Chapter 1566 - Greater and Lesser Island Lords

The immortal rune Liu Wuxie inscribed carried the laws of the Fleeting Cloud Celestial Realm. The instant it fused into the Heretic Blade, the blade seemed to draw breath, inhaling and exhaling like a whale as it swiftly devoured the surrounding spiritual energy.

Nine thunderbolts gathered in the sky and crashed down together, blotting out the heavens and sealing off the entire island. The cultivators who had rushed over couldn't even approach, and the sheer might of those thunderbolts had already surpassed ordinary worldly limits. Only a cultivator at the pinnacle of the Heaven Gaze Realm could hope to contend with it head-on.

Laws of the Heaven Gaze Realm surged outward like a titanic tide, and nine massive thunder dragons answered the call. The thunder dragons coiled around the Heretic Blade, locked it in place, and tried to strip the immortal rune from its core, refusing to allow it to exist in the world.

In that same instant, a thick immortal rune Liu Wuxie had used to fortify the Heretic Blade erupted with razor sharpness. Laws of the celestial realm were born from it, forcing the nine thunder dragons to recoil and retreat.

Liu Wuxie shouted, "Fuse everything!"

The Heretic Blade devoured the nine thunder dragons as they tried to withdraw, and they vanished without a trace. With that, all forty-nine thunderbolts disappeared as well.

The sky cleared again, leaving only the crimson blade ray behind as a reminder of the thunderstorm. That blade aura stretched farther and farther, as though it reached into the depths of the universe itself.

Then a crisp dragon cry rang through heaven and earth, and the crimson blade ray slowly faded in the sky. One by one, the immortal runes coiling around the Heretic Blade sank inward, taking their posts to guard the blade's core.

The Heretic Blade's internal space began expanding, and one day it would evolve into a world of its own. The blade spiraled once and fell before Liu Wuxie. He reached out and gently held it. The moment his fingers closed around the hilt, bloodline resonance surged through him, and the urge to roar struck him hard.

With a casual swing, Liu Wuxie tore open a fissure in space that widened as it spread. Moments later, the ocean burst apart, a long passage opened, and the island split straight down the middle.

"What a sharp blade!" a cultivator hovering far off in the sky exclaimed. Two cultivators had witnessed the Heretic Blade's ascension firsthand.

"The terrifying part isn't that blade, but the hundred immortal runes within. Give it another year at most, and this blade can ascend into an immortal artifact," another cultivator said, greed flashing in his eyes.

Once a weapon reached the level of an immortal artifact, it would take on a human form. Upon reaching the Immortal Realm, one would stand at the pinnacle of the astral domains, becoming an unmatched powerhouse worshipped by all.

Liu Wuxie had sensed those two cultivators long ago, yet he pretended not to notice. He gently stroked the Heretic Blade, and a tingling numbness crawled across his fingertips. The blade likely still carried the aftertaste of the final nine thunderbolts it had absorbed.

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

The two cultivators descended from the sky and landed ten meters from Liu Wuxie. The moment their feet touched down, they released their auras at the Heaven Gaze Realm.

Only then did Liu Wuxie put the Heretic Blade away and finally look at them.

"Is there anything you need?" Liu Wuxie asked, calmly. These two were at the first-level Heaven Gaze Realm, likely experts from the Thousand Islands Sea Region or some nearby island, lured in by the crimson blade ray.

"Brat, I'm willing to buy that blade," the cultivator on the left said.

"How many astral crystals are you willing to offer then?" Liu Wuxie asked with a faint smile.

"One hundred thousand," the cultivator replied. Trying to purchase an artifact that had birthed a hundred immortal runes was nothing short of daylight robbery.

"Not for sale," Liu Wuxie flatly refused.

"Brat, do you know who we are?" the cultivator on the right asked coldly, murderous intent boiling in his eyes. With no one else nearby, they could kill Liu Wuxie and take the blade by force. The fact that they had even offered one hundred thousand astral crystals already counted as generosity.

"It's not for sale, no matter who the fuck you are," Liu Wuxie said, his tone hardening. The Heretic Blade's ascension had put him in a good mood, which was why he hadn't killed them the moment they showed themselves. If this had happened before, he would have slapped them to death without wasting a single breath.

"Brat, we're the greater and lesser island lords of Heart Severing Island. If you're willing to give us that blade, we will make you the third island lord," the cultivator on the left said, finally revealing their identity.

Just as Liu Wuxie had suspected, these two were island lords. Yet Heart Severing Island was nothing more than a remote scrap of territory, and it couldn't even compare to Four Waters Island. Only in such a place could they claim dominion and call themselves island lords.

After searching the souls of the two island lords of Four Waters Island, Liu Wuxie had already grasped the Thousand Islands Sea Region's layout in detail. Heart Severing Island lay roughly three hundred thousand miles from this place, and the two had been out on business when they happened to run into Liu Wuxie reforging the Heretic Blade.

"Not interested," Liu Wuxie said, shaking his head.

"Brat, since you're refusing our goodwill, don't blame us for what happens next," the cultivator on the left said. As the greater island lord, he possessed the strongest cultivation, and he slammed his palm down at Liu Wuxie with unmatched momentum, cracking heaven and earth. The force he displayed truly fit that of an expert in the Heaven Gaze Realm.

Liu Wuxie, however, only curled his lips into a mocking sneer because a mere cultivator at the first-level Heaven Gaze Realm actually dared to attack him.

"You're courting death!" Liu Wuxie roared. The Heretic Blade appeared in his hand, and he unleashed a crimson blade ray that swept out with overwhelming force.

The greater island lord panicked. He had never expected Liu Wuxie to control an artifact at the Heaven Gaze Realm, and shock slammed into him like a hammer.

After all, Liu Wuxie's cultivation was only at the sixth-level Earth Immortal Realm, yet the power he unleashed rivaled cultivators at the higher levels of the Heaven Gaze Realm, defying all sense. By the time he regained his composure, it was already too late, because the Heretic Blade's aura had locked onto him completely.

The greater island lord couldn't move at all. The giant palm he had conjured split cleanly in half under a single strike, and his Heaven Gaze Realm aura shattered as well, failing to affect Liu Wuxie in the slightest.

"Shit!" The greater island lord finally realized the danger and tried to dodge. Even with the speed he displayed, the Heretic Blade moved faster still, and that simple sweep carried the dao of heaven and earth.

That was the advantage of reforging the Heretic Blade in the outside world. If Liu Wuxie had reforged it inside the Heavenly Deity Monument, countless drawbacks would have surfaced, and it would have likely clashed with the monument itself.

The lesser island lord sensed the danger too and struck at once, trying to coordinate a pincer attack with his companion.

"Too slow!" Liu Wuxie mocked. Experts at the Heaven Gaze Realm in the Thousand Islands Sea Region couldn't compare to those in the inland regions, because most of them were rogue cultivators. Their shallow foundation could never match the elders of the various sects.

Many island lords had only crawled to the Thousand Islands Sea Region because they couldn't survive inland.

A flash of blade ray swept past, and the greater island lord felt a chill press against his throat. He froze in place, unable to move, as the Heretic Blade completely devoured the Heaven Gaze Realm laws inside his body.

That sight stunned the lesser island lord so badly that he forgot to attack.

"You..." the greater island lord managed, but he couldn't finish. He collapsed into a pile of skin.

"You monster!" the lesser island lord shrieked as terror seized him, and he turned and fled, desperate to escape this place. He had been frightened out of his wits because a mere cultivator at the sixth-level Earth Immortal Realm had just slain a Heaven Gaze Realm expert with ease.

"Don't you think it's too late for you to run now?" Liu Wuxie sneered. Since he had decided to kill, he would leave no survivors behind.

The Heretic Blade flew from his hand on its own, turned into a crimson ray, and pierced straight through the lesser island lord's body. Blood sprayed from the sky, and like the greater island lord, the lesser island lord's corpse shriveled until only a pile of skin remained.

After killing the two, Liu Wuxie felt no excitement at all, because cultivators at the low levels of the Heaven Gaze Realm looked no different from ants in his eyes. He collected their interspatial rings, and their wealth proved decent as he found more than a million astral crystals inside.

"This place isn't suitable to stay any longer," Liu Wuxie murmured. To prevent other cultivators from tracing him there, he didn't even bother cleaning the battlefield. He soared into the clouds and headed toward Peach Blossom Island.

At that moment, groups of cultivators entered the Thousand Islands Sea Region as the mirage reappeared. Whenever a mirage appeared, it signaled that something great would follow, yet no one knew what the Thousand Islands Sea Region would face this time.

The next few days passed in silence, and Liu Wuxie occasionally stopped to rest on passing islands. He had come out to temper himself, and he didn't impose strict demands on his pace. The Heavenly Dao Society also sent him no message, which meant everything remained stable for the time being.

He traveled across the Thousand Islands Sea Region and reached Peach Blossom Island five days later. Flowers covered the island like a thick carpet, painting it in a breathtaking dreamscape.

Peach Blossom Island was massive and seemed boundless. The whole place looked like a continent floating atop the ocean, complete with cities, mountain ranges, lakes, and even an ocean within. It was the first time Liu Wuxie had ever seen an ocean inside another ocean.

Most importantly, Peach Blossom Island floated above the water. When a gale swept across it, the island actually moved, which felt even more unbelievable.

Whenever people mentioned Peach Blossom Island, they inevitably spoke of the Peach Blossom Gate, an ancient sect that had lived there for hundreds of thousands of years.

Apart from the Peach Blossom Gate, many clans also lived on Peach Blossom Island. Liu Wuxie only learned later that the Mei Clan had once been here as well. No wonder Mei Yechan's eyes had flashed with bitterness the moment he had mentioned Peach Blossom Island.

Many smaller cities surrounded Peach Blossom Island, and bridges connected them, enabling free trade and travel. Within the Thousand Islands Sea Region, Peach Blossom Island sat at the center, and the rest of the region radiated outward from it.

To the east lay a boundless sea that connected to the oceanic clan. To the west lay waters where the pirates of the Seventy-Two Caves often appeared. That western region was dangerous, packed with hidden reefs and undercurrents that could swallow someone whole with a single mistake.

More frightening than the terrain itself, however, were the pirates of the Seventy-Two Caves. They had long seized control of that entire region, and no cultivators were willing to enter. Anyone unfamiliar with the geography could easily fly straight onto pirate-infested islands.

To the south, islands of every size dotted the waters. Larger islands raised city walls to defend against sea demons, while people turned smaller cities into places of entertainment.

The moment Liu Wuxie set foot on Peach Blossom Island, he felt an invisible restriction descend from the sky and forbid flight.

Because Peach Blossom Island floated on the ocean, a massive spiritual array anchored it in place to prevent tides from sweeping it away.

As a result, restrictions covered the island's skies and controlled the entire land. No one could fly here, and anyone who entered had to travel on foot.

When Liu Wuxie walked into the city, he saw crowds and traffic everywhere, a pure display of prosperity. Building such a haven in the middle of the ocean truly counted as a holy land.

In Rakshasa Cave, the second cave lord of the Seventy-Two Caves' pirates sat with a portrait placed before him.

"Second Brother, this is the message we received from Four Waters Island. The two island lords were both killed by this young man," a man said. His entire body had been scorched black, and he ranked ninth among the Seventy-Two Caves as the Black Wasp Cave's cave lord. It was said that he resembled a venomous wasp, and that was the origin of his name.

The Four Waters Island's lords and the Black Wasp Cave's cave lord had maintained some relationship. The pirate who had survived had rushed to Black Wasp Cave immediately, begging the cave lord to avenge the two deceased island lords.