Lu Yun was a qi realm cultivator. Though he hadn’t tapped into Violetgrave’s full power, he’d used it to cut down countless undead hags and monsters in their exploration, and he’d even used it to kill the Skyriver city lord, a peak origin core cultivator.
It would be too taxing for even Qing Han to use a ninth-rank treasure in such a way. However, the Dusk governor didn’t even seem strained.
Does he have a shared fate with the sword? Qing Han’s thoughts wandered into a flight of fancy.
“That’s right. With the dragonseal stone damaged and its essence released, the layout will be broken as well!” Lu Yun nodded.
The dragonseal stone was heavy and impenetrable because there was a layout hidden within, suppressing everything it sealed away. Now that the stone’s essence had dissipated and the layout was broken, it was just a regular hunk of rock.
Suddenly, Lu Yun’s hair stood on end. “Run, Yuying!!”
From the corpsewater pond behind her rose a giant head. It was the undead hag! The titanic undead hag was crawling ashore!
Startled, Yuying grabbed Qing Han and ran toward Lu Yun, casting a ball of emerald fire at the cut surface of the stone.
Whoosh!
The stone burst into flame.
“Don’t burn all of it,” Lu Yun hurried out as he stared at the giant undead hag, which had almost fully crawled onto the bank. “Just put a hole into the door!”
“You mewling shitgibbons! How dare you try to steal my treasure! You have a death wish, huh!” Li Youcai exclaimed.
What on earth is this fatty made of? Lu Yun wondered. The fatty had fainted after being severely injured, but was as energetic as ever when he came to.
Yueshen had once again twisted his perception of the world. Whatever he saw had prompted him to enlarge the Seal of Mountains and Rivers, turning it into a minor mountain that brutally slammed into the undead hag’s cheek.
Thud!
The impact sent it teetering back and forced a piercing shriek out of its mouth. Meanwhile, Yuying had managed to burn a hole into the dragonseal stone with Emerald Mistfire. Even without the layout, the stone itself was extremely hardy and it had taken her a good while for the fire to punch a large enough hole in it.
“You and Qing Han go first!” Lu Yun rushed out. His envoy helped Qing Han into the chamber, and he followed closely behind them. Miao was already inside, as he’d moved as soon as the hole was made.
“What the hell is that?!” Li Youcai had finally seen the undead hag for what it was. With a wail, he scrambled into the annex room, barely able to squeeze his rotund body through the hole.
The annex room only spanned about thirty-six meters; there weren't any items of note except for the figure in the center of the room.
“The Truewater city lord!” Qing Han exclaimed subconsciously.
Lu Yun took a good look and echoed his sentiment, “The city lord!”
A lady in black sat cross-legged on a mat, her eyes closed. Her skin was fair and her features delicate, the black silk robe she was wearing fully accentuating her curves. She looked about sixteen, and her stunning beauty could match that of Mo Yi and Yuying. The only thing tarnishing her perfection were faint traces of resentment and hatred in her expression.
She looked just like the violent ghost from earlier.
“Is that the Formation Orb?” Lu Yun noticed the glowing white orb the woman was holding. Its luminescence illuminated the room, penetrating the walls and reaching far beyond. “So this is the source of light in the burial mound.”
“This is what the legends call the light of formations,” Qing Han murmured. “The illumination traveled outside and morphed into layers of formations circling the burial mound, transforming it into Myriad Formation Summit.”
The two were lost in thought as they stared at the treasure. “I won’t tell anyone,” the imperial envoy suddenly added.
Lu Yun nodded. “Alright.” He approached the city lord’s body one step at a time.
“Holy, that’s an eye! A ginormous eye!!” Li Youcai’s distinctive wail rang through the room.
Everyone turned to find a horrifyingly pale eyeball peeking through the hole in the stone door, the whites of its eye showing a reflection of everyone in the room.
“Seal it,” ordered Lu Yun. The undead hag couldn’t hurt them for now, but being stared at by a large eyeball was still quite unsettling.
Swoosh!
Emerald fire leapt from Yuying’s hand and formed a ball that stoppered the hole, shielding them from the undead hag’s chilling gaze.
Yueshen wanted to make Li Youcai use his seal, but she wasn’t sure what she had to make him see for him to do so. The seal was, after all, his most precious treasure. She’d managed to induce the fatty into throwing away all of his valuables, but he just wouldn’t let go of the seal.
Lu Yun walked toward the city lord’s body.
“Wait,” Qing Han said in a trembling voice. “I can tell that her body has long decomposed into corpse powder, and the Formation Orb is the only thing maintaining her form. As soon as you take it, her body will dissipate. Even a little powder from the body of a golden immortal will kill you.”
Lu Yun froze, profuse sweat drenching his collar. “You’ve saved me once again,” he said, backing away with a pale face.
Qing Han bit into his lip without a word, worry filling his eyes.
“If that’s the case...” An idea came to the tomb raider’s mind. He muttered, “The realms of yin and yang!”
The Gates of the Abyss emerged with a rumble, welcoming both the city lord’s body and the Formation Orb into its maw. Lu Yun flashed into his domain, a scene of utter chaos greeting him upon arrival.
Chased by the ghost of the city lord, Infernum Lu Xuan and Lu Huang ran around frantically like headless chickens. The ghost harbored a tremendous amount of resentment, to the point where even the two nether soldiers were afraid of her.
The giant floating summit and the bronze outer-coffin were here as well, but Lu Yun ignored them for the time being.
“Freeze!” He pointed a finger at the ghost, immediately stilling its motion. “You two useless pieces of crap!” He cursed at the two panting soldiers.
No wonder Infernum weren’t listed in the Tome of Life and Death. They didn’t have the right to be! They were disposable tools—two had died in the burial mound, and the remaining two were intimidated by a mere ghost.
“Seek your place, second Envoy of Samsara,” exclaimed Lu Yun.
Whoosh!
Black flames rose from him and enveloped the city lord’s body, burning away her grudges and replacing her terrifying scowl with calm. The ghost faded away as her body recovered. A pair of bright eyes, underwritten with melancholy, slowly opened.
“Second Envoy of Samsara, Feinie, greets the master. This servant awaits punishment for my previous offenses.” She swept a graceful curtsey to the ground.
Another name was added to the book in Lu Yun’s dantian; her background, experience, and memories also came to him.
Feinie, city lord of Truewater City, Dusk Province, Nephrite Major.
Her formations were unique and unrivalled in the world of immortals, earning her the title “Formation King”. Thanks to them, she once killed thirty-six peerless immortal kings in the North Sea, despite being a golden immortal herself.
Formation King of the immortal world! What a cocky title! It’s even more over-the-top than Yuying’s. He shifted his gaze to Feinie and was suddenly struck by deja vu. “Lin Daiyu?” [1]
Feinie was unusually beautiful and her features attracted pity, but her face was pale and her figure sickly pliable. Her limpid eyes shone with a faint sorrow.
“You may rise. Your ignorance exempts you from your sin.” Lu Yun helped her up and added when he saw her expression, “Don’t worry. I’ll get to the bottom of what happened to Truewater City.”
“The Truewater city lord is dead, master,” Feinie responded with fear. “Feinie is your second Envoy of Samsara, nothing more.”
Lu Yun shook his head in lieu of an answer.
“This is a connate-grade treasure, master.” She presented Lu Yun with the Formation Orb.
“Keep it. It’s more useful in your hands than mine.” Lu Yun shook his head. “By the way, I’ve gifted your Portrait of Emptiness to my friend.”
Indeed, Qing Han was now a friend in Lu Yun’s eyes. They’d saved each other’s life in the burial mound and weathered the dangers of death side by side.
“Whatever belonged to this servant in life belongs to master now,” responded Feinie. “Master can dispose of them as he wishes.”
“What’s your cultivation level?” Lu Yun asked with a nod.
“This servant has yet to recover to my peak, master. I’m currently only a true immortal.”
She’d been a golden immortal at her peak; Lu Yun frowned at the unwelcome revelation. “It seems I’ll need to find ghostface maggots to kill that undead hag.”
A true immortal was no match for the giant undead hag, so that left the maggots as their only option.
Feinie’s wealth of knowledge on formations slowly filtered into Lu Yun’s memories, combining with his mastery of feng shui and improving it further. A veil seemed to lift from his eyes as the layouts in this great burial mound that he’d originally been unable to grasp grew clear to him.
“There’s something else in the bronze outer-coffin, master,” Yuying piped up, pointing at the coffin. “It’s of the same root as the Panorama of Clarity and the Portrait of Emptiness.”
“Oh?” Lu Yun paused. “The outer-coffin is extremely dangerous. If I open it outside of the gates, it might cause a disturbance. But here, everything is under my control and I can easily deal with whatever happens.”
The thought prompted him to approach the bronze outer-coffin and crack it open by a hair. Blinding crimson light shot out of it.
1. Lin Daiyu is one of the principal characters of Cao Xueqin's classic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber. She’s portrayed as a well-educated, intelligent, witty, and beautiful, yet physically frail, young woman who is somewhat prone to occasional melancholy. She’s a very classic literature character.
1. Lin Daiyu is one of the principal characters of Cao Xueqin's classic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber. She’s portrayed as a well-educated, intelligent, witty, and beautiful, yet physically frail, young woman who is somewhat prone to occasional melancholy. She’s a very classic literature character.