In his past life, Su Yi never managed to unlock the Sword of the Nine Hells’ nine seals.

His only gain was made shortly before reincarnating. He obtained a single burst of enlightenment power from the Sword of the Nine Hells, with which he created the soul cultivation technique he called the “Universal Self-Embodiment Sutra”.

He was certain that the subtle profundities of the Universal Self-Embodiment Sutra were in no way inferior to the loftiest sutras of the Buddhist and Daoist paths, the Amitabha’s Heaven-Reflecting Sutra and the Grotto of Profound Light Mental Courtyard Sutra!

It might even surpass them!

This was the confidence of the Swordmaster of Abstruse Force!

After 108,000 years of experience, this was his judgment as the sole sovereign of the Wilds! 

But what made Su Yi hesitate was that the Universal Self-Embodiment Sutra was incomplete. He could only cultivate it until the Profound Dao’s “Imperial” Realm.

The Profound Dao was divided into three great realms: Profound Illumination, Profound Serenity, and Profound Unity.

Even with all the methods at his past life’s disposal, he’d only managed to derive and formulate the Universal Self-Embodiment Sutra until the Profound Illumination Realm.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t intelligent enough to go further, but that was the limit of the burst of enlightenment he’d obtained from the Sword of the Nine Hells’ seal.

I already planned to unlock the Sword of the Nine Hell’s secrets in this lifetime. I obtained that initial burst of enlightenment from it before reincarnating, so why can’t I get another after reincarnating?

Gradually, Su Yi’s hesitation gave way to determination.

The Universal Self-Embodiment Sutra it is!

Universal self-embodiment. Universal transformation.

The core of this Daoist sutra was that it could use any power of heaven and earth to temper the soul.

And as the soul increased in power, it could manifest every heavenly and earthly phenomenon, from all aspects to nature to entire worlds.

The word “universal” referred to “heaven and earth” and “the Grand Dao.”

Upon cultivating this sutra, the soul became like a “universe” in its own right. It could absorb the energies of heaven, earth, and the Grand Dao to temper itself, as well as to manifest the countless subtle mysteries and intrinsic qualities of creation. Its wondrousness was indescribable. 

Upon cultivating it to the Imperial Realm, you could manifest vestiges of the heaven’s ten thousand Daos within your soul, which you could then put to use in unbelievable ways. 

This was what it meant to manifest creation in all forms, to create worlds within oneself. 

Universal Self-Embodiment. This naturally means I can draw upon any form of energy and use it to temper my soul!

The Universal Self-Embodiment Sutra is undoubtedly the ideal method in a spiritually-barren place like the Azure Continent.

After making his decision, Su Yi hesitated no further. He turned his focus to pondering how exactly he’d go about cultivating this soul cultivation technique. 

Although the ambient spiritual energy of the Azure Continent was sparse, these lands included numerous other potentially usable energies. 

Like baleful or yin energy.

Cultivating the Universal Self-Embodiment Sutra meant you could make ample use of these energies too.

It was no exaggeration to say that this sutra could put even the power of the sun, moon, stars, and the qi of every living creature of the mortal realm to use!

This was the essence of the phrase “Self-Embodiment”

It was not subject to the shackles of heaven and earth, not restricted to the ten thousand Daos. Anything and everything could be put to use!

If I use the power of the Sword of the Nine Hells to temper my soul, will that result in a similar miraculous effect? Su Yi’s heart shook.

The Sword of the Nine Hells had always drifted within his soul. If he could use its power, he wouldn’t need to concern himself with searching the world for other sources of energy with which to temper his soul.

Besides, the subtle mysteries of the Universal Self-Embodiment Sutra originated from the Sword of the Nine Hells’ nine-layered seal in the first place. His initial burst of enlightenment came from the sword, so it was fair to say the sword and sutra were connected. 

Su Yi promptly decided to give it a shot.

Even if he encountered danger, all he had to do was stop promptly.

Hah~ Su Yi let out a breath of turbid air, then cleared his mind.

After casting aside all his scattered thoughts, he silently circulated the Universal Self-Embodiment Sutra’s cultivation method.

He used his soul to visualize heaven and earth, and heaven and earth appeared.

He used his soul to visualize mountains and seas, and mountains and seas appeared.

He used his soul to visualize the Sword of the Nine Hells….

He silently pictured the shape of the Sword of the Nine Hells, its aura and its charm, outlining it bit by bit, painting it within his mental sea.

It was as an invisible brush were painting a formless scroll, delineating the outline of the sword and vaguely capturing charms….

Bit by bit, he outlined the nine layers of Divine Chains wrapped around the Sword of the Nine Hells…..

Every layer’s shape, position, and luster appeared in perfect detail.

But even now, it was still just “superficially reminiscent” of the true Sword of the Nine Hells.

Next, Su Yi began attempting to visualize the sword’s aura.

Because only by visualizing it in its entirety, down to its subtle charms, could he make use of its power to refine his soul.

But although Su Yi was scrupulously cautious, the instant he began visualizing the sword’s aura, something unexpected happened.

Boom!

The nine layers of chain suddenly rattled, emitting nine completely different sealing energies, as sudden as a collapsing mountain or a tidal wave.

Presences of this level were overly terrifying; each seemed capable of destroying all of creation. They were as despotic as flame, as icy as snow, as unbridled as wind, or as steady as mountains….

Now, all nine erupted at once, like nine gods awakening within Su Yi’s soul, their respective auras overflowing. Their powers seemed as if they’d easily rip Su Yi’s soul to shreds!

But then….

Before the nine sealing energies could overflow, a low, clear hum rang out. The Sword of the Nine Hells shook, emitting a vast, dense, ancient aura and suppressing the seals’ nine distinct energies. 

The nine Divine Chains all fell silent. All was just as it had been before.

The Sword of the Nine Hells stilled as well.

As if that terrifying scene from mere moments ago were nothing but a hallucination.

But Su Yi was already so startled, he was covered in a cold sweat.

Who knew how many years he’d spent researching the Sword of the Nine Hells in his past life? Yet despite all his efforts, nothing so unbelievable had occurred before.

Who would have thought that merely visualizing the sword would set off such a chain reaction?

It seems the nine Divine Chains sealing the sword are fiercely opposed to my attempts to comprehend their energies, while the Sword of the Nine Hells itself did me an enormous favor…. After Su Yi regained his composure, he keenly picked up on something strange.

Logically speaking, the nine layers of chains should be there to seal away the Sword of the Nine Hells, but it seemed reality didn’t quite mesh with his assumptions. 

On the contrary, the sword seemed to be suppressing the Divine Chains!

In that case, whatever secret is hidden within the nine-layered chains is far out of the ordinary, pondered Su Yi.

After a while, he shook his head, then gave the matter no further thought.

At his current cultivation, he was nowhere near capable of fathoming the mysteries of the nine Divine Chains.

He controlled his breath, focused, and resumed visualizing.

Within his mental sea, he restarted gradually outlining the sword and its nine-layered seal.

Then, without any hesitation, he began visualizing the Sword of the Nine Hells’ aura and distinctive charm.

A familiar scene appeared. The nine Divine Chains rattled, emanating a terrifying energy, but before it could burst forth, the Sword of the Nine Hells suppressed it.

But this time, Su Yi didn’t pause his cultivation. He simply continued visualizing.

An unknown amount of time later….

Su Yi’s soul captured a wisp of an obscure, marvelous charm, and he managed to visualize it within the outline of the Sword of the Nine Hells.

Su Yi instantly felt his soul tremble. An unbelievable flood of power coursed through his awareness, like boiling water or tumbling rapids. 

This surge of power came in ten varieties. 

One came from the Sword of the Nine Hells itself. It was vast and ancient, profound, subtle, and inscrutable.

Although Su Yi could sense its existence, he couldn’t even begin to sense the subtleties of its power.

The other energies came from the nine-layered Divine Chains.

The chains of the first layer emanated a power like wind: willful, wanton, unrestrained, and incomparably despotic.

The second blazed like fire, so hot, it seemed as if it could burn all of creation to cinders.

The third was as cold as snow…..

Each distinct power had its own terrifying momentum, each towering like gods of their respective Grand Daos!

Alas, just like the Sword of the Nine Hell’s aura, although he could sense their presences, that was it. He couldn’t visualize or outline them.

The only exception was the ninth seal. He could sense a trace of its energy!

That burst of enlightenment power he’d captured before his reincarnation was from the sealing power of the ninth Divine Chain too.

‘The Universal Self-Embodiment Sutra I’m currently circulating comes from a power of enlightenment originating from the ninth Divine Chain.

Perhaps this is why, when I attempted to sense it with my soul, it resulted in a compatibility with the energy of the ninth Divine Chain….

A thread of enlightenment rose within Su Yi’s heart.

His cultivation experience was so ample that he immediately determined that the Universal Self-Embodiment Sutra was like a key; it could open the “lock” that was the nine-layered Divine Chains!

What made Su Yi even more excited was that this discovery proved beyond a doubt that as he tempered his soul, he could indeed make use of the power contained within the ninth seal!

In this way, he wouldn’t need to worry about seeking out other sources of power with which to refine his soul. 

As my soul cultivation boundary rises step by step, I should be able to achieve a deeper compatibility with the power of the ninth seal. When the time comes, I’ll naturally be able to unlock its secrets! 

This sudden enlightenment left Su Yi beside himself with excitement.

In his past life, despite countless years of research, he never discovered a way to unlock the secrets of the Sword of the Nine Hells.

But now, there was finally light at the end of the tunnel. With this, he could forge a path ahead, step by step!

Of course he was excited!

But before long, Su Yi’s lips twitched subtly. 

He got so excited just now that all his visualizations collapsed again….

But Su Yi was already satisfied.

Tonight’s experiment had resulted in an enormous harvest, the kind of fortune that could be found but not sought. 

After all, if he hadn’t decided to use the Universal Self-Embodiment Sutra to refine his soul, how could he have discovered all these exquisite profundities?

……

Noon the next day.

The skies were bright and clear, and the breeze was gentle and refreshing.

Su Yi wore his blue robes, his dark hair pinned up in a top-knot. He gripped his bamboo staff in his right hand as he exited his chambers.

He then walked right out of the courtyard without any trace of reluctance.

Click!

The moment he locked the gates, he effectively announced the end of this stage of his life. The curtain was about to open on a brand-new journey 

“Take care, sir!” When he saw Su Yi leave, the Apricot Clinic’s steward, Hu Quan, as well as Wu Guangbin and the other doctors, all set aside the tasks at hand and walked out to bid Su Yi farewell, one by one. All of them seemed reluctant to part with him.

During their time with Su Yi, his skills and elegant bearing had won them all over.

His leniency and the fact that he’d never once chastised any of them only made them respect him even more. 

As a result, when they learned that Su Yi was about to leave for faraway lands, and that it was uncertain when or if he’d return, they all sank into deep melancholy. 

“You can all get back to work.” Su Yi smiled and waved them farewell. Then, beneath their collective gazes, he exited the Apricot Clinic.

A horse-drawn carriage was already waiting by the side of the road. 

The driver was none other than the commander of the Old Guard, Nie Beihu!

He smiled, clasped his fist, and said, “Master Su, City Lord Fu and the others are waiting by the banks of the Great Azure. Please board the carriage and allow me to escort you.”