Chapter 1491 - The Blueflame Divine Python

The First Battleground.

A seldom-visited blood-colored wilderness where fierce astral winds howled year-round.

These lands were a forbidden ground to even Cloud Soaring Transcendents!

Over the years, the Cloud Soaring Transcendents who entered the First Battleground dared not risk themselves here.

Deep within the blood-colored wilderness, there stood a towering mountain bathed in black lightning. Surging currents of electricity poured down its slopes, and the rumbling of thunder shook heaven and earth. That terrifying air of destruction distorted and collapsed the surrounding area.

Suddenly, a figure fell off the lightning-covered mountainside.

In midair, a murky gray divine ring surged around her, holding her aloft. In the end, she gently drifted down to the foot of the mountain.

Upon closer inspection, she was an exquisitely beautiful young woman in rainbow raiment. There was a strange totem on her forehead, like a serpent devouring its tail.

This was A’Cai!

The surging black lightning and astral winds could have destroyed the physical body of any Cloud Soaring Transcendent. But when they swept toward A’Cai’s delicate figure, that murky gray divine ring neutralized them.

“Dammit! I failed again!” A’Cai gnashed her teeth, a hint of vexation in her beautiful eyes.

The peak of the black lightning mountain was completely barren. Next to the cliffside, there stood a ten-foot pool.

Its “water” was manifested from the source of the Void Annihilation Immortal Lightning.

And a divine chaos lifeform was growing within the pond. A’Cai had come here to get her hands on it!

Unfortunately, despite having made numerous attempts since entering the First Battleground, she’d failed each and every time.

The black lightning was just too terrifying. It was called Void Annihilation Immortal Lightning, and it was manifested of the Laws of the First Battleground. It could destroy all living things beneath the Immortal Dao with ease.

And the lightning pool by the cliffside was derived from its source energies!

I wonder if Fellow Daoist Su has made it to the First Battleground yet. With his help, I might have better odds of success,

A’Cai thought to herself.

A moment later, she shook her head and decided to wait until her wounds had healed to try again.

If she really couldn’t manage it on her own, she’d go to the Welcoming Grounds to wait for Su Yi.

......

The Welcoming Plain.

This was a place at the heart of the First Battleground. It was a vast plane with four mountains, one at each corner.

Each of the peaks was covered in buildings.

The mountains corresponded to the four camps. They were thus known as Eastern Profound Peak, Western Chill Peak, Southern Flame Peak, and Northern Abyss Peak.

And at the center of the plain between the four peaks, there stood a ten-thousand-foot ritual ground.

It was covered completely in strange, intricate Dao Markings.

This was the Welcoming Grounds!

When the year was through, the Road of Welcoming would appear on the Welcoming Grounds, leading directly to the Immortal Transformation Platform deep within the sky!

When the time came, a fierce competition would ensue. The victors could fight their way to the Immortal Transformation Platform. Those who earned the recognition of the Emissary of Welcoming could rise to the Immortal Realm!

However, the Road of Welcoming and the Immortal Transformation Platform had yet to appear.

“Get them!”

The sound of fierce combat rang out on the Welcoming Grounds. A fierce duel was underway.

The two parties were from the Northern Abyss and Southern Flame Star Domains. Both were mighty Cloud Soaring Transcendents.

Numerous others were watching throughout the surrounding area. Others still watched from the four peaks.

This was a duel to victory and defeat, but it wasn’t without its rewards. The loser had to give up half of their accumulated merit!

And those with too little merit weren't qualified to step onto the Road of Welcoming when it appeared!

In contrast, the more merit you accumulated, the more advantages you received on the Road of Welcoming.

Especially upon reaching the Immortal Transformation Platform. The greater someone's accumulated merit, the more Immortal Spirit Qi you received!

Immortal Spirit Qi wasn’t ordinary immortal qi, but rather, a source power born of the Immortal Dao.

When cultivators became immortals, the more Immortal Spirit Qi they refined, the stronger their foundations in the Grand Dao upon breaking into immortality.

Suddenly, startled cries rang out on all sides.

The Northern Abyss Cloud Soaring Transcendent had defeated his opponent in a single strike, attaining victory.

Half of the defeated party’s accumulated merit vanished from his identity token and appeared in the victor’s.

Off in the distance, a woman in hemp clothes and a bronze mask took the entire battle in. She pursed her pink lips. A battle like this was far too dull.

Yet for some reason, the onlookers watched with relish.

The woman in hemp clothes had her black hair tied into a ponytail with a red string. Her eyes shone with faint purple light, and her figure was tall and upright.

This was none other than the mysterious spearwoman.

“Indeed, it’s lonely at the top. At the Cloud Soaring level, those worthy of my notice are ultimately few and far between,” she murmured to herself.

She gazed into the heavens.

With my strength, I can deceive the Laws of the Domain Boundary Battlefield, but I can’t avoid detection by the Laws of the Immortal Dao. I can wait until the Path of Welcoming appears, but I’m afraid I have little hope of slipping into the Immortal Realm. What a headache.

She raised her hand to rub her nose, only to bump her mask. Her finger paused in midair, and then she waved her hand in irritation.

“Fellow Daoist Su still isn’t here?”

“Not yet.”

“Argh. If he were here, how could we of the Eastern Profound Star Domain have been pushed this far?”

...The sound of nearby conversation drifted into the spearwoman’s ears.

She stiffened slightly.

Right! Why hasn’t that Su guy shown up in the First Battleground yet? He really is useless!

The spearwoman shook her head, turned, and left.

......

A swamp swathed in mist.

A group of Southern Flame Star Domain Cloud Soaring cultivators were surrounding and attacking a blue python.

The python had a single blood-colored horn, and its ten-thousand-foot body was like a mountain range in motion. It had sprouted four dragon claws, proof that it was on the verge of transforming into a dragon.

It was ferocious and terrifying to the extreme, and it shot through the skies quick as lightning, manipulating baleful fog and divine flame. Although it was covered in wounds, it was repeatedly forcing the Cloud Soaring Transcendents back.

“Don’t panic! That beast won’t hold out much longer!”

“Just hold on a while longer!”

...The Cloud Soaring cultivators were joining forces and fighting back with all their might.

Save for the Welcoming Grounds, the First Battleground was full of perils grave enough to threaten the lives of Cloud Soaring cultivators.

Of course, there was rare good fortune hidden here too.

Take this blue python. It was an ancient variant species, the Blueflame Divine Python, and they were practically extinct in the outside world. And this Blueflame Divine Python had the latent potential to transform into a dragon!

In the eyes of a cultivator, the python’s entire body was a treasure, an incomparably rare stroke of good fortune. More importantly, by killing the beast here in the First Battleground, they could obtain a generous reward in the form of merit.

It was for this reason that cultivators from all four star domains frequently formed groups to explore the First Battleground. They were searching for good fortune and hunting beasts to accumulate merit.

Boom!

Suddenly, the Blueflame Python let out a heaven-shaking roar, shook off its enemies, and dove into the swamp’s deaths.

“Give chase!”

“Quick! The beast obviously can’t hold out much longer!”

The Cloud Soaring cultivators of the Southern Flame Star Domain were instantly excited.

They too were injured, and they looked wretched to the extreme, but they didn’t care. All of them rushed after the python immediately.

The swamp was enormous and swathed in mists. Numerous bald, ancient trees grew here, their branches stretching into the heavens.

The Blueflame Divine Python was extraordinarily quick, and it knocked into countless ancient trees as it fled.

But in the end, just as the python reached a craggy, silver mountain deep within the swamp, it seemed unable to hold out any longer. It let out a heaven-shaking mournful wail, and its mountainous frame toppled into the swamp with a splash.

The cultivators chasing it all lit up with delight.

But then, their gazes focused, and they silently stopped in place.

They weren’t sure when he’d gotten there, but a tall, upright figure had appeared beside the fallen python. His robes were blue, and he looked calm and extraordinary. He had extremely youthful features, and he emanated no trace of a cultivation base, making him seem incredibly out of place.

“So, it’s a fellow Daoist of the Eastern Profound Star Domain.” A middle-aged man in yellow sighed in apparent relief, walked up, and inclined his head in greeting. “We’re from the Southern Flame Star Domain’s Green Origin Dao Court. We came here to hunt that beast, so we’d appreciate it if you could step aside.”

His words and bearing were polite as could be. There was no faulting his manners.

The young man in blue was, naturally, Su Yi. He gestured to the Blueflame Divine Python’s head. “I contributed toward this wicked creature’s death.”

The middle-aged man in yellow froze. He and his companions looked over.

Indeed, there was a bloody hole through the python’s skull. It was obviously the work of a streak of sword qi.

The yellow-robed middle-aged man thought for a moment, then said, “How about this? We’ll give you thirty percent of the spoils, Fellow Daoist.”

Su Yi smiled faintly. “Just thirty percent? That’s not enough.”

The yellow-robed middle-aged man and the others looked at each other. They were obviously displeased.

But in the end, the yellow-robed middle-aged man thought it over and said, “Then let’s split it fifty-fifty. How about it? That’s the most we can offer you.”

Su Yi was instantly quite surprised. And here he’d just been testing their limits. He wouldn’t have thought they’d choose to make further concessions!

Su Yi thought for a moment, then said, “If you can answer one of my questions, I actually wouldn’t mind giving you my share of the spoils.”

The middle-aged man in yellow said with a laugh, “Please, go right ahead and ask, Fellow Daoist.”

Su Yi got straight to the point. “Why not just seize it from me? If you kill me, you won’t just claim all of the rewards. You’ll receive merit, too. So why not just attack? Besides, you’re from the Southern Fire Star Domain, and I’m from the Eastern Profound Star Domain. We’re natural enemies, so why back down again and again?”

Su Yi really didn’t understand. This obviously wasn’t in line with his understanding of the First Battleground.

But what surprised Su Yi even more was that the yellow-robed man and his companions looked astonished by the question.

As if they found it... completely idiotic!