First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 984 – The Platform of Rebirth

Immortal Gourd Mountain was shrouded in faint white mist year-round. It got its name from its distinctive shape reminiscent of a massive gourd.

Within the Burial Ground of the Dao, Immortal Gourd Mountain wasn’t exactly a forbidden zone.

But throughout the ages, almost no one had realized that the Platform of Rebirth, a taboo place of fleeting legends, was built atop this very mountain.

The night sky was as dark as ink.

Atop Immortal Gourd Mountain.

The rocks were craggy and strangely shaped, and nothing grew here. Silvery, off-white mists draped over the mountainside like a silk shawl, and no matter how hard the winds blew, they couldn’t disperse the fog.

Dark, heavy clouds obscured the full moon overhead, and a strange silence enveloped the surrounding landscape.

“What is it about this place? It feels terrifyingly desolate and bleak.” The Netherworld King stood on the mountaintop, her face as exquisite as sculpted porcelain. However, her expression was grave.

“Ancient rumors state that even the most vicious of supernatural entities dare not approach this place, and that if they do, they’ll meet with certain doom,” Su Yi said casually from off to the side. “When I first visited, I was badly wounded, and I was trapped here for almost nine years. It wasn’t just my body that was hurt, either; even my soul was almost eradicated.”

A chill coursed down the Netherworld King’s spine.

In his past life, Su Yi was the sole sovereign of the Wilds, the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force. He’d stood over the world for countless years, and the people saw him as the greatest swordsman of the Imperial Apex Realm.

Yet even someone like him had almost died here. It was easy to imagine how terrifying this place was.

“Just… just what kind of dangers lie in wait here?” The Netherworld King couldn’t help but ask.

“It’s a strange power of rebirth born of the cycle of reincarnation. Beneath the suppression of this power, it doesn’t matter how high or low your cultivation is. Your cultivation base, longevity, vitality, and soul…. All will be stripped and ground away,” Su Yi said without so much as pausing to think.

“That’s what they mean when they say, ‘those trapped in the cycle of rebirth are born with nothing and take nothing with them when they die.’ However, the power of the Laws of Rebirth is already damaged. Furthermore, the platform only contains a portion of the profundities of reincarnation. If its power fritters you away to nothingness, you cannot enter the cycle of rebirth and realize your goal of reincarnation.”

The Netherworld King’s starry eyes shifted, and a chill coursed down her upright, impressive figure.

“Fellow Daoist, don’t tell me you brought me here to use the Laws of Rebirth to take me down?” the Netherworld King asked with a smile.

However, her smile looked a bit forced.

Su Yi laughed dryly. “You’re overthinking this. I wouldn’t need that much power to take down your clone.”

The Netherworld King’s expression froze and filled with uncertainty.

How could she have missed the contempt implied in Su Yi’s words?

Nonetheless, she inwardly sighed in relief. It was enough that he wasn’t plotting her demise.

Su Yi then walked over to the scattered, strangely scraped rocks. On the mist-shrouded peak, every boulder had its own distinctive shape.

However, were someone to gaze down on the peak from on high, they’d discover that the rocks were arranged in a strange, whirlpool-like pattern.

And there was a depression at the whirlpool’s center.

Su Yi’s movements piqued the Netherworld King’s curiosity, but just as she was about to get closer, Su Yi said, “You’d best stay where you are. Otherwise, I won’t be able to save you.”

He spoke without so much as glancing back at her.

The Netherworld King stiffened, then feigned normalcy as she lowered the slender, jadelike leg just about to carry her forward.

Although she hadn’t sensed any sign of danger, the strange silence in the air made her hair stand on end. Add that to Su Yi’s description of the terrifying Laws of Rebirth, and she dared not act recklessly.

Su Yi looked up at the sky, then sat cross-legged atop a boulder near the depression at the center of the stone whirlpool.

With a swing of his sleeves, the Seed of the Azure floated into the air like a radiant bundle of light. Su Yi then passed it to the distant Netherworld King.

“Do me a favor and keep an eye on this,” Su Yi said casually.

The Netherworld King’s starry eyes glinted with irritation. Is this guy… ordering me around!?

She said coldly, “That’s the source power of an entire world. Fellow Daoist, aren’t you afraid that I’ll run off with it while you undergo tribulation?”

Su Yi waved his sleeves several times more in rapid succession. The Scarlet Dome of Heaven, the Immortal-Beating Mallet, the Buddha’s Seal of Life and Death, the Controlling Currents Shuttle, the Lamp of the Nine Dragon Gods, the Silverflame Fighting the Heavens Armor, and various other treasures appeared in rapid succession.

“You’re welcome to try it,” said Su Yi. As he spoke, he tossed his treasures over to the Netherworld King. “These too. I’ll temporarily entrust them to your care.”

“???” The Netherworld King was flabbergasted. Since when could this guy order me around like a servant?

Wordless irritation filled the Netherworld King’s heart, especially when she saw how calm Su Yi looked, as if she were sure to do as she was told.

She gnashed her teeth and glared at Su Yi, but in the end, she repressed her stifled agitation and obediently gathered up the treasures.

“This too.” Su Yi tossed over the three-inch green-skinned gourd. “I urge you not to try and use this treasure. If you do, you’ll be in for a lot of pain.”

The Netherworld King was increasingly displeased.

However, when her slender figure held the little gourd, her heart shook. What a wondrous treasure!

It looked as if it were carved out of divine jade. It was crystalline and transparent, and although she sensed no special aura from it beforehand, as soon as she held it, she clearly sensed the utterly terrifying sword light inside. She even had an instinctual reaction to this potentially lethal threat!

So this is the sword that guy used in his past life? It really is impressive… she sighed to herself.

Earlier, she’d witnessed Su Yi using this treasure to leave Huo Yao covered in wounds and unable to fight back.

She’d also heard its boundless, ethereal sword hum, and an indescribable terror and oppression bore down on her heart.

I wonder how strong this treasure really is?

As the Netherworld King’s thoughts raced, Su Yi tossed more of his stuff over. It included all manner of treasures, talismans, and jade slips. They were all different, and there were a lot of them.

“Fellow Daoist, have you kept any treasures and medicines for when you undergo tribulation?” the Netherworld King couldn’t help but ask.

She’d just realized that Su Yi had stripped himself of everything he had on him. He had nothing left.

“I don’t need them.” Su Yi shook his head.

The Netherworld King’s delicate eyebrows knit together. You don’t need them!?

What cultivator doesn’t need to prepare an abundance of defensive treasures and medicines when they prove their Dao and break into the Imperial Realm?

In peak orthodoxies, they even send groups of old monsters to serve as dharma protectors for those undergoing tribulation.

Yet you just have to go against convention! You’re seriously tossing everything you have on you aside?

This was indeed unquestionably out of the ordinary.

Meanwhile, Su Yi had already gotten started.

He sat cross-legged atop a boulder and formed a strange, intricate hand seal before pressing down on the air.

Weng!

Amidst surging misty light, fresh blood sprayed from Su Yi’s fingertips, intertwining and outlining a diagram in the air like ink flowing from the tip of a writing brush.

In the blink of an eye, a mysterious diagram formed entirely out of fresh blood hovered in midair.

This scene instantly attracted the Netherworld King’s attention.

However, before she could see through its mysteries, the entire mountain shook violently. Rumbling arose from within the mountain.

Like the ringing of a grand bell or the beating of a divine drum.

The radiant full moon was initially obscured by dark clouds, but it suddenly burst with dreamlike, clear radiance. Its light arced like rainbows, which landed on the floating diagram Su Yi had written in fresh blood.

The blood diagram instantly seemed plated in holy radiance. It flowed with colorful light, making Su Yi seem even more ethereal and illusory.

That guy is actually borrowing the power of the Laws of the Netherworld’s source! The Netherworld King’s heart shook, and her bright eyes widened.

Back when she first entered the Burial Ground of the Dao, she sensed that the full moon hanging overhead was a manifestation of the Netherworld’s source.

But she would never have guessed that Su Yi would be able to borrow this supreme, unsurpassed power!

That was no different from borrowing the majesty of the heavens!

Boom!

As Su Yi pressed down, the diagram of blood slowly sank into the depression in the ground.

From above, the scattered, strangely shaped stones looked like a whirlpool. The depression at their center was the eye of the vortex.

But from afar, the indentation looked more like the opening of the massive “gourd” that was Immortal Gourd Mountain!

As the blood diagram bathed in the Laws of the Netherworld’s source descended, it was like a key unlocking the long sealed opening of a massive gourd.

A moment later——

Boom!

Immortal Gourd Mountain swayed, and an unparalleled, mysterious energy fluctuation spread from within the mountain, transforming into gray ripples that enveloped everything within a ten-thousand-foot radius!

At the same time, the indentation before Su Yi split open, and the gray, misty light of chaos surged into the cloudy dome of heaven.

An indescribable austerity instantly enveloped the entire landscape. Amidst this seemingly holy atmosphere, an inestimable power of the Laws rolled and overturned between heaven and earth.

The Netherworld King’s delicate frame quivered uncontrollably!

At that moment, she felt a suffocating sense of oppression and panic, as if she was as insignificant as an ant.

It seemed that if she dared act recklessly, the boundless gray power of the Laws would effortlessly grind her into powder and erase her from this world!!

Are these… Don’t tell me these are the ‘Laws of Rebirth’ that guy mentioned?

The Netherworld King was completely astonished.

In ancient times, she ran rampant throughout the Netherworld. Its countless inhabitants feared and respected her, while the Infernal Palace saw her as their greatest enemy. Her knowledge and experience was naturally far from ordinary.

Even so, she felt true terror and unease!

Boom!

Amidst the churning misty light, a black platform seemingly carved from immortal jade rose from the indentation in front of Su Yi, inch by inch.

When the black jade platform fully revealed itself, the Netherworld King was unwittingly rooted to the spot.

What kind of treasure is that?

The fully emerged platform was ninety feet tall and perfectly cylindrical, like a pillar. Its surface was like black jade carved with countless strange and inscrutable Dao Markings. They were densely packed and too numerous to count.

A wave of the gray power of the Laws circulated continuously around the jade platform, giving it an additional imposing, mysterious quality.

When the Netherworld King’s gaze landed on the intricate markings covering the platform’s surface, she felt as if her soul had sunk into a river of endless darkness. The churning waves bore the marks of the ever-changing flow of history. The annals of years gone by flowed past, and countless lifeforms lived, grew old, fell sick, and died within in an endless cycle.

It was indistinct, but the Netherworld King caught a vague glimpse of an enormous abyss at the far end of the river. It devoured the constantly shifting ages, the annals of history, and the countless lifeforms giving birth, aging, and dying…

And then, it drew closer and closer to her…

But it was then that a booming voice exploded within the Netherworld King’s consciousness. She shuddered, and her mind and soul were clear once more.

However, her utterly beautiful face was deathly pale, and her graceful, delicate figure was drenched in cold sweat. Her brow was written with lingering terror and astonishment as she muttered in a daze, “That… don’t tell me that was…”

Off in the distance, the young man seated cross-legged on a rock nodded. “That’s right. These were some of the secrets of reincarnation.”