FIRST IMMORTAL OF THE SWORD

Chapter 987 - The Sword of the Nine Hells Changes

The tribulation clouds filling the sky disappeared without a trace.

The silver full moon hung in the air, and the surrounding landscape was silent. Everything returned to its former tranquility.

Atop the ninety-foot Platform of Rebirth, the misty light flowing around Su Yi gradually fused into his body and disappeared.

His blue robes were as good as new, and his features hadn’t changed. However, his temperament seemed even calmer and more detached from worldly affairs before.

Like an immortal walking amongst mortal men.

Su Yi flipped his hand, took out a jug of wine, threw back his head, and drank with relish. As the wine entered his intestines, seventy percent turned to moonlight, and the remaining thirty percent turned to sword qi. There was nothing else like it beneath the heavens!

“Joyful!” After draining his wine, Su Yi’s expression looked utterly free and unrestrained.

He’d been preparing to prove his Dao and become an Emperor for a long time. Now, he’d finally succeeded and stepped into the Profound Dao. Those who reached this level could call themselves Emperors!

The Profound Dao was divided into three realms: Profound Illumination, Profound Serenity, and Profound Unity.

The Profound Unity Realm was also known as the Imperial Apex Realm.

In his past life, Su Yi reached the far end of the Profound Unity Realm. They called him the greatest Imperial Apex expert in the Wilds, as well as its sole sovereign.

After his reincarnation, he re-entered the Profound Dao atop the Platform of Rebirth, forging the beginnings of a brand new journey through the Imperial Realm!

What was Profound Illumination?

Within a cultivator’s body, their Grand Dao Spirit Wheel evolved into a Grand Dao Profound Court. The Profound Court was like the sun, its light single-handedly illuminating everything beneath the heavens.

Reaching this realm meant that one’s power of the Grand Dao was like the sun in the skies. It meant they far surpassed the world’s ordinary cultivators.

Emperors controlled the profound energy of the Grand Dao. The denser their profound energy, and the higher its quality, the stronger they were.

Their souls could condense incarnations of will. They could control their divine senses to perceive the true nature of all things.

Even the power of their flesh underwent an earth-shaking metamorphosis. The body of an Emperor could face countless tribulations without damage, and shine eternally alongside the sun and moon, sharing the same root as heaven and earth!

Those who stepped into the Imperial Realm could fly at such speeds that they could leave the northern sea in the morning, traverse an entire world, and be back by evening!

Throughout the ages, the world’s countless cultivators honored Emperors as deities because of the sheer power at their disposal. It could absolutely be described as godlike power.

This was the origin of the saying “the Profound Dao is like the heavens, and Emperors are like gods.”

In the future, I won’t need to borrow power to fight, and I won’t need to plot and scheme. Armed with nothing but my three-foot sword, is there anywhere beneath the heavens that I cannot go? Is there anyone beneath the heavens that I cannot fight?

Su Yi’s heart filled with excitement.

After this breakthrough, he could tell he’d undergone an unprecedented metamorphosis.

In terms of his cultivation base, he’d established a Grand Dao Profound Court within his body. Both its quality and its foundations were unparalleled, unique throughout history!

And within his soul, his incarnation of will could support the heavens and link with the earth. It was vast beyond measure, and it reflected all celestial phenomena of the starry sky.

This was an unmatched, inimitable quality!

And the power of his physical body was even more tyrannical. His muscles and tendons seemed as if they’d been cast out of immortal gold, and his qi and blood were as boundless as the ocean. Under the direction of his life force, his organs and acupoints transformed. They were like the roots of heaven and earth, and their radiance could compete with the sun and moon!

Most wondrous of all was the pure Xiantian Profound Qi hovering within his Grand Dao Profound Court. It connected his soul and his body, letting his cultivation, soul, and body achieve a perfect tripartite fusion. This made his foundations in the Grand Dao incomparably terrifying.

Before proving his Dao, Su Yi fully fused the twenty-three Threelives Rebirth Stones into his Grand Dao source power. When he broke through, this let him smoothly condense incomparably pure Xiantian Profound Qi within his Grand Dao Profound Court!

“Hm? Strange…” Su Yi quickly sensed that something wasn’t quite right.

Both in this lifetime and the last, the Sword of the Nine Hells floated continuously within his sea of consciousness. However, after reforging his annihilated body, soul, and cultivation base atop the Platform of Rebirth, it hovered by his side. It hadn’t returned to his sea of consciousness!

Furthermore, as soon as Su Yi laid eyes on it, he discovered a change to the nine divine chains the sword kept suppressed.

One of the divine chains had already snapped, transforming into bundles of light that hovered and shifted around the Sword of the Nine Hells!

“This…” Su Yi couldn’t help but be stunned.

Between now and the start of his past life, this was his first time seeing the Sword of the Nine Hells undergo such a shocking change.

One of the chains had broken. What exactly did this mean?

Su Yi instinctively reached for the Sword of the Nine Hells, but against all expectations, it disappeared into thin air and reappeared in his sea of consciousness.

At the same time, Su Yi’s soul immediately sensed that the gray bundles of light left over when the divine chain broke represented his past life!

They were like an imprint containing a record of his past life, starting from his birth, including everything that had happened on his journey to the peak of the Imperial Apex Realm!

In his youth, he and his sword wandered beneath the heavens, valiant and unrestrained. He’d experienced joy and sorrow, partings and reunions, and all of the sweetness and bitterness of human life.

He then went on to focus on his pursuit of the Dao, whole-heartedly focused on striving for the upper limit of the Dao of the Sword. He’d overcome too many life-or-death trials to count, but even when the heavens crumbled around him, nothing could stand in his way.

It was only after he reached the peak of the Wilds and realized that he had no opponents left that he set his sights on an even loftier path…

But now, everything he’d experienced, understood, and felt… was emblazoned within that imprint, down to the slightest details.

This discovery left Su Yi completely dazed, and his heart shook.

Don’t tell me that this mysterious chain represents my past life’s… Dao?

That was simply unbelievable.

After all, in his past life, Su Yi had poured inestimable time and effort into grasping the secrets of the nine chains suppressed by the sword. But in the end, he had achieved nothing.

Yet now, the Sword of the Nine Hells had transformed like this after experiencing that grand, taboo, unmatched tribulation and stepping into the Profound Dao once more!

How could Su Yi not be surprised?

If that chain sealed the Dao of my past life, what are the other eight chains sealing?

Su Yi’s gaze was shifting and uncertain. Something had just occurred to him, something that made even his heart shake——

There was a possibility that all of the chains sealed imprints of his Dao! And if that was really the case, then his life as the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force was almost certainly his ninth incarnation, and his ninth attempt at cultivation!

Which would make this his tenth time reincarnating to cultivate anew!

Was that really the case?

Su Yi was bewildered and uncertain. There was no way to know for sure.

If that’s really the case, why couldn’t my last incarnation grasp any of his prior incarnation’s memories and Dao even after reaching the peak of the Imperial Apex Realm?

In this lifetime, I’ve only just barely stepped into the Imperial Realm, but I can already sense the complete Dao of my past life. There’s obviously something strange going on here.

The more he thought, the more confused Su Yi felt.

A moment later, he shook his head and gave the matter no further thought.

All of this was mere conjecture. Without reliable evidence, and without any other leads, racking his brains would do him no good.

Still, Su Yi attached great importance to the way the Sword of the Nine Hells had changed today.

This told him that if his cultivation broke through certain limits and realized unprecedented transformations, it was highly likely that he could shatter another of the Sword of the Nine Hells’ chains!

Take what happened today. He’d achieved life through death, using the Laws of the Platform of Rebirth to destroy himself. In the resulting taboo tribulation, he achieved a breakthrough and nirvanic rebirth. This was what led to the change in the Sword of the Nine Hells.

Although my current cultivation is far below what I achieved in my past life, my foundations in the Grand Dao far surpass my former self at this stage. Furthermore, I’ve mastered Xiantian Profound Qi, something my past self never achieved. Perhaps it’s because I broke through in this way that I smoothly broke the first of the Sword of the Nine Hells’ chains…

Perhaps this means that the path I seek in this lifetime truly is far beyond what I achieved in my last life! thought Su Yi.

……

The tribulation clouds filling the sky dispersed.

That taboo, threatening presence that bore down on the Netherworld King’s heart and soul gradually disappeared.

When she opened her tightly shut eyes, she saw a familiar, upright figure standing atop the Platform of Rebirth.

A young man in blue robes, his long hair fluttering in the wind. His bearing was transcendent, like a god or immortal.

This was none other than Su Yi!

However, Su Yi seemed even calmer than before, as if he’d been cleansed of all impurities and achieved a return to simplicity. It was a type of transcendence.

Even when she looked closely, it was hard to tell just how strong his cultivation base was. A certain thought floated unbidden into her mind: as unfathomable as an abyss or the pits of hell!

“Congratulations on proving your Dao and becoming an Emperor once more, Fellow Daoist!” The Netherworld King took a moment to calm herself and smiled charmingly. Her beautiful eyes were lively and enticing, but full of excitement as she offered her heartfelt congratulations.

His earlier tribulation had been enough to exterminate just about any Emperor around, yet Su Yi had been born through death atop the Platform of Rebirth, smoothly overcoming tribulation and proving his Dao. This was truly an unprecedented accomplishment!

It would have been impossible for the Netherworld King not to admire him.

Su Yi smiled, then descended from the Platform of Rebirth.

Boom!

The mysterious platform descended behind him, inch by inch. Before long, it had disappeared completely into Immortal Gourd Mountain.

“Give me my things.” Su Yi’s distant gaze landed on the Netherworld King.

The moment she sensed his gaze, her impressive, delicate figure stiffened, and she felt an unprecedented sense of oppression. Even her heart and mind tensed. If this guy wanted to kill my clone, I’m afraid he could actually pull it off…

As she thought this, a faint smile appeared on her face, and she directly handed the treasures over. “Here you go, Fellow Daoist.”

Su Yi raised a hand and tapped her nose with a smile. “Clever. You know what’s good for you.”

The Netherworld King was caught completely off guard. This guy… he actually… touched my nose so frivolously?

And now he’s telling me how clever I am??

Her beautiful face flushed red, and an almost imperceptible hint of rage and shame appeared in her starry eyes. Her pearly teeth bit down on her red lower lip, and she wanted nothing more than to slap the smile right off Su Yi’s face.

Su Yi flipped his hand and put away the Scarlet Dome of Heaven, Tiny Heart of the Cosmos, Lamp of the Nine Dragon Gods, and other treasures.

Except for the Controlling Currents Shuttle.

“Let’s call it a day. As you already saw for yourself, this place contains some of the secrets of reincarnation. If you’ve got the ability, you’re welcome to go ahead and contemplate them.” With that, Su Yi turned and left.

When she saw him take to the air, the Netherworld King couldn’t help but ask, “Fellow Daoist, are you perhaps going to deal with that unfilial disciple of yours?”

“That’s right.”

“Then can I go with you?” asked the Netherworld King. She’d already taken to the skies, and she was eager to see just how strong Su Yi was after proving his Dao and becoming an Emperor.

“Of course! Well... assuming you can catch up to me.”

Before Su Yi’s voice had even finished echoing through the air, the Controlling Currents Shuttle burst with spatial power, broke through the skies, and carried him away. In the blink of an eye, he was gone.

“????” This caught the Netherworld King off guard. The teasing wasn’t the end of it? Now you’re trying to leave me behind too?

Don’t even think about it!

Seth's Thoughts

“As the wine entered his intestines, seventy percent turned to moonlight, and the remaining thirty percent turned to sword qi. There was nothing else like it beneath the heavens!”

More bastardized poetry! This time, it’s by a (fairly modern) Taiwanese author, Yu Kwang-chung. (Yu Guangzhong in pinyin.) He’s very famous in Chinese-speaking circles, mostly for the poem “Nostalgia”.

But the poem Xiao Jinyu references here is a different one, “Searching for Li Bai.” The first half is the same save for some missing grammatical particles.

Original: 酒入豪肠, 七分酿成了月光, 余下的三分啸成剑气绣口一吐，就半个盛唐!

Raw: 酒入豪肠, 七分酿成月光, 余下三分啸成剑气，可称天下无双!

But the second half is a bit different. “...thirty percent turned into sword qi. When (you?) exhale, it creates a partial vision of the Tang Dynasty at its peak.”

I think the idea is that hearty drinking+a valiant martial spirit were emblematic of the era. Also, Li Bai was a big drinker.