First Immortal of the Sword - Chapter 1479: No Intention of Intervening
There was an enormous disparity in numbers between the two sides.
One had six people, including that man and woman who saw Su Yi and Zhao Liancheng as prey.
The other party only had two people, and both of them were already badly injured and covered in blood.
By the time Su Yi and Zhao Liancheng saw them from a distance, the smaller group was already losing, and soon, both of them were captured. A middle-aged man in black Daoist robes took out a jade bottle and placed both captives inside.
“Brother Luo Yun, Brother Chang He!!” Zhao Liancheng shouted, his hair and beard bristling with anger. He was visibly frantic.
The two who’d been suppressed were his companions!
“Don’t panic. They aren’t dead,” Su Yi said casually. He could tell that they’d been taken alive and that they weren’t currently in any danger.
“Haha, two more targets have come looking for us!” The white-haired elder laughed.
“It seems these two are with the prey we captured earlier,” said the man in jade-colored robes, his eyes flashing with murderous intent.
“I wouldn’t have thought they’d be stupid enough to cast themselves into the net,” said the woman in green. She shook her head.
“Since you’ve already set your sights on that prey, I’ll leave them to you,” said the man in Daoist robes, the one holding the jade bottle. “My only request is that you capture them alive. Once this is complete, we can report back to Celestial Bi Ning. We’ll record your accomplishments and reward you then.”
“Got it!”
“Many thanks, Senior Apprentice Brother!”
The white-haired elder, the man in jade-colored robes, and the woman in green all looked delighted. It seemed they were incomparably eager for Celestial Bi NIng’s rewards.
The three of them attacked at once, charging at Su Yi and Zhao Liancheng with the intent to kill.
Zhao Liancheng was initially furious.
But now, he calmed down. He couldn’t help but glance at Su Yi, only to see him take a sip of wine. It seemed he was thinking about something.
He was completely ignoring their three attacks.
But his complete disinterest only made Zhao Liancheng all the calmer. There’s no doubt about it; in His Excellency the Temple Master’s eyes, not one of them is even worth looking at!!
“Eh? They aren’t even trying to flee?”
“Have they been scared out of their wits?”
“There’s got to be an explanation for this. Be careful!”
…As the white-haired elder and his companions conversed, they took out their treasures and attacked in full force, their bodies surging with murderous intent.
But Su Yi just sighed and shook his head with waning interest.
Boom!
Three Transcendent spirit treasures, a saber, a spear, and a sword, attacked from afar, only to stop abruptly in place when they were still ten feet from Su Yi.
As if they’d been seized by a formless, invisible hand!
Hm? The white-haired elder and his companions were initially stunned. Then, their expressions shifted.
Immediately after, a series of explosions rang out. All three Transcendent spirit treasures exploded, offering no more resistance than paper. Their wielders suffered a backlash. One cried out in agony, another coughed up blood, and the third staggered back.
Their expressions filled with astonishment, and they turned to flee.
Su Yi waved his sleeve through the air.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The white-haired elder and his companions exploded practically simultaneously. Blood splattered the air as their souls dispersed.
Zhao Liancheng gasped. Despite knowing full well that the three of them had effectively thrown their lives away, the casual ease with which Su Yi killed them still startled him.
“This…”
Off in the distance, the black-robed middle-aged man and the others sensed that this didn’t bode well. Chills coursed through their entire bodies.
Three Nascent Divinity experts had been annihilated, just like that?
“Run!”
The middle-aged man in Daoist robes bellowed, circulated a secret art, then fled with his companions.
But they’d only just taken their first step when terrifying force descended, suppressing them in place.
They couldn’t lift a finger, let alone flee!
All of a sudden, their faces were deathly pale. They were so panicked that their souls practically left their bodies.
Su Yi’s imposing presence alone had locked them in place. Just what kind of terrifying existence was he!?
Su Yi walked over through the air, then snatched the jade bottle out of the middle-aged man’s hand.
Su Yi casually tipped it over. Four figures instantly flew out of the bottle.
In addition to the two who’d just been suppressed, Luo Yun and Chang He, there was also a man and a woman. All of them were badly injured and covered in blood.
“Are all of them your companions?” asked Su Yi.
Zhao Liancheng hurriedly nodded and said excitedly, “They are!”
“Look after them,” ordered Su Yi.
“Got it!” said Zhao Liancheng.
“As you can see, sir, we didn’t hurt any of our prey. We humbly request your mercy. Please, spare our lives,” said the middle-aged man in Daoist robes. He took a deep breath and said gravely, “We guarantee never to act against any of you ever again.”
Su Yi disregarded this, instead asking, “Killing your opponents lets you accumulate merit. Why capture them alive?”
After a moment’s silence, the middle-aged man said, “If I answer you, might you…”
Splurt!
Su Yi casually waved his hand through the air, reducing the middle-aged man to ash. This scene left his companions quivering with fright, terror and dread written all over their faces. When did such a terrifying Nascent Divinity expert appear in the Eastern Profound Star Domain?
“You answer me,” said Su Yi, turning his attention to the short elder in black.
Perhaps because he’d seen what had happened to the middle-aged man in Daoist robes, the old man in black said hurriedly, “Sir, all of us are working under Celestial Bi Ning. She needs to accumulate merit, as she hopes to enter the First Battleground before the year is through! And she rewards those who work on her behalf!”
According to the old man in black, Celestial Bi Ning had the most extraordinary status of any of the Western Chill Star Domain’s Nascent Divinity Transcendents. Furthermore, her foundations and strength were terrifying to the extreme.
She could have stepped into the Dao Integration by now had she so desired, but she’d endured the temptation for years, all for the sake of obtaining the greatest good fortune of the Third Battleground: Nascent Divinity Source!
Su Yi couldn’t help but find this surprising. He hadn’t anticipated that others had suppressed their cultivations for the same reason as him.
“Actually, we aren’t the only ones hunting prey. Experts of the Northern Abyss and Southern Flame Star Domains are doing the same,” said the other survivor. “In the end, the captives are delivered to their camps’ peak experts. Their leaders can then kill them to rapidly accumulate merit.”
“So that’s it,” Su Yi said with a nod. A casual wave of his hand later, the two surviving enemies’ souls dispersed, and they perished on the spot.
Seeing this left Zhao Liancheng and his companions overcome with astonishment, but it was incomparably satisfying, too. After all, if Su Yi hadn’t come to their aid, they would have been delivered to Celestial Bi Ning like lambs awaiting slaughter!
“Many thanks, Your Excellency!” Zhao Liancheng and the others each expressed their gratitude in turn.
“It was no more difficult than raising my hand. No need for such politeness,” said Su Yi. “You’ll have to rely on yourselves for the rest of the year.”
With that, he turned to leave.
The group watched Su Yi’s tall, upright figure disappear into the distance. It didn’t quite feel real, almost as if they were dreaming.
“Ol’ Zhao, well done! You actually managed to request the Temple Master’s aid!” said one of them. It seemed he was completely revising his opinion of Zhao Liancheng.
“I certainly don’t have that kind of prestige,” Zhao Liancheng waved hurriedly. “His Excellency the Temple Master chose to help us because we’re fellow cultivators of the Eastern Profound Star Domain!”
“And here I thought the Temple Master was cold and aloof, and that he disdained consorting with ordinary people like us. Who’d have thought that he was really as benevolent as a bodhisattva?” someone murmured.
“What do mean, ‘as benevolent as a bodhisattva?’ Did any bodhisattvas show up to save us? If we make it out of the Domain Boundary Battlefield alive and return to the Eastern Profound Star Domain, I’ll be sure to build a statue in the Temple Master’s honor!” someone said with staunch conviction.
As they conversed, the group left, one after another.
……
Su Yi thought nothing of this little interlude. He just proceeded straight to Azure Dragon Ridge.
They said that the most enticing of hunters often appeared as prey.
Su Yi didn’t deliberately set out to hunt anyone, but he was traveling alone. In others’ eyes, that made him an easy target.
Thus, on the road ahead, Su Yi frequently met with attempts to intercept him. Practically all of his assailants were from the Northern Abyss, Western Chill, and Southern Flame Star Domains!
Without exception, all of them died at his hands instead.
Before their deaths, their expressions were full of grief, terror, and indignation, as if they’d been tricked.
It was as if they were saying, “We got screwed! Who’d have thought this random herbivore was actually a ruthless tiger?”
In truth, it wasn’t that they were stupid. Su Yi showed no sign of a cultivation base whatsoever. At a glance, he was no different from an ordinary mortal.
His enemies knew full well that only Nascent Divinity cultivators could enter the Third Battleground, so they wouldn’t mistake him for a real mortal, but even so, they could not possibly expect that he’d be this powerful.
It was only after clashing with Su Yi that they learned the true meaning of despair!
Regardless of whether they fought with everything they had, cautiously probed their opponent, or struck without warning, Su Yi slew every last one of them in a single attack.
No exceptions!
This naturally left his enemies with no time for regret, nor any chance to flee. Ultimately, Su Yi was just too strong.
Those Nascent Divinity cultivators who didn’t know his strength and attacked were doomed, no matter how cautious they were.
Su Yi also encountered experts of the Eastern Profound Star Domain along the way. Many of them took the initiative to greet him, while others humbled themselves and begged to join Su Yi’s camp and serve him.
But Su Yi refused them all.
For one thing, he didn’t know them. For another, he had no interest in accumulating merit.
The way others saw it, so long as they accumulated sufficient merit, they could fight their way into the First Battleground and attempt to seize an opportunity to enter the Immortal Realm.
But if Su Yi wanted to, so long as he willed it, no one could stop him from entering the Immortal Realm. He had no need of merit!
But life was often absurd.
As Su Yi traveled, he slew his would-be hunters. As a result, he continuously accumulated merit…
Sometimes, a carefully planted willow fails to grow. Other times, an accidentally planted seed grew large enough to provide shade.
I’ll reach Azure Dragon Ridge in an hour, thought Su Yi.
It was then that an enraged roar reverberated throughout heaven and earth.
“So long as the Eastern Profound Star Domain’s Temple Master is here, you’ll all die before the year is through!”
This voice shook the surrounding area.
A burst of laughter followed immediately after.
“Nothing’s funnier than prey’s attempts to threaten its hunters before its death. Don’t you think?”
“What Temple Master? When hasn’t your Eastern Profound Star Domain come in last place during the competition in the Domain Boundary Battlefield?”
“If that Temple Master person dares show his face, I promise to rip his head off!”