Chapter 1254 - Care to Test Me?

A woman, that’s all. How could she possibly be more important than the secrets of immortals?

The red-robed man in the lotus crown frowned even deeper.

But a moment later, he smiled. “I said that as long as you agreed to help me, I’d tell you everything you wanted to know.”

Su Yi raised his jug of wine and took a sip. “I have no interest in doing business with you. Answer me within three breaths of time, or I’ll kill you.”

His tone was casual, but his words were utterly forceful and tyrannical.

The red-robed man’s smile faded.

He gently stroked his jaw and fixed his distant gaze on Su Yi. “And here I thought I’d displayed enough sincerity and good intentions already. Now, it seems... you don’t know your place.”

His deep voice echoed throughout the vast, empty hall, and his entire presence transformed.

His gaze was now as cold as ice, with the indifferent bearing of a god!

Formless, terrifying majesty spread out around him.

A suffocating, austere atmosphere descended upon the entire palace.

But Su Yi didn’t even seem to notice. He simply put away his jug of wine and asked, “I don’t know my place? How about you test me?”

“Very well.” The red-robed man laughed.

However, his smile was full of cold, terrifying murderous intent.

Throughout the four walls, the lamps went out, casting the palace interior into darkness.

Bang!

The palace gates shut.

The red-robed man’s soft laughter emanated from outside.

“I forgot to tell you, but they call this place the Palace of Divine Execution. It contains the greatest killing formation of the Divine Kingdom of Illusions. When you can’t take it any longer, just say the word, and I’ll of course let you out.”

As his voice rang out, the thirty-six battered, indistinct Cloud Soaring Ascension Diagrams suddenly burst with radiant firelight.

Immortal radiance flowed, and the experts depicted seemed to awaken from an ancient slumber.

Terrifying murderous intent instantly swept out like the tides.

The palace silently transformed, becoming a boundless, ancient landscape. Electric light surged beneath the dome of heaven, and tribulation clouds gathered.

Thirty-six godlike figures stood proudly atop the clouds, all of them revealing heaven-shaking power.

Su Yi’s gaze remained as calm as before. He stood in place, unmoving.

With a flip of his palm, the Dark and Gold Fortune Vine appeared in his grip. His blue robes billowed around him.

This was an ancient, unparalleled killing formation, with a self-contained heaven and earth. It gathered the remnant wilds of the thirty-six experts depicted in the Cloud Soaring Ascension Diagram.

A killing formation like this was enough to make even Cosmic Enlightenment World Kings give in to fear!

Suddenly, a sonorous cry reverberated throughout the nine heavens and ten earths.

A Bifang flew in from over the horizon and attacked, its winds blanketing the sky and obscuring the clouds. It was shrouded in immortal clouds and electric light.

It was extraordinarily quick, and its wings cleaved through the skies as it arrived in a flash.

This was no mere illusion. This was a true life-or-death threat!

However, the Bifang was soon greeted by sword intent reminiscent of the cycle of the Six Paths. It rose through the air, dark and heavy.

Bang!!

One slash, that’s all, but the Bifang was sent flying. Its massive frame collapsed on a distant mountain.

“It’s still alive?” Su Yi was a bit surprised.

He could tell that the divine Bifang had died a long, long time ago. It reappeared today because the Illusionist had awakened what little remained of its imprint of will.

The mysteries of reincarnation were perfectly suited to ending such powers.

Yet against all expectations, the power of his slash had merely left a wound in the Bifang’s body.

“Don’t tell me that this Bifang truly ascended and became an immortal? If not, why would its remnant will be so terrifying?”

As Su Yi pondered, this unparalleled threat assailed him once more.

Above the dome of heaven, all of those figures reminiscent of gods and immortals attacked.

One rode in on celestial bodies and wielded a fly whisk. Visions of divine sovereigns appeared reflected behind him.

One was a Buddha unleashing the Magic of Cosmic Imitation. He grew to ten thousand feet tall, his entire body glowing with treasure light. With every snap of his fingers, firelight descended, like the river of stars pouring onto the world.

One was a sword cultivator. When he drew and swung his sword, streaks of sword qi fully thirty thousand feet long shot forth like raging bulls glowing with firelight.

One was a demonic hegemon wielding a boundless river of blood. It brought with it one hundred thousand feet of electric immortal light.

...Every last one of these figures was one of the experts depicted in the Rising Mist Ascension Diagram. These were people who’d challenged the path to immortality, knocking on heaven's gates.

Even though these were just manifestations of their remnant will, their divine majesty was unbelievably mighty.

There was no need to even question it. In life, their cultivations had surpassed the bounds of the World King Realm!

When they joined forces against him, it was like a vision of all the deities of the nine heavens marching into battle!

Boom!

Heaven and earth were in turmoil, and immortal light flew through the air and scattered like a waterfall.

All manner of astonishing secret arts ripped through the sky, blanketing the heavens and sweeping toward Su Yi in a massive wave.

Clang!

The humming of a sword swept out like the tide.

Su Yi leaped into the air, sword in hand, and attacked.

The illusory Cycle of the Six Paths blotted out the sky and obscured the sun. As it fused into his swordsmanship, it filled the sky with sword qi.

Just like that, a grand battle broke out.

Although Su Yi was under extreme pressure, he wasn’t at all panicked.

As the battle raged, he keenly detected that the mysteries of reincarnation really could restrict his opponents!

Furthermore, whenever the power of reincarnation swept across them, it left wounds that didn’t heal.

These injuries weren’t severe.

But with enough time, he’d be able to destroy them completely!

“In life, every last one of these people likely had a cultivation beyond the bounds of Cosmic Enlightenment. The powers and abilities they’ve mastered are far beyond ordinary Cosmic Enlightenment World Kings.

“Just who are they? What era are they from? What happened to them in the past?”

One question after another flooded into Su Yi’s mind.

The only thing he could say with certainty was that in life, these experts had surely stepped onto a path beyond that of Heaven’s Ascension!

But there was no way this higher path was the Immortal Dao.

The reason for this was simple. These experts’ remnant wills had been left in the Rising Mists Ascension Diagram. They’d yet to truly sublimate into immortals!

“Does that mean there’s a path between the Path of Heaven’s Ascension and immortality?”

As soon as this occurred to Su Yi, his gaze focused.

Were that really the case, it would prove that the rumors that had circulated the stars for countless years were false!

Ascend the heavens and become an immortal?

No! After ascending the heavens, there was yet another path to overcome!

Perhaps this was the path of soaring into the clouds and transcending mortality!

As Su Yi pondered, his movements never ceased.

Soon after.

Boom!

The thoroughly wounded Bifang finally couldn’t take it anymore. A streak of sword qi shattered it, and it dissipated into a rain of the Grand Dao as radiant as the sun.

Su Yi seized the opportunity to gather it.

A shocking scene followed. The rain of the Grand Dao flooded into his body, and its surging, overflowing source energies fused completely into his Grand Dao Black Hole.

Within it, his chaos ground rumbled and boomed. The light of the Grand Dao rose, and the upright Root of Heaven and Earth received unprecedented nourishment, like a chaos tree.

Su Yi then sensed his essence, qi, and spirit rumbling, as if boiling over. His cultivation base was advancing through combat!

Even he couldn’t help but find this surprising.

He recalled refining that “immortal qi” on the banks of the Jade Sea. It obviously shared a common source with the rain of the Grand Dao he absorbed from the slain Bifang.

The only difference was that the rain didn’t require any refinement whatsoever. His Grand Dao Black Hole simply absorbed it all!

“Again.” Su Yi’s eyes lit up, as if he’d discovered a rare and precious treasure.

Boom!

The battle raged with renewed ferocity. Soon, yet another expert fell.

Just as Su Yi expected, after they died, they too transformed into a rain of the light of the Grand Dao!

Su Yi was increasingly delighted.

He would never have guessed that killing the remnants of will within the Cloud Soaring Ascension Diagram would grant him such enormous good fortune!

He then cast aside his scattered thoughts and focused on killing his enemies.

With the support of the Laws of Reincarnation, his sword cut down one terrifying foe after another.

He absorbed the rain of the Grand Dao they left behind, fusing it into his Grand Dao Black Hole.

It wasn’t long before he’d refined nine experts' worth of rain of the Grand Dao. His cultivation base had already smoothly entered the mid-stage Heavenly Longevity Realm! Furthermore, his foundations were incomparably firm, without the slightest flaw!

This was because the rain of the Grand Dao was incredibly pure and dense, as if it had been tempered hundreds of thousands of times over. When it fused into Su Yi’s cultivation base, it didn’t need any further refinement or polishing. It directly transformed and raised his cultivation base!

“There are still twenty-seven of them left. I wonder if killing them all and gathering their rain of the Gand Dao will be enough to bring my cultivation base all the way to the peak of Heavenly Longevity...”

Su Yi was eager, but he wouldn’t let his delight muddle his head.

After his cultivation base broke through, he sensed that refining the rain of light was far less effective than before.

Even so, Su Yi was quite satisfied.

Cultivating within the World King Realm was far too difficult.

One look at Meng Changyun was enough to tell you that. Without the right opportunity, thousands of years could pass without making any further improvements!

As Su Yi fought ferociously.

Outside the palace.

The man in red robes and a lotus crown sat on the stone steps, supporting his jaw in his hand. He gazed at the distant ritual ground. His eyes were full of the vicissitudes of countless years, as well as entirely undisguised hatred.

It was that ritual ground that had confined him here for countless years.

He had all this power, but it did him no good. He was still a mere prisoner here!

Who knew what he was thinking about, but he suddenly launched into a series of curses.

“Sublimation? Soaring into the clouds and becoming immortal? It’s all nothing but dog farts! That path hasn’t existed in this world for a long, long time!”

His handsome, youthful face was suddenly hideously contorted and sinister.

Boom!

The palace shook violently behind him, startling him. He leaped to his feet and whipped around.

It was then that——

The tightly shut palace doors silently opened.

Light flooded in, dispersing the darkness and revealing the scenery inside.

The walls had collapsed into a pile of dust. The thirty-six Cloud Soaring Ascendance Diagrams had disappeared completely.

Someone stood silently at the center of the hall. His blue robes were perfectly clean, without the slightest speck of dust.

The red-robed man’s expression froze in place, and his eyes widened.

He could tell that Su Yi was more than just unharmed. His cultivation had broken through!

𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

For a moment, the red-robed man was startled. His expression shifted dramatically, and his disbelief was readily apparent.