Chapter 1753 - A Chase

Su Yi immediately started testing the seedling’s power.

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

He cast aside all scattered thoughts, calmed his heart, and focused on his meditation. His Immortal Origin Space rumbled and boomed, and the seedling of the Tree of All Worlds silently swayed.

There was no need for Su Yi to actively sense or search for anything. His divine sense was like the branches of a tree as it spread into the surrounding void.

A wondrous sensation flooded Su Yi’s mind. It was as if he’d arrived amidst the boundlessness of space. The invisible power of the Laws of the Immortal Dao, the ethereal chaos aura floating on all sides, the spiritual energy scattered throughout creation...

Everything was displayed in his mind, down to the finest detail.

When he examined it, it was as if his divine sense had split into countless tendrils that absorbed all manner of mottled and chaotic energies of the Grand Dao.

His vital energy coursed through him. It was as if his entire being were bathed in a chaotic and mottled rain of the Grand Dao.

All manner of revelations arose in his heart, like waters at high tide.

Within his Immortal Origin Space, the seedling of the Tree of All Worlds greedily absorbed the powers of the Grand Dao surging into Su Yi’s body.

These powers were mottled and impure. They weren’t suitable for cultivators to refine.

But the seedling of the Tree of All Worlds didn’t refuse any of them!

Furthermore, as its branches swayed, they erupted with wisps of chaos mist, becoming a pure aura of the Grand Dao that fused into Su Yi’s Laws!

It was an incomparably wondrous sensation. The Tree of All Worlds was like a furnace. It helped him sense and absorb the presence of the Grand Dao from throughout the surrounding area. He could use this to glean enlightenment into the Dao during his cultivation.

The mottled power the tree absorbed became its fertilizer, and the chaos energy erupting from it was like the purest, most refined power of the Grand Dao. It was this power that merged into Su Yi’s Laws, helping him temper and improve them.

And Su Yi’s mysteries of Profound Ruin were like a nest or a cradle. They fed power back into the seedling, helping its source energies to grow and transform.

It was like an endless, mystical cycle. Everything fit together perfectly, too wondrous for words.

Su Yi couldn’t help but sigh with admiration. Throughout all his years of cultivation, the Tree of All Worlds was undoubtedly the most wondrous divine life form he’d ever encountered!

Even though Su Yi had never sought speed in his cultivation, over the past few years, his cultivation had grown by leaps and bounds. He’d broken through repeatedly.

Only his grasp of his Laws of the Grand Dao lagged behind. It couldn’t keep up with the rate of his improvement.

He’d spent years contemplating and tempering his Laws of the Grand Dao in the Academy of Eternal Night’s Spring and Autumn Space.

He’d sat atop Li Fuyou’s Dao Contemplation Platform in the hidden realm from the Primeval Era and condensed his Laws of the Grand Dao.

His time in seclusion and the wondrous platform had helped him continue to advance and transform his powers of the Grand Dao.

Even so, after stepping into the Saint Realm, he’d merely condensed his powers of the Grand Dao into Saint Realm Laws, but he’d just barely peered over the threshold. They were far from capable of fully complimenting his current combat strength.

This was because grasping the Grand Dao wasn’t a simple matter of bitter, diligent cultivation. It required time spent pondering, searching, and contemplating.

But this was different. Having the seedling of the Tree of All Worlds in his Immortal Origin Space would provide unbelievably wondrous benefits! He could cut his effort in half and still achieve double the results!

Alas, the tree is still just a seedling. Otherwise, I could use its power to travel freely between worlds. It would be like the barriers between them didn't even exist!

Su Yi found this a bit of a pity. He was sure that the seedling of the Tree of All Worlds would need a long, long time to grow.

He wouldn’t be shuttling freely between worlds anytime soon.

Su Yi opened his eyes and got back to his feet.

“Congratulations on successfully refining the seedling of the Tree of All Worlds, Your Excellency!” said the Zhuyou Great Peng. The bird was the first to rush over and offer congratulations, the very picture of an ideal lackey.

Su Yi ignored it.

“Fellow Daoist, how do you feel?” asked the Divine Fortune Teller. He couldn’t help but be curious.

Su Yi concisely explained some of the seedling’s secrets.

“It can shuttle freely between worlds

and

absorb the ambient energies of the Grand Dao?” The Divine Fortune Teller couldn’t help but be impressed. “Indeed, the rumors were true. Anyone who acquires the Tree of All Worlds effectively acquires a master key to all worlds, as if they’re a monarch presiding over the natural order of all realms and planes!”

“Let’s go,” said Su Yi. He glanced at the Divine Fortune Teller and the Zhuyou Great Peng, then walked back the same way he’d come. That bitter struggle had left him severely injured and depleted. He wanted to leave, find a safe place, and cultivate quietly for a while.

The Divine Fortune Teller chased after him and said pleadingly, “Grandpa Su, I...”

Su Yi said casually, “Once I’ve recovered my cultivation base, I’ll seal a portion of the mysteries of Profound Ruin and give them to you. Whether or not you can grasp them will depend on your powers of comprehension.”

The mysteries of Profound Ruin were unique and full of taboo power. Even Su Yi himself found them incomparably difficult to contemplate.

More importantly, you had to grasp powers of the Grand Dao for yourself. You couldn’t just acquire a portion of their power and make it your own.

Giving the Divine Fortune Teller wouldn’t just test his powers of comprehension. It was also a test of his fundamental perception of the Grand Dao.

However, the Divine Fortune Teller had spent his life pursuing the Dao of Divination, which was connected to fate. Grasping some of the mysteries of Profound Ruin likely wouldn’t be too difficult for him.

“The mysteries of Profound Ruin? Wonderful! Profundities upon profundities, the gateway to innumerable subtleties. And Ruin is like the valley of the Dao, an inexhaustible land and the root of the profound!”

The Divine Fortune Teller was instantly excited. He exclaimed, “The name ‘Profound Ruin’ vividly and concisely describes the mysteries and transformations of fate!”

“???” The Zhuyou Great Peng was baffled.

I get that you want to flatter him, but don’t you think there’s a problem with your approach?

“Fellow Daoist, we’ve known each other for years. I won’t waste time on excessive words of thanks. I’ll just say that going forward, this old life of mine is yours!” the Divine Fortune Teller pounded his bony chest.

Su Yi couldn’t help but find this amusing. “What good is your life to me? Enough. If I helped you, just treat me to a drink sometime.”

The Divine Fortune Teller froze, stunned, then sank into silence.

The Zhuyou Great Peng was inwardly rueful.

See that? That’s what you call comportment! That’s what you call breadth of spirit! The Eternal Night Immortal Sovereign embodies them both!

After they left the Weeping Ghost, the Divine Fortune Teller broke his silence. All he said was, “Thank you.”

It was just two words, but he spoke them with unprecedented seriousness.

After that, he fell silent once more. Su Yi patted him on the shoulder. He didn’t say anything either.

......

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Buzhou Mountains, a stretch of mountains swathed in black fog.

Splurt!

The Spherical Heavens Immortal Sovereign staggered and fell to the ground, coughing up blood. His entire body quivered, and his skin split and sloughed off, inch by inch. There were wisps of strange, calamitous power wrapped around his exposed bones.

He looked utterly wretched, more ghost than man!

“Wang Ye!!” His eyes were bloodshot, and his expression was full of the utmost loathing.

He might have seemed domineering during their battle, but in truth, he was in terrible condition.

His cultivation was already severely depleted and on the verge of running dry.

For another, his entire body was afflicted with divine misfortune!

When Su Yi unleashed his ultimate attack, the Spherical Heavens Immortal Sovereign had no choice but to cast aside all reservations and forcefully draw upon his cultivation base; he’d have been killed otherwise.

He’d survived, but he’d triggered the power of divine misfortune within his body. When it erupted, it severely damaged and corroded his source of the Grand Dao!

How could he not feel hatred?

“Shit!” The Spherical Heavens Immortal Sovereign visibly lost his cool; he’d just discovered that he could no longer suppress the power of divine misfortune wreaking havoc within him.

If things went on like this, his already badly damaged cultivation would fall even further. He was sure to fall from the Great Realm!

Even his life was at risk!

The Spherical Heavens Immortal Sovereign hadn’t forgotten how many Immortal Sovereigns have died of divine misfortune during the Age of Fallen Immortals. The Five Signs of Decay destroyed them, body and soul!

“Dammit! I was just one step away!!”

Fury assailed the Spherical Heavens Immortal Sovereign’s heart, practically driving him insane.

If Su Yi hadn’t appeared, he could have ushered in the divine son and rid himself of divine misfortune once and for all.

But in the end, they fumbled at the last step, and all of his hard work went to waste!

The Spherical Heavens Immortal Sovereign breathed in ragged gasps and struggled to calm himself down. Before he did anything else, he had to stay alive and protect his cultivation base!

He slipped a black jade tablet from his sleeves. A deity had given it to him. So long as he crushed it, he could receive the god’s protection, and even resolve his divine misfortune.

But in exchange, he’d become the deity’s servant!

The Spherical Heavens Immortal Sovereign was grievously injured, and his foundations in the Dao were in peril. He knew that so long as he lowered his head and compromised, he could immediately be saved.

But in the end...

He put the jade tablet back!

He was an Immortal Sovereign, an expert who once stood at the very pinnacle of the Great Realm. How could he willingly lower his head to become another’s dog?

“Fortunately, I acquired that secret method from the leader of the Church of All Spirits. It cannot uproot divine misfortune, but I can at least suppress it in the short run.” The Spherical Heavens Immortal Sovereign’s eyes flashed. “Once I’ve stabilized my wounds, I can take a trip to the Eastern Seas. Ol’ Sky Killer won’t just stand back and watch me die!”

“Furthermore, I can borrow his hands to snuff out Wang Ye’s reincarnation!”

The thought of Su Yi made the Spherical Heavens Immortal Sovereign grind his teeth so hard that they almost shattered.

“Wang Ye, oh, Wang Ye. Just you wait! There’s no small number of people in this world who hate you to the bone!”

......

Meanwhile, beneath the same night sky.

The Wen Province.

A remote stretch of wilderness.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

One streak of light after another shot through the night sky, tearing open the curtain of darkness. Over a hundred Immortal Lord-level sword cultivators, all of them seething with murderous intent!

“That guy’s badly injured. He can’t have gotten far.”

“Send a group to search the ridge. Everyone else, come with me!”

“Understood!”

A group of sword cultivators shot off, while another group remained behind to search the area.

“Did you find him?”

“No.”

“The Heaven-Surveying Disc hasn’t found any trace of him either.”

“Then let’s just leave.”

It was only after they’d practically excavated the top three feet of soil without finding anything that the sword cultivators really left. All of them shot into the distance.

A little less than ten minutes later, several of them silently returned in hopes of catching their target off guard! But when they didn’t find anything this time either, they had no choice but to leave once more.

Time slipped by.

The night receded, and the skies lit up. Daylight was upon them.

A grand, churning river wound its way through the remote wilderness. Suddenly, an enormous fish leaped through the surface of the water and onto the shore.

Splurt!

Its belly split, and the figure formerly curled into a bundle inside shot out.

Bones audibly scraped together as the figure expanded, growing considerably taller. He was now a tall, thin man in black.