Chapter 2978 - 'Progenitor-Level' Forces of the Far Shore

“How many Heavenly Monarchs did Sevendeaths Court lose in the Obscured Heavens Mountains?”

“Nineteen total.”

“And what about Limitless Palace?”

“Thirty-seven!”

“And all of them died by Su Yi’s hand?”

“That’s what they say.”

“My heavens!!”

“They say he destroyed Heavenly Sovereign Wen’s avatar, too.”

“This...”

Similar rumors spread throughout the Five Great Continents before the day was through, causing widespread uproar. Su Yi’s name was once more the center of attention.

No one could have anticipated that so many Heavenly Monarchs would die in just one battle. The casualties were truly shocking.

After all, Heavenly Monarchs stood at the very pinnacle of Eternity, second only to Heavenly Sovereigns.

Ordinarily speaking, having even just a few Heavenly Monarchs was enough to let a faction reign over a vast swath of territory.

Piercing Illusions Stage Heavenly Monarchs were hegemons among Heavenly Monarchs. They could sustain peak Heavenly Monarch orthodoxies.

Yet now, Su Yi had slaughtered more than fifty Heavenly Monarchs in just one battle, including multiple Piercing Illusions Stage experts. Who wouldn’t have been surprised?

What faction could remain seated now?

Some did the math and realized that more Heavenly Monarchs had died today in the Obscured Heavens Mountains than in the past eight thousand years!

It was obvious how astonishing these casualties were, and how great a shock they were to the world.

“Don’t tell me that Su Yi has become a Heavenly Monarch?”

“No, reports say that he’s still just in the Silent Realm.”

“How is that possible!? How could a Silent Realm cultivator kill so many Heavenly Monarchs?”

When they spoke of Su Yi’s strength, everyone felt indescribable horror and confusion. He’s in the Silent Realm, yet he’s cutting down Heavenly Monarchs? How could something so unreasonable exist in this world?

No matter what, the battle in the Obscured Heavens Mountains had completely transformed the populace’s perception of Su Yi.

It wasn’t just the ordinary factions, either; even the peak Heavenly Monarch factions of the Five Great Continents and the Heavenly Sovereign factions now understood that Su Yi was at least as threatening as a Heavenly Monarch.

“I remember that Jiang Wuchen’s most glorious battle was fought atop Luotian Cliff in the Limitless Continent. He defended the cliff alone save for his sword, cutting down nineteen Heavenly Monarchs!

“It was after that battle that Jiang Wuchen received the title ‘Greatest of the Unthroned.’ No one ever managed to shake his position, either... until now. Compared to what Su Yi accomplished today, even Jiang Wuchen’s battle on Luotian Cliff seems lackluster!”

“You can’t compare them like that. Jiang Wuchen was relying on his own personal strength, while Su Yi... most likely wasn’t. After all, who’d believe that a Silent Realm cultivator could cut down more than fifty Heavenly Monarchs by himself, without relying on any sort of external power?”

“No matter what, there’s no denying that Su Yi isn’t any weaker than Jiang Wuchen at his peak!”

It was true. After the battle in the Obscured Heavens Mountains, the cultivators of the Eternal Heavens Domain now saw Su Yi as being comparable to Jiang Wuchen at his peak!

And Su Yi was still only in the Silent Realm, while Jiang Wuchen had been a peak Piercing Illusions Stage Heavenly Monarch.

Meanwhile, everyone in Sevendeaths Court was furious. They announced to the world that they swore not to rest until they’d killed Su Yi!

Limitless Palace was similarly furious, and they issued a similar proclamation, but they were even more ruthless. They said that they planned to kill not just Su Yi, but also every last survivor of the Heart-Tempering Sword House!

The whole world shook.

Even Divine Reverence Pavilion commented. They said that the battle in the Obscured Heavens Mountains was of the utmost importance and sure to go down in the annals of history!

......

The outside world was in uproar, but Su Yi had long since returned to the Heavenly Aberrant Hidden Realm.

On Candlelight Peak, Sect Leader Lu Ye was seated on the ground, drinking with his junior apprentice brother, Pu Xuan. It had been far, far too long since they’d last seen each other, and they were both deeply excited to have been reunited.

“Junior Apprentice Sister Luo Yan is the only one still missing,” said Lu Ye. He couldn’t help but sigh.

“Didn’t you say that Master already asked Divine Reverence Pavilion to look for leads? I’m sure there’ll be good news soon,” Pu Xuan said solemnly.

Lu Ye nodded.

The apprentice brothers drank and conversed for a long time before Pu Xuan finally went into seclusion.

He’d been so badly injured that there was no way he could recover any time soon. He needed to take some time to cultivate quietly.

The same was true of Lian Luo. His wounds were even worse, and his physical body had been completely destroyed.

Lu Ye originally planned to meet with his master and discuss the battle in the Obscured Heavens Mountains, but much to his disappointment, Su Yi headed straight for the Sword-Testing Tower; he was going into seclusion, too.

He gave Lu Ye no chance to chat with him whatsoever.

Before he went into seclusion, Su Yi took out his trophies, removed those useful for his cultivation, and gave the rest to Lu Ye.

One look at the spoils, and Lu Ye could guess much of what had happened in the Obscured Heavens Mountains!

It was just that his conclusions were far too shocking, as from the look of things, his master had cut down dozens of Heavenly Monarchs!

These trophies had come from numerous different Heavenly Monarchs. Lu Ye was sure of it.

Moreover, there was no small number of Heavenly Sovereign Secret Treasures in the mix!

Waves of emotion coursed through Lu Ye’s heart.

Unfortunately, the Heavenly Aberrant Hidden Realm was separated from the rest of the world. He had no way of obtaining any further information.

Still, he could say with certainty that the battle in the Obscured Heavens Mountains would impact the entire Eternal Heavens Domain!

In the end, Lu Ye suppressed his excitement and decided to keep a lid on things. He wouldn’t tell his sectmates what he’d guessed just yet.

If he did, the entire sect would boil over, like a pot blowing off its lid.

It’s just, why was Master in such a rush to go into seclusion? Don’t tell me... that he’s going to break through soon? Lu Ye couldn’t help but wonder.

He was right, too. Su Yi was indeed on the verge of another breakthrough.

After cutting down Heavenly Sovereign Wen’s avatar, perhaps out of sheer satisfaction, and perhaps simply because the time was right, the opportunity he’d been waiting for arrived.

Su Yi had been at the peak of the Silent Realm for a while, but now, he saw signs of an imminent breakthrough!

This was why he went straight into seclusion upon returning to the Heavenly Aberrant Hidden Realm.

He now sat cross-legged in front of the Sword-Testing Tower, deeply immersed in his cultivation.

Cultivating the Grand Dao wasn’t just about boosting one’s cultivation base. Cultivators needed to temper their bodies, souls, hearts, and powers of the Grand Dao, too.

The higher the cultivation, the more time and effort it took to cultivate. Thus, to cultivators, going into seclusion was as commonplace as eating. Most spent little time tempering themselves in the outside world.

But Su Yi was different. He spent an enormous amount of time tempering himself and seldom went into seclusion. He could practically count the number of times he’d really gone into seclusion in this lifetime on his fingers.

Moreover, he never stayed in seclusion for long, decades at most. Sometimes, he only stayed there for a few months.

This time, Su Yi planned to thoroughly steady himself, then break through. He wouldn’t leave seclusion until he’d succeeded!

Half a month later, Su Yi rose, headed for the thirteenth floor of the Sword-Testing Tower, and clashed with Heavenly Sovereign Wanjiang’s imprint.

The result was just as he’d expected. Without any external powers, he still was no match for the Heavenly Sovereign, and he lost the same way he always did.

But he’d made progress. He lasted three strikes longer than before!

A month later, Su Yi received a message from Heavenly Sovereign Ku Xuan. First, the message praised his glorious accomplishments in the Obscured Heavens Mountains. Moreover, Heavenly Sovereign Ku Xuan described Heavenly Sovereign Yaoguang and Heavenly Sovereign Wen’s anger with sadistic glee.

It was only afterward that he got down to business and urged Su Yi to hurry up and settle on a time and place for the Struggle for Heavenly Fate.

The Heavenly Sovereigns were all waiting for an answer, and the longer they dragged this out, the more likely it was that something would go wrong.

All Su Yi had to say in response was, “Wait for me to leave seclusion.”

He then continued cultivating as if none of this had anything to do with him.

Time flowed by.

...

Su Yi’s third month of seclusion.

Divine Reverence Pavilion.

“Mistress, I’ve found a lead to His Excellency Su’s disciple, Luo Yan,” the Qiongqi Mountain Lord reported solemnly.

Ruo Su asked, “In that case, why not simply bring her back? Is the situation particularly troublesome?”

The Qiongqi Mountain Lord scratched his head. “It is indeed a bit troublesome. I’m afraid that I’d have to go all out to bring Luo Yan back.”

Ruo Su said casually, “I already told you that you’re permitted to use your true strength on this mission, so what do you have to worry about?”

The Qiongqi Mountain Lord didn’t beat around the bush. “I strongly suspect that the Far Shore’s Panwu Yao Domain is involved.”

Ruo Su’s brow furrowed.

The Panwu Yao Domain was a plane under the control of the Chaos Race Panwu Family. They were situated in the All-Profound Dominion, and their foundations were incomparably ancient.

They were a progenitor-level faction of the Yao Path!

Every major school of thought and style of cultivation had a progenitor-level faction in the All-Profound Dominion.

Three Purities Temple and Sword Sovereign City were both examples of “progenitor-level” factions.

And so was the Panwu Yao Domain!

Those considered “progenitors” were the source of their school of thought and the beginning of their respective Daos. Without exception, these factions were ruler-like existences.

Zhi Wuzhong’s Sect of Endlessness was one of the ruling factions of the All-Profound Dominion too, but its foundations still couldn’t compare to those of the true progenitor-level factions.

However, rich foundations were ultimately just that. They merely proved the strength of a lineage’s founders.

Zhi Wuzhong had single-handedly developed the Sect of Endlessness into a ruling faction. This was an unprecedented feat.

No one would dare to look down on him.

“How could Luo Yan be involved with people from the Panwu Yao Domain?” asked Ruo Su. She, too, realized that the situation was extraordinary.

“I’m still uncertain,” said the Qiongqi Mountain Lord. “I’ll need to investigate further.”

Ruo Su pondered briefly. “Never mind. Don’t worry about all that. All you need to do is bring her back safely.”

“But if that means offending the Panwu Yao Domain...” probed the Qiongqi Mountain Lord.

Ruo Su said calmly, “They ought to be worried about offending me, not the other way around.”

It was just one light, airy sentence, yet it was utterly tyrannical.

The Qiongqi Mountain Lord felt a massive weight lift from his shoulders. He solemnly nodded his assent. “Now that you’ve said that, I know what to do next!”

Ruo Su ordered, “Remember, bring her back first, then inform Fellow Daoist Su. That way, he won’t have to worry.”

The Qiongqi Mountain Lord was stunned. Does Mistress intend to shoulder the entire responsibility for this conflict with the Panwu Yao Domain?

He suddenly realized that she attached far greater importance to Su Yi than he’d realized.

“Go on,” said Ruo Su.

“Understood!” The Qiongqi Mountain Lord nodded, then left.

Inwardly, he’d made up his mind. I’ve got to make sure I do a good job on this one. I cannot disappoint Mistress, but more than that, I need to give Su Yi a satisfactory answer!