The spectacle astounded and amazed onlookers. A peerless immortal had died right before them, crushed to death by a single claw!
Peerless immortals were called thus because, before the ultimate dao, they truly were ‘peerless’—unrivaled in the realm of immortality, if not for dao immortals. Sure, a few had died in Dusk Province before, but only ones who’d voluntarily sealed their cultivation away, making them no different from august immortals.
The one who’d died just now, though, had been peerless in body, spirit, and power! But the monster summoned by this formation had crushed him in a single swipe.
“Jin Heyi, what are you doing?!” wailed a grief-stricken voice. “Why aren’t you doing something about those nine zombies of his?!”
Lu Yun’s heart thumped. Jin Heyi was a disciple of the Corpse Refiners. Though the sect specialized in living zombies with live people as ingredients, they might be able to deal with regular ones as well.
The bloodcorpse was a physical duplicate of Yueshen, but certain special methods could still divest it from her control.
Is Jin Heyi here specifically to deal with me? Lu Yun frowned slightly. Things could potentially turn rather messy.
“Hahahahahaha!” Jin Heyi’s belly shook as he laughed. “Feng, am I supposed to just do whatever you say? That’d be so ignobly embarrassing.”
“You!” The speaker was patently furious.
“Come, third brother. Let’s not meddle in the Feng Clan’s affairs.” Saying this, Jin Heyi left without another thought. Hearing this, the clan erupted in loud swearing.
“Heh… Jin Clan, is it? You think you can toss us aside now that you have the Corpse Refiners? It won’t be that easy!”
Lu Yun, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief. “Although Jin Heyi is part of the Corpse Refiners, he doesn’t seem like such a bad guy.” His eyes quickly grew murderous again, though, and he stared off into the distance.
……
The young man striking down the Feng peerless immortal caused quite a stir and drew an increasing congregation of soldiers and immortals to the outer city to put him down.
Lu Yun saw no reason to hold back. He pushed the Great Formation of Heavenly Fiends to its limits, conjuring the image of a great demon that followed in his footsteps as he made his way into the inner city. Blood dyed the streets all along the way; countless soldiers and immortals alike died by the formation’s power.
“How dare you commit murder inside the great Xiankan, Lu Yun! This is unforgivable!”
“You are a worthless official of Nephrite Major!”
“You deserve to die ten thousand times over for your crimes!”
The death toll was so high that any remaining combatants began to fear joining the fight, thinning the crowd of immortals diving Lu Yun. Crimson light gathered around the formation’s fiendish image, giving it considerably more substance and clarity.
Inner Xiankan was right before his eyes.
“Give it up, Lu Yun. I can make the decision to send you into the wheel of reincarnation.” An old voice echoed before him, belonging to an elderly man in long, yellow robes. Sharp-witted, despite his age, and seemingly having transcended the world, he appeared at one with heaven and earth.
Lu Yun’s expression turned grave as he focused on the new obstacle. Finally, a dao immortal stood in the way of his rampage.
“Venerated elder!” Qing Han was incredulous upon recognizing the man. It was someone from the Qing Clan! Along the way, all of the attackers had been largely Feng members and their affiliates. The new interloper was certainly a surprise!
“I didn’t want to come at first.” The old man in yellow ignored Qing Han. Indeed, all of his kinsmen ignored him. Though Qing Han was a member of the Qing Clan in name, he was no better than a stranger to them. “However, you have one of my clan’s valuable treasures. Surrender the Arcane Golden Bell and I will allow your spirit to escape.”
The bell was one of Qing Clan’s dao-grade treasures. Lu Yun shook his head in disapproval. “You want the bell? Come get it yourself.”
The old man flared with savage disdain.
“Waurghhh!” Overhead, the fiendish image roared spiritedly, drawing the surrounding blood energy in and sharpening into further focus.
“Do you think a demonic formation will afford you the same status as a dao immortal? You truly are too young and far too naive.” The old man in yellow delivered a straight punch that made Lu Yun’s expression change drastically with trepidation. There was an entire world behind that fist, and it felt like creation itself rejected him!
The great formation nearly completely shattered at the blow.
“So this is the power of a dao immortal! It’s not something I can combat yet!” Face ashen, he instinctively wanted to draw upon the dread zombie’s power… his real trump card.
“Hahaha!” Jovial laughter interrupted his gesture.
Boom!
A beam of jade radiance deflected the old man’s punch and lifted a great weight off Lu Yun’s shoulders. The world no longer actively despised him.
However, the Great Formation of Heavenly Fiends was no more; the twelve command flags returned to him, while the 108 bloodcorpses re-coalesced into nine before fleeing into the Gates of the Abyss. They looked dim and washed out; clearly, they’d sustained a considerable amount of injury and wouldn’t be able to set up the formation again for quite a while.
Smiling warmly, a youth walked down from midair, wearing robes in the same shade of jade as the light. He took a stalwart stand by Lu Yun’s side, bolstering him like an invisible mountain.
Lu Yun suddenly felt much, much safer, as if a towering mountain had settled down beside him. Moreover, he sensed an intangible bond of blood between them. This had to be the dao immortal of the Lu Clan.
He was a little moved by this development. After all the humiliation he’d put his clan through back in Dusk Province, he truly hadn’t expected to be rescued by a fellow clansman. Such an event evoked a strange and novel emotion in him.
The Tome of Life and Death had sent him through the cycle of rebirth and to the world of immortals. His reincarnation meant that he and his body’s original owner were one, and they shared the same identity.
“How can this be… how is it you? You’re still alive?!” The old man in yellow stammered with amazement and apprehension.
“Why shouldn’t I be?” The young man replied matter-of-factly with a smile.
“Impossible! Impossible! The Lu Clan met with disaster a hundred years ago and was nearly wiped out, but you didn’t show up even then…” The Qing dao immortal stumbled a few steps backward.
“And if I didn’t put in a showing even now, wouldn’t my Lu Clan truly be done for?” The youth smiled again.
“I see, I see… you’re still alive, no wonder the Lu Clan took only a short hundred years to recover…” murmured the old man.
“Go back to where you came from. As for your clan’s Arcane Golden Bell… I’d recommend you leave it where it is. It’s Lu Yun’s treasure now.” The young man straightened. “If the Qing Clan wants the bell back, you can send juniors to challenge him for it. But if certain old fogeys want to commit blatant robbery, then expect an even older guy—like me—to bully right back.”
An even older guy!