Li Yi stayed at the bottom of the pit for three whole months. Only after making sure that Golden Eagle King and the others had truly left did he leap out and depart in a streak of light.
After his battle with Golden Eagle King and the others, Li Yi's name resounded throughout the world. Before, he had been known only among Heavenly Immortals, Mystic Immortals, and Golden Immortals, but this time he had caught the attention of quite a few Grand Unity Golden Immortals.
Grand Unity Golden Immortals were among the top figures in the Primordial World. To escape from one while only at the Mystic Immortal realm meant this young man had tremendous potential. If he survived, he might well grow into a giant like Old Ancestor Lu Ya. They could hardly afford to ignore him.
Of course, they only paid him a little attention. Attaining the Great Luo Merit Position was simply too difficult. One was constantly entangled in karmic calamities and endless tribulations. Even among ten thousand Golden Immortals, it was hard for a single Grand Unity Golden Immortal to emerge. So they didn't think much of a promising Mystic Immortal either. Who knew when he might fall? Though the Primordial World was relatively peaceful now, conflict was everywhere.
If there was one person who still kept a close eye on Li Yi, it was Golden Eagle King. This time, it wasn't for revenge. He wanted to learn more about that mysterious being through Li Yi. That being was too powerful; those eyes had left an indelible impression on him. He had always wondered whether the being had reached another level.
Time was the most merciless thing of all. In the blink of an eye, another fifteen hundred years passed. After such a long silence, the deed that had once shaken the world was gradually forgotten, brought up only now and then as a topic of conversation over drinks. Meanwhile, new figures continued to rise, and people eagerly discussed those who had attained the Great Luo Dao.
In the Primordial World, on an unremarkable little mountain, inside a hidden cave, Li Yi had quietly stayed for fifteen hundred years.
In his last fight with Golden Eagle King and the others, Li Yi had nearly died. At the final moment, he had even used the supreme soul ability Nine-Colored Pagoda. He had intended to keep this soul ability as his ultimate trump card, but with death just a hair's breadth away, he had been forced to reveal it. That had left Golden Eagle King dazed for an instant, buying Li Yi time to escape disaster.
Life and death truly were the best at drawing out one's potential. With hardly any Power of Slaughter left in his body, Li Yi had faced the fierce assault of the green-eyed elder and the other two. Under such intense pressure, he had reached enlightenment: Azure Lotus World had fused perfectly with the Power of Slaughter, which had itself undergone a qualitative transformation.
Li Yi felt that the risk had been worth it. That instant of enlightenment had saved him at least ten thousand years of effort.
But his injuries had indeed been severe, especially from Golden Eagle King's final palm strike. If not for this body of his being formed from the Twelve-Petal Azure Lotus, Golden Eagle King would likely have torn him apart on the spot. Even so, Li Yi had felt as though his five viscera were burning, his meridians were ruptured, and his blood was flowing backward.
So for the past fifteen hundred years, Li Yi had stayed here, quietly healing while comprehending the Way of Slaughter.
As Li Yi immersed himself in his insights, scenes from his experiences since crossing into this world flashed through his mind one after another.
A Chaos Demon God roared as he tore another demon god to pieces, blood flowing like a river...
The light of the Pangu Axe flashed, space shattered, and the countless corpses of demon gods fell like rain...
Divine Blood dripped from his hands. At his feet lay a demon god, eyes wide open in death, its resentment soaring to the heavens...
A million cultivators fought in the sky. The ground was strewn with bones and severed limbs, too horrific to look at...
Scenes of slaughter he had witnessed and experienced flashed through Li Yi's mind. His understanding of slaughter deepened, and his insight into it grew ever clearer.
Slaughter was erasure...
Slaughter was destruction...
Slaughter was making what existed cease to exist...
As Li Yi sat cross-legged in the cave, waves of black light began to shimmer over his body. The space around him rippled, and faint sounds of blades and swords clashing rang out.
Slaughter was simply slaughter...
Slaughter arose because things existed, and it ended because they existed. Where there was existence, there was slaughter...
Slaughter was a Dao and a principle; slaughter was everywhere...
"Hum..." A sword's cry rang out from within Li Yi. The Power of Slaughter that existed in the unseen world poured into his body. At that moment, Li Yi was like a black sun shimmering with dark light, and the space within ten zhang of him was filled with black Power of Slaughter.
Li Yi's entire body was immersed in the Power of Slaughter. The power within his meridians and dantian continued to grow and compress, while it washed over and reshaped his body, making it sturdier and better suited to the Power of Slaughter.
His mind expanded, doubling in size, and his will grew denser.
"Hum..." Countless little swords formed from the Power of Slaughter, each shimmering with black light, burst out of Li Yi's body. The entire mountain was left riddled with holes, like a gigantic honeycomb.
Countless black swords circled above the mountain. "Boom!" At last, the mountain collapsed, and a figure bearing four wings shot out in an instant.
As if responding to a command, the countless black swords cried out, "Hum..." One after another, they flew along set paths. After an unknown length of time, every black sword vanished, and an enormous, strange black lotus, thousands of zhang tall, stood quietly between heaven and earth.
The black lotus had dozens of vines, each bearing countless black flowers. It was mysterious and noble.
"I've finally attained the Golden Immortal realm." Standing atop the black lotus, Li Yi murmured, "I've also made some progress in the Slaughter Sword Dao."
After finishing his exclamation, Li Yi looked down over the Primordial World and smiled. "From now on, the Primordial World will be my stage." A glint flashed in his eyes, full of confidence.
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