First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1137 - Viewed with Contempt

“Aren’t the Celestial Laws of the Dark and Gold Star Realm a bit too severely fragmented...?” The spearwoman furrowed her brow.

She could tell at a glance that although the Wilds were the center of the Dark and Gold Star Realm, their Laws were in terrible condition!

It was like a swamp. How could a divine dragon swim freely here, as they might in the vast ocean?

“How could a place like this give rise to anyone impressive?” The spearwoman suddenly felt that the old man she’d threatened at spearpoint had most likely deceived her!

“Oh well. Since fate has brought me here, I’ll have a look around.” The Spearwoman sighed and promptly withdrew most of her aura. Only then did she shoot toward the Wilds.

Boom! magic

The power of its Laws reacted as if stimulated, surging toward her.

“I’ve already suppressed my cultivation down to the Oneness Realm. That still isn’t low enough?” The spearwoman was stunned.

“Then I’ll just have to suppress it further!” She took a deep breath, then forcefully suppressed her cultivation by yet another realm.

But as she neared the Wilds, she quickly realized that this still wasn’t enough! If she forced her way in, the power of the Laws of the Wilds would view her with the utmost hostility!

“That damned old man. He really might have been deceiving me. I’m afraid a place like this can’t even give rise to World Kings.” The spearwoman seethed with murderous intent. She immediately decided to settle the score with the Tailor down the line!

“Open!”

Finally, she suppressed her cultivation to the Imperial Apex Realm. Only then did she avoid the backlash of the Laws and smoothly enter the Wilds.

But following this experience, she had little hope for this expedition.

How could a swamp give rise to a dragon?

......

One of the Wilds’ many cities.

“Do you know who the Temple Master is?” The spearwoman immediately sought out the strongest person there, an old man.

But here, the so-called “strongest” was still only in the Profound Illumination Realm. In the spearwoman’s eyes, he was no different from a weed growing by the side of the road.

To her, all things were like straw dogs!

This wasn’t contempt. Rather, no matter how strong an Emperor was, to her, they were no different from an ordinary mortal.

“I... I don’t know...” stammered the old man, so startled he broke out in cold sweats.

He’d been in seclusion earlier, only for this mysterious woman in a bronze mask to appear out of nowhere and grab him. It was so sudden that he almost broke down.

“Isn’t he supposed to be the invincible top expert of his era, the man whose sword dominated the stars and suppressed the ten directions?”

The spearwoman increasingly felt that something wasn’t right here.

She vividly recalled that old liar telling her that when she arrived in the Wilds, she could ask anyone; everyone knew who the Temple Master of the Temple of the Human Realm was.

But now, she’d found the strongest expert in this entire city, and he had no idea who the Temple Master was!

“The Wilds really does have a legendary expert invincible beneath the heavens, but... it seems... he isn’t the Temple Master you speak of,” the old man said with obvious unease, his entire body covered in cold sweat.

“Oh? And who is he?” The Spearwoman said distractedly. She’d already completely lost interest, and she even felt the impulse to leave the Wilds immediately.

“The Swordmaster of Abstruse Force! Or rather, his reincarnation. He returned to the Wilds not long ago, and...”

Before he could finish, the woman’s spirits soared; she was finally intrigued.

“His reincarnation?” She interrupted the man mid-explanation. “Explain in detail.”

How could the old man dare to disobey? Everything he knew about Su Yi spilled out of him, like beans pouring out of a bamboo tube.

As he neared the end of his explanation, the old man suddenly recalled something. “Yesterday, the curtains fell on an unprecedented grand battle outside of the Grotto of Abstruse Force. Although I wasn’t there to witness it, I heard that someone called the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force ‘the Temple Master!’”

The spearwoman’s pale purple eyes silently lit up. “The Temple Master, the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force, Su Yi... Is he repeatedly undergoing reincarnation to cultivate anew? ...Interesting!”

Whoosh!

Before her voice had even finished echoing through the air, she disappeared without a trace.

The old man fell into a daze. A little while later, his entire body went limp, and he collapsed to the ground. “That woman... Was she really an immortal?”

......

The Grotto of Abstruse Force.

Su Yi sat there cultivating with his legs crossed.

He’d just taken inventory of the Grotto of Abstruse Force’s treasures and discovered that almost nothing was missing.

There was no doubt about it. Over the years, Qing Tang hadn’t just refrained from using his treasury for her own ends. No, she had even retrieved the treasures lost during that calamity!

What delighted Su Yi most was that the Dark and Gold Treasures he’d once taken as ordinary items and left to gather dust in his treasury were all still there.

Thirteen of them in total!

Su Yi predicted that if he refined all of the chaos origin power within these Dark and Gold Treasures, it would let him smoothly enter the Profound Unity Realm.

When the time came, he could use his Dao as a furnace and the power of the Apex of Genesis to glean more secrets from the Sword of the Nine Hells.

And he could use the Dark and Gold Essence to derive the Celestial Laws of the Dark and Gold Star Realm and prepare to step onto the Path of Heaven’s Ascension!

In short, stepping into the Profound Unity Realm would bring him to the peak of the Profound Dao. By then, his strength would far surpass the peak strength of his past life!

“Master, Buddhist Master Inkstone Heart has regained consciousness.” Jin Kui’s voice rang out.

Su Yi instantly awoke from his meditation, got up, and emerged from his cave.

Within an old-fashioned pavilion.

“How do you feel, old-timer?” When Su Yi arrived, he saw Buddhist Master Inkstone Heart seated there pondering something.

Buddhist Master Inkstone Heart rose, then clasped his fists and inclined his head. “Old Monster Su, if you weren't there, I really would have been finished.”

His expression was full of deep emotion and gratitude.

Su Yi laughed, then casually took a seat. “Having the Tailor take over your body can’t have been pleasant.”

Buddhist Master Inkstone Heart sat back down too and grimaced. “It wasn’t just unpleasant. It was like taking a trip through hell.”

Here, his expression turned solemn. “Old Monster Su, you have to be careful. All the Tailor lost was one of his Dao Clones. It might not be long before he returns.”

Su Yi inclined his head to express his understanding. The Tailor already knew that he was the reincarnation of the Temple Master.

Furthermore, of late, he’d slaughtered experts from the Church of the River of Stars, the Nine Heavens Pavilion, and the Studio of the Heart.

He could picture it already. It wouldn’t be long before a storm descended upon him from the stars beyond the Wilds!

After chatting a while longer, Buddhist Master Inkstone Heart rose and bade Su Yi farewell. He planned to recover in the Little Western Paradise.

Su Yi didn’t keep him. Instead, he gave him the jade slip he’d prepared for this precise purpose. It recorded the secrets of the Path of Heaven’s Ascension and the Dark and Gold Treasures.

Buddhist Master Inkstone Heart was one of his closest friends in the Wilds. If this information could help him, Su Yi naturally wouldn’t keep it to himself.

Outside the sect gates.

“Fellow Daoist, there’s one thing I still don’t understand.” In the moments before his departure, Buddhist Master Inkstone Heart recalled something. “With your powers of perception, why is it that you couldn’t see through Qing Tang and the young mistress of the Studio of the Heart? How is it that they smoothly infiltrated the Grotto of Abstruse Force?”

Su Yi said with self-deprecation, “At the time, although I was invincible in this world, my worldview was limited to the Wilds.”

When Qing Tang came to the Wilds, she was already a true Heavenly Longevity Realm World King!

And her master was once the greatest powerhouse of the starry skies.

“Heavenly Longevity” meant that one could live as long as the heavens themselves. Upon reaching this realm, cultivators could fully slough off the shackles of longevity. Unless killed, their lifespans were without limit.

Thus, it wasn’t at all difficult for Qing Tang to deceive the former Swordmaster of Abstruse Force.

As for the young mistress of the Studio of the Heart? She’d used a secret treasure to disguise herself.

“Indeed...the crux of the matter is that we’ve been confined to the Wilds for far too long. It’s not just our path that’s impeded; even our perception and worldview are limited,” mused Buddhist Master Inkstone Heart.

They said there was always a higher mountain, and that there was a heaven beyond the heavens. This was a perfect example of that.

Su Yi said calmly, “Fortune and disaster go hand in hand. We’ve been trapped in the Imperial Apex Realm for countless years, and our cultivation bases are severely suppressed. But this means that when we step onto the Path of Heaven’s Ascension, we’ll burst forth with latent potential beyond imagination. The World Kings of the stars beyond will be no match for us!”

Buddhist Master Inkstone Heart froze, briefly dazed. Then, he said joyfully, “Wonderful!”

With that, he stepped into the air, and his stick-thin figure quickly faded into the distance.

Su Yi turned around and was just about to head back to the Grotto of Abstruse Force when a female figure appeared out of thin air. “Friend, is this the Grotto of Abstruse Force?”

This new arrival wore straw gray robes and straw sandals. A red string tied her long black hair into a ponytail, and her face was obscured by a bronze mask, revealing only her pale purple eyes.

She carried a twelve-foot spear. It was simple and blue-gray, with a mysterious swastika carved on its hilt.

The moment he laid eyes on her, Su Yi was stunned.

It’s that spearwoman!?

The Skythorn Poison Emperor had told him that, a long time ago, when he, the Peerless Martial Emperor, and a group of their old friends left the Wilds to traverse the starry skies, they encountered an utterly terrifying mysterious spearwoman.

The Peerless Martial Emperor and the others joined forces, but even then, they only just barely blocked one of her attacks.

As for the Skythorn Poison Empero? He wasn’t even worthy of being considered her opponent...

Now, this woman had reappeared, and furthermore, her target was the Grotto of Abstruse Force.

“That’s right.” Su Yi nodded without the slightest change of expression. “Might I ask what you’ve come to do?”

“I’m here to fight the Temple Master,” the spearwoman said casually.

She looked at the distant Grotto of Abstruse Force. “I heard he was capable and that he’s undergone reincarnation, so I want to see his strength for myself.”

Su Yi’s eyebrows rose. “Simply... to fight him?”

The spearwoman seemed to sense that something was amiss, and she looked at Su Yi once more. “I just like to fight, that’s all. How could I have any ill intentions?”

“....”

“I can tell that you’re most likely a member of the Grotto of Abstruse Force, so no need for me to visit. Go call the Temple Master out,” she ordered casually. “Once we’re done fighting, I’ll leave. Of course, if he can block one of my attacks, I wouldn’t mind taking him on as my subordinate and offering him my protection.”

Su Yi couldn’t help but facepalm. “No need for protection, thanks. If you really want to fight, we can fight.”

“You’re... the Temple Master?” exclaimed the spearwoman, as if in disbelief. “Isn’t your cultivation a bit too pathetic?”

“....” Su Yi didn’t quite know what to say to that. Is she looking down on me!?