A prodigious trap!
Those who’d survived the armageddon of thunder and lightning, and the audience who bore witness at a far distance, all believed this to be a colossal trap. Lu Yun must’ve set this up and just waited for others to fall into it, hook, link, and sinker!
No wonder he’d left Xiankan the day before the coronation rather than stay in the city. He was trying to lure out his attackers! No one had fathomed that the other four youth sovereigns would be on the fortress ship as well.
The Qing Clan and Exalted Immortal Sect could never explain this away, and the participating factions would sooner go into hiding than exact revenge. Qing Xiangpeng and Zhao Yinfeng fled immediately.
Aside from Lu Yun, the other four youth sovereigns all came from powerful factions. The Immortal Martial School behind Wu Tulong, especially, could even rival House Donglin. Moreover, the five youth sovereigns had been appointed by the nine celestial emperors to serve as an example for the cultivators of the world.
Sending dao immortals and setting up great formations to assassinate them was open rebellion against the celestial emperors. Although they were prepared to hand over their thrones, the Nephrite celestial emperor was the only one who had done so thus far, while the others yet reigned supreme.
……
Back on the fortress ship, the others stared at the governor like they’d seen a ghost, but Lu Yun remained nonchalant.
“So where were we?” Lu Yun cocked his head. “Are you sure it’s a town of mortals?”
Lu Shenhou gawked at his clansmen; the jaws of the other youth sovereigns dropped as well.
“Did you and Lu Shenhou put on this show so that the four of us would come and fix your problems, Lu Yun?” Zi Chen frowned. The same thought had occurred to Wu Tulong, Mo Qitian, and Dongfang Hao.
“You call this a problem?” Lu Yun looked at him with surprise.
The others responded with confused looks. He’d offended at least a third of the top factions of the nine majors. Wasn’t that a big enough problem?
“Gentlemen, you might have misunderstood.” Ge Long approached them with a smile. “Milord was a public enemy even back in Dusk Province. He offended every major sect and house in the province even before he set foot on the path of cultivation. Their cultivators, and even immortals, wanted nothing but to kill him, but here he is, still breathing.”
Wu Tulong fidgeted awkwardly. So this fellow is a troublemaker who makes enemies wherever he goes.
Lu Yun scoffed inwardly. None of that was on him, but he couldn’t tell them the truth. So be it then.
“You should know that I don’t fear trouble after I set up Dusk City’s inheritance tower and demonstrated my mastery over the supplemental paths by refining a Heaven Descent Pill in public.” Lu Yun sighed. “I don’t need you guys to handle some flies.”
Wu Tulong and the others didn’t respond. He turned to Lu Shenhou. “Please continue, Shenhou.”
“There was indeed a town of living, mortal residents,” Lu Shenhou affirmed seriously. “I remember a bun shop that made great buns. I’ll treat you guys to some when we get there, you’ll believe me then.”
Wu Tulong and the others exchanged a look. Judging from Lu Yun and Lu Shenhou’s conversation, the two must’ve been telling the truth about the broken cultivation path.
Lu Yun didn’t pay them any attention, but instead, closely considered the Life Province map. The skull formed by the Ten Yins Estuary gave rise to ghostly countenances that crowded the southwest corner of the province, painting a macabre scene. The fortress ship remained on course and soon approached their destination.
“There really is no yin energy here...” Lu Yun stood atop the bow and cast his gaze at the yin layout. Per his orders, Ge Long dropped anchor outside the estuary rather than barging in.
“Notice anything off?” Qing Han came up to him with a quiet question.
“Let me check.” Lu Yun opened his Spectral Eye and scanned the terrain before him.
Buzz.
A great rumble consumed his mind, emptying it of all thought.
Pah!
Blood geysered out all seven of his orifices as he collapsed onto the deck, facing upward.
“Lu Yun!!” Qing Han panicked and grabbed his friend, stuffing valuable healing pills into the governor’s mouth like they were candy.
“Don’t move him!” Mo Qitian came to Lu Yun’s side and touched his forehead. “His spirit and soul were hurt by a combat art gone awry.”
“What’s going on?” Wu Tulong made his way to the bow and frowned at the landscape in front of them. “Is there really something strange ahead?”
“I got it. I got it!” Lu Yun struggled to sit up. Dark blood gushed out of his mouth as soon as he opened it.
Qing Han went stark-white upon seeing his friend like this.
“I’m fine, really!” Lu Yun waved a careless hand and took a deep breath, healing his soul with the vitality of the Sal Tree of Life and Death. “That is indeed a Ten Yins Estuary ahead of us. It’s a place where malicious yin energies, grudges, and malevolent killing intent converge! Countless living creatures have died there.”
In fact, too many had died there. As soon as Lu Yun had cast his Spectral Eye in that direction, an endless supply of information had rushed into him and almost made his brain explode. That was why his Spectral Eye ended up hurting his soul.
It was impossible to count the number of dead there. It was more than the numbers he knew, and certainly more than he could take. That’d never happened before, even in the abyss where the divines were buried. Just what was this place?!
Lu Yun looked at the geography ahead. Covering the land was no dirt, but… bone powder from the countless beings that had died and rotted away here. The mountains and rivers were also formed of bone powder, and the flora grew upon a base of bone powder.
“The farthest reaches of yin is yang,” muttered Lu Yun. “The Ten Yins Estuary has reached extreme yin and returned to yang!”
Everyone sucked in a breath at his words. That the concentration of extreme yin within a five thousand kilometer radius was so dense it’d formed a land of pure yang instead… even the mere thought was terrifying.
“That’s the ruins of the Firmament Prison,” Qing Han suddenly spoke up. “Spanning five thousand kilometers, the Firmament Prison was built out of endless skeletons. No one knows when it was built, nor who built it. It was there before the ancient heavenly court was established.”
Empress Myrtlestar had relayed this to Qing Han from the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals. The Ten Yins Estuary was the aftermath of the Firmament Prison’s destruction.
Realization dawned on Lu Yun—the dread zombie had mentioned the prison before. It’d been the prison of the heavenly court, and housed those who’d committed great felonies.
No one ever left the prison alive.
When the ancient world of immortals was shattered in the great war, the prison was also destroyed, leaving nothing but ruins. The malicious energies, grudges, and killing intent accumulated in the prison constantly grew thicker, until the mixture reached extreme yin and returned to yang. Still, it was an area of great yin energy, thus, it was dangerous. It was nowhere as peaceful as it seemed on the surface.
“Are we still going?” Excitement flashed through the youth sovereigns’ gazes. Exploring a place like the Firmament Prison was a great dream of theirs.
“Of course, why not?” Lun Yun’s eyes lit up as well. “Only such a place would preserve a tomb from before the ancient times and the records of the cultivation path back then!”