Chapter 1025 - Quick, Flee!
Beneath the night sky.
Su Yi shot forward, cleaving through the skies as quick as a beam of flowing light. Before long, he’d appeared outside Nine Tripod City.
When he saw the city in the distance, his pupils silently constricted.
This was the capital of the Great Xia. A long time ago, the cultivators of the Azure Continent saw it as an immortal capital in the mortal world. It was the cultural and political center of the world, and it was dazzlingly prosperous.
Yet now, as the light of the radiant full moon illuminated the city, he saw that its majestic, ancient walls had crumbled and collapsed.
Most of the city’s densely packed buildings had been reduced to rubble. He could see dried blood smeared throughout the wreckage, and fragments of corpses scattered throughout the scorched earth and fallen structures…
From Su Yi’s position in the sky, all he saw was devastation.
His heart grew increasingly heavy.
One grand battle really had flattened Nine Tripod City!
Su Yi stepped forward and shot toward the ruins of Nine Tripod City.
There were numerous experts exploring the rubble beneath the night sky. It seemed they were searching for something.
“Alas, we got here too late. This was originally one of the greatest treasure towers in Nine Tripod City, and it had countless treasures, but others have already picked it clean,” someone cursed.
“Quick, keep looking. Even though Nine Tripod City has fallen, countless treasures are still buried within the wreckage. Over the past few days, who knows how many people have made it big?” someone else shouted and ordered his companions to keep searching.
Someone else picked up a several-day-old corpse and cursed his misfortune. “How unlucky! This corpse is so ornately dressed, and it seems they were a Spiritual Incarnation cultivator in life, but all they have on them is a broken flying sword.”
…Similar scenes played out throughout the ruins of Nine Tripod City.
There was no doubt about it. When the imperial capital of the Great Xia fell, numerous cultivators came running. They saw this as treasured ground, a place to pilfer the wealth of the dead.
Su Yi paid this no heed.
He continued ahead, and before long, he’d arrived at Azure Dragon Lane.
It too lay in ruin.
No, compared to other parts of the city, the devastation and destruction were even greater. There were crisscrossing chasms and pits all over the ground, and few identifiable fragments of buildings remained.
Su Yi felt a knot building in his chest.
He’d once taken up residence in Azurecloud Court, which was built on Azure Dragon Lane.
Lush bamboo had grown in the courtyard. There’d been pavilions, as well as a fishpond. When he had nothing else to do, Su Yi sprawled out comfortably beside the pond, tossing moon clams to the spirit carp.
Yet now, Azurecloud Court had been leveled. Even when he examined the wreckage closely, he saw none of the scenery of the past. The devastation was utterly desolate.
Suddenly, a raspy voice emanated from afar. “Everyone, this was Azurecloud Court! It was once home to the world-famous Banished Immortal Su!”
A group of cultivators shot over. Their leader was a thin man in black robes.
When he and his companions arrived, his expression filled with excitement. “Quite a few people have investigated this place over the past few days, but none acquired anything. Still, I refuse to believe there’s nothing here! Tonight, we’ll dig the whole place up and see what treasures remain in Azurecloud Court!”
“Now that you mention it, it’s strange. Such an enormous disaster befell Nine Tripod City, but there’s still no sign of Banished Immortal Su. It’s as if he’s evaporated into thin air.”
“Right? Ever since Banished Immortal Su defeated those ancient factions, there’s been no trace of him. Rumor has it that he’s long since left the Azure Continent and that he’s gone to other worlds to seek out greater heights of the Dao.”
“Quit wasting time and get to work!”
The cultivators soon got busy, using various methods to excavate the ruins. All of them seemed highly motivated.
Su Yi stood and watched from beneath the distant darkness.
Before long, they’d cleared the entirety of the ruins, and dug several hundred feet down.
But they found nothing but fragments of ruined buildings.
This left the cultivators beside themselves with frustrations, and their expressions darkened.
“Was this really the residence of Banished Immortal Su!? There’s nothing here, not even a hair!” someone complained.
“Someone must have gotten here first and picked the place clean!” said another, his expression unsightly.
“Strange. Rumor has it that when the battle broke out, this was the heart of the conflict. Logically speaking, there ought to be more treasures around here than anywhere else, but did you notice? There weren’t even any fragments of treasures lying around!” someone said in bewilderment.
“And that’s not even the end of it! Everywhere else, there were corpses and bloodstains, but Azurecloud Court didn’t even have those!”
The cultivators were still unwilling to accept it, and they kept digging, but in the end, they found nothing. Eventually, they gave up and left, griping and cursing all the while.
Su Yi took all of this in, and his brow furrowed.
It seems someone really did get to Azurecloud Court, dig everything up, and take it all away…
Furthermore, if this was the heart of the conflict, does that mean the mysterious faction that attacked Nine Tripod City was after me?
As Su Yi pondered, he turned and left.
Shortly after, he arrived at Mount Heavenbristle.
This ten-thousand-foot divine mountain was originally the home of the Great Xia’s imperial family. All manner of palaces had adorned its slopes, and from the peak, you could see most of the capital.
Yet now, the mountain had been cleaved in two, and it lay collapsed on the ground and deathly silent.
Just like the ruins of Nine Tripod City, there were dense clusters of cultivators throughout the wreckage, arcing through the air as they tried to dig up treasures.
The moonlight was as gentle as water, but the wreckage it illuminated was lively as could be.
“The Xia Family were once the sovereigns of the Azure Continent, but so what? No matter how glorious their prestige, they’ve been obliterated. Nothing remains of their glory,” someone let out a long sigh.
“Quit talking nonsense. Hurry up and look for treasure!” someone else said in displeasure.
Su Yi stood in the distance, an irrepressible fire building in the depths of his gaze.
He’d taken everything in along the way. The rage and worry building in his heart suddenly transformed into murderous intent.
“No matter who did this, they’ll pay for this with their blood and their lives!” Su Yi thought to himself. His expression was increasingly calm.
And here he’d been eager to reunite with his old friends now that he’d returned to the Azure Continent. Who’d have thought he’d immediately be greeted with such cruel news?
“Master, why did they hang the Xia Emperor from a tree?”
“They’re doing it to humiliate him. It’s the cruelest punishment of all; they want everyone beneath the heavens to see his miserable state!”
“Isn’t… isn’t that a bit too brutal?”
“Shh! Pipe down! Do you want to get yourself killed?”
Hushed conversations were faintly audible amidst the rubble, and they drew Su Yi’s attention.
He blurred and shot toward them from afar.
The walls of the pavilion halfway up the mountain had crumbled, and the building lay in ruin.
There stood a leafless tree with roots embedded beneath the wreckage.
A man hung from one of its branches. Layers of rope bound him by the hands and neck, holding him aloft. His plain cloth robes were tattered and covered in blood, his hair was disheveled, and he was covered in wounds. Some of his body parts had already been reduced to pulped flesh and shattered bone. The sight startled both the heart and the eyes.
He hung there like a wind-dried corpse, unmoving beneath the moonlight.
Except when the occasional wind blew past, and he swayed gently. It was an extraordinarily brutal sight.
When Su Yi arrived and saw this figure, he was unwittingly dazed, and he almost dared not believe his eyes.
The Xia Emperor!!
Su Yi silently clenched his right fist, and fury ignited deep within his heart.
However, his expression was increasingly calm.
“How lofty has the Xia Emperor been all these years? He was the hegemon of the Great Xia, and one of the most influential authority figures of the Azure Continent, but now… Argh!”
“This is a punishment, a deliberate humiliation. His enemies want everyone beneath the heavens to know just how brutal and unseemly the Xia Emperor’s fate is!”
“Does… does no one dare to save him?”
“Who'd dare to get involved in this? They'd have to be sick of living!”
Numerous cultivators watched from throughout the surrounding area, and they conversed amongst themselves in harsh whispers. Although they discussed the hanging Xia Emperor, no one dared draw near him.
It seemed as if the Xia Emperor was unlucky and inauspicious.
“Hm?” Suddenly, many of them noticed that a young man in blue had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and he was approaching the tree.
This was none other than Su Yi.
“Young man, don’t let your blood rush to your head. Don’t be willful! These waters are too deep. Be careful not to bring disaster upon yourself!” someone warned.
Su Yi ignored him.
Then, beneath the crowd’s astonished gazes, he pressed his fingers into a sword and slashed.
Crunch!
The massive tree branch split, and the Xia Emperor fell toward the ground, only for Su Yi to catch him from far. When he tightened his grip, the ropes binding the Xia Emperor shattered.
This scene provoked widespread uproar.
“Who is that guy? How gutsy is he!?”
“He… he’s really throwing his life away…”
“That mysterious faction dared hang the Xia Emperor there. They’ve surely taken precautions against would-be rescuers!”
The nearby cultivators instinctively distanced themselves.
That mysterious faction had appeared just a few days ago, destroying Nine Tripod City and crushing Mount Heavenbristle overnight. They’d even gone so far as to hang the Xia Emperor from a tree. Who wouldn’t have feared being implicated in such a storm?
Yet now, a young man had rescued the Xia Emperor in front of countless witnesses!
The way they saw it, this was no different from seeking out his own demise.
Su Yi paid none of this any heed. He was busy examining the Xia Emperor’s wounds.
His flesh was in tatters, his organs had ruptured, and his meridians were in pieces. His blood and qi had ebbed, and even his soul was severely damaged. An insidious secret art restricted him and inflicted constant, brutal torment. He was already on the brink of collapse.
Only his last thread of vitality remained. The emperor of the Great Xia was practically already dead.
Furthermore, Su Yi could tell that the enemy hadn’t left him with this last thread of vitality out of benevolence.
Rather, they were using this secret art to keep him alive, leaving him unable to die no matter how much he wanted to!
Su Yi’s heart was as firm as iron, yet in that moment, it trembled. He was starting to lose control of the murderous intent and fury building in his chest.
But it was then that the Xia Emperor quivered and opened his eyes with great difficulty.
As Su Yi’s face gradually came into view, his eyes widened. Then, as if mustering all the energy he had left, he struggled to speak. After a few attempts, he finally managed to open his bloodless, quavering lips.
“Quick… run away!”
As weak and raspy as his voice was, he sounded utterly frantic.
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