Heaven's Devourer

Although the entire Earth Sword Domain was smaller than the Xuan Sword Domain by quite a significant amount, the Immortal Battleground here was much larger than the one in the Xuan Sword Domain. The spirit design that stabilized it was also far more complicated. Only someone that was on the level of a Shushan Sword Sage or higher would be able to create such a complicated spirit design.

In order to ensure that the Earth sword rank disciples did not damage other parts of the Clear Sky of Shushan, the destructive strength of these disciples was all absorbed by this spirit design.

The Immortal Battleground here looked more like the Mortal Arena. With arenas that were cast in gold, the Leaderboard of Earth Sword Immortals battle that was about to be held here was more important than usual. As such, countless people had gathered. From their flying swords, they were able to watch the battle from outside the arena.

Wu Yu took a quick look and noticed that the crowd consisted of 500 or so people. This meant that most of the Earth sword rank disciples were here.

Wu Yu was still only a sixth tier Jindan Dao cultivator. By right, he should still be in the Huang Sword Domain. So when faced with so many Violet Kingdom of the Inner Sea cultivators here in the Earth Sword Domain, he was struck in awe. Across the entire divine continent, Violet Kingdom of the Inner Sea cultivators were among the strongest. Even those who were masters of the 36 chambers rivaled only the weakest of the Violet Kingdom of the Inner Sea cultivators. They were probably weaker than Shen Xingyu as well. 

Before him were the elite of Shushan!

The view from the Earth Sword Domain made those in the Common Sword Domain look as small as ants.

Wu Yu and Shen Xingyao's arrival stirred a big commotion.

This was a strange combination after all. If Shen Xingyao had taken Wu Yu in as a disciple, this would not be that out of the ordinary, but the key thing was that Shen Xingyao had not done so.

He not only did not take him in, he did not let others take him in either.

"The Galaxy Sword Sage has arrived." The crowd looked at him with adoration. The Galaxy Sword Sage was the youngest of the Sword Sages so far, but he was certainly not the weakest.

As a result, Wu Yu also drew the attention of the hundreds of Earth sword rank disciples.

"That's Wu Yu. He broke the rules and advanced to the Xuan Sword Domain even though he's only a sixth tier Jindan Dao cultivator. However, he managed to defeat a 10th tier Jindan Dao cultivator. His opponent was the number nine ranked on the Leaderboard of Xuan Sword Immortals, Xiao Huanshan."

"His performance in the Leaderboard of Swords and Immortals was remarkable as well. Apparently, he obtained a legacy from someone known as the Transformative Daoist. He's really strong. I've also heard that Shen Xingyao once wanted to take him in as a disciple." 

"That's true. However, I heard that he's just been defeated by Mu Lingche. Isn't Mu Lingche right there with her friends?"

Wu Yu saw them as well. Mixed in with the Earth sword rank disciples was a group of young cultivators. This group included Mu Lingche and Xiao Huanshan's group of six. They had just arrived as well. While they were chatting about happily, they noticed that Shen Xingyao had brought Wu Yu along with him. Their expressions instantly darkened.

Of course, Shen Xingyao's presence meant that they dared not speak out. They could only resort to shooting dirty looks at Wu Yu.

Their provoking and disdainful gazes had a hint of derision. 

However, Wu Yu was focused on three others. They were three middle-aged cultivators. The two men and one woman scared everyone witless with their extraordinarily imposing aura. Just looking at them was enough for Wu Yu to feel oppressed, so he quickly averted his gaze.

The three of them were exchanging words with Shen Xingyao.

"Genius Shen is here as well. Today's going to be fun," the lady dressed in palace attire remarked.

"Shen Xingyu has been challenged several times recently. Of course he would come to take a look," the tall and bald man continued.

The remaining person stayed silent. His small frame was covered by the black robe he wore.

"These three are the Lunar Flower Sword Sage, the East Mountain Sword Sage, and the Crimson Shadow Sword Sage," Shen Xingyao quietly explained to Wu Yu.

What a coincidence. It turned out that they were Mu Lingche, Xiao Huanshan, and Chen Fuyou's parents. There were only around 20 or so Shushan Sword Sages in the Shushan Immortal Sect. Unexpectedly, four of them had come to watch this battle of the Leaderboard of Earth Sword Immortals. What a grand occasion.

Many Earth sword rank disciples were fired up by this. They were extremely excited, and wanted to leave a good impression on these Sword Sages in order to earn their praise.

In the presence of these four Sword Sages, today's battles seemed to be more intense than usual.

Wu Yu was still considered a junior to them, so he simply stood behind Shen Xingyao and focused on quietly watching the battles. 

He noticed a colorful, ancient bell on the Immortal Battleground. The multi-colored ancient bell radiated with light, and one could vaguely tell that a top level spirit design was operating. The spirit design could even transform into a pair of eyes that looked curiously at the crowd. It was like a small beast with a mind of its own. 

"This is a supreme immortal treasure." Wu Yu was quick to confirm this.

From the way the Leaderboard of Swords and Immortals was set up, it seemed like the hundreds of Earth sword rank disciples had to first sound out this bell before they were qualified to issue a challenge. Wu Yu recalled that the Leaderboard of Earth Sword Immortals ranked the top 100 disciples. If Shen Xingyu was frequently challenged, that meant that her ranking on the leaderboard was not that high. She should be at around the 80th to 100th position.

Right now, there was an intense battle between two Violet Kingdom of the Inner Sea cultivators going on at the Immortal Battleground. Their flashy mystiques and superior sword skills made the battle extremely fierce and explosive. Wu Yu could not really follow the details closely. He simply felt that the two of them were too strong. It was hard to tell what the two cultivators even looked like in their chaotic battle.

"Big Brother!" Shen Xingyu heard the commotion and hurried over from the battle preparation area on her sword. The sight of Shen Xingyao made her act like a little girl. She was joyously bouncing around. However, once she noticed that Wu Yu was there as well, she cleared her throat and reverted back to her usual, mature demeanor. With a twist of her waist, she rode her sword over and said, "Wu Yu, you're here as well. I just heard that you were defeated by some wench. Big Sister is so mad."

News sure had spread quickly.

Wu Yu weakly smiled. A defeat was a defeat, and he accepted this fact.

"Glad to see that you're fine." Shen Xingyu was worried that this setback would have caused Wu Yu to be totally ruined, but Wu Yu was surprisingly unaffected by this incident. This put her mind at ease.

She looked over to the battle currently going on and added, "I've just lost three in a row. There should be fewer people willing to challenge me now. It's all your fault, Brother. You're too famous around here, so everyone wants to defeat me to get a sense of your strength." Shen Xingyao did not respond to her coquettishness. He looked around as though he was searching or waiting for something.

Wu Yu was silent as well. He was entirely focused on the battle taking place on the Immortal Battleground. A chance to watch a battle between Violet Kingdom of the Inner Sea cultivators was hard to come by. He wanted to learn as much as he could from the fight in order to better refine his Jindan. His current level of skill was definitely lacking compared to others'.

The two Violet Kingdom of the Inner Sea experts were clean with their movements. Their dao techniques were profound as well, and were probably variants of the legendary Heaven Earth Void technique. With every move, they became more in tune with the heavens and earth, causing their attacks to have larger effects. One of the fighters specialized in windstorms, and had covered the entire arena with frantic tornadoes. If not for the spirit design's stabilization, the Immortal Battleground would have been ripped apart in no time. 

Bang, bang, bang!

These amazing dao techniques and unbelievable mistakes left Wu Yu awestruck.

"Even though I possess the treasures of immortals, I am still but a novice on the path of dao. I have to be patient and refrain from being too complacent."

Watching the fight between two experts was enough for Wu Yu to clear his anxious mind. Even though he had made huge improvements in his cultivation, his pursuit of dao had stabilized, at least for now.

The exciting match ended with the challenger losing. However, the cultivator who had been challenged was extremely exhausted as well. 

Despite this, they had managed to withstand the challenge and hold their spot. The crowd applauded these efforts.

Things were getting tense, and the crowd was silent. In an orderly fashion, three cultivators rung the colorful, ancient bell one after another. They had gained the right to issue a challenge. The opponents that they picked were all ranked 90 and above.

Shen Xingyu was ranked 92 and was at the end of the leaderboard. 

Among the next three bouts, one of them was won by the challenger. Wu Yu managed to watch these four battles from start to finish. He had definitely gained many insights that significantly benefited him. Shen Xingyao had certainly helped a great deal by bringing him here today.

He could not wait to just cross his legs and continue his cultivation. He wanted to use his absorb these new insights into his Jindan in order to refine it.

After the four battles, Wu Yu was still hungry for more. He anxiously waited for the next one to begin. However, nobody went to ring the colorful, ancient bell for a long time. Perhaps the remaining challengers had started to doubt themselves or were feeling unprepared.

The crowd continued to wait.

The strange thing was that Shen Xingyao and the other Sword Sages declined to announce that the Leaderboard of Earth Sword Immortals challenge had ended. Shen Xingyao was resting his eyes, whereas the Lunar Flower Sword Sage, the Crimson Shadow Sword Sage, and the East Mountain Sword Sage were behaving strangely as well. They all seemed to be waiting for something.

"Big Brother, why are you not ending things?"

Shen Xingyu asked.

Usually, the small number of people on the Leaderboard of Earth Sword Immortals made things quite straightforward. Every challenge began with an external competition for the unranked to challenge for a spot on the leaderboard. When there were no more of such challengers left, the next stage was in internal competition where those on the Leaderboard tried to obtain a higher ranking. 

Shen Xingyu wanted to gain at least 10 spots this time. She was often challenged by a bunch of people as well…

Wu Yu did not really think much of it, but Shen Xingyu's question made him notice this. The other Earth sword rank disciples were also looking around and egging each other to step up to the plate.

"Does no one else want to issue a challenge? Those at the third tier of the Violet Kingdom of the Inner Sea Realm and above all stand a good chance of winning," someone remarked.

However, nobody budged.

"I guess it's finally over." Shen Xingyu stretched lazily.

All of a sudden, Wu Yu felt his heart start to throb. He felt a sudden urge to look toward the sky. At the very end was a barrier that divided this place from the Heaven Sword Domain! The Heaven Sword Domain was already considered the upper-middle part of the Clear Sky of Shushan. It was only a short distance away from the Shushan Immortal Domain and was as close as you could get to that blue dome of heaven. 

All of a sudden, Wu Yu noticed that a colorful flame had started to burn at the barrier. A blaze of nine colors penetrated the barrier like a shooting star and started to violently plummet toward the ground! 

The crowd felt this, and they all raised their heads to look as well.

Before they could completely raise their heads, the nine-colored blaze had already reached the Immortal Battleground. It was right beside the colorful, ancient bell.

Wu Yu suddenly felt short of breath.

Within that blaze was a tall silhouette of a woman. He had a vague feeling that they had met before.