First Immortal of the Sword

Yun Qiong’s head thudded to the ground, his eyes still wide with fury.

Meanwhile, the tyrannical power emanating from the Dragon Bone Spear reduced his headless corpse to ash, which scattered to the wind.

The crowd’s expressions froze. Everyone was rooted to the spot.

A moment prior, Libationer Yun Qiong’s voice had echoed through the air. He’d only just said that he could destroy Su Yi with a single hand, without relying on the divine decree!

The forces of the Church of All Spirits had even burst into laughter over Su Yi’s arrogance.

A moment later, Yun Qiong used the decree anyway, only for it to shatter. Now, he’d taken a spear to the throat!

It practically all happened at once, so quick that the crowd couldn’t keep up.

Before the crowd’s laughter had even finished echoing through the air, this top expert of the Church of All Spirits had been executed!

Even the divine decree broke beneath a single attack!

Xing Yu and Feng Yeyun finally understood where Su Yi got the guts to speak with such confidence. When Su Yi attacked, the divine decree that could kill even Immortal Lords with ease couldn’t even withstand a single hit!

Qing Wei’s beautiful eyes flashed, and her heart filled with indescribable emotion. The Sovereign really lives up to his reputation!

Fang Han stared intently, his eyes unblinking. He was young, inexperienced, with a humble cultivation base, so it was a lot to take in.

Su Yi’s words replayed through his mind once more: The so-called ‘gods’ are really just powerful cultivators. No need to think overly highly of them.

At the time, Fang Han had turned up his nose at this. He took Su Yi for a brazen braggart who dared make idle comments about even gods.

Yet now…

Fang Han’s heart suddenly filled with shame, and he felt thoroughly ill at ease.

“Your Excellency, I don’t know if I was right or wrong to do this, but… I also dare not divulge your identity rashly. I humbly request your guidance,” transmitted the Red Dragon Dao Monarch.

The young woman was covered in blood, and her skin was split. She stood to Su Yi’s side, gripping the Dragon Bone Spear. Her tiny frame only reached Su Yi’s chest.

There was no sign of her earlier cold indifference or majesty. If anything, she seemed reserved and flustered.

“You’ve done well,” responded Su Yi, but his thoughts were elsewhere.

When he destroyed that divine decree, he caught a clear look at its contents. Against all expectations, it contained information about how to find the Reincarnator—him!

Even more surprisingly, it included a realistic portrait of him and information on several of his identities: the Temple Master, Su Xuanjun, and Su Yi!

There was no doubt about it. The god behind the Church of All Spirits, Divine Venerate Tian Wu, had long since found some worthwhile leads, and he knew Su Yi had reached the Immortal Realm.

It seems this Divine Venerate Tian Wu’s dogs aren’t limited to the Immortal Realm. They’re spread throughout the Eastern Profound Star Domain too. It’s even entirely possible that one of the divine emissaries I killed outside the Dark and Gold Star realm was one of his dogs, thought Su Yi.

The divine decree didn’t include the identities “Wang Ye” or “Shen Mu.” This was sufficient proof that Divine Venerate Tian Wu’s leads were limited to those available in the Eastern Profound Star Domain.

It also suggested that Yun Qiong, Xiao Ju, and the other members of the Church of All Spirits hadn’t actually read the divine decree.

If they had, they would surely have recognized him!

“I did well?” Meanwhile, when the Red Dragon Dao Monarch heard that, she inwardly sighed in relief and transmitted, “Then… what should I do with these people?”

“....” Su Yi didn’t quite know what to say. Do you really need to ask?

A moment later, he noticed how reserved she seemed, and he understood. “You’re the owner of the Black Dragon Market. No need to concern yourself with my opinion. Do with them as you see fit.”

As he spoke, he swept his gaze across the hall. The experts of the Church of All Spirits had long since frozen in terror, their faces pale with fright.

“Bring the kid. We’re leaving.” Su Yi gestured to Qing Wei, then put his hands behind his back and sauntered off.

Qing Wei reacted as if awakening from a dream. She hurriedly led Fang Han out.

From beginning to end, no one dared to intercept him.

It was only after watching them fade from view that the Red Dragon Dao Monarch said, “Xing Yu, Feng Yeyun, seal the palace off.”

“Got it!” Both Immortal Lords nodded their assent.

When Xiao Ju and the other Church of All Spirits experts saw this, their hearts thudded in their chest.

Clang!

The blood-soaked Red Dragon Dao Monarch gripped the Dragon Bone spear, and a storm of blood swept through the hall.

……

On this day, Auspicious Cloud Palace ran red with rivers of blood.

Holy Son Zhong Qi was executed, and his bloodline was seized.

The experts of the Church of All Spirits, including the leader of the assembly, Libationer Yun Qiong, lost their lives.

That same day, under the Red Dragon Dao MOnarch’s leadership, practically every last Black Dragon Guard left their base to seal off all word of what had happened in Auspicious Cloud Palace.

Even so, it caused an enormous uproar throughout the Black Dragon Market. This was because the assembly had drawn an enormous amount of attention before it even began!

Yet now, the Black Dragon Guards had sealed its venue off, and the prominent experts of the Church of All Spirits had yet to emerge. It would have been obvious to anyone that something big had happened!

“Did the Church of All Spirits somehow offend the Red Dragon Dao Monarch? Have all of their experts participating in the assembly been killed?”

The idea made countless hearts shake.

“Quick! We have to send word back to our sects!”

Many of those gathered in the market tried to do just that, only to discover that all exits and entrances to the Black Dragon Market had been completely sealed off!

All of a sudden, everyone in the market was frantic. They now realized that something big had happened!

Indeed, that very day, Commander Xing Yu of the Black Dragon Guards announced the Red Dragon Dao Monarch’s decree——

Starting today, the Black Dragon Market would sever all connections to the outside world, and anyone who caused a disturbance would be executed without mercy!

When the time was right, they would reopen the market. Of course... they did not specify what the 'right time' was.

The Black Dragon Market was one of the Immortal Realm’s three great black markets, and it occupied its own miniature world. When it sealed its exits and entrances, not even Immortal Lords could find them, much less pass through.

……

A massive structure called the Palace of Trials stood at the base of the Dragon’s Retreat. Within it was the entrance to the Cave of Trials, one of the market’s three great cultivation grounds.

Numerous immortals were waiting inside. They all hailed from different factions, and they’d come here alongside their chosen elites. Their goal was for their young geniuses to undergo tempering in the Cave of Trials.

When word of the incident at Auspicious Cloud Palace reached them, the gathered immortals were visibly stricken, and their hearts filled with concern.

“Don’t worry. They just sealed off the market and closed its connections to the outside world. Someone like the Red Dragon Dao Monarch wouldn’t possibly do anything to us,” a beautiful older woman said softly.

This was Madam Yun Ning, an Immortal Lady and an elder of the Divine Jade Pure Lands, one of the three great pure lands of Mount Buzhou.

“That’s right. The Church of All Spirits surely provoked the Dao Monarch, leading to this disaster. It has nothing to do with us,” said an old man in apricot-yellow Daoist robes. He carried a feather whisk.

This was Li Songfu, an Immortal Lord of the Gold Province’s top immortal faction, the Six Directions Daoist Temple.

Of those present, he and Madam Yun Ning had the highest cultivations and loftiest statuses.

Their words instantly reassured the crowd.

Suddenly, the sound of a bell rang out at the far end of the hall. Everyone instinctively looked over.

A massive spatial whirlpool had appeared on the wall at the far end of the room. This was the entrance to the Cave of Trials.

After the bell rang out, a young, black-robed figure emerged from the whirlpool. He was a mid-stage Universe Realm Immortal, and his expression was full of frustration and melancholy.

The young man’s seniors and sectmates hurriedly welcomed him.

The man in black sighed. “I’ve failed. Even after three months of work, I couldn’t make it into the sixth layer of the Cave of Trials.”

His words triggered discussion throughout the area.

“Only six supreme Universe Realm chosen sons of heaven remain in the Cave of Trials. I wonder if anyone will make it through the ninth layer in the end.”

“If you’re asking who has the greatest hope of pulling it off, it’s got to be Wen Jue, the unrivaled genius of the Divine Jade Pure Lands, and Pu Heng, the youngest Universe Realm Immortal of the Six Harmonies Daoist Temple!”

“No matter who succeeds, I’m looking forward to it. After all, rumor has it that throughout the long years since the Age of Fallen Immortals, not one person has ever made it through the ninth layer of the Cave of Trials.”

As the crowd conversed, they quickly left all talk of Auspicious Cloud Palace behind them.

……

Meanwhile, Xing Yu was leading Su Yi and company to the Dragon’s Retreat.

“Young Lord, that’s one of the Black Dragon Market’s three great cultivation grounds, the Cave of Trials. There’s only a handful of places like it in the Immortal Realm,” Xing Yu introduced with a smile.

He still didn’t know who Su Yi was. Even so, after what had happened in Auspicious Cloud Palace and given how respectful the Red Dragon Dao Monarch was to him, Xing Yu knew that Su Yi was an extraordinary existence. It didn’t matter that he was young and not yet an immortal!

Su Yi subtly inclined his head. “I’d be interested to visit later on.”

After the curtains fell on the incident at Auspicious Cloud Palace, Xing Yu personally visited them at the inn to invite them to the Red Dragon Dao Monarch’s personal cultivation grounds.

Xing Yu smiled. “Easily arranged. When you’d like to visit, just say the world, and I’ll arrange for you to enter the Cave of Trials.”

As they conversed, they traversed the mountain trail and arrived at a place halfway up the mountain.

“Look, Young Lord! The depths of that sea of clouds are full of mysteries. Another of the Black Dragon Market’s three great cultivation grounds, the Forest of Steles, is hidden amidst the clouds,” introduced Xing Yu.

Su Yi, Qing Wei, and Fang Han looked over.

There, they saw a boundless, distant sea of clouds. It shone with resplendent, mysterious golden light. Dark currents seemed to flow within the clouds’ churning depths.

The ground below was completely covered in an ancient immortal formation, preventing anyone from discovering the Forest of Steles’ location with their divine sense alone.

A long time ago, a group of old-timers from throughout the Immortal Realm entered the Forest of Steles. They wanted to uncover the secrets of the Nine Steles of the Primeval Era. However, they still haven’t returned,” explained Xing Yu.

Su Yi was stunned. A moment later, he exclaimed, “That so? Who are those old timers, to set their sights on the Nine Steles of the Primeval Era?”

Not just any old immortal could grasp and discern the secrets of the Nine Steles of the Primeval Era!

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