First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1485 - Manifesting Truth

“What’s this?”

Outside Azure Dragon Ridge, Celestial Bi Ning and the others gazed up into the sky in astonishment.

Thousands of streaks of divine radiance and auspicious light shone throughout the surrounding hundred thousand feet, resonating with the mountains and rivers to create a grand, holy phenomenon.

It was indistinct, but the sound of the Dao, the music of the heavens, resounded throughout the surrounding area.

Celestial Bi Ning and her companions were completely dumbstruck. What’s going on? What caused this unbelievable phenomenon?

All of them instinctively gazed into the canyon. It was the source of all this strangeness!

So, Fellow Daoist Su caused this disturbance. Don’t tell me... he’s already proven his Dao and broken through?

Impossible! There’s been no sign of a tribulation; a breakthrough couldn’t possibly have triggered this phenomenon.

As she realized this, Celestial Bi Ning’s heart shook. Another possibility had just occurred to her.

The stele!

A Grand Dao Combat Stele stood at the center of the canyon. It was manifested from the Laws of the Domain Boundary Battlefield. Everyone who left their name on the stele had an opportunity to enter the Second Battleground!

Over the years, numerous Nascent Divinity Transcendents had attempted to leave their names on the Grand Dao Combat Stele, but in the end, very few succeeded!

Celestial Bi Ning was an unrivaled expert of the Nascent Divinity Realm, and she’d naturally long since planned to leave her name on the stele and enter the Second Battleground.

But even when she racked her brains, she couldn’t recall anyone triggering such an enormous disturbance while leaving their name on the stele!

In other words, nothing like this had ever happened before!

But then, it makes sense. Given Fellow Daoist Su’s heaven-defying combat prowess, he really could have caused this unprecedented miracle, she thought.

Meanwhile——

The sound of the Dao, like the music of the heavens, reverberated throughout the rest of the Third Battleground, drawing attention from numerous Nascent Divinity cultivators.

But all of them were completely befuddled and uncertain. They couldn’t even begin to guess the source of this strange phenomenon.

And within the canyon, Su Yi’s eyebrows rose. His identity marker had lit up, and a beam of golden light had appeared on the Grand Dao Combat Stele.

But it didn’t stop there. It continued, higher and higher, straight into the air!

Wherever it passed, the names already on the stele flashed, one after another, only for his beam of golden light to leave them in the dust.

In the blink of an eye, it charged all the way up to third place, but its momentum remained undiminished. It sped past second place and smoothly suppressed first place too.

He’d dominated the competition!

And here I thought the top three were strong. So, that’s all they amounted to, thought Su Yi.

He’d heard that the top three had maintained a firm hold on their positions for countless years. The Domain Boundary Battlefield had appeared countless times over the years, but no one had ever shaken their positions. It was to the point that the top three were legendary existences!

Yet now, Su Yi had crisply, smoothly suppressed all three of them! In a single attempt, without the slightest suspense. This was unquestionable proof that Su Yi surpassed every Nascent Divinity Transcendent who’d ever entered the Domain Boundary Battlefield.

But before Su Yi could give the matter any further thought, something unexpected happened.

The golden light now in first place suddenly shot off the Grand Dao Combat Stele completely!

It shot deep into the dome of heaven in a single bound until a swath of auspicious golden light enveloped it. Just like that, it disappeared without a trace.

When Su Yi saw this, understanding arose within his heart. His strength had surpassed the Grand Dao Combat Stele rankings’ ability to measure!

Thus, the Laws of the Third Battleground obscured it. His ranking was like the Grand Dao, formless and nameless!

Perhaps one day, someone would do as he had done and surpass the stele’s ability to measure. Then, they might well see another, even higher name hidden within the Laws of heaven and earth.

“Interesting,” laughed Su Yi.

All of these strange phenomena were an unquestionable acknowledgment of his strength.

The heavens themselves were lauding him. Wasn’t that badass enough?

Before long, the strange phenomenon disappeared, and everything returned to stillness.

“It’s time to break through,” murmured Su Yi, silently unleashing his pent-up energy.

An invisible power instantly seemed to sense the change, and suddenly, tribulation clouds surged beneath the distant dome of heaven.

“Fellow Daoist Su wants to undergo tribulation and break through?” Celestial Bi Ning was flabbergasted.

That unprecedented strange phenomenon had only just disappeared. Now, the blink of an eye later, a tribulation was brewing.

It was all happening too fast to process!

When she saw the tribulation brewing beneath the distant dome of heaven, Celestial Bi Ning’s heart suddenly filled with helplessness and despair, as if her heart were being suppressed. She almost felt as if she were on the verge of breaking down.

This is bad! What kind of tribulation is this?

Celestial Bi Ning was astonished, and she immediately retracted her gaze. Her clothing was already drenched in cold sweat, outlining her exquisite curves in full detail.

But no one admired this dazzling scene. Everyone around her was too intimidated by the calamitous aura emanating from the tribulation!

Tribulation clouds silently surged overhead. Quiet as they were, their aura was terrifying beyond imagination. Even just gazing upon them from afar left the onlookers’ hearts and minds completely intimidated!

Celestial Bi Ning’s delicate frame quivered, and her face paled.

She’d witnessed countless Nascent Divinity Realm old monsters undergoing tribulation, but she’d never seen a tribulation as terrifying as this one!

Perhaps it’s because Fellow Daoist Su’s strength is so heaven-defying. That must be why he provoked such a calamitous grand tribulation. But... based on what I read in ancient records, this tribulation has an aura far greater than the tribulations others face to achieve immortality! How... can Fellow Daoist Su possibly overcome this?

As Celestial Bi Ning sank into a daze, she watched as a beam of sword light shot into the heavens.

Her eyes stung, and her heart and mind were completely overwhelmed. Everything went white, and she saw nothing at all.

An unknown amount of time passed before she gradually regained her awareness. Celestial Bi Ning instinctively glanced up at the sky, only to see that the enormous, calamitous grand tribulation had long since disappeared.

Celestial Bi Ning couldn’t help but feel stunned.

The grand tribulation has already vanished?

But what about Fellow Daoist Su? Has he already overcome it?

Celestial Bi Ning felt the irrepressible impulse to charge into Azure Dragon Ridge.

But her footsteps came to an abrupt halt outside of the canyon.

She saw Su Yi’s tall, upright figure standing before the Grand Dao Combat Stele, elegant and detached, his blue robes swaying around him.

Celestial Bi Ning inwardly relaxed. Su Yi was still alive. That unquestionably implied that Su Yi had overcome that grand and terrifying tribulation and entered the Dao Integration Realm!

“Congratulations on proving your Dao and breaking through!” Celestial Bi Ning congratulated him with a smile.

By now, she had no enmity toward Su Yi at all. On the contrary, she increasingly admired him. He was an unparalleled figure. Even if she searched far and wide, she feared she would never find his equal!

“Many thanks.” Su Yi subtly inclined his head.

He had indeed broken through. However, he hadn’t broken into the Dao Integration Realm. Rather, he’d broken into the Manifesting Truth Realm!

What did it mean to manifest truth?

Manifesting Truth referred to his cultivation level, as well as attaining full understanding of one’s true nature. It also meant that as Su Yi cultivated on the Path of Transcendence, he refined all extraneous flourishes away, achieving a return to simplicity.

Seeking the Dao through cultivation was also sometimes called “truth-seeking.”

The word “truth” meant scraping away all falsehoods and complexity, leaving behind only the purest, most fundamental truths of the Grand Dao.

This was where the name “Manifesting Truth” came from.

As for the Dao Integration Realm of other Transcendents? It required fusing nine or more Grand Daos. It was starkly different from the Manifesting Truth Realm.

When Su Yi’s cultivation base reached Manifesting Truth, his body, soul, and power of the Grand Dao all underwent a complete transformation.

The Nascent Divinity shaped like the Sword of the Nine Hells was, at least in terms of charm and appearance, now completely identical to the Sword of the Nine Hells! And within his Nascent Divinity, his cultivation base and power of the Laws displayed all the wonders and profundities of a World of the Grand Dao.

Simply put, his sword-shaped Nascent Divinity contained a true world! It didn’t just have moons, stars, and other celestial bodies. It had seasons too, and every facet of this world underwent a cycle of flourishing and decay.

And those were just the changes to his cultivation base and power of the Grand Dao. Su Yi’s soul and physical body underwent a qualitative transformation too. There were so many mysteries surrounding it all that he’d quite some time to unearth them all!

“I ought to get going.” Su Yi looked up at the dome of heaven. He could clearly sense that the Laws of the Third Battleground were rejecting him. It seemed as if they might expel him at any moment.

When Celestial Bi Ning heard that, she said hurriedly, “Fellow Daoist Su, might I ask you something?”

Su Yi was briefly stunned. “Go ahead.”

Celestial Bi Ning asked solemnly, “Earlier, when you left your name on the stele, did you take first place?”

Outsiders couldn’t see the rankings on the Grand Dao Combat Stele.

Even if you managed to leave your name on it, you could only see the names of the experts beneath you.

Su Yi thought for a moment, then said, “In a manner of speaking.”

Celestial Bi Ning was instantly baffled. What does that mean?

Before she could ask any follow-up questions, Su Yi waved. “Don’t forget what you promised me. Bye.”

With that, he soared into the air, like an arc of divine light. When he reached the dome of heaven, the power of the Laws enveloped him, and he disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“Fellow Daoist Su, rest assured that I won’t go back on my word. Furthermore...” Celestial Bi Ning murmured, “I’m looking forward to meeting you again in the First Battleground!”

Only two months had passed since the Domain Boundary Battlefield had opened.

Su Yi had proven his Dao, reached Manifesting Truth, and left the Third Battleground!

In the days that followed, takes of his exploits at Azure Dragon Ridge gradually spread throughout the Third Battleground.

The cultivators of the Eastern Profound Star Domain were lucky.

Perhaps because Su Yi had killed until everyone else was intimidated, going forward, it was extremely rare for anyone in the Third Battleground to attack Eastern Profound Star Domain cultivators without reservation!