First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 2401 – Ludicrous Intentions

The Blade of Heaven’s Loathing and the Sword of Proximity had always been bitter rivals, yet now, the two of them worked together to suppress the Sky-Stealing Hook at Su Yi’s behest.

This development caught the Angler off guard.

The Sky-Stealing Hook struggled violently, wailing without end. The Angler’s no-holds-barred strike suffered the impact, and was unable to unleash its full power.

Zang Wushu and Demon Ancestor Treasure Leaf seized the opportunity and charged in immediately.

Clang!

Dazzling spear light brought with it monstrous murderous intent, then descended with a bang.

A layered vortex of wind erupted over the spear, like a tidal wave or avalanche. With each new layer, the windstorm’s power grew.

And this strike’s windstorm had a full forty-nine layers! Power like that was enough to throw heaven and earth completely into chaos, ripping everything to shreds!

This was Zang Wushu’s strongest strike, the Windswept Dirge of the Forty-Nine-Layered Waves!

Meanwhile, Demon Ancestor Treasure Leaf unleashed his strongest killer weapon, too. A magic seal rose into the heavens, black as ink, then transformed into a dark purgatory.

Purgatory was vast and empty, full of annihilating power and destruction. The atmosphere was enough to make one give in to despair.

The Purgatory of the Silent Void! A place devoid of life, where all Daos came to naught!

Where the Purgatory of Silent Void descended, all life vanished. It was enough to make an entire world wither in an instant, destroying all living things within it!

When Zang Wushu and Demon Ancestor Treasure Leaf simultaneously unleashed their strongest attacks, even the Butcher couldn’t help but suck in a breath of cold air. He immediately stepped in to defend Mu Bai.

The Angler’s face was practically green. His hair stood on end, and he didn’t dare to hesitate. He decisively abandoned the Sky-Stealing Hook, then fought with all his might.

“Hah!” He roared in fury, his voice booming like spring thunder, then raised his hands into the air. A treasure bottle forged out of white bone took to the air.

The bottle was emblazoned with countless strange, contorted, blood-red glyphs. Now, all of them came crashing down, blazing with searing heat.

Su Yi recognized it immediately. The Heaven-Refining Bone Bottle! The old man’s gone so far as to take out his ultimate life-saving treasure!

But Su Yi had only just thought this when the three terrifying experts’ full-force attacks collided.

Kaboom!!

Ninety thousand miles of sky collapsed with a bang. The entire area was enveloped in destructive power and eradicated on all sides.

The darkened skies were seemingly swept into endless radiance. Everything went white.

In the face of that terrifying maelstrom of power, even Su Yi had no choice but to do his utmost to defend himself.

Even so, the aftermath of the battle repeatedly forced him back.

It was just the aftershock, but it was still so terrifying. It was thus easy to imagine how terrifying the pressure on the Angler was.

Boom!!!

The Heaven-Refining Bone Bottle swayed violently, and the Angler coughed up blood. Countless minute cracks appeared all over his body, as if he were undergoing death by a thousand cuts. His aged face instantly paled.

In the end, this last-ditch effort managed to block Zang Wushu and Demon Ancestor Treasure Leaf’s pincer attack.

However, the Angler had paid a grievous price. His body was on the brink of collapse, and his cultivation base was badly damaged! “It’s a pity,” said Zang Wushu. That had been a rare opportunity, but in the end, they didn’t manage to kill the Angler.

“He’s badly injured. That’s enough,” Demon Ancestor Treasure Leaf said calmly.

“I said, you cannot kill me!” roared the Angler, his eyes full of madness. “I won’t let you, not even if I have to destroy my entire cultivation base to stop you!”

A moment later, he opened his mouth and spat out a black pearl.

“Hurry up and dodge!” shouted Su Yi.

Zang Wushu and Demon Ancestor Treasure Leaf moved further away without hesitation.

But just as they retreated, the black pearl exploded.

Boom!

It was as if the heavens had collapsed and the earth was splitting.

Everything went dark before their eyes. No one could see anything at all. Even their six senses were under terrifying suppression; their other senses couldn’t help them either.

Nonetheless, that terrifying destructive power made their hair stand on end. All of them felt an impending lethal threat.

It was then that the Butcher took action, bringing Mu Bai and the others as far away as possible.

However, the Butcher felt the impact too. Although he neutralized it with all his might, he was injured. Dark flames swept past him, and he felt as if that section of flesh, blood, bone, and sinew were melting.

The flames affected Zang Wushu and Demon Ancestor Treasure Leaf, too. Both were injured.

That strange black pearl’s explosion seemed to have enveloped the nine heavens and the ten earths in darkness. Its destructive aura was incomparably wondrous.

Su Yi didn’t get off scot free, either!

However, he’d sensed the threat before the others and immediately drawn on the Sword of the Nine Hells’ power to neutralize it. Although it reached him, his wounds were the lightest, completely negligible.

When the smoke cleared and the dust settled, everything gradually came back into focus. Everyone then saw that the dome of heaven was split, the air was in chaos, and the ground was riddled with scars, a silent testament to the pearl’s terrifying power.

The Angler stood in the distant skies, hatred, anger, and bitterness written all over his pallid face. “What a pity! I wasted an Apocalypse Spirit Pearl!”

“A pity?” Su Yi looked at him. “Do you think you can fight your way through and escape now?”

The Angler’s expression shifted.

Because just as Su Yi’s voice rang out, a child holding a black umbrella appeared out of nowhere and arrived in front of him. This was none other than the River Child!

The River Child raised his little face, then broke into a radiant grin and attacked without a word.

The Angler had only just escaped one disaster, and he was badly injured, only for someone else to attack out of nowhere. He didn’t have time to dodge, so he could only clash with the River Child head-on.

Bang!!!

A heaven-shaking impact rang out.

The Angler’s body had been on the verge of breaking down already, so it exploded like a firecracker beneath the River Child’s fist!

Blood splattered, some of it splashing the River Child’s innocent little face. This lent him a strange, sinister quality.

Without the slightest hesitation, the River Child attacked once more.

The Angler’s soul escaped his body; he wasn’t really dead.

But then, Su Yi called the River Child back. “The old codger will really risk it all from this point on. Fighting him is not worth the risk.”

The River Child was obviously unwilling to accept this, but these were Su Yi’s orders, so he moved further away and attacked no more.

The Angler’s soul stood there, eyes maddened and terrifying. “Why don’t you dare to fight all out?”

Su Yi laughed. “Old-timer, quit acting like you’ve gone mad with anger. Are you sure you want to risk it all?”

Zang Wushu, Demon Ancestor Treasure Leaf, and the Butcher gazed coldly at the Angler.

The Angler really did look wretched. Even his body had been destroyed.

But the way they saw it, that only made the Angler even more dangerous!

After a moment’s silence, the Angler suddenly laughed. “Should I interpret this to mean that you dare not accept the consequences of a continuation of our no-holds-barred battle?”

Su Yi laughed. “I can accept them, but I don’t want to make others accept them. After all, the Dark Days of Legend will soon be upon us. If they wind up like you, disembodied souls with ravaged cultivation bases, how will they establish themselves during the Dark Days of Legend?”

The Angler’s expression darkened; Su Yi had just hit him right where it hurt. It was true! His body had been destroyed. This was an unbearable blow!

This meant that he had to give up all hope of proving his Dao and achieving Eternity when the Dark Days of Legend arrived!

In other words, this battle had severed his hopes of further breakthroughs. How could the Angler not have been furious?

“Now we can chat,” said Su Yi. He took out a jug of wine and had a sip. “Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll let you leave.”

The others increasingly got the sense that this was what Su Yi was really after.

He’d fought slowly and steadily, gradually frittering away at the Angler’s will to fight so that he’d focus on fleeing.

Then, he refused all further negotiations, dealing him a heavy blow and severing his hopes of further breakthroughs.

Only now, when the Angler had been forced into a corner, with no option left other than to put his life on the line, did Su Yi begin negotiations.

Given the circumstances, how could the Angler possibly refuse?

He was in dire straits. Unless he really wanted to risk it all, he couldn’t possibly refuse when Su Yi extended an olive branch.

Su Yi had been leading him around by the nose this entire time!

Even though the Angler saw through Su Yi’s intentions, he had no choice but to seriously consider Su Yi’s suggestion.

Indeed, the Angler’s expression filled with uncertainty, but he seemed to realize what Su Yi was after. He gnashed his teeth. “I would never have expected that you were already so capable in this incarnation.”

Su Yi said calmly, “You exaggerate. I’m not like you; I can do more than play such unseemly little tricks.”

He pointed to Mu Bai. “Go on and tell me why you targeted him.”

The Angler said coldly, “To target you, of course.”

“And how did you plan to use him to target me?” asked Su Yi.

“I planned to take him hostage and force you to come to his aid,” said Su Yi. “Then, when you arrived, I’d kill him and tell you what happened in the Boundless Battlefield.”

Su Yi’s brow furrowed. “So you’re saying that your real goal was to lure me into the Boundless Battlefield?”

“That’s right,” said the Angler. “As you now know, the Boundless Battlefield is beset by the Tribulation of the Five Witherings. If you go there with the power of reincarnation and the Epoch Spark, you’ll meet with disaster even more terrifying than what others face!

“Do that, and there’ll be no need for me to act against you. You’ll die there without my intervention. Why wouldn’t I be happy about that?”

Everyone exchanged glances, all of them stunned. They wouldn’t have guessed that the Angler’s true purpose was to guide Su Yi to the Boundless Battlefield.

“But you could have just sent someone to deliver the message. Given your understanding of me, I’m sure you know that I’d have gone as soon as I received the message. There was no need for you to come here in person, yet you did so anyway. Why?” asked Su Yi.

This was the part he couldn’t understand. The Angler was an insidious old schemer. Were it not absolutely necessary, there was no way he’d risk himself in the years leading up to the Dark Days of Legend.

Yet he’d gone and done so anyway. How could Su Yi not find that strange?

The Angler had a complicated look on his face. “Naturally, I wanted to make sure you could find the entrance to the Boundless Battlefield smoothly, and I wanted to help you bypass Di E’s seal on the place.”

Everyone was flabbergasted. It sounds like he’s come here to do Su Yi a good turn. It’s ridiculous!

Su Yi was stunned, but then, he seemed to realize something. Di E obviously has no idea of the Angler’s plans to lure me into the Boundless Battlefield!