First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 838: An Ambush

The side of a cliff.

Su Yi stood with his hands behind his back, gazing up at the sky. The mountain winds blew past, rustling his blue robes.

“Fellow Daoist, what… exactly did you do earlier?” Po Suo couldn’t help but ask. She truly couldn’t fathom what Su Yi had done earlier.

Su Yi couldn’t help but laugh. “If even you don’t understand, do you think the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow’s brain will be up to the task?”

Po Suo was stunned, but she was finally starting to understand. “You’re deliberately misleading it to lure it out?”

“Petty tricks like this have always been the most useful,” said Su Yi. “After all, as you said, the crow is crafty and alert. If it senses a threat, it’s sure to flee right away. If I want it to show itself, I naturally can’t alarm it.”

He paused, then continued, “Of course, if all I did was place a pathetic trap like that, the crow naturally would disdain to even look at it. That’s why I used the deer’s rotting corpse to provoke it.”

“Everyone fears nothing more than failing to escape it in time, yet I’m doing the exact opposite. What do you think the bird will think about that?”

Po Suo said instinctively, “It’ll naturally wonder, but it won’t be able to figure out your intentions.”

Su Yi nodded. “The longer you live, the more your thoughts weigh on you. When it can’t wrap its head around what I’m up to, it’ll naturally show up of its own accord.”

Po Suo twirled the lock of white hair beside her ear. “And what if it doesn’t come?”

Su Yi responded with another question. “If someone with a cultivation base like mine used such an unsightly trap to provoke you, and you can’t tell what they were thinking, what would you do?”

“I’d find it quite strange,” said Po Suo.

Su Yi nodded. “In the eyes of the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow, a Spiritual Incarnation cultivator is no different from an ant. It’d be awfully strange if it ignored an ‘ant’ provoking it and pretended?nothing happened.”

He paused, then looked at Po Suo. “Besides, you’re here too. To the best of my knowledge, this particular variety of feathered beast loves little more than devouring spiritual bodies like you.”

“.....” Po Suo’s beautiful eyebrows knit together, and she said helplessly, “Alright, now I understand. So you brought me with you not to act as your dharma protector, but so that you could lure out the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow.”

Su Yi laughed. “No, I had no idea the bird would appear in Red Cloud Ridge. Besides, do you think you’ll be in danger with me here?”

Po Suo shook her head. “No, I suppose not.”

She understood the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force’s character. She naturally knew he wouldn’t trick her maliciously.

As they conversed, ink-dark tribulation clouds suddenly swept in over the horizon. In just a few blinks of the eye, they enveloped the entire stretch of sky.

The oppressive aura of an impending calamity spread throughout the landscape.

“Fellow Daoist, if the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow shows up as you undergo tribulation, it’ll be quite disadvantageous for you.” Po Suo frowned.

“You don’t understand,” said Su Yi casually. “My tribulations are different from other people’s. Just stand aside and watch.”

His expression was perfectly calm and composed. He didn’t seem the least bit flustered.

Po Suo said no more. She just moved further away.

A Tribulation of Spiritual Revolution, that’s all. It shouldn’t be able to threaten the reincarnated Swordmaster of Abstruse Force.

However, against Po Suo’s expectations, as time passed, the tribulation clouds got thicker and thicker, plunging the world into a seemingly eternal darkness. The terrifying, calamitous aura shocked even her.

Is this really the aura of a Tribulation of Spiritual Revolution? But it doesn’t seem any weaker than the Tribulations of Profound Illumination cultivators face as they attempt to prove their Daos and become Emperors…

Po Suo’s gaze shifted, and ripples coursed through her heart.

She’d lived since ancient times, and she'd experienced the ups and downs of countless years. She’d witnessed countless tribulations big and small.

But this was her first time seeing such a strange and perilous Tribulation of Spiritual Revolution.

The tribulation had yet to truly begin, but its aura was already unbelievably terrifying.

It wasn’t much weaker than a Tribulation of Profound Illumination!

He sure is a strange one… The Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow watched from the distant darkness, a strange light in its blood-red eyes.

It had originally planned to intervene and ruin Su Yi’s mental state, ensuring that he perished during his tribulation.

But now, it changed its mind.

It had never witnessed such an enormous Tribulation of Spiritual Revolution, and it wanted to see how Su Yi handled it.

If Su Yi had hope of successfully overcoming his tribulation, it wouldn’t mind intervening to snuff out his hope completely. action

If Su Yi failed his tribulation, there’d be no need for it to intervene. Su Yi would perish, his Dao disappearing with him.

Boom——!!

Before long, the dense tribulation clouds filling the sky churned, and the low rumble of thunder reverberated through the sky, shaking the mountains, rivers, and everything in them.

Streaks of tribulation lightning, each as thick as a dragon, surged within the depths of the clouds. Even watching from a distance, it was unsettling enough to make one’s hair stand on end.

The Tribulation of Spiritual Revolution had three layers. They targeted the cultivator’s body, soul, and mind in turn.

Each was more terrifying than the one before.

Throughout history, out of a hundred peak Spiritual Incarnation cultivators, only a handful would successfully overcome their tribulation.

The others would either fail, suffering heavy injuries in the process, or be destroyed, their souls dispersed.

And the Tribulation of Spiritual Revolution targeted at Su Yi was far beyond what other cultivators faced. The word “terrifying" was insufficient to describe it.

This was an extremely unusual tribulation. It seemed it had no intention of leaving Su Yi any hope of success!

In simple terms, this tribulation was here to annihilate him!

However, Su Yi was already accustomed to this sort of thing. He’d encountered similarly strange tribulations several times now. The only difference was that this time, it was his Tribulation of Spiritual Revolution.

That kid is doomed! When the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow saw this, terror coursed through it. The strange aura filling the tribulation left it quivering with fright.

Boom!!

The tribulation had been brewing for a long time, but it was finally about to begin. The tribulation clouds churned, and tribulation lightning tore through the darkened skies, then crashed down.

Its radiance thoroughly illuminated both heaven and earth.

Po Suo couldn’t help but clench her fists, her starry eyes grave. This tribulation… is far too terrifying!

But Su Yi just laughed and swung his sleeves.

Whoosh!

A ten-thousand-foot mysterious and inscrutable?streak of sword qi rose like a cyclone, sweeping through the skies.

How powerful was the radiant tribulation descending from the heavens? And how terrifying? It was enough to make Profound Illumination Emperors tremble.

Yet in the face of this one slash, it burst like paper mache, scattering into a rain of light and dispersing!

“This…” The Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow’s red eyes bulged. What the hell?

Po Suo was unwittingly stunned too. How could one slash be so strong?

But then, an even more unexpected scene unfolded before them—

Su Yi’s tall, upright figure took to the skies. He strode through the air, leaping into the depths of the tribulation clouds!

His entire body was shrouded in obscure and mysterious Dao Light, and he seemed as contemptuous as an immortal. With every swoosh of his sleeves, forceful and indomitable sword intent shot forth, cleaving through the clouds.

This seemed to infuriate the surging tribulation light, which rumbled and roared. Lightning surged toward him, as if intent on enveloping and destroying him.

Su Yi didn’t retreat. No, on the contrary, he charged right in, his sword intent free and unrestrained as he left about, slashing his way through the relentlessly churning tribulation lightning.

From a distance, he seemed like an immortal or deity waging war amidst the clouds, forceful beyond imagining!

“Fellow Daoist Su…” Even Po Suo was stunned. Her heart shook, and she could no longer remain calm.

How terrifying and unusual was this tribulation? Any other Spirit Dao cultivator would have likely perished already, their soul dispersed.

Even an Emperor wouldn’t necessarily be able to clash with such a tribulation head-on!

But look at Su Yi! He was slashing his way into the nine heavens, cutting through the clouds, as domineering as a god!

When did a little monster like this appear in the Netherworld? The Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow was stunned too. Its blood-red eyes filled with uncertainty, and it was thoroughly stunned.

There had absolutely never been a tribulation like this before.

Who’d dare imagine that in the face of this taboo grand tribulation, a young Spiritual Incarnation cultivator would dare fight his way into the tribulation clouds?

The Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow originally planned to wait and see if the tribulation would kill Su Yi or not.

But now, it didn’t?plan to wait any longer.

“Hah!” The bird let out a sound like supernatural roaring.

The Netherworld Heart-Disrupting Curse!

This was a sinister forbidden curse that could attack and disrupt the minds of any cultivator beneath the Imperial level. It represented calamitous power and upheaval.

“The Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow is here!” Po Suo narrowed her eyes.

In that moment, something assailed her heart and mind. A strange, calamitous power, like the chaotic dancing of a demonic god, seemed intent on shattering her mental state.

However, when she circulated her cultivation base, she quickly dispersed this calamitous power.

Whoosh!

Practically simultaneously, a dark rain of light swept toward Po Suo.

The rain was like a curtain, blotting out the skies and obscuring the sun, like the onset of an eternal night. It gave off the impression that there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

A cold look appeared on Po Suo’s face, and her slender white fingers formed seals.

Boom!

A mountainous divine seal appeared out of nowhere, bursting with immeasurable radiance and forcefully exploding the descending curtain of darkness.

A rain of light scattered, and the Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow came into view.

“So, it’s you! The spirit of the Cui Family’s Tree of Ten Thousand Daos!” The Nine Serenities Netherworld Crow said coldly. It seemed surprised, but it also seemed enlightened.

A moment later, it laughed coldly. “Alas, even with someone like you acting as his dharma protector, that kid will surely perish now that I’ve used the Netherworld Heart-Disrupting Curse…”

The crow had only just said this when its voice came to an abrupt halt. It suddenly looked up at the dome of heaven.

There, it saw a streak of dazzling light illuminating the nine heavens and the ten earths.

The sword qi was as dazzling as the sun illuminating the heavens, and it seemed like the work of a god or immortal. There were no words to describe its terrifying power!

As it swept through the air…

Boom!

The tribulation skies filling the dome of heaven exploded, and a rain of light poured down like a waterfall.

It seemed nothing could block that slash; it swept right through this unprecedented, grand tribulation, crushing it!

Light returned to the landscape formerly shrouded in a seemingly endless night.

As a rain of light scattered, Su Yi stood upright beneath the heavens, gazing proudly down upon the world below.

He seemed as eternal as a god; no number of tribulations could destroy him!