First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1677 - The Divine Abomination Grounds

Su Yi could tell at a glance that if he tried to break the seal, Chu Shentong would sense it immediately! 

The mere thought of that would have struck terror into the hearts of the vast majority of Immortal Lords!

But… that didn’t apply to Su Yi. On the contrary, this discovery was rather delightful.

This meant that he didn’t even need to search Chu Batian’s soul. When he was ready to visit the Eastern Seas and settle the score with Chu Shentong, he could just touch the seal, and his target would come to him!

I really picked the right person, thought Su Yi. 

……

The banks of the Baleful Demon River.

“Miss Yuyan, we’ve already waited an hour. Seems to me that Shen Mu won’t be coming back to find us,” said one of the Immortal Lords. He couldn’t help it.

They’d already explored the riverbed, and they’d excavated around a dozen pieces of Nine Yin Profound Jade. They’d planned to leave afterward, but Tang Yuyan insisted that they wait for Shen Mu to come back.

The Immortal Lords all felt stifled. He was just a useless tagalong, and he wasn’t just weak; he was cowardly, too. Better to just let someone like that go.

But Tang Yuyan stubbornly refused. They couldn’t wrap their heads around it.

“He’s headed our way,” said Tang Yuyan. “Let’s wait a little longer.”

She’d given Su Yi a talisman, so she could sense his imminent arrival.

Her companions couldn’t help but find this astonishing. How can he face us after fleeing from battle like that?

The Immortal Lords weren’t happy, but out of consideration for Tang Yuyan, they chose to endure.

Before long, Su Yi sauntered over.

“Shen Mu, where did you go? Do you know how long we waited for you?” Tang Hanfeng immediately lashed out.

Su Yi smiled but didn’t explain. He wouldn’t say a word about capturing Chu Batian.

“You’ll receive none of the spoils this time,” said Tang Yuyan. “I hope you understand.”

Her voice was cold. She too was disappointed that Su Yi had fled.

Su Yi nodded, not at all concerned. “That’s fine.”

When he captured Chu Batian, he was delighted to discover that he had all sorts of wondrous treasures on him. There were over six hundred demonic cores, and that’s before factoring in the other treasures!

And some were extraordinarily rare and high quality.

He had other wondrous treasures too, like the little black tree with three spirit fruits he’d stolen from Tang Yuyan, an immortal herb with three golden pistils, and nine-sectioned Immortal Ginseng.

Every last one was extraordinarily rare outside of these mountains! In addition to Chu Batian’s spoils, he’d come with a generous supply of treasures, including immortal jades and herbs. It was no exaggeration to say that capturing Chu Batian was like seizing a moving treasury!

This harvest was far, far beyond anything Tang Yuyan and her allies had acquired thus far. Su Yi guessed that most of Chu Batian’s treasures had been stolen from other participants!

After all, he’d robbed Tang Yuyan both times he encountered her. It seemed theft and extortion were just in his nature.

“Hmph! You’re not entirely tactless!”

“Flee from battle again, and we won’t let you off!

When the Immortal Lords saw that Su Yi didn’t ask for a share this time, they finally calmed down somewhat.

“Let’s go,” said Tang Yuyan, leading the group off without any more wasted breath. Su Yi followed.

“Next, we’ll head for the Divine Abomination Grounds. They’re at the heart of the Divine Hunt Demon Mountains, and they’re the most dangerous place here,” said Tang Yuyan.

They said that the Divine Abomination Grounds had been the site of a shocking, grand battle during the Primeval Era, and that numerous giant devils had died there.

The conflict was so fierce that the dome of heaven shattered, and the ground was thoroughly soaked in blood. Even now, countless years later, the giant devils’ resentment and murderous intent permeated the air.

Ordinary Immortal Lords dared not venture there.

“Although it’s an incomparably dangerous place, and although it's home to terrifying demonic beasts capable of killing Immortal Lords with ease, there are also numerous treasures hidden there,” said Tang Yuyan. “In past Divine Hunts, several Immortal Lords found unparalleled good fortune in the Divine Abomination Grounds.”

“The most famous such stroke of good fortune was found nine thousand years ago. Back then, Immortal King Gu Yue was still just an unrivaled Immortal Lord. He acquired a beast bone in the Divine Abomination Grounds, then broke into the Miracle Realm shortly after leaving the Divine Hunt Demon Mountains. Immortal King Gu Yue is now one of the eight Dharma Protectors of the Church of Supreme Oneness. He’s also both the strongest and the youngest Immortal King in the church!”

“They say that he was able to make such rapid progress because of the mysterious bone he acquired in the Divine Abomination Grounds. It apparently contained a wondrous, supreme Daoist canon from the Primeval Era.”

As she spoke, her eyes revealed deep longing. The other Immortal Lords were tempted too.

Su Yi just listened in silence. He wasn’t all that interested. Good fortune really could change the trajectory of a cultivator’s destiny, but those who walked the farthest didn’t get there relying on external items. Rather, they relied on their own mental strength and intelligence!

If Immortal King Gu Yue hadn’t had foundations and mental strength far beyond his contemporaries, not even a far grander stroke of good fortune would have been enough to make him an Immortal King.

“Once we’ve passed through the Divine Abomination Grounds, we’ll arrive at the hidden realm they suspect has existed since the Primeval Era,” said Tang Yuyan. “The Immortal Lords we encountered a few days ago mentioned that the Church of the Pure One’s Gong Nanfeng, Cen Baili, and the Church of Supreme Oneness’s Weng Changfeng have arrived at the Divine Abomination Grounds already. We must hurry.”

Everyone instantly realized how pressed for time they were.

……

The Divine Abomination Grounds. 

A solitary mountain the off-white color of bone stood swathed in surging lightning. Arcs of electricity crackled through the air.

A fist-sized immortal herb grew within the lightning, absorbing its power. Its leaves unfurled, emanating a shockingly dense aura of the Grand Dao and glittering, resplendent light.

An Immortal Lord lying in wait suddenly took action, throwing a rope that wrapped around the herb.

But just as he was about to pull his prize toward him, a hideous, enormous skeleton shot out of the lightning. Its hollow sockets locked onto the Immortal Lord.

Space exploded in an instant, and countless arcs of lightning burst forth, enveloping the Immortal Lord completely.

An agonized cry shook the heavens, and although the Immortal Lord crushed his life-saving talisman just in time, his physical body was in ruin, and his soul was on the brink of splitting into pieces.

……

The earth was permeated with blood. Everything was boundlessly vast and utterly barren.

A group of Immortal Lords took out their treasures and advanced cautiously. They dared not even attempt to fly for fear of inviting known disaster.

“That’s…” Suddenly, one of the Immortal Lords sensed something. He suddenly looked into the distance. The sky seemed to be crumbling, and fragments fell down to earth. It seemed as if the sky were silently falling apart, shattering into countless pieces.

The group’s hair stood on end.

“Retreat! Hurry up and retreat!” bellowed one of the Immortal Lords. 

The group turned to flee, only to discover that the skies around them were withering and collapsing in exactly the same fashion.

They tried using their treasures to stop it, but any treasure that drew near was soundlessly devoured.

“It’s a spatial tide. Hurry up and run!!” shouted one of the Immortal Lords. All of them broke their talismans without hesitation and fled in panic.

A second after the last of them fled, the surrounding thirty thousand feet collapsed with a bang. The spatial tide surged, tearing a massive hole in the sky. The resulting vacuum devoured everything in the surrounding area!

……

“Dammit! What the hell are those things?” an unrivaled Immortal Lord shrieked in terror and fury. His entire body was covered in a swarm of thumb-sized, colorful ants. They were eagerly devouring his flesh, and no matter how hard he struggled, it was to no avail.

In the end, he had no choice but to crush his life-saving talisman and leave the mountains.

……

Similarly strange scenes played out throughout the Divine Abomination Grounds, one after another.

After Su Yi and his companions arrived, they too encountered hair-raising peril. Thanks to Tang Yuyan’s impressive abilities, they made it through, but their hearts were incomparably heavy.

This place was far too terrifying! Everywhere they looked, they saw lethal threats. By now, many of them had lost their nerve. They regretted having come here in the first place.

“Miss Yuyan, how about we… leave?” someone couldn’t help but say. The others looked at her too.

“What are you afraid of? We all have life-saving talismans. Even if we encounter a lethal threat, we should be able to flee in time,” said Tang Yuyan.

She could tell that her companions regretted coming here, albeit to varying degrees. All of them looked spooked.

But Su Yi’s calm was outside of her expectations. The Divine Abomination Grounds were so perilous that even she felt stifled, nervous, and on edge, as if she were walking on thin ice.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

In stark contrast, Su Yi was as calm as ever, taking all the danger in with calm equanimity. He made it seem like he was out for a casual stroll through the mountains. It was like he didn’t even know the meaning of fear.

He was so calm that even Tang Yuyan couldn’t help but sigh over her own inferiority... at least, in this regard.

“It’s too late for regrets,” Su Yi said suddenly. “After all, we’ve already ventured deep into the Divine Abomination Grounds. The journey back would be perilous too.”

The Immortal Lords’ expressions were suddenly rather unsightly. They naturally knew that Su Yi was right, but they didn’t want to hear it from a useless tagalong who fled from battle without even trying to fight first. It felt like he was mocking them.

“Let’s go,” said Tang Yuyan, but before she got far, Su Yi stopped her.

He pointed to the distance, at a peak shrouded entirely in black fog. “If I’m not mistaken, there’s great fortune hidden on that mountain. It’d be a shame to miss it.”

Tang Yuyan was stunned. After all this time traveling together, this was the first time Su Yi had made such a suggestion.

Tang Hanfeng was the first to argue. “Nonsense! What makes you think there’s good fortune there? That place is shrouded in a monstrous, baleful aura. It’s obviously just a danger zone. Who knows how many lethal threats are waiting for us inside?”

The other Immortal Lords chimed in their agreement. All of them were Immortal Lords. They might not be masters of geomancy, but they could still tell at a glance that the mountain was extraordinarily perilous.

Su Yi’s suggestion was a blatant attempt to push them into the fire pit!