First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 1917 – The Esteemed Demon God of the Spirit Martial Epoch

The divine wraith was an unparalleled beauty, and although her figure was ethereal, it wasn’t hard to see that both her appearance and her disposition were extraordinary. She had a majestic air about her that far transcended the masses. But the dense death qi surrounding her lent her a strange, unsettling quality.

She and Su Yi had fought three times already. He was well aware that even in the prior epoch, she had been an absolutely terrifying deity.

Now, she attacked once more, her entire body swathed in murderous intent as she charged at Su Yi.

Boom!

She swung her fist, and the dense death qi transformed into a gray halberd. It shattered the air with ease, shaking the entire stretch of heaven and earth.

“Good timing!” Su Yi roared and charged, swinging his fist like a sword and displaying the mysteries of reincarnation.

Bang!!!

The two of them clashed, and the sky abruptly collapsed. Both of them were forced back.

They were evenly matched. This was nothing like their prior three battles, where she one-sidedly suppressed Su Yi!

“Again!” The depths of Su Yi’s gaze sparkled like stars as he took the initiative to attack.

Whoosh!

Sword intent swept forth like the tides, manifesting visions of the Six Paths of Reincarnation. They swept forth alongside him.

After proving his Dao and entering Great Unity, his strength had once more undergone an earth-shaking transformation. He was completely different from before. Now, Su Yi planned to borrow the lady wraith’s hands to test just what heights his strength had reached.

Boom!

The wraith swung her halberd, reducing the sky to powder and shaking heaven and earth. Her tyrannical might was almost beyond imagination. Even without true awareness, her combat skills were startling.

But this time, Su Yi was no longer on the defensive. He fought bare-handed, with unstoppable valiance, and the two of them were soon locked in fierce combat.

They fought in the heavens, and they fought on the earth. Wherever their battle took them, destruction followed. The world cracked and split behind them.

“Satisfying!” Su Yi’s heart was full of delight, pride, and a sense of freedom.

During his prior three battles with the lady divine wraith, she whaled on him so hard he could barely fight back. Every battle had been a brush with death, and afterward, his injuries couldn’t have been any worse.

He was left wretched, frustrated, and brutalized!

And that was with the Sword of Proximity and the Tree of All Words. Despite their power, he was still no match for the beautiful divine wraith.

But now that he’d overcome that strange, unparalleled grand tribulation and entered the Great Unity Stage, he could fight her purely on his own strength, without any treasures whatsoever. They were evenly matched, too!

As the battle raged on, Su Yi fought with greater intensity and satisfaction.

Over the course of the battle, he tempered and stabilized his freshly broken-through cultivation base and got a clearer sense of his newfound strength.

When he compared himself to Wang Ye and his peak, Su Yi reached a clear conclusion—even without using any external items whatsoever, he could kill divine sons like Fu Tianyi as if they were dogs and chickens, no weapons required!

That went for unparalleled divine children like Feng Wuji and Gu Yunchan, too. And even if the divine children used their Epoch Treasures, they’d be useless. After all, he had the Sword of Proximity. In a contest of treasures, the divine children would only lose even more quickly!

In my past life, I dominated the Immortal Realm and stood at the pinnacle of the Immortal Dao. Now, my strength has far surpassed my former peak. Great Profound experts of the present day present little threat. Even the divine children… are no exceptions. When I leave the Cave of Divine Tears, I can test myself against Feng Wuji to confirm that hypothesis.

As his thoughts raced, Su Yi’s battle with the divine wraith raged with ever greater intensity.

I just wonder what level of opponent this divine wraith is comparable to, and how she compares to the Lesser God Li Fuyou slew back then…

Su Yi was a bit uncertain. He’d seen numerous gods in this lifetime, but that was all. He’d yet to actually fight a god.

At the Immortal Peach Assembly, Divine Venerate Eternal Sands’ avatar of will had been too strong for him to contend with.

Thus, he had no way of judging the beautiful divine wraith’s strength.

Still, he dared say with certainty that she’d have killed anyone else beneath the divine level a long time ago!

This wasn’t conceit on Su Yi’s part. He just knew that he could only duke it out with the divine wraith thanks to reincarnation’s ability to weaken the aura of the Epoch Tribulation. 

Were that not the case, he’d have been helpless against her even after breaking into the Great Unity Stage!

Throughout the heavens, only he controlled the power of reincarnation. It was thus obvious that anyone else beneath the god level would have suffered a crushing defeat in his place.

An hour later, the wraith was starting to collapse, bit by bit.

The fierce battle exhausted Su Yi’s strength.

It was different for the divine wraith. Their combat instead gradually frittered away the aura of the Epoch Tribulation. By now, almost none of it remained!

But just as she was about to disperse, the divine wraith regained a hint of awareness. She sighed as if a massive weight had lifted from her shoulders. “I’ve finally… found release…”

Then, she lowered her hand of her own accord!

Su Yi’s heart shook, and he too stayed his hand. He could tell that, when the woman next looked at him, her gaze was conflicted, rather than numb or hollow. She’d regained her emotions!

“According to ancient legends, only the Esteemed Demon God, the one who stepped onto the Path of Eternity, controls the power of reincarnation. Sir, are you perhaps one of his descendants?” the woman asked suddenly.

The Esteemed Demon God? Su Yi was stunned. “Might I ask this ‘Esteemed Demon God’s honorable name and surname?”

The woman fell silent. “An existence of his level is as nameless as the Grand Dao. I cannot speak it. All I know is that the Esteemed Demon God was once a disciple of Fangchun Mountain.”

The Esteemed Demon God of Fangchun Mountain? As nameless as the Grand Dao? She dares not speak his name?

Su Yi was completely baffled.

There was no doubt about it. This so-called “Esteemed Demon God” was surely an expert of the prior epoch, and it seemed he too had controlled the power of reincarnation!

“I don’t know him.” 

The Book of Karma had told him that the prior epoch was called the Spirit Martial Epoch, but that all information surrounding it had vanished. It was a complete mystery; not even the gods could uncover anything.

Now, the divine wraith spoke of the Esteemed Demon God of the Spirit Martial Epoch, but how could Su Yi possibly know about him?

“How is that possible…? And here I thought the Esteemed Demon God had returned…” the divine wraith spoke with obvious disappointment.

Su Yi couldn’t help but say, “The Spirit Martial Epoch has completely vanished. I’m afraid the Esteemed Demon God you speak of met with catastrophe a long time ago.”

“Impossible!” the woman said with staunch conviction. “They say that the Esteemed Demon God has long since stepped onto the Path of Eternity, becoming an existence that transcends the River of Destiny, a limitless ruler unafraid of the alternating of the epochs!”

An existence that transcended the River of Destiny! A limitless ruler!

Su Yi’s heart shook. He recalled that his first incarnation had appeared over the River of Destiny, but he’d decisively chosen to enter the cycle of reincarnation and cultivate anew in search of greater heights of the Dao!

Could the ‘Esteemed Demon God’ she speaks of have been my first incarnation?

“Also, the Spirit Martial Epoch hasn’t been destroyed!” the woman said suddenly. “It hasn’t disappeared, either. It’s under the Esteemed Demon God’s protection, and it has no need to fear the alternation of epochs or Epoch Tribulations!”

Su Yi’s gaze focused. “But you obviously perished beneath an Epoch Tribulation. And since there was an Epoch Tribulation, how could the Spirit Martial Epoch possibly have survived?”

The woman was instantly dazed. “I… I don’t understand either…. I just know that when the Epoch Tribulation broke out, a certain phrase circulated throughout the world: ‘Without reincarnation, the River of Epochs will surely run dry, and everything shall move toward destruction!’”

Su Yi’s heart shook.

A moment later, he sensed that the wraith was rapidly dissipating. He hurriedly asked, “Fellow Daoist, is there anything I can do to bring you back?”

The wraith shook her head. She stared at Su Yi in a daze and said, “You control the power of reincarnation, so I’m sure you’re connected to the Esteemed Demon God. You must be careful. The Epoch Tribulation that befell the Spirit Martial Epoch is highly likely to return.”

Before her voice had even finished echoing through the air, her figure disintegrated. All that remained was a broken ring lying in the dirt.

Su Yi couldn’t help but frown. He hadn’t anticipated that the lady wraith would recover some of her awareness before she vanished, much less that she’d reveal such shocking secrets!

During the Spirit Martial Epoch, the Esteemed Demon God controlled the power of reincarnation to rise above the River of Destiny. Meanwhile, the Spirit Martial Epoch met with an Epoch Tribulation, disappearing from this world. All information regarding it was wiped away, too.

‘Without reincarnation, the River of Epochs will surely run dry, and everything shall move toward destruction!’

And according to that woman, the Epoch Tribulation that befell the Spirit Martial Epoch is highly likely to return!

Su Yi sank into thought.

Did the Spirit Martial Epoch meet with disaster because the Esteemed Martial God who’d mastered reincarnation wasn’t around? Or was the Esteemed Demon God the true target of the cataclysm? According to that woman, the power of reincarnation is key to the River of Epochs… 

After a while, Su Yi shook his head and set the matter aside. More thought would do him no good.

All of this had happened during the prior epoch, and all traces had disappeared a long, long, long time ago.

Besides, a few scattered words were in no way enough to reveal the truth.

Still, Su Yi was certain of something: uring the Spirit Martial Epoch, someone they called the Esteemed Demon God had controlled the power of reincarnation, and he’d risen above the River of Destiny. Some saw him as a limitless ruler!

Su Yi suspected that this “Esteemed Demon God” was somehow connected to his first incarnation. 

After all, mastering reincarnation was a taboo! And the lady divine wraith thought they were connected, too.

Should the opportunity arise, I can investigate this later, thought Su Yi.