Eighty-Eighth Section: The Trap That Ruined Blue’s First Love

The remaining hundred-odd immortals cried out in alarm. If that were true, then the imperial artifact could be temporarily placed under his control. If so, Blue First Love would be the greatest winner of all those who had come in this time.

Phoenix Thousand Fish also froze. After making several hand signs, she suddenly said, "You altered the weak point in the imperial artifact’s inner space, so we can no longer open a spatial passage and escape?"

"Those who follow me shall flourish; those who oppose me shall die. Submit to me, become my slaves, and let me place my restraints upon you, and you may all leave alive. In the future, once I ascend as emperor, your opportunities will not be lacking!"

Everyone panicked. Some had already started preparing to flee, but when they saw endless roots of the tree sweeping toward them and blocking anyone who tried to slip away, they all went rigid. Could it be that he had already begun commanding the tree spirit?

Blue First Love was delighted beyond measure. Pointing at the divine tree, he said, "This tree was planted by my elder back then, and I was fortunate enough to stand by and watch. Now that I have become an Immortal King, I have helped him recall that moment, and of course he is grateful and obedient to me. I can hardly wait to meet the artifact spirit. It has been so long!"

Then, with a sudden change of tone, Blue First Love pointed at No Cloud and shouted, "If I do not capture you and torment you for a thousand years, the hatred in my heart will not be appeased. You think that because you have a sect-defending formation chart you can act without restraint? Azure, break it for me!"

The divine tree known as Azure began to sway. At last, the trunk seemed to bow as it said, "Very well. I can obey this command!"

Everyone was stunned. Phoenix Thousand Fish wanted to seize the chance to escape, only to find that no matter what she did, she could not get out from beneath the divine tree’s shadow. She sank into despair.

This tree demon at the peak of the Immortal King realm was far too terrifying. The attack it was gathering could absolutely shatter the formation chart.

"How many blows can the Six Heavens and Four Earths withstand?" Dragon One glanced at No Cloud’s injuries. The latter paid them no mind, and under the radiance around him, he recovered as before. Seeing his senior’s expression turn extremely grim, he sensed that the man was on the verge of exploding.

"If it were Six Heavens and Six Earths, it could endure dozens of strikes. Lose two lands, and the power drops sharply. It might barely withstand one hit," No Cloud said, staring at the immortal art gathering within the thicket. Once it took shape, it would be unquestionably fatal.

At this critical moment, however, No Cloud sent Rong Ya out. As soon as he left the formation chart, in the place where the heavenly tribulation lightning had dispersed, there appeared a gap the size of a bowl. It was as though a residue of the law power previously granted to Blue First Love had flown out as well and entered Rong Ya’s body.

In an instant, Rong Ya seemed to have swallowed some miraculous tonic. He sensed heaven and earth, sensed the power of the rules, and his body broke through the suppression, growing abruptly by more than tenfold.

Blue First Love was baffled. How had this fellow survived the Immortal King tribulation? Meanwhile, Wu Hao and Gao Le were overjoyed. They hurried to Rong Ya’s side and offered words of congratulations.

"What? You’ve only just become an Immortal King, and you already want your soul to be scattered to the winds? I advise you not to oppose me. Anyone who does so never ends well!"

Rong Ya shook his head and went back into the formation chart, respectfully standing beside No Cloud. Meanwhile, Jin Bu was already frozen like a statue, unable to believe what he was seeing. A man of the same level, someone of equal strength whom he had always felt close to, had achieved the Immortal King realm. As for himself, he was as miserable as a wilted radish, his injuries only worsening, and he did not know when he would recover his Profound Immortal cultivation.

He suddenly looked toward No Cloud, as if he wanted to use words alone to crawl step by step to No Cloud’s side and beg to be a beast of burden and a servant. But Bear Old Three blocked the way in front, and with an accidental leak of wind from his backside, he blew him away without a trace.

Dragon One looked puzzled. Bear Old Three whispered, "We’ve already taken one follower. If we take any more, what are we supposed to do?"

Dragon One, Little Worm, and the others all found this deeply reasonable.

After Rong Ya went out again, the attack being prepared by the tree spirit was complete. Slowly, an invisible spatial cage descended. It was clearly meant to capture No Cloud and the others alive and find out their origins.

The cage instantly enveloped the formation chart. Only Rong Ya, who had come out, was left outside the confinement. He looked at Blue First Love and remembered No Cloud’s instructions: think of his pitiful mother, the source of his painful strength; think of how he would exact revenge when he returned. Once again, hot blood surged through him.

"You are going to die!" Blue First Love smiled coldly. Immortal might shook outward, and the brilliance behind him was ruthlessly flung aside. Then, with a point of his sword, he released it together with a streak of azure-lake divine light.

Rong Ya had no immortal weapon. Clenching his fist, he struck lightly, unleashing his secret art, the Ten-Thousand-Wave God-Shattering Fist. Layer after layer, his fist force stacked like waves; once it surpassed ten thousand layers and fused with the laws of his Immortal King realm, it formed spatial power. In an instant, it slipped past the opponent’s immortal sword and smashed straight into the chest.

One fist for one sword!

If this had been in the days when he was still a Profound Immortal, he would never have dared endure that sword. But now, as an Immortal King, the power of a fist and a sword was nearly equal. Injury for injury.

How could Blue First Love let him have his way? The immortal sword did not stop. At the same time, he brought his hands together, as though supporting thousands of silhouettes. With a fist striking and a block rising in response, a cloth-shaped palm met the fist head-on.

No matter how great the Ten-Thousand-Wave force was, the cloth palm used softness to overcome hardness.

After all, he was the descendant of an Immortal Emperor, a reincarnated former Immortal King. He had seen much, experienced much, and his response to attacks was effortless.

Looking at Rong Ya again, when the immortal sword struck, he actually enlarged his palm, pressing both hands together to shake the blade and block its momentum. Yet the azure-lake divine light was boundless in power, breaking through his protective true energy and striking his body.

After that, the sword energy within him was suppressed, and the immortal sword stabbed straight into his chest, sinking in as though into flesh.

Rong Ya’s expression changed again and again. The hands clasped around the sword blade trembled irregularly, like someone playing the piano. To the onlookers, and in Blue First Love’s eyes, it was simply that he could no longer bear it and had already reached his limit.

"Ha!"

Rong Ya shook the joined hands, dragging out a strip of flesh from his chest as he flung the immortal sword away. Then he forced out that sword energy, sending the azure-lake divine light back into the immortal sword once more.

Blue First Love gave a disdainful smile. Shaking his head, he lifted the immortal sword high and shouted, "You are wasting my time!"

The strike he had been gathering was a supreme art that only an Immortal King could perform. He had intended to kill Rong Ya and wash away the frustrations of the past!

The immortal sword rotated, forming blue ring after blue ring. At the same time, it drew in the power of space, and a force capable of breaking seals took shape. More than that, when this move was unleashed, the entire immortal sword seemed to come alive, revealing a massive phantom that mobilized the surrounding power of the laws.

Time itself was shackled. Even a fraction of a second was enough. It was faster than speed!

Rong Ya had no reaction at all to this blow. The immortal sword reached his body, passed through his chest, then returned and continued with the other two penetrations.

Rong Ya was stunned. The gap was simply too great. He had only just advanced to Immortal King; how could he possibly be familiar with the laws only an Immortal King could command? He was wounded by the first strike, the second strike arrived and left him gravely injured, and the third strike was the most terrifying of all, penetrating through him and remaining within his body like an erupting volcano, ready to blast his entire frame apart.

Yet at this final moment, Rong Ya made a desperate effort to look back at No Cloud, as though even in death he would not rest until he had asked one last question.

And in turning his head, he missed the most astonishing sight of all.

The third strike of the immortal sword suddenly changed direction, entering Blue First Love’s chest from above his head, then bursting out from the base of his spine before cutting through the void and vanishing into the imperial artifact.

Even the divine tree had not foreseen this. It extended countless branches to wrap Blue First Love up, and then streams of green healing light descended over him.

But his soul had already been pierced through. His entire soul lake, his whole body, had shattered. He struggled to recover, yet could not control the body that was about to split apart at any moment.

At the most crucial instant, No Cloud, who was trapped inside, pointed a finger. The clan patriarch, charged with thunder, suddenly flew upward. After he hurled something into the formation chart, his body fell onto the roots of the obstructing divine tree.

Rending crack!

There was no especially violent explosion. Instead, the thunderous power was wholly absorbed by the divine tree. But Blue First Love, who had been the one holding it at the very center, was as though the last straw had been torn away. Beneath the slight numbness, his whole body disintegrated into fragments.

"I will not die!" Blue First Love shouted.

At the same time, the divine tree roared in fury, "You will not die!"

This strange reversal made No Cloud, still trapped, furrow his brow as he muttered, "Troublesome. Truly troublesome."

As the divine tree vaulted upward, breaking through the soil once more to carry Blue First Love away, the spatial formation that confined No Cloud still remained. He did not have any especially good way to break it.

"If we use the jade seal, this item will definitely be damaged, and we will lose another treasure. If we absorb it into the formation chart, the chart itself will at least lose two days. What a headache!"

What No Cloud said next revealed his concern: "Blue First Love claims to be the descendant of the imperial artifact’s owner, but no matter how I look at him, he seems more like a remnant soul of the owner. If he regains control of the imperial artifact, the artifact spirit would not need to destroy itself. Then the ones who die will be us!"

"Senior, what are you trying to say?" Dragon One asked anxiously. If Blue First Love controlled the imperial artifact, who could possibly leave it alive?

"Follow the tree and chase after them. As long as you do not pluck the fruits from its branches, it cannot take the initiative to attack!" No Cloud shouted. Just as he was about to use force to break the formation, Phoenix Thousand Fish outside said, "I have a way to get you out, but..."

"Anything that can be solved with money is not a problem," No Cloud said, not even asking the price before agreeing to her request.

This left Phoenix Thousand Fish stunned. She took out an object from her soul. It was dim and without shine, like a short tube. Yet that tube, once made slightly larger and longer, ignored the great formation confining No Cloud and slipped through.

In an instant, No Cloud led everyone out along the tube. The formation imprisoning him also changed as it pursued them, then was bent by the tube and joined into a circle.

The formation that had been chasing No Cloud was thus left endlessly turning around inside the conduit.

"Nice object," No Cloud praised.

Phoenix Thousand Fish stretched out her hand, and a huge face like a mountain appeared before them. Expressionless, she said, "Each of you leaves three pieces. Everything else, spit it all out!"

Dragon One, Bear Old Three, and the others were just about to curse, when No Cloud hurriedly nodded. "Worth it. We are absolutely worth that price!"

Dragon One...

After satisfying Phoenix Thousand Fish and treating the dying Rong Ya, Gao Le and Wu Hao quickly subdued the living Light of the Measures, who was trying to flee. The latter still could not accept it: Blue First Love had clearly already survived the Immortal King tribulation, so why would the sword spirit still turn on its master and deliver a fatal blow?

Bear Old Three revealed the cultivation of a great immortal and, seeing that the others around him were still in a daze, muttered, "Clearly it was Rong Ya who succeeded in his tribulation. That scholar was still putting on airs, and in the end, if he did not die, who would?"

Everyone suddenly understood.

When Light of the Measures, with his cultivation sealed, was brought before No Cloud, Dragon One did not wait for the latter to speak before bringing his blade down at once. He remembered Bear Old Three’s words: our team cannot grow any larger!

No Cloud could not stop him. His hands trembled as he saw Dragon One grin foolishly, and he said angrily, "What did you kill him for? I still need to ask him where there are more of those arrowheads!"

Dragon One waved his hand and drew out the soul of the beheaded Light of the Measures, sealing it inside a transparent spherical immortal stone. "My senior is magnanimous and broad-minded. We will absolutely give you one chance at reincarnation. Just tell us where there are more arrowheads for that divine bow, and if there is a world among the stars, I will send you to be reborn there. I will never break my word!"