First Immortal of the Sword

Within the palace’s main hall, the glowing bundle that was the Eternal Throne tried repeatedly to approach Su Yi and fuse into his cultivation base, only for Su Yi’s aura to reject it each and every time. It couldn’t get any closer.

In the end, it just frantically flew in circles around him.

The Monarch of Endless Tribulations was astonished, but also amused.

But before long, he couldn’t afford to give the matter any further thought, and he had no choice but to interrupt Su Yi once more. The phenomena of the Grand Dao were just too terrifying; their presence alone was more than his spirit body could bear.

It was only then that Su Yi saw the Eternal Throne clearly.

When he opened his right hand, the snow-white bundle of light floated over of its own accord, then spun with joy over his palm.

Su Yi instantly grasped its mysteries.

Severing Emptiness.

This was the greatest Eternal Throne of the Devastation. It had originally belonged to a Heavenly Sovereign who died in the battle that marked the end of the Devastation. When its owner died, the Eternal Throne was lost to the Abyss of Endless Tribulations.

Now, when he saw how meekly it behaved, Su Yi didn’t even need to think to know that so long as he willed it, it would fuse into his cultivation base without hesitation.

But Su Yi did no such thing. Instead, he placed the Eternal Throne into his sleeves.

An Eternal Throne was a supreme, rare stroke of good fortune. There was nothing else like it, as by acquiring one, you could become a Heavenly Sovereign, a supreme ruler of the River of Destiny.

Su Yi was no exception. It was just that he cared more about his own Dao.

The Monarch of Endless Tribulations went on to ask, “Fellow Daoist Su, what do you think of yourself and the masses?”

After hearing Su Yi’s thoughts on heaven and earth, he was increasingly eager to hear how Su Yi saw his connection to the masses.

In the course of cultivation, cultivators had to see heaven, see earth, see the masses, and discover themselves. They repeated this process as they progressed, but at every level of cultivation, they saw different things.

Su Yi pondered briefly, then explained.

The Monarch of Endless Tribulations listened attentively.

Everyone who stepped into the Heavenly Fate Realm started striving for the mysteries of destiny, which came down to “seeing the masses and seeing oneself.”

All living beings had their own unique destiny. The truths of destiny lay in how their destinies intertwined.

Su Yi had mastered the Book of Destiny and undergone rebirth nine times. He’d experienced the trajectory of ten different lives, so his understanding of the Dao of Destiny was naturally different from other people’s.

As he spoke of his knowledge, strange visions of the Grand Dao arose once more. The difference was that this time, he summoned an indistinct image of the River of Destiny!

Its arrival shook the entire Realm of Endless Tribulations.

The Monarch of Endless Tribulations watched in a daze. He suddenly realized that he was entirely unqualified to sit in conversation with Su Yi and discuss the Grand Dao.

Whether he discussed heaven, earth, himself, or the masses, Su Yi’s perceptions were unique and distinctive. Given the circumstances, anything the Monarch of Endless Tribulations said would seem weak and ineffectual.

After a moment’s silence, the Monarch of Endless Tribulations drew his finger through the air and left behind his imprint.

Then, he silently rose and left without disturbing Su Yi, who was yet again completely immersed in a wondrous state of enlightenment.

The Monarch of Endless Tribulations stood on the peak and gazed into the distance, listening to the voice still emanating from the palace. He couldn’t help but smile in relief.

“It’s true. In my clash with the Buddha of Non-Existence, I lost to myself. In doing so, I lost everything I had. It’s time for this to end...” he murmured, then took a step forward and rose into the firmament churning with Laws of Calamity.

Only then did he turn and clasp his fist at the palace on the mountaintop. “Farewell, Fellow Daoist!”

The Monarch of Endless Tribulations instantly scattered into countless beams of flying light, then fused into the Laws of Calamity.

This was the man who’d mastered ten thousand calamities and fought with the Buddha of Non-Existence for countless years, a being who’d broken the shackles of destiny.

Now, he was gone for good. Not even a trace of him remained.

To him, this was a form of release, a return to silence. It was much like his Dao. He mastered ten thousand Tribulations, then died surrounded by Laws of Calamity.

A full day had passed by the time Su Yi awakened from his wondrous state of enlightenment. When he took in the empty palace, he just took a sip of wine and whispered, “Farewell.”

He was neither joyful nor sorrowful, as the Monarch of Endless Tribulations had chosen this for himself. To him, dying was a form of release, and it spared him from torment worse than death.

Before long, Su Yi noticed the imprint of the Grand Dao that the Monarch of Endless Tribulations had left on the ground. It contained his Dao Heart and his legacies.

The Monarch of Endless Tribulations had spent his life striving for a Grand Dao of calamities and tribulations. His strongest divine ability was known as the Destiny Tribulation Blade. When it fell, it was like the descent of a Tribulation of Destiny. It severed fate and exterminated life itself!

Su Yi calmed his heart and examined it, then erased the mark on the ground.

He left the Abyss of Endless Tribulations later that very day.

......

The Sky-Covering Boat shuttled along the current beneath the River of Destiny, flashing by with extraordinary speed as it carried Su Yi along.

After leaving the Abyss of Endless Tribulations, Su Yi didn’t rush back to the Eternal Heavens Domain. Instead, he headed for the Spirit Treasure Celestial City.

He’d already used a talisman to contact River Ancestor Lu Shu.

His message went through, but it wasn’t Lu Shu who responded, but rather someone who called themselves Huai Li.

All Huai Li had to say was, “If you want to save them, come to the Spirit Treasure Celestial City!”

Su Yi actually sighed in relief upon hearing this. If nothing else, it proved that River Ancestor Lu Shu and the others were still alive. The Threelives Buddha hadn’t killed them after all. For now, that was enough.

As for who Huai Li was, or why he’d chosen the Spirit Treasure Celestial City as their meeting place? Su Yi couldn’t be bothered to give the matter any further thought.

There was no longer any force beneath the River of Destiny that Su Yi feared!

“Die!”

“Those who rebel against destiny must die!”

“Submit? Fine, but you still have to die!”

Before long, the sound of combat drew Su Yi’s attention.

A massive mountain appeared in the distance, its slopes covered in pavilions, halls, and palaces. This was obviously the territory of a River King.

But now, a bloody battle raged on its slopes.

This scene wasn’t particularly strange. Such bloody conflicts broke out in the River of Destiny on an almost daily basis, typically when someone wanted to expand their territory by seizing other river denizens’.

What really drew Su Yi’s attention was that the attackers were Negative Karma Destiny Demons!

There was no mistaking it, as all of them had “prisoner” emblazoned on their foreheads in stark red.

Their presences were highly distinctive, too. They were bloodthirsty and frenzied, with terrifying murderous power. Their whole bodies flowed with dense, blood-red light.

Whenever they killed someone, they mercilessly ripped their heads from their shoulders, then dug through the bodies to find their true names!

To the Destiny Demons, the heads were proof of merit that could be exchanged for rewards, while refining true names was a way to increase their strength.

There were only around one hundred Destiny Demons, but they’d charged right in with unstoppable force, killing until the ground ran red with rivers of blood.

Even those who surrendered were executed!

This confirmed that the Destiny Demons really did live to slaughter. They proved their Daos through destruction, bringing disaster and bloodshed wherever they went.

Don’t tell me the seal on the Silent Annihilation Forbidden Zone has already broken? Su Yi’s brow furrowed.

He knew that the Struggle for Heavenly Fate and his battle in the Sea of Fate had had an enormous impact on the River of Destiny.

The most obvious difference was that the barriers around both the Void and the Silent Annihilation Forbidden Zone had shifted. Afterward, he realized that both the Destiny Demons and the Outsider Celestial Demons would break free and re-enter the world within just a few years.

It was just that Su Yi hadn’t anticipated that this day would come so soon.

“Stop right there!” A bellow emanated from afar. Two Negative Karma Destiny Demons were hurtling toward Su Yi.

The leader, a man in black, was still mid-flight when he summoned a bloody spear and hurled it at Su Yi with the utmost ferocity.

Bang!

The spear flew toward Su Yi, only to explode, inch by inch, before it could touch him.

The man in black was stunned, but he didn’t retreat. On the contrary, he grinned. “Excellent! I finally ran into someone capable of putting up a fight!”

He was just about to attack again when his companion pulled him back. “Be careful. This one isn’t simple. See that? He’s human!”

The man in black narrowed his eyes as he realized the fundamental problem. It was highly unusual for a human cultivator to enter the River of Destiny without dying.

“Friend, the ignorant are without sin. Forgive us for disturbing you earlier. Farewell!” The man in black said decisively, then led his companion away.

“Stop.” Su Yi suddenly appeared in their path. “Who said you could leave?”

The man in black’s expression darkened. His blood-red eyes flashed with ferocity. “Do you know where we came from?”

Su Yi nodded. “I do.”

The man in black froze, stunned, then laughed coldly. “In that case, are you sure you want to fight us?”

Su Yi said calmly, “I heard that the Negative Karma Destiny Demons aren’t afraid to die, but I didn’t realize that you liked borrowing others’ prestige to threaten other people.”

He made no attempt to disguise the mockery in his voice.

The man in black and his companion couldn’t help but wonder just who this human cultivator was. He obviously knows we’re Destiny Demons, so why is he still this arrogant?

Su Yi glanced at the battle in the distance, suddenly impatient. He couldn’t be bothered to talk with them any further, so he waved his sleeve through the air.

A thin, disheveled old man appeared out of nowhere. He was one of the old monsters of the Destiny Demon lineage imprisoned in the second page of the Book of Destiny.

His name was Chang Ci, and he was one of Mo Hanyi’s most trusted subordinates.

The two Negative Karma Destiny Demons froze, their eyes widening with shock.

Their seniority was too low, and they were too young to recognize Chang Ci. Still, they could clearly sense that he was a member of their race, and moreover, that he was a terrifyingly powerful old monster.

“What can I do for you, Your Excellency?” Chang Ci clasped his fist and bowed respectfully.

“I’ll leave the two of them to you. Whether you kill them or not is up to you. All I want to know is how they made it out of the Silent Annihilation Forbidden Zone,” Su Yi ordered casually, then steered the Sky-Covering Boat away. He stopped in the distance and drank.

This was a trivial matter, so trivial that he really couldn’t be bothered to handle it himself.

“Understood!” Chang Ci solemnly voiced his assent, then turned to face the two Destiny Demon juniors.

Both of them visibly lost their composure. They knew this didn’t bode well!