First Immortal of the Sword

The light of the heavens filled ten thousand miles of cloudless skies.

Su Yi stood beneath the firmament. The endless light of a lightning tribulation surged toward him on all sides, highlighting just how dazzling and illusory his figure was.

His aura had long since broken through the barrier of the Spiritual Incarnation Realm. Upon stepping into Spiritual Revolution, he began an earth-shaking transformation, inside and out.

Reaching Spiritual Revolution meant he’d reached the end of the Spirit Dao.

Upon reaching this realm, the Grand Dao Spirit Palace would manifest a wheel. The Grand Dao Spirit Incarnation would float within it. This was the so-called “Grand Dao Spirit Wheel”!

Whoosh~Whoosh~~

A flood of tribulation lightning and a rain of light surged endlessly into Su Yi’s body, making his cultivation base firmer and stronger.

This transformation gave Su Yi an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.

He’d used the aura of the Sword of the Nine Hells in this tribulation, just as he had in the last few. This enabled him to overcome a taboo tribulation, and what would otherwise have been certain death.

But this wasn’t as simple as borrowing external power to break through his tribulation.

It was just that this taboo tribulation was so overpowering that even a Profound Illumination Emperor would likely have perished beneath it.

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Given the circumstances, the Sword of the Nine Hells was his only hope of survival. 

Fortune and disaster when hand in hand. After overcoming tribulation, Su Yi could clearly sense that upon stepping into Spiritual Revolution, he’d obtained unimaginable benefits.

His soul, physique, cultivation base, and foundations in the Grand Dao had all undergone an unprecedented sublimation!

“A sword… broke through a heavenly tribulation!?” The Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow’s blood-red eyes were full of shock.

Su Yi didn’t just not die; he’d even slashed through that taboo, grand tribulation and broken through. This was shocking even to the crow, who’d lived for countless years.

“Little crow, you’ve finally shown yourself.” Su Yi took beneath the dome of heaven and gazed at the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow, his gaze playful.

The Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow sighed after a moment’s silence. “I wouldn’t have thought that not even the Netherworld Heart-Disrupting Curse could influence your mental state. I certainly wouldn’t have thought such a grand, taboo tribulation would fail to kill you…”

Its feathers glinted with icy darkness, a mysterious and imposing sight.

The crow then looked at the distant Po Suo and said coldly, “Unless I’m mistaken, the Cui Family sent you to see me?”

Su Yi shook his head. “You’re wrong. I’m the one who wanted to see you.”

“What for?” The crow said suspiciously. Everything about the young man in blue seemed strange.

“Everyone calls you an inauspicious bird, a symbol of calamity and upheaval. I wanted to see you for myself,” said Su Yi. As he spoke, he stepped through the air and drifted onto a mountaintop. “How about it? Want to have a chat?”

He walked with his hands behind his back, perfectly calm. However, his composure only made the crow increasingly aware that something was fishy here.

Never mind Spirit Dao cultivators; even Emperors feared the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow!

But the young man in blue was different.

He was too calm.

Add Po Suo, the spirit born of the source of the Tree of Ten Thousand Daos, and this was enough to suppress the bluster of even a mighty, inauspicious creature like the crow.

“What do you want to chat about?” asked the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow.

“Your origins, and your reasons for coming here,” said Su Yi between sips of wine.

“So, you want to ask about my origins.” The crow suddenly laughed, its voice raspy and disdainfully. “Little fellow, do you really think this lofty one will tell you?”

Su Yi laughed. “There are over a hundred forbidden grounds in the City of the Wrongfully Dead. Of them, nine are more perilous than the others. These nine danger zones include Calamity Ridge and the Great Chaos Ruins. Unless I’m mistaken, you’ve got to be from one of the two.”

The Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow’s blood-red eyes flashed. “I wouldn’t have guessed a little whelp like you would know anything about the City of the Wrongfully Dead. Alas, there’s no way you’ll figure it out.”

“Oh?” said Su Yi. “Then do you know how the City of the Wrongfully Dead’s Divine Monarch Bloodmoon died? Or who imprisoned the White Bone Emperor after he fell from grace? Or how that Heavenspan Yao Vine occupied the ‘Little Necropolis’?”

The Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow was obviously stunned. “You… Do you know these secrets?”

When Po Suo saw this, she couldn’t help but sigh to herself. Of course she knew that when the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force wandered the Netherworld, he’d fought his way into the City of the Wrongfully Dead!

In terms of his understanding of the City of the Wrongfully Dead, few in this world could compare to him!

Furthermore, Po Suo suspected that the secrets Su Yi now tossed out were, in fact, all things he himself had done!

“Want answers? Sure. Just tell me your origins in exchange,” said Su Yi.

After a moment’s silence, the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow suddenly snorted coldly. “You’re overthinking this. I’m not at all interested in any of that.”

Su Yi laughed, then said in a tone rife with implied meaning, “Fine. If you don’t want to chat now, I won’t push you, but I trust you’ll come looking for me of your own accord eventually.”

With that, he turned to Po Suo and said, “Let’s go.”

Before his voice even finished echoing through the air, he started walking toward Ziluo City.

That was what it meant to be “natural and unaffected.”

Po Suo accompanied him, her waterfall of white hair flowing around her, elegant and ethereal.

The two of them gradually faded into the distance.

The Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow was a bit caught off guard; it hadn’t anticipated that Su Yi would leave just like that.

“How arrogant is he? He obviously doesn’t take me the least bit seriously…” The crow’s blood-red eyes flashed, and on several occasions, it felt the urge to kill.

But in the end, it held back.

“Go back and tell the Cui Family that the disasters accompanying the Lantern Festival will destroy both them and Ziluo City!” The crow’s icy voice emanated from afar.

Before long, Su Yi laughed back, perfectly calm. “Little crow, if you dare appear then, I guarantee that you won’t be able to fly out of my grasp. Watch yourself.”

The Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow couldn’t help but laugh. You’re saying that as a Spirit Dao cultivator? How brazen and arrogant!

But it quickly fell silent.

Although it didn’t know Su Yi’s origins, it could tell that the young man in blue was thoroughly unusual. It wasn’t just that his cultivation was heaven-defying; he seemed to know quite a few secrets surrounding the City of the Wrongfully Dead.

And even the spirit of the Cui Family’s Tree of Ten Thousand Daos was willingly accompanying him!

This was simply unbelievable!

“Just… Just who is that boy? Since when was someone like that in the Cui Family?” The Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow’s eyes flashed with uncertainty.

In the end, its blood-red eyes flashed with murderous light. “It doesn’t matter who he is. He can forget about stopping the destruction of Ziluo City and the annihilation of the Cui Family!”

Then, the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow disappeared without a trace.

……

On their way back to Ziluo City.

“Earlier, I thought you’d ask me to help you capture the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow,” said Po Suo, a bit confused. “Why didn’t you?”

“Capturing him would do no good. I checked earlier, and that wasn’t its real body,” said Su Yi.

“Really?” exclaimed Po Suo.

Just now, she hadn’t sensed it at all!

“Of course,” said Su Yi. Suddenly, he laughed. “But it’ll definitely come back to find me.”

‘Why do you say that?” asked Po Suo.

“The City of the Wrongfully Dead is a forbidden ground home to numerous terrifying lifeforms. Those I mentioned earlier—the slain Divine Monarch Bloodmoon, the lost White Bone Emperor, and the Heavenspan Yao Vine that’s overtaken the Little Internal Palace—are all among the strongest and most ruthless characters in the city,” said Su Yi. “Of them, Divine Monarch Bloodmoon comes from Calamity Ridge, while the White Bone Emperor and Heavenspan Yao Vine come from the Great Chaos Ruins.

“Back when I explored the City of the Wrongfully Dead, I had interactions with all three terrifying entities. I killed Divine Monarch Bloodmoon, and I imprisoned the White Bone Emperor in darkness.

“As for that Heavenspan Yao Vine? It knew what was good for it and did me an enormous favor. In exchange, before I left, I helped it occupy the Little Infernal Palace.

“Practically no one in the Netherworld knows about any of this, but these incidents caused an enormous uproar within the City of the Wrongfully Dead. However, no one knows who was behind them.”

“In other words, these matters have always been secret even in the City of the Wrongfully Dead. If the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow heard about these incidents, it’s surely eager to know the full story.”

“Of course, that alone wouldn’t be enough to force the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow to show itself,” said Su Yi before finally revealing the true answer: “But if it intends to save the White Bone Emperor, it’ll surely come looking for me.”

By now, Po Suo’s curiosity was thoroughly piqued. “Why do you say that?”

Su Yi laughed. “The crow’s strange, calamitous aura shares an origin with that of the White Bone Emperor. It was because I realized that I brought up the Great Chaos Ruins and the White Bone Emperor’s imprisonment.”

Only now did Po Suo understand. Her expression suddenly turned a bit strange. “I’m suddenly starting to worry about something?”

“What?” asked Su Yi, a bit befuddled.

Po Suo sighed. “I’m worried that you’ll trick me into running away with you before I’ve even realized it.”

Su Yi rubbed his nose and laughed bitterly. “Are you complimenting me or making fun of me?”

Po Suo blinked, then giggled, “Both.”

Thinking about it, Su Yi’s plans really were too thorough, and he gave nothing away, but he mapped everything out far in advance.

Not long ago, when he imprisoned the old monsters within the Heaven’s Writ Lotus Lantern, he obviously already intended to request her aid in putting them to use.

Today, he outwardly just requested that she keep watch over him while he underwent tribulation outside the city, but in truth, he was using her as bait to lure out the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow.

And that wasn’t the end of it; he’d even made arrangements to ensure that the bird went looking for him of its own volition!

Po Suo couldn’t help but suspect that if Su Yi were intent on running off with her, she wouldn’t even realize it…

Su Yi laughed. “Relax! I wouldn’t resort to using such petty tricks on you.”

As they conversed, Ziluo City’s grand, ancient silhouette appeared in the distance.

“How about we have a drink at the Fragrant Cloud?” asked Su Yi, taking the initiative to extend an invitation. 

He’d only just broken through, and he was in a good mood. Furthermore, he had some free time. He naturally wanted to relax and enjoy himself.

Po Suo bit down on her red lower lip. “Can I refuse?”

“Of course… not.”