First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1699: Self-Destruction

He was the only one left, but he was like a beast in a cage. Death was staring him right in the face. It was enough to make even an Immortal King like him lose his nerve!

“Shen Mu, aren’t you afraid we’ll get even!?” he roared, his eyes bloodshot, as if he’d lost himself to madness.

Su Yi was just watching coldly from the sidelines. When he heard that, he couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s the Church of the Pure One that ought to be afraid.”

Boom!

Lei Ze attacked once more, every strike as heavy as a mountain. He didn’t say a word, but he struck with unstoppable force. A single palm strike was enough to send Xue Kuiyuan flying.

The surrounding hundred thousand feet were completely sealed off. Xie Kuiyuan couldn’t escape. All he could do was dodge as best he could within that limited space.

“A misunderstanding, that’s all. Why must you kill us all?” roared Xie Kuiyuan. He fled with all his might, desperate to escape.

When the crowd heard that, their expressions grew strange. A misunderstanding? Weren’t you the one who confidently proclaimed that Shen Mu’s identity was suspicious? Weren’t you the one who wanted to get even with him?

There’d been no proof, nor any sort of blood debt between them. The Immortal Kings were targeting Shen Mu simply because he’d disqualified their sects’ unrivaled Immortal Lords and acquired a suspected Great Realm treasure. Bullying a junior over something like that was ridiculous right from the start.

Now that it was his life on the line, Xie Kuiyuan insisted that this was all just one big misunderstanding. That was even more ridiculous.

The older-generation cultivators knew that the Immortal Kings targeted Shen Mu in part because his origins really were fishy, and in part because they were displeased that he’d defeated their juniors.

However, they were mostly just after the suspected Great Realm treasure he’d acquired! Their accusations were nothing but a pretense to steal his good fortune!

Alas, they’d miscalculated. Even without the Tang Family’s backing, and even surrounded by enemies and fighting alone, Shen Mu could turn this around!

The Immortal Kings dying in rapid succession were the clearest proof of that.

Waves of shock coursed through the crowd’s hearts as Lei Ze blurred into a beam of light and arrived beside Xie Kuiyuan in a flash.

There was nowhere for Xie Kuiyuan to dodge. He suddenly hissed, “If you won’t let me live, fine! We’ll just die together!”

Boom——！

He exploded, sending a terrifying flood of destructive power into the firmament. The aftershock swept out in all directions.

Everyone felt a prickling pain in their eyes, and their hearts filled with terror.

An Immortal King had blown himself up. How could such a blast possibly be ordinary?

Wherever the current of destruction passed, the skies fell, the earth caved in, and everything was reduced to ash! Countless onlookers cried out and scampered away in panic.

Lei Ze was the closest to the blast, but he also reacted the quickest. Practically the instant Xie Kuiyuan blew himself up, he streaked over to Su Yi like a lightning bolt and raised a purple light curtain.

Su Yi, meanwhile, didn’t hesitate to summon the Divine Replenishment Furnace. Endless streaks of Dao Light poured from its opening, creating a barrier around both him and Lei Ze.

Bang!!

Lei Ze’s curtain of purple light collapsed.

Immediately afterward, the Divine Replenishment Furnace wailed. It too suffered a terrifying impact, and its countless streaks of Dao Light split and collapsed.

However, it blocked the impact just long enough for Su Yi to take Lei Ze and flee into the distance. They just barely managed to avoid the terrifying aftermath of the explosion.

Heaven and earth were in upheaval. Dust and smoke churned. A long time passed before the chaotic landscape gradually sank back into stillness.

When the crowd next gazed upon the battlefield, it was covered in scars, as if a hurricane had passed through.

The distant onlookers’ nerves had yet to settle. All of them still felt panicked, and dread was written all over their faces.

All of this was indeed far too terrifying.

It had been a long, long time since an Immortal King had last blown himself up.

“Xie Kuiyuan was pushed to the point of choosing self-destruction… I can only imagine how terrifying that combat soul puppet is. How great must his despair have been…?” Tang Jinhong sighed.

This battle was enough to startle even an old-timer like him, someone who’d lived for countless years and long grown accustomed to the ups and downs of worldly affairs.

“Amitabha.” Immortal King Zhen Yan clasped his palms together and sighed deeply.

Seven Immortal Kings had been slaughtered without a single survivor. He didn’t even need to think to know that today’s incident was sure to take the Immortal realm by storm!

As expected, Fellow Daoist Su still won in the end… Tang Yuyan and Tang Lingqi felt a massive weight lift from their shoulders. Waves of surprise still rippled through their hearts.

I just knew that someone who could instruct me in my cultivation of the Lotus Bodhi Sutra and grant me a sudden burst of enlightenment wouldn’t die at the hands of those Immortal Kings, muttered Zhuo Yun. Right, it seems Martial Uncle anticipated that Shen Mu would overcome this. Perhaps he’s realized something? I’ve got to ask him once all of this is over!

Gong Nanfeng, Weng Changfeng, and the other unrivaled Immortal Lords were despondent and grief-stricken. The dead Immortal Kings had been their seniors!

But no matter how angry and forlorn they felt, they didn’t dare to say anything. They were overcome with worry that Su Yi would seize this opportunity to kill them too!

But they’d obviously let their imaginations get the best of them. Su Yi disdained to make trouble with them.

Unlike the others present, he wasn’t particularly emotional about any of this. In his past life, he’d killed whole swaths of Great Realm experts. What did the few Immortal Kings he’d killed today amount to?

But there was no denying that he too was startled by Lei Ze’s brutal, explosive killing methods.

“How do you feel, Lei Ze?” Su Yi noticed that Lei Ze’s vital energy was rapidly waning, and his battered armor was considerably dimmer.

“Master, your subordinate still has another battle left in him!” Lei Ze said solemnly.

He’d only just said this when his eyes went vacant, and his body went limp. He staggered backward and transformed back into a bronze command medallion.

Su Yi hurriedly scooped it up and whispered, “Fight any longer, and you’ll lose your life in the process.”

He understood. Lei Ze “had another battle in him,” but that was only if he disregarded his life. One more battle, and he’d be doomed.

This made it clear just how depleted Lei Ze was after this grand battle. He really was all but tapped out.

“Rest assured. I’ll be certain to repair you, body and soul, and return you to peak condition!” Su Yi whispered.

He put away the medallion and decided not to summon Lei Ze until he’d recovered some of his vitality.

Others might see Lei Ze as a mere Combat Soul Puppet, but to Su Yi, Lei Ze was a treasure with a suspected deep connection to his fifth incarnation, just like that six-inch sword coffin!

Su Yi scanned the area, then turned to leave. He paid no one present any heed, and no one dared attempt to intercept him.

“Seventh Uncle, Fellow Daoist Su…” Tang Yuyan’s heart clenched as she transmitted, “Will he blame the Tang Family for staying out of this?”

Tang Lingqi said comfortingly, “Rest assured. Fellow Daoist Su isn’t the petty sort.”

Before long, Tang Jinhong, the host of this Divine Hunt, stepped forward and invited everyone to board their massive treasure ship.

Zhuo Yun and Zhan Yan didn’t board. Instead, they shot through the air and left the periphery of the Divine Hunt Demon Mountains.

“Martial Uncle, did you discern anything about Shen Mu earlier?” Zhuo Yun couldn’t help but ask along the way.

Immortal King Zhen Yan fell briefly silent, then asked right back, “What kind of person do you think Shen Mu is?”

“He…” Zhuo Yun thought for a moment, then said, “When I faced him, I felt as if I wasn’t facing another Immortal Lord, but rather, a powerful senior. Nothing I did could elude his notice…

“Martial Uncle, during the Divine Hunt, he effortlessly saw through the secrets of my cultivation, and his guidance granted me sudden enlightenment. He helped me break my bottleneck and figure out what I need to do to become an Immortal King.

“And even after seeing how he killed those Immortal Kings, I can’t even begin to imagine… Just… how did he do it?”

Despite himself his face filled with bewilderment. How could such a mysterious person exist in this world?

“Right, you still haven’t answered my question, Martial Uncle.” Zhuo Yun looked over, his gaze full of curiosity.

Immortal King Zhen Yan said warmly, “Several months ago, at the Seventh Gate of Heaven, a Universe Realm Immortal called Su Yi used the Stele of Heaven’s Will to slay four Immortal Kings and imprison Garrison Master Shen Qingshi.

“Today, after the Divine Hunt, Shen Mu used a Combat Soul Puppet to kill seven Immortal Kings. Doesn’t it seem like they’re the same person?”

Zhuo Yun froze, stunned. “The same person?”

A moment later, he shook his head. “Impossible! Su Yi is in the Universe realm, while Shen Mu is an unrivaled Immortal Lord. How could they possibly be the same person?”

Immortal King Zhen Yan’s gaze was inscrutable. “There are no absolutes in this world. Actually, I suspect that both ‘Shen Mu’ and ‘Su Yi’ are pseudonyms and that they’re both someone else entirely.”

Zhuo Yun was completely flabbergasted, and frustrated, too. “Martial Uncle, can you please quit talking in riddles? Just tell me who he is!”

Zhen Yan shook his head. “The Buddha has forbidden me to speak, for the time is not yet ripe. Everything has yet to be determined. When the time comes, you’ll naturally understand.”

“....” Zhuo Yun felt a powerful urge to smack his martial uncle’s bald head. Don’t tantalize me like that! Who does that!?

“But it’s actually entirely reasonable that you established positive karma with him. Should you cross paths again, it’s sure to prove a blessing for your cultivation,” said Immortal King Zhen Yan. He was already walking off.

“It’s entirely reasonable that I established positive karma with him?” Zhuo Yu was stunned. He suddenly felt that enormous secrets were hidden within that sentence!

Shen Mu recognized my Lotus Bodhi Sutra. That’s why he chose to enlighten me, and that’s how we established our positive karma. And it was the founder of our temple, Buddhist Sovereign Nie Ti, who created the Lotus Bodhi Sutra…

Zhuo Yun gasped. Could it be that Shen Mu has some deep connection to our founder?

No way! That shouldn’t be possible. Buddhist Sovereign Nie Ti was an expert of the days prior to the Age of Fallen Immortals. How could he and Shen Mu possibly know each other?

The more Zhuo Yun thought, the more confused he felt. In the end, he shook his head in exasperation, set the matter aside, and hurried after his martial uncle.

The two of them gradually faded into the distance.