First Immortal of the Sword

The outside world.

The atmosphere atop the enormous ritual grounds was stifled and tense. The Immortal Kings were silent, their expressions full of bewilderment.

Gong Nanfeng, Cen Baili, Weng Changfeng, Fei Zhen, and the other washed-out unrivaled Immortal Lords stood not far away.

Fei Zhen’s situation was the most brutal of all. His body had been torn apart. Only his soul made it out alive. Even if he managed to reforge his body, this would surely influence his prospects!

The crowd had already learned what had happened, and all of them were stunned. No one could calm down.

Shen Mu, again!

Two days ago, it was Shen Mu who crushed six unrivaled Immortal Lords at Torn Space Mountain.

Today, it was Shen Mu who defeated fourteen more unrivaled Immortal Lords, including Gong Nanfeng.

Such an accomplishment was simply unheard of!

“Is there a problem with Shen Mu?” one of the Church of the Pure One Immortal Kings said gravely. “I’ve never heard of such an unparalleled Immortal Lord appearing in the Immortal Realm before. There must be an explanation for this. I suspect that he isn’t who he says he is!”

The crowd was in uproar. All of them were confused and uncertain.

Ancestor Tang Jinhong snorted coldly, “As everyone knows, the Laws of the Divine Hunt Demon Mountains prohibit Immortal Kings and higher from entering, even if they hide their cultivations!

“That means that Shen Mu achieved these results with his own strength. I trust that those who lost to him know that better than any of us.”

He swept his gaze across Gong Nanfeng and the others. None of them argued.

Tang Jinhong continued, “Xie Kuiyuan, given the circumstances, don’t you find your suspicions laughable?”

“I’m just suspicious, that’s all.” The Church of the Pure One Immortal King, Xie Kuiyuan, said expressionlessly, “When the Divine Hunt ends and Shen Mu emerges, we’ll just ask him a few questions. Then we’ll know if something’s gone wrong or not.”

“That’s right. We ought to do just that!” An Immortal King of the Church of Supreme Oneness chimed in his agreement.

“If there’s really nothing suspicious about Shen Mu, he naturally doesn’t need to fear an investigation into his background, don’t you think, Daoist Brother Tang?”

“That’s right! I demand a clear explanation!”

The other Immortal Kings voiced their opinions, one after another.

Tang Jinhong frowned, but in the end, he said nothing.

Tang Lingqi watched this all play out. He couldn’t help but feel fraught with worry.

How could he fail to realize that the top Immortal Lords’ crushing defeat had brought shame on their factions, and that their Immortal Kings’ embarrassment had transformed into anger? That was the real reason they were targeting Su Yi!

We’re in for trouble, Tang Lingqi sighed to himself.

When the winds howled, the tallest trees were the first to fall.

Su Yi’s performance in the Divine Hunt was just too eye-catching, to the point that it had made him a target!

Tang Lingqi could never have anticipated this problem.

……

The Divine Hunt Demon Mountains, the hidden realm that had existed since the Primeval Era.

Su Yi stopped in his tracks. For some reason, that agonized cry seemed familiar. He immediately shot toward the source of the commotion.

Before long, a somewhat run-down bronze hall came into view. It was massive, with the ceiling a thousand feet high. Despite the passage of countless years, it wasn’t actually that badly damaged. If anything, the wear lent the hall an additional austerity.

When Su Yi arrived, yet another agonized cry rang out. This time, Su Yi immediately realized who it belonged to.

The Zhuyou Great Peng!

Not long ago, in the White Reed Province, where Mount Taiwu once stood, Su Yi bumped into the Divine Fortune Teller and this foul-mouthed fowl.

Don’t tell me that old scoundrel the Divine Fortune Teller is here too? If so, how the hell did he manage to get that bird brain in here?

Su Yi was quite surprised. After all, these were the Divine Hunt Demon Mountains. The Laws didn’t permit anyone above the Immortal Lord level from entering!

As Su Yi pondered, he shot directly toward the bronze hall.

The Zhuyou Great Peng was indeed inside and it was quivering, curled into a ball. Its eyes were full of terror.

The Divine Fortune Teller gnashed his teeth, his expression shifting and uncertainty. His bony frame was covered in bleeding wounds, and his hair was disheveled. He looked utterly wretched.

A tall, stalwart man covered in black armor stood not far away. His armor was badly damaged and mottled with rust, but this did nothing to disguise his ferocious, bloodthirsty aura.

The most striking thing about him was the thumb-thick, blood-red chains he was wrapped in. They traveled down not only around but also through his shoulders, chest, and abdomen, binding him firmly in place!

From a distance, he was like a captive ferocious god!

His face was obscured beneath the armor. Only his cold, cruel eyes were visible, and they showed no sign of emotion whatsoever.

He stood there, completely still, without the slightest trace of an aura.

Even so, when the Divine Fortune Teller looked at him, his eyes were full of frustration and dread.

“Go on. Try again.” The Divine Fortune Teller gnashed his teeth and smacked the Zhuyou Great Peng on the head.

The dirty bird launched into a stream of curses. “I won’t, not even if you beat me to death! If you want to go, do it yourself! I’m not sick of living yet!”

The bird had tried several times already, and it had used all its might, only for the armored man to force it to the ground and pummel it each and every time.

It was utterly tragic!

By now, the bird’s wings were almost broken, and most of its bones were on the verge of slapping. It was barely holding on.

“Are you really willing to just leave now?” The Divine Fortune Teller pointed to the jade platform behind the armored man and the six-inch black stone coffin floating above it.

The coffin was simple and unadorned, as tiny as a hairpin, without the slightest decoration. However, it would have been obvious to anyone that it was an extraordinary treasure!

“I dare say with certainty that it’s not just the six-inch stone coffin. Even the jade platform is extraordinary. It’s emblazoned with a strange chaos source power. If we seize both treasures, we’ll have no need to fear failing to one day gaze down upon the entire Immortal Realm with proud laughter!” the Divine Fortune Teller said at top speed, trying his best to entice the bird. “Think about it. Don’t you want to ride on the back of a lady dragon? Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“....” There was no getting around it. The Zhuyou Great Peng was tempted. Very tempted.

But it knew that further attempts would only get it killed. The armored man was just too terrifying. His awareness was muddled, and he just stood there on the platform like an idiot unless provoked. Otherwise, he would have killed the two of them countless times over by now!

The bird’s eyes darted about. “Old scoundrel, aren’t you supposed to be some kind of fortune teller? Can’t you divine a way out of this mess?”

The Divine Fortune Teller said irritably, “Just tell me: are you going or not?”

The Zhuyou Great Peng didn’t even pause to think. “I’m not going!”

Whap!

The Divine Fortune Teller smacked the bird on the back of the head and cursed. “You really are useless. If I’d known, I would have roasted your wings a long time ago! You’re not going? Fine! I am!”

As he spoke, he rolled up his sleeves, gnashed his teeth, charged at the armored man, and swung his fist.

From beginning to end, the armored man just stood there, still as a clay statue.

That was, until the Divine Fortune Teller’s fist grew near. Only then did the armored man’s eyes glint with bloodthirsty light.

He swung his palm, and…

Bang!

An agonized cry rang out as the Divine Fortune Teller was sent flying back. He slammed to the ground on the steps outside the palace, his entire body convulsing. His face was black, blue, and swollen.

The palm had hit him right in the face, breaking his nose. Blood gushed from his nostrils.

The Zhuyou Great Peng wasn’t at all nice about it. It just burst into sputtering, gleeful laughter.

“Fuck! You’ve really pushed me too far. I’ll fucking—” The Divine Fortune Teller was just about to launch into a series of expletives when calm laughter rang out.

“So, it really is you, you old scoundrel.”

The Divine Fortune Teller stiffened, then whipped his head around and saw a man in dark Daoist robes and a topknot.

He froze, stunned, then exclaimed, “Aiyo! Hey, if it isn’t my brother from another mother! So, you’re here too!”

He shot to his feet and tried to pull Su Yi into a bear hug, only for Su Yi to push him away disdainfully.

The Zhuyou Great Peng was flabbergasted. “Since when did you have a brother like him?”

The Divine Fortune Teller beamed and laughed, “You really are blind and stupid. Don’t you recognize your Grandpa Su?”

The Zhuyou Great Peng’s eyes bulged as it recalled who Su Yi was. So, it’s that young man I met earlier!

It clucked its tongue and said, “Wowee, that’s quite the impressive disguise you’ve got there. You actually deceived this lofty one’s Zhuyou Torch Eye! Of course, I wasn’t using my divine abilities at the time. Otherwise, you could never have fooled me.”

Su Yi disregarded all that, put his hands behind his back, and walked into the hall. He immediately noticed the tall, stalwart man in armor, the six-inch jade coffin, and the platform.

“Tell me what’s going on here.” Su Yi looked at the armored man, his heart instantly solemn. The man’s presence was incredibly strange and inscrutable, and it was full of dangerous, bloodthirsty energy fluctuations.

The Divine Fortune Teller walked over and said, “That guy’s most likely a Combat Soul Puppet from the Primeval Era. He’s incredibly terrifying, and even though his source power is all but dried up, he can still kill Immortal Kings with ease!”

He pointed to the Zhuyou Great Peng. “The dirty bird might be unseemly, but it's still an Immortal King that old baldy trained personally. It can kill even late-stage Miracle Realm Immortal Kings! But the puppet forced the bird brain to the ground in a single palm strike. It couldn’t even fight back!”

The Zhuyou Great Peng was instantly displeased. “Why are you using me as an example? You didn’t fare any better, now did you?”

Su Yi couldn’t help but be impressed. A Combat Soul Puppet from the Primeval Era, and it can even defeat the Zhuyou Great Peng with ease!

This was indeed astonishing.

He couldn’t even imagine what kind of terrifying power this Combat Soul Puppet used to have at its peak.

Combat Soul Puppets were, as the name implied, a type of puppet. However, they were different from normal puppets in that they had a soul. Their bodies were refined from treasures, but other than that, they were no different from living people.

Some exquisitely crafted Combat Soul Puppets could even repeatedly temper their souls and bodies to undergo one metamorphosis after another!

This Combat Soul Puppet had to be even more extraordinary than that, for the simple reason that it had survived since the Primeval era.

The golden beast skin was a Great Realm treasure from the Primeval Era, but the passage of countless years had all but frittered away its source power.

Yet this Combat Soul Puppet had miraculously survived all this time, and it was still strong enough to trounce the Zhuyou Great Peng.

Who wouldn’t have been astonished?