First Immortal of the Sword

Su Yi just said Ancestor Shen Shang is lacking in spirit! And that he’s declined!

His rudeness left the Immortal Kings unwittingly stunned. They almost thought they were hearing things.

But Shen Shang was as calm as ever. He said coolly, “You think my spirit is inadequate? Do you think that using my Great Realm cultivation against you is bullying the weak?”

His voice was tinged with mockery.

Su Yi brushed off his clothes and said, “No. The Endless Swords Immortal Sect I remember always treated their foes with respect when proposing a one-on-one duel to the death. They’d have given me time to recover or the chance to choose my opponent. Moreover, they would have relied on themselves and their weapons to let me die convinced of my defeat. That’s the spirit of a sword cultivator.”

“But you’re different.” Su Yi fixed his gaze on the distant Ancestor Shen Shang. “Your spirit is lacking, so it’s no wonder you never amounted to much.”

Ancestor Shen Shang furrowed his brow. “Ultimately, you just think this duel is unfair, don’t you?”

Before Su Yi could answer, Shen Shang continued, “Or perhaps you want me to give you an opportunity to recover before we fight? Hah! What a ridiculous idea!”

Lei Yunting and the others couldn’t help but laugh coldly.

They instinctively assumed that Su Yi had exhausted his cultivation base and that he didn’t dare to duel a terrifying existence like Ancestor Shen Shang!

Before Su Yi could respond, Shen Shang fixed his knifelike gaze on him. “I know full well who you are, and I know that I can in no way judge your strength by your cultivation base. I am in the Great Martial Stage, but fighting you to the death in no way means that I am bereft of martial virtue!”

He obviously cared deeply about Su Yi’s appraisal, and he argued without the slightest politeness.

“But you can rest assured. As a sword cultivator myself, since I’ve chosen to compete with you in the Dao of the Sword, no one in the Endless Swords Immortal Sect will dare to intervene until we’ve determined a victor!”

When Su Yi saw this, he couldn’t be bothered to argue. He just laughed dryly. “This is what they call ‘playing the lute for a cow.’”

Clang!

The Sword of the Human Realm hummed as Su Yi walked through the air and arrived beneath the dome of heaven.

“Come on, then. I shall grant you death!”

His blue robes swayed around him, and his voice boomed throughout heaven and earth, reverberating throughout the mountains and rivers. He was solitary and aloof, as if the entire Endless Swords Immortal Sect were beneath his notice!

The sight set countless hearts churning. No matter how much they hated Su Yi, they couldn’t deny his unparalleled bearing, nor could they find anything to criticize about it!

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Heaven and earth shook, and patches of sky shattered and collapsed.

As the thin middle-aged man approached, his imposing aura soared with every step he took. This was the unique presence of a Great Martial Stage expert. He could easily invert Yin and Yang and overturn mountains and rivers!!

Throughout this process, sword qi rose and gathered around Shen Shang’s entire body, undulating like the tides. His eyebrows and hair shone with heart-palpitating, dazzling sword light.

Many of the sect’s disciples felt a prickling pain in their eyes just looking at him. It was like a knife to the chest. Their faces paled, and they no longer dared gaze directly at him.

Shen Shang’s imposing presence was just too much! He was like the sun shining overhead, his solitary radiance blanketing heaven and earth!

“This… This is the power of the Great Realm...”

Lei Yunting and the other higher-ups couldn’t help but sigh. Longing was written all over their faces.

It had been a long, long time since Ancestor Shen Shang had last taken action. It was Lei Yunting and the others’ first time witnessing the strength of a Great Realm expert with their own eyes!

But then, Su Yi let out a dry laugh. “Just as I thought. When you proved your Dao and entered the Great Realm, something went terribly wrong, and your breakthrough failed at the last step. You never established a true Great Realm Divine Platform, nor did you forge a Great Realm Law uniquely yours!

“You’ve just barely crossed the threshold of the Great Realm. You’re no longer an Immortal King, but you’re not a true Great Realm expert either. You are stuck in between, beset on both sides, doomed never to advance any further into the Great Realm in this lifetime!”

He’d fully grasped the situation. Ancestor Shen Shang had undoubtedly entered the Great Realm with unstable foundations, leaving him no choice but to borrow external power to force a breakthrough!

Thus, even though he’d technically crossed the threshold, he in no way qualified as a true Great Realm expert. He didn’t have a Great Realm Divine Platform, much less Great Realm Laws!

Great Realm Divine Platforms served as cultivators’ foundations in the Great Realm, while Great Realm Laws were the source of their power of the Dao!

Simply put, Shen Shang was a “fake Great” at best, or perhaps, “a half-step Immortal Sovereign!”

Furthermore, he had no hope of making any further progress in this lifetime!

The cold, indifferent look on Shen Shang’s face finally shifted. He knew who Su Yi really was, but he still wouldn’t have guessed that Su Yi would see through his problems at a glance!

A moment later, his heart recovered its usual tranquility, and he said calmly, “Even so, killing someone like you will be as easy as turning over my hand!”

He raised his right hand into the air.

Clang!

The purple sword case on his back let out a clear hum, and a purple sword floated into the air like an arc of purple light before landing in Shen Shang’s palm.

The sword was three feet long and swathed in purple light and crackling electricity.

Its name was Purple Lightning, and it was Shen Shang’s personal weapon. It had accompanied him in battle throughout the Immortal Realm when he was still an Immortal King. Although it wasn’t a true supreme treasure of the Great Realm, its power was far beyond Immortal King weapons!

Shen Shang gripped his sword and struck without hesitation. His sleeves fluttered around him as he swung with all his might.

Boom!

Purple qi rose, and electric light scattered. Sword qi connected heaven and earth, like the blade of divine punishment descending upon the world with endless tyrannical power.

The destructive power within that strike was an unbelievable, wondrous sight, like a churning sea of electricity capable of shattering even celestial bodies!

“The Purple Qi Chaos Void Sutra…” Su Yi had a strange look in his eyes, like a mixture of self-deprecation and ruefulness.

In his past life, it was he who’d created this legacy of the Dao of the Sword and carved it onto the Sword Stele!

Without any further hesitation, Su Yi swung his sword and leaped into the fray.

Boom!

The Sword of the Human Realm stirred up a boundless swath of purple qi, like purple air rising from the east. It blanketed heaven and earth.

In terms of both sword intent and sword force, it was shockingly similar to Shen Shang’s attack. It even had the same charm!

This left many of the distant onlookers completely befuddled. Only Lei Yunting and the other higher-ups understood that in his past life, Su Yi had invented the Purple Qi Chaos Void Sutra. It wasn’t at all strange that he could use it…

However, when they saw Su Yi use the same legacy as Shen Shang to duel him, they all felt inexplicably ill at ease.

Boom!

A grand battle broke out beneath the dome of heaven. Power of the Dao of the Sword swept outward, shattering the entire stretch of sky.

Su Yi and Shen Shang were locked in fierce combat, their sword qi filling the nine heavens.

One terrifying, unbelievable phenomenon of the Grand Dao was reflected over their battlefield. The sound of the Dao rumbled and boomed, streaks of purple qi clashed like raging bulls, and celestial bodies crumbled…

The visions were so terrifying that it seemed as if gods were waging war overhead!

The skies over the Endless Swords Immortal Sect descended into upheaval, an apocalyptic vision of destruction.

Terrifying sword qi swept throughout the surrounding ten thousand miles!

Within just a few blinks of an eye…

Clang!!

A heaven-shaking impact rang out, and the two combatants separated.

Su Yi’s shoulder was a bloody pulp, and his robes were stained red.

Shen Shang had a bloody gash on his back, and his clothes were torn open. His hair was formerly in a topknot, but now it hung loose.

Both of them were injured!

Lei Yunting and the other higher-ups were in disbelief. Su Yi was an Immortal Lord! Yet the Great Realm Ancestor Shen Shang hadn’t suppressed him; on the contrary, the two were evenly matched!

It just didn’t seem real.

“You’re sort of in the Great Realm, but your comprehension of the Purple Qi Chaos Void Sutra has yet to reach true mastery. Your mastery cannot surpass mine, but what else do you have to fight me with?”

Su Yi stood beneath the dome of heaven, his gaze calm. He spoke as if he were chastising a junior!

Shen Shang snorted coldly, and his majestic aura transformed as he attacked once more.

Boom!

Sword qi glittered, as radiant as the light of a new dawn, illuminating the mountains and rivers.

The Profound Golden Sun Sutra!

Shen Shang obviously sensed that Su Yi was right; his attainments in the Purple Qi Chaos Void Sutra couldn’t suppress Su Yi's. Thus, he tried another of the Endless Swords Immortal Sect’s legacies of the Dao of the Sword.

This supreme legacy was the work of their founder, Xu Fushi!

A hundred thousand feet of misty light shone around him, and sword qi as intensely radiant as the sun swept through the sky. Wherever its light reached, the sky melted with terrifying, searing heat.

The edge of Su Yi’s sword rose.

Boom!

It was as if the light of a new dawn had cleaved through the darkness. A glittering golden sun rose into the air with all-encompassing momentum, its solitary radiance illuminating everything beneath the heavens.

This was the Profound Golden Sun Sutra too! However, in terms of sword intent, sword force, and sheer momentum, Su Yi’s strike was completely different from Shen Shang’s.

Shen Shang’s attack was blazing beyond limit, seemingly capable of burning both heaven and earth.

But Su Yi’s strike had the spirit of a solitary ruler presiding over heaven and earth, as unique as the sun. No one else could compete!

Kaboom!

Their duel was suddenly a clash between suns, and much like how two tigers couldn’t share a single mountain, two suns couldn’t exist over the same sky.

Explosive sword qi fell like rain, and heaven and earth shook in all directions. It was like the onset of the apocalypse.

Yet the entire Endless Swords Immortal Sect was deathly silent. Everyone stood there in a daze; this terrifying clash of the Dao of the Sword shook them to the core.

Moments later.

Bang!!!

Shen Shang’s radiant sun of sword qi split and broke, exploding beneath the dome of heaven and scattering a destructive rain of light.

Shen Shang dodged immediately, but the aftershock still reached him, and he staggered on impact. His hair and beard were disheveled, and his skin was covered in charred gashes.

His flesh had been incinerated! It was a shocking sight.

Su Yi had numerous wounds too, but it was obvious to anyone that he’d come out ahead in this clash of attainments in the Profound Golden Sun Sutra!

The onlookers’ minds practically went blank. They couldn’t even imagine how Su Yi could have mastered this supreme legacy of the Endless Swords Immortal Sect. Furthermore, he obviously understood it even better than Ancestor Shen Shang!

Lei Yunting and the others’ hands and feet shook. They were overcome with shock and fury.

“It’s only by surpassing your forebears that you can adopt good advice from all quarters, break new ground, and fuse all Daos to your own ends,” said Su Yi. He stood beneath the dome of heaven, caressing the flat of his sword, his eyes tinged with disappointment. “I’m to blame for overestimating you.”