First Immortal of the Sword

These familiar figures included a red-robed man in a feather headdress riding on a magic cloud.

Then, there was a ten-foot, massively-built man with fire dragons wrapped around his arms, a decrepit, bald, white-bearded elder with a bamboo cane, and a colorfully-dressed swordswoman who wore her hair up.

These were the very Emperors who’d arrived with such ferocity days prior, all to put pressure on the Cui Family!

Su Yi dimly recalled that the man in red was called Qu Bohou.

He didn’t know the others’ names, but he couldn’t be bothered to learn them. So what if they were Emperors? Now that they’d gotten mixed up in this, they were doomed.

However, they weren’t the only ones who’d come this time. There were three others with them, all of them in the Imperial realm!

Seven Emperors had visited together. With power like that, they could act as they pleased anywhere in the Netherworld.

Even in the Nine Provinces of the Wilds, that was enough power to throw the world into chaos!

Off in the distance, the red-robed Qu Bohou said coolly, “Cui Chang’an, have you thought things through?”

His voice boomed like thunder, reverberating throughout the bleak, overcast landscape. 

Cui Chang’an said coldly, “I told you, even if the Cui Family is annihilated, we won’t lower our heads! If that’s why you’re here, I urge you to give up on the idea!”

“Cui Chang’an, I have something I’d like to show you. Please, have a look. I trust you’ll change your mind once you’ve seen it.” The bald, white-bearded elder with the bamboo cane smiled, then swooshed his sleeves. A copper mirror floated into the air. 

The mirror scattered a rain of light, which outlined a scene in the air.

The scene depicted a dark, oppressive dungeon with over a hundred prisoners. They included men and women of all ages, but all were covered in thick chains, and they were a sorry sight.

Their voices emanated from the image.

“Is the Hong Family dead-set on waging war with the Cui Family?”

“Dammit!! Hurry up and let us go!”

“We’re finished! These Hong Family bastards wouldn’t dare do something like this unless something had happened to the Cui Family…”

It was a clamor of voices, some enraged, others terrified and frantic. 

Cui Chang’an’s pupils constricted, his expression incomparably dark.

He naturally understood what was going on. 

As one of the most powerful factions in the Six Paths Royal Territory, the Cui Family’s experts were spread throughout the territory, and quite a few of their clansmen wandered other parts of the Netherworld.

Not long ago, when Cui Chang’an realized the family’s predicament, he issued orders that all clansmen out wandering were to rush home.

However, this happened on such short notice that some of them had yet to return. 

But Cui Chang’an wouldn’t have guessed that the ancient Hong Family had already captured over a hundred of their clansmen!

The bald old man retrieved the copper mirror and smiled. “There’s no harm in telling you this, Fellow Daoist Cui: this is only a tiny portion of the imprisoned Cui clansmen. There are numerous others imprisoned in other locations.”

He paused, then said with an air of benevolence, “But please, rest assured. They’ve merely been detained. Their lives are in no danger.”

Cui Chang’an’s expression was overcast, and he said nothing. 

It was obvious to everyone that he was already enraged!

“Fellow Daoist Cui, what do you think about the conditions we mentioned a few days ago? Might we discuss them now?” the red-robed Qu Bohou said coolly.

The other Emperors’ eyes flashed like lightning as they looked at the distant Cui Chang’an.

But it was then that a calm voice rang out: “If those Cui clansmen die, your clans will be buried with them.” 

It was just one light, airy sentence, but all of the Emperors frowned. Their gazes shifted, then landed on the blue-robed young man standing beside Cui Chang’an.

“Cui Chang’an, isn’t this junior of yours a bit too impudent? No respect for his elders, and no fear of death!” The brawny ten-foot man snorted, his voice going off like a thunderclap.

The other Emperors all had icy looks on their faces.

Theft is never good, try looking at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

But against all expectations, Cui Chang’an’s eyes flashed with murderous light, and he said in a low voice, “Tantai Yue, for those words alone, I’ll see you dead!”

Every word was imposing and full of staunch conviction.

The Emperors were stunned, as if in disbelief.

And the massive man Cui Chang’an called Tantai Yue couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “Today, the entire Cui Family shall perish, yet you dare threaten me even now? Don’t you think you’re being ridiculous?”

His voice boomed through the heavens, rife with disdain and mockery.

Cui Chang’an was just about to respond when Su Yi flipped his palm, took out the Heaven’s Writ Lotus Lantern, and tapped the wick.

Whoosh~

Misty light flowed out of the lantern, and a female figure appeared.

Her skin was fair as snow, and her black hair flowed like a waterfall. She looked about fifteen or sixteen, with curved eyebrows and exquisite features. All in all, she was a moving sight.

Even though her purple dress was in tatters, it did nothing to hide her beauty.

This was none other than the Tianji Yao Empress, a terrifying entity who’d been imprisoned beneath the Bureau of Adjudication’s Heavenly Tripod Mountain for almost sixty thousand years.

When she appeared, Qu Bohou and the other distant Emperors’ hearts shook, and their gazes were instantly solemn. What terrifying yao qi! Who is that woman?

When did such a terrifying existence appear within the Cui Family?

“What can I do for you, Your Excellency?” The Tianji Yao Empress lowered her head and greeted Su Yi respectfully.

This scene left the seven Emperors outside the city so flabbergasted that they almost thought they were hearing things. Why is someone so terrifying lowering her head before some Spiritual Revolution Realm kid?

Before they could wrap their heads around it, Su Yi held the Heaven’s Writ Lotus Lantern aloft and said casually, “Go kill that hulking brute. I permit you to seize his blood essence and devour his soul.”

The Tianji Yao Empress’s eyes sparkled, the depth of her gaze shining with irrepressible bloodlust. She was so excited that her voice quavered. “I shall assiduously carry out your orders, Your Excellency!”

The distant Emperors’ expressions shifted.

Qu Bohou shouted, “Cui Chang’an, are you sure you want to cast aside all pretenses of cordiality? Do you realize that if this comes to blows, there’ll be no room left to turn this around, and the Cui Family…”

His words came to an abrupt halt.

Because, a burst of light flashed not far from them, then transformed into the Tianji Yao Empress.

“Seven Emperors, but not one has broken into the Profound Serenity Realm. How truly disappointing,” she sighed.

She was a moving sight, and her steps were light and graceful. As she walked, unearthly black irises appeared around her, their petals casting a dense, dark glow.

Wherever she passed, the skies seemed to decay, and she left the air riddled with holes.

Misty, unearthly black fog filled the air around her.

It was an utterly shocking scene.

“The Profound Serenity Realm!?”

“What terrifying Light of Incineration. Just… Just where did that woman come from?”

“Run!” 

Qu Bohou and the others were all visibly stunned, and they immediately shifted in the skies, turned, and fled.

They’d been ordered to come here to discuss terms, not to fight with their lives on the line.

Boom!

Heaven and earth trembled.

The Tianji Yao Empress took a step forward, and her graceful figure disappeared into thin air.

A moment later, she appeared behind the massive Tantai Yue like a ghost and extended her jade-like right hand.

Her fingers shot forth like five sharp blades swathed in unearthly black light.

Tantai Yue seemed to sense the danger. His massive frame burst with golden light, which formed a multi-layered barrier condensed out of Profound Dao Laws.

At the same time, his right arm thickened and shone with dazzling golden light. He turned, and was just just about to punch when…

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A rapid-fire series of explosions rang out. The layered golden barrier burst like paper mache in the face of those five, slender white fingers.

Each bore into Tantai Yue’s back like sharp swords, piercing his heart.

He stiffened, and his features contorted with agony. The punch he was about to throw fell apart mid-movement.

Splurt!

With a splash of blood, the Tianji Yao Empress ripped his heart out of his chest and held it in her soft, jade-like hands. Black light circulated across her palm, and the heart brimming with the accumulated power of Tantai Yue’s blood essence shriveled and disintegrated into ash.

“You… You are….” 

Tantai Yue seemed to recognize the Tianji Yao Empress’s identity, and his eyes widened. 

But before he could finish his sentence, the Tianji Yao Empress smiled. A swath of irises transformed into flames, incinerating Tantai Yue to ash.

After killing a mid-stage Profound Illumination Emperor, the Tianji Yao Empress looked at the others, who’d already fled. Then, she turned to the city walls, looked at Su Yi, and asked respectfully, “Your Excellency, should I pursue them?”

Although she’d lowered her head, Cui Chang’an could sense that after sixty thousand years of confinement, this woman longed to fight and kill some more.

Su Yi glanced at her. “With your current cultivation, you can at most contend with early-stage Profound Serenity Emperors. What if you run into someone like that while chasing them? Wouldn’t you be the one to die then?”

The Tianji Yao Empress’s delicate frame stiffened, and she fell silent.

After sixty thousand years of imprisonment beneath Heavenly Tripod Mountain, her cultivation base was severely damaged. It was far less than ten percent of her former peak.

“Come back,” said Su Yi. “You’ll have more opportunities to fight tonight.”

“Yes, sir!” The Tianji Yao Empress blurred into a streak of bloody light and shot into the Heaven’s Writ Lotus Lantern.

Cui Chang’an couldn’t help but exclaim, “Uncle Su, that treasure really is extraordinary.”

Su Yi didn’t explain.

The Heaven’s Writ Lotus Lantern really was impressive, but without Po Suo’s help, he could forget about subduing those old monsters.

Su Yi then took out his wicker chair, sprawled out in it, and gazed up at the gray, overcast skies. He whispered, “This means an irrevocable falling out with those hostile factions. Your captive clansmen are likely in danger.”

He paused, then added, “But there’s no need to worry. So long as we win, they won’t be in danger any longer.”

Cui Chang’an nodded. He naturally understood Su Yi’s logic.

Su Yi then shut his eyes and dozed in the wicker chair, leisurely and content.

Cui Chang’an, however, put his hands behind his back and stood there in silence.

Occasionally, he looked up at the sky.

As time slipped by, the skies darkened, and the dense clouds blanketing the heavens made it increasingly difficult to breathe. 

Suddenly——

The skies were suddenly plunged into complete darkness, as if the night had devoured the entire landscape. It was so dark, it seemed like the night would last forever.

There wasn’t even the slightest trace of light.

Throughout the Netherworld, everyone felt as if they’d been plunged into endless darkness. None of them could see anything at all.

The Lantern Festival had finally arrived!