Chapter 1980: Who Dares Give Up?

In the end, the Angler turned and left.

Circumstance had forced his hand. No matter how angry he was, he had no choice but to endure.

Especially since the Dipankara Buddha was one of the mightiest Buddhist cultivators of the God Domain. If he was dead set on acquiring the Book of Karma, the Angler would indeed have little hope of victory!

The Dipankara Buddha watched the Angler leave, then smiled faintly and said, “Wondrous!”

A moment later, he vanished into thin air and chased the Book of Karma.

The Angler gnashed his teeth in fury.

I have to capture Su Yi as soon as possible! It’s only by capturing him before that bastard Dipankara that I won’t leave empty-handed.

But when he tried to chase Su Yi, he discovered that he’d long since vanished without a trace.

Still, the Angler wasn’t worried. During their earlier battle, he’d used a secret art to lock firmly onto Su Yi’s aura. Now, all he had to do was follow the trail!

……

Deep within a mountainous forest so dense that it blotted out the sun, mist permeated the air. Dense chaos energy surged all over the place.

Thud!

Su Yi plopped to the ground in the shade of an enormous, ancient tree.

Hah~ Hah~

His breathing was hurried, and his face was translucent with blood loss. His blue robes were tattered and stained completely red, and his skin was so ragged and torn that his bones were visible in several places.

His wounds were far too heavy. With every breath he took, he felt rending pain in his organs.

But his depleted cultivation base was even graver than his wounds. His blood and qi waned, and even his soul was in an enfeebled state.

All of this was because he’d used the Sword of the Nine Hells too many times!

This taboo divine item was terrifyingly powerful, but it also represented a shocking drain to his cultivation base.

But there was nothing for it. Su Yi had no other choice. The Angler’s avatar of will was far too terrifying. Divine Venerate Luo Heng’s avatar paled by comparison, never mind a newly advanced god like Jiang Tai’e.

Had the Angler pursued anyone else like this, they’d have died a long time ago. Even Su Yi had paid a grievous price to survive!

“Your subordinate is to blame for its uselessness. I saw you in peril, but I couldn’t help you, Your Excellency!” said the Divine Replenishment Furnace. It immediately rushed over with divine medicines, and it seemed to have a guilty conscience.

Su Yi accepted the medicines, stuffed them in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed before saying casually, “A brush with danger, that’s all. This isn’t enough to kill me.”

Boom!

He circulated his qi with his full strength, simultaneously refining the medicines and treating his wounds.

“Little fellow, just where is that safe place you told me about?” Su Yi asked the little monkey hidden in the Divine Replenishment Furnace.

“Chee chee!” The little monkey raised its hand and pointed into a distant stretch of ancient forest, then repeatedly gestured.

“At my speed, it’ll take another two hours?” Su Yi’s brow furrowed.

Ordinarily speaking, two hours would pass in a flash, but in his current situation, that was far too long!

Su Yi didn’t even need to think to know that the Angler and the Dipankara Buddha wouldn’t let up. They could catch up to him at any moment.

Given the circumstances, reaching the safe place the monkey had told him about would unquestionably be far too difficult!

But Su Yi didn’t lose heart or complain in the slightest. He certainly didn’t even consider giving up and accepting his fate.

He was weaker than his enemies. It was only natural that he took a beating. Still, getting chased and pummeled like this had left Su Yi with a bellyful of pent-up anger. It had been a long, long time since he’d last suffered such an enormous setback!

“I’ll be sure to settle this score later!” Su Yi took a deep breath and suppressed his fury.

Time slipped by. Less than ten minutes later, a figure appeared silently in the distance.

It was a tall, stalwart man in military uniform. He had a prominent mustache, and he gripped a crimson spear.

When he appeared, he didn’t reveal even a hint of his aura. His entire body seemed to fuse with the ancient forest. There was no detecting him, not even with divine sense.

When the man in military uniform approached, he made no noise whatsoever, either.

He could see Su Yi sitting cross-legged. He looked incomparably wretched, like a lamb to the slaughter, but the man didn’t rush to attack. His gait was unhurried, but his hands silently tightened their grip on his spear.

One thousand feet.

Five hundred feet.

Three hundred feet.

When he was just one hundred feet away from Su Yi, the man in military uniform silently stopped in place.

From beginning to end, Su Yi didn’t move in the slightest, nor was there any chance in his circulating vital energy.

The man in military uniform saw this down to the slightest detail.

For a moment, a strange feeling arose in his heart.

It’s true what they say! When a meal’s delicious, you don’t mind waiting to eat it. I’m afraid that neither the Angler nor the Dipankara Buddha could have anticipated that all of their hard work would benefit me in the end!

The man in military uniform chose to attack without any further hesitation. At just one hundred feet away, he was completely confident he could take his prey down in a single hit even if it sensed him!

He silently raised his red spear, and when he took a step forward, his power surged through him and gathered in his weapon. It suddenly shone with intense, eye-catching light.

At that moment, terrifying murderous intent burst forth, breaking the tranquility of the ancient forest and reducing the surrounding ancient trees to ash in an instant.

Even the air itself seemed to burn.

The man’s tall, upright figure seemed to transform into a god of war bathed in divine flame. Terrifying majesty swept forth and bore down on Su Yi like a tidal wave or avalanche.

But the man’s spear arrived even faster!

Clang!

The spear shot forth like a dazzling streak of flame, tearing through the sky.

It was then that Su Yi silently opened his eyes, only to see this explosive onslaught.

Even in the face of a potentially lethal ambush, his gaze was calm and distant, with no sign of joy or sorrow. His eyes didn’t so much as ripple with emotion.

He got up. It was a simple gesture, yet endlessly terrifying sword force suddenly surged around him.

But he was obviously one step too late.

Splurt!

The red spear pierced Su Yi’s chest with ease. When its sharp tip emerged from the other side, it brought with it a spray of piping-hot blood. Its surface blazed with fiery power, which instantly erupted within Su Yi’s body.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

But Su Yi didn’t seem to feel any pain. He didn’t even furrow his brow.

The moment the spear pierced his chest, the Sword of Proximity descended furiously, swathed in endlessly tyrannical chaos power.

The uniformed man’s pupils constricted. He would never have guessed that Su Yi would go to such lengths. He hadn’t even hesitated to use the ambush to launch a counterattack as if he were intent on trading a life for a life!

The man wanted to dodge, but it was too late. He could only meet Su Yi’s attacks head-on.

Boom!

A massive impact rang out, shaking heaven and earth.

The man in military attire was flung backward. An agonized cry escaped his lips.

The power of that slash sliced him open and almost cut him in two. The remnants of that tyrannical sword force remained, dealing continuous damage. He slammed to earth ten thousand feet away, his face contorted with agony and astonishment.

He would never have thought he’d take such massive damage just as his surefire hit landed!

Kcch!

Su Yi pulled the red spear out of his body. It left a startling hole in his left breast, and his flesh was burnt black.

Nonetheless, his expression was terrifyingly calm. It didn’t even ripple with emotion.

“You’re a lofty Master God, yet you’ve resorted to a despicable ambush. I’m ashamed on your behalf.” Su Yi flung the spear, and it flew through the air like lightning, flying explosively toward the man in military uniform.

Su Yi, meanwhile, turned and vanished into thin air.

The man in military uniform stretched out his hand and plucked the spear from the air.

When he looked in the direction Su Yi had fled in, his expression darkened. It was now extraordinarily dark and unsightly. His prey had been close at hand, only to lash out and bite him instead! He hadn’t anticipated that.

Just as he was about to give chase, his expression shifted.

Whoosh!

A thin old man in plain cloth robes shot over from afar. It was the Angler! When the Angler arrived and saw the vestiges of battle, he instantly understood what had happened. His expression instantly darkened. “Tian Huang, even

you

want to take advantage of me?”

His murderous intent was on full display!

Earlier, the Dipankara Buddha had interfered with his pursuit. The Angler was already incomparably furious.

Now, Master God Tian Huang had shown up, too. This left the Angler on the brink of exploding.

“You’ve misunderstood, Daoist Brother.

Everyone

wants that heretic dead. He isn’t just your prey,” said the man in military uniform—that is, Master God Tian Huang. “That said, I wouldn’t mind working with you to take him down. We can split the spoils fifty-fifty. What do you say?”

The Angler forced his fury back. “Why would I agree to that?”

Master God Tian Huang didn’t even pause to think. “I can help you fight the Dipankara Buddha. As I’m sure you’re aware, neither of us would be a match for him alone, but if we work together, it’ll be a completely different story.”

The Angler’s eyes narrowed. “Very well!”

As the old saying goes, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Master God Tian Huang smiled. “My Blazing Sun Spear pierced the heretic’s body. He won’t last much longer. With your help, I’m certain we can take him down!”

The Angler felt stifled, and he couldn’t be bothered to make idle conversation. “It won’t be too late to talk after we’ve captured him.”

With that, he turned and left. Master God Tian Huang hurried after him.

……

Su Yi flew beneath the dome of heaven, fleeing with all his might. He couldn’t be bothered to hide his trail for the simple reason that he really wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer. It took everything he had just to keep going.

Earlier, he was already badly injured, and his cultivation base was almost completely depleted. He’d taken several divine medicines, but that wasn’t enough for instantaneous recovery.

Even worse, Master God Tian Huang’s spear strike had been too tyrannical. It threw Su Yi’s vital energy into disarray, and his organs seemed like they were about to shatter. The pain was difficult to bear.

Anyone else would have collapsed a long time ago. Su Yi was holding on through sheer force of will!

This was the gravest danger he’d been in since he’d begun this lifetime’s cultivation, including his time wandering the stars of the Human Realm and everything that had happened since ascending to the Immortal Realm.

Of all the perils he’d experienced, this was the most dire. It would have been no exaggeration to say that his life hung in the balance.

But… Su Yi didn’t give up. Sword cultivators weren’t afraid to die, but how could they possibly give in? If worst came to worst, he’d die fighting!

Besides, it wasn’t like he had no cards left. He still had the talisman Lin Jinghong had given him, and he could still try fusing with Li Fuyou’s Dao Imprint.

But Su Yi wouldn’t use them until he truly had no other options. Only weaklings trusted their lives to other people. The strong preferred to dance on the edge of a knife!

Only by facing the danger could Su Yi temper a truly invincible sword heart!

Seth's Thoughts

Remember Divine Venerate Tian Huang (Henceforth known as Master God Tian Huang)? He's the guy who left a divine prison on Spiritual Desolation Mountain.

From chapter 1858:

“During the final days of the Primeval Era, Divine Venerate Tian Huang attacked Spiritual Desolation Mountain, leaving it badly damaged. That aside, as I told you earlier, Divine Venerate Tian Huang left a divine prison on the mountain. His loyal dogs are imprisoned there to this day. The entire place is covered in Divine Venerate Tian Huang’s Laws of Annihilation. It’s become an incomparably dangerous place.”