First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 977 – Huo Yao’s Viciousness

Broken Souls Ridge.

Gu Ziming waited frantically within a grand hall.

Suddenly, space rippled, and a figure emerged. His Daoist robes were red as fire, and his face was strikingly handsome. This was none other than Huo Yao.

“Martial Uncle!” Gu Ziming exclaimed in delight, then approached and inclined his head in greeting.

“No need to waste time on pleasantries. Tell me everything that happened earlier,” Huo Yao said coolly.

He stood with his hands behind his back, his figure perfectly upright. Every gesture contained an air of transcendence.

His mannerisms were somewhat reminiscent of Su Yi’s.

However, although Huo Yao looked calm, whenever he opened his eyes, he inadvertently let slip an imposing, tyrannical, fiery arrogance.

“Yes, sir!” Gu Ziming dared not hesitate. He immediately laid everything that had happened out in the open.

Huo Yao listened attentively, and subtle hints of fervor and excitement shone within the depths of his gaze.

Four Profound Serenity Emperors had surrounded him, yet the young man in blue changed the wind and clouds with a flip of his hands and retreated with ease. Along the way, he’d even used his Spiritual Revolution Realm cultivation to break through an encirclement of Emperors!

Throughout the world and throughout the ages, this heaven-defying feat was undoubtedly unprecedented!

“Where did the boy run off to?” Huo Yao didn’t ask for any further details. Instead, he got straight to the point.

Gu Ziming hurriedly took out a perfectly round crimson jade plate, which he proffered with both hands. “Martial Uncle, when we fought Su Yi earlier, I left a trace of Shadowless Incense Powder on him. If you use this Shadowless Plate, you’ll be able to sense his location.”

Huo Yao subtly inclined his head, then put the crimson jade plate away.

He was just about to leave when he suddenly recalled something, and he looked at Gu Ziming. “Did you tell any of the others the boy’s origins?”

Gu Ziming stiffened, and he said in a low voice, “Rest assured, Martial Uncle. Aside from the four Profound Serenity elders, no one knows anything about Su Yi!”

“Mm,” said Huo Yao. “You’ve done well.”

Before his voice had even finished echoing through the air, Huo Yao blurred into wisps of flame and disappeared into thin air.

Only then did Gu Ziming feel a massive weight lift from his shoulders. He subtly straightened his spine, only to realize that the back of his clothes was drenched in cold sweat.

Martial Uncle is getting more and more terrifying… Gu Ziming’s heart palpitated in terror. Who would ever imagine that just five hundred years ago, Martial Uncle had yet to prove his Dao and become an Emperor?

And who would dare imagine that not long ago, Martial Uncle was seen as the dullest of the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force’s nine legacy disciples?

Yet now, just five hundred short years later, he’s already a prominent expert of the Profound Serenity Realm!

……

A silvery, radiant full moon hung in the sky.

Su Yi traversed a gray, overcast landscape on foot.

Darkness surrounded him on all sides. Countless strange and terrifying dangers lurked in the shadows. Even Emperors dared not venture into these lands lightly.

But Su Yi seemed as casual as if he were on a stroll through his own backyard.

He held the Immortal-Beating Mallet, and it shone with the faint luster of an eternal night, which transformed into invisible ripples of energy. This was what let him travel unimpeded, without surprises or danger.

Another few hundred miles, and I’ll arrive at Immortal Gourd Mountain…

Immortal Gourd Mountain was one of the most mysterious, least understood places in the Burial Ground of the Dao. The mountain was shamed like an enormous gourd, and it was shrouded in faint, misty white light year round.

Hence the name Immortal Gourd Mountain.

However, although the general populace didn’t know it, the most mysterious place in the Burial Ground of the Dao, the Platform of Rebirth, stood atop this very mountain!

It was just that even if someone reached Immortal Gourd Mountain, it would be almost impossible for them to locate the Platform of Rebirth.

It was just too mysterious, and unless you’d mastered some of the secrets of reincarnation, you couldn’t see its true nature, no matter how high your cultivation.

But now, Su Yi saw the Platform of Rebirth as the location of his breakthrough into the Imperial Realm!

Suddenly——

Su Yi sensed something as he flew through the air. He stopped in place and gazed intently at a distant mountaintop.

He wasn’t sure when, but someone had appeared there.

A man in fiery Daoist robes. His hands were behind his back as he gazed into the sky. The clear, snowy light of the full moon highlighted his upright figure, making him seem utterly transcendent.

Su Yi’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

At the same time, the man in fiery Daoist robes turned. His gaze was like a dazzling streak of lightning, tearing through the skies to focus on the distant Su Yi.

At first, the man in red looked calm, but his expression was suddenly conflicted.

There was surprise, awe, unease, and disbelief…

But soon, all of these shifting emotions receded, and a smile took their place.

It was a smile full of irrepressible excitement. As a result, his eyes turned even more dazzling and imposing, and they surged with misty light.

He dusted off his clothes and took a leisurely step forward, drifting through the skies and toward Su Yi.

“Master, it’s been difficult searching for you all these years.” The young man’s fiery robes fluttered as he let out a wistful sigh.

Su Yi looked him up and down. He sighed too. “It’s a pity that you didn’t listen to me and broke into the Imperial Realm prematurely.”

The young man in fiery robes was his third disciple, Huo Yao!

While exploring an ancient danger zone in his past life, Su Yi discovered a Demonic Womb receiving nourishment from a Xiantian fire source.

The Demonic Womb was nourishing a Firespirit Demon infant.

And that infant was Huo Yao!

It was no exaggeration to say that Huo Yao had grown up by Su Yi’s side.

When he heard Su Yi sigh, Huo Yao’s face filled with undisguisable resentment. “Had I listened to you, I’m afraid I would have reached the end of my lifespan without breaking into the Imperial Realm!”

But then, it seemed that wasn’t enough to get all his fury out of his system, or perhaps he’d finally found an outlet for his pent-up hatred. Either way, he said indignantly, “It’s because I listened to you that I became a laughingstock. The world mocked me as the dullest and dumbest of your nine legacy disciples!

“Master, do you have any idea how humiliating that was? Or how bitter I felt? I could only watch as my junior apprentice brothers and sisters proved their Daos and became Emperors. I could only watch as one by one, they left me in the dust. Do you have any idea how much that hurt?”

Even his voice had gotten louder. It boomed through the sky like thunder.

And there was now a clear viciousness about his handsome features.

Su Yi furrowed his brow. “I said it a long time ago. If you wanted to reach the Imperial Apex Realm, you needed to rid yourself of the viciousness within your heart during the Spiritual Revolution Realm. I also said that if you failed to do so, you were fated never to achieve Profound Unity.”

Even amongst his nine legacy disciples, Huo Yao was an extraordinary talent. He might be slightly inferior to the youngest, Qing Tang, but he was absolutely a rare genius, the likes of which might not appear even once in tens of thousands of years.

However, a long time ago, Su Yi noticed that as a descendant of the Firespirit Demons, Huo Yao’s heart had an innate vicious quality.

If he couldn’t fully erase it, he could forget about challenging the Imperial Apex Realm.

It was for this reason that when Huo Yao reached the Spiritual Revolution Realm, Su Yi intervened. He used an utterly wondrous divine ability to seal Huo Yao’s cultivation base. He then told his disciple not to become an Emperor until he’d freed himself of the viciousness within his heart.

But it was obvious that after his master reincarnated, Huo Yao disobeyed his orders and broke through directly.

“Hah!” It was as if Huo Yao had just heard an enormous joke. He threw back his head and laughed, “Master, even now, you’re trying to use that nonsensical reason to fob me off!”

He stretched out his finger and spoke slowly, pausing for emphasis between each word. “See this? Just five hundred years have passed, but I’m already in the mid-stage Profound Serenity Realm!”

Boom!

His long hair and clothing billowed, and arcs of divine fire blazed into being around him, connecting heaven and earth. He was like a god emerging from the flame.

His eyes blazed like torches as he growled, “If you hadn’t held me back for sixty thousand years, with my talent and foundations, I would have long since dazzled the heavens and intimidated the Wilds! My accomplishments wouldn’t be the least bit inferior to Eldest Senior Apprentice Brother or Little Junior Apprentice Sister!”

Huo Yao stared intently at Su Yi. “Sixty thousand years! Do you have any idea how I lived all that time?”

He no longer made the slightest effort to disguise his rage or resentment.

Su Yi gazed intently at him for a moment, then said flatly, “The lifespan of a Spiritual Revolution Realm cultivator is eight thousand years at most. You only lived for sixty thousand years because I helped you extend your lifespan. My intention was simply to fully grind away the viciousness within your heart.”

Huo Yao was stunned, then so furious that he laughed.

But then, Su Yi continued. “I found it strange too. They say it’s easier to hunt bandits in the mountains than to destroy the thieves of the heart, but with your talent and powers of comprehension, it seemed impossible that you’d fail to take that step even after all that time. But now, I’ve already understood.”

He looked up at Huo Yao. “During those sixty thousand years, the viciousness lurking within your heart transformed into resentment of me. In that case, how could you possibly cleanse your heart of its ferocity?”

Here, he couldn’t help but sigh. This was what Buddhists meant when they said that enmity led to sin!

The better he was to Huo Yao, the more Huo Yao resented him. The more he tried to help Huo Yao cleanse his heart of its viciousness, the more entrenched his viciousness became.

Like a knot that couldn’t be untied.

Huo Yao said with utter mockery and disdain, “What ‘viciousness’? That’s nothing but dog farts! If there were a problem with my mental state, how could I have proven my Dao and become an Emperor? How could I have reached the mid-stage Profound Serenity Realm in just five hundred short years?”

Su Yi’s gaze was increasingly cool.

He’d raised Huo Yao since he was an infant, only for his disciple to turn around and view him with enmity. He couldn’t help but feel desolate and dejected.

After a moment’s silence, he said, “Your little apprentice sister said that you stole the Abstruse Primordial God Mirror I trusted to your fourth apprentice sister. Is that true?”

Huo Yao’s eyes flashed, and he laughed coldly, “That little bitch Qing Tang is trying to frame me again. Since you asked, Master, there’s no reason not to tell you. Fourth Junior Apprentice Sister gave it to me of her own accord on Eldest Apprentice Brother’s orders!”

Su Yi continued, “Was it you who used the Abstruse Primordial God Mirror to disperse the formations around the Grotto of Abstruse Force?

The Abstruse Primordial God Mirror controlled the grotto’s formations.

Back then, Pi Mo colluded with external foes, who’d fought their way in with ease. Why? Because Pi Mo had an inside man who’d used the Abstruse Primordial God Mirror to lower the sect’s defenses.

Huo Yao couldn’t help but laugh in response to this question. “Master, if you really want to learn the truth of what happened then, why not come back with me? When you meet with Eldest Apprentice Brother, we’ll tell you everything that happened in full detail. How about it?”

He sounded respectful, but his gaze was playful, with a hint of mockery.

Like a cat toying with a mouse!