First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1799 - The Descent of a Tribulation

Halfway up the mountain.

The Red Dragon Dao Monarch was climbing the slopes of the Lifeless Mountain, one step at a time. Every step was difficult.

The Immortal Dao Law Fragments were far too explosive and terrifying. Their onslaught was like a divine mountain bearing down on the Red Dragon Dao Monarch’s head. Despite terrifying strength far beyond her peers, her ascent was extraordinarily arduous.

When she saw Su Yi just ten thousand feet from the peak, an indescribable astonishment filled her heart. The reincarnated Sovereign is still just a peak Immortal Lord. He hasn't even entered the Miracle Realm yet, while I’m already a peak Immortal Queen just one step away from breaking into the Great Realm.

Yet he’s effortlessly cultivating so far up the Lifeless Mountain, while here I am, barely halfway up, and each step is already a huge struggle. The disparity is obvious!

But the Red Dragon Dao Monarch didn’t get depressed over this. The Immortal Realm was home to trillions of cultivators, but there was just one Su Yi!

He was a legend sufficient to dazzle any era he appeared in. Anyone who compared themselves to him was effectively overestimating themselves.

The Red Dragon Dao Monarch just felt the awe one felt when gazing upon a vast ocean or a mountain peak beyond the clouds. She could only long to reach such heights, but she could never attain them.

That was the full extent of her thoughts on the matter.

......

Time slipped by. Soon, another ten days had passed.

The Tree of All Worlds had grown larger. When manifested externally, it was fully ten feet tall, with dense branches covered in tender young leaves. Chaotic energy poured down it like a waterfall.

Later that day, the Tree of All Worlds returned to Su Yi’s Immortal Origin Space, as the area’s Immortal Dao Law Fragments could no longer stimulate its growth.

The Divine Replenishment Furnace had undergone a similarly shocking transformation.

The entire furnace looked like it was made of purple jade, and intricate, naturally formed Dao Markings had risen all over its surface. Even just the aura emanating from it was enough to firmly suppress the area’s Immortal Dao Law Fragments.

This was in stark contrast to just a few days prior, when the fragments’ onslaught had battered and shaken it relentlessly!

Su Yi silently opened his eyes and sensed the tree and furnace’s dramatic developments.

The Tree of All Worlds has grown enough to let me appear anywhere within a fifty-mile range, and it leaves no trace whatsoever!

Su Yi’s spirits soared as he realized that, now that it had grown, the Tree of All Worlds had access to a new ability.

Breaking Barriers!

As the name suggested, it could break the barriers, letting him shuttle freely from one side to the next!

If he was trapped in a barrier, or if he wanted to visit a world or plane separated from his current one, he could use the Tree of All Worlds’ new ability to break through with ease.

It might have seemed simple, but this spatial divine ability was downright taboo!

After all, the world was home to no small number of mysterious, unknown planes inaccessible even to Great Realm experts. This was due to barriers manifested of spatial and temporal power blocking cultivators’ way.

Moreover, for Su Yi, the Breaking Barriers ability had another special, wondrous application. Were he trapped in a Great Realm cultivator’s “Grand Dao Hidden Realm,” he could use the Breaking Barriers ability to escape!

This was what really impressed Su Yi.

Grand Dao Hidden Realms were like Immortal Kings’ Dao Domains, except they were the mark of experts at or above the Great Unity Stage.

An Immortal King’s Dao Domain used one’s Laws of the Grand Dao to cover a stretch of heaven and earth. A Great Unity Stage expert’s Dao Domain, however, was like actually creating an independent, complete hidden realm!

Within this hidden realm, Great Unity experts could connect with the Laws of the surrounding area and fuse them into their independent world. Here, he was the ruler of heaven, and his will was the will of the heavens!

As for Chu Yunjia, who’d recently died a brutal death at Su Yi’s hands? He’d only been in the Great Martial Stage. His Dao Domain was far beyond an Immortal King’s, but comparing it to a Great Unity Stage expert’s Grand Dao Hidden Realm was like comparing mud to clouds.

Only Great Profound experts can use techniques similar to Breaking Barriers. Who would've thought it was just one of the Tree of All Worlds’ natural abilities...

Su Yi sighed. The Tree of All Worlds really lived up to its reputation as one of the world’s Six Great Divine Trees. He dared say with certainty that as it grew, it would develop even more wondrous applications.

In stark contrast, the Divine Replenishment Furnace’s transformation gave Su Yi the urge to laugh.

The treasure really was becoming increasingly self-aware and spiritual, but it was also becoming smugger and more arrogant. It seemed that any former meekness it once displayed was just a disguise, and it was finally revealing its true nature.

Just as Su Yi was about to use his divine sense to examine the furnace, it arrogantly wrote a line of flashing text in purple light.

“Hahaha! This lofty one has already recovered forty percent of its source power! I can now crush any Immortal King treasure of the present day and contend with Great Martial treasures!

“When the day comes that I return to my former peak, I’ll be able to crush all so-called ‘Great Realm’ treasures. Enemies will lose their nerve at the mere mention of my name!”

The furnace’s round body swayed with smug glee.

Peng!

Su Yi stretched out his finger and flicked it, sending it flying backward. The furnace buzzed.

A moment later, Su Yi said calmly, “I liked how you were earlier better. You weren’t so flippant, and you knew your place.”

“....” The furnace swayed, then wrote, “Please don’t be angry, Your Excellency! I haven’t gotten carried away and forgotten my place; I was just overcome with joy! I’ve carved your benevolence into my heart. How could I dare treat you with impropriety? Please, rest assured, Your Excellency. Going forward...”

“Wimping out so easily?” Su Yi smiled faintly. “Enough. I don’t care which is your true personality. If you’re to accompany me, there’s just one thing I need from you.”

“Please, just say the word!” wrote the Divine Replenishment Furnace. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Su Yi’s lips parted, and he said softly, “Obedience.”

“Understood!”

Su Yi subtly inclined his head.

Disregarding the furnace’s personality change, it really had changed a lot!

Clang!

Su Yi took out the Sword of the Human Realm and tossed it to the furnace. “Temper my sword for me.”

“Got it!” wrote the furnace.

Even though it communicated through writing, not speech, Su Yi felt as if he were looking at a humble, awe-stricken little fellow pounding his chest in terror as he promised to complete his master’s orders.

Su Yi smiled and rose to his feet.

By now, the Divine Replenishment Furnace had produced nine Dao-Refining Pearls. That was enough to help Su Yi establish the firmest possible foundations when he broke through.

“It’s about time...” Su Yi whispered to himself.

......

It won’t be much longer! I’ve already touched the threshold of the Great Realm. Just a smidge more, and... I can cross it!

The petite Red Dragon Dao Monarch was enduring the onslaught of Law Fragments. Her skin had been ripped to shreds, but despite the agony, her heart was full of indescribable delight.

Ten days ago, Su Yi helped sever the cage trapping her Dao Heart. Now, after exploring the Lifeless Mountain, she’d already brushed up against the threshold of the Great Realm.

How could she not celebrate such a development?

Hm?

The Red Dragon Dao Monarch’s heart suddenly shook, and her golden eyes gazed into the dome of heaven.

Who knew where it had come from, but an indescribable, calamitous power had silently gathered overhead. The Red Dragon Dao Monarch felt as if she’d been plunged into an icy abyss, and her soul practically left her body.

It was a suffocating feeling, as if her heart were a lake and someone had just flung a massive boulder into its waters, creating massive waves.

Don’t... Don’t tell me this is my Great Realm Tribulation? If so, isn’t it a bit too terrifying...? The Red Dragon Dao Monarch’s beautiful face shifted, but a moment later, she realized that something wasn’t quite right.

The tribulation wasn’t targeting her!

Rather...

Her gaze shifted, and she instinctively gazed up the mountain’s slopes, to where Su Yi was standing.

She suddenly realized that throughout the fifty-mile Lifeless Mountain, the Law Fragments reacted as if startled. All of them hid themselves in the mountain, like turtles hiding in their shells. There was no longer any sign of them!

That aside, the dark fog enveloping the Corpse-Strewn Ruins rapidly receded, like waters at low tight. Even the wandering ancient corpses fled in panic.

Without the black fog to obscure it, the entirety of the Corpse-Strewn suddenly came into view. Everything was clearly visible.

This was a ruined continent. The ground was strewn with withered, broken mountains and rivers, and death qi hung in the air.

“Hm?” The Red Dragon Dao Monarch suddenly noticed an incomparably massive spatial rift deep within the Corpse-Strewn Ruins. It seemed to connect heaven and earth.

It was like someone had torn a gaping wound into the Immortal Realm.

Black fog billowed out of the rift. It was indistinct, but she thought she saw a pair of eyes peering out of the fog. They were a thoroughly imposing, sinister sight.

Chills coursed down the Red Dragon Dao Monarch’s spine. What... What is that?

But when she tried to get a closer look, she discovered that there was nothing in the rift save for that churning dark mist. The peering eyes had vanished completely, as if they’d never been there in the first place.

That aside, the spatial rift was rapidly shrinking!

“Don’t look. Not even Great Profound Stage experts can enter that blasted place.” Suddenly, Su Yi’s voice rang out. “Under ordinary circumstances, even just looking would be dangerous. The strange life forms hidden within the spatial rift would target you. If you are lucky, you might just fall into a daze. If you are unlucky, that might well be the end of you.”

The Red Dragon Dao Monarch gasped. Only now did she realize how risky looking over had been!

“Your Excellency, don’t tell me that tribulation is...”

“Yes, that’s my Miracle Realm Grand Tribulation,” Su Yi said with a subtle nod.

The Red Dragon Dao Monarch couldn’t find the words to describe her emotions. Is this really a Miracle Realm Grand Tribulation? But that calamitous power is even more terrifying than a Great Realm Grand Tribulation!!

The Sovereign really is the Sovereign. He’s still this calm even in the face of such an enormous tribulation. He can even divide his attention to talk to me... the Red Dragon Dao Monarch murmured to herself.

Leaden gray tribulation clouds surged beneath the dome of heaven, like undulating chaos bursting with calamitous power. An indescribable, terrifying atmosphere descended over the entire Corpse-Strewn Ruins.

The Red Dragon Dao Monarch dared say with certainty that the hiding Law Fragments, black mist, ancient corpses, and even the rapidly shrinking spatial rift sensed the threat of this impending tribulation. Thus, they’d all decided to go dormant!

This was unquestionably unbelievable! From this, it was obvious how ridiculous this tribulation was!

Suddenly, the boundless hum of a sword filled the air.

The sound shook the Red Dragon Dao Monarch out of her scattered thoughts. She instinctively looked up and saw an illusory Dao Sword rising into the heavens. It was headed straight into the firmament.

At the same time, they were only dimly discernable, but numerous mysterious and grand figures appeared beneath the dome of heaven!