The night skies were like water, and the moon was bright.
In the face of five Xiantian Martial Ancestors, Su Yi took out his wine gourd and brazenly took a swig.
“Drinking beneath the moon, the dance of combat. What could be more joyous?” Su Yi flung the empty gourd to the side, then smiled, a hint of wildness in the depths of his gaze.
“Pride comes before the fall. What a pity.” The beautiful, elegant Madam Paulownia Blossom sighed.
“What pity? Let’s kill him first!” The Yang Ardent Daoist bellowed. He was the first to charge into the fray. .
His hair and beard were sparse, and he was aged and decrepit, like a candle flickering in the wind. However, he had the most explosive temper of the group, and when he attacked, his figure blazed like a freshly-lit furnace, stirring up searing currents of flame.
Boom!
He stepped forward and slapped, attacking through the air.
Dazzling crimson xiantian qi shone between his fingers, like divine flames, unbridled and explosive.
The Crimson Yang Palm Imprint!
This was a martial art as profound as a Daoist Magic. The palm blazed like the sun, with enough heat to incinerate mountains, boil seas, and melt rocks.
As the palm imprint flew through the air, it lit up the night sky like the rise of a blazing sun, illuminating both heaven and earth and burning the nearby vegetation to cinders.
Situ Gong’s eyelids twitched. He could tell at a glance that the Yang Ardent Daoist had gone all out. He was attacking to kill, without holding anything out.
He obviously saw Su Yi as his mortal foe!
This was a life-or-death battle. It didn’t matter what your cultivation was, or what your background was. You just struck like lightning and got it over with.
How terrifying!?Wen Zhongyuan and the others watched from the Daoist temple. The firelight was dazzling, and they couldn’t remain calm.
This was the might of a Xiantian Martial Ancestor. Every movement transcended Grandmasters, and they possessed innate “xiantian” power. They were endlessly close to Earthly Immortals!
“As paltry as the glow of a firefly.” Su Yi’s gaze was tranquil. It was only when the palm imprint drew near that he waved his hand.
Boom!
A burst of power emblazoned with the charm of the Grand Dao swept forth. It seemed light and effortless, but that despotic, blazing Crimson Yang Palm Imprint instantly shattered and collapsed without a trace.
Situ Gong and the others’ gazes focused, and they glanced at each other in awe.?It really was just as the rumors said; this Su Yi kid was only seventeen, and he was only a Grandmaster, but his combat prowess was enough to threaten Xiantian Martial Ancestors!
Even the Yang Ardent Daoist looked surprised; he would never have guessed that Su Yi would counter his attack so easily.
“Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance. All of you, attack together,” said Su Yi flatly, his blue robes swaying in the wind. He looked as transcendent as a fallen immortal.
“Sorry about this!” Situ Gong took a deep breath, then said gravely.
Boom!
The five Xiantian Martial Ancestors no longer held back. Their auras expanded, bit by bit, like churning seas. Fierce gales instantly formed in the air, whirling about like tornados.
A massive windstorm appeared with the five of them at its center. It drew in even the ambient spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and the entire stretch of hills descended into turbulent storms of energy.
Who knows how many trees and boulders crumbled into powder?
The five of them stood in a ring, surrounding Su Yi.
He was all alone, yet he could endure the combined pressure of five Xiantian Martial Ancestors!
Were he any other Grandmaster, he’d have long since been suppressed to the point that he couldn’t even move.
But Su Yi still seemed perfectly calm and at ease, and when the towering waves of energy got within three feet of him, they disappeared without a trace.
He was like a stone rooted in a riverbed; despite the endless flowing current, he didn’t waver.
When they saw this, Situ Gong and his friends narrowed their eyes.
“This is somewhat interesting,” said Su Yi calmly. He leisurely stepped forward.
It was just one step, but it seemed to involve his whole body.
“This is bad!” The five Xiantian Martial Ancestors’ expressions changed dramatically.
They immediately realized, to their immense shock, that the young man they’d only just locked onto had stepped directly into the spot where their momentum was the weakest.
It was like the eye of a grand formation, yet Su Yi found it in a single step, forcing the Xiantian Martial Ancestors to counter him.
If they didn’t, they’d be forced onto the defensive.
Boom!
Just like before, the Yang Ardent Daoist was the first to attack.
A blazing palm soared into the air, then transformed, becoming what looked like a millstone of molten lava.
It was far more terrifying than his earlier attack!
“Activate!” Situ Gong flipped over his palm, and a short blue-green knife appeared. It looked as if it had been forged out of emeralds. It was clear, and its edge glinted coldly. Spiritual light flowed around it.
Situ Gong slashed, and—
Whoosh!
The jade knife released a streak of blood-colored qi. It was fully thirty feet long, and it descended from the heavens like crimson lightning.
The Jadeblood Slaughter Knife!
This was Situ Gong’s unique ultimate killing attack. It was this peerless knife art that earned him his place among the Ten Great Xiantian Martial Ancestors.
Almost simultaneously—
Madam Paulownia Blossom waved a golden whip, leaving circle after circle of layered afterimages. Spiritual light flashed and circulated with dazzling light. The air currents of heaven and earth churned and shattered with a series of bangs.
An obscure incantation left Mo Qingcang’s lips, and he held a jade ruler covered in elaborate glyphs. He leaped into the air, swinging at Su Yi from a distance.
The Seven-Killings Ruler!
The last to attack was the tall, gaunt man in white.
This forceful and imposing Xiantian Martial Ancestor swung his sword in the air and stabbed.
A streak of incomparably dazzling sword light, like a serpent of silver lightning, struck at startling speeds, reaching Su Yi in an instant.
The radiance of this attack made heaven and earth seem dull by comparison.
Five long-famous Xiantian Martial Ancestors now attacked at once. Their combined force was enough to shake both heaven and earth.
Wen Zhongyuan and his young companions watched from the Daoist Temple. They’d long since been scared out of their wits.
Even one Xiantian Martial Ancestor could sever mountains and cleave rivers. They could kill Grandmasters as easily as chickens. In the mundane world, one such expert could slay an army of thousands, sweeping through their ranks with ease.
And now, five such Xiantian Martial Experts had attacked at once. Just seeing this was enough to make any martial artist despair!
I’m afraid that Su boy is in for trouble…?Wen Zhongyuan’s entire group silently reached the same conclusion.
But even in the face of all that—
Su Yi looked calm, leisurely, and composed.
His divine sense spread out, covering this entire stretch of heaven and earth. Everything seemed to slow to a crawl.
Every fluctuation in the air, the shifting of dust, the changing light…. Everything appeared within his mental sea in full detail.
The Five Xiantian Martial Ancestors’ movements, auras, attacks, and even the subtle changes in their expressions, the way their energy shifted with each breath… Su Yi captured every last bit of it.
This was the miraculous application of divine sense!
In the mundane world, only Origin Dao cultivators mastered the power of divine sense!
Yet Su Yi had done so as a mere Grandmaster!
Using divine sense in combat felt familiar, and Su Yi couldn’t help but feel a bit distracted.
It had been a long time since he’d last felt this way.
A moment later, Su Yi attacked.
He punched into the air, and his true essence formed a dazzling fist imprint. It was crystalline and transparent, like concentrated glass, and it pressed into the impending sword qi.
It seemed naturally formed and effortless, but although there was nothing noteworthy about the punch itself, the gaunt man in white watched in astonishment as the fist slammed into the weakest point of his radiant sword light.
Bang!
The silvery sword light’s miraculous transformations were instantly sealed off, and it burst apart in midair.
“You’re full of openings,” said Su Yi, shaking his head. “That attack wasn’t even worth looking at.”
Not far away, the tall, gaunt man in white staggered and coughed up blood.
That slash wasn’t the strongest or proudest he’d ever unleashed, but he’d gathered his entire cultivation into it, as well as the accumulations of years of tempering his Sword Dao Heart.
Yet a single fist had crushed it in an instant. The shock of that was far harder to accept than the resulting injuries, especially after Su Yi’s comments. His words were like sharp knives stabbing into the man in white, whose expression was now unsightly.
After the fist broke through the silver sword qi, Su Yi’s right hand gently tapped the air.
Crunch!
The giant crimson hand glowed with the radiance of the sun, its light seemingly without limit. But now, it was as if the hand of a deity had slammed into it; it split apart in midair. The flames instantly escaped its control, and currents of heat spread out in all directions.
The Yang Ardent Daoist grunted, and his expression shifted dramatically.
This was his ultimate martial art, and historically, he’d used it to suppress all foes. When he went all out, even others of the same cultivation seldom dared face his strongest attack head-on.
Yet now, Su Yi had casually shattered it!
“You’re too focused on appearances. It’s big, but it lacks substance,” Su Yi commented casually.
The Yang Ardent Daoist’s expression darkened, and his face was ashen.
Crack!
A ring of radiant gold—a whirling whip—descended from above, booming like thunder, sharp and forceful.
Su Yi’s gaze was calm, and he swept his fingertip through the air.
A streak of sword light flashed and streaked forward.
Bang bang bang!
The illusory whips filling the skies burst like soap bubbles, catching Madam Paulownia Blossom off guard. She staggered back, disbelief written all over her face.
How could one casual swipe of the finger break my killing technique?
“Rigid and inflexible, soft and weak. Whip technique of this level is only good for a laugh,” jeered Su Yi.
Finally, Situ Gong’s streak of crimson light and Mo Qingcang’s Seven-Killings Ruler arrived practically simultaneously.
Su Yi then stepped into the air and slapped twice in rapid succession.
The first palm was like a knife, striking at a mysterious trajectory. It crashed into the crimson light, and when the two collided, the latter burst apart.
The second palm was like a hammer. It slammed into the Seven-Killings Ruler, sending both it and Mo?Qingcang?flying backward like kites with their strings cut.
Rumble!
The resulting current spread out, sweeping in all four directions, sending the clouds flowing in reverse. The sound boomed like thunder, echoing throughout the nearby mountains.
Heaven and earth shook.
As the turbulent energies dispersed, Su Yi’s clothes fluttered in the wind. He sighed and shook his head. “With Martial Dao attainments of this level, it’s no wonder you’ve been trapped in the Anāsrava Realm for so many years, unable to enter the Origin Dao.”
His words were light and airy, but they reverberated throughout the night sky.
Meanwhile, back at the Daoist temple, Wen Zhongyuan and company were tongue-tied and dumbstruck.
In just a few blinks of an eye—just one punch, one slam, one swipe, and two slaps—Su Yi had broken the combined attacks of five Xiantian Martial Ancestors!
He was a man like a fallen immortal, and he seemed invincible. Furthermore, judging from his casual appraisal of his foes and calm, understated bearing, it was obvious that he hadn’t gone all out!
This was far too shocking!
“This… Is he even human?” Wen Zhongyuan was completely dazed. He felt as if he were watching an immortal fight; power of this level was beyond his comprehension.
The disciples accompanying him were completely dumbstruck, stunned out of their wits.
And here they’d thought that, once Su Yi was surrounded, he was doomed beyond a doubt. Who would have anticipated the exact opposite result?
The Xiantian Martial Ancestors each wore grave expressions.
They’d thoroughly appraised and estimated Su Yi’s combat prowess before they began this operation. When they chose to join forces in the end, they were about ninety percent confident of their eventual success.
But it was only after crossing blows for real that they discovered that this blue-robed seventeen-year-old was actually?this?terrifying!
The gaunt man in white took a deep breath, then said gravely, “No wonder he dared brazenly insist we gamble our lives… Everyone, we really have to go all out. Otherwise, I’m afraid we can’t take him down.”
The others’ eyes flashed, and their auras grew increasingly fierce and intimidating.
They were all naturally well aware that if they didn’t go all out, this might not end as they’d expected!
When Su Yi saw this, he glanced up at the bright moon overhead and whispered, “There really isn’t any need to drag this out any further….”
And here he’d thought that the combined attack of five Xiantian Martial Ancestors would give him a worthwhile fight.
Now, he realized that these were ultimately just Xiantian Martial Ancestors of the mundane world. Sure, their prestige might shake the Great Zhou.
But by the standards of the Nine Provinces of the Wilds? They were nothing but a pack of small fries who’d yet to even cross the threshold of the Origin Dao.
They weren’t even worthy of being described as “cultivators.”
Clang!
The Abstruse God Sword silently appeared in Su Yi’s hand, and his gaze grew even more tranquil and indifferent.
He’d lost all interest in continuing this battle. All that remained was deciding victory and defeat, then life and death. He had no desire to waste any more time here.
The faint hum of a sword rang out, and Su Yi’s presence silently shifted. One streak of air after another visibly swirled around him. They gathered from all sides, expanding with Su Yi at their center and forming a massive windstorm.
He was fusing the force of heavens and earth into himself!
At that moment, Su Yi looked like a monarch ruling over heaven and earth, and it seemed that all of creation, even the mountains and rivers, prostrated themselves before him.
This was pure force, a way of guiding the power of heaven and earth for one’s own use, yet it couldn’t have been any more shocking.
“Hurry up and attack!” The Yang Ardent Daoist’s expression changed, and he roared.
The others realized the danger too, and they knew they could no longer hold back. This was a young man like a fallen immortal—no, a monster! He was an unprecedented foe!
Boom!
The Yang Ardent Daoist’s entire body seemed to burst into flame as both hands displayed his peerless martial arts. Countless currents of flame roiled and crisscrossed in the skies, forming a concentrated divine seal of fire!
The Crimsonblaze Skyburning Seal!
This was the Yang Ardent Daoist’s ultimate killing technique, and he didn’t use it lightly; he only used it when his life was on the line.
Whoosh!
Situ Gong poured his energy into his azure blade and let out a long whistle. His true essence flourished and expanded; even his sleeves billowed. He was obviously calling upon his full power.
A streak of crimson light, fully fifty feet long, condensed in the sky, but by bit!
It was dazzling to behold and limitlessly sharp. You could even see a roaring mountain of corpses and churning sea of blood within the light’s edge; it was terrifying beyond limit!
“Sword, activate!” The tall, gaunt man in white bellowed, and his hair and mustache fluttered in the wind as his energies peaked. The longsword in his hands seemed as heavy as a mountain as he slowly held it aloft in front of him.
Then, he swung, splitting the air.
Boom!
A streak of dazzling silver lightning flashed into being, fully one hundred feet long. Its silver light was intense, and its sword qi was imposing.?Its?cold light illuminated all of heaven and earth, and the sword qi shifted unpredictably, like crackling electricity.
The Silver Lightning Sword!
At the same time, Madam Paulownia Blossom and Mo Qingcang used their trump cards.
The former’s hair fluttered in the wind, and her entire body burst with golden light. She waved her jade hands, and her golden whip took to the skies like a massive flood dragon, stirring up towering golden wind and lightning. Thunder boomed, echoing throughout heaven and earth.
The latter opened his mouth and spat a mouthful of blood essence onto his jade ruler. When he swung it, the surface of the Seven-Killings Ruler surged with layers of crimson smoke, and the wailing and ghosts emanated from within. It was unearthly and intimidating.
Five Xiantian Martial Ancestors, all of them going all-out. Their momentum was even more imposing than before.
The entire stretch of heaven and earth was in chaos. The air collapsed in disarray, and the mountains boomed and shook, unable to bear the pressure.
Roiling Cloud Temple had been in disrepair for years, and it finally gave way, unable to hold out any longer. It collapsed with a boom, becoming nothing but a pile of rubble.
If not for Wen Zhongyuan’s keen senses, and if he hadn’t let the disciples out right away, they might well have been buried alive.
Even so, the collapse left them startled and panicked. All of them fled far away.
This scene was simply too terrifying.
And it was then that—
Su Yi moved. His clothes fluttered, and he looked transcendent and ethereal. He stepped forward and slashed with the Abstruse God Sword.
They then watched as—
Sword qi descended from the heavens, like the galaxy descending upon the mortal world.
The Rejoicing Sword Sutra, Pulling Galaxies!
Compared to when he used it earlier, this slash had a newfound ability to manipulate natural forces. It was already impossible to describe its momentum in words.
This?was Su Yi’s true power on full display. All of it was embodied in this one slash.
Rumble~
It was as if countless stars fell from the heavens, exploding all at once.
Unstoppable sword qi swept throughout the area, filling everything within a thousand feet, like water breaking through a dam.
All of it emanated the profound, inscrutable charm of the Grand Dao, mixed with fire elemental Dao Light. This terrifying power ran rampant throughout the surrounding area.
Then, beneath the onlookers’ stunned gazes—
The Yang Ardent Daoist was the closest. His Crimsonblaze Skyburning Seal burst as the churning sword qi swept over it. The force pushed him back, and soon, there were bloody marks all over his body.
A desperate, miserable shriek escaped his lips. He turned to flee, but it was as if he had been sentenced to death by one thousand cuts; his blood and flesh slid off his bones.
Whoosh!
He was now nothing but finely chopped meat and a waterfall of blood.
At the same time, Situ Gong’s crimson light, Mo Qingcang’s Seven-Killings Ruler, the man in white’s sword qi, and Madam Paulownia’s booming, thunderous golden whip were all forced back by the majestic descent of rampaging “falling galaxy”. All their attacks fell apart.
They attempted to block the sword qi, but in the process, all of them received heavy injuries.
Without exception, their expressions changed, and their hair stood on end.
This was a sword to pull down galaxies! It broke through their ultimate attacks as easily as an axe through rotting wood. The Yang Ardent Daoist didn’t even have time to flee before dying on the spot!
How terrifying was that?
What “gambling with their lives”? What “joining forces and going all out”? In the face of that sword, they were just so laughably helpless!
“Run—!!” In that moment, an indescribable terror filled their hearts. Situ Gong and his companions dared not delay; they immediately turned around and fled.
None of them would ever have guessed Su Yi was?this?strong.
The power and abilities at his disposal were beyond their imagination; this was beyond the limits of their comprehension!
“Since you decided to gamble your lives, you ought to accept the price of losing. I’m quite disappointed with your behavior.” Su Yi’s calm voice reverberated throughout the night sky.
A streak of sword qi shot through the skies, accompanying his voice. It then burst with radiant light, going off like a firework. It split into countless smaller streaks of sword qi, then scattered, shooting in all directions.
The Rejoicing Sword Sutra, Wandering the Ten Directions.
My sword wanders the ten directions, from the blue dome of heaven to the yellow springs below!
Splurt!
Far away, beneath the cover of darkness, Madam Paulownia Blossom’s hair stood on end, and she practically instinctively whipped around and defended herself with everything she had.
But when the sword rain descended, it instantly enveloped her, turning her beautiful figure into a puddle of meaty, bloody paste.
The power of this?sword qi was?such that even a Xiantian Martial Ancestor like her was helpless to defend herself.
Splurt! Splurt!
At practically the same time, Mo Qingcang and the tall, gaunt man in white suffered much the same fate. The dense downpour of fine streaks of sword qi cut into them, and they burst with scalding blood before toppling into the dirt.
The former roared bitterly in the face of death, while the latter’s face filled with bitterness and bewilderment.
Only Situ Gong remained alive.
This wasn’t because he was unusually capable, but rather, because the incoming streak of sword qi disappeared without a trace immediately before hitting him.
Even so, he was so shocked that he was covered in sweat, and his face was ashen.
He was certain that, had that sword qi not disappeared, he would have suffered the same fate as Madam Paulownia and the others. He, too, would have been nothing but a meaty paste right now!
“Why didn’t you kill me?” Situ Gong slumped as if he’d lost his soul. His voice was raspy and weak. He watched helplessly as Su Yi strode through the air, headed right toward him.
“Before you die, there’s something I want to ask you,” said Su Yi casually.
“Say it,” said Situ Gong, his face ashen. It seemed he’d fully accepted his fate.
Su Yi asked, “When you purchased information regarding my whereabouts from the Ten Directions Pavilion, how much did you pay them?”
Situ Gong was dumbstruck, and his eyes filled with bewilderment.?Is… Is that important?