I really should lie low for a bit.

Su Yi took out a jug of wine and had a sip.

He’d profited enormously from this Divine Hunt, but it had brought him enormous trouble, too.

He knew that despite disguising himself and participating under the pseudonym “Shen Mu,” he’d draw widespread attention when word spread that he’d killed seven Immortal Kings.

It was entirely possible that those old-timers would put the pieces together and deduce some of the truth.

After all, when he first ascended to the Immortal Realm, the Church of the Pure One and Cloud Apparatus Immortal Manor already had information about him!

But Su Yi wasn’t all that concerned about that. He was quite well aware that his identity would leak sooner or later. It was just a question of when.

The sun gradually set, and a curtain of darkness descended over the world.

Su Yi returned to his cabin, calmed his heart, and meditated.

…

Seven days later.

The White Reed Province, the Luo River Forbidden Zone, deep within the ruins of the Academy of Eternal Night.

Su Yi returned to the Underground Palace of Seeking the Profound.

“You’ve already broken into the Void Realm, Sovereign?” Qing Wei exclaimed in delight.

She was just as she’d been when Su Yi first met her: an exquisite, moving beauty. Her plain white dress outlined her wondrous curves, and her every gesture was shockingly enticing.

Like an unparalleled enchantress.

Despite having long encountered Qing Wei’s charms, seeing her again left Su Yi dazzled. She was a delight to the senses!

Su Yi nodded. “Call your master over.”

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Qing Wei hurried off.

Su Yi watched her slender, ravishing figure fade from view. Suddenly, for some inexplicable reason, he recalled the first time they’d met.

Back then, he’d yet to become an immortal. Moreover, he was badly injured. An Immortal King’s source power had infiltrated his body.

Qing Wei had offered to share his bed and engage in dual cultivation to help him treat his injuries.

Alas, at the time, his cultivation was too low to keep up with an Immortal Lady like Qing Wei. They weren’t suitable dual cultivation partners, so he’d let that opportunity go.

Now that I think about it, I haven’t experienced the wonders of dual cultivation since before I ascended to the Immortal Realm…

Su Yi found this a bit of a pity.

A moment later, he shook his head and set the matter aside.

Before long, Qing Wei arrived with her master, Immortal Queen Liu Yun.

Su Yi said directly, “I’m confident I can remove the power of divine tribulation from your body. Shall we try it?”

Liu Yun’s delicate frame quivered. She suppressed her excitement and said, “I’ll have to trouble you, Your Excellency!”

Su Yi subtly inclined his head. He’d long since agreed to help Immortal Queen Liu Yun, and he naturally wouldn’t go back on his word.

An hour later, Su Yi successfully used the power of reincarnation to remove the divine tribulation from her body. In doing so, he freed her from the ailment that had plagued her for countless years.

Immortal Queen Liu Yun felt as if she’d been granted a new life. Her beautiful face lit up with new, extraordinary radiance, and she flung herself to the ground and wept tears of gratitude.

“All these years living under the divine tribulation’s effects have corroded your foundations in the Grand Dao and damaged your vitality. I’m afraid it’ll be a long time until you’ve fully recovered,” said Su Yi. “I encourage you to stay in seclusion a while longer to fix the damage.”

“I shall assiduously carry out your commands, Your Excellency!” said Immortal Queen Liu Yun.

Later that day, Immortal Queen Liu Yun arranged a banquet. She called over Qing Wei, the Fang siblings, and the others to dine and feast with Su Yi. The atmosphere was lively and harmonious.

During the feast, Su Yi asked Fang Yourong and Fang Han and discovered that they’d both made extraordinary progress. Furthermore, they’d never once slacked off. He felt much better seeing this.

When he saw the Fang siblings, he recalled Qi Fufeng. He’d sent Qi Fufeng to investigate the truth behind the demise of the Bi’an Spirit Race. Several months had passed since he’d last seen Qi Fufeng, but there’d been no word from him.

However, Su Yi wasn’t in a hurry. Experts of the Immortal Dao lacked for nothing less than time.

After the banquet, Su Yi stayed in the Underground Palace of Seeking the Profound and went into seclusion.

…

Half a month later.

A wondrous rumbling rang out, and an enticing, medicinal fragrance wafted out of the Divine Replenishment Furnace.

Su Yi sighed in relief when he saw the over one hundred colorful immortal pills floating within the furnace.

Each pill contained surging, profound, and inscrutable power of the Laws that manifested all manner of strange and unbelievable phenomena.

This was the Nine Wonders Skyheart Pill, an Immortal-King-level medicine!

Su Yi had dumped practically every immortal herb and demonic core he had on hand into the Divine Replenishment Furnace to make this batch of pills.

In the eyes of Immortal Kings, such pills were rare and precious treasures. They’d only use them to aid in important breakthroughs.

Furthermore, even if you had money, such pills were almost never up for sale!

Whoosh!

The Divine Replenishment Furnace swayed, and the pills lined up and shot through the air and into the jade bottle balanced on Su Yi’s palm.

That is, except for the thirty percent the furnace kept for itself.

Seventy percent went to Su Yi, seventy-two pills in total.

Su Yi put the pills away, then said to the furnace, “You can even refine Immortal King-level medicines now. You’ve already recovered a fair bit of your spirituality, haven’t you?”

Purple immortal light surged within the furnace and condensed into the words “That’s right!”

The Divine Replenishment Furnace had accompanied him since his time in the Human Realm. Ever since, all the immortal medicinal herbs and divine materials he found went straight into the furnace for further refinement.

This wondrous treasure born of the Chaos of the Immortal Realm had obviously transformed considerably since then.

However, Su Yi knew that the Divine Replenishment Furnace was still far from returning to its former peak!

The furnace had existed long before the Age of Fallen Immortals. It had been an Immortal Sovereign pill refiner’s ultimate treasure!

The Divine Replenishment Furnace had fled to the Human Realm to avoid the cataclysm of the Age of Fallen Immortals.

It was that very cataclysm that damaged the furnace’s treasure spirit and source power. Even now, it hadn’t fully recovered.

Su Yi thought for a moment, then said, “Then help me re-quench the Sword of the Human Realm. I have only one request: I want you to increase its power.”

The Divine Replenishment Furnace paused to think before condensing its purple light into another line of characters. “I’ll do it if you give me ten types of Immortal King divine materials.”

Su Yi arched his brow.

Oh? The furnace has started haggling with me!

But then, the furnace added, “It’s not that I’m greedy, but tempering your natal Dao Sword expends an enormous amount of power. I need to replenish my energy.”

Su Yi mulled it over, then agreed.

Before long, another half a month had passed.

As Su Yi sat cross-legged, his vital energy suddenly rumbled like thunder, and flowing light full of the charm of the Dao silently rose on his skin.

A moment later, this strange phenomenon faded away. Everything returned to stillness.

In just half a month, with help from the Nine Wonders Skyheart Pills, Su Yi’s cultivation base had advanced considerably. He was now just one step away from the mid-stage Void Realm!

However, he’d paid a shocking price for his advancement. Every few days, he had to refine another Nine Wonders Skyheart Pill.

If the Immortal Kings of the present day were here to see this, they’d undoubtedly curse Su Yi out for desecrating a treasure.

But Su Yi’s heart didn’t ache at the loss. If he ran out of resources, all he had to do was gather more.

Later that day, the Divine Replenishment Furnace finished reforging the Sword of the Human Realm.

Clang!

The boundless, ethereal hum of a sword rang out.

The Sword of the Human Realm floated in front of Su Yi, looking as it had before: three feet long, four fingers wide, with a blue-gray blade, the color of the first skies of a new day.

What looked like dreamlike, ethereal starlight flowed within the blade, and an extraordinarily sharp, murderous aura rose into the firmament as if to bore a hole through the sky and rip the blue dome of heaven asunder!

Unlike before, the Sword of the Human Realm had a heavy, steady quality to it. When it lay dormant, it seemed like an ordinary weapon. Nothing about it drew the eye.

True treasures were unassuming!

Su Yi held the sword and examined it before concluding that, at least in terms of raw power, it was now comparable to Immortal King treasures!

All it lacked was the power of Miracle Realm Laws, something only an Immortal King could refine into his weapon.

The Divine Replenishment Furnace couldn’t help with that part. Even if the furnace could have helped him, it wouldn’t have done Su Yi much good. After all, he was still just a Void Realm True Immortal…

With my current strength, I could take an ordinary early-stage Immortal King like Chi Meng down in a single strike,

thought Su Yi.

He got up to leave. Remaining in seclusion any longer wouldn’t help him temper his cultivation base.

It’d be great if I could find some worthwhile opponents soon,

Su Yi thought as he left his room.

...

“You want to visit the Buzhou Mountains, Your Excellency?”

When Qing Wei learned that Su Yi planned to leave, she couldn’t help but be surprised.

The Buzhou Mountains were hundreds of thousands of miles away. There were thirteen provinces between the mountain and the White Reed Province. Even taking teleportation arrays, it was at least a two-week journey.

“That’s right,” said Su Yi. “But first, I plan to stop by the Abyss of Dark Fog.”

The Abyss of Dark Fog was the most famous forbidden zone in the Dark Province and a perilous place famous throughout the forty-nine provinces of the Immortal Realm.

Even Immortal Kings faced almost certain doom in the Abyss of Dark Fog. As for Immortal Lords? They had no chance of survival at all!

This was why people said that the Abyss of Dark Fog was a “land of no return, not even for immortals!”

In the Black Dragon Market, Su Yi got acquainted with Mo Canqiu and several other Immortal Lords.

When the Immortal Lords left for the Abyss of Dark Fog in search of Darkflame Dao Embryo Fruits, Su Yi gave Mo Canqiu a talisman to protect them.

It was also then that Su Yi decided to visit an old friend from his past life in the Abyss of Dark Fog once he broke into the Void Realm!

No one knew better than Su Yi that the famous “land of no return” was actually a battleground of giant fiends from the Primeval Era.

Prior to the Age of Fallen Immortals, Wang Ye had explored it, sword in hand, in search of the secrets of the Primeval Era’s demonic giants. It was then that he clashed with the sword-bearing ape who watched over the battlefield. Afterward, the two became close friends.

The sword-bearing ape was fettered in calamitous power, never to leave the battlefield.

Wang Ye promised to do everything he could to help the sword-bearing ape escape, but in the end, he underwent reincarnation without ever fulfilling his promise.

But Su Yi controlled the power of reincarnation, and he’d broken into the Void Realm. He planned to stop by the Abyss of Dark Fog on his way to the Buzhou Mountains, and while he was there, he would grant the ape his freedom.

In doing so, he’d resolve one of Wang Ye’s lingering regrets.