Chapter 1060 - I Examine My Heart and Find No Guilt!

When he saw Su Yi block his attack, the enraged Painter couldn’t help but be surprised.

This boy is seriously so strong!?

A moment later, he snorted coldly, reached through the air, and grabbed.

Boom!

The skies collapsed, and a massive hand blotted out the heavens and descended.

Like the hand of a god!

Su Yi was inwardly solemn. That’s enough power to threaten the life of the Wilds’ early-stage Profound Unity Emperors.

It wasn’t that this wisp of the Painter’s will was that powerful, but rather that the Laws of Spirit Nirvana were overly strong.

Clang!

A sword hum shook the heavens. Without the slightest hesitation, Su Yi swung his sword and clashed with it head-on.

Just like that, a grand battle broke out.

Heaven and earth were in upheaval as sword qi swept through the air, collapsing the landscape with a bang.

Su Yi was already circulating the full extent of his cultivation base, and when he swung Moonlit Shadow, he imbued it with a trace of the Sword of the Nine Hells’ aura.

Shockingly, he was now an even match for the Painter! Neither party could seize the upper hand!

What strange power! Just where did this boy come from? Why is he so heaven-defying?

The Painter couldn’t help but feel bewildered. Su Yi’s display of strength shocked even him.

He’d long since ascertained that Su Yi had yet to turn even twenty years of age!

His opponent was only in the mid-stage Profound Illumination Realm, but given his age, this advancement speed was already shocking and all but unheard of, even in the stars beyond the Wilds!

Still, if it were just a matter of cultivating quickly, the Painter wouldn’t have cared.

But he could clearly sense that Su Yi’s foundations in the Grand Dao were incomparably firm. Even in the stars beyond, it would have been almost impossible to find a Profound Illumination Realm Emperor comparable to him!

He really seemed unparalleled, unmatched in any era!

At the very least, the Painter had never seen or heard of such a powerful Profound Illumination Emperor.

Now, the Painter finally understood why Profound Serenity Emperors like Feng Ji and Fei Yun had died at this young man’s hands.

It wasn’t just that his cultivation base was heaven-defying; he actually possessed power capable of countering the Laws of Spirit Nirvana!

A heaven-defying cultivation base and mastery of a taboo power of the Grand Dao at just eighteen or nineteen years of age? He even knows a bit about the Temple Master’s past… just where did this boy come from?

The Painter was increasingly bewildered.

He’d traversed the depths of outer space for years, and he’d experienced the world’s ups and downs. He’d seen no small number of top experts of their star realms and legendary geniuses that dazzled their respective eras.

But this was his first time seeing someone like Su Yi.

This wasn’t just heaven-defying. It was downright unreasonable!

This is bad.

The Painter realized that this didn’t bode well. His remnant will’s power was rapidly dissipating. Before long, it would disperse completely!

Without the slightest hesitation, he drew upon all of the power he had left and unleashed a supreme secret art.

“Hah!” He bellowed, his power transforming into ink which poured out of his right pointer finger. He waved it through the air like a brush, then pressed down on the sky.

Boom!

An immeasurably vast scroll painting unfurled in the sky. Inside it was a sea of lightning. Surging electric light interwove, like a raging tidal wave full of destructive power.

The Sea of Lightning World-Annihilating Diagram!

A painting, nothing more, but it manifested endless lightning, as if intent on swallowing up this entire region.

That terrifying power descended upon the landscape like a vision of the apocalypse.

Su Yi stiffened, and he felt a prickling pain on his skin.

“It seems the old man plans to risk it all,” Su Yi said to himself.

He’d yet to get his fill, as the battle had just reached its climax. It was delightful, and he was reluctant to let it end so soon.

Alas, it was already time to determine a victor.

Clang!

A boundless sword hum rang out, but it was starkly different from Moonlit Shadow’s hum.

A three-inch, green-skinned gourd suddenly transformed into the hilt of a sword in Su Yi’s hand. Then, a three-foot blade exploded out of the hilt.

It seemed as if an unparalleled immortal sword had entered the world, illuminating the nine heavens and the ten earths! The Tiny Heart of the Cosmos!

The strongest sword Su Yi had wielded in his past life!

Boom——!!

That boundless sea of lightning surged forth, as if about to envelop Su Yi.

Su Yi made no attempt to dodge. His wrist turned, and he raised his sword and slashed through the air.

The skies tore like canvas, creating a perfectly straight rift.

Immediately afterward, the boundless sea of lightning split down the middle, fell to the sides, and dispersed.

One slash, and he broke the Painter’s killer move!

Watching from a distance, it seemed like an immortal had descended, splitting a sea of lightning with a swing of his sword!

A scene like that was enough to startle the whole world!

Even the Painter was unwittingly stunned, and his eyes shone with bewilderment. For some reason, the distant blue-robed young man was really starting to remind of him a certain swordsman he knew.

And that reminded him of certain unpleasant, shameful memories.

“Young man, just who are you?” the Painter said grimly.

Off in the distance, Su Yi put away the Tiny Heart of the Cosmos, stood with his hands behind his back, and gazed inquisitively back at the Painter. “Me? In the Wilds, they call me the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force, but in the stars beyond, I’m the man who dared say that even gods and immortals must avert their gazes before me…”

Here, the Painter’s heart shook as he realized why his opponent was so young. Reincarnation!

But as Su Yi revealed his identity in the stars beyond the Wilds, the Painter's eyes narrowed and he couldn't help but hold his breath.

“...the Master of the Temple of the Human Realm.”

When these calm, casual words left Su Yi’s lips, the Painter reacted as if he’d been struck by lightning. He stood there, rooted to the spot. His rapidly changing expression was a sight to behold.

There was astonishment, bewilderment, and disbelief, too.

Su Yi continued, “Of course, those are both nothing more than past lives, and they’ve already gone up in smoke. Listen carefully: I’m now known as Su Yi.”

“I… don’t… believe… it!!” said the Painter. His imprint of will had run out of power, and it took everything he had just to force out these words.

Then, before his unwilling, enraged voice had even finished echoing through the air, the body manifested of his remnant will crumbled into motes of light and dissipated.

Su Yi said softly, “What good will come of refusing to believe me? Back then, the Temple Master defeated you. Later, when I venture into the stars, I’ll be able to do the same.”

A moment later, he shook his head.

The one who’d died was merely a remnant of the Painter’s will. Even if he one day met the Painter in the flesh, the Painter wouldn’t recognize him!

Ultimately, remnants of will could at most act as protective talismans. Even if they were destroyed, their true bodies wouldn’t find out about it; the loss of a remnant of will had no effect on the original at all.

“It’s just a pity that I couldn’t squeeze any more useful information out of him.” Su Yi sighed, then turned and shot toward Profound Sky Academy.

Although he hadn’t been injured, repeatedly drawing upon the Sword of the Nine Hells had been enormously draining. He needed to rest and recover as soon as possible.

Still, between Fei Yun and the Painter, Su Yi had indeed obtained a few useful leads.

First, he now knew his honorary disciple Song Chai’s identity! She was from the Studio of the Heart, and its disciples called her their young mistress. Even the Painter lost his composure and flew into a rage when he brought her up.

Su Yi could tell that she had an utterly extraordinary status in Studio of the Heart. She might be the Painter’s daughter or Dao partner, or perhaps, her identity was even more secret than that.

But there was one thing he could say for sure: she was undoubtedly involved in Pi Mo’s betrayal!

Second, according to the Painter, the forces of the Studio of the Heart had come to the Wilds not just to seek out the chaos source of the Dark and Gold Star Realm, Dark and Gold Essence, but to uncover the secrets of reincarnation!

It was no wonder that after he reincarnated, Pi Mo visited the Netherworld personally, going so far as to murder the Master of the Blood Coffin of the Ghost Lantern Sarcophagus-Bearers. Everything was for the sake of learning about reincarnation.

There was no doubt about it: Pi Mo was acting on the young mistress’s orders!

Only now did Su Yi realize that in the stars beyond the Wilds, it wasn’t just the Nine Heavens Pavilion and the Church of the River of Stars that had come to the long-ruined Dark and Gold Star Realm in search of the secrets of reincarnation. The Studio of the Heart was after them too!

This was undoubtedly a dangerous sign.

Who knew when these three factions of the stars beyond would kill their way into the Wilds?

Third, it seemed there was something amiss about his youngest disciple, Qing Tang’s status too!

The young mistress of the Studio of the Heart had come to the Wilds from the stars beyond eighteen thousand years ago.

And it was eighteen thousand, nine hundred years ago that Su Yi accepted Qing Tang as his legacy disciple.

The two of them had appeared at almost the same time.

That could perhaps be a coincidence, but not longer after the “young mistress” joined the Grotto of Abstruse Force under the name “Song Chai” and became his honorary disciple, Qing Tang realized she’d come harboring ill intentions, and she kicked her out of the sect. How could that be a coincidence?

After all, by then, Su Xuanjun had long since reached the limit of the Imperial Apex Realm, and he was already the sole sovereign of the Wilds. His cultivation was without equal, yet even he couldn’t see through Song Chai’s identity.

Yet somehow, Qing Tang had done it.

There was something not right about that. Su Yi even suspected that Qing Tang, just like Song Chai, wasn’t from the Wilds. And if that was the case, it was a big problem!

This was what made Su Yi feel melancholy and out of sorts. After all, everyone in the Grotto of Abstruse Force knew he doted on his youngest disciple, Qing Tang, and he’d taught her everything he knew.

If Qing Tang was really someone else, and she’d hidden her true identity throughout her time at his side, it would be devastating.

“My eldest disciple, Pi Mo, betrayed me because of a woman from the Studio of the Heart, and my youngest disciple’s identity is suspect…

“In my past life, I might have seemed invincible in this world, and my sword might well have suppressed the heavens, but who’d have thought so many schemers had hidden themselves by my side?

“Ultimately, I can only blame my past self for being too fixated on breaking into a higher path. I thought only of my cultivation and the secrets of reincarnation. When I left, I left for hundreds or thousands of years at a time. I neglected to keep watch over the Grotto of Abstruse Force’s ranks.

“And when I finally realized my goal of reincarnation, I encountered so many unexpected variables, so I didn’t even have time to get everything in order…”

Su Yi sighed to himself.

By the time he returned to Profound Sky Academy, Su Yi had already calmed down, and he’d set his scattered thoughts aside.

He’d never been the type to indulge in self-pity.

Besides, it seemed to Su Yi that in his capacity as the leader of the Grotto of Abstruse Force, he’d never once mistreated any of its disciples.

If only for that reason, he had no guilty conscience!