First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1405 - A Battlefield of the Heart, I Compete with Myself

The middle-aged man in ornate robes suddenly felt as if the edge of a sword were right up against his throat. His hair stood on end.

He looked at Family Head Hong Tianyun pleadingly. “Family Head, I—”

Swoosh!

A streak of sword di descended, dispersing his soul.

Su Yi flicked the flat of his sword. “That was well-deserved punishment. Any objections?”

Hong Tianyun and the others’ chests heaved, and their expressions were as unsightly as could be.

They’d seen tyrannical attitudes before, but never anything like this! Su Yi left no room for negotiation at all, and he killed at the drop of a hat!

Meanwhile, Mo Qingchou thoughtfully rushed up to support Qing Tang. She said gently, “Miss Qing Tang, please come with me.”

She then led Qing Tang away. From beginning to end, no one dared intercept them.

This filled Mo Qingchou’s heart with emotion. Throughout the Flying Immortal Forbidden Zone, what faction could suppress the Hong Family’s bluster?

Who could have forced the Hong Family to swallow their anger and endure?

No one!

Yet now, Su Yi had done just that. He’d cut down their gates and forced the Hong Family to avert their gazes before him!

However, Mo Qingchou was still confused. She’d assumed that Su Yi had come here to get even and cleanse Red Lightning Immortal Mountain with blood.

Who’d have thought that Su Yi would do no such thing?

“Master.” Qing Tang approached, weeping uncontrollably.

The sight of her haggard, beautiful face filled Mo Qingchou’s heart with pity.

Su Yi subtly inclined his head but said nothing. His body was under the control of his sixth incarnation, a man fixated on the sword. He had a cold, indifferent disposition, and he couldn’t possibly understand the depths of Su Yi and Qing Tang’s bond.

He’d saved Qing Tang simply because he wanted Su Yi to owe him a favor. There was nothing else to it.

“Let’s go.” Su Yi turned to leave.

But then, a raspy, aged voice emanated from within the Hong Family’s forbidden grounds. “Fellow Daoist, do you really think you can come and go as you please in these lands? What do you take the Hong Family for?”

This voice boomed throughout the nine heavens, and a terrifying aura surged out of the Hong Family’s forbidden grounds, shaking and dispersing the clouds on all skies. The light of the heavens dimmed.

Then, a figure rose into the air.

He had youthful features and graying hair. His body was tall and stalwart, and he wore long, broad-sleeved robes. His hair was tied in a Daoist topknot, and endless immortal mists billowed around him. His aura was so intense as to startle even the wind and clouds.

Hong Shantu, an immortal revenant!

“Greetings, Ancestor!” Hong Tianyun and the others’ spirits soared. All of them bowed, their faces full of undisguisable delight, as if they’d found their pillar of support.

Mo Qingchou’s pupils constricted. This wasn’t Hong Shantu’s avatar of will. No, this was the revenant’s true soul body!

But then, that makes sense. Although immortal revenants cannot yet wander the Flying Immortal Forbidden Zone freely, moving about their clans’ forbidden grounds isn’t difficult, thought Mo Qingchou.

Su Yi glanced coldly at Hong Shantu. “In my eyes, your lands are nothing at all. I suppose they’d do as a toilet.”

A.... toilet!?

The Hong Family experts were so furious that their chests seemed on the verge of exploding. This was a blatant insult!

The immortal revenant, Hong Shantu, furrowed his brow. He said flatly, “I can tell that you’re something akin to an avatar of will possessing Su Yi’s body. Is that right?”

Qing Tang froze, stunned, then looked at Su Yi in bewilderment.

“I’m competing with myself. How can you call that a possession?” Su Yi said with an inscrutable look in his eyes.

But then, he shook his head. He couldn’t be bothered to waste words with a mere immortal revenant. “Do you plan to stop me from leaving?”

Hong Shantu’s eyes shone with imposing light. “No, there’s no need for me to take action personally. That power of yours will soon dissipate. All I want to do is warn you. Soon, my fellow immortals and I will re-enter the world!”

Su Yi couldn’t help but throw back his head and laugh derisively. “You’re neither human nor ghost, yet you call yourselves immortals? What a farce!”

Hong Shantu’s expression froze, and his brow knit with fury.

Boom!

Su Yi suddenly raised his hand and tapped the air. A streak of sword qi swept through the sky and descended with a bang, like a radiant beam of flowing light from beyond the heavens.

That terrifying, tyrannical aura alone was enough to make Hong Shantu’s hair stand on end. He was an immortal revenant, but even he felt irrepressible terror rising within his heart.

He jumped and fled like a startled rabbit, not daring to block this blow head-on.

But against all expectations, when this slash finally arrived, it popped like a soap bubble, drifted gently to the ground, and disappeared.

“Coward.” Su Yi sneered.

Hong Shantu’s expression shifted erratically, his eyes full of shame and indignation. How could he fail to realize that Su Yi was toying with him? He was making him look bad on purpose!

But there was no denying that Su Yi’s strike was indeed terrifying. Just the thought of it made his heart quiver.

Su Yi laughed. “Killing you now would be dull. When the day comes that you can re-enter the world, I’ll take your heads with my own strength.”

With that, he put his hands behind his back and left. Mo Qingchou hurriedly led Qing Tang after him.

No one in the Hong Family made any further attempts to stop them!

Once Su Yi and the others had disappeared from view, Hong Tianyun couldn’t help but look at Hong Shantu and ask, “Ancestor, I suspect the power possessing Su Yi’s body is on the verge of dissipating. Otherwise... why would he let things end here?”

The other members of the Hong Family nodded their agreement. There was indeed something fishy about this. Who would have passed an opportunity to deal them a massive setback up lightly?

“We cannot afford to gamble!” Hong Shantu took a deep breath and said gravely, “The power possessing Su Yi’s body is far too terrifying. Even if it’s on the verge of dissipating, and even if I went all out, I’d struggle to hold my own. It’s better to just let him leave. So long as the mountain remains, there’ll be no need to fear a lack of firewood! Where there’s life, there’s hope!”

Hong Tianyun nodded, and the others forcefully suppressed their bitterness.

“Family Head, this is bad!!”

Suddenly, an urgent shout resounded from beyond the gates. A Hong Family scout had returned with news from the battle of Mount Luowu.

Hong Feiguan was dead!

Over a hundred Cloud Soaring experts of various factions had been slain!

Sixteen immortal avatars of will had been destroyed!

When the Hong Family heard the news, it was as if they’d been struck by lightning. All of them were dumbstruck, and they felt chills in their hands and feet.

The immortal revenant was overcome with fury, and he roared in grief. “How could Feiguan... have died!?”

The sound was full of desolation, and it shook the mountains and rivers.

......

Beneath the dome of heaven.

Su Yi put his hands behind his back and stepped into the air. Mo Qingchou and Qing Tang followed.

“Like it or not, you must acknowledge this debt. After all, if not for my intervention, this disciple of yours would likely have never escaped captivity.”

The voice of Su Yi’s sixth incarnation resounded within his sea of consciousness, revealing a hint of satisfaction.

Earlier, Su Yi had used life-or-death adversity to put himself in a situation where he had no choice but to break through. He was gambling, and it paid off; he’d left his sixth incarnation with no choice but to lower his head and compromise.

This had left his sixth incarnation with a bellyful of fire. He was not pleased.

But now that Su Yi owed him a favor, his sixth incarnation felt better. He’d finally reclaimed control over the situation.

This was a clash of the heart.

One forced his opponent to compromise, while the other made his opponent indebted to him.

It was a competition of intelligence and bravery.

“You obviously helped me of your own volition. How can you demand that I owe you a favor?” Su Yi’s soul avatar said calmly. “Did I ask you to do any of that?”

“....”

His sixth incarnation paused, then said, “No need for stubbornness. Debts owed are a matter of the heart. You know that I saved your disciple, and no amount of clever talk can negate that. There’s no point in arguing with me over something so trivial. Ultimately, when the day comes that you’re capable of fusing with my Dao Imprint, a battle of the heart will commence. That will be our true, ultimate battleground. If I win, you’ll become me. If I lose, you’ll remain you.”

Despite the awkward phrasing, Su Yi understood what his sixth incarnation was getting at. He didn’t deny it. Instead, he sighed, “The human heart as a battleground, a competition with myself. Truly interesting.”

“I feel the same,” laughed his sixth incarnation. He said with pride, “You can see me as a heart devil, while I see you as my reincarnation. Will you ultimately free yourself from your heart devil, or will I re-enter this world? We’ll just have to wait and see.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” Su Yi laughed too.

He’d already forced his sixth incarnation to cooperate once. With this opening, he’d be able to force his opponent to compromise again and again until finally, he defeated him completely!

His sixth incarnation suddenly changed the subject. “I’ll grant you the secrets of breaking into the Path of Transcendence. Once you’ve grasped their mysteries, you’ll naturally understand how foolish it would have been to break through today.”

Su Yi didn’t argue.

In life, his sixth incarnation was a terrifying existence with a cultivation far, far beyond his. It was likely that he was an all-powerful expert of the Immortal Dao.

Someone like him had traversed the entirety of the Path of Transcendence, giving him a breadth of experience ordinary people couldn’t even imagine.

In his current lifetime, he'd repeatedly achieved breakthroughs far beyond those of his past life. This was because he had the experiences and comprehension of cultivation from his past lives!

His sixth incarnation was one of his past lives too, but his understanding of the Path of Transcendence was undoubtedly far beyond Su Yi’s.

Su Yi naturally couldn’t deny that.

It was for that very reason that when he agreed to duel in the Flying Immortal Forbidden Zone, he’d already made up his mind to force his sixth incarnation to compromise and offer up his knowledge and understanding of how to break into the Path of Transcendence!

In other words, Su Yi had in no way planned to break through today. It was just a ruse to force his sixth incarnation to teach him his secrets!

And he’d realized his goal!

In light of that, it didn’t matter if his sixth incarnation chastised him for his stupidity. Su Yi didn’t care in the slightest.

“Hmph! Don’t celebrate prematurely,” said his sixth incarnation. “I only did this because I don’t want any flaws in your foundations. Leaving imperfections will only hurt me later, after I’ve replaced you!”

Su Yi laughed, but said no more. The way he saw it, that his sixth incarnation said all this was proof of his unwillingness. He couldn’t let this incident go!

Suddenly, his sixth incarnation said, “I killed many of your enemies today, sowing the seeds of endless future problems. Can you still laugh knowing that?”

A moment later, he seemed gleeful, as if delighting in Su Yi’s misfortunate. “You know what? I could have swept through the Flying Immortal Forbidden Zone with ease, slaying all who opposed you, but I didn’t. Why? Because I wanted to tell you that you need to resolve your own problems. You can forget about making me wipe your ass for you!”

He then burst into laughter, as if incomparably delighted.

But then, out of nowhere, Su Yi said, “If I die, you’ll be finished too.”

His sixth incarnation’s laughter came to an abrupt halt, as if someone had seized him by the throat.

When Su Yi saw that, he couldn’t help but laugh too.

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