First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 244 - Beneath a Single Slash

Shrill, grating shrieks reverberated throughout the chasm.

Yin qi billowed through the air as countless vicious ghosts charged in a mad frenzy, like the armies of hell enveloping this underground world.

This situation filled even Ning Sihua and Mu Xi with terror.

Daoist Corpse Controller watched from a distance. Even he was visibly shaken. Is this the peerless power of the holy maiden?

Isn’t this a bit too terrifying?

Were a ghostly army of this scale to appear in the world of the mundane, it could sweep across an entire city, destroying every living inhabitant!

“Using a lamp to light the way, guiding ten thousand ghosts?” Uncertainty flickered across Su Yi’s face. 

This was an ability unique to the Netherworld’s Ghost Serpent Clan, a talent only they possessed.

For this reason, they were also known as the Envoys of the Lamp. The power of their bloodline enabled them to summon and control the yin souls and vicious ghosts of the Netherworld!

In the Nine Provinces of the Wilds, Ghost Cultivators saw Ghost Serpents as one of the Nine Great Royal Clans of the Netherworld. They occupied a position similar to peak-level clans in the human world; their position was lofty to the extreme. 

Su Yi would never have guessed that he’d see the Ghost Serpents’ unique divine ability in a mundane nation like the Great Zhou. 

“Alas, although you can use a lamp to control ghosts, their power is substandard. Any Origin Dao cultivator could snuff them out easily.” Su Yi faintly shook his head.

Then, they watched as he waved his sleeves, formed seals with both hands, and suddenly outlined a subtle and mysterious diagram in the sky. 

Bzzzzz!

As the obscure diagrams condensed, above the chasm, the one hundred and eight altars lining the rift rumbled and surged. Symbols formed out of light, then rained down.

Shen Jiusong and the others were conversing when they saw this, and despite themselves, they were stunned. All of them looked over. Is Young Lord Su using the power of the formation?

Meanwhile, in the world below, the vast, formless power heeded Su Yi’s call. It surged and gathered around the tip of his finger.

“Go.” Su Yi gently flicked his fingertip.

A ten-thousand-foot stream of sword qi mixed with the formation’s power fluctuations, as dazzling as the night sky’s river of stars. 

The dim, gloomy underground world instantly lit up, bright as day.

And as the sword qi swept forth, the vast power of the formation erupted like a landslide or a tidal wave. The countless vicious ghosts shrieked in terror and desperation, and before they could dodge, their densely clustered figures evaporated into nothingness.

Rumble~!

The skies boomed like thunder. 

Beneath Ning Sihua and Mu Xi’s stunned gazes, the power of this sword obliterated ten thousand ghosts!

“This…!” Daoist Corpse Controller shrieked and fled in panic. Seeing this, he recalled the way Su Yi slew Hua Liuye earlier, and it left him scared out of his wits.

But then, the woman in the bronze mask suddenly beckoned.

Rumble!

The massive, ten-thousand-foot vortex rumbled and revolved, producing terrifying waves of power. A blood-red curtain of light descended from above.

Bang!

The massive streak of sword qi collided with the blood curtain, resulting in an earth-shaking blast. Sword qi fell like rain and bloody light descended like a wave. The two powers canceled each other out.

This time, Ning Sihua and Mu Xi realized what was happening. Yes, Su Yi could manipulate the power of the formation, but the masked woman could borrow the power of the spatial barrier!

“That grand formation you’re using was placed here precisely to seal and suppress this spatial barrier,” said the woman, her voice cold and clear. “That means that, once the formation runs out of power, the spatial barrier will break free of its restraints and fully manifest in this world.

“When that happens, the Great Zhou will become a spatial node. The countless inhabitants of another world will set their sights on it, and they’ll use it as an entryway. They’ll form one Dao Cocoon and cross over, one after another.”

She paused, then continued, “If that happens, never mind your paltry little ‘Great’ Zhou… The entire Azure Continent will descend into bloodshed and turmoil. You…. Are you sure you want to do this?”

Ning Sihua’s clear gaze was suddenly serious. If that were true, it would indeed lead to an unpredictable disaster for the entire continent!

Mu Xi’s brow knit tightly. Will that really happen?

But then, Su Yi sneered. “Anyone who comes through a Dao Cocoon will, ultimately, just be a soul avatar, and they’ll need to possess a body. This is a mundane realm, and its spiritual energy is barren and sparse. With their abilities, who knows how long it will take them to reach the power of their original bodies?

He paused, thought seriously for a moment, then said, “I’d actually love for them to come over. It’d be like meat pies raining from the heavens! By stripping their soul avatars from their possessed bodies, I could perhaps refine some interesting trinkets.

“Oh, and even if I couldn’t make anything worthwhile, I could always refine them into pure soul origins. They’d make for rare and precious spiritual materials, regardless of whether I put them into medicine or used them to refine treasures.” 

Ning Sihua’s mind went blank. What… What is he saying?

Mu Xi gasped and stared intently at Su Yi. This guy actually sees dimension hoppers as resources?

Why does that feel somehow off? How terrifying is someone capable of crossing a spatial barrier? 

How is that, in Su Yi’s eyes, they’re nothing but a flock of fat sheep? He actually says he’s eager for them to take the bait and fall into his trap….

The masked woman was stunned too. How unbridled and fearless did you have to be to say something so wildly arrogant?

Is this guy even human?

“Of course, I wouldn’t sink to allowing disaster to befall the nation just so that I could harvest a bunch of dimension hoppers and use them as spiritual materials,” said Su Yi with a sigh. It seemed he found this an awful pity. 

“You… What exactly are you trying to say?” The masked woman felt a bit bewildered. 

Su Yi instantly started to lose interest. “Can’t you tell? With me here, the situation you’ve just described will never happen.”

Having said this, he couldn’t be bothered to explain further. He just leaped ahead.

“That so? Then you can just go and die!” The masked woman snorted coldly, and her lotus-shaped lamp swayed back and forth. A dim, eerie light flickered in and out of view.

Boom!

One terrifying yaksa after another appeared in the air. All of them were several hundred feet tall. Some wielded twin sabers, while others held halberds or rode on clouds…..

“Kill! Kill! Kill!” 

Their roars boomed like thunder as billowing yin qi swept from the yaksa army. This was a wide-range attack, and it was headed right toward Su Yi.

Their auras had long since transcended the limits of the Grandmaster Realm. Even a Xiantian Martial Ancestor might not be able to fend off such an attack.

This power was already no different from the magic arts of Origin Dao cultivators. 

But all they saw was Su Yi pressing his fingers together, then tapping the air.

Boom!

The inscrutable yet vast and mighty power of the formation boomed, condensing a grand, primordial divine mountain. It came crashing down.

The entire group of hundred-foot-tall yaksa burst apart like paper mache. 

As the ground shook, Su Yi gripped the sword embryo forged of Abstruse God Wood and stepped into the air, shooting towards the vast ritual grounds.

Whoosh!

His clothes billowed as he struck like lightning, his energy booming around him.

And the ink-dark wooden sword in his hand produced waves of a strange sealing power. Sword hums rose like the tide.

A single swing.

Ten thousand feet of sword qi swung through the air. Countless runes scattered, bursting with searing light. The faint, indistinct images of ancient altars floated up, reflecting all manner of strange, vast, and unbelievable phenomena: the sun, moon, and river of stars, sages reciting sutras, and the roaring of demons.

One sword guided the power of the formation to manifest all these unique phenomena! 

The sword embryo was left behind by the very cultivator who placed the formation, and Su Yi had long since seen through the formation’s subtleties.

Now, as he struck with his full power, he was effectively calling upon the full secret strength of the formation. How could such an attack possibly be ordinary? 

The bronze-masked woman’s pupils constricted until they were small as needlepoints. She dared not hesitate. Suddenly, she launched into an obscure Daoist chant.

“Repress!”

Beneath the dome of the heavens, the vast, blood-colored vortex circulated like mad, stirring up rolling currents of baleful energy that descended upon the world below. 

It was like the river of stars breaking through a dam, descending from the nine heavens!

Boom! Crack!

The entire stretch of heaven and earth was on the verge of collapse as torrents of terrifying power ran rampant. That level of power far surpassed the Four Realms of the Martial Dao. Its destructive power was shocking to behold.

But it was with this level of force that Su Yi’s sword struck the pouring red torrents with unstoppable momentum.

This is bad! The masked woman’s heart clenched, and she immediately dodged. 

And the giant, three-headed dog that had been crouching in front of her all this time suddenly shot to its feet, threw back its heads, and howled.

It instantly expanded to ten times its earlier size. It now looked like a mountain, and each of its heads was the size of a house. 

As it howled, its three bloody maws opened wide, and it breathed out a towering sea of flames. They spread like molten lava, wreaking havoc on the surrounding area.

Soul-Rending Yin Flames!

However, although the three-headed dog’s sea of flames could easily burn a Grandmaster to death, it seemed pathetic in comparison to Su Yi’s sword.

A series of booms rang out, and the sea of flames split easily. The fiery waterfall dispersed.

As for the dog, it didn’t even have time to dodge before the giant sword sliced through its massive body.

Immediately afterward, the sword qi struck the massive ritual grounds.

Boom!

A perfectly-straight crevice appeared, spreading continuously until it was on the verge of reaching the massive Dao Cocoon hovering over the altar. 

A figure appeared and tried to block it—the woman in the bronze mask!

However, even though she resisted with all her might, she was sent flying. Before even hitting the ground, blood flowed down her lips; she was obviously gravely wounded. Even her lotus-shaped lantern burst on impact.

When she saw that the aftershock of the descending sword qi was about to strike the altar, the woman couldn’t help but scream, 

“No—!”

The altar exploded into fragments. Bits of stone scattered in all directions.

And the massive Dao Cocoon hovering above it lost the power holding it aloft and plummeted directly to earth. 

Upon closer inspection, the dark mists lingering around the cocoon were dissipating, and the cocoon lost its radiance.

One slash severed the descending bloody curtain, slew the three-headed vicious dog, severely injured the Deathbringer’s Gate’s holy maiden, and destroyed the ceremonial altar! 

All of this seemed to happen in slow motion, but in truth, it happened in the blink of an eye, so quick, it was unbelievable.

Even just watching, Ning Sihua and Mu Xi broke out in cold sweats. Their hearts quivered as they sank into utter astonishment. 

That slash seemed to originate from the hands of a deity, or to steal fortune from the heavens. Its momentum seemed unstoppable and terrifying without limit!