“Wait. Did they leave, just like that?” Lu Yun looked at the six profligates’ departing figures and gently rubbed his nose.
“If they didn’t, I bet you’d end up scamming the pants off them.” Qing Han couldn’t help but chuckle.
Although Lu Yun had achieved his primary goal, he hadn’t had time to implement many of his side plans because of the Gorb Demon’s appearance, so he’d been of a mind to try it one more time and have Beicang Qiong act as bait again.
The result? The six youngsters had made a break for it the moment they’d heard his proposal.
“Why don’t I break through to the void realm right now and be your bait instead?” Qing Han offered after thinking it over.
“Out of the question!” his friend vetoed right away. “That’s way too dangerous.”
“Beicang Qiong would be hurt if he could hear you.” There was a slight rosiness to Qing Han’s cheeks.
“Ahem!” Lu Yun also found the atmosphere a little strange and hastily changed the topic. “Anyways, since they’re gone, we’ll head for the skydragon tomb!”
Before Qing Han could reply, the governor slipped his hands into the disguised girl’s arms and dragged out a soundly sleeping little fox.
“Whaaat?” The fox pried open eyes still heavy with sleep, somewhat irritated. “Just now, I was dreaming that I’d turned back into the monster ancestor and was going on a rampage….”
“We’re going to the skydragon tomb, are you coming?” Lu Yun ignored the fox’s protests and cut straight to the point.
“Not going!” The fox’s tone was very firm. “Not that this ancestor is a coward, but, but… hmmmm….” Even after thinking for a long while, she failed to come up with a plausible excuse.
“You stay here, then.” Lu Yun plonked the fox inside the formation space he’d previously created.
“You two come back as soon as possible…” the furball whispered with a supremely sorrowful look at Lu Yun and Qing Han.
“Even with part of your soul gone, you’re still a lofty golden immortal, the monster god of the North Sea, an almighty figure even on Levitating Island. Why did you turn such a chicken after coming here?” Lu Yun looked at the fox, a little puzzled.
“I-I…” the little fox felt like crying, “I lost another soul fragment. I only have two hun and five po left out of the three and seven I should have....”
Lu Yun and Qing Han glanced at each other, speechless.
“I think we should take her back to the great burial mound.” Qing Han furrowed his brows. “Or perhaps Levitating Island.”
Although Lu Yun had the Tome of Life and Death, he didn’t know the first thing about souls.
The fox had been fine back when she’d been with Mo Yi. Nothing out of place had happened after Mo Yi had brought her to Levitating Island, either. But in the short time since she’d left Levitating Island, she’d lost yet another soul fragment....
It seemed the so-called monster ancestor tomb wasn’t the whole reason Mo Yi had brought her to Levitating Island. It’d simply been because the monster ancestor had left arrangements on the island to protect the fox and safeguard her soul.
“There’s no time for that.” Lu Yun lightly shook his head.
Boom!
The surrounding space vibrated as an enormous floating peak appeared at the center of the formation: the resurrection layout.
What had shielded the fox wasn’t the great burial mound itself, but the resurrection layout within, so Lu Yun immediately called upon the realms of yin and yang to release the peak where the layout was laid.
As soon as the peak emerged, the formation space instantly showed signs of collapse.
“Feinie!” With a soft order from the governor, Feinie, clad in a black silk dress, walked out of the Gates of the Abyss.
When she came into view, an orb streaked with black and white slowly floated into the air and shrouded the formation in a dream-like radiance.
A whisker away from collapsing, the formation started to steady itself.
“Stay here with her,” Lu Yun told Feinie. His envoy’s nod was the only cue the little creature needed to dart into her arms.
Lu Yun rubbed his nose and subconsciously glanced at Qing Han, who pretended not to have seen anything.
……
The North Sea Capital was restless once again.
The ninety-third monster prince, number one genius of the North Sea, a cultivator soon to break into the void realm and develop his own methods, had been roasted by the South Sea Gourmet. In fact, his half-cooked corpse was still strewn over the soon-to-sink Sunset Island.
Afterward, arcane dao immortal Bing Xuan, one of the pinnacle powerhouses of the North Sea, fought a great battle against the Gorb Demon to avenge the ninety-third prince, but both had ultimately disappeared. Their current whereabouts remained unknown.
One might say that the current monster spirit dynasty had suffered disastrous losses because of the skydragon tomb’s emergence.
Myriad Returns Market laid in shambles—or, more accurately speaking, was no more. The Scaled-Dragon King had revolted, and first prince Beigong Chonglou, eighteen monster kings, and two aether dao immortal powerhouses had gone missing. And now, the ninety third prince was dead, and even Bing Xuan was unaccounted for.
If the monster court couldn’t reap enough treasures from the skydragon tomb this time, it would, in all likelihood, be thoroughly ruined and supplanted by Ingress Island and the Dark North Sword Sect in due time.
Beleaguered on all sides, the monster court had long since sunk into panic mode and was jumping at every shadow. They were so on edge that the strongest formation inside the North Sea Palace, the one the dragons had once relied on to resist the blackwater snakes, was now operating at full strength.
……
Lu Yun looked in the palace’s direction, a sharp glint in his eyes.
“Don’t tell me, you…. Do you really want to annihilate the North Sea monster spirits?” Looking at the governor’s expression, Qing Han couldn’t help but shiver.
“We’ll have to fight them face-to-face sooner or later.” Lu Yun looked down as he contemplated the issue. “Even if I don’t do anything now, Beigong Xuan will surely attack Dusk Province one day.”
The immortal weapon of war in the seaside stronghold of northern Dusk wasn’t meant to stop the monster spirits. It was an anti-Lu Yun measure.
The Feng Clan had been convinced it could defend itself back when it’d occupied Dusk Province, but many in the Nephrite court weren’t so confident. Therefore, the court had ultimately decided to garrison a weapon of war at the stronghold.
Currently, this weapon was pointed at Dusk City at all hours, ready to level the city if something were ever to happen.
In case of a monster spirit invasion, the Nephrite emperor would likely be more than glad to lend them a hand, as long as Nephrite Major could ultimately regain the province.
“Let’s do it then!” Excitement flashed on Qing Han’s face, his hair imperceptibly turning a faint, silvery sheen.
“I have a bit of Far-Reaching Captivating Fragrance left… It’ll be enough for everyone in the palace,” Su Xiaoxiao interjected eagerly. “The North Sea Palace used to be the North Sea Dragon Palace, and the Dragon Palace definitely had more than one treasury! In fact, even the past dragons and the current monster spirits are probably unaware of some of the hidden treasures.”
“Alright then!” Setting his jaw, the governor took out a few shapeshifting talismans and altered the group’s forms.
Not a single powerhouse was left behind to protect the palace. The strongest of the remaining lot was a mere peerless immortal level turtle, whereas Lu Yun had now three peak aether dao immortals and two arcane dao immortals at his command. Given the palace’s current condition, he could ransack it even without Qing Han’s help.