes, Su Yi was laughing, and he suggested with the utmost seriousness, “Go on then. Start your performance.”

Mi Zhen snorted coldly, then waved his sleeve through the air.

Boom!

The stone stele rumbled and boomed. The world known as the Abandoned Monument suddenly shrank.

In the blink of an eye, it was only a hundred feet across!

It was almost like a prison cell. The walls shone with dense tribulation light of the natural order, trapping Su Yi firmly inside.

As for Mi Zhen, who controlled the stone stele? He stood outside the cage.

“What do you think of your cell?” asked Mi Zhen.

Su Yi put his hands behind his back and said calmly, “Throughout the ages, an ironclad rule has always held true. Want to hear it?”

Mi Zhen’s eyes shone with inquisitive light. “Please enlighten me.”

The moment he saw that Su Yi was trapped, he calmed down, and he was in no hurry.

“Villains die from talking too much.”

“?” Mi Zhen burst into laughter. “Are you talking about the characters in those books mortals write?”

“If you live, that makes you the main character,” said Su Yi. “Those who die will always be the villains. Go on, start your performance. Be quick about it. I’m eager to see what tricks you’ve got up your sleeves.”

Mi Zhen pointed at Su Yi. “Admittedly, even if I kill you, you can just reincarnate and cultivate again. Perhaps that’s what’s made you so fearless. But this time...

“We won’t kill you! Alive, you’re as weak as an ant. We’ll confine you in a divine cage, where you’ll be unable to escape and unable to die. You’ll spend eternity there, never to escape. You won’t... even be able to kill yourself!

“That way, you cannot possibly reincarnate again!”

Here, he couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s divine punishment! Tell me, can you still laugh now?”

“Oh,” said Su Yi. He said no more on the matter. He just smiled a natural, carefree grin.

As if he were watching a fool trying his best to put on a show. Indeed, Su Yi even felt the urge to toss a few copper coins Mi Zhen’s way.

Mi Zhen seemed to sense the implications of Su Yi’s grin, and his smile gradually stiffened, then disappeared. He let out a cold snort, but wasted no more time talking. He just held the stele aloft and soared into the air.

Boom!

The condensed Abandoned Monument was swept upward alongside Mi Zhen. Both he and his surroundings soared into that mysterious tunnel.

From beginning to end, Su Yi made no attempt to resist. His gaze was calm and profound.

......

At the far end of the mysterious tunnel, the boundless River of Spacetime traversed the void, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Its surging waters were condensed entirely out of the Laws of the natural order, like the flowing of the years. It crossed the past, flowed into the present, and surged into the future.

When Su Yi saw this river from within his cage, he couldn’t help but recall the River of Destiny.

As well as his encounter with his first incarnation!

The River of Spacetime was nowhere near as grand or mystical as the River of Destiny.

Within the River of Destiny, he saw the rise and fall of worldly affairs, the alternating of epochs, and countless strange visions.

In contrast, the River of Spacetime was just formed out of interwoven Laws of Time and Space.

Boom!

When Mi Zhen stood within the River of Spacetime, it was as if he’d sloughed off his shackles. His aura soared rapidly.

The light emanating from him was now so intense that he seemed like a miniature blazing sun illuminating the river of Spacetime!

“This is my true power!” said Mi Zhen.

As he spoke, he transformed.

He’d originally occupied the old bald man’s body, but now, he returned to his true appearance, that of a black-robed man with skin as fair and smooth as jade. He emanated endless light, and his eyes were like golden lanterns, illuminating everything on all sides!

Su Yi said thoughtfully, “Is the god you worship perhaps a Buddhist deity?”

Mi Zhen couldn’t help but laugh derisively. “You still haven’t figured out my origins? Just as I thought. After reincarnating and restarting your cultivation, you’re ultimately just too weak. You haven’t even reawakened your memories yet. If you had, how could you possibly have asked such a juvenile question?”

Su Yi took a deep look at Mi Zhen. “Remember what I said earlier.”

Mi Zhen smiled. “What words?”

“Villains die from talking too much,” said Su Yi. “That was no mere warning. Rather, it’s the fate you’ll face today.”

“Hah!” Mi Zhen’s eyes shone with derision.

His sleeves billowed around him, and his hands formed seals as a strange, inscrutable invocation left his mouth.

Boom!

That aura was so terrifying that the waters of the River of Spacetime churned violently, stirring up countless tidal waves.

The splashing current was formed of the power of the natural order, yet now, it trembled!

Mi Zhen’s expression was now solemn and pious. He said slowly and clearly, “Eternal night enshrouds the ages. I have a grand ambition to set myself ablaze to illuminate all eras!”

As his voice rang out, a green lantern surged out of the River of Spacetime. It was formed completely out of countless sacred and pure Laws of the natural order.

The green lantern was only about a foot tall, yet it seemed capable of suppressing the ages, and it emanated unsurpassed pressure.

Su Yi felt a stinging pain in his eyes, which silently narrowed.

The lantern was no treasure. Rather, it was a secret, taboo seal condensed out of the power of the natural order. It was obviously the work of a god!

“I shall punish you on behalf of the gods!” Mi Zhen suddenly bellowed.

Boom!

He stretched out his hand and grabbed, taking hold of the distant green lantern.

Mi Zhen instantly seemed like a sovereign presiding over divine punishment. His imposing aura soared once more, becoming terrifying beyond limit.

“This is the power of my god!” Mi Zhen’s eyes were like twin suns, and his voice boomed like thunder, reverberating throughout the River of Spacetime. The surging waters shook, and the Laws of the natural order churned.

He looked at Su Yi, his gaze dignified and imposing. “You can still laugh even now?”

He’d asked this question more than once. It was as if he wanted to crush Su Yi mentally, or as if he wanted to see Su Yi freak out.

Alas... Mi Zhen was doomed to disappointment.

The Su Yi trapped within the cage didn’t just laugh. No, his laughter was tinged with playfulness and mockery.

Mi Zhen’s eyes were instantly incomparably icy, as if this were an enormous affront to his dignity. He attacked directly, without any further hesitation.

“Suppress!”

Mi Zhen raised a finger, and dazzling light surged within the green lantern, transforming into strange and inscrutable flower petals manifested of the natural order. A flurry of petals swept toward Su Yi’s cage.

Boom!

The entire cage was covered in layers of seals, and the flower petals falling like rain surged into the man trapped inside.

Mi Zhen’s eyes filled with undisguisable excitement.

Long ago, he’d watched as the gods joined forces and slew the Reincarnator—twice.

He was naturally well aware of how terrifying of an existence the Reincarnator was. He was so powerful that even the gods had no choice but to join forces against him, and even then, they’d paid a grievous price before managing to take him down!

Now, as a divine attendant, he was representing the gods’ will in destroying reincarnation and irrevocably imprisoning the Reincarnator. How could he not be excited?

But mere moments later, Mi Zhen’s excitement extinguished, and his expression shifted dramatically.

He’d just watched as the caged Su Yi lit up with a snow-white rain of light, destroying the “flower petals” of the natural order in one fell swoop!

Boom!

The cage suffered a terrifying impact and swayed violently.

“I gave you an opportunity, but it seems... you failed to take advantage of it,” said Su Yi.

Mi Zhen wasn’t sure when, but a mysterious bronze box had appeared in Su Yi’s hand. That snow-white, crystalline, mysterious rain of light emanated from the bronze box.

The light was incomparably mystical. Even just the aura emanating from it made Su Yi’s cage shake and let out mournful wails!

“The Power of the Beginning!?”

Mi Zhen recognized it, and his eyes filled with disbelief. “She... Didn’t the gods kill her long ago? How is she...”

But before he could finish, a voice emanated from the bronze box in Su Yi’s grip.

“Senior, this is just that woman’s skeletal hand! Whatever you do, don’t let this kid scare you!”