First Immortal of the Sword

During the years in which Wang Ye watched over the Seventh Gate of Heaven, the flames of war ceaselessly illuminated the thirty-thousand-mile defensive line.

The forces of the Beyond were like an endless flood, relentlessly assailing the walls in an attempt to break through and invade the Immortal Realm.

The battles were so frequent that the lands outside the walls were dubbed the Bloodthirsty Plains. A dense, bloody mist hung in the air year-round.

The bones of the fallen were as numerous as trees in a forest, and the ground was laden with mountains of corpses.

Who knew how many valiant elites had perished in fierce combat against the demons of the Beyond?

The situation didn’t change until Wang Ye rose to prominence and reached the pinnacle of the Immortal Dao.

He alone slew several Demon Sovereigns of the Beyond, as well as millions of lesser demons. He fought and fought until the demons no longer dared come out of hiding!

Back then, as vast as the Bloodthirsty Plains were, there was no longer any trace of demons!

Wang Ye had single-handedly crushed their courage!

Even more tyrannically, Wang Ye led a group of his subordinates beyond the walls of the Seventh Gate of Heaven. They passed through the seemingly endless Bloodthirsty Plains, fought their way into the demons’ home turf, and crushed their territories, forcing them back repeatedly until the ground ran red with rivers of blood!

In the days that followed, the Seventh Gate of Heaven welcomed its first days of peace in a long, long time. Several tens of thousands of years passed without a single demon sighting.

This was because everyone knew that with Wang Ye around, the Seventh Gate of Heaven was impenetrable. Anyone who tried to break through was doomed!

During those days full of bloodshed, the demons grew to detest and revile Wang Ye. All of them cursed his brutality, and they called him the “Tyrant of the Immortal Realm!”

Scenes of the past floated into Su Yi’s sea of consciousness. He couldn’t help but sigh.

It was just that the modern-day Seventh Gate of Heaven was completely different from the one he remembered.

When Su Yi saw the primary city of the Seventh Gate of Heaven, the City of Ten Thousand Stars, he was surprised to discover that it was incredibly lively and boisterous.

It was almost nightfall, but the city was thoroughly lamplit. People wove up and down the streets. Everywhere he looked, he saw cultivators, including no small number of immortals.

But the bustling human traffic made Su Yi furrow his brow.

Where was this?

This was the main city of the Seventh Gate of Heaven! It was at the very forefront of its line of defense. The Bloodthirsty Plains stretched for three hundred miles outside the walls.

Prior to the Age of Fallen Immortals, ordinary people weren’t permitted to enter. Only the most valiant of experts were qualified to take up residence here and wage war with the demons beyond the walls.

But now, the City of Ten Thousand Stars looked completely different. It didn’t even remotely resemble a border fortress.

“It seems that the Age of Fallen Immortals didn’t just change the Immortal Realm. It changed the Seventh Gate of Heaven, too,” whispered Su Yi.

As he pondered, he walked confidently into the city. As he made his way through the streets, he saw restaurants, teahouses, medicine vendors, and all types of stores. The streets were crowded with people.

He even saw brothels and gambling dens!

This was a border fortress, the Immortal Realm’s first line of defense, yet there were places like that here. Su Yi almost couldn’t stand to look at them.

He couldn’t even imagine how the Immortal Realm would hold the city if another war of immortals and demons broke out!

It’s obvious that this situation developed over a long, long time. It seems we’ve known peace for too long. Most cultivators of the present day have forgotten what kind of place this is. Su Yi felt dismal.

The Seventh Gate of Heaven was like a fortress built on the edge of a battlefield. It was a place where countless warriors of old had fought and died.

Yet now, it was a hotbed of depravity. How could Su Yi possibly have been happy to see such changes?

As Su Yi passed a glittering, golden gambling den, a man in black smiled and greeted him. “Hey, little brother. The next Immortal-Demon Deathmatch starts tomorrow at noon. Want to gamble on the outcome?”

Su Yi was stunned. “You can gamble on the Immortal-Demon Deathmatch?”

The man in black couldn’t help but laugh. “You must be new to the city. Otherwise, how could you not know the answer to that? Over the past three thousand years, our business has been best in the days leading up to the deathmatches!”

Su Yi’s brow furrowed imperceptibly. “How does it work?”

The man in black laughed. “Simple! Guess who'll win and who’ll lose! The more you gamble, the greater your returns!”

“Let’s take tomorrow as an example. The Immortal Realm is going to send eighteen Immortal Lords into battle against eighteen Demon Nobles of the Beyond. You can bet on the outcome of individual matches or on whether we or the demons win in the end.”

Hearing this only made Su Yi increasingly uncomfortable.

The Immortal-Demon Deathmatch was, as the name implied, a life-or-death struggle against their enemies. How brutal and bloody was it? Yet now, the denizens of the City of Ten Thousand Stars were gambling on its outcome for entertainment!

Su Yi even felt the urge to kill someone. What do these scoundrels take the Seventh Gate of Heaven for And what do they take the experts who fought and died defending the Immortal Realm for?

In the end, Su Yi repressed his seething fury and said, “Who’s the favorite to win?”

The man in black didn’t seem to notice Su Yi’s anger. He just laughed and said, “I won’t deny it. About eighty percent of our patrons have bet on the demons’ victory!

“Personally, I agree with them. Seems to me that the Immortal Realm has almost no hope of victory. If you want to play it safe, you’d best bet on the demons too. You won’t earn much, but it should be a safe bet.”

Su Yi had no idea how to describe what he was feeling.

Grief? Fury? Hatred?

All of the above?

Even the experts of the Immortal Realm had no hope in their victory. How tragic was that? And how absurd?

The man in black continued, “Of course, you can also bet on individual matches. Most people are betting on the eighteen demon experts’ victory. If you want to learn more, you can come to our casino, and I’ll explain in detail. I promise you’ll come out ahead!”

“Does the garrison master of the Seventh Gate of Heaven really let you gamble on the Immortal-Demon Deathmatches?” asked Su Yi.

The man in black couldn’t help but laugh. “I get it. You’re worried that our Smooth Sailing Casino won’t pay out if you win, right? Relax! We’ve got a prominent expert backing us, and we’ve been in business in the City of Ten Thousand Stars for years. Everyone in the city knows of our unmatched reputation!”

Su Yi nodded, then tossed the man a bag of holding. “This contains one hundred thousand immortal jades. I bet on the Immortal Realm’s victory. If I lose, these immortal jades are yours.”

The man in black froze, stunned, then went mad with delight. “Please wait a moment, sir. I’ll go prepare your receipt immediately!”

With that, he scurried off.

Meanwhile, Su Yi gazed at the lamplit and resplendent Smooth Sailing Casino. Inwardly, he added, If I win this bet, it won’t matter who stands behind you. The Smooth Sailing Casino… will no longer exist in the City of Ten Thousand Stars!

Before long, the man in black returned with a receipt refined from a talisman. He passed it to Su Yi, then accepted Su Yi’s bag of holding.

Su Yi turned to leave.

The man in black watched him disappear. In the end, he couldn’t hold back derisive laughter. “That kid sure is an idiot. He actually bet one hundred thousand immortal jades on the Immortal Realm? What, did a donkey kick him in the head or something? Only an idiot would believe that the Immortal Realm could win this!”

……

It was late at night, but the streets were lamplit and thoroughly packed.

Along the way, Su Yi was deeply displeased, and he drank without relish. He had no interest in exploring the city, so he proceeded directly toward the inner city.

The inner city was where the immortal factions stationed here resided. When Su Yi arrived, he walked down a familiar path and soon reached the eastern quarter.

Here, there stood a thousand-foot-tall ancient stele!

The stele was enshrouded in the strange and ethereal power of the Laws. It was mysterious and unfathomable.

This was the Stele of Heaven’s Will!

A secret chaos treasure that had existed since the earliest days of the Immortal Realm’s history, the Primeval Era. It had protected the Seventh Gate of Heaven’s City of Ten Thousand Stars throughout the ages, and it still stood to the present day.

This was a true divine artifact!

It could connect with the power of the Immortal Realm’s Laws, enveloping all thirty thousand miles of the Seventh Gate of Heaven’s walls in its power to form a barrier that kept the demons out!

Throughout the ages, the demons of the Beyond had attempted to destroy it too many times to count, but all such attempts had ended in failure.

Even though the Seventh Gate of Heaven had broken several times before, the Stele of Heaven’s Will had never fallen. The demons couldn’t move it, either!

It was no exaggeration to say that with the stele standing, the Seventh Gate of Heaven had a supremely powerful natural barrier.

Unless a Demon Sovereign took action personally, there was no tearing through this barrier’s power!

Of course, experts of the Immortal Realm couldn’t destroy this unrivaled divine artifact either, much less run off with it.

Each of the Nine Gates of Heaven had a similar defensive divine artifact. To date, no one had been able to discern their origins.

They just knew that these were chaos treasures that had existed since the Primeval Era, and that they had a natural connection to the Immortal Realm’s Laws.

Beneath the cover of darkness, Su Yi walked up to the Stele of Heaven’s Will and gazed intently at it.

In his past life, he frequently stood guard over the Seventh Gate of Heaven, and he’d once directed the stele’s power to suppress and kill a Demon Sovereign who’d snuck into the Seventh Gate of Heaven.

Thus, he knew better than anyone how terrifying this divine artifact’s power was.

Furthermore, in his past life, he guessed that the Nine Steles of Heaven’s Will protecting the Nine Gates of Heaven had been refined by a god during the Primeval Era!

He reached this conclusion because the steles could connect with the Laws of the Immortal Realm’s natural order to slay even experts of the Great Realm. Their power was like a taboo.

In his present incarnation, Su Yi had already clashed with the servants of the gods many times over. He could tell at a glance that the stele’s power was similar to that of the gods, with a similar, forbidden quality!

Suddenly, Su Yi’s pupils constricted.

“What the…”

He’d sensed something strange about the Stele of Heaven’s Will!

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