First Immortal of the Sword

On the day of the ninth Immortal-Demon Deathmatch, a Universe Realm Immortal called Su Yi caused an enormous upset.

When news spread, it shook the entire Immortal Realm, startling all of the top immortal factions.

A mere Universe Realm Immortal had turned the tides, killing fourteen Demon Nobles in a row! Including the unrivaled genius Demon Noble of the Silvermoon Demons, Yin Beiwu!

But that wasn’t the end of it. He then used the power of the Stele of Heaven’s Will to execute four Immortal Kings, imprison Garrison Master Shen Qingshi, and destroy over a thousand experts of the Immortal Realm.

He even slew six Demon Kings, the two surviving Demon Nobles, and retrieved the immortals the demons had taken hostage!

It was as if Su Yi had ripped a hole through the sky. This incident took the forty-nine provinces by storm, causing an enormous disturbance.

The name Su Yi spread with the news. His reputation had started to spread amongst the Immortal Realm’s cultivators!

The Immortal Realm was just too big. Although it was divided into forty-nine provinces, its territories were vast beyond measure. Given the circumstances, even Immortal Lords’ reputations were often limited to the province they lived in.

Becoming famous throughout the Immortal Realm was far too difficult. Even those on the Universe Realm Immortal and Void Realm Immortal Rankings only really got widespread attention if they made it into the top ten.

In other words, “shaking the entire Immortal Realm” carried an enormous amount of weight!

For most Universe Realm Immortals, it was an impossible feat, but Su Yi was different.

Not long ago, his reputation had been limited to certain regions too, like the Jing Province’s Sky Tripod Immortal City, or the territories of the White Reed Province’s Liang Family. However, almost no one else in the Immortal Realm had ever heard of a Universe Realm Immortal by that name.

That is, until now. After word of what had happened at the Seventh Gate of Heaven Spread, Su Yi’s name was like the most dazzling of shooting stars. It soon reached every last province in the Immortal Realm!

The commotion at the Seventh Gate of Heaven was simply too great to overlook. It was unheard of! Astonishing! The whole world was paying attention!

……

The Church of the Pure One.

“A Universe Realm Immortal in his twenties slew fourteen Demon Nobles, each comparable to an Immortal Lord, and he even seized control of the Seventh gate of Heaven’s power of the Laws?”

A figure rose unbidden to Sect Leader Qi Nie’s mind: a man seated in a dark hall. Beneath the mottled lamplight, his features were indistinct. All Qi Nie knew was that he looked young.

This was his memory of when he and Su Yi conversed across the barrier between worlds during Su Yi’s trip to the Epoch of Demonism.

“Could Su Yi… be Wang Ye’s reincarnation?” Qi Nie’s heart shook.

As the leader of the Church of the Pure One, he knew better than just about anyone that Wang Ye was still alive!

More than that, he knew with certainty that no one else so heaven-defying and contrary to common sense existed in the present-day Immortal Realm.

Furthermore, after the newest group of ascendants appeared in White Deer Mountain’s Ascension Ground, the Church of the Pure One secretly acquired leads regarding Wang Ye’s reincarnation.

Thus, after learning what Su Yi had done in the Seventh Gate of Heaven, Qi Nie’s first response was to wonder if Su Yi was the reincarnation of Wang Ye!

Back then, the White Reed Province was Wang Ye’s territory. His cultivation grounds, Mount Taiwu, were called the Little Heavenly Court. Wang Ye spent years protecting the Seventh Gate of Heaven, too.

And Su Yi has appeared in the White Reed Province and the Seventh Gate of Heaven, too. He’s still only in his twenties, but he’s already in the Universe Realm. Moreover, he’s strong enough to kill Demon Nobles comparable to Immortal Lords…

Qi Nie was increasingly certain that Su Yi was the person the Church of the Pure One had been searching for all this time: the Tyrant Wang Ye! He really hadn’t died during the Battle of Eternal Night. Instead, he’d entered the cycle of reincarnation to restart his cultivation!

Have you finally shown yourself, Wang Ye….? Undisguisible delight arose in Qi Nie’s heart, and without the slightest hesitation, he issued orders. “To me! Call upon all of the forces at our disposal and have them investigate Su Yi. Within three days, I want to know everything there is to know about him!”

“Understood!”

That very day, every faction subordinate to the Church of the Pure One got to work.

……

It wasn’t just the Church of the Pure One. Lotus Temple, the Church of Supreme Oneness, and other top factions all reached their own conclusions after learning what had happened at the Seventh Gate of Heaven. All of them had their suspicions regarding Su Yi’s origins, and all of them got to work.

One after another, they sent their experts to the Seventh Gate of Heaven to investigate further!

The winds rose and the clouds surged throughout the Immortal Realm.

......

Cloud Apparatus Immortal Manor.

Sect Leader Sun Xiaocheng’s expression darkened.

Everything had been revealed to the public!

There was no need to even think to know that after Garrison Master Shen Qingshi was captured alive, Cloud Apparatus Immortal Manor’s plans for the Seventh Gate of Heaven had been revealed.

Sun Xiaocheng was so furious that he felt as if his chest was about to explode, but more than that, he felt unprecedented pressure.

If the whole Immortal Realm found out that they’d sent Shen Qingshi to collude with the demons of the Beyond, they’d become the common enemy of the entire Immortal Realm!

The world’s top factions were even likely to join forces to extinguish Cloud Manor Immortal Apparatus entirely!

The thought sent a chill through Sun Xiaocheng’s hands and feet, and his heart was thoroughly ill at ease.

“Damn that Su Yi! How dare he ruin our plans? He deserves death by ten thousand cuts and his ashes scattered to the wind!!” Sun Xiaocheng’s face was ashen and hideously contorted. His aura was terrifying and sinister.

“We cannot hesitate any longer. We must get to work as soon as possible!” Sun Xiaocheng took a deep breath, gnashed his teeth, and said, “Pass on my orders. From this day forth, Cloud Apparatus Immortal Manor is disbanded. Everyone we’ve sent into the world is to go into hiding. No one is to reveal their identities!”

“But Sect Leader…” an elderly servant started to exclaim.

“Shut up and do as I say!!” shouted Sun Xiaocheng.

A moment later, all the strength fled his body, and he collapsed into his chair. Inwardly, he muttered, Su Yi, this absolutely isn’t over! You ruined Divine Venerate Providence’s plans, and you’ll surely face his retribution!

Just as Sun Xiaocheng expected, as word spread and the Immortal Realm’s top factions, more and more people learned of Garrison Shen Qingshi’s betrayal.

A single stone could stir up a thousand waves. The entire Immortal Realm was furious, and numerous prominent factions had already announced that they intended to hold Cloud Apparatus Immortal Manor accountable!

“It’s been a long time since such a commotion arose in the Immortal Realm,” sighed an older-generation cultivator.

“Su Yi is so young, yet after his unrivaled accomplishment at the Seventh Gate of Heaven, his name has spread throughout the Immortal Realm. Truly impressive!” someone sighed.

“There’s far too much that’s strange about him, even fishy. Now that his name has shaken the entire Immortal Realm, he’s standing where the wind and waves are the fiercest. He’s sure to be in for endless trouble.”

“It won’t just be ‘trouble.’ Seems to me that there’s no guarantee he’ll survive the aftermath of this!”

“Don’t forget that he killed four Immortal Kings, as well as the former garrison master, Shen Qingshi. There’s no way their factions will let him off.”

“When you want power, you have to accept the corresponding responsibilities. The more famous he gets, the more of a burden his reputation will become. When the Immortal Realm’s top factions set their sights on this young man shrouded in mysteries… well, such situations typically don’t end well!”

…Similar discussions took place throughout the Immortal Realm.

Information spread further and further into the Immortal Realm. It reached the depths of the eastern ocean, the Dark Northern Sea and the Dark Northern Province atop it, and even pure lands that typically paid no heed to worldly affairs.

……

The skies were blue and clear. A treasure ship shot through the clouds.

Su Yi stood near the railing, his robes and long hair fluttering in the wind as he pondered his next breakthrough.

After overcoming the Blue Cliff Twelve Towers, his cultivation base reached the pinnacle of the Universe Realm. All he needed was the right opportunity, and he’d be able to prove his Dao and enter the Void Realm with ease, becoming a True Immortal!

The Void Realm was the second of the Four Realms of the Immortal Dao.

The word “void” meant “empty” or “false.”

Those who reached this realm grasped the distinction between the true and false!

These truths and falsehoods were in reference to one’s grasp of the Grand Dao. The void was empty, as fleeting and ethereal as a dream, illusion, or bubble.

Truth represented the fundamental qualities of heaven, earth, and all Daos in between.

It was only by learning to discern between truths and falsehoods that cultivators could further transform their knowledge and perception of the Grand Dao.

In other words, those who reached the Void Realm had to excise all falsehoods from their comprehension of the Grand Dao, leaving only the truth behind! By casting aside everything extraneous, they sought the fundamental nature of their pursuit of the Grand Dao.

This was why experts of the Void Realm were known as True Immortals. The name meant that immortals of this realm had seen through truths and lies to find their fundamental path!

At the same time, in the process, Void Realm True Immortals furthered their cultivation and grasp of their own natures.

But the word “void” didn’t just represent emptiness and falsehoods. It also represented space.

Space was omnipresent. Even ordinary mortals knew that space was vast beyond measure!

And the profundities of space manifested in a Void Realm True Immortal’s cultivation!

Upon reaching this stage, the body’s Immortal Origin Space, sea of consciousness, qi, and blood all underwent an enormous and thorough transformation.

“Becoming a Void Realm True Immortal requires searching for one’s truth. Condensing True Immortal Laws means starting from the most fundamental mysteries of the Grand Dao… But what is the fundamental nature of the Grand Dao of Reincarnation? And what about the Grand Dao of Profound Ruin, or the Grand Dao of Undying?”

…Su Yi knew with certainty that this next step was crucial!

In the Void Realm, he had to find the fundamental nature of his path through the Immortal Dao. Only then could he fuse all of his powers of the Grand Dao into one!

A sword to manifest ten thousand Daos, and a sword to break all abilities!

All I need is a little more time to accumulate and steady myself, and an opportune moment to break through. That’ll be enough to let me step into the Void Realm! thought Su Yi. I just wonder what my Void Realm Tribulation will look like.

Eagerness arose in his heart.

Void Realm Tribulations were different from others. They were mystical and strange, and they targeted a cultivator’s soul, heart, and grasp of the Grand Dao!

Every immortal faced different dangers during their Void Realm Tribulation.

This was exactly what made this tribulation so terrifying; there was no drawing from others’ experiences.

But this unknown quality only made Su Yi all the more eager!

Suddenly, Immortal King Wen Zhiqiu emerged from the ship’s cabin, smiled, and waved to Su Yi from the head of the boat. “Fellow Daoist Su!”