FIRST IMMORTAL OF THE SWORD

Chapter 982 - A Test

He wants me to kneel before he answers my questions?

This demand seemed to thoroughly provoke Huo Yao, whose expression shifted erratically, flitting between shame, rage, and ferocity.

A moment later, he took a deep breath and hissed, “Master, in your past life, when you took us as your disciples, you said it yourself: your disciples only need to complete a ritual bow when they first accept you as their master. After that, we weren’t to bow to anyone, not to the heavens, not to the earth, not to gods or ghosts, and not to our seniors!”

Here, his bloodshot eyes locked onto Su Yi. “So why must you humiliate me in this way now?”

The rule he spoke of really did exist.

This was a rule Su Yi had set personally when he established his sect, and it applied to all disciples, not just those he taught personally. His goal was to ensure that all of them had Dao Hearts free of fear, with the courage to forge valiantly ahead.

However, Su Yi felt that it was quite ironic for Huo Yao to bring those rules up now.

A traitor to his sect and to his master saw fit to discuss the rules of those he’d betrayed? How ridiculous was that?

“Humiliate you?” Su Yi smiled, but his smile was utterly devoid of emotion. “Wicked creature, I won’t just stop at humiliating you. During this expedition to the Burial Ground of the Dao, I’ll personally cleanse my home of filth and eradicate you, my unfilial disciple.”

His tone was calm and casual, but Huo Yao felt an inexplicable chill course through his heart. He could hear the incontrovertible determination in his master’s voice!

But before he could say anything else, Su Yi gripped his sword and attacked.

His gait seemed slow, but in truth, he moved quickly. His bloodstained robes fluttered around him as he swung the clear, illusory sword in his hands.

Huo Yao was already severely injured, and he’d already experienced the terrifying power of the Tiny Heart of the Cosmos. How could he dare block it head-on?

He exhaled without the slightest hesitation.

Whoosh!

A streak of black light surged into being, then transformed into a nine-inch black weaver’s shuttle.

As soon as it appeared, a rain of strange, inscrutable spatial power poured down and enveloped Huo Yao completely.

Kcch!

The black shuttle flashed, boring a spatial rift into the sky. It then carried Huo Yao, who was bathed in a rain of its spatial power, and flew off.

The power of Su Yi’s slash hit nothing but air.

However, Su Yi didn’t panic in the slightest. The three-inch gourd in his hand swayed, and a boundless, ethereal hum rang out.

Several hundred feet away.

The sky suddenly collapsed and split, and a figure staggered out and fell.

This was none other than Huo Yao.

He had a death grip on the black weaver’s shuttle, like a drowning man clutching his last hope. He poured the full extent of his cultivation base into the treasure in an attempt to hold it back.

Off in the distance, Su Yi’s indifferent gaze shone with a hint of disdain.

He stretched out his hand and grabbed from afar.

Boom!

The surface of the shuttle burst with a strange Edict. Practically simultaneously, its connection to Huo Yao snapped.

Huo Yao’s soul suffered the resulting backlash once more. The pain made everything go black, and he hacked up blood.

His right arm—the only one he had left—had a tight grip on the shuttle, but to no avail. It bore a hole right through his hand, scattering chunks of flesh before blurring into a streak of light and landing gently in Su Yi’s palm.

“No——!” Off in the distance, Huo Yao roared bitterly and wept tears of blood. His entire body trembled.

“You even resorted to the Controlling Currents Shuttle. Seems to me that you’ve got no cards left,” said Su Yi. He was already walking toward Huo Yao.

The Controlling Currents Shuttle!

This wondrous and unfathomable Xiantian Divine Treasure was a natural spatial divine artifact containing the profundities of space. It could easily tear through the sky and carry a cultivator through space and across different planes.

Of course, it was also a supreme treasure when used for escaping.

However, using it came at a bit of a cost. It required burning a portion of the power of one’s soul. Only then could its user activate the secrets of space it contained.

Thus, Huo Yao typically viewed it as a life-saving trump card. Outside of a life-or-death situation, he wouldn’t use it lightly.

There was no doubt about it: Huo Yao had reached a dead end, and he was trying to use the Controlling Currents Shuttle to flee. Alas, he failed just as he was on the verge of success.

“Master, you…. How much longer can you hold out?” Huo Yao’s face contorted, and his eyes shone with explosive viciousness and madness. “With your cultivation, you must have paid a heavy price to forcefully activate the Tiny Heart of the Cosmos, and that’s on top of using the Yazi lineage’s God-Killing Qi Explosion Art!”

Here, he took a deep breath and suddenly straightened his back. He laughed hideously, “Seems to me that you’re at the end of your rope too! You won’t be able to hold out much longer!”

“You’re welcome to try me,” Su Yi said flatly, then swung his sword.

With my sword, I split mountains and seas. My troubles recede like the tides.

Just one slash, and he split the dome of heaven! Nothing could stand in its way!

That level of sword force seemed like it would split heaven and earth. Even gods and ghosts would tremble at the sight of it.

“Dammit!” Huo Yao’s long hair stood on end. The murderous intent within that slash sent a chill coursing through his entire body.

The power of this attack enveloped everything on all sides. There was nowhere to run, so he could only clash with it head-on.

Under the stimulation of the threat of impending death, Huo Yao went all out. Divine flames blazed around him, and his Laws of the Grand Dao lit completely ablaze.

“Open!” Huo Yao’s voice boomed like thunder as he poured the entirety of his cultivation base into firing a streak of sword qi.

It was like the fire of the nine heavens, forceful and unrestrained, with the power to melt both heaven and earth!

Boom!

Heaven and earth trembled, and everything crumbled.

An explosive, rampaging burst of destructive power blasted through the skies, and divine flames incinerated everything within thirty thousand miles into nothingness.

When the misty light receded like waters at low tide, and when the dust and smoke dissipated, the sound of violent, hacking coughs resounded throughout the scorched wreckage.

Su Yi’s brow furrowed slightly.

He walked over and saw Huo Yao seated on the ground, his body in tatters and his flesh an indistinct pulp. His pallid face was covered in dust and blood, and his vitality couldn’t have been any weaker.

Su Yi glanced at Huo Yao’s chest.

A jade pendant about the size of an infant’s fist hung from his neck. It was pale golden in color, but spider web-like cracks had appeared all over its surface, and its light was dimming.

When Su Yi saw it, he looked enlightened, but more than that, a nigh imperceptible hint of melancholy appeared in the depths of his indifferent gaze.

The pendant was called “Assurance.”

Back when Huo Yao was in the Spiritual Revolution Realm, Su Yi personally suppressed his cultivation boundary to ensure that Huo Yao cleansed his heart of his innate viciousness before proving his Dao and becoming an Emperor.

It was then that he gave this pendant to Huo Yao and told him that he needn’t worry even if his cultivation was a bit on the low side. Even if he encountered an old monster of the Profound Unity Realm while he was out wandering, this pendant would be enough to keep him alive.

It was just that Su Yi wouldn’t have imagined that the pendant he gave Huo Yao would one day save Huo Yao from him!

“Giving a treasure like that to a wicked creature like you really was a waste,” Su Yi whispered.

Huo Yao sat on the ground and raised his head with great difficulty. He looked at Su Yi, who was now standing at close quarters. Suddenly, he grinned. “Master, the winner is a king, and the loser is a bandit. I lost, so do with me as you will. However…”

His smile receded, and his eyes shone with viciousness. “Even if I die, I won’t regret what I did today!”

His voice was low and raspy, yet it revealed his ferocity.

Su Yi’s gaze was as calm as ever. “I’ll just ask you this: have I ever once mistreated you?”

Huo Yao fell silent.

A moment later, he burst into derisive laughter and shook his head. “What’s the point of discussing that? Master, don’t tell me you hope to see me overcome with regret and crying bitterly? No! I chose my own path, and I absolutely won’t regret it!”

Su Yi said coolly, “You know you’re going to die, so regret would be a waste of time. If you’re going to die anyway, why not remain upright and determined until the end? There’s no need for you to argue with me, because I never considered trying to make you repent. You… aren’t worthy.”

Huo Yao’s expression shifted.

Here, Su Yi gazed into the distance. “After all you’ve seen, what do you think I ought to do with Huo Yao?”

A tall, thin figure suddenly appeared in the distant darkness. It was a handsome young man with a head of long gray hair.

This was none other than Ye Luo!

“Sixth Junior Apprentice Brother…” Huo Yao’s expression filled with disbelief. “You… What are you doing in the Burial Ground of the Dao?”

Ye Luo ignored him.

Instead, he stepped through the air, walked up to Su Yi, took a deep breath, and bowed. “Disciple Ye Luo greets you, Master!”

When they met on the Sea of Bitterness not long ago, Ye Luo had seemed incomparably unrestrained, and he even called Su Yi a “little fellow.” Moreover, he attempted to buy Threelives Rebirth Stones from him—by force.

It was only after watching Su Yi cut down Fourth Executioner Hong Ying and his subordinates that Ye Luo realized there was something strange about Su Yi and put the pieces together.

Ye Luo had watched the entirety of Su Yi and Huo Yao’s duel from the shadows, and he’d heard every word they’d exchanged.

Now, when he faced Su Yi, Ye Luo’s expression was extremely conflicted. There was undisguised excitement and delight, as well as dazed befuddlement too great to express in words.

“Answer my question first,” said Su Yi.

Ye Luo had an extremely complicated look on his face. “Master, might you first permit me to ask Third Senior Apprentice Brother a few questions?”

Su Yi gazed deeply at Ye Luo. “You saw it all with your own eyes, yet you still find it difficult to judge. I imagine you still cannot accept all of this. Am I right?”

Ye Luo nodded, his expression bleak. “I truly would never have imagined that Third Senior Apprentice Brother would do something so… disgraceful!”

A moment later, his expression filled with determination, and he said with staunch assurance, “But no matter what, in my heart, an unfilial traitor like Third Apprentice Brother deserves death! Master, please permit your disciple to execute him!”

Huo Yao’s betrayal hurt and enraged Ye Luo. He couldn’t accept it all at once.

But——

More than that, he couldn’t accept the way Huo Yao had treated their master!!

Su Yi waved dismissively. “You still have doubts. If you kill Huo Yao now, how will you resolve them? I’ll give you an opportunity. Starting here and now, keep an eye on Huo Yao. Don’t let him leave the Burial Ground of the Dao, and definitely don’t let the people he brought with him leave.”

This left both Ye Luo and Huo Yao flabbergasted.

“What do you mean by that, Master?” Huo Yao couldn’t help but ask.

Su Yi said casually, “If I use external power to kill you, my traitorous disciple, my heart won’t know peace. While you’re still alive, you’re welcome to share some of the truth with Ye Luo.”

It seemed Huo Yao still dared not believe it. “Master, you… really don’t plan to kill me now?”

Su Yi ignored Huo Yao and looked at Ye Luo. “I might as well speak directly: this is a test. You can choose to flee with Huo Yao, or to help him take me down. You can also choose to carry out my orders. It’s entirely up to you.”

Ye Luo’s expression instantly shifted. He suddenly realized the implications of the choice his master had given him.

“Don’t blame me for overthinking. I truly… I can no longer wholeheartedly trust you all. You know what they say: after getting bitten by a snake, you’ll fear even ropes for years to come,” Su Yi said with an air of self-deprecation. An undisguisable hint of loneliness and melancholy appeared in his expression.

Ye Luo took in Su Yi’s slightly pallid face and melancholy expression in a daze. He felt a piercing pain in his heart, and waves of emotion coursed through him. How disappointed must Master be to say something like that?

After a moment’s silence, Ye Luo said emphatically, “Master, I’ll prove to you that I… have never been disloyal. I’ve always been loyal, and I always will be!”