First Immortal of the Sword-Chapter 2052 - The Kingdom of Lasting Light

Su Yi rode ahead on the flat of his blade, soaring over the waves.

Luo Xuanji felt stifled, but outwardly, she maintained her smile and kept up with him.

Su Yi’s brow furrowed slightly. This woman is as sticky as toffee!

“Fellow Daoist, given your intelligence and wisdom, I’m sure you know how dangerous it would be to visit the Kingdom of Lasting Light at a time like this,” said Luo Xuanji. “And, to the best of my knowledge, although the Master Gods cannot descend in person, they can send their sect’s experts. If you go there...”

But Su Yi interrupted her once more. “If you want to cooperate, I’ll need to see some sincerity first.”

Luo Xuanji silently gnashed her teeth and resisted the urge to pummel him. “Then... What kind of sincerity are you looking for, Fellow Daoist?”

“Consider that for yourself,” said Su Yi.

“....” Luo Xuanji mulled that over for a bit. Finally, her pink lips parted, and she said with a laugh, “How about I repay you with my body?”

Her red dress swayed around her, and her lustrous skin was as fair as snow. Her every smile and frown had enough charm to bewitch the masses.

But Su Yi disregarded it completely. He said solemnly, “Please have some self-respect.”

Luo Xuanji couldn’t help but find this amusing. “A joke, that’s all. Don’t take it seriously.”

“I’m afraid you’ll take it seriously,” Su Yi said flatly.

Luo Xuanji didn’t know what to say. Don’t tell me that kid really thinks I want to tempt him with my beauty?

Luo Xuanji shook her head, then said softly, “The Path of the Ancient Gods traverses time and space lost to the past. The epoch civilization in which I proved my Dao has long since vanished. The Path of the Ancient Gods is now the only place I can see it.

“The relative I most care for is still there. I thought I’d never see him again, and I gave up on reuniting with him a long time ago. But meeting you has rekindled my hopes!” Here, Luo Xuanji’s eyes lit up, and her expression filled with longing.

“The Epoch Spark can open the Path of the Ancient Gods, and one who controls reincarnation can cross time and space to return to the past! And that is why I want to work with you, Fellow Daoist!” The dazzling former ruler of the City of the Lost stared intently at Su Yi’s profile. “If you agree to help me, I promise to carve your benevolence in saving my life into my heart and do my utmost to repay you!”

She spoke with the utmost solemnity, but Su Yi wasn’t at all moved. The heart of a woman like Luo Xuanji was unfathomable. Who knew what she was really after? Su Yi had long since learned how capable she was, and he naturally wouldn’t agree to work with her lightly.

“And what if I refuse?” asked Su Yi. “Will you do your utmost to take me down instead?”

Luo Xuanji was briefly stunned. After a moment’s silence, she said, “I have absolutely no desire to become your enemy, and won’t unless I’m truly pushed into a corner. Before that happens, I’ll do everything in my power to make our cooperation happen.”

As she spoke, she opened her right hand and used her left pointer finger as a knife to slice open her palm. A bead of blood gushed from the wound.

Then, it wriggled and extended, outlining a mysterious, blood-red imprint on her palm.

“A vow alone is not worth taking seriously, but I can swear on my heart’s blood and Grand Dao. If I break this vow, I’ll inevitably pay a grievous price; my Dao Heart will shatter into pieces,” whispered Luo Xuanji. “This is my sincerity!”

Su Yi couldn’t help but fall silent.

Luo Xuanji, meanwhile, smiled. “You’re welcome to take your time to think it over, Fellow Daoist. I’ll use this time to show you even more sincerity.”

With that, she turned and left, her red dress fluttering around her.

In the blink of an eye, she’d vanished over the boundless River of Epochs.

Su Yi watched her leave, then sank into silence before shaking his head and casting the matter out of his thoughts.

He didn’t care in the slightest whether Luo Xuanji was putting on an act or not, nor was he concerned with what she was really after.

For now, at the very least, Su Yi didn’t care that Luo Xuanji had used her heart’s blood to make a vow. That wasn’t enough to convince Su Yi to cooperate with her.

......

A day later.

Spirit Grain City.

Su Yi had come to buy divine medicine, and he had no desire to cause a disturbance, so he’d put on a disguise.

Just as he expected, two bounties were plastered near the city gates, both with clear, realistic portraits of him.

The experts passing through the gates paid little attention to them. It had, after all, been almost a year since the bounties were first issued on Su Yi’s head.

Over the course of the past year, Su Yi’s name had spread. Now, every expert in the River of Epochs was familiar with it. Eventually, word spread of Su Yi’s origins and past accomplishments.

By now, everyone knew that Su Yi was from the Immortal Realm, and that he’d slain a Lesser God, as well as a group of Master Gods’ avatars of will.

More importantly, they knew that he was the reincarnation of the Swordmaster of Spiritual Desolation!

The Swordmaster of Spiritual Desolation, Li Fuyou, had perished at the hands of the gods a long time ago, but his name was still spoken of throughout the God Domain.

There were numerous gods from the God Domain in the River of Epochs. They naturally knew that if Su Yi was Li Fuyou’s reincarnation, he wasn’t someone to provoke lightly.

It was for that reason that those beneath the divine level had long since given up on the bounty on Su Yi’s head. Even some of the more cautious gods didn’t dare to take action recklessly.

All of this came as a heavy blow to the reputation of the Nine Great Heavenly Gods of the Kingdom of Lasting Light.

They’d issued a joint bounty, but they’d still failed to stop Su Yi. Rumors were starting to spread about them.

After Su Yi entered Spirit Grain City, he quickly learned of all the recent developments and rumors in the River of Epochs.

It seemed that no one knew about the battle outside the Tower of Ancient Evils.

“If they fail to take Su Yi down, what will become of the Nine Great Heavenly Gods’ prestige?”

“They say that Su Yi issued a warning to the Nine Great Heavenly Gods, telling them to rein in their horse before it carried them over a cliff. He said that if they didn’t retract their bounty offer, he’d kill his way into the Kingdom of Lasting Light!”

“Do you think Su Yi would really dare go there?”

“I’m not sure. I just know that a lot has happened in the Kingdom of Lasting Light of late. They say that the Nine Great Heavenly Gods have been gathering their forces, and that they’ve invited several terrifying experts from the God Domain.”

...Wherever Su Yi went, he heard similar discussions. There was no need for him to actively seek out information about recent developments in the Kingdom of Lasting Light.

It seems that White Flame and Panhu brought word that I’ve acquired the Epoch Spark back to the kingdom, thought Su Yi.

The Epoch Spark was a Forbidden Treasure, as well as the key to the Path of the Ancient Gods. The entrance to the Path of the Ancient Gods lay in the Kingdom of Lasting Light. There was no need to even think to know that the recent changes to the Kingdom of Lasting Light were intended to target him!

You’d best not disappoint me, thought Su Yi.

He needed an opportunity to face death and overcome it if he was to break into the Hidden Summit Realm. Only then could he shatter his cultivation base and be reborn amidst the fire. In doing so, he’d enter the Hidden Summit Realm, something no one else had ever accomplished!

This was why he was so intent on visiting the Kingdom of Lasting Light.

But Su Yi also understood that when you play with fire, it's easy to burn yourself. He was practically dancing on the edge of a knife. A moment’s incaution could lead to doom.

Thus, he needed to make sure he went in well prepared!

He did the rounds in Spirit Grain City, selling off every last extraneous treasure he had, but he only acquired a dozen or so divine medicines in exchange.

Given how immense Su Yi’s need for medicine was, it was like trying to put out a wildfire with a cup of water.

Just as I thought. You can’t get rich without the occasional windfall. Su Yi sighed to himself.

He’d grown accustomed to sweeping through his enemies and reaping the spoils. Now, he’d gone to great pains to buy medicine, but he’d still failed to meet his needs. He naturally sensed the disparity keenly.

“Where is Heaven’s Reliance Tower’s territory?” Su Yi asked a stranger.

“What do you plan to do there, sir?” the stranger asked curiously.

Su Yi laughed. “I’m going to rob them.”

“???”

True to his word, that very day, Su Yi entered Heaven’s Reliance Tower’s territory and crushed everyone there with ease.

When he left, he left the place squeaky clean. His spoils weren’t overly shocking, but they included numerous quality goods.

After Su Yi left the city, word spread that Heaven’s Reliance Tower had been robbed. An enormous uproar ensued.

It was also on that day that word spread that Su Yi, who’d vanished for half a year, had returned. They said that he was the one who’d ransacked Heaven’s Reliance Tower!

This news instantly drew attention from throughout the River of Epochs.

What really left Su Yi speechless was that on the road ahead, no matter which ancient city he visited, every base of the factions loyal to the Nine Great Heavenly Gods had been cleaned out and abandoned.

They’d obviously fled in anticipation of his arrival. They were trying to prevent him from robbing them again!

What a useless bunch. Su Yi shook his head

A month later.

Off in the distance, a seemingly endless landmass appeared over the boundless River of Epochs.

A massive, towering city stood there, its winding walls reminiscent of a dragon. They stretched as far as the eye could see.

Seemingly holy radiance surged from within the city, rising into the dome of heaven and illuminating everything on all sides.

The Kingdom of Lasting Light!

This was the territory of the Nine Great Heavenly Gods, the greatest holy land in the River of Epochs and, rumor had it, the place closest to the God Domain.

They called it a “kingdom” but in truth, it was more like a boundless, independent plane.

In the River of Epochs, no one beneath the god level could enter the Kingdom of Lasting Light without permission.

Su Yi rode in on the waves. He’d already put the Sword of Proximity away and disguised himself as an ordinary-looking youth. He only revealed a hint of his Great Profound cultivation base.

The Kingdom of Lasting Light sure is enormous. It’s far bigger than any of the ancient cities I passed on my way here, sighed Su Yi.

Li Fuyou had visited this place too!

Furthermore, he’d visited one of its ancient ritual grounds. There, he fought a fair duel with a Lesser God and slew him beneath his sword!

“If Su Yi dares come to the Kingdom of Lasting Light, he’ll never leave!”

“Move faster! Don’t delay our journey. We’ve got a banquet to attend, and we cannot be late!”

“Got it!”

...A highly distinctive treasure ship appeared accompanying these voices. It was shaped like a massive bird in flight. Two figures stood at the helm of the boat: a spirited, promising-looking young man in yellow robes, and a decrepit elder in brocade.

Su Yi looked over just in time to see the treasure ship whooshing toward him from a nearby stretch of river.

“Hm! Stop right there!” The treasure ship came to an abrupt halt.

The young man in yellow robes at the helm of the boat gazed at Su Yi, who was traversing the River of Epochs alone.

His eyes flashed like cold lightning!