Su Yuan turned back in puzzlement and saw the stone man striding rapidly toward him.
His speed was so fast that Su Yuan was taken aback.
In a flash,
the stone man appeared right in front of Su Yuan, staring at him.
This made Su Yuan, who was about to pull out another long sword, give an awkward smile and say, “Uh, is there something you need?”
“How… did you do that?” the stone man asked, pointing at the empty space behind him.
Su Yuan pretended to be puzzled and said, “It’s simple. Didn’t you say to find the highest-quality swords? I gathered up all the swords, so of course I’d find the best ones!”
“But why weren’t you teleported away?” the stone man frowned. “Show me!”
“That’s not very polite, is it? I’d feel a bit embarrassed!” Su Yuan scratched his head sheepishly.
The stone man grew impatient. “Just show me!”At the command, Su Yuan drew a sword and, at the instant of teleporting away, seamlessly teleported back as if he had never left.
The stone man widened his eyes and watched. He could sense a subtle gap—someone was meant to be teleported away, but the teleportation had been prevented by some method.
The stone man instinctively assumed Su Yuan had stopped the teleport, because he refused to believe Su Yuan could teleport back instantly.
“You… have quite the trick!” the stone man said, looking at Su Yuan intently.
Su Yuan smiled faintly. “No big deal, no big deal!”
“All right, you pass this trial. I’ll send you directly to the inner island!” the stone man said in a muffled voice.
“Ah, Brother Guardian Stone Spirit, there’s no need to rush—I haven’t—” Su Yuan hadn’t finished speaking when a spatial teleportation rule force acted on him.
In the blink of an eye, the scene before him changed.
The stone man disappeared.
In his place was a sea of flames.
Nine paths led into the heart of that fire.
He saw two cultivators already on two of the paths, moving forward at a slow, tortoise-like pace.
The moment Su Yuan appeared,
Zhuge Tao and Sima Nan sensed it and both turned to look.
Zhuge Tao’s lips twitched. “He’s actually behind us?”
“Huh, his aura is only early Great Luo?” Sima Nan felt incredulous from the other side.
Su Yuan cupped his hands toward them. “Greetings, fellow cultivators!”
When Sima Nan saw Su Yuan, a vicious glint flashed in his eyes. From across the sea of fire he launched an attack.
A sword light slashed straight through the flames toward Su Yuan.
Su Yuan showed a calm expression as a layer of spiritual light materialized in front of him, blocking the sword light.
Clang!
The sword light dispersed, revealing a long sword—undoubtedly the aura of a top-quality postnatal spirit treasure—floating before Su Yuan and instantly resuming its assault.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
The long sword struck at Su Yuan thousands of times around his body but was effortlessly deflected, causing Sima Nan to show a look of disbelief.
“How is this possible?” Sima Nan’s eyes nearly popped out.
Su Yuan, however, fixed his gaze on the floating sword.
At the moment when Sima Nan’s shock caused the sword to falter, Su Yuan invoked a cauldron to envelop the long sword!
The Myriad Treasures Heaven-Earth Cauldron had now transformed to the level of a mid-grade postnatal spirit treasure; its rule core had evolved from a Creation Law to the Fate Law, granting countless functions. When it erupted with a suppression function, it could only bind the long sword for an instant.
Sima Nan snapped back to his senses and smirked wickedly. “You want to imprison my top-grade postnatal spirit treasure? What a pipe dream.”
But the moment he trapped that long sword, Su Yuan activated the World Traveler function, instantly sending the Myriad Treasures Heaven-Earth Cauldron—along with the bound long sword—out of Primordial Isle.
Sima Nan was stunned; he suddenly lost contact with his top-grade postnatal spirit treasure!
His face darkened instantly. “Where did you put my treasure? Bring it back at once!”
Su Yuan stared at him as if he were a fool. “Fellow cultivator, you’re an ancient oddity who’s cultivated for countless years, yet you still say such childish things. It’s shameful for us divine practitioners!”
Sima Nan’s expression blackened completely.
A light chuckle drifted over from nearby.
He turned and saw Zhuge Tao smiling, fanning himself with the Feather Fan, the mockery on his face unhidden even by the raging flames.
Sima Nan now realized he had been tricked—this seemingly early Great Luo youth was no ordinary figure, his strength likely disguised—and he had mastery of a treasure-seizing divine technique. His treasure had definitely been sealed.
Fear crept into Sima Nan’s heart. No wonder the Demon Lord summoned him to compete for the inheritance—truly a mighty rival had appeared.
Sima Nan calmed his features and asked, “Fellow cultivator, would you return the long sword? I will compensate you with other treasures!”
Su Yuan grinned. “No need. This long sword is pretty nice!”
Sima Nan frowned. “This sword was refined using true spirit ritual as a top-grade postnatal spirit treasure; others cannot refine it. What good would you get from taking it?”
Su Yuan’s expression flickered. A treasure refined by a true spirit ritual is a higher-level forging method, making it nearly impossible for others to re-refine—only by killing Sima Nan entirely could one seize it.
But who said he intended to use it himself? He would simply have the Myriad Treasures Heaven-Earth Cauldron swallow it!
Su Yuan shook his head at Sima Nan and turned to walk along another path.
The moment he stepped onto the flame path,
an incredible scorching heat pierced from his body down into his soul, forcing Su Yuan to inhale sharply!
He felt his will being burned by the flames; his face instantly twisted in pain.
“Hiss!”
Su Yuan gasped.
“Hahaha—you, with only early Great Luo cultivation, dare step onto the Path of Tempering the Heart! Your mental state and will cannot withstand this baking and burning! You think you can compete with us for the inheritance? Ridiculous!” Sima Nan mocked loudly.
Su Yuan paid him no mind, closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and endured.
Sima Nan immediately felt something amiss. Although Su Yuan looked to be suffering greatly, he showed no sign of retreat, nor did he appear to have lost his spirit to the tortures of the path.
How could he possibly hold on? Without the mental state and law comprehension of a Mixed-origin Golden Immortal, he lacks even the qualification to tread this Path of Tempering the Heart! Sima Nan wondered.
Zhuge Tao glanced once more at Su Yuan and continued forward. Each step made him frown, suffering endless pain and torment.
Sima Nan’s face grew gloomy as he, too, pressed onward.
Once Su Yuan became accustomed to that pain, he gradually slowed his pace.
He had not endured many hardships during his journey—things had gone incredibly smoothly for him. This sudden Path of Tempering the Heart gave him a bitter-sour thrill.
Enduring that soul-burning sensation, his mental state, comprehension, and innate talent all soared rapidly with the assistance of Tempering Heart in Mortal Dust!
The ninth entry—Tempering Heart in Mortal Dust—improves one’s mindset the more it’s experienced; after modifying the entry, comprehension and talent also increase.
For him, this Path of Tempering the Heart was a rare opportunity—hardly anything else could bring such a profound mental refining effect now.
His mental cultivation had already reached mid-stage Mixed-origin Golden Immortal, not yet late-stage, making this an ideal place to train.
Su Yuan began to walk forward slowly. With every step the heart-burning sensation indeed intensified, a progression that was almost unimaginable.
After a while,
the initial spot of the sea of fire shifted and changed.
Nai Luo Demon Emperor appeared here out of thin air.
He looked around in puzzlement, then quickly noticed the three cultivators walking the flaming paths.
Nai Luo Demon Emperor appraised them. He glanced at Su Yuan and immediately ignored him, then looked toward Zhuge Tao and Sima Nan. Once he sensed their cultivation levels, his heart chilled.
“Both are divine practitioners who have perfected the Mixed-origin Golden Immortal—halfway to Mixed-origin. Why don’t I remember them?”
Nai Luo Demon Emperor searched his memory and soon found scraps of information about the two. Previously they had no reputation and their strengths had not been notable in reports, yet now they stood before him with perfected Mixed-origin Golden Immortal cultivation.
“How sneaky!” Nai Luo Demon Emperor suddenly realized. The first-place reward for entering the island might not have been won by Sword Immortal Wine at the Immortal Realm passage, but by one of these two half-Mixed-origin practitioners!
“What are they doing? What is this place?” Nai Luo Demon Emperor didn’t voice the question, but from the current situation it was easy to deduce what was happening.
He didn’t hesitate and stepped onto one of the paths.
Just as he set foot on the Path of Tempering the Heart, Nai Luo Demon Emperor grunted; he hadn’t expected the path to be so fearsome and felt the sting of a harsh warning.
Seeing these people walking steadily, he thought little of it—but now he realized he had underestimated those two.
No—he suddenly turned to look at Su Yuan, who was walking with even steps, and muttered to himself, “Early Great Luo? Give me a break!”
After Nai Luo Demon Emperor had walked half a li,
three ripples of space appeared again.
Sword Immortal Wine, Feng Ling, and White Soldier all materialized together!
They all looked around in surprise.
Sima Nan couldn’t help but turn his head again, a trace of bewilderment flashing across his face. “What’s going on? How did they get in? The guardian stone spirits for the other two paths no longer exist—how can they still enter?”
At this moment, on the outer islands, a stone man arrived at the Immortal Realm passage island and cursed angrily, “I was going to swing by Big Brother and Second Brother’s place to grab a few swords to replenish supplies, but those two idiots actually perished! Most of the swords are gone.”
He sighed. “Fine, I’ll test the outsiders for them. Always trouble, these hard-working fates. Speaking of which, what resurrection method did they ask me to use again? I seem to have forgotten.”
The stone man fell into thought.