FIRST IMMORTAL OF THE SWORD

Chapter 998 - Yama’s Palace

“Something’s not quite right,” said Su Yi.

Then, before his words had even finished echoing through the air, he shot into the sky and looked around.

The tribulation clouds filling the sky had long since dissipated, but the blood-red lightning blanketing the seemingly endless ruins was gathering around them, as if something were calling to it.

The blood-red lightning was manifested of the shattered Laws of the Ten Courts of Hell, and it was full of strange and terrifying destructive power.

Those vengeful souls and evil spirits once confined within the Ten Courts of Hell were dispersed throughout the red lightning, absorbing and devouring the power of the Laws within it.

This was what made the Mausoleum of the Gods so dangerous. Both the lightning itself and the terrifying evil spirits and vengeful souls lurking within it were terrifying to the extreme, and both could easily eliminate Emperors!

But now, the lightning enveloping this forbidden region gathered like mad. There was no doubt about it: something strange was going on!

“So, it’s targeting Wang Ting. It seems that the Path of Yama he’s set out upon hasn’t just provoked the enmity of powerful factions. Even the terrifying entities dispersed throughout the lightning cannot tolerate another expert of the Path of Yama to enter the world.”

Su Yi was starting to understand.

Boom!

Lightning gathered from all sides, rumbling and booming in waves.

In that moment, Ye Luo, the Netherworld King, and the old man in Confucian robes sensed the change too, and all of them couldn’t help but be solemn.

“Take your apprentice and follow me out of here first.” Su Yi immediately reached a decision.

The old man in Confucian robes then took his apprentice and left with Su Yi and his companions. The group shot deeper into the forbidden zone.

Along the way, blood-colored lightning boiled like lava and shot toward Su Yi. It stuck to them like a shadow.

Furthermore, as they continued ahead, churning, blood-colored lightning shot toward them in an attempt to block their path.

Crack!

Blood-colored lightning shaped like tree branches danced about and attacked in a frenzy. Even the skies seemed to tear, and waves of destructive power made heaven and earth change color.

Su Yi waved the Immortal-Beating Mallet through the air, breaking through the descending lightning as if it were made of rotten wood.

However, it poured down in an endless flood. It was as if a boundless ocean were attempting to block their path.

It was enough to make one give in to despair.

Despite themselves, Ye Luo and the Netherworld King were unsettled. They knew that without Su Yi to guide them, this incomparably perilous onslaught would have long since forced them to flee for their lives.

“How is this possible? All of this is obviously targeting Wang Ting!” The old man in Confucian robes was bewildered and uncertain, and his expression shifted erratically.

“The Ten Yama Kings once presided over the Ten Courts of Hell. Now, an expert of Yama’s Path has re-entered the world. It’s not at all strange that this would provoke a backlash,” said Su Yi. As he spoke, he led the group ahead with all his might.

Crack!

Lightning flashed and thunder boomed. Bloody light filled the air.

From a bird’s eye view, Su Yi was like an unstoppable chisel boring his way through the boundless, churning current of lightning as he forged a path deeper into this forbidden zone.

Along the way, countless vicious evil spirits charged out of the lightning, trying to stop them with no fear of death.

Despite themselves, Su Yi’s companions felt their hearts quiver. It was as if they’d entered a true blood-soaked purgatory, with strange and unsettling dangers lurking on every corner.

However, with each swing of the Immortal-Beating Mallet, an evil spirit died. The path seemed perilous, but in truth, almost nothing unexpected happened.

A little less than ten minutes later.

Suddenly, a massive mountain that towered into the heavens appeared over the distant horizon, penetrating the clouds. It was grand beyond measure.

And the ten thousand feet around it were like a forbidden zone. The blood-red lightning surging on all sides dared not draw near the mountain.

They could faintly discern the outline of a palace on the mountaintop.

“Master, what kind of place is that?” Ye Luo couldn’t help but look stunned.

The mountain was extremely tall and majestic, as if it connected heaven and earth. He felt tiny and insignificant just looking at it.

“Can’t you tell? That’s the Sea of Bitterness’s Allriver Mountain! Back in ancient times, it was the greatest divine mountain of the Sea of Bitterness. It’s thirty-nine thousand feet tall, so high that it connects heaven and earth. Furthermore, it’s linked to the Netherworld’s source. It’s like the pillar holding up the heavens, and it once stood in the deepest depths of the Sea of Bitterness,” Su Yi said at top speeds. “But later in order to suppress the Ten Courts of Hell, the Ten Yama Kings joined forces to move the mountain. It’s stood here ever since.”

He then gazed at the mountain. “And that palace is one of the temporary residences the Ten Yama Kings built for themselves. You could call it a Yama Palace.”

His companions were instantly dazed.

Allriver Mountain!

A Yama Palace!

The Netherworld King’s eyes shone with a complex light. Back in ancient times, she and the Infernal Palace had been at odds with each other. She was keenly aware of how terrifying the Ten Yama Kings were.

Each of the Yamas had mastered one of the supreme Laws of the Netherworld. When they worked together, nothing could stand in their way!

As they conversed, Su Yi and company broke through the churning red lightning and arrived before Allriver Mountain.

The group instantly sensed the invisible power of the Laws blanketed everything in the vicinity. It was ethereal, yet dense and ancient.

And it was this very power of the Laws that prevented the lightning from drawing near.

The group instantly felt a massive weight lift from their shoulders, and they turned around and looked back.

As far as the eye could see, they saw nothing but boundless, churning red lightning. It was like an endless sea swarming with countless terrifying spirits and vengeful souls. They flitted about the lightning in dense swarms.

Even gazing at them from afar, the sight was enough to make one’s hair stand on end. They dared not even imagine the despair someone trapped within the lightning would feel, or what kind of fate would befall them.

If His Excellency Su weren’t here, I’m afraid my apprentice and I would be completely doomed… The old man in Confucian robes, the Dark Oblivion Yao God, gulped with great difficulty, and he felt a chill in his hands and feet. He was beside himself with lingering terror.

He was a mighty Profound Serenity cultivator, but so what?

Were he to find himself trapped in that sea of blood-colored lightning, he’d still be doomed!

Ye Luo and the Netherworld King’s hearts raced too.

Indeed, this was no ordinary tribulation. It was more like an apocalyptic grand calamity. They couldn’t help but suspect that not even a Profound Unity powerhouse would be able to break through it!

“The Mausoleum of the Gods is the most perilous of the Burial Ground of the Dao’s forbidden grounds,” said Su Yi as he put away the Immortal-Beating Mallet. “Even at my former peak, I was trapped here for three full years. Of course not just anyone can come here.”

The mallet was the supreme treasure of the Timekeeper lineage, and both the Timekeepers and the Night Watchmen had been among the two most mysterious forces of the Infernal Palace back in ancient times.

During this trip into the Burial Ground of the Dao, the Immortal-Beating Mallet had indeed played a pivotal role.

“Come on, let’s rest in Yama’s Palace for a bit.” Su Yi let the group toward the top of the massive mountain.

As they approached, the group saw the powering, majestic peak of Allriver Mountain. It was shrouded in the invisible power of the Laws, and it seemed completely unshakeable.

And an ancient palace stood on the peak, like the abode of deities. It was utterly vast and austere.

The passage of countless years had left the palace mottled with rust, and the ritual grounds before the palace were already in ruins.

When the group arrived, they instinctively looked up. There, they saw a name written in the ancient glyphs of the Netherworld: Yama’s Palace!

Two statues of crouching divine beasts had once stood to the sides of the palace, but both had long since crumbled. It seemed utterly desolate.

The palace’s hundred-and-eighty-foot bronze doors were tightly shut, and their surfaces were carved with scenes of the Ten Yama Kings presiding over hell.

Although the passage of time meant that the images were long since corroded and battered, they could still recognize the depictions of the Ten Yama Kings: King Chu Jiang, King Taishan, King Qin Guang, etcetera.

“In ancient times, each of the Yama Kings mastered one of the supreme Laws of the Netherworld, and their cultivations were unfathomably deep. They joined forces with the leaders of the Bureaus of the Six Paths to take me down under the leadership of the monarch of the Infernal Palace. They inflicted severe injuries, and my soul almost crumbled. In the end, they sealed me deep within the City of the Wrongfully Dead.”

The Netherworld King’s beautiful face looked a bit conflicted. “Alas, the passage of time changes all things. My former opponents have long since disappeared from this world…”

Ye Luo had a strange look in his eyes, and the old man in Confucian robe's heart shook.

“You were suppressed back then, but you’re still alive. Compared to them, you ought to consider yourself lucky,” Su Yi said flatly.

The Netherworld King’s delicate eyebrows knit together, but she didn’t argue.

Su Yi, meanwhile, continued ahead and pressed the air. The massive doors slowly opened.

However, when Su Yi and company saw the scenery inside, they couldn’t help but be stunned.

The sight of a massive, empty hall greeted them. The walls on all sides were inlaid with one eternal lamp after another.

A campfire blazed at the center of the hall.

A man in sapphire clothing and a starry crown sat on the ground beside it. He held a Dao Sword over the flame. The browned wing skewered on it was dripping with grease.

The enticing smell of cooking meat permeated the hall.

This sight came as a complete surprise.

After all, these were the depths of the Mausoleum of the Gods, a place the world’s cultivators had seen as a forbidden ground since antiquity. And in ancient times, this palace built atop Allriver Mountain was the temporary residence of the Yama Kings!

Who could have imagined that someone would build a campfire here of all places, or that they’d be sitting here leisurely grilling meat?

“Master, there’s something not right about that guy.” Ye Luo’s eyes flashed as his keen senses told him that the man in teal wasn’t the least bit ordinary. He had an airy, unassuming presence, yet he gave off a sense of extreme danger.

And when the Netherworld King saw the starry crown on his head, she realized something. The pupils of her beautiful eyes instantly constricted.

That starry crown was made of white jade, with a vivid, indigo carving of a lotus at its center.

Upon closer inspection, divine radiance shone within the three-inch flower carving. It seemed to contain the boundless starry skies and countless worlds!

A Lotus Nebula Crown!

This realization made the Netherworld King’s heart shake. How could someone from that mysterious faction cross the boundless starry skies to appear here, in the Netherworld’s Sea of Bitterness?

“Fellow Daoist, that guy’s origins are extraordinary, and he’s extremely dangerous. We’d best leave as soon as possible,” transmitted the Netherworld King.

However, Su Yi said nothing. Instead, he looked at the wing skewered on the man’s sword, and his expression gradually frosted over.

It seems the old rooster’s already been killed, and that his killer is using his body for food!

Seth's Thoughts