Whoosh!

Su Yi was still in mid-air when he stabilized himself. However, his blood and energy were still churning within him, and he was in so much pain that he felt the urge to cough up blood.

That attack had been terrifying to the extreme!

“A flying weaver's shuttle?” Su Yi could tell at a glance that what had attacked him was a four-inch weaving shuttle. It was blood-red, pointed on both ends, and thin as a bamboo chopstick.

It hovered and whirled in the air, brimming with spirituality. 

Someone had ambushed them!

Su Yi’s companions were stunned, and they only just now reacted. Their expressions all changed.

In his shoes, they feared they couldn’t possibly have defended themselves. The shuttle was just too fast!

“All of you should head back along our original path.” Su Yi took a deep breath, and light flashed in the depths of his gaze. His qi circulated as he prepared to face a mighty foe.

This was the first time his companions had ever seen him look so serious.

When he fought Shanglin Temple’s Sutra Crane earlier, he seemed carefree and at ease; he was nowhere near as solemn as he was now.

“Let’s go.” They dared not hesitate, so they immediately turned and left.

Kcch!

The instant they turned to leave, the nearby crimson shuttle flashed and shot toward Ning Sihua like a streak of red lightning tearing through the air.

Clang!

Su Yi held the Abstruse God Sword in front of him, blocking the attack, but the shuttle’s penetrative power was such that even the Abstruse God Sword trembled violently, pushing Su Yi back once more. 

Although Ning Sihua and the others were beside themselves with concern, they were well aware that they couldn’t afford to delay here; if they did, they’d only drag Su Yi down.

Bzzz!

The red flying shuttle hovered and danced in midair, scattering a rain of radiant embers. As it did so, its power shot up to a whole new level.

It was just a flying shuttle, but the air of majesty it emanated far surpassed Sutra Crane, an Earthly Immortal!

Even from a distance, the mere sight of it was enough to strike terror into one’s heart!

“A Spirit Dao magic treasure!” Su Yi’s pupils focused. The treasure wasn’t actually all that scary, but what really surprised him was that the person controlling it was quite possibly a Spirit Dao cultivator! 

Boom!

As soon as this possibility occurred to him, the shuttle stirred up a patch of fiery, explosive rain, which shot forward murderously.

The shuttle threw the air into chaos, as if a heaven-burning sea of flames had descended; the sheer majesty was enough to stun the heavens and shake the earth. It was unimaginably mighty.

This strength was far beyond the likes of Earthly Immortals.

In the face of an attack of this level, Su Yi’s expression filled with unprecedented solemnity, and he immediately dodged. 

Rumble~!

Although he avoided the crimson shuttle, the power of its searing flames swept across him, sending him flying with a bang.

He coughed, and blood dripped from his lips.

When he steadied himself on the ground, a cold look appeared on his face.

This was absolutely the most dangerous battle he’d faced since his rebirth, and it was highly likely that his opponent was a Spirit Dao cultivator!

This was an expert far beyond the people the ordinary folk called “Earthly Immortals”; the two were as far apart as heaven and earth.

Boom!

Su Yi’s opponent didn’t give him any time to ponder. The crimson shuttle shot toward him once more. 

“Activate!” Su Yi’s eyes flashed with cold light, and both hands formed seals.

Boom!

The scattered, towering, ninety-foot-tall Buddhist statues of this underground world suddenly seemed to awaken. All of them burst with radiant light.

Every last statue surged with a searing golden glow, and the sound of Sanskrit chanting echoed through the air.

In the blink of an eye, the entire underground world was fully-lit, dispersing all of the initial darkness.

In the freshly illuminated space, they could clearly see a massive illusory Buddha condense. His hands formed lotus seals, and a true dragon wrapped around his upper body. He was so terrifyingly majestic that even heaven and earth trembled before him. 

The Burning Heaven Restricting Demon Formation!

“Go!” Su Yi extended a finger and pointed.

Boom!

The illusory golden Buddha suddenly slapped the air.

The vast, seemingly limitless power of that golden palm bore down on the flying shuttle in midair. It started quivering and buzzing.

But it was then that a strange and mysterious power fluctuation emerged from deep within the hovering crimson vortex. It condensed into a mountainous, blood-colored hand and ruthlessly pressed down.

Rumble!

The golden Buddha’s palm and the blood-colored giant hand clashed, shaking the entire underground world. Currents of destructive energy ran rampant and spread out in all directions.

The tiny red shuttle seized the opening to circle and break free from the pressure. It flashed in mid-air, then manifested a human figure.

It was a tall man in old-fashioned robes, with handsome features and upright posture. He hovered in midair, standing atop the shuttle, like a sovereign gazing down upon his domain.

However, his figure was illusory, like shimmering light and shadow. He didn’t seem real.

When Su Yi saw this, he was actually a bit disappointed; this wasn’t really a Spirit Dao Cultivator. No, this was just a soul avatar occupying the little crimson shuttle.

“You’re just a paltry little Inner Furnace Realm cultivator. You’ve yet to even transcend mortality, yet you can control the Prajna Meditation Garden’s Heaven Burning Demon Restricting Formation? That truly comes as quite the surprise,” said the man, his dignified voice booming like rolling thunder.

“How about this? This lofty one can spare your life for now. So long as you answer my questions like a good boy, I won’t kill you. Moreover, I’ll even accept you as my disciple and teach you the Dao.”

Su Yi laughed. This was merely the avatar of a Spirit Dao cultivator. In his past life, someone like this wasn’t even qualified to bow before him!

Boom!

Su Yi’s hands formed seals, and he attacked directly, with no wasted words. 

The illusory golden Buddha punched with a towering, searing burst of Buddhist light. It was vast and imposing as it suppressed the entire stretch of space. 

The man atop the shuttle froze, as if he dared not believe that this mere ant of an Inner Furnace Realm youth dared be so brazen. 

He could only watch as the heaven-shaking fist slammed toward him.

A panicked look rose on his face, and he immediately steered the shuttle away in an attempt to dodge.

Alas, that fist was a manifestation of the Burning Heaven Restricting Demon Formation. How could it possibly be ordinary?

Rumble!

The golden light blew apart and dispersed, leaving the shuttle buzzing and trembling. The man immediately retreated inside in a panic.  

He was like a turtle pulling its head into its shell. It was a ridiculous sight.

“Little brat! Must you seek out your own death?” The man’s infuriated voice rang out from within the shuttle, dark and imposing. “In light of your ignorance, I won’t pursue this insult, but if you stubbornly refuse…”

Before he could finish, Su Yi manipulated the formation, and yet another punch descended.

Boom!

It was as if heaven crumbled and the earth split. The crimson shuttle dodged with all its might, but the fist still slammed into it, imprinting it deeply in the ground. Wails rang out repeatedly. 

“Bastard!” The man shouted from within the shuttle, practically beside himself with fury. He immediately controlled the shuttle, directing it to the crimson vortex. 

But how could Su Yi let him do as he wished?

Boom!

A stretch of golden Buddhist flame large enough to blot out the sun blazed into view, blocking the shuttle’s path.

But then, something Su Yi could never have anticipated happened: a mysterious burst of power emerged from the depths of the vortex and condensed into a blood-colored long spear! 

It stabbed ruthlessly ahead, breaking through the golden flames in a single attack!

The crimson shuttle seized the opportunity to take to the air, then paused near the swirling vortex. “You little shit! This is your final chance. If you don’t….” 

But before he could finish, Su Yi attacked once more.

Boom!

A giant Buddha’s hand shot through the air and reached for the crimson shuttle.

“Fuck!” The man within the crimson shuttle seemed to have gone mad with rage. He let out an utterly infuriated roar. “You little whelp, you listen up! I am the Incarnation of Stars Sect’s Crimson Peng Monarch. One day, I’ll cross into this world, and when I do, I’ll take your worthless little life!”

His voice brimmed with dense fury, as well as an indescribable bitterness.

Before his words finished echoing, the crimson shuttle shot straight into the whirlpool. In the blink of an eye, it was gone.

When Su Yi saw this, a hint of regret flashed across his face. I actually let him get away….

“Fellow Daoist, are you alright?” Ning Sihua and the others hurried over, shock and concern written all over their faces. They’d witnessed that entire exchange.

“I’m fine. It’s just a few minor injuries.” Su Yi took a deep breath, then looked away from the hovering crimson vortex.

Mu Xi couldn’t help but ask, “Brother Su, was that guy just now really a Spirit Dao cultivator?”

“That’s right, but he was just a soul avatar. When your cultivation reaches the Spiritual Revolution Realm, you can divide your soul and refine soul avatars.”

As Su Yi said this, he furrowed his brow. “However, although that guy wasn’t all that strong, his background most likely isn’t simple.”

The crimson whirlpool was a spatial barrier, yet during their battle just now, someone had intervened from the other side of the rift to save the man who called himself the Crimson Peng Monarch from an otherwise fatal strike.

This wasn’t something Spirit Dao cultivators were capable of; you had to have Imperial Realm cultivation, or at the very least, you needed deep mastery of the Dao of Space. Only then could you reinforce someone across a spatial barrier!

Were the Crimson Peng Monarch just another ordinary Spirit Dao cultivator, how could he be worthy of such an expert’s reinforcements?

The Incarnation of Stars Sect… The Crimson Peng Monarch was a yao cultivator. Does that mean there’s a faction of yao cultivators in the world on the other side of the barrier? Their ranks presumably include other Spirit Dao cultivators as well, and it’s highly likely they’ve got an Imperial Realm expert in residence… Su Yi thought to himself.

Were this to spread, it would undoubtedly shake the entire Azure Continent.

Su Yi, however, didn’t care.

As the man the people of the Nine Provinces once called the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force, he knew better than anyone that the higher your cultivation was, the harder it was to cross the barriers between worlds.

This was a problem of a world’s fundamental laws.

In a mundane realm like the Azure Continent, unless something happened to overturn the heavens, there was no way a Spirit Dao cultivator would show up in their true body, much less an Imperial Realm expert. 

Were such earth-shaking changes coming to the Azure Continent?

They were!

He could tell from the unnatural and extraordinary changes within the Great Zhou’s Eight Great Yao Mountains—they were increasing in frequency.

During his trip to Bloodthistle Yao Mountain, Su Yi guessed that even if otherworld cultivators wanted to cross over, they’d need at least three to five years.

Furthermore, the first group to descend upon the Azure Continent wouldn’t include anyone truly powerful.

They were still likely enough to strike terror into the hearts of the other inhabitants of this world, damaging their appetites and making it hard for them to sleep at night

But to Su Yi, they amounted to nothing at all. On the contrary, he was rather eager for the otherworld cultivators’ arrival. 

That way, he could harvest one group of prey after another…

After all, how could the otherworld cultivators fail to carry the items they needed to cultivate with?

“Look! What is that!?” Lan Suo exclaimed out of nowhere. She stretched out her hand and pointed into the distant darkness.

A purple spiritual light flickered in and out of view. Unless you were watching carefully, you were unlikely to notice it.

Erudite_Birdy provided some helpful info about weaving shuttles, which you can read here.