First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 2485 – Xiao Xiao

Beneath the dome of heaven, fragments of shattered suns flowed with lava-like flames as they came crashing down to earth. It was like a river of flames descending from the heavens.

The ground was covered in a coursing sea of flame. The blaze roared like thunder.

A grand battle was underway in the Melting Sun Hidden Realm.

Boom!

A thin man with graying temples and plain long robes attacked, filling the nine heavens with divine flames and staving off enemies on all sides.

His divine majesty blanketed heaven and earth, spreading out in all ten directions. He fought with indomitable ferocity.

With every strike, heaven and earth trembled, and the sky exploded.

This was none other than Luo Qingdi! The unparalleled legend who’d once ruled an entire epoch civilization!

However… None of his opponents were weak, either.

He was up against more than ten peak Nine-Tribulation Master Gods of various top factions. Every last one of them was a leading expert of their respective divine continent, with far-reaching abilities.

The most terrifying among them was a middle-aged man with a bronze Dao Sword, a crown of stars, and a feather coat.

He was the one holding Luo Qingdi back. Otherwise, Luo Qingdi would have opened a path to life and fled to safety a long time ago.

“Luo Qingdi, you’re already on the brink of death, no more than a battered soul origin. Even if you struggle with all your might, how long can you last?” boomed a tall, powerfully built man with warrior robes and a prominent mustache.

He, too, fought with terrifying majesty. When he swung his spear, lightning crackled and thunder boomed. Countless lightning bolts tore through the sky with shocking destructive power.

Boom!

Luo Qingdi’s hands formed a seal, and a fist imprint descended like the blue dome of heaven itself, sending the powerfully built man in warrior robes flying.

The man’s spear trembled violently in his grip.

The man in warrior robes was strong, but he was still a notch inferior to Luo Qingdi!

But at the same time, Luo Qingdi let out a muffled grunt, and a tear appeared on his body.

In truth, his body had long since been covered in wounds. He was on the verge of breaking apart, shattering like a dropped vase. His blood flowed without end.

Luo Qingdi disregarded his wounds and attacked with undiminished, tyrannical ferocity and unparalleled divine valiance.

He drew on the divine flames of the Melting Sun Hidden Realm, transforming them into an endless windstorm of lava that swept across the battlefield.

This meant enormous trouble for his enemies, and it prevented them from taking him down immediately.

“He’s down to a battered soul origin, that’s all. How could he still be so strong?” someone said darkly. He clearly found this hard to believe.

They knew that Luo Qingdi had been injured even before the battle began. His body was an empty shell, as weak as could be.

His soul origin remained, but it too was on its last legs and badly damaged.

Yet somehow, despite his extraordinarily poor condition, Luo Qingdi was ridiculously strong. His combat strength was tyrannical, unparalleled, and terrifying beyond measure!

His opponents were all Nine-Tribulation Master Gods, but in a one-on-one duel, none of them would have been a match for him!

They couldn’t even imagine how strong Luo Qingdi was at his peak.

“According to His Excellency Di E, this person is not of this world. He’s an unparalleled expert Su Yi brought with him from the Path of the Ancient Gods,” said the middle-aged man in the star crown and feather coat. “Nine years ago, his body was destroyed in battle against the Dipankara Buddha and his allies on the Road of celestial Guidance. Only his soul fled, and even now, he’s yet to recover.

“Even I would never have considered the possibility that he’d be so strong under such circumstances….”

The battle had continued for a full fifteen minutes now.

Luo Qingdi had hidden himself in the Tianxiu Sword Shrine, running to and fro to escape capture, but in the end, his enemies had trapped him in the Melting Sun Hidden Realm.

None of them had anticipated that someone so badly injured would cling to life with such stubbornness.

Even now, he showed no sign of breaking!

As they conversed, they attacked with renewed speed and ferocity, unleashing unparalleled divine abilities and drawing the Undying Dao Weapons they typically held in reserve. They relentlessly surrounded and suppressed Luo Qingdi.

But Luo Qingdi blocked them every time!

His momentum was just too fierce, and his presence was contemptuous and imposing. He seemed utterly unshakable.

“Don’t let up! He cannot escape!” The man in the feather coat’s eyes flashed. He said gravely, “Even if we’re just wearing him down, we can’t let up until he’s dead!”

He could sense that, as fierce as Luo Qingdi’s momentum still was, his cracked body was on the verge of completely following apart.

That proved that he was already an arrow at the end of its flight. The moment he showed even the slightest sign of breaking, he’d be finished!

“Die!” The Nine-Tribulation Master Gods attacked with increased ferocity, ruthlessly surrounding Luo Qingdi.

Luo Qingdi’s thin face was as white as paper, but his gaze was as cold and indifferent as ever, and he was still calm.

As someone who’d fought his way to the pinnacle of his epoch of origin, becoming an unparalleled figure, he’d long since learned equanimity in the face of death, and he’d overcome countless bloodshed and peril. How could a situation like this possibly have concerned him?

Even if he died in battle, he was confident that he could drag a few of his enemies down to the grave with him!

Suddenly, his pupils constricted, and his expression shifted. His former calm gave way to obvious agitation.

“Activate!” Luo Qingdi bellowed and raised his lands. His aura expanded, and countless divine flames transformed into a searing, resplendent power of the Laws that swept outward with a bang.

Startled cries arose on all sides.

The experts surrounding him all suffered a terrifying impact. They scattered, staggering on their feet.

Luo Qingdi seized the opportunity to flash through the air and shoot out of their encirclement.

Kcch!

The middle-aged man in the feather coat was the first to try to intercept him. He swung his bronze Dao Sword, and misty blue sword qi swept forth, cleaving Luo Qingdi’s fleeing figure into pieces.

He’d been destroyed!

But the moment his body fell apart, Luo Qingdi’s soul origin escaped.

This was within the middle-aged man’s expectations, because given Luo Qingdi’s strength, he could have blocked that strike if he’d wanted to.

But he didn’t! He’d instead chosen to sacrifice his body so that his soul might escape!

“Give chase! He won’t last much longer!” bellowed the middle-aged man in the feather coat. Then, he shot off, leading the others after Luo Qingdi.

……

About fifteen minutes later, deep within the Tianxiu Sword Shrine, in a black, barren plain, Luo Qingdi appeared beside a hill.

He stretched out his hand, and the hill collapsed into power. He opened the ground, revealing a mysterious formation.

A body lay inside.

She was a pretty young woman in plain clothing. She had a warm, gentle air about her.

Except that now, her entire body was shrouded in dense death qi. It was relentlessly corroding her life force. Her face was deathly pale, and her skin had lost its luster.

“Xiao Xiao, hold on just a little longer. I’ll get you out of here soon!” Luo Qingdi said solemnly. There was no hiding the worry on his brow.

This former ruler of an entire epoch situation, a terrifying experience who’d overcome countless trials and tribulations without dying, had now lost his composure on account of this young woman.

He opened the formation, then lifted her limp form off the ground.

“Big Brother Luo, I… I’m the one dragging you down…” The woman opened her eyes with great difficulty. Her eyes had dulled, and her voice was feeble.

Luo Qingdi’s heart filled with grief. He said tenderly, “Xiao Xiao, you’re being exploited by evildoers. How could you say that you’d implicated me? Besides… You’re the one who saved my life.”

A scene from several years prior floated to the forefront of his consciousness.

After risking death to save Su Yi on the Road of Celestial Emergence, his body was destroyed, but his battered soul lived on. After reaching the God Domain, he fell unconscious.

When he woke up, Xiao Xiao was the first person he saw.

She was just a minor cultivator in an unknown little sect. Even there, she was the lowliest of outer sect disciples. In the eyes of gods, she was no different from an ant.

But it was this kind woman from the lowest echelons of the God Domain’s society who’d saved Luo Qingdi.

She was his benefactor!

Over the past few years, Xiao Xiao had meticulously looked after Luo Qingdi’s soul.

She called him her big brother, and she was completely open with him. She’d even sworn to help him until he was fully healed.

Nine years had passed in a flash.

During that time, Luo Qingdi had never revealed his true identity, nor had he dared to aid Xiao Xiao in her cultivation for fear that any abnormalities would draw unwanted attention and invite trouble.

But in Luo Qingdi’s heart, he’d long since taken her for another little sister. He’d already made up his mind to repay this kind-hearted young woman once he’d recovered his cultivation base.

After all, Xiao Xiao had no idea who he was, nor was she anticipating any sort of reward, but she’d nonetheless tended to him for nine years straight. How could an ordinary person have done such a thing?

Nine years was enough to grasp a person’s true nature.

Besides, had Xiao Xiao been at all self-interested, someone like Luo Qingdi would have realized it a long time ago.

But she wasn’t. She’d never asked for any sort of reward, nor was she plotting anything. She just saw him as an injured person in need of her protection… A pitiful figure down on his luck.

“Big Brother Luo, I really won’t last much longer. My eyelids are so heavy. I want to sleep…” Xiao Xiao’s eyes dimmed, and her voice was so soft that it was almost inaudible. “If I die… please bring my ashes back to my home town… and bury me beneath the willow tree in the courtyard… that’s the tree my father planted before he died…”

The more she spoke, the weaker her voice sounded.

Luo Qingdi’s heart was in agony. He didn’t hesitate to unleash a secret art, using what little power remained in his soul origin to save the young woman in his arms.

But the dense death qi enveloping her was too strange. There was nothing he could do to get rid of it. All he could do was temporarily suppress it.

“Xiao Xiao, you must hold on. Didn’t you want to know who I really am? When we get back home, I’ll tell you!” said Luo Qingdi. HIs voice carried traces of the Grand Dao, and Xiao Xiao’s spirit recovered slightly.

But it was still incomparably weak.

This left Luo Qingdi inwardly frantic.

But then, a voice tinged with laughter rang out. “Why would an expert of your level waste his already depleted energy to save an ant like that? It’s… truly moving!”

The middle-aged man in the feather coat led a group of Nine-Tribulation Master Gods over the horizon. In the blink of an eye, they’d sealed off the entire area.

When the middle-aged man in the feather coat saw that they were about to attack, he waved for them to stop. “That little girl is about to die. Let’s give them a little time to say goodbye. Don’t interfere.”

It sounded magnanimous, but when his allies thought it over, they quickly understood his intentions. They chose to stop, then watch coldly from the sidelines.