First Immortal of the Sword

Chapter 2047 – A Taboo Treasure, the Epoch Spark

Breaking an ironclad rule and violating a taboo made you a Transgressor.

This idea wasn’t unfamiliar to Su Yi. The “ironclad rules and taboos” in question referred to the Laws of the natural order of creation.

It wasn’t a matter of cultivation or strength. Breaking these rules was a violation of the Laws.

In this lifetime’s cultivation, Su Yi had repeatedly broken “ironclad” rules and violated the Laws. Thus, every time he broke through, he invited a calamitous tribulation.

This was the fate of Transgressors. When ordinary cultivators violated a taboo, they met with miserable ends.

But Su Yi was extraordinary, as, in a sense, all of his past lives were Transgressors. Li Fuyou, Wang Ye, the Temple Master, and the others had all had the heaven-defying strength of one who broke the ironclad rules of nature. That was what let them stand proudly over their respective eras and rule their respective territories.

But Su Yi knew that such people were extremely scarce. In all his time cultivating in this lifetime, he’d never even heard of another living Transgressor, let alone run into one.

But more than all that, Su Yi was extremely interested in the Hidden Summit!

This was a secret realm of cultivation that Li Fuyou had never stepped into. It was different from being a Demigod or a False God; it was a path unlike that of any other living cultivator.

It was so rare that almost no one had ever learned of this path’s existence. There weren’t even rumors about it.

If Gongye Futu hadn’t told him about it, Su Yi would have had no idea that such an unbelievable cultivation level existed between the Great Realm and divinity.

“This jade slip records the secrets of the Hidden Summit. You’re welcome to flip through it,” said Gongye Futu.

“Did you step into this level back then?” Su Yi asked with great interest.

Gongye Futu instantly fell silent.

Su Yi said thoughtfully, “It seems that you aren’t a Transgressor.”

“….” Gongye Futu didn’t know what to say. Has this kid gotten addicted to putting me down?

He couldn’t help but argue, “I’ve seen a few Transgressors before, but when they were in the Great Realm, they didn’t manage to step into the Hidden Summit Realm either! As for why… read the jade slip, and you’ll understand.”

Su Yi was briefly stunned. He suddenly realized he’d been mistaken. Only Transgressors could step onto the Hidden Summit, yes, but they merely had the qualifications to make the attempt. Whether they succeeded or not was a completely different story!

Su Yi quickly started flipping through the jade slip. A while later, he retracted his divine sense. He finally understood the nature of the Hidden Summit.

When a Transgressor at the peak of the Great Profound Stage shattered his cultivation base completely, he could step into this hidden realm.

That’s right. He had to shatter his cultivation base. That was tantamount to crippling everything he’d learned and accumulated!

Those who reached this level were just one step away from achieving divinity. All they needed was an opportunity. Who’d be insane enough to shatter their cultivation base when they were on the brink of a breakthrough?

If someone who wasn’t a Transgressor shattered their cultivation base, they’d be left with… a shattered cultivation base, period. They’d be crippled and nothing more.

Transgressors were extremely rare to begin with, scarcer than phoenix feathers and Qilin horns. Experts who did reach this level would typically never even consider the possibility of a hidden realm between the Great Realm and divinity.

Even if they did know about it, breaking their cultivation bases was just the first step. The second step was rebuilding it. As the old saying goes, you have to break before you can build.

Shattering the cultivation base was much like shattering a bottle, easy enough for pretty much everyone. But the second step was like putting the pieces back together, and that… was on a whole different level.

This process of breaking and rebuilding led to the transformations of the Hidden Summit Realm. It was like a phoenix undergoing rebirth amidst the flame.

It seemed simple enough, but in truth, it was incomparably taboo and terrifying.

The first step, shattering the cultivation base, was enough to scare most people off. The slightest misstep would lead to irreparable damage. Instead of “breaking and rebuilding,” they’d simply be broken, completely crippled for life!

But Su Yi was different. He controlled the power of reincarnation! The power of reincarnation encompassed the cycle of life and death, and the taboo secrets of withering and flourishing.

When he shattered his cultivation base, he’d be able to use the power of reincarnation to rebuild it, as the mysteries behind this reconstitution lay within reincarnation.

When he learned this, Su Yi finally understood what Gongye Futu had meant. All Transgressors could attempt to step into the Hidden Summit Realm, but that didn’t mean they’d succeed.

Only Transgressors who’d mastered reincarnation could successfully break into this hidden realm of cultivation. Everyone else could forget about taking this step; trying would be absolute madness.

“This hidden realm of cultivation is truly too wondrous for words. Cultivators have long since mapped out every step of the cultivation levels that exist beneath the Laws of the natural order of creation. Countless years of striving, investigating, and summarizing on the part of our forebears led to the comprehensive system of cultivation that people are familiar with today.

“Who could have imagined that a hidden level like this existed?” said Su Yi. “Only someone who’d mastered reincarnation could have even discovered it!”

He looked at Gongye Futu. “Was this jade slip perhaps left here by my first incarnation?”

Gongye Futu nodded. “It was.”

“Many thanks.” Su Yi clasped his fist. He really was grateful; if Gongye Futu hadn’t waited here for him all these years, he’d have missed out on everything he’d learned here today.

Gongye Futu laughed bitterly and waved. “What are you thanking me for? This is something you arranged for yourself.”

It sounded ridiculous, but he wasn’t joking. Su Yi’s first incarnation had left both the Abundance of Heaven Chessboard and the jade slip recording the mysteries of the Hidden Summit Realm here for his future self.

Gongye Futu hesitated, then said, “Right, when do you think you can step into the Hidden Summit Realm? I’d love to see it with my own eyes.”

His eyes shone with anticipation.

Su Yi thought for a moment, then said, “I need the right opportunity.”

“What kind of opportunity?”

“A chance to face death in battle and overcome it,” said Su Yi. “Furthermore, I need more time to contemplate and master the secrets of breaking into the Hidden Summit Realm. I’m afraid I won’t be able to do it anytime soon.”

He had to shatter his cultivation base! This was far too dangerous; Su Yi couldn’t afford to be at all incautious.

Gongye Futu couldn’t help but find this a pity, and he asked no more questions on the matter. “This wisp of my soul was attached to the Abundance of Heaven Chessboard. Now that it’s shattered, it will soon dissipate. However, should you manage to step onto the River of Epochs, my true body will come find you immediately.”

Su Yi nodded.

“Also, the treasure on the ninth floor involves the Path of the Ancient Gods, and your breakthrough into divinity,” said Gongye Futu. “You’d best be careful.”

“Is the divine wraith on the ninth floor strong?” asked Su Yi.

“There is no wraith on the ninth floor, nor is there any other kind of opponent.” Gongye Futu shook his head. “Just an incomparably perilous Taboo Treasure.”

A Taboo Treasure!

Transgressors, people who violated taboos, exist. Naturally, treasures that violated the bounds of the natural order existed, too. Such treasures were known as Taboo Treasures.

Su Yi dared say with certainty that the Sword of the Nine Hells was one of them, and an extremely terrifying one at that.

“What kind of treasure is it?” asked Su Yi.

Gongye Futu flashed him a mysterious grin. “You’ll know when you see it.”

Su Yi fought the urge to smack him. He hated nothing more than people who feigned lofty mysteriousness and refused to just answer a damn question!

In the end, Su Yi said no more. He simply turned and approached the stairs to the ninth floor.

Gongye Futu watched with a smile, but inwardly, he was quite nervous. What if he can’t subdue that Taboo Treasure? If he fails, his life will be in danger!

What should I do? Should I warn him?

No, forget it. I promised not to interfere with anything he did in the Tower of Ancient Evils, so I can’t.

……

The ninth floor of the Tower of Ancient Evils.

This was the highest part of the tower, and outside it, there were countless spacetime rifts, just hovering there in silence. They were a startling sight to behold.

The hall of the ninth floor was empty save for a hovering bundle of fire. It was only about the size of a fist, but its flames resembled chaos itself. Its light was gray and inscrutable, and as it swayed, it cast a rain of mysterious, taboo talisman markings.

Boom!

As soon as Su Yi crossed the threshold, an indescribable burning sensation bore down on him, almost setting him on fire. His soul burned, producing an intense, rending pain.

It seemed that it’d be burned to ash within moments!

Furthermore, that burning power was omnipresent, and it invaded through every pore and threatened to invade the deepest recesses of his soul. Even when he circulated the full extent of his cultivation base, he couldn’t fight back.

Su Yi’s expression shifted. What kind of taboo object is this? Why is its mere aura this terrifying?

Before he could give the matter any further thought, that bundle of flames seemed to sense his arrival, and it suddenly quivered.

An explosion went off in Su Yi’s head.

He felt as if he stood in a furnace, and his body, heart, and soul would soon be incinerated. Even the Sword of the Nine Hells awakened from its long dormancy.

But when Su Yi circulated the power of reincarnation, everything changed.

It was as if he’d gone from stuck in blazing lava to bathed in clear, cool waters in an instant. The burning sensation vanished, and every pore and inch of skin felt soothed. It was so comfortable that Su Yi almost moaned.

He really had gone from one extreme to another! All burning and discomfort had vanished.

When Su Yi circulated the power of reincarnation to its limit, the blazing heat vanished from the hall, and that chaotic bundle of fire instantly calmed down.

Su Yi walked over to it, wrapped his hands in the power of reincarnation, and slowly reached for it.

The moment he touched it, a sense of revelation flooded his heart.

This was an Epoch Spark!

With it, he could illuminate the fog of the Path of Ancient Gods, seeing through all illusions to uncover the truth. In doing so, he could find the strongest possible opportunity to achieve divinity hidden in the Path of the Ancient Gods!

Boom!

Practically simultaneously, the bundle of divine flame erupted with intense radiance, and the rain of talisman markings manifested an astonishing vision right before Su Yi’s eyes——

A path shrouded in fog, hidden in the River of Epochs. An enormous ruin at the bottom of an abyss lay at its far end!

As the epoch civilizations of the River of Epochs decayed and collapsed, the lost epochs were swept fully into that massive abyss. There, they transformed into fragments of chaos scattered about the ruins!

The fog-shrouded abyss was a seemingly eternal existence.

Who knew how many long-lost epochs were buried in that abyss obscured by fog? The scene was full of mystery, and seeing it seemed to violate a taboo.

The sight left Su Yi unwittingly dazed, and a long time passed before he came back to his senses.

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