You Have to Find Someone to Carry It First

The blade fell.

Everyone’s minds

went blank at that instant.

It did not cleave the flesh.

It severed the soul.

Wang Hao’s Imperial Soul burst forth from his body.

He seized the New Son of Heaven Sword.

The silver-haired youth’s voice

rang out from within the blade.

“Master.”

“The cracks in the sword haven’t been repaired yet!”

Wang Hao said,

“We’ll repair it after I cross the tribulation.”

“With money from the imperial treasury?”

“I’ll pay.”

“Really?”

“A ruler’s word is never spoken in jest.”

The silver blade

instantly erupted with unprecedented brilliance.

“Then what are we waiting for?”

“Cut it down!”

Wang Hao gripped the sword in both hands.

His Imperial Soul charged toward the heavenly lightning blade.

“Nine Swords of Heaven-Opening.”

“Fifth Sword.”

“Severing Immortal from Mortal!”

With one slash,

an insurmountable gulf

seemed to open between immortals and mortals.

The heavenly lightning blade

paused before that abyss for a moment.

Then,

it split down the middle.

Countless fragments of lightning

rained onto the New Son of Heaven Sword.

The cracks along the blade rapidly spread.

The silver-haired youth cried out miserably,

“It hurts!”

“Pay me more!”

“Two repairs!”

Wang Hao said,

“One.”

“I cracked in two places!”

“Bulk repairs.”

“They only count as one.”

The silver-haired youth fell silent for a moment.

“You’re worse than the immortal tribulation.”

The third bolt.

The fourth.

The fifth.

The immortal tribulation grew ever stronger.

Ancient beings formed from lightning

emerged from the ruins of the heavenly palace.

Some carried sabers.

Some bore swords.

Some carried the sun and moon upon their backs.

And beneath the seats of others,

true dragons formed from stars coiled and writhed.

Every one of them

had, in some bygone era,

reached the very end of the mortal path.

Now,

the traces of the Great Dao they had left behind

had all become Wang Hao’s tribulation.

Wang Hao’s imperial robes were torn to shreds.

Golden imperial blood

spilled across the starry sky again and again.

The Thunder Abyss Demon-Suppressing Tower

was struck until it kept plummeting.

The cracks on the New Son of Heaven Sword

had nearly split the entire blade apart.

His Imperial Soul exploded several times over.

Yet every time,

the imperial Dao river rose from sixty-three worlds

and bore Wang Hao up once more.

The soldiers of Great Xia,

the three hundred worlds that had been saved,

countless living beings—

all gazed up at that figure within the sea of lightning.

They could not undergo the tribulation in Wang Hao’s stead.

But they could let him know

that there were people behind him.

The eighth heavenly tribulation descended.

An entire palace of lightning

came crashing down from the heavens.

Within the immortal palace,

hundreds of millions of lightning soldiers roared in unison.

“Mortal!”

“Do not proceed!”

Wang Hao raised his right hand.

“Heaven-Imprisoning, Earth-Overturning Palm!”

“First Palm!”

The lightning immortal palace shook violently.

“Second Palm!”

The palace gates exploded.

“Third Palm!”

Hundreds of millions of lightning soldiers

shattered at once.

“Fourth Palm!”

Within the immortal palace,

pillars of lightning toppled one after another.

“Fifth Palm!”

The ruins of the heavenly palace

were swallowed by the imperial Dao river.

“Sixth Palm!”

The power of sixty-three worlds

converged at once.

“Seventh Palm!”

Three hundred reviving worlds

illuminated the dark heavens.

“Eighth Palm!”

The lights of countless homes

set the sea of lightning ablaze.

Wang Hao’s Imperial Soul

took one step onto the lightning immortal palace.

His right hand crashed down.

“Ninth Palm!”

“Fall!”

Rumble—!

The entire lightning immortal palace

was slammed into the Ancient Immortal Ferry with a single palm strike.

The three corrupted immortals

were suppressed beneath the immortal palace at once.

The black sun in the red-robed child’s arms

exploded completely.

A black monstrosity with countless arms and legs

burrowed out from his abdomen.

On the creature’s face,

there was even an innocent, childlike smile.

“Immortals.”

“They are all mine.”

“The myriad heavens.”

“They are all mine as well.”

Countless black blood vessels

also burst out from the bodies of the azure-robed male immortal and the white-haired female immortal.

The corruption within the three of them

was linking together.

He wanted to use the immortal tribulation

to merge with it completely.

At that very moment,

the ninth immortal tribulation

descended.

There was no thunder.

No heavenly palace.

At the deepest depths of the sea of lightning,

only a single eye appeared.

That eye

covered the entire heavens.

Within its gaze,

there were no emotions.

No good or evil.

Only the purest laws of heaven and earth.

A voice rang out

within Wang Hao.

“Abandon all living beings.”

“Sever the Imperial Dao.”

“Then you may become an Unsullied Immortal.”

Wang Hao looked at that eye.

After a brief silence,

he asked,

“Does an Unsullied Immortal

get a salary?”

The laws of heaven and earth did not answer.

“Do they get a fief?”

Still no answer.

“Can they reimburse the repair costs for the Son of Heaven Sword?”

The silver-haired youth immediately said,

“Now that’s the important question!”

The eye

slowly closed.

It seemed too lazy to continue talking to him.

At that instant,

the entire sea of lightning collapsed.

Boundless thunder

condensed into a ray of light thinner than a strand of hair

and fell toward Wang Hao’s brow.

What this ray sought to erase

was not his flesh.

Not his soul.

But his Imperial Dao.

So long as Wang Hao was willing to abandon all living beings,

he could easily evade it.

But if he continued to bear everything upon his shoulders,

this strike

would erase both him and his Imperial Dao.

Wang Hao did not dodge.

He raised the new Son of Heaven Sword once more.

The Lightning Abyss Demon-Suppressing Tower

also flew back above his head.

Within the gates of its nine floors,

all the thunder it had stored

erupted at once.

“My Dao

is not for Heaven to alter.”

“Sky-Opening Nine Swords!”

“Sixth Sword!”

“Open the Immortal Gate!”

Silver sword-light

collided head-on

with that thread of tribulation light.

There was no explosion.

No shockwave.

The entire sea of stars

fell into absolute silence.

Wang Hao’s body

began to dissipate from his brow.

His Imperial Soul

was gradually turning transparent as well.

Within the Great Xia fleet,

everyone clenched their fists tightly.

Before Wang Hao’s eyes,

scene after scene emerged.

In the Great Xia imperial capital,

Ren Mingyue stood atop the palace walls.

Wang Xiao was reviewing memorials.

Wang Lingyu held an armful of case files from the Inspectorate.

Meanwhile, Wang Yan was secretly moving

a newly manufactured cannon from the Ministry of War

into his own residence.

Shen Xue and Yun Meng

were chasing after Wang Yan, demanding payment for the cannon.

Farther away,

nearly a billion living beings of Great Xia

continued to live their lives.

Some were born.

Some died.

Some rejoiced.

Some grieved.

This was what all living beings truly were.

Not sacrifices offered to immortals.

Not ornaments for the Imperial Dao.

But living, breathing people—

each and every one of them.

Wang Hao’s gradually transparent Imperial Soul

solidified once more.

“I bear them upon my shoulders

not because they are weak,

but because

they are willing to stand behind me.”

Boom!

The river of the Imperial Dao

reappeared from the void.

That thread of tribulation light

was forcibly cleaved apart by the new Son of Heaven Sword.

The sea of lightning dispersed.

Above the Ancient Immortal Ferry,

a golden sun appeared.

Immortal radiance poured down.

Wang Hao’s shattered body

reformed within that immortal light.

His bones were like jade.

His Imperial Blood, like gold.

His Imperial Soul was no longer bound by heaven and earth.

With every breath he took,

ripples spread across the sea of stars.

An aura

far surpassing Transcendence

slowly rose from within him.

[Immortal tribulation overcome.]

[Mortal body transformation complete.]

[Imperial Soul transformation complete.]

[Imperial Dao immortal foundation successfully formed.]

[Current realm: Earth Immortal, Level One!]

Wang Hao opened his eyes.

Within their depths,

sixty-three worlds seemed to be born and perish.

He raised his hand

and seized the three corrupted immortals

who were about to be dragged back through the Immortal Gate.

The azure-robed male immortal looked shocked and furious.

“You only just became an immortal!”

“By what right do you suppress us?”

Wang Hao clenched his five fingers.

The Imperial Dao chains around the three immortals

tightened at once.

“Because you’re sick.”

“And I have law-enforcement authority.”

Boom!

He took a single step forward.

The entire Ancient Immortal Ferry Crossing

was stomped askew beneath his foot.

The three corrupted immortals,

together with that Palace of Thunder,

were kicked back beyond the immortal gate.

The azure-robed male immortal roared.

The white-haired female immortal screamed.

The monster within the red-robed child

frenziedly tore at the immortal gate.

Yet the pristine white gate

finally shut completely.

Crack!

The key to the Immortal Path

snapped in two.

The gateway spanning the sea of stars

gradually turned transparent.

In the end,

all that remained was a pale rift running through the heavens.

Wang Hao stood before the rift.

The aura of an Earth Immortal

slowly spread outward.

In the depths of the distant starry sky,

one forbidden zone after another, dormant for countless years,

began to tremble.

Pairs of ancient eyes

opened from within the darkness.

Immortals.

There were more than merely the three within the Ancient Immortal Ferry Crossing.

Within the cultivation world,

there were many more immortals.

They hid within forbidden zones,

on the far side of the world,

in places beyond the reach of all living beings.

Some were untainted.

Others

had rotted through completely.

Wang Hao could feel it.

They were watching him as well.

The silver-haired youth crawled out of the New Heavenly Son Sword.

His body was covered in cracks.

“Master.”

“Where are we going next?”

Wang Hao put away the Demon-Suppressing Thunder Abyss Tower

and turned toward the Great Xia fleet.

“Back to the capital.”

The silver-haired youth’s eyes lit up.

“To cultivate the sword?”

“First, I’ll abdicate.”

The silver-haired youth froze.

“You’ve only just become an immortal.”

“And you’re already giving up the throne?”

Wang Hao looked toward the Great Xia imperial capital.

His tone was calm.

“I intend to drive every immortal in the cultivation world

back to the Immortal Realm.”

“The throne...

I’ll have to find someone to carry that burden first.”