First Immortal of the Sword

Suddenly, an agonized, desperate shriek filled the air. It was the woman in white!

Her defenses had given way, and she was now completely covered in fist-sized Skeleton-Stripping Demon Butterflies.

They hungrily devoured her flesh, and even her soul was torn to ribbons and consumed.

Crunch! Crack!

In the end, even her bones crumbled into bits. It all happened in the blink of an eye. A mid-stage Immortal Queen was annihilated in a flash!

This cruel, bloody scene left her three surviving allies in a panic.

“Kill!!” They fought in a frenzy, their eyes bulging as they tried to break through the butterflies’ encirclement.

But it was to no avail. There was just no end to the swarm of butterflies. No matter how many they killed, more flew in to take their place. All possible escape routes had been sealed off.

Su Yi watched coldly from a distance. He wasn’t particularly delighted at avenging this grudge. When he fought, he typically disdained resorting to petty tricks and schemes. He’d trapped his enemies this time simply because he had little choice.

For one thing, his injuries were even worse than his enemies thought. He really was at the end of his rope.

Second, Meng Zhe had walked right up to him and offered to work together. It would have been embarrassing not to have sent them on their way!

“Brother Meng, save me! Save me——!” someone shrieked. It was the man covered in a cloak. He was now covered in countless butterflies, just like the woman in white before him.

He wailed like mad and begged for help, but Meng Zhe had his hands full protecting himself. How could he possibly rush to his companions’ aid?

Before long, the cloaked man died a brutal death. All that remained of him were fragments of dried bone scattered across the ground.

Now, only Meng Zhe and the red-robed Daoist remained!

“I would never have thought you were so despicable, Shen Mu!!” shouted Meng Zhe, his eyes bloodshot. He and the red-robed Daoist both charged at Su Yi, heedless of their own lives.

Despicable? Su Yi couldn’t help but laugh. They must be at their wits’ end to be saying something so pathetic.

He couldn’t even be bothered to argue.

This group of Immortal Kings had used every means at their disposal, no matter how insidious, in the chase leading up to this point.

Bad enough that nine immortal factions had sent dozens of Immortal Kings after a single Void Realm True Immortal, but that wasn’t even the end of it. They resorted to ambush, assassination, interception, and pincer attacks too!

How could they possibly accuse him of being despicable?

There was no need to take their curses at all seriously. The more they shouted, the more pathetic and helpless they seemed!

Boom!

A current of destructive power carved a path in blood for Meng Zhe and the red-robed Daoist. Both of them charged at Su Yi.

Su Yi laughed, dodged, and retreated into the distance.

Meanwhile, the countless butterflies filling the area surrounded the two Immortal Kings once more!

This left them both on the brink of collapse.

“Even if I die, I’ll take you to the grave with me!” roared the red-robed Daoist. As he sank into the throes of despair, he activated a self-immolating secret art. He’d chosen to self-destruct!

Boom!

A flood of destructive power connected heaven and earth and swept out in all directions. Countless Skeleton-Stripping Demon Butterflies were reduced to ash.

Su Yi’s gaze focused, and he fled into the distance without hesitation.

Even so, that terrifying destructive power swept over him, making him stagger backward. Blood dripped from the corners of his mouth.

He’d been injured far too heavily earlier. At this point, he was relying on pure willpower just to stay upright.

After taking yet another attack, it seemed he wouldn’t be able to stay upright much longer. Both internally and externally, his wounds almost couldn’t have been worse!

“Get him!” Meng Zhe’s eyes were bloodshot as he seized the opportunity to attack.

Hatred and overpowering fury were written all over his face.

“You’re lucky. You can live a little while longer, but… in the end, you too shall die by my hand.” Su Yi didn’t clash with him head-on. Instead, he turned and shot back to the silver lake. “I suggest you treasure what little time you have left.”

Before his voice had even finished echoing through the air, he disappeared into the endless swarm of Skeleton-Stripping Demon Butterflies.

“Why run? Are you afraid?” roared Meng Zhe. His eyes bulged, but in the end, he dared not give chase. He forcefully suppressed his overwhelming hatred and fury, then turned and fled in the opposite direction.

The red-robed Daoist had burned himself alive, sacrificing himself to create a path to life. If Meng Zhe didn’t flee now, Su Yi wouldn’t even need to do anything. The butterflies would end him here and now!

Whoosh!

In the blink of an eye, Meng Zhe fled the area.

The glittering silver swarm of Skeleton-Stripping Demon Butterflies didn’t give chase. Instead, they poured back into the enormous silver lake.

Only then did Meng Zhe relax. He breathed in ragged gasps, his long hair disheveled and his body covered in startling wounds. All of them were the work of the Skeleton-Stripping Demon Butterflies.

None were all that serious, but they were a startling sight.

“Dammit!!” Meng Zhe gnashed his teeth so hard that they almost shattered. He was certain that Shen Mu had fled because he was on the verge of collapse!

In other words, if Meng Zhe had managed to intercept him, Shen Mu would have been doomed!

Were that not the case, why would he have fled? Why not seize the opportunity to kill Meng Zhe?

“Fellow Daoist Meng, what happened here?”

A group of Immortal Kings whooshed over.

Meng Zhe was instantly solemn. He forced himself to calm down, then recognized these new arrivals as Immortal Kings from the Church of All Spirits.

His expression filled with uncertainty, but in the end, he let out a deep, embittered sigh before explaining how Shen Mu had tricked them.

He didn’t hide anything, either.

The Immortal Kings couldn’t help but gasp just listening to him. All of them were astonished. Shen Mu actually impersonated Xue He of the Church of the Exquisite Goddess, and he almost managed to wipe out Meng Zhe’s entire party!!

“I can say with certainty that he’s at the end of his rope! Anyone who finds him now will be able to capture him with ease!” Meng Zhe said through gnashed teeth.

“Why are you so certain, Fellow Daoist?” someone said skeptically.

Meng Zhe pointed to himself and said slowly and clearly, “If he weren’t at the end of his rope, would I… still be alive!?”

The Immortal Kings exchanged glances. All of them nodded.

“Fellow Daoist, are you willing to work with us to kill Shen Mu?” someone extended an invitation.

Meng Zhe just laughed coldly. “You want me to cooperate with you? I’m afraid I’d just get myself killed!”

With that, he turned to leave. Shortly after, his voice rang out from afar.

“I’ll tell everyone what Shen Mu has done! I’ll tell all the other factions that if they want to capture or kill him, they’d best hurry!”

The Immortal Kings from the Church of All Spirits couldn’t help but frown.

“Meng Zhe most likely wasn’t lying,” said the leader, a stalwart middle-aged man. His eyes flashed. “There’s no getting around it. This really is an excellent opportunity. We can’t let it slip through our fingers.”

His name was Wu Ting, and he was one of the ten chief libationers of the Church of All Spirits. Were Su Yi here, he would have recognized the divine power Wu Ting was using at a glance.

“Come on, let’s see what Shen Mu’s made of!” said Wu Ting.

They’d rushed here as fast as they could, only to arrive one step too late. Still, they’d seen Meng Zhe fleeing in panic, and although it was faint, they’d caught a glimpse of Su Yi disappearing into the swarm of butterflies!

Wu Ting and his companions promptly set off. Soon, they’d neared the silver lake, but none of them dared draw closer. They just stood at a distance on high alert.

All of them had witnessed the terror of Skeleton-Stripping Demon Butterflies. None of them wanted to die like the others.

“Let’s attack together and destroy the lake. If Shen Mu is hidden inside, he won’t escape, not even if he grows wings!” ordered Wu Ting.

All of them drew their treasures and attacked at once, blasting the lake like mad.

Boom!

Yet another swarm of butterflies appeared, so dense and numerous as to blot out the sun.

Wu Ting and company fled without hesitation, preventing all possibility of encirclement. They were startled, but entirely unharmed.

“It seems that Shen Mu isn’t in the silver lake,” someone said with a frown. There was no sign of Su Yi.

Someone else said softly, “If I were him, I wouldn’t hide here any longer, either. A moment’s incaution could lead to complete annihilation.”

Someone said gravely, “The fundamental problem is that we haven’t been able to lock onto Shen Mu since we entered the Abyss of Dark Fog. Otherwise, it wouldn’t matter where he fled to. We’d still be able to track him down immediately.”

Once the dense swarm of Skeleton-Stripping Demon Butterflies had disappeared back into the silver lake, Wu Ting gnashed his teeth. “The most dangerous places are often the safest. Let’s try again!”

Just like before, he continued blasting the silver lake.

However, despite repeated attempts, all they managed to do was kill a bunch of butterflies. There was no sign of Su Yi anywhere.

They split open the entire lake. Its molten silver waters swept outward, and the blasts left numerous craters in the lake bed.

In the end, Wu Ting and company gave up, but they didn’t leave empty-handed. They at least managed to pick up the treasures Meng Zhe’s four companions had left behind.

They’d profited considerably, all things considered.

“Come on, let’s keep up the chase! Use the Heaven-Reflecting Mirror to monitor everything happening around us!”

“Got it!”

Wu Ting and the others continued in the direction Su Yi had fled in.

There were still countless Skeleton-Stripping Demon Butterflies lying in wait at the bottom of the lake. Beneath them lay a stretch of foul, molten sludge.

Su Yi was hidden deep beneath the sludge, where there lay a ten-thousand-foot natural chasm. The opening to an enormous cave lay at the far end.

A massive black hive stood at the center of the cave. It was like a giant wasp’s nest covered in countless holes.

The Skeleton-Stripping Demon Butterfly larvae were hidden inside.

Su Yi sat cross-legged beside it, his aura withdrawn. Tendrils of his divine sense stretched out of the cave, extending into the lake bed, but hidden within the sludge.

Before long, he sensed that Wu Ting and the other Church of All Spirits experts had returned!

They spread out their divine senses like ripples sweeping across the lake, but in the end, they found nothing at all.

Su Yi waited in the cave long after they left. Only then did he withdraw his divine sense, take out a bottle of Nine Wonders Skyheart Pills, swallow one, and sit down to meditate.

His all-but-depleted cultivation base rapidly recovered, and his incomparably grievous injuries knit together at speeds visible to the naked eye!

He was like a leafless tree in spring, a long drought followed by spring rain.

…

Meanwhile, a sword-bearing ape appeared out of nowhere before the entrance to the Abyss of Dark Fog.