Chapter 942: Wind and Waves

When Su Yi visited Peach Haven Mountain, the old rooster’s disciple, Ling Zhen, told him that after receiving a secret message, the old rooster left for the Sea of Bitterness in a hurry.

At the time, Su Yi wondered who’d sent the sealed letter. Just what had left the old rooster with no choice but to leave the mountain he’d watched over for years?

But now, Su Yi was vaguely starting to understand.

The letter was almost certainly connected to Pi Mo’s disciples!

Four of Pi Mo’s disciples have already left for the Burial Ground of the Dao. Don’t tell me that they’ve also learned that Old Ghost Coffin Bearer has long since ventured into those very ruins?

Su Yi sank into thought.

The Night Watchman told him that, a long time ago, Old Ghost Coffin-Bearer left the Coffin of the Six Paths of Reincarnation in the Burial Ground of the Dao, and that the Coffin of the Six Paths of Reincarnation was originally the Disc of the Six Paths belonging to the Infernal Palace’s Bureaus of the Six Paths.

Furthermore, according to Su Yi’s deductions, the long-vanished Old Ghost Coffin-Bearer was most likely trapped somewhere in the Burial Ground of the Dao.

Only now did Su Yi learn that as new developments arose in the Sea of Bitterness, all eyes were on the Burial Ground of the Dao.

It hadn’t just drawn the Netherworld’s peak orthodoxies; even Pi Mo’s disciples and the old rooster had gone there!

A long time passed before Su Yi came back to his senses and asked Yun Rong a few more questions. “A black Netherworld Vessel resulted in Cui Longxiang’s inexplicable disappearance, and the Burial Ground of the Dao has caused an enormous disturbance. What exactly happened in the far reaches of the Sea of Bitterness?”

However, none of the answers he got were worth anything.

The only thing that surprised him was that according to Yun Rong, one of the Six Sovereigns of the Netherworld, the Mad Sword Netherworld Sovereign, had appeared in the City of Eternal Night.

Historically, the Six Sovereigns of the Netherworld were the strongest combatants within the Netherworld. Each was a legendary Emperor.

Their ranks included the Adjudicator of the Netherworld, Cui Longxiang, the Bloody Desolation Netherworld Sovereign, Qu Boling, and the Mad Sword Netherworld Sovereign, Liu Changsheng!

Every member of the Six Sovereigns of the Netherworld was an old fossil who’d lived an inestimably long time. Even the weakest was in the Profound Serenity Realm, and all of them had mastered unbelievable Laws of the Grand Dao and mighty secret arts.

Take Cui Longxiang. He’d mastered the shockingly lethal Dao of Adjudication, and he was at the peak of the Profound Serenity Realm.

And the Mad Sword Netherworld Sovereign, Liu Changsheng, was the only master swordsman of the Six Sovereigns of the Netherworld.

He was wildly arrogant, and he stubbornly adhered to his own principles. He was fixated on the sword, and he’d once journeyed far and wide, weapon in hand. Tales of his legendary exploits had reached every corner of the Netherworld.

They said that Liu Changsheng’s sword could overpower every other sword Emperor in the Netherworld!

This was unquestionably the greatest compliment they could have given his swordsmanship.

But ever since Su Yi explored the Netherworld in his past life, the world’s sword cultivators realized something.

The Swordmaster of Abstruse Force could suppress all sword cultivators throughout all known worlds!

“Why would Liu Changshang appear in the City of Eternal Night?” asked Su Yi.

He had a deep impression of the stubborn, prideful Liu Changsheng. In Su Yi’s eyes, Liu Changsheng had created a new path all his own, and his talent was unmatched.

“I don’t know.” Yun Rong shook his head and let out a self-deprecating laugh. “Although the House of the Cicada has a far-reaching information network, investigating the affairs of a legend like the Mad Sword Netherworld Sovereign is ultimately beyond our abilities.”

“Is this guy strong?” The Netherworld King couldn’t help but ask. She’d sensed that Su Yi attached great importance to Liu Changseng.

Yun Rong nodded solemnly. “The Mad Sword Netherworld Sovereign has represented the peak of swordsmanship in the Netherworld for the past sixty thousand years. There’s no one else like him, which means that he’s the top swordsman in all of the Netherworld!”

His words were full of admiration.

But then, his expression shifted, turning a bit complex. “But about thirty thousand years ago, the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force arrived in the Netherworld, and everything changed… Everyone saw nothing but Su Xuanjun’s all-powerful sword arts. His skill surpassed all others before him, and he completely overshadowed the Mad Sword Netherworld Sovereign’s radiance.”

Here, Yun Rong let out a deep sigh. “There was no avoiding it. The Swordmaster of Abstruse Force was just too strong. He reigned supreme over the Wilds, dominating the heavens. He was the true, invincible, unmatched expert of his era. The Mad Sword Netherworld Sovereign really is a bit inferior…”

Here, Yun Rong sharply changed tacks. “But I do know how the Mad Sword Netherworld Sovereign appraised the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force!”

“What did he say?” the Netherworld King asked with great interest.

Yun Rong said with visible admiration, “Without Su Xuanjun’s brilliance, the history of the Dao of the Sword would be like an eternal night!”

This sentence made it unquestionably clear that the Mad Sword Netherworld Sovereign knew that the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force’s attainments in the Dao of the Sword far surpassed his.

The Netherworld King couldn’t help but find this surprising.

She subtly glanced at the young man beside her. There was a strange light in her bewitching eyes, but Su Yi was just as calm as before.

“That’ll be all.” Su Yi rose to leave.

He’d long since enjoyed his fill of his past life’s glory. How could he possibly care about such comments?

In other’s eyes, his past self was already unsurpassed throughout history, unmatched above or below the heavens.

But in his heart, his current incarnation’s Dao of the Sword mattered more. Sooner or later, he’d far surpass his past self!

That was the purpose of his reincarnation and rebirth.

Yun Rong hurriedly rose to see him off.

.

But it was then that the Netherworld King laughed. “Fellow Daoist, I plan to leave for the Sea of Bitterness today. Should fate allow it, we might well meet again in the City of Eternal Night.”

Su Yi stopped in his tracks, and his brow furrowed slightly. He took in the Netherworld King’s face, which was so stunning as to topple the masses, but in the end, he said nothing. He just turned and left.

As the Netherworld King watched Su Yi’s tall, upright figure emerge from the pavilion, her red lips curved into a smug grin.

Su Xuanjun, sooner or later, you’ll face defeat at my hands!

……

It was only after leaving the House of the Cicada that Su Yi took out the jade slip Yun Rong had given him. As he walked, he skimmed its contents.

The slip was a collection of information regarding the recent developments in the Sea of Bitterness.

However, after combing through its contents, Su Yi discovered that most of it was just unverifiable rumors.

Only a small portion of its contents were worthwhile.

For instance, Su Yi learned that the mysterious black Netherworld Vessel first appeared nineteen years ago, near the Sea of Bitterness’s Windstorm Ridge.

Windstorm Ridge was a danger zone just six hundred miles or so from the Burial Ground of the Dao.

In the nineteen years that followed, the black Netherworld Vessel appeared thirteen times. Every time, it appeared in different spots throughout the far reaches of the Sea of Bitterness.

The jade slip marked all thirteen of these locations.

After a cursory examination, Su Yi realized that although the Netherworld Vessel appeared with no apparent rhyme or reason, it never left the three-thousand-mile area around the Burial Ground of the Dao.

This confirmed one of Su Yi’s hypotheses: if the changes to the Sea of Bitterness were triggered by the Netherworld Vessel, then the reappearance of the Burial Ground of the Dao was surely inextricably connected to it!

The slip also recorded the Emperors who, much like Cui Longxiang, had inexplicably disappeared after encountering the Netherworld Vessel. There were already thirty-two confirmed cases!

And those were only those confirmed missed.

Who knew just how many cultivators had disappeared without a trace after encountering the ship?

As he examined the slip’s contents, Su Yi arrived at the bustling streets of the City of Safe Returns.

Just as he was about to look for an inn and get some rest, a clamor of voices rang out in the distance.

“Quick! Let’s hurry to Cloud Dragon Arena! The leading legacy disciple of Night Demon Mountain’s younger generation, Xue He, is apparently dueling the young mistress of the Cui Family!”

“Which Cui Family?”

“The Bureau of Adjudication’s Cui Family, duh!”

Su Yi was stunned.

Don’t tell me they’re talking about Cui Jingyan?

He’d actually heard about Night Demon Mountain. They came from the Night Demon Realm, one of the Netherworld’s thirteen realms. Just as their name implied, they were the hegemons of the Night Demon Realm.

Their forces and accumulations qualified them as a peak Demonist orthodoxy.

However, Su Yi had heard absolutely nothing about the top legacy disciple of their younger generation, Xue Whatshisname.

“Might I ask where Dragon Cloud Arena is?” Su Yi stopped a passing white-robed young man and asked.

“You’re going to watch the spectacle too?” The white-robed young man sighed. “I urge you to reconsider. Experts of Night Demon Mountain have long since sealed the place off. Ordinary people can’t even get close.”

“Just tell me where it is,” said Su Yi.

The white-robed young man was obviously the kind-hearted sort. “How about this? I was planning to go there in search of information, so you can just come with me.”

Su Yi nodded. “Very well.”

Then, the two of them promptly set off.

“My name is Guo Fan. I’ve eked out a humble living selling information in the City of Safe Returns for a long time. What about you?” The white-robed young man asked with a smile.

Su Yi said casually, “I’m just passing through. I’ll be leaving soon.”

“Oh,” said the young man who called himself Guo Fan. He could tell that Su Yi wasn’t interested in any further conversation, so he considerately refrained from asking any more questions.

Enough time to brew a cup of tea passed before Guo Fan’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt. He instinctively hid himself in the corner of a nearby alleyway, looked outside, and said at top speed, “Look! That’s Dragon Cloud Arena over there! But Night Demon Mountain has long since sealed the periphery off.”

Su Yi followed his gaze and saw a boundlessly vast, octagonal structure in the distance.

Dragon Cloud Arena.

However, a group of cultivators were standing guard over the entrance. Their ranks included both men and women, but all of them wore similar dark golden robes.

The strongest of them was a hunched old man carrying a sheathed saber. He languished in a chair, resting his eyes.

He was actually an Emperor!

There was no doubt about it: all of these cultivators were from Night Demon Mountain!

Too many cultivators to count had long since flooded the area. They’d obviously heard about what was happening, and they’d rushed over to watch the show.

However, none of them dared get close. They just stood at a safe distance, whispering amongst themselves.

“Do you know why the daughter of the Cui Family has come into conflict with Night Demon Mountain?” asked Su Yi.

Gui Fan scratched his head. “I only just received word and rushed over. I don’t know the specifics either.”

Su Yi’s brow furrowed slightly.

But it was then that a group of cultivators shot over from afar.

One, a young man in jade-colored robes, drew Su Yi’s attention.

Meanwhile, when the surrounding crowd noticed these cultivators’ arrival, a chorus of hushed conversations rang out.

“Look! Members of the ancient Xing Family have come!”

“Tch, I’m afraid this duel is going to cause a storm!”