First Immortal of the Sword

Su Yi would have had no choice but to avoid a direct confrontation with a group of Immortal Kings, but it was different if they were simply pursuing him. Despite the endless dangers, he wasn’t at all worried.

I really haven’t experienced a pursuit of this level yet in this lifetime. It’s actually quite nostalgic, thought Su Yi.

In his time as Su Xuanjun, he made numerous enemies during his rise to prominence. He was chased countless times over, and his pursuit of the sword was marked with fresh blood and the flames of war.

During his time as the Temple Master, he was similarly pursued by countless powerful foes, and he experienced countless startling, soul-shaking battles, narrow escapes, and assassination attempts. In the end, he nonetheless dominated the starry skies. No one in the Eastern Profound Star Domain was fit to be his opponent!

And as Shen Mu…. Mm, well, no need to go into that one.

The perils he’d experienced as Wang Ye had been even bloodier and more terrifying than those of his other lives.

Between the start of his rise to prominence and seizing control over the Immortal Realm, his life hung in the balance on numerous occasions. Once, over the River of Epochs, he was even targeted and intercepted by the gods!

Then, his greatest enemies—the Blood Firmament Immortal Sovereign, Immortal Sovereign Sky Killer, the Leveling Heavens Immortal Sovereign, and Jiang Tai’e—worked together to ambush him. This led to the Battle of Eternal Night.

Thinking back on these memories now, Su Yi really couldn’t help but be rueful.

During his current lifetime’s cultivation, he’d experienced countless battles big and small, but nothing like this. This was his first time being pursued by the Immortal Kings of top factions.

It was dangerous!

But it was exciting too, and he couldn’t help but feel eager.

A moment later, Su Yi furrowed his brow in thought. What’s the best way to kill all of my pursuers at once?I can’t leave even one of them alive!

His enemies hailed from different immortal factions. All were top experts among Immortal Kings, and each was more crafty and ruthless than the one before.

He didn’t even need to think to realize that the moment they realized something was amiss, they’d retreat. They would in no way give him an opportunity to exploit.

That meant that destroying them all in one fell swoop would be very, very difficult.

Still, Su Yi planned to give it a shot.

Even if he failed in the end, he wanted to destroy as many of his enemies as possible.

It seems I’ll have to resort to petty trickery,

thought Su Yi. And I’ll have to be on guard for the possibility that my enemies are carrying who knows what dangerous treasures.

The Immortal Realm’s top factions wouldn’t have sent so many Immortal Kings after him without making ample preparations.

It was even entirely possible that Great Realm experts had guided and instructed them!

Jiang Tai’e, the Leveling Heavens Immortal Sovereign, and other such old-timers might well be too afraid of divine misfortune to show themselves, but they’d long since realized that Su Yi was Wang Ye’s reincarnation. They were sure to plan accordingly and set traps for him!

After a while, Su Yi took a deep breath. Then he laughed, threw back his head, and drained his jug of wine. Haha, alright! This battle might be unpredictable and perilous, but that just makes it all the more interesting.

Let’s get started, then!

He rose and traveled along the burbling stream. Before long, he’d disappeared into the vast, empty wilderness.

Shortly afterward, a group soundlessly appeared where he’d stood just moments prior. These were none other than the five Immortal Kings from the Church of Divine Flame.

Their ranks included Meng Zhe, the man in black who’d just tried to assassinate Su Yi.

“Judging by the marks he left behind, he lingered here again for about fifteen minutes,” whispered Meng Zhe.

“Strange. Why did his presence abruptly disappear here?” The tall, stalwart middle-aged man in beast skins frowned. “It seems he realized that we haven’t given up the chase, so he used some kind of secret art to obscure his presence and hide himself completely.”

The unearthly, beautifully handsome Daoist in red said, “Geese leave behind their cries as they pass, and every passing wind leaves its mark. There is no truly seamless way to hide one’s presence, and we’ve grasped his distinctive aura. So long as we use the right secret treasures to sense it, we’ll be able to figure out where he went.”

With that, he flipped his palm, and a bronze disc floated into the air.

He observed it briefly, then whipped his head around and gazed into the distance. “Come on, let's go!”

The group promptly disappeared into thin air.

Sparse stars illuminated the night sky.

Not long after the five Immortal Kings of the Church of Divine Flame left, one of the stars flashed like a blinking eye.

Upon closer inspection, it really was an eye. It was a dull silver and cold as ice. Dense talisman markings floated within its pupil.

Kcch!

A moment later, the strange silver eye disguised as a star disappeared into thin air, and a man and woman appeared beside the burbling stream.

An elderly Daoist with snow white hair, and a woman in a plain dress.

The two Immortal Kings from the Church of the Pure One.

“That eye was most likely an Exquisite Goddess Pearl. They say they’re crafted from the eyes of Zhulong true spirit divine beasts. They can hide themselves in the sky, and when they lock onto someone, it doesn’t matter where they hide. There’s no way to escape the Exquisite Goddess Pearl’s notice,” said the woman in the plain dress. She gazed thoughtfully up at the sky, where that “star” had disappeared.

“It seems it’s just as our leader suspected. The Church of the Exquisite Goddess, another faction backed by a deity, has gotten involved too,” the elderly Daoist said with a frown.

The Church of the Exquisite Goddess was highly secretive, and they kept a low profile. They were a relatively recent faction that arose after the Age of Fallen Immortals.

And they had a divine backer, just like the Church of All Spirits and Cloud Apparatus Immortal Manor.

Unlike other similar factions, though, the Church of the Exquisite Goddess kept an extremely low profile and almost never got involved in worldly affairs. Even so, there was no doubting their extraordinarily firm foundations. They could contend with even some of the greatest factions of the present day!

“It seems that sitting back and waiting to reap the benefits won’t be so easy after all,” sighed the elderly Daoist.

The woman in the plain dress said softly, “The sect leader said that it’d be best if we borrowed another’s hands to kill him.”

The old man was stunned. “Did he really say that?”

The woman in the plain dress had a strange light in her eyes. “Elder Mo, you don’t know this yet, but the Church of the Exquisite Goddess has gotten involved precisely because the sect matter hopes to borrow their hands. We can watch tigers fight from a safe distance, or swoop in at the end to reap the benefits. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that Shen Mu must die!”

“Does that mean that other factions with divine backers will participate in addition to the Church of the Exquisite Goddess?”

“Most likely, yes.”

“Tch tch, in that case, Shen Mu will struggle to escape disaster. Now it’s just a matter of which faction manages to snuff him out first.”

“That’s indeed the case. He’s just one person, and so many top factions have sent their Immortal Kings against him. It’s truly unprecedented.”

As they conversed, they gradually vanished into thin air.

Late at night.

A weathered, gaunt old man stood atop a mountain, near the cliffside, gazing at a distant valley.

He carried a black cane, and his gaze was heavy.

Whoosh!

A fist-sized, dull silver pearl appeared silently before him.

It was the Exquisite Goddess Pearl!

The old man tapped the pearl, and a scene appeared reflected on its surface. It depicted a man in clothes whiter than snow. He was shuttling through the night sky, like a fleeting, ethereal wisp of moonlight.

“What a wondrous technique for hiding his presence! If we didn’t have a divine treasure like the Exquisite Goddess Pearl, I’m afraid we’d never have been able to lock onto him,” exclaimed the gaunt old man.

“If it’s really as Immortal Sovereign Blood Firmament of the Church of the Pure One says, it’s no wonder,” said a scholarly middle-aged man. “Of course the Eternal Night Immortal Sovereign’s reincarnation would be capable of that.”

The gaunt old man nodded. “Our target this time is incomparably troublesome indeed. Fortunately, his cultivation is still low, and that makes him vulnerable. He’s nothing like Wang Ye at the height of his power.”

He gazed intently at the Exquisite Goddess Pearl. “He’s already headed for the valley. We cannot afford any delays. Let’s hurry and guide our turtle into its jar.”

They’d long since set a deathtrap in the distant valley. Now, all they had to do was wait for their prey to fall into their laps.

“Very well!” The middle-aged scholar nodded, raised his hand, and shattered that strange talisman.

A moment later, he gazed at the Exquisite Goddess Pearl. Two Immortal King experts appeared reflected on its surface. Both were charging at Shen Mu!

Shen Mu looked startled, and he immediately fled, but both Immortal Kings gave chase.

Along the way, yet another Immortal King appeared and attacked out of nowhere. Shen Mu changed directions and fled with all his might.

Within just a little over ten breaths of time, Shen Mu reached a valley covered in misty clouds.

The gaunt old man and the middle-aged scholar instantly felt a massive weight lift from their shoulders. Their spirits soared.

“Seal the place off,” ordered the gaunt old man.

“Got it!” The scholar took out a scroll painting. It depicted a blood-red datura flower.

As the painting rose into the air, layer upon layer of blood-red flower petals appeared throughout the surrounding landscape.

Every petal connected heaven and earth, like a natural, insurmountable barrier. The countless petals were like countless barriers, and they sealed the surrounding eight thousand miles of heaven and earth completely!

The Datura Barrier! Its defensive power was enough to block the full-force attacks of even an Immortal King! In other words, if trapped inside, not even Immortal Kings could escape!

That misty valley was at the heart of the Datura Barrier, like the stamen and pistil of a flower.

As the barrier appeared, endless bloody light surged throughout the valley. It was like a giant, gaping maw intent on devouring Su Yi!

Furthermore, three of the Immortal Kings chasing Su Yi stood outside the valley.

When the thin old man and the middle-aged scholar saw this, they couldn’t help but laugh.

Everything had gone smoothly and according to plan!

“With the Datura Barrier in place, the others chasing the boy won’t be able to reach him anytime soon!” the gaunt old man said with glee. They’d long since realized that Immortal Kings of other factions were chasing Wang Ye’s reincarnation too.

Fortunately, with the Datura Barrier in place, they had no need to worry about others snatching away their prey!

“Let’s go! It’s time to hunt a turtle in a jar!” said the gaunt old man. He’d already put the Exquisite Goddess Pearl away.

He gripped his cane, and he and the middle-aged scholar shot toward the distant valley.