Funeral Hall

Funeral hall.

A bronze coffin lay across the chamber, engraved with vast, ancient patterns of birds, beasts, insects, fish, sun, moon, and stars.

A beautiful young girl in plain white mourning clothes knelt before the coffin.

Beyond the funeral hall stretched a Secret Realm World as pure as a sacred land.

Terrifying figures like the gods and Buddhas of all heavens were locked in a fierce battle within it.

Roars shook the heavens.

Divine blood poured down in torrents.

Yet the funeral hall remained utterly silent.

From beginning to end, the girl kept her forehead to the ground, neither sad nor joyful, calm without the slightest ripple.

"Heh, so this was what it looked like after my 'death'..."

Su Yi smiled, but his eyes were filled with coldness.

Only when he occasionally looked at the girl did a trace of imperceptible gentleness surface in his gaze.

Before his death, he had roamed the heavens of the cosmos, his sword suppressing the starry skies as he alone ruled over great worlds.

He had once battled across the universe and dominated an era.

He had also been revered as the one and only Master of Myriad Daos in the history of the Great Wilderness Nine Provinces.

In the eyes of the Sword Dao Giants of the Great Wilderness Nine Provinces, he was the peerless Xuan Jun Sword Master on the path of the sword.

But once news of his death spread—

Everything changed!

"Hahaha! Rong Qingming, refining the Great Dao—starting today, Su Xuanjun's Heaven Melting Furnace belongs to This Seat!"

A burst of laughter rang out from the Secret Realm World beyond the funeral hall, brimming with delight and joy.

Su Yi lifted his eyes and looked over.

It was a Golden Winged Great Peng, its wings like clouds hanging from the heavens, its feathers seemingly cast from dazzling molten gold. It radiated incomparable brilliance, its overwhelming might crushing an entire stretch of mountains and rivers.

Within its pair of heaven-rending talons, it clutched a furnace bright red as burning flame.

"So even this little sparrow betrayed me..."

Su Yi sighed.

He still remembered how, eighty thousand years ago, the Golden Winged Great Peng had prostrated itself outside the Mountain Gate and kowtowed for ten days and nights, all for the chance to serve at his side and listen to the mysteries of the Dao.

Seeing its sincerity, he had allowed it to remain by his side to cultivate.

Yet now, it directly called him by name and sought to seize his Heaven Melting Furnace.

A traitor through and through!

"Su Xuanjun owes my Ascension Sword Court eight hundred and ninety-three lives, and he also stole our sect's supreme inheritance, the Ten Directions Sword Sutra! Today, we have come to collect this debt. Whoever dares stop us shall be killed!"

Beneath the skies, amid rolling thunder, a red robe daoist let out a stern howl, his killing intent soaring into the heavens.

Su Yi was stunned.

The Ascension Sword Court had initially been nothing more than an obscure little sect.

Its Grandmaster had merely been one of the thirty-six nominal disciples by Su Yi's side.

It was precisely by relying on Su Xuanjun's prestige and protection that the Ascension Sword Court had risen step by step, becoming one of the Six Great Dao Gates of the Great Wilderness Nine Provinces and shaking the universe with its might.

Yet now, people from the Ascension Sword Court had come as well.

The claim that he owed eight hundred and ninety-three lives was utter nonsense.

Not to mention that the Ten Directions Sword Sutra had been bestowed upon the Ascension Sword Court's Grandmaster by Su Yi himself!

Clearly, upon learning of his death, the Ascension Sword Court had casually fabricated an excuse, waving the banner of debt collection while taking the chance to plunder his possessions.

"The human heart had grown old; it was nothing more than this."

Su Yi could not help but shake his head, his mood sinking somewhat.

Throughout all those years before his death, he had never mistreated those close to him.

"Listen well! Su Xuanjun was the Master of Myriad Daos whom we all revered together. With us here today, we absolutely cannot tolerate you taking advantage of the fire to loot his relics!"

Amid the torrential rain of blood, a group of figures with boundless divine might shouted.

"Bullshit! You make it sound noble, but didn't you also come to seize treasures after hearing that Old Thief Su had died?"

"Fucking hypocrites!"

Someone sneered and shot back.

"Look at what you hold in your hands—the Green Vine Immortal Tree, the Great Accomplishment Scepter, the Nine Dragons Divine Fire Lantern, the Ten Thousand Glazed Purple Jade Bottle... Which one is not an unrivaled Dao treasure left behind by Su Xuanjun?"

"If you truly had such intentions, why didn't you stuff those treasures into Su Xuanjun's coffin and bury them with him?"

...Many terrifying figures sneered.

Heaven and earth trembled as the battle raged fiercely.

Those participating in the battle were all the foremost mighty cultivators of the Great Wilderness Nine Provinces. As they clashed and slaughtered one another, the sight was terrifying beyond measure.

Yet to Su Yi, it was all laughable and absurd!

Before his death, these bastards had been respectful and obedient, meek and submissive.

But after his "death," this was the face they revealed!

"Sure enough, life and death were different."

Su Yi withdrew his gaze and looked at the girl kneeling before the bronze coffin in the funeral hall. Tenderness appeared in his expression. "At least this girl Qing Tang has always been here..."

Qing Tang had begun cultivating at his side when she was thirteen. By now, eighteen thousand nine hundred years had passed, and throughout the Great Wilderness Nine Provinces, she bore the title of Empress Qingtang.

In outsiders' eyes, Qing Tang was a lofty sovereign who commanded countless lands and intimidated the Nine Provinces. Even those at the same level feared her by three parts.

But before Su Yi, she had always been like a little girl. Apart from cultivating, she attended to him at his side, gentle and humble.

"Martial Sister, you have already kept vigil for Master for seven days. If we still do not leave, we are destined not to hold out!"

Suddenly, a tall, imposing figure entered the funeral hall. His white battle robe had long since been torn and stained with blood. He had just endured a bloody battle, and a terrifying aura emanated from his entire body.

Bi Mo!

The foremost among Su Yi's nine Close Disciples, known as the Bima Battle Emperor, he had followed Su Yi in cultivation for thirty-nine thousand years.

Qing Tang, who had been kneeling before the coffin all this time, slowly rose. Her voice was cold and indifferent as she said:

"Senior Brother, before Master passed away, he had already instructed the nine of us inheritors to leave separately. Why... did you come back?"

Bi Mo frowned slightly and said with righteous dignity, "How could I stand by and watch those traitors and enemies destroy everything Master left behind? Besides, Martial Sister, you refused to leave and remained here to keep vigil. As the Eldest Senior Brother, how could I possibly leave?"

Qing Tang turned around, her beautiful eyes as cold as blades as they fixed upon Bi Mo. "Even now, Senior Brother, you still refuse to tell the truth?"

Bi Mo's pupils contracted slightly. "Martial Sister, what did you mean by that?"

"What did I mean?"

Mockery curled Qing Tang's lips. "Others may not know, but I know perfectly well that Senior Brother has always coveted Master's Nine Hells Sword."

Bi Mo's expression changed slightly. After a brief silence, he suddenly laughed, his gaze dark and cold. "Martial Sister, do you dare say that you are keeping vigil here for any reason other than this sword?"

Qing Tang did not deny it. Her exquisite, fair, beautiful face remained as calm as ever as she said, "Senior Brother, you are mistaken. I remained here not merely for the Nine Hells Sword."

"What else?" Bi Mo could not help asking.

Qing Tang looked beyond the funeral hall at the world where the gods and devils of all heavens were fighting fiercely. Without the slightest fluctuation in her expression, she said, "Everything Master left behind..."

"I want it all!"

Every word was casual and calm, but when she spoke the last sentence, her slender, beautiful figure gained an oppressive majesty.

"All of it..."

Bi Mo was first stunned, then could not stop himself from laughing. His face was filled with derision as he said:

"Who would have thought that among the nine of us inheritors, the one with the biggest appetite would be you, Little Junior Sister? If Master were still alive and saw this scene, he probably would never have imagined that Qing Tang, whom he loved and trusted most, could be so greedy!"

In truth, Su Yi had been watching coldly all along.

He did not care that the Golden Winged Great Peng and those people from the Ascension Sword Court had betrayed him.

Even if those great enemies came knocking at his door, he did not care.

But when he saw that Bi Mo, the inheritor he valued most, and Qing Tang, whom he loved most dearly, both had their own schemes and plans—

He fell silent.

They were only a few treasures, yet they had turned two disciples against each other. How tragic!

Clang!

Suddenly, Qing Tang struck without warning. With a single sword strike, she severely wounded Bi Mo.

"I never expected you bitch to have hidden yourself so deeply!"

At the critical moment between life and death, Bi Mo seized a sliver of survival and fled the funeral hall, his voice filled with fury and panic.

He had never expected his martial sister's cultivation to be far more terrifying than he had imagined.

Even Su Yi was startled. So this girl had broken through long ago.

Bi Mo did not linger. He fled at once.

Qing Tang did not pursue him. Standing alone before the bronze coffin in the funeral hall, mockery touched her lips as she murmured:

"If Master learned that his eldest disciple was the very first to collude with the Six Great Dao Gates and lead wolves into the house, how heartbroken would he be?"

"And Third Senior Brother Huo Yao—although he did not participate, when he left, he stole the Mystic Origin Divine Mirror. That treasure alone was enough to let him advance into the Emperor Realm..."

"What a pity Master had already passed away and could no longer see any of this."

Qing Tang sighed softly.

Meanwhile, Su Yi's expression darkened bit by bit.

Only now did he learn that the eldest disciple he had trusted most had committed betrayal and led wolves into the house!

Only now did he learn that Huo Yao, his third disciple, had stolen the Mystic Origin Divine Mirror that suppressed this Secret Realm World!

No wonder those traitors and enemies had been able to kill their way into his territory so easily...

Thinking of this, Su Yi felt both furious and desolate.

Then Qing Tang suddenly stepped out of the funeral hall.

Her graceful, slender figure stood apart from the world. Her beautiful, detached clear eyes swept across heaven and earth as she spoke coldly:

"From this day forth, I, Qing Tang, alone shall reign supreme over the Great Wilderness!"

Whoosh!

A vast, ancient sword intent suddenly swept from her body, soaring skyward and spreading across heaven and earth. A rain of misty blue sword light shot forth like blade after blade of execution, effortlessly beheading one terrifying figure after another.

In merely an instant—

Heaven and earth became a painting stained completely in divine blood!

The remaining terrifying beings were all horrified, as though they had fallen into an icy abyss, their entire bodies turning cold.

"Submit, or die."

Amid that terrifyingly bloody atmosphere, Qing Tang spoke indifferently, her voice resounding through the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.

"We are willing to revere the Empress!"

"We are willing to revere the Empress!"

At that moment, intimidated by Qing Tang's might, all those mighty experts of the heavens lowered their heads!

"This girl..."

Su Yi narrowed his eyes. Even his heart could not remain calm; he had never expected Qing Tang's cultivation to have reached such a level.

Originally, as her master, he ought to have been gratified.

But now, all he felt was an indescribable loneliness and bleakness.

At this point, how could he fail to understand that the little disciple he loved most had also been hiding things from him all these years?

Not long afterward, Qing Tang turned and walked into the funeral hall.

Her gaze fell once more upon the bronze coffin. She bowed in salute and said calmly:

"Master, your disciple Qing Tang kept vigil for you for seven days and also helped you suppress those traitors and enemies. I have fulfilled the bond between master and disciple."

"From this day forth, I alone shall inherit everything you left behind."

As she spoke, she stepped forward, raised her hand, and pressed it against the bronze coffin, saying softly,

"The Nine Hells Sword cannot be buried with you like this. Once your disciple comprehends the mysteries within this sword, I will naturally return it. Master, do not blame me for disturbing your rest..."

Bang!

The lid of the bronze coffin was thrown open.

Yet in that instant, Qing Tang, who had remained calm and composed all along, rarely changed expression.

"How could this be..."

The bronze coffin was empty.

Forget the Nine Hells Sword—even Master's body was gone!

As Su Yi took in all of this, the fury in his pupils boiled like molten fire.

Even though he had long been prepared for all this before deciding to reincarnate and cultivate anew—

At this moment, he still found it difficult to suppress the anger in his heart.

But gradually, the rage in Su Yi's eyes faded bit by bit, until nothing remained but endless indifference and coldness.

"When I return, I hope all you bastards will still be alive and well..."

Su Yi's illusory figure, unseen by anyone, then dissipated into the void and vanished completely.

In the one hundred and eight thousandth year of the Great Wilderness Calendar, Su Xuanjun, the Xuan Jun Sword Master who had reigned alone over the Great Wilderness Nine Provinces for an era, fell from the world, shaking the Nine Provinces as one.

Seven days later.

The Empress Qingtang, disciple of the Xuan Jun Sword Master, swept through the six directions, pacified the heavens of the Divine Continent, and became supreme in the world.

Five hundred years later.

Great Zhou Kingdom, Cloud River County, Guangling City.

At dusk, the sunset blazed like fire.

Outside Pine Cloud Sword Mansion.

Su Yi stood alone in the distance, waiting for his sister-in-law Wen Lingxue to finish school.