First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 243: Dao Cocoon

Those are…?Spatial fluctuations?

Su Yi was stunned.?Don’t tell me there’s a spatial tunnel in this underground world? Or a hidden realm in a separate dimension?

As he pondered, Ning Sihua and Mu Xi landed.

“Let’s go.” Su Yi didn’t explain. He just launched straight into action, heading towards the source of the current.

Ning Sihua and Mu Xi were briefly stunned, but they soon hurried after him.

Bloody mist permeated the “forest” of strangely-shaped rocks. The underground world was dark, somber, and deathly silent save for the surging current off in the distance.

Ning Sihua and Mu Xi quickly realized that Su Yi was leading them toward the noise.

“That seems like spatial power fluctuations….” Ning Sihua pondered out loud.

“It doesn’t ‘seem’ like spatial power fluctuations. It?is?spatial power fluctuations,” said Mu Xi, correcting her without so much as pausing to think.

Ning Sihua evaluated the youngest of the non-Zhou kings, then said, “Mountain-Subduing King, it seems you understand quite a bit about cultivation.”

Mu Xi smiled, then said right back, “Isn’t that true for you and Young Lord Su as well?”

Ning Sihua shook her head. “How can you compare me to Fellow Daoist Su? Since meeting him, I’ve come to truly understand the difference between a bright pearl and the radiance of the full moon.”

Mu Xi was visibly stunned. He glanced up ahead at Su Yi’s back, then sank into silence. After a while, he said softly, “I heard that, when it comes to the struggle for the Grand Dao, success isn’t determined in one day; what matters is who walks the furthest and climbs the highest in the end.”

Ning Sihua’s expression turned a bit strange. How could she fail to pick up on Mu Xi’s meaning??He was indirectly admitting that, at least for now, he was inferior to Su Yi!

Ning Sihua said, her words rife with meaning, “Lofty ambitions are a good thing. I’m looking forward to seeing what you do in the future.”

Mu Xi smiled but said no more.

“Look over there.” Su Yi suddenly stopped and stared into the distance. His companions followed his gaze.

There, far in the distance, they saw a massive, blood-colored vortex. It covered about ten thousand feet, and it resolved slowly but continuously, stirring up mighty torrents of crimson.

From a distance, it looked like a gaping maw intent on devouring all of creation!

Ning Sihua and Mu Xi’s expressions shifted dramatically. “A spatial barrier?”

Su Yi nodded. “Most likely, from the looks of it.”

The presence of a spatial barrier implied the presence of another plane of existence on the other side!

And now, a ten-thousand-foot-wide spatial barrier had manifested in the form of a massive vortex, hovering in the deepest recesses of Bloodthistle Yao Mountain.

Did that mean that this was a path to another world?

That possibility was what surprised Ning Sihua and Mu Xi so badly!

“Who are you?” Suddenly, a cold voice rang out from beneath the crimson vortex.

Su Yi had no intention of hiding. He placed his hands behind his back and walked directly over.

Ning Sihua and Mu Xi, in stark contrast, were instantly on guard. A bright red, transparent, fish-shaped flying sword appeared in the former’s hand, while the latter clenched his golden spear.

Both readied themselves for battle.

As they drew near, their field of view cleared up, and they saw a vast stretch of flat ground beneath the hovering vortex.

There was a ceremonial altar at the center. Above it was a massive ball of light surrounded by wisps of dark mist, like a massive black silkworm cocoon.

Two figures stood before the altar.

One was a thin-faced, sunken-eyed man in green robes. This was none other than Daoist Corpse Controller, Zhong Yao.

The other was a woman shrouded entirely in black mist.

She had a slender, elegant figure, and she wore a bronze devil mask carved with strange markings. Her fair, jade-like right hand carried a lotus-shaped lantern.

A large black dog crouched in front of her. It had three heads, and all six of its eyes were bright green, like ghostly fire. The dog emanated a ferocious, frightening air.

When he saw this, even Su Yi was a bit stunned.

“This….” Ning Sihua’s gaze was instantly serious. Her gaze was immediately drawn to the masked woman carrying the lantern.?This woman… She’s simply wicked and inhuman!

“That bastard’s actually still alive….” When he saw Daoist Corpse Controller, Mu Xi was rather surprised.

A mysterious ceremonial altar, a ball of light shrouded in dark mists, a woman in a sinister mask, and a vicious, three-headed dog. In combination, this scene was decidedly strange and sinister.

When he saw them approach, Daoist Corpse Controller said in a quavering voice, “Holy Maiden, that’s the brat who killed the vice sect master and the others!”

He trembled as he spoke, dread written all over his face.

Holy maiden?

When they heard that title, both Ning Sihua and Mu Xi furrowed their brow.?Since when did the Deathbringer’s Gate have a ‘holy maiden’?

“You should leave,” said the woman in the bronze devil mask, her voice solemn and icy, like a piercing winter wind.

Her eyes were visible through the mask, and her gaze was distant and indifferent, with a hint of unearthly purple. She stared at Su Yi without the slightest ripple of emotion.

However, Su Yi paid her no heed. Instead, he looked at the ball of light hovering above the altar and said thoughtfully, “If I’m not mistaken, that should be a ‘Dao Cocoon’ capable of connecting with the world on the other side of the spatial barrier. It’s there for a certain cultivator to use as a bridge. They’ve sent a soul avatar into it, which will then break through the cocoon and emerge on our side. Am I right?”

“How did you know that?” Daoist Corpse Controller couldn’t help but blurt, but he instantly realized he’d slipped up, and his expression turned utterly unsightly.

“How did I know?” Su Yi snickered. “If I couldn’t even see through such petty tricks, how could I speak of pursuing the Grand Dao?”

His words were utterly contemptuous.

A true Imperial Realm Expert could, with their bare hands, tear a spatial barrier open. They needn’t resort to such methods.

In other words, those who used Dao Cocoons as a medium to travel between barriers were never Imperial Realm experts.

Furthermore, when you used a Dao Cocoon to cross over, you couldn’t take your original body with you. You could only split off a soul avatar and entrust it to the cocoon.

Breaking free of the cocoon required possessing another’s physical body.

If the fleshly body you possessed was insufficiently powerful or if it lacked talent, your cultivation would weaken dramatically. Even if you survived in the new world, you might not live long…

This was the downside of traversing worlds through a Dao Cocoon. It was too much trouble, and far too much could go wrong.

“Since you recognize this, you ought to know that lingering here will bring you only disaster,” said the masked woman, her tone indifferent. “If you awaken the esteemed expert slumbering within the Dao Cocoon, you won’t be able to escape.”

Su Yi laughed. “I’d sure like to see that for myself. You two, wait here.”

Ning Sihua and Mu Xi glanced at each other. Both chose to obey.

As for Su Yi? He strode leisurely over to the altar, casual and composed, as if he were out on a stroll.

“You…..” Daoist Corpse Controller was alarmed and angry. He instinctively glanced at the woman beside him. “Holy Maiden, we cannot wait any longer.”

“I know,” said the woman in the bronze mask. She suddenly raised her lantern.

It instantly burst with dark radiance, like a black sun rising out of nowhere. Its gloomy light spread far and wide.

Wooooo~! Wooooooo~!

The wailing and howling of ghosts rang out, and the dark light blanketing the underworld sank, forming a ghostly domain. Countless vicious ghosts surged forth, and all of them charged toward Su Yi in a mad frenzy.

Like a massive army of the dead, filling the skies and covering the earth!

When they saw this, Ning Sihua and Mu Xi felt their scalps go numb, and their expressions changed dramatically.

Each individual ghost might not be that strong, but there were far, far too many of them, a vast ocean.

Just seeing this would push just about anyone to the brink of despair!

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