First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1512 - The Immortal Transformation Platform

The far end of the Road of Welcoming lay beyond the dome of heaven, in the boundless void. It was empty save for the continent-like jade platform hovering there.

The Immortal Transformation Platform!

Wisps of immortal qi floated around it like ethereal mists, enveloping it completely. This only made its mysteriousness all the more apparent.

Before long, the first group of cultivators reached it.

“The Immortal Transformation Platform! The place closest to the Immortal Realm! Rumor has it that here, you can absorb Immortal Spirit Qi in accordance with your accumulated merit!” said one of the cultivators, his voice trembling with excitement.

Immortal Spirit Qi was born of the source powers of the Immortal Dao. The more of it a Cloud Soaring Transcendent refined, the stronger and firmer their foundations in the Grand Dao would be upon becoming an immortal!

Some of this first group couldn’t wait to get started.

The Immortal Transformation was like a vast continent hovering in the void, and its “air” was pure Immortal Spirit Qi. When they circulated their cultivation bases, they drew the Immortal Spirit Qi toward themselves, and it surged into their body.

“What’s the rush? The Immortal Spirit Qi here is far too sparse. When the Gates of the Immortal Realm open, a massive volume of the stuff will come pouring down!” said another of the cultivators. He casually picked a place to sit and waited quietly.

As time passed, more and more cultivators ascended the Road of Welcoming and arrived on the Immortal Transformation Platform.

Their ranks included Yu Chen, Wen Xiuzhu, Qin Suxin, and Ren Changqing.

The platform gradually started to liven up as the cultivators gathered in their respective camps.

When Su Yi and Sword Immortal Qingshi arrived, they discovered that including them, only around ten cultivators of the Eastern Profound Star Domain had made it here!

Of them, only two were familiar faces: Li Zhong and the Wood Spirit Monarch.

The other three camps all had at least fifty people. The Northern Abyss Star Domain’s ranks numbered over a hundred!

But then, this was to be expected.

Even though Su Yi’s individual strength suppressed the other camps so badly that they could barely lift their heads, if you took him out of the picture, the Eastern Profound Star Domain’s collective strength was the weakest by far.

When Su Yi appeared, the experts of the other camps gazed upon him in trepidation, even going so far as to avert their gazes. But against all expectations, Yu Chen took the initiative to greet him. “Fellow Daoist Su, is that friend of yours not coming?”

Su Yi was briefly confused, but then he realized that Yu Chen was talking about the spearwoman.

“She has her own ways of getting to the Immortal Realm,” said Su Yi.

Yu Chen nodded. “I see.”

He could tell that Su Yi wasn’t interested in further conversation, so he said no more.

Indeed, Su Yi was in no mood for idle chatter. He led Sword Immortal Qingshi to an unoccupied spot, casually took out his wicker chair, sprawled out comfortably, and started sipping from a jug of wine.

His indolent bearing left the others present stunned.

This was the Immortal Transformation Platform! And the Gates to the Immortal Realm were about to open. This was an opportunity to become an immortal, a chance Cloud Soaring cultivators could only dream of. Who wouldn’t be excited and eager?

But look at Su Yi! It was as if he were lounging in his own backyard!

By contrast, Sword Immortal Qingshi was entirely accustomed to such things. This was just how Su Yi was; no matter where he went, he was entirely unperturbed, as if he didn’t take anything to heart.

“My ancestor said that although becoming an immortal is great, reaching the Immortal Realm is like returning to the start of your cultivation. You have to keep a low profile and rein in your pride,” someone murmured.

His words resonated with many of the others.

Becoming an immortal just meant reaching the very start of the Immortal Dao!

“They say that the Immortal Realm has forty-nine provinces, and that its territories are vast beyond measure. Not even immortals can gauge just how big it really is...”

“When we reach the Immortal Realm, before we do anything else, we have to hurry and find a place to stay. They say that if the Immortal Realm’s Emissaries of Welcoming take a shine to you, you can join their immortal factions to cultivate. That would be perfect!”

“Don’t mistake the Immortal Realm for a paradise. Ancient records state that it’s far crueler than the Human Realm! And people like us will be at the bottom of the barrel upon reaching the Immortal Realm.”

...The crowd was conversing amongst themselves in hushed whispers. Most of them were fantasizing about what they’d do upon reaching the Immortal Realm.

Su Yi heard their conversations, and his gaze turned a bit strange.

The Immortal Realm was indeed a place people longed for. But now that Su Yi had his sixth incarnation’s memories, he saw it as just a boundlessly vast plane occupied by cultivators. It wasn’t all that mysterious.

But Su Yi understood how the crowd felt. Just about everyone had unrealistic fantasies and guesses about this unknown world. They’d realize the disparity between dreams and reality after they arrived.

“Don’t you think it’s too early to discuss all that now?” said Ren Changqing. “Seems to me that not just anyone can overcome their Immortal Tribulation and make it to the Immortal Realm safely.”

The atmosphere was instantly far more tense and stifled.

He was right. One more obstacle stood in their paths: their Immortal Tribulations!

Of course, it was theoretically possible that an Emissary of Welcoming would take a shine to them. They could break the usual rules and enter the Immortal Realm that way, too.

But the odds of that were so minute that practically no one dared hope for such a thing.

Ding!!

The boundless sound of a bell soon rang out.

A moment later, an ethereal gateway appeared, hovering beneath the distant void.

The Gate to the Immortal Realm!

Everyone paused mid-conversation and looked over, their expressions full of utter longing.

The mysterious Gate to the Immortal Realm seemed unreachably far away, as if there were endless time and space separating them.

When it appeared, surging immortal light burst from the gateway.

The Immortal Spirit Qi filling the surroundings fell onto that floating platform like shooting stars. This was Immortal Spirit Qi born of the Immortal Dao!

“Everyone, there’s no need to fight amongst ourselves. How much Immortal Spirit Qi you absorb is entirely contingent on your accumulated merit. Trying to seize it is sure to end in failure,” warned Yu Chen. He wanted to avoid anyone ignorant of the situation trying to seize Immortal Spirit Qi from the others, as that would only lead to unnecessary strife.

It was just as Yu Chen said. Everyone standing on the Immortal Transformation Platform carried an identity marker, which emanated strange energy fluctuations.

They were like shining lanterns pulling Immortal Spirit Qi down from the heavens.

Whoosh!

A waterfall of Immortal Spirit Qi swept toward the Immortal Transformation Platform, gathering from all sides.

Top experts like Yu Chen, Qin Suxin, and Ren Changqing each absorbed a gushing flow of Immortal Spirit Qi into their bodies.

But the others’ harvest was highly variable. Some absorbed a lot, while others absorbed rather little. It was entirely contingent on how much merit they’d accumulated.

And there was no doubt that Su Yi’s harvest was the most eye-catching of all.

He lounged languidly in his wicker chair, drinking alone, entirely unperturbed. Despite this, Immortal Spirit Qi surged into him like mad, like floodwaters breaking through a dam.

In the end, it enveloped him completely!

This astonishing scene left countless others wide-eyed with shock. Just how much merit has he accumulated to be able to draw so much Immortal Spirit Qi?

In truth, although no one knew it, Su Yi had never deliberately sought out merit.

It's just that sometimes, a randomly planted tree grows big enough to provide shade.

In the Third Battleground, he had monopolized the Nascent Divinity Source and slew all who opposed him, accumulating a vast quantity of merit.

In the Second Battleground, he had almost single-handedly flattened the other three camps. Naturally, he had acquired an enormous quantity of merit in the process.

As for the First Battleground? Although he’d only killed a small number of Cloud Soaring Transcendents, he had slain numerous beasts while searching the forbidden grounds for Cloud Soaring Divine Essence. He’d accumulated a lot of merit that way too.

Combined, this meant that Su Yi had earned more Immortal Spirit Qi than anyone else present!

Su Yi was inwardly pleased. Not bad. Although I can’t use it now, it’s sure to be wondrously useful when I break into my equivalent of the Cloud Soaring Realm, the Manifesting Void Realm.

He sealed all of the Immortal Spirit Qi he was absorbing into his Nascent Divinity.

In truth, after several months in seclusion, he’d steadied his Dao Heart and combed through his cultivation base. He’d already pried open the bottleneck in his cultivation, and he could break through whenever he wanted.

But he was in no hurry.

He’d reincarnated to cultivate anew. His goal was to surpass his past lives, not just to outspeed them. He wouldn’t break through until his foundations were unprecedentedly firm!

Both the Cloud Soaring Divine Essence he’d gathered prior to this and the Immortal Spirit Qi he was absorbing now were in preparation for his future cultivation.

A while passed before the Immortal Spirit Qi gradually faded away.

Su Yi hadn’t changed much at all, but everyone else had absorbed and refined their Immortal Spirit Qi, and all of them had undergone a startling transformation.

Their entire bodies now shone with immortal light!

This was indeed an unbelievable transformation, a sign of their imminent breakthrough into immortality!

Especially Yu Chen. He’d manifested the charm of Immortal Spirit Qi long prior to this. After absorbing an enormous quantity of it today, his whole body had undergone a transformation akin to rebirth!

But he hadn’t truly become an immortal. To do so, he’d first have to overcome his Immortal Tribulation!

Only then could they transform the very level of their being, like a phoenix undergoing nirvanic rebirth!

Suddenly, a dignified voice rang out, emanating from within the distant Gate to the Immortal Realm. It was like the decree of a sovereign presiding over the nine heavens.

“Cultivators of the Human Realm, listen up! Starting now, those who wish to enter the Immortal Realm have the time it takes to burn a stick of incense to prove your Daos and ascend!”

Boom!

The entire crowd was in uproar. Who could have failed to realize that that was the voice of an Emissary of Welcoming?

Only Su Yi’s brow furrowed. Since when did the Immortal Realm’s Emissaries of Welcoming have such a poor understanding of the rules?

Historically, the Emissaries of Welcoming appointed by the Central Immortal Court were from the factions subordinate to them. Their Immortal Lord factions took turns.

This was part of the long-established rules.

And according to the rules, when the Gate to the Immortal Realm opened, the Emissaries of Welcoming were supposed to announce the rules and warn the would-be ascendants of the perils they would soon face.

Who’d have thought that this time, the Emissaries of Welcoming wouldn’t do any of that? They hadn’t uttered so much as a single word of warning!

But Su Yi quickly understood why. The Domain Boundary Battlefield had vanished for a long, long time, and a catastrophe had swept across the Immortal Realm, leaving its order in tatters and its lands in chaos. The Central Immortal Court had long since crumbled.

If even the Central Immortal Court had vanished, there was naturally no one to decide which Immortal Lord faction was to serve as Emissaries of Welcoming.

Looked at in this light, it was understandable that the Immortal Realm’s Emissaries of Welcoming would be ignorant of the rules.