FIRST IMMORTAL OF THE SWORD

Chapter 980 - True Despair

Huo Yao didn’t recognize the First Heavenly Libationer.

Nevertheless, he could sense that the remnant of will that had suddenly shot out of Buddha’s Seal of Life and Death emanated an utterly terrifying aura!

It was so terrifying that he could feel his hair stand on end and chills spread across his skin.

Without the slightest hesitation, Huo Yao waved his sleeves.

The Lamp of the Nine Dragon Gods burst with radiant light and fired a monstrous purple flame. The blaze swept toward the elder in black.

The air burned, and the firelight illuminated the nine heavens.

“Hmph!” A cold, forceful look appeared on the old man’s brow, and he suddenly chopped the air with his hand.

Whoosh!

A streak of black blade light full of calamitous energy cleaved through the air like a knife. It instantly tore through the purple flames blanketing heaven and earth.

Then, it continued toward Huo Yao, its power entirely undiminished!

As if it were cutting through rotten wood. Huo Yao’s expression was instantly as solemn as could be.

A bronze shield as smooth as the surface of a mirror suddenly appeared in his left hand, and natural Dao Markings appeared all over it, outlining two spirit fish: one white, one black.

This was a Xiantian treasure, the Yin-Yang Chaos Origin Shield!

Bang!!!

When the sharp black light cleaved into the shield, it burst with appalling radiance.

Huo Yao staggered violently, and throughout his body, his blood and qi churned. Still, he successfully blocked this terrifying attack.

The distant elder in black looked a bit surprised, and his gaze focused. “I wouldn’t have thought a Profound Serenity cultivator like you would possess so many Xiantian treasures.”

In his eyes, the Scarlet Dome of the Firmament, the Lamp of the Nine Dragon Gods, the Yin-Yang Chaos Origin Shield, and the Silverflame Fighting the Heavens Armor were all first-rate Xiantian Divine Treasures. All were extremely rare.

Even one such treasure was endlessly useful to an Emperor, yet Huo Yao had four of them!

“There’s no shortage of things you don’t know, you old codger. Besides, you’re nothing but a remnant of will. Do you really think you can do whatever you please!?” Huo Yao bellowed, his eyes shining with explosive viciousness.

Before his voice had even finished echoing through the air, his five severed fingers grew back, like withered trees in spring.

Boom!

A moment later, Huo Yao charged at the old man in black.

The Scarlet Dome of Heaven’s clear hum shook the world, and the firelight of the Lamp of the Nine Dragon Gods intertwined, making Huo Yao seem like a demonic god at war.

His momentum was tyrannical, and his aura was ferocious and frenzied!

The old man in black remained as calm as before. His sleeves billowed around him as he unleashed a strange and inscrutable secret art of the Grand Dao. His bony fingers were like ten blades, slashing and gouging repeatedly.

Kcch! Kcch! Kcch!

One streak of sharp black light after another shot forth, all of them full of the power of a calamity of the Grand Dao.

Each streak of black light was strange and quick as lightning. They appeared and disappeared unpredictably, but the forceful, destructive power within them ripped through the skies with ease, leaving long, narrow rifts behind.

In the blink of an eye, the skies were riddled with holes, as if someone had taken a knife to canvas!

Just like that, a grand battle broke out.

Huo Yao’s tyrannical viciousness was in stark contrast to the old man’s indifferent coldness.

The two of them fought bitterly throughout this stretch of heaven and earth. Their battle raged with such ferocity that heaven and earth dimmed, and the sun and moon lost their light. The surrounding landscape already lay withered and in ruin.

Divine radiance ran rampant, and as they clashed, the resulting impact shook the heavens and boomed throughout the landscape.

Su Yi didn’t leave.

He just stood in the distance, calmly taking all of this in. His expression was as tranquil as the waters of an ancient well, and it contained neither joy nor sorrow.

There was no doubt about it: the remnant will of the First Heavenly Libationer of the Nine Heavens Pavilion was terrifying, especially given his master of the Laws of Heavenly Prayer. They were like the imposing might of the heavens, and they were intensely strong.

Although this old man was only a portion of the real thing’s will, he was still stronger than Fourth Executioner Hong Ying.

If not for Huo Yao’s control over numerous Xiantiain treasures, he would have been no match for the First Heavenly Libationer, and he likely would have lost right off the bat.

But the weaknesses of an imprint of will were readily apparent too. Most notably, their power was limited, and they wouldn’t last long!

Boom!

The grand battle raged on with incomparable ferocity.

Huo Yao fought valiantly, but he didn’t clash with the old man in black. Instead, he tried to draw this out.

There was no doubt about it: he’d already realized that his strength wasn’t enough to defeat his opponent. Thus, he’d decided to drag this out and exhaust his enemy’s energy reserves!

But the old man in black naturally wouldn’t just let him act as he pleased. He immediately used the strongest methods at his disposal and attacked Huo Yao with all his might.

Just a few breaths of time later, Huo Yao was covered in wounds.

Although none of his injuries were lethal, his skin was in tatters, and he bled non-stop. He cut an extremely sorry figure.

“If your true body were here, I might well be afraid of you, you old bastard. But what can a mere portion of your will do to me!?” Huo Yao bellowed, and his entire body surged with flames rife with viciousness as he circulated his technique to the full limit of its power.

He’d already sensed that the black-robed old man’s power was starting to fade!

“Is that so?” A hint of a chill appeared in the depths of the old man’s gaze. A moment later, he let out a strange Daoist invocation and swept his sleeves through the air.

Boom!

Buddha’s Seal of Life and Death burst with a hundred feet of black flame. The entire landscape suddenly swayed, as if the heavens were falling and the earth were caving in.

Huo Yao’s pupils constricted. Has the old codger decided to stake everything on a single attack!?

“You’re right, kid: I am indeed only an imprint of will. Furthermore, my true body left me here when he was only in the early-stage Profound Unity Realm. However…” The old man’s entire body suddenly caught ablaze. “Dealing with someone of your level still won’t be difficult!”

As his cold, indifferent voice echoed through the air, the old man in black transformed into a searing streak of light and shot into the Buddha’s Seal of Life and Death.

Boom!

The seal instantly transformed into an enormous black sun. It brought with it appalling black radiance, and it descended explosively upon Huo Yao.

The old-timer’s actually quite decisive, thought Su Yi.

“Dammit!” Huo Yao completely lost his composure, and he chose to dodge without the slightest hesitation.

And as he dodged, he activated practically every defensive art and treasure at his disposal. He simply didn’t dare to hold back.

The Scarlet Dome of Heaven unleashed its defensive divine ability, forming a sword curtain with thirty-three layers of the power of the Laws in front of Huo Yao.

The Lamp of the Nine Dragon Gods burst with purple flame that condensed into an enormous purple lotus that defended Huo Yao on all sides.

He activated the Yin-Yang Chaos Origin Shield with his left hand, while his armor lit up with intricate, inscrutable talisman markings of the Grand Dao…

Even so, Huo Yao didn’t feel safe.

Without so much as the slightest delay, he bit through the tip of his tongue. The blood and qi throughout his body rumbled like thunder, and barriers outlined in fresh blood took shape around him, like a multi-layered demonic domain rising and falling.

The Fire Demon Domain!

This was Huo Yao’s innate divine ability. In exchange for the majority of his blood and qi, he could create a domain of the Laws to defend himself. It was like a natural barrier.

It was also then that the Buddha’s Seal of Life and Death descended like an enormous black sun.

Boom!!

Heaven and earth suddenly trembled as if the skies were falling.

A deafening impact boomed throughout the nine heavens.

Su Yi watched as the Buddha’s Seal of Life and Death broke through the purple flames of the Lamp of the Nine Dragon Gods as if they were nothing but rotten wood. Misty light filled the sky.

Immediately afterward, explosions rang out in rapid succession, like the beating of a drum.

That was the sound of the seal boring relentlessly through the Scarlet Dome of Heaven’s thirty-three layers of sword curtain. The sword curtain was strong enough to block the full force of a Profound Serenity Emperor, yet now, it shattered as easily as if it were made of glass!

A moment later, a shrill wail rang out, accompanied by the crunching of breaking bones.

The Yin-Yang Chaos Origin Shield was sent flying, and Huo Yao’s left hand shattered with a spray of blood.

Then, the Buddha’s Seal of Life and Death slammed into him.

Bang!!!

Huo Yao was sent flying directly backward.

The thirty-three layers of barriers shattered with a bang, and the Silverflame Fighting the Heavens Armor bent, caving in at the chest. The sound of shattering bone soon followed.

As for Huo Yao himself? Blood flowed from the seven apertures of his face, and his complexion was deathly pale. His skin was covered in numerous cracks, all of which gushed blood.

In the end, they fell into one of the newly opened chasms in the ground with a thud, stirring up a cloud of dust.

One attack!

One attack broke through the combined defenses of four Xiantian treasures and severely injured Huo Yao! This unstoppable power was astonishing and appalling!

However, although the Buddha’s Seal of Life and Death had been terrifying beyond limit just moments prior, it suddenly trembled. Its misty light receded and dimmed, and it fell from the sky as if it had completely run out of power.

Su Yi took all of this in, but his expression didn’t so much as ripple.

Even after burning his remnant will, the First Heavenly Libationer couldn’t kill Huo Yao in the end.

But then, it makes sense. He left this remnant will behind when he was still in the early-stage Profound Unity Realm, thought Su Yi.

Dust and smoke permeated the air, and the landscape withered.

Huo Yao’s hysterical, uproarious laughter suddenly resounded from within the cracked ground.

“Master, that secret weapon of yours sure was something! What a pity that the old timer couldn’t kill me after all!”

He then shot out of one of the newly opened chasms.

Huo Yao’s clothes were in ruins, his hair was disheveled, and his skin was cracked and smeared with blood. There was even a startling indentation in his chest. All in all, he looked like an unparalleled vicious ghost who’d just crawled out of the pits of hell.

Despite the severity of his injuries, his aura was explosive and vicious!

His bloodshot eyes locked onto the distant Su Yi, and a huge smile spread across his face. It contained a mixture of smug pride and hatred as he rasped, “If you have anything else up your sleeves, now’s the time to reveal it!”

Before his voice had even finished echoing through the air, the wounds covering his entire body burst with transparent, radiant, nine-colored light.

An unbelievable scene followed.

The wounds covering every inch of his body knit together at speeds visible to the naked eye!

A Yin-Yang Nine Purities Pill!

Su Yi furrowed his brow.

In his past life, he’d put over a thousand types of divine medicine and over a hundred years of effort into refining a batch of the pills honored as the “greatest in the Wilds.”

Even then, the finished batch only contained nine pills. A Yin-Yang Nine Purities Pill could return flesh to bone and save someone from the brink of death. Even Emperors with severe injuries could recover rapidly after taking just one pill!

There was no doubt about it. After taking heavy injuries, Huo Yao instantly took one such pill!

“Very well. I’ll just have to teach you the true meaning of despair, you wicked creature!” The depths of Su Yi’s gaze shone with murderous intent. He made no further attempts to conceal it.

With a wave of his sleeves, a three-inch green-skinned gourd floated into the air.

Huo Yao’s laughter came to an abrupt halt, and his eyes were suddenly completely bloodshot. Irrepressible dread filled his expression.

The Tiny Heart of the Cosmos!!!