First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 2112 – Catching Up After Arriving Late

The hundred-thousand-foot first step was shrouded in chaos mist. It was only when someone walked through it that they could feel the terrifying restrictive power firsthand.

But to Su Yi, this paltry little bit of pressure was nothing at all.

Even before he’d stepped into the Hidden Summit Realm, he could have completely disregarded this level of pressure.

So, there are still this many people here, thought Su Yi. There were several dozen people scattered across the first level. Without exception, they were headed for the altar on the far end of the first step.

All of them fared differently. Some were drawing upon every means at their disposal and still struggling at every step, staggering and swaying as if about to retreat. Their faces were flushed red and hideous from sheer exertion.

Others advanced steadily, and although they weren’t fast, they never took a single step backwards.

Still others seemed unable to take it. They stopped in place, breathing in ragged gasps, their faces pallid.

There was no doubt about it. Every last challenger had to face that same oppressive power. Ultimately, this was a competition of whose fleshly body was the strongest!

“NO——!”

Suddenly, an embittered shout resounded in the distance.

Everyone looked over and saw a Great Profound Stage cultivator swept uncontrollably into the air and toward the edge of the first step.

When he passed Su Yi, he called out frantically, “Fellow Daoist, please, lend me a hand!”

Then, without waiting to see if Su Yi agreed or not, he reached for his shoulder.

Su Yi didn’t dodge. Instead, he seized the man by the arm and helped him steady himself on the ground.

“Many thanks!” said the man, practically mad with delight.

When the others saw this, they couldn’t help but sigh to themselves over the man’s good fortune. When someone was swept off the staircase, it meant failing the trial. They’d have to wait one hundred years before they could attempt the trial again!

“No problem,” Su Yi said with a smile. Then, he backhanded the man across the face.

Whap!

The left side of the man’s face caved in, and blood spurted from his mouth and nose as he was sent flying uncontrollably once more.

This, combined with the pressure of the stone staircase, sent him flying directly out of bounds. He’d been eliminated!

Everyone watched in astonishment. Their eyes widened.

Someone couldn’t help but speak up on the man’s behalf. “Don’t you think that was excessive?”

Su Yi said flatly, “Imagine that he’d tried to grab onto you to save himself, without asking for permission. What if he’d dragged you down with him and gotten you disqualified too? Would you have helped him?

The critic instantly fell silent. The others understood too. Su Yi hadn’t helped the man steady himself to assist him, but to punish him for his poor manners!

“He was in a moment of crisis and trying not to get eliminated. His behavior was entirely understandable. Even if you wanted to punish him, you didn’t need to go that far, did you?” A woman in yellow frowned. “Your petty vindictiveness is truly shameful!”

“It really is shameful,” said the old man in black standing not far from the woman in yellow.

But then, Su Yi appeared in front of the old man in black out of nowhere, picked him up, and flung him like a rubber ball.

He flew straight for the woman in yellow, gibbering in terror. It hadn’t been easy for him to get this far, but now that he was flying through the air, he was completely helpless against that restrictive pressure.

“Help me——!” the old man in black cried out and flailed.

But when she saw the old man in black shooting toward her, the woman in yellow freaked out and instinctively slapped him.

Bang!!

The old man in black was sent flying, and he slammed to the ground several hundred feet away, almost tumbling off the staircase completely.

The others were stunned. A series of gasps rang out.

“Why didn’t you save him?” laughed Su Yi. “And why did you slap him?”

The woman’s expression darkened. She was ashamed and angry as could be, and she glowered murderously at Su Yi.

“Don’t sneer until you’ve been in my position. You have no right to criticize others.” Su Yi shook his head, then took another step toward the altar in the distance.

It was just one step, but it seemed as if he were teleporting. He broke right through that oppressive force and reached the altar with ease.

A moment later, he vanished into thin air.

The other trial-takers were so startled that their jaws practically fell off.

“How is this possible!?”

“How… How did he do that?”

“Did any of you see clearly what that guy did just now?”

…Chaos ensued. All of the challengers were in uproar.

The woman in yellow felt a chill course through her heart. If that guy attacked me instead, I’d have been disqualified by now!

“Fuckin….” The old man in black crawled to his feet. He was just about to launch into a series of expletives when he saw Su Yi flit through the air and vanish. The old man was so startled that he instantly forced all the curses and insults at the tip of his tongue back down.

Terrifying!

Truly far too terrifying!

It was as if he didn’t even feel the pressure of the first stone step, almost as if he were out for a casual stroll. He practically floated right through it!

By now, who could fail to realize that the young man in blue was an extraordinarily terrifying existence?

……

Much like the first step, the second step was like a hundred-thousand-foot platform. The difference was that the pressure enveloping it was far higher.

Su Yi took a moment to observe his surroundings, then shook his head and set off without hesitation, forging directly through everything in his way. He quickly reached the altar at the far end, then vanished in a flash.

There were numerous experts on the second floor too. All of them were giving it their all. Every step was a challenge. Even the fastest of them was, at most, as fast as an ordinary mortal traveling on foot.

The gap between Su Yi’s arrival and disappearance was so short that all they saw was a blur of blue. Su Yi vanished before they could catch a glimpse of his features.

The crowd was instantly flabbergasted.

“Brothers, did you see something just now?”

“Was that a person?”

“I think I saw someone too!”

“So my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me after all?”

If only just one person had failed to see him clearly, their eyes might have just been playing tricks on them. But everyone had seen Su Yi, and none of them had caught a clear glimpse of him. In other words, their eyes weren’t tricking them.

Someone really had appeared on the second step, only to vanish in a flash. He was already on his way to the third step!

For a moment, everyone froze in place, overcome with astonishment.

……

The outside world.

Everyone was still fixated on Jian Xingyun’s name. He’d already reached the ninth step. So long as he reached the end, he’d set a new record!

Of course everyone was paying attention. How could they not?

Everyone was waiting to bear witness to the setting of a brand-new record!

“Huh? Look at that!” someone suddenly exclaimed. “Isn’t Su Yi that guy who just entered the divine tower? He’s already past the first step of the Road to Heaven!”

Several eyes were drawn over, and indeed, the golden light representing the name Su Yi had leaped from the first to the second step.

“So that guy was an expert too?”

Quite a few of them were startled.

But then, someone’s eyes bulged, and he blurted, “Hey, what’s going on? It hasn’t even been a breath and he already moved from the second step to the third!”

Uproar ensued. Everyone was startled.

Even those who’d been paying attention to Jian Xingyun couldn’t help but look over.

Su Yi had only just barely begun his trial in the first of the divine towers, yet he’d already reached the third step. Such rapid advancement was almost unheard of.

But what happened next left everyone completely overcome with shock, transfixed and rooted to the spot. Su Yi’s name soared through the ranks like a beam of flowing light, rising from the third step to the fourth, fifth, and sixth…

Nothing could stand in his way! He overcame every step in a flash!

The crowd’s hearts shook violently in their chests, and their breathing sped up. Their minds buzzed.

What’s going on? Is Su Yi not at all affected by the pressure of the Road to Heaven?

When they saw Su Yi’s name reach the seventh floor, then advance to the eighth floor with the same speed, everyone’s eyes widened. They almost thought they were seeing things.

Every step of the Road to Heaven was more arduous than the one before. Throughout the ages, even first-rate Great Profound Stage experts had taken three to five years to overcome all nine steps.

That was no coincidence, either. Starting at the seventh step, the pressure trial-takers had to overcome intensified by orders of magnitude. It was utterly terrifying, and cultivators needed to pause for breaks at regular intervals. Otherwise, they had no hope of making it to the end.

It was for this reason that seeing Jian Xingyun reach the ninth step so quickly had come as such a shock. His speed was such that everyone thought they were about to witness the birth of a new record.

None of them could have anticipated this development. Another unfamiliar face, Su Yi, had gone from the first to the eighth step before they could even count from one to eight!

“If you do the math, Su Yi made it to the eighth floor in less than six snaps of the fingers’ worth of time!”

“My heavens! Don’t tell me that he’ll be able to overcome even the ninth step of the Road to Heaven like it’s nothing?”

“Can you even call this a trial?”

“Hurry up and look! He reached the ninth step!”

The crowd exploded into uproar, like a pot blowing off its lid.

Everyone noticed that Jian Xingyun had only just recently reached the ninth step. Su Yi had started after him, but he was rapidly gaining on him!

Who wouldn’t have been surprised?

“It’s a miracle! Who could have imagined that we’d get to witness the birth of a legend here today? This is going to shock the entire Ancient God Domain!” someone exclaimed, his beard quivering with excitement.

He didn’t even need to think to know that when word of this spread, it would cause an enormous commotion.

It was amidst this heated-up atmosphere that the golden lights representing Su Yi and Jian Xingyun simultaneously reached the end of the ninth step and advanced to the top of the tower!

Silence abruptly descended over the crowd, but soon, it gave way to yet another round of uproar. A clamor of voices arose on all sides.

“They… They actually overcame the ninth step together!” someone exclaimed, incoherent with excitement.

“No, given that he started first, Jian Xingyun… was slower!” someone murmured, a dazed look in their eyes.

Jian Xingyun was heaven-defying enough. Now, Su Yi had appeared, someone even more heaven-defying. It was simply unheard of and completely unexpected.

It was to the point that the crowd had no words to even describe how they were feeling.