Chapter 122 - 85: The Arrival of the Great Era
Chapter 122: Chapter 85: The Arrival of the Great Era
Seeing this, Su Chen stopped.
With his strength, killing an Ancient Immortal whose lifespan was nearly depleted, who had yet to recover their Peak strength, and who had been scared witless, would not be too difficult for him.
But if he did, Xuan would likely die.
"Thank you... thank you, Senior Great Demon..."
Aboard the covered boat.
Wun Sandao stepped forward, cupped his fists, and offered his thanks.
Su Chen lifted his gaze to the Black-armored Man. He had once been full of spirit, his arrogance soaring to the heavens. Nine years had passed, and the man was now in his forties.
For a Cultivator, this should have been the prime of his life, a time of high spirits. Yet Wun Sandao’s temples were streaked with white, and his former sharp edge was gone, replaced by a polished deference. His spine was bent as he bowed respectfully to him.
Nine years ago, even if he had been saved, he would never have been this humble.
Su Chen was lost in thought for a moment.
He remembered the arrogant Black-armored Man on the Tower Ship, blade in hand, standing and laughing. "Slaying you will take but three strikes."
The Black-armored Man was no longer arrogant. He couldn’t even grip his blade firmly. He had lost the arrogant spirit of his youth.
So that was it.
Nine years ago.
His single strike had severed this arrogant Black-armored Man’s path to becoming a Grandmaster.
"Wun Sandao."
Su Chen said.
"Speak, Senior. As long as it isn’t human trafficking or treason, I, Wun Sandao, will repay this great debt with my life."
Wun Sandao moved to bow respectfully.
But...
He found he couldn’t complete the bow.
"Today’s events were caused by me."
"I struck you once back then. Today, I will give you a strike in return!"
At that moment.
Su Chen stepped forward. In the guise of the Yellow-skinned Old Immortal, his eyes like golden suns, he looked toward the three figures who had fled to the riverbank and shouted a name.
"Emperor Long!"
BOOM!
On the bank, the face of Emperor Long, the Grandmaster from Great Yu, twisted in horror.
’This damned Yellow-skinned Old Immortal defeated even an Ancient Immortal. How could a mere practitioner of Mortal Cultivation like me dare to challenge an Immortal?’
However.
The White-haired Immortal turned to Emperor Long in a rage.
"Don’t offend this Great Yu Magic Immortal! Are you trying to get us killed?"
"Didn’t you hear him calling you?"
"Hurry up and go!"
"Do you want your life extended or not?"
BOOM!
The waves formed a hand and seized Emperor Long.
This Grandmaster from Great Yu had once made Su Chen so wary in the early years of the Great Zhou that he hadn’t dared to leave the Library Pavilion. But now, with the passage of time, he was nothing more than a plaything in Su Chen’s palm.
"Senior."
Emperor Long, his hair completely white, forced a smile.
"I just had a small insight and want to use you to teach this man a Sword Technique, that’s all," Su Chen said consolingly.
At this.
Emperor Long relaxed.
’How could a mere Demon Fiend understand Mortal Cultivation? Teach this person a Sword Technique? How strong could this Sword Technique possibly be? At my Peak, I reached the Third Realm: Self as Dragon.’
’Why should I fear a shallow, insignificant strike from a mere Demon Fiend!’
"Bring it on," Emperor Long said with a smile.
"Watch closely."
"I will only use one strike!"
Su Chen turned his head and whispered to Wun Sandao.
The next instant.
His palm pressed down.
"Blade, come!"
At that moment, outside the Imperial City, the thousand-li stretch of the Nu River began to tremble violently.
The river water formed a hundred-zhang giant blade, filled with a wild, defiant intent as it slashed horizontally toward Emperor Long.
"This strike is called Defiance! Master one principle, and all techniques will merge. With one defiant strike, what is there to fear in life or death!"
"Watch closely!"
"This strike is fueled by spirit! It is the very path to Grandmaster that was severed from you!"
The giant river blade slashed down.
Emperor Long’s pupils contracted, his scalp went numb, and not a trace of his earlier ease remained.
He had never expected this.
’This Yellow-skinned Old Demon is so treacherous! He clearly wants to kill me, yet he claimed to have a small insight and was just demonstrating a Sword Technique!’
’What kind of casually-realized Sword Technique could be this terrifying?’
’Even at my Peak, in the Third Realm, Self as Dragon, I would have died to this strike.’
’This was definitely premeditated! He wants to kill me!’
"No!"
Emperor Long was scared out of his wits.
"This strike..."
Aboard the covered boat, Wun Sandao was mesmerized.
Others saw the power of this strike!
In his eyes.
He saw its spirit.
Defiance!
He himself was a defiant person. This was the youthful spirit he had abandoned out of fear on the Tower Ship nine years ago.
He had an epiphany.
"As long as you understand," Su Chen nodded.
Immediately after.
He looked at the dim-witted Huzi in the covered boat and, without a moment’s hesitation, kicked him into the river.
"Got nothing better to do than cause a scene?"
Muttering to himself, Su Chen departed.
That one strike drew the attention of the world and shocked the Imperial City. They almost thought another peerless Sword Dao Grandmaster from Great Yu had appeared in the world.
When countless figures rushed to the scene.
They only saw Emperor Long, scared witless and staring blankly over the river, and, on the covered boat, Wun Sandao. He was completely entranced, his Qi at Perfection, a dragon of defiance being born within him.
He had become a Grandmaster.
As for Huzi, who was doggy-paddling in the river, no one paid him any mind.
After all, he was just a mere Third Grade.
Little did they know.
It was this Third Grade cultivator’s death wish that had triggered today’s terrifying strike.
「In the pharmacy.」
Su Chen also had an epiphany.
Within his body, a second sword was being nurtured into existence.
The first sword was built on the foundation of the Microscopic Position, gathering thousands upon thousands of sword strikes into One Sword to bury the stars in the heavens.
He finally understood the second sword.
It should be formed from the spirit in his heart, becoming a sword. One sword for Divine Communication, to protect himself, his friends and family, and the world. It could even slay the moon in the sky!
Su Chen’s second sword was complete!
"This sword shall be called Moon-slaying! With the spirit in my heart, I can protect the people of the world and slay the moon in the sky!"
Seeing this.
Little Turtle ran out of the water tank, its eyes shining, and rubbed against Su Chen’s robes as if to say.
’This is amazing!’
’Teach Turtle! Turtle wants to learn!’
"Alright."
Su Chen indulgently patted Little Turtle’s head, but his gaze drifted toward the Imperial City in the distance.
Those scattered Longevity Fires, whose flow seemed almost stagnant, were growing more numerous.
Grandmasters, packed densely together.
There were even a few Ancient Immortals.
Moreover.
There was another ancient Sub-Innate Grandmaster from Great Yu!
"It seems a new age is coming."
"So."
"They’re getting impatient."
As Su Chen gazed into the distance, he saw a Longevity Fire, like a flickering candle flame, traveling a thousand li at a terrifying speed to descend upon the Imperial City.
Within the Imperial City, two Sub-Innate auras were also moving away, darting out of the city in terror, as if retreating from the owner of this Longevity Fire.
Soon.
A young man, reeking of poverty, his robes tattered as if he’d just climbed out of the dirt, appeared near the clinic.
His hair was a mess, and he leaned on a wooden staff from which a wine gourd hung. He had a suspicious look on his face as he peeked around the area.
"Strange."
"How did the aura disappear?"
"Damn it! Who would’ve thought that the little yellow weasel I casually enlightened over two hundred years ago after it dug me out of the ground could actually cultivate the Ten Extremes Immortal Techniques to the Third Transformation as a Demon Fiend."
He was annoyed.
The Spiritual Mechanism he had given it was a neutered version, too.
It should have been absolutely impossible to cultivate the Third Transformation to Perfection.
But...
How did it manage to succeed?!
He had gone from being one-of-a-kind to one of only two in the world.
"Where in the world did that rebellious disciple of mine go?"
GRUMBLE GRUMBLE.
A wave of hunger hit him.
This Great Yu Magic Immortal knocked on the doors of nearby shops, begging for food and shamelessly proclaiming, "Giving me a meal is the greatest fortune of your life."
Without exception.
He was treated like a mad beggar and beaten out with sticks everywhere he went.
Finally.
He knocked on the door of the clinic.
"Get me something to eat," he said forcefully, hands on his hips.
"..."
Su Chen fell silent.
He glanced at the familiar Longevity Fire above the man’s head and began to have his doubts. ’Did I remember wrong? Is this really the guy who made two Sub-Innate experts flee the Imperial City for their lives?’