Judgement of Life or Death!
Beigong Yu’s finger was a hair’s breadth away from Lu Yun’s forehead when his expression froze. Tiny tongues of black flames seeped out of his orifices, slowly setting his body ablaze.
“Gaaaaahhhhh!” A short, pained cry was all that marked his existence before he disintegrated into ashes, leaving nothing behind!
The greater the negative karma of the target, the more powerful the Judgement of Life or Death would be. Lu Yun had previously used the art to kill a terrifying akasha ghost with a fearsome level of retribution around it. Although the retribution on Beigong Yu wasn’t at the ghost’s level, it was still more than enough for the governor to kill him several times over.
Even if Beigong Yu hadn’t severed his own cultivation and remained a peerless immortal, Lu Yun would still be able to easily kill him, as long as there was enough retribution associated with the monster spirit.
“Hm?” The governor paused. A significant stream of goodwill formed without warning and entered his body, absorbed by the Sal Tree of Life and Death.
The sapling flickered a deep green, and the power it returned melded into Lu Yun’s internal energy, further pushing his cultivation toward the spirit realm. This ascension would be a great milestone, as it wasn’t easy for one to refine a nascent spirit.
At the same time, the tremendous power coming from the tree healed all of the damage Beigong Yu had wrought on Lu Yun.
“What in the heavens?!” Everyone shot to their feet and looked at Lu Yun with consternation.
There was no arguing that Beigong Yu was dead, but how? He seemed to have turned to ashes the moment he approached Lu Yun.
They widened their eyes to get a better look. However, with their maximum cultivation limited to the august immortal realm, the crowd’s power and spirit were under serious restraint. They couldn’t clearly analyze the happenings of the arena.
……
“It seems to be a type of fire that killed him.” Chen Xiao looked bemusedly at Lu Yun, then sighed with relief when he shifted his gaze to Qing Han. “Little Yu knows what’s going on.”
“She’s completely forgotten who her family is!” Qing Buyi complained, but his eyes shone with approval.
“That’s right, it’s that combat art!” Qing Han was delighted. He’d seen that move before when Lu Yun killed the akasha ghost in the eastern tomb of the Skandha Extinction Tomb. There was a presence around Beigong Yu similar to the one that had circled the ghost. It wasn’t as pure, but was just as uncommonly dense.
Remembering himself, Qing Han schooled his expression back to indifference and snuck a glance at his brother and cousin. He turned just in time to see the suggestive glances from both Chen Xiao and Qing Buyi.
Hurk! Qing Han turned beet red.
……
“The Judgement of Life or Death is powerful, but I can only use it nine times a day,” Lu Yun muttered. “After that, I’ll have to wait until after midnight.”
Apart from the art of resurrection, which he didn’t even dare think about using, all of his other death arts—the bean soldiers, the realms of yin and yang, Spectral Eye, Judgement of Life or Death, and Mastery of the Five Elements—were tremendously useful.
The Judgement of Life or Death, especially, had enabled him to take out two terrible foes.
“What happened, Lu Yun? How did you kill him?!” asked the immortal from Thundergale Major.
Lu Yun raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you asking me to reveal my secrets?”
Embarrassed, the immortal sat back down. Lu Yun had obviously used a powerful method to kill Beigong Yu, but it was crossing a line to ask about his secret weapon.
“Hypocrite!” sounded a mocking voice. “Didn’t you say this is a battle between peers to test your mettle, and that you weren’t going to kill anyone?”
It was the same voice that had revealed Violetgrave’s origins, but again, no one could tell from where it originated.
“Of course a match between peers should be fighting for points, but Beigong Yu was at least seven thousand years old.” Lu Yun was taken aback. “Isn’t it farfetched to call the famous monster king of the North Sea my peer?”
The voice fell silent.
“You’ve been lurking about long enough!” a clear voice suddenly reprimanded. “Show yourself!”
Bam!
A rumbling noise sounded out as a gray figure fell awkwardly from the air, landing in a heap on the ground. It was a goateed old man in a long, gray robe.
“Ah, it’s him.” Lu Yun’s eyes lit up at the interloper.
“Disrupting the tournament is an unforgivable crime!” A stunning figure rose from the crowd. She released starlight with a single point of her finger and confined the old man.
“Y-you can’t do this to me!” snarled the old man.
“This daoist’s words are hard on the ears, but he doesn’t warrant this kind of treatment!” someone immediately protested to the newcomer, a woman in men’s clothes. “Who are you and what gives you the right to arrest him?”
“I am the Prefect of Duskwater, serving under the Governor of Dusk.” Mo Yi grabbed the goateed old man as she hovered in the air. “This man is a member of the Lu Clan from Nephrite Major. The governor has a standing order prohibiting all Lu members from setting foot in this province on pain of death.”
With a wave of her hand, a portal appeared behind her and swallowed the old man before anyone could react.
Lu Yun had surreptitiously transmitted earlier that she was to take the old man into custody no matter the cost. Without missing a beat, Mo Yi had realized the stakes here and used her ultimate treasure to accomplish the task.
The governor was quite pleasantly surprised by the turn of events. The giant willow in the Skandha Range had said the old man was the human form of a treasure, and that he’d disappeared into the Skandha Extinction Tomb with the man in gold. If Mo Yi hadn’t discovered his tracks, Lu Yun wouldn’t even have known they’d left the tomb.
“Lu Yun remains undefeated in the arena, which means he is still the governor and his order still holds. In Dusk Province, the governor’s words are law. Whoever violates the law must die!” Her voice swept through the crowd like a chilling winter gust. Not even dressing as a man could conceal her unrivaled grace, and many of the men in the crowd were entranced by her beauty.
“If that’s the case, we won’t fault you for that. May I ask your name, Prefect of Duskwater? Do you have a dao partner? This gentleman is from the Enlightened Maj—”
With a sniff, Mo Yi vanished under everyone’s disappointed gaze. She’d sent the old man back to the governor’s manor, where Feinie and Yuying were already waiting.
“I made the order against the Lu Clan because they sent me an Aurum Openia Pill that contained a control art in an attempt to turn me into their puppet,” Lu Yun elaborated upon seeing many derisive smiles around the arena. “As for the goateed man, he traveled to the Skandha Range with a man in gold robes, seeking an alliance with Dusk Lord on behalf of the Lu Clan. After hearing the news, I deployed the million-strong Dusk Phalanx to attack the Skandha Range.”
There were certain things that had to be explained, or there’d be trouble from the immortals after the tournament if they were displeased with him.