First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1513 - In High Demand

Unlike Su Yi, most of the cultivators on Immortal Transformation Platform didn’t know the rules that Emissaries of Welcoming were supposed to follow.

Thus, when they heard that dignified voice ring out, many of them surged toward the gates immediately!

“Today’s the day I prove my Dao and become an immortal!” someone shouted. His entire body was swathed in immortal light, and he blurred into a radiant arc as he shot toward the distant Gates of the Immortal Realm.

“When a carp leaps over the dragon’s gate, it too can become a dragon. If we can overcome our Immortal Tribulations, we'll become lofty, carefree immortals!”

“Let’s go!”

One arc of light after another soared into the air.

Everyone charging toward the Gates of the Immortal Realm had a similar sensation. It was as if they were piercing through layer after layer of spatial barriers, crossing the walls between worlds and rising step by step.

The higher they ascended, the more the Laws of spacetime surged around them. They were like a flood relentlessly assailing the cultivators’ bodies, producing a series of wondrous transformations to their bodies and souls.

Their souls, blood vessels, meridians, muscles, bones, and even their pores all underwent a rapid transformation.

This was transcendence!

It was a qualitative transformation. Success meant leaving mortality behind, ascending to the Immortal Realm, and entering the Immortal Dao!

But this type of metamorphosis drained an enormous amount of power!

Furthermore, the process was accompanied by numerous terrifying perils, like a series of tribulations blocking their path. Cultivators who couldn’t endure would be destroyed, body and soul, and their Daos would vanish forever.

This was the nature of the Immortal Tribulation.

Many cultivators had already begun, while others were getting ready. Only Su Yi just lay there in his wicker chair, entirely unmoving.

Ren Changqing couldn’t help but ask, “Fellow Daoist Su, what are you waiting for?”

Su Yi glanced at him and said, “I’ve yet to step into the Cloud Soaring Realm.”

The crowd fell silent. All of a sudden, they looked conflicted.

This was someone who’d yet to step into the Cloud Soaring Realm, yet for the past several months, he’d suppressed every major camp so thoroughly that they couldn’t hold their heads up high. How could they bear this?

Suddenly, a desperate shriek emanated from far away. Everyone’s hair stood on end as they watched a would-be ascendant’s body split into countless pieces and disappear.

“He failed his tribulation...” someone said with horror.

In the time that followed, numerous similar scenes played out.

Not just anyone could soar into the clouds and transcend mortality. Those who failed their Immortal Tribulations were doomed to complete annihilation!

Of course, there were several who overcame their tribulations and reached the Gates of the Immortal Realm.

But they were in the extreme minority, less than one in ten.

Upon witnessing these cruel deaths, the Cloud Soaring Transcendents who’d yet to make the attempt cooled their heads. Some of them even decided to give up on this opportunity to become an immortal!

Their reasoning was simple. They didn’t want to die!

Sword Immortal Qingshi took action too, rising through the seemingly endless void and hurtling toward the distant Gates of the Immortal Realm.

Su Yi watched briefly, then concluded that Sword Immortal Qingshi was all but certain to successfully overcome his tribulation.

Indeed, although he faced considerable peril in the process, he endured in the end, disappearing through the gates.

By now, only about ten or so people remained on the Immortal Transformation Platform.

“It’s okay to give up.” Su Yi looked at the Wood Spirit Monarch and the others. “The pursuit of the Grand Dao isn’t a race.”

In the Eastern Profound Star Domain’s camp, practically everyone who’d attempted to ascend perished in the attempt. Only the Wood Spirit Monarch and a few others remained.

All of them immediately looked ashamed. They really had come here planning to try their luck.

But witnessing so many others die brutal deaths had influenced them, shaking their confidence.

Su Yi rose and put away his wicker chair. “I ought to get going too.”

The others on the Immortal Transformation Platform were stunned, then confused. He isn’t in the Cloud Soaring Realm, so how can he prove his Dao and enter immortality?

As if reading their minds, Su Yi took it upon himself to explain, “Way back when, the Immortal Realm’s Emissaries of Welcoming would conduct a test. Even those who’d yet to enter the Cloud Soaring Realm had an opportunity to enter the Immortal Realm if they performed well enough.”

“It seems that... after the passage of countless years, all of that has changed.” Su Yi shook his head. These Emissaries of Welcoming had truly disappointed him.

“In that case, Fellow Daoist Su, how do you plan to proceed to the Immortal Realm?” The Wood Spirit Monarch couldn’t help but ask.

Su Yi was just about to explain when that dignified voice resounded from beyond the gates once more. “Cultivators of the Human Realm, listen up! Pour your power into your command tokens. If any of you are fortunate enough to pique our interest, we’ll make an exception and guide you into the Immortal Realm!”

The crowd on the Immortal Transformation Platform was initially stunned, but then, their spirits soared. They all got to work.

Within seconds, everyone’s identity marker lit up, their radiance rising into the void.

The Wood Spirit Monarch and the others followed suit. They were trying to seize this last thread of hope.

Only Su Yi abstained. If he wanted to enter the Immortal Realm, he could. He didn’t need to pass anyone’s test.

In the end, the results of the test were disappointing. Not one of them drew the emissaries’ interest.

Meanwhile, Su Yi didn’t plan to wait any longer. He bade the Wood Spirit Monarch and the others farewell. “Everyone, should fate permit it, we’ll surely meet again in the Immortal Realm. Bye.”

Before his voice had even finished echoing through the air, his figure blurred as he shot toward the distant gates, as if rising into the heavens.

“Fellow Daoist Su...”

“Don’t tell me he wants to force his way through?”

“Those who haven’t reached the Cloud Soaring Realm are sure to be ripped to shreds by that terrifying spacetime power before they reach the Gates of the Immortal Realm!”

“Fellow Daoist Su isn’t the foolhardy sort. Just wait and see!”

Su Yi’s boldness left the crowd flabbergasted.

Practically simultaneously, startled voices arose from beyond the Gates of the Immortal Realm.

“This boy shows no sign of having refined Immortal Spirit Qi. He obviously hasn’t stepped into the Cloud Soaring Realm yet. Is he trying to force his way through?”

“That’s no different from suicide....”

“He stands before the gates of immortality. Of course he’s tempted! Besides, the Human and Immortal Realms have been separated for a long, long time. Perhaps the boy just doesn’t understand how dangerous what he’s attempting to do is.”

“It’s a pity, but he’s doomed to be no more than a moth to the flame!”

“Those who force their way through the gates are doomed, no exceptions! Throughout history, this has been an ironclad, unbreakable rule!”

...As they conversed, the cultivators on the Immortal Transformation Platform finally realized that there was actually a whole group of emissaries, not just one!

But the content of their discussion left them sweating on Su Yi’s behalf.

Those who attempted to force their way in died, no exceptions!!

Meanwhile, the layers of spacetime power were like natural barriers blocking Su Yi’s path. The higher he rose, the more tumultuous and powerful the spacetime Laws.

Furthermore, there were numerous catastrophic powers along the way. They manifest as raging windstorms, lightning bolts, and divine flames...

Any of them could have slain a Cloud Soaring Transcendent with ease!

But against all expectations, Su Yi was like a fish shuttling nimbly through a tidal wave. He bypassed the numerous spacetime barriers, crossed every catastrophic power in his path, and drew closer and closer to the Gates of the Immortal Realm.

From beginning to end, nothing ever managed to stand in his way, and he was never once injured!

“This...” The Wood Spirit Monarch and the others watched from the Immortal Transformation Platform, eyes wide and jaws slack. It was as if they were watching a miracle take place.

They were shaken to the core!

Even if you’d hit them over the head, they would never have guessed that someone who hadn’t even proven his Dao could cross the endless spacetime barriers in his path to reach the Gates of the Immortal Realm.

There was no need to even question it. They knew that if they’d attempted to do the same, they would have died a long time ago!

“Ee?”

“How is that youngster doing this?”

“Strange. His aura of the Grand Dao can freely shuttle through the spacetime barriers. They aren’t affecting him at all!”

“He’s even dodging the destructive power of the Laws of the Immortal Dao!”

...A clamor of startled voices arose beyond the Gates of the Immortal Realm.

There was no doubt about it. Even the Immortal Realm’s Emissaries of Welcoming were startled, and even they found this unbelievable.

“Such a heaven-defying figure actually appeared in the Human Realm? Is he going to break this ironclad rule?”

“Everyone, let’s not fight. Allow me to usher the boy in. An unrivaled genius like him is exactly what our Sky Pillar Immortal Sect needs!”

“No way! I’ve taken a shine to our young friend too. I’m taking him back to my sect to cultivate, even if it costs me!”

“He hasn’t even reached the Immortal Realm yet, but you’re already fighting over him?”

“Hehe, since we’ve taken an interest in him, even if he encounters danger along the way, all we have to do is intervene and usher him in. We absolutely won’t let him die in the attempt!”

...A clamor of voices emanated from beyond the gates.

The group still standing on the platform was so astonished that their jaws practically fell off.

Their faces were contorted with jealousy!

The Emissaries of Welcoming were fighting over who got to take Su Yi back to their sects. They even said they’d personally usher him in if need be!

The disparity between their treatment was far too enormous.

“I dare say with certainty that if word of this returns to the Eastern Profound Star Domain, everyone will be envious of His Excellency Su’s good luck,” murmured the Wood Spirit Monarch.

“Good luck? No, this is ability!” corrected one of the others. “If not for his display of heaven-defying strength, how could the Emissaries of Welcoming possibly look upon him with such favor?”

The others couldn’t help but nod. No one could argue, nor could anyone criticize Su Yi.

Because he’d never at any point relied on any petty tricks. He’d relied purely on his own strength to make the Emissaries of Welcoming fight over him!

But in the end, Su Yi didn’t need to borrow anyone else’s power!

He soared past peril upon peril, like a sudden arc of light, entering the Gates of the Immortal Realm.

Just like that, he disappeared.

He’d succeeded!

He hadn’t even broken into the Cloud Soaring Realm yet, yet he’d taken his first steps into immortality, breaking the long-established ironclad rule that “those who force their way through the Gates of the Immortal Realm are sure to die!”

This accomplishment was truly unique and unprecedented!

The crowd gathered on the Immortal Transformation Platform stood there in a daze.

Later that day, the Gates of the Immortal Realm, the Immortal Transformation Platform, and the Road of Welcoming vanished.

The cultivators remaining in the Domain Boundary Battlefield were all sent back to their respective star domains.

The Domain Boundary Battlefield had remained open for a year, but now it disappeared once more.

That very day, word of what had happened there started to spread throughout the Eastern Profound, Western Chill, Northern Abyss, and Southern Flame Star Domains.

All four star domains were instantly thrown into uproar!

It was also on that day that the Universal Emptiness Sword Buddha returned to Universal Emptiness Temple with word of Su Yi’s accomplishments.