First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 2259 – Ancient Divine Wraiths

Specifically, that streak of sword qi slammed into the enormous, withered tree covered in layers of rotting meat.

The moment the sword qi landed, the tree shook violently, then roared in fury.

Kaboom!!

Its countless bald branches danced like mad, scattering a rain of rotting flesh and blood.

The chunks of flesh transformed into strangely shaped, blood-red, vengeful spirits in midair. There were thousands upon thousands of them, and they swept forth like a wave, enveloping the entire stretch of sky.

Su Yi, meanwhile, had already fled the area.

It was Feng Yunxiu who had to face this strange, unsettling scene head-on!

This entire series of events happened in a flash. Su Yi turned and struck the tree practically the very moment the lightning appeared.

Feng Yunxiu could never have anticipated this strange catastrophe, and he inwardly cried out in alarm. He abruptly stopped mid-charge, his expression shifting,

Kcch! Kcch!

Countless streaks of bloody light shot forth. The strange, blood-red spirits struck like lightning, lunging at Feng Yunxiu.

“Go!” Feng Yunxiu roared in fury, then activated the golden Daoist seal, slamming into the dozens of vengeful spirits directly in his path.

Strangely, the vengeful spirits seemed indestructible. Even after Feng Yunxiu blasted them to bits, the countless bloody threads that remained continued charging at him, as if they were still “alive.”

Meanwhile, thousands of other vengeful spirits attacked like mad, fangs bared and claws waving. Each was fiercer than the one before.

The vengeful spirits really were as strange as could be. They weren’t all that strong, but their bloody, baleful power was enough to corrode the flesh of a Greater God with ease!

That aside, after they were destroyed, they transformed into countless, densely packed red threads, like living, flowing lights. They were incomparably troublesome. A moment’s incaution, and they’d invade your flesh.

Feng Yunxiu was a Three-Tribulation Master God. He naturally wasn’t afraid of them.

Even so, he was thoroughly surrounded, and there was no way he could break free any time soon. All he could do was fight with all his might to block the attacks on all sides.

“Dammit! What the hell are these things!?” Feng Yunxiu was enraged and alarmed. He shot ahead, heedless of all else; he had no intention of tangling with the vengeful spirits any longer.

Finally, he broke through their encirclement and fled the affected area.

When he looked back, he saw that the entire area was completely enveloped in blood-colored vengeful spirits. Bloody, baleful mists rose into the air. It was a terrifying, unsettling sight.

He was still locked firmly onto Xiao Jian, but Xiao Jian had fled into the distance, toward another towering mountain. He’d completely vanished from view.

Feng Yunxiu’s expression was instantly incomparably dark.

“Daoist Brother, don’t tell me you failed?”

A figure soon shot over from afar. He was a fierce, valiant-looking man in beast skins. He carried an enormous black bow, and his hair was long and disheveled, while his eyes glinted with imposing light.

He emanated the distinctive, terrifying energy fluctuations of a Two-Tribulation Master God.

“One wrong move, and I let someone save the young leader,” sighed Feng Yunxiu. “The strange part is, the one who saved him was just a Lesser God from Qingwu Divine Court. He didn’t just escape my pursuit, either. He even managed to use the strange lifeforms of the Extreme Lightning Demon Cave to intercept me!”

“Oh? Impressive! Who is he?” exclaimed the valiant-looking man.

“Xiao Jian, the vice palace master of Qingwu Divine Court’s Wandering Night Palace and a descendant of the Torch Dragons,” said Feng Yunxiu, his brow furrowed. “According to the young leader, he knows the Extreme Lightning Demon Cave like the back of his hand. Earlier, I only half believed it, but now, I have no choice but to acknowledge it.”

He thought back to how those blood-red vengeful spirits had intercepted him and reached two conclusions.

First, Xiao Jian could predict when the lightning would appear in the clouds! Second, he knew all about the strange tree rooted in the sky.

That was how he’d attacked at just the right moment, as if he had precognition, sending a streak of sword qi cleaving into the tree. In doing so, he’d created a catastrophe for Feng Yunxiu!

Combined with how he’d cleaved through that Demonic Babble Worm earlier, Feng Yunxiu was completely convinced that Xiao Jian really did know the Extreme Lightning Demon Cave extremely well.

“That’ll be trouble,” said the man in beast skins. “Daoist Brother, Xiao Jian has to die. Or else…”

He trailed off, but his meaning was readily apparent.

Feng Yunxiu nodded. “I know what I have to do.”

“Since he understands the situation here so well, he has the geographical advantage. You have to be careful, Daoist Brother,” said the man in beast skins. He hesitated, then whispered, “Most importantly, you absolutely cannot let him find the Rahu—”

Before he could finish, Feng Yunxiu snapped, “I said, I know!”

The man in beast skin robes considerately refrained from saying any more on the matter.

“Leave the Extreme Lightning Demon Cave immediately and watch over the entrance,” ordered Feng Yunxiu. “If Xiao Jian tries to escape, it’s up to you to kill him on the spot.”

The man in beast skins nodded. “Got it.”

He turned and left. Feng Yunxiu, meanwhile, took a deep breath, cast aside his scattered thoughts, and continued toward the distant mountain shrouded in baleful, bloody mist.

……

The mountain’s slopes rose and fell. There was no end in sight.

The whole mountain was enveloped in dense, baleful mists. Nothing grew here, not even an inch of grass, and the barren slopes were an unearthly shade of dark red.

Su Yi shot up the slopes, one person in each hand. He didn’t fly, nor did he attempt to teleport. He just shot uphill.

The Umbrella of Tribulations floated above his head, scattering an inscrutable rain of chaos light that enveloped him, Feng Wuji, and the man in brocade completely.

Kch!

When Su Yi passed through an unassuming gap in the mountainside, a bloody, skeletal hand burst from the hole and tried to grab him.

Bang!

Su Yi’s figure popped like a soap bubble, only for a battered, burning talisman to take his place in the skeletal hand’s grip.

Moments later, bitter, infuriated roaring emanated from the broken rock. It was like the cries of a ghost god, and the sound shook the earth.

Meanwhile, Su Yi reappeared in the distance and continued up the mountainside.

These strange scenes startled Feng Wuji, and for a moment, he forgot his anger. He couldn’t help but blurt, “What the hell was that!?”

“A strange lifeform. It’s similar to the divine wraiths manifested from lingering obsession. No, you could call it a divine wraith, but it lacks sentience, and it’s strong. If captured, anyone beneath the Three-Tribulation Master God level would be doomed beyond a doubt,” Su Yi said casually. “Similar divine wraiths are sealed all over Blood Cave Mountain. The strongest can threaten even Five-Tribulation Master Gods.”

Feng Wuji couldn’t help but break out in cold sweats and cry out, “Xiao Jian, have you gone insane? You know how dangerous this place is, so why are you here?”

Su Yi thought nothing of it. “Don’t you think this place is a rare, first-rate, blessed ground for cultivation?”

“???” Feng Wuji had no idea what to make of that. He gnashed his teeth and spat, “Xiao Jian, just what are you trying to do?”

Su Yi took a step forward.

Clang!

A streak of sword qi shot into the air.

It was just one streak of sword qi, but it cleaved through ten thousand feet of air. The sky instantly split, scattering a strange rain of dark-red blood.

A severed, rotting wing fell from the rift.

Su Yi, meanwhile, charged explosively ahead.

Boom!

Countless fleshy worms appeared where he’d been standing just moments prior, mouthparts open wide as they devoured that ten-thousand-foot stretch of sky.

In other words, the moment Su Yi attacked, he’d been standing right in the line of fire.

But on the road ahead, there was a rotting wing hidden in the sky!

If Su Yi hadn’t attacked in time, it would have attacked out of nowhere!

There are far, far more of these sinister creatures than before, and it seems they’re on the verge of breaking through their seals… Su Yi frowned.

There were countless strange divine wraiths sealed within the mountain. No matter how dangerous they were, they couldn’t break free of their seals.

At least, that’s how it used to be. As Su Yi climbed higher and higher, he keenly sensed that the Extreme Lightning Demon Cave had indeed changed since his last visit.

It even seemed like the divine wraiths sealed in the mountain would soon break free@

That wasn’t a good sign.

“Can you sense where the divine wraiths are hiding?” asked Feng Wuji, shocked once more.

Su Yi had countered every danger in their path, attacking before it struck to avoid one otherwise lethal threat after another.

It was simply unbelievable.

“When we met yesterday, I told you I’d prepared thoroughly for this expedition, didn’t I?” Su Yi said casually.

Given his meager cultivation, exploring the Extreme Lightning Demon Cave really was far too dangerous.

Thus, during his time cultivating in seclusion in Qingwu Divine Court, he prepared an abundance of life-saving countermeasures.

The Formless Substitution Talisman that the skeletal hand had destroyed was one such trinket.

It wasn’t overly precious, but it could come in handy at a critical juncture.

“Xiao Jian, by now, shouldn’t you tell me why you captured me, and why insist that Ancestor Feng Yunxiu is a villain?” Feng Wuji couldn’t help but ask.

He’d realized that Su Yi hadn’t done anything to hurt him all this time, so his temper had gradually faded. By now, he was clear-headed enough to see how fishy the earlier battle had been.

“Let’s find a safe place first. Then, he can tell you,” said Su Yi, gesturing to the captured man in brocade.

He’d only just said this when a desperate shriek emanated from behind them.

Feng Wuji instantly looked stricken. “It’s the ancestor!”

“It’d be great if he’s dead,” said Su Yi. “That’ll save me the trouble of killing him.”

Feng Wuji was so angry that he almost couldn’t resist the urge to launch into a series of expletives.

But when he recalled what Su Yi had just told him, he held back. His expression was dark, but he didn’t say anything.

Kaboom!

The sounds of fierce combat emanated from afar, accompanied by Feng Yunxiu’s infuriated roars.

Su Yi suddenly stopped in place, pondered briefly, then changed his mind. “Come on. Let’s go say hi to your ancestor.”

With that, he turned and walked back along the same path. Soon, a grand battle came into view in the distance.

That rift in the sky was like a gaping maw. Countless wriggling, blood-colored worms flew out of it, enveloping the entire stretch of sky.

Feng Yunxiu’s whole body was covered in worms. They were devouring his flesh in a frenzy, and although he struggled like mad, he couldn’t get them off him. On the contrary, more and more swarmed and covered him.

It was a shocking, heart-palpitating sight!