First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1445 - The Spirit of the Stele

The cursed stele!

Even before entering the Starjade Forbidden Zone, Su Yi had learned that a strange stone stele stood within the Endless Treasure Grounds. It was covered in cursed power that stretched between heaven and earth. Its cursed power was identical to the curse binding the revenants!

It was for this reason that Daoist Master Red Cloud had invited Su Yi to join them. With his mastery of reincarnation, he could counter that cursed energy. But Su Yi wouldn’t have thought the cursed stele was placed over a path to a hidden, mysterious world. It seemed highly likely that this mysterious world and the Abandoned Monument were one and the same.

Unfortunately, that was all Old Monster Yellow Eyes knew. He’d never seen it in person. Thus, after a moment’s thought, Su Yi made up his mind. He’d decided to go see the cursed stele for himself.

......

Perhaps because the earlier battle had been too intense, the Grand Dao Divine Rainbows spread throughout the area had vanished, as if frightened away. This really was a pity. But then, the storage treasures the Void Realm True Immortals had given him contained no small number of Grand Dao Divine Rainbows, an unexpected harvest.

“Let’s go.” Without any further delays, Su Yi led Yun Huaqing and Yu Ning further into the Endless Treasure Grounds.

The Void Realm True Immortals watched them leave. It was only after they’d faded into the distance that they relaxed.

They looked at each other, all of them overcome with emotion.

“It seems... we’ve profited from a disaster,” someone sighed.

“I still cannot imagine how someone who only recently stepped into Nascent Divinity could possess such heaven-defying combat strength,” someone murmured.

“It would be weird if you could imagine it. The Contract of the Gods has forbidden the power of reincarnation, so how could anyone here know how it works? Fellow Daoist Su... is the only one to have mastered this taboo power!”

“I suspect that Fellow Daoist Su has reincarnated more than once. It’s entirely possible that he was once a terrifying existence of the Immortal Realm!”

“What makes you say that?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten? Fellow Daoist Su used the Cloud-Marked Spirit Whirlpool to kill Bai Lichuan. That’s one of Mount Buzhou’s Jadelight Pure Lands' secret legacies!”

The rest of the immortals looked stunned. Astonishment appeared on their faces.

Was Su Yi really once a denizen of the Immortal Realm?

......

A churning sea of fog. Everything was silent and still on all sides.

From time to time, Grand Dao Divine Rainbows flashed by like shooting stars.

Yun Huaqing and Yu NIng keenly sensed that the further they ventured into the fog, the denser the cursed power. But having Su Yi lead the way reassured them. There was no need for concern. Of course, without him, even with their Void Realm True Immortal strength, they would never have been able to withstand the curse’s corrosive effects!

“I truly dare not even imagine just how many experts of the Immortal Dao searched this place during the End of the Dharma, or how many of them perished here,” sighed Yun Huaqing.

Yu Ning looked grief-stricken too. “Very few survived the End of the Dharma. Most experts of the Immortal Dao perished, unable to live on even as revenants...”

So what if they’d become immortals? They still hadn’t escaped catastrophe!

Su Yi led the way, hands behind his back, entirely unperturbed.

Earlier, his sixth lifetime’s Dao Imprint had been influencing his mentality and behavior. He hadn’t paid any attention, but now, he was taking the time to calmly comb through it all.

Wang Ye’s knowledge and experience were enough to gaze down upon immortals with pride and stand at the pinnacle of the Immortal Dao. Inheriting his experiences and fusing with them really had fundamentally transformed Su Yi’s perceptions and breadth of knowledge. That was a good thing, naturally.

The troublesome part was that his sixth incarnation’s memories, as well as Wang Ye’s cold-blooded nature and tyrannical conduct, were truly influencing his heart. At least for now, Su Yi had no way of preventing this influence. It originated from his own heart, so it was not something foreign to himself.

It was easiest to understand as a heart devil. All Su Yi could do was hold onto his Dao Heart and fundamental nature, protecting himself while slowly duking it out with his heart devil. He’d rid himself of its influence sooner or later.

A full hour later.

Cursed light suddenly appeared reflected in the distant sea of fog. It soared into the heavens, staining them a strange, deep black.

Just gazing upon it from afar was enough to make Yu Ning and Yun Huaqing tremble.

That cursed power was far too terrifying. It connected heaven and earth, like the start of the End of the Dharma!

Su Yi’s eyebrows rose, and his hands formed seals. A curtain of the light of reincarnation appeared, enveloping him and his companions completely.

They continued ahead, and it wasn’t long before they saw a thousand-foot stone stele standing at the source of the cursed power. The stele was rectangular and pitch-black throughout. It overflowed with dense, cursed power that surged forth in waves, rising and falling on its surface.

Yun Huaqing and Yu Ning’s pupils constricted, and they visibly lost their cool.

During the End of the Dharma, countless immortals came to the Starjade Forbidden Zone believing that a path to life and escape from catastrophe lay hidden in the depths of the Endless Treasure Grounds. Who could have imagined that they’d find a stele here that looked like the very source of the catastrophe they’d sought to escape?

It was just too terrifying!

If Su Yi hadn’t been there to lead the way, they would have long since turned and fled, not daring to linger.

“I wouldn’t believe that a path to salvation was hidden here even if you beat me to death,” muttered Yun Huaqing.

“Life and death go hand-in-hand. Take tribulation lightning, for instance. Sometimes, vitality hides within the gravest of perils,” said Su Yi. He was already approaching the stele.

Yun Huaqing and Yu Ning steeled themselves and followed him.

Along the way, the cursed power filling the air swept toward them like a tidal wave, raging throughout heaven and earth. It could have eradicated any living thing with ease. Even true immortals wouldn’t have escaped certain doom!

But whenever the cursed power swept toward them, Su Yi’s curtain of the light of reincarnation neutralized it. It melted like snow, unable to harm Su Yi and his companions in the slightest.

Before long, they were almost at the pitch-black stele.

When they looked up, they saw that its pitch-black surface was completely covered in strange, contorted Dao Markings. They were intricate and incomparably strange.

Yun Huaqing and Yu Ning shuddered. One look at the strange Dao Markings, and they felt as if their souls were going to be devoured. Irrepressible terror arose in their hearts, and their faces paled.

Su Yi furrowed. The stele’s Dao Markings were inscrutable and full of a calamitous, destructive, forbidden aura. One look, and his soul palpitated. It was as if an invisible power were confining him and dragging out his soul.

Boom!

Within his sea of consciousness, the Sword of the Nine Hells shook. That strange power and feeling of dread disappeared without a trace.

It triggered a disturbance in the Sword of the Nine Hells? The stele’s Dao Markings aren’t simple! exclaimed Su Yi to himself.

He’d only just thought this when Yun Huaqing and Yu Ning let out muffled grunts. Their eyes went blank, and they staggered as if about to fall.

Su Yi couldn’t help but furrow his brow. He waved his sleeves, and the aura of the Sword of the Nine Hells transformed into a rain of light and surged into his companions’ bodies.

The two of them instantly reacted as if awakening from a dream, regaining mental clarity. They looked at each other, so startled that they were covered in cold sweat. As mighty as Void Realm True Immortals were, they were scared!

“No matter. Hide in this for now.” Su Yi took out that bronze treasure pagoda.

His companions couldn’t help but be embarrassed, but they knew that if things went on like this, they’d become a burden to Su Yi.

Both of them blurred into beams of light and shot into the pagoda. Su Yi then put it away and gazed at the black stone stele.

What made him frown was that even with the knowledge and experience of the former Tyrant of the Immortal Realm, he couldn’t grasp the mysteries hidden within the stele’s Dao Markings.

All he could say with certainty was that its power shared a common course with the End of the Dharma, the catastrophe that had once swept across the Human Realm!

“Old Monster Yellow Eyebrows mentioned a path to a mysterious world. I wonder where that is...”

Su Yi looked around, only to discover nothing at all.

“Very well. Since the mysteries of reincarnation counter the curse’s power, let’s see whether or not they can shake that stone stele!”

Having reached this decision, Su Yi silently circulated his cultivation base. A curtain of the light of reincarnation floated behind him, manifesting mysterious visions of the cycle of the Six Paths.

The cursed power permeating the air instantly collapsed and dissipated.

Just as Su Yi was about to strike, the distant thousand-foot stele suddenly shook. The strange Dao Markings on its surface revolved rapidly, as if they’d come to life.

Before long, a vortex-like portal hovered above the stone!

A moment later, a figure emerged.

At first, he was as ethereal as smoke, but he gradually solidified, becoming a thin, bony old dwarf!

The dwarf was truly nothing but skin and bones. He was bald, hunchbacked, and covered with wrinkles. His eyes were turbid, and a string of prayer beads hung from his neck.

His right hand looked almost like a chicken’s claw, and it gripped a green lantern.

Its mottled light cast faint crimson shadows.

“This old man is the spirit of the stone stele. I’ve been ordered to protect its secret path,” said the elderly dwarf. He looked at Su Yi and said in a raspy voice, “His Excellency the Divine Emissary has invited your companion inside. She has arrived at the Abandoned Monument by now.”

Su Yi looked at the elderly dwarf. He figured that this “companion” had to be Daoist Master Red Cloud.

“So you’ve been waiting for me here this whole time?” asked Su Yi.

The dwarf subtly inclined his head. “The Divine Emissary commanded that I guide you onto the secret path once you arrived.”

With that, he stepped aside, raised his green lantern, and gestured at the illusory doorway. “If you please.”

But Su Yi didn’t move. “Who is this divine emissary you speak of?”

The elderly dwarf shook his head. “This old man is merely the spirit of the stele. My only task is to watch over the entrance. I dare not speak of the Divine Emissary’s affairs. I humbly request your understanding. You’ll naturally meet the Divine Emissary once you’ve arrived at the Abandoned Monument.”

“Oh,” said Su Yi. “Well, what can you tell me then? Might as well lay it all out in the open.”

The elderly dwarf slowly raised his head, his turbid eyes focusing on Su Yi. “All I know is that if you want to leave with your companion, you’d best not refuse His Excellency's invitation.”

His voice was raspy, without the slightest hint of emotion.

The mottled crimson lamplight made his skeletally thin, wrinkled face all the stranger and more unsettling.

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