Necropolis Immortal

After the three discussed their next steps, Lu Yun returned to the form of the hulking man and left by himself. Bloodbath and Gui Xie headed for the center of the array, toward the entrance of the place of burial.

Lu Yun traveled through the valley of ten thousand kilometers over the next three days, sharing the way to kill vicious spirits and collecting plenty of goodwill in return. Not all of the cultivators were similar to the ingrates that he met first. There were still many with kindness in their hearts.

The entire valley knew of the method after three days. Sadly, the hero who shared it with everyone ran into a thousand vicious spirits in a massive battle. Unwilling to become one himself, he self-detonated when it was obvious that he would lose.

……

“I’m finally free.” Lu Yun was back to his original appearance and raised a ray of crimson sword light to reconvene with Ling Chu and the others.

“Huh?” When he reached the designated place, he found that the quartet was gone. Traces of fighting were evident on the scene—something had happened during these three days. Instead of lingering, Lu Yun changed course for the entrance to the heart of Immortal Burial Valley.

There were now more than one hundred thousand cultivators within the formation array, a number that only continued to grow. Since everyone knew how to kill vicious spirits, they cut through the valley and headed for the entrance.

They didn’t all arrive at the same time; there were more than ten thousand cultivators gathered on site. The weakest among them was soul separation, while the strongest was peak awakened.

Several dozen awakened powerhouses stood in the air, facing off against the terrifying spirits on the cliff face. Beneath them, ten thousand cultivators huddled into various groups and tensed for action.

Vanguards had gone out to plumb the capabilities of the vicious spirits at the entrance. Domineering in strength, they far eclipsed the spirits roving through other parts of the valley. Each of the ones here were the equivalent of initial awakened stage and their speed reached the limits of cultivator limits. Ordinary awakened powerhouse couldn’t keep pace at all.

“Who would’ve thought that there’d be someone here to easily dispatch the vicious spirits. That was a pleasant surprise.” A young man of roughly nineteen years old stood at the head of nearly fifty awakened powerhouses in the sky. A faint smile hung on his face. He was only initial awakened stage, but he was their leader.

“It’s a pity he died,” sighed a middle-aged man behind him.

“Died?” The young man’s smile deepened with meaning. “I certainly hope he did.”

A contemplative expression appeared on the rest of the group’s face as they grasped the young man’s meaning.

“Sir, when do we begin?” asked the middle-aged man.

“Let’s wait a bit longer, there’s not enough cannon fodder yet.” The young man waved to the group behind him, signaling for them to stand down. “How sad that Lu Tianling didn’t come. If he was here, these spirits wouldn’t make him break a sweat.”

“Lu Tianling offended the Origin King and would already be dead if it wasn’t for the Fengxian King’s protection. How would he dare come here?” snorted the middle-aged man.

“The Origin King? If it wasn’t for affairs back in the day, the seat vacated by the Argent King would belong to the Lus,” the young man sneered. “Yan Guichi’s scheme against the Argent King caused the king’s death. Although the heavenly book made him a titled king, the other seven do not accept him. Regardless, history is written by the victors. It is testament to Yan Guichi’s strength that he can become a titled king.”

“Sir, do you mean to…” The middle-aged man blinked.

“What does the death feud between the Lus and Yan Guichi have to do with me? It is the Fengxian King on one side and the Origin King on the other. They are both titled kings as hailed by the heavenly book. I do not need to insert myself between them.” The young man curled his lip.

“The Fengxian King?” blinked the middle-aged man. “Didn’t the Fengxian King already return the favor that he owed Lu Tianling?”

“Return the favor?” the young man snorted with laughter. “The Fengxian King owes far more than that. He laid down a clever plan and sent his granddaughter to this world. Sadly for him, the Lu good-for-nothing didn’t take a liking to her.”

Pausing, the middle-aged man said nothing else. The young man’s identity was very special. If it wasn’t for immortals being forbidden in the formation array, a mere latter awakened cultivator such as he wouldn’t have the right to stand next to the young man.

“Lu Tianling is so shrewd and deliberate that he raised such a faction after a mere two hundred years in a low ranked world of cultivation that lacked ambient qi and resources. He might be able to come for the Origin King Estate if he had another thousand years or two,” the young man waxed eloquent.

While Lu Tianling’s Azure Dragons, Vermilion Birds, White Tigers, and Black Tortoises weren’t much to Great Xia, one had to know that this was a world of cultivation. Even ninth rank empires would require more than a thousand years to raise such a batch of elites. Not to mention, Lu Tianling had built everything from scratch in a third rank empire.

What impressed the young man the most was Lu Tianling’s fortitude. He bided his time when people bullied him to his face and obscured the Origin Sect’s vision by scrapping with the ants of Darklake Empire that were its great families.

Of course, much of this had to do with the Fengxian King’s care and support from the shadows.

……

Lu Yun saw Bloodbath and Gui Xie again when he opened the Eye of Nullification. The two had their arms slung around each other and were thick as thieves with some other tribulation powerhouses. They’d become the leaders of a clique.

“Have Ling Chu and the others run into some trouble?” Lu Yun furrowed his brow. He still didn’t see signs of Ling Chu and the others even here. His eye for people wouldn’t be wrong; he’d spoken candidly with them because he understood their character. If there was no trace of them to be found here, that meant they’d encountered an accident.

Just as worry rose in his heart, Ling Chu and the others flew in from another direction. As bedraggled as they were, they were inordinately excited, like they’d just achieved something of great satisfaction.

“Haha, Brother Lu!” Shi Jian roared with laughter when he saw Lu Yun. “We finally slaughtered those three sons of bitches! Damn that feels good!”

Deeply tanned muscles peeked through his ripped robes while excitement danced in his eyes.

Lu Yun understood what’d happened with a quick turn of his thoughts. The four had likely encountered the three combination cultivators that’d previously moved against them and killed them.

Those three were likely from another world of cultivation. Being elites of Great Xia, Ling Chu and the others could kill them even though their cultivation levels were a step lower.

“What a pity that one of their nascent souls escaped.” Concern shone out of Ling Chu’s eyes.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a nascent soul. It won’t amount to much.” A rare smile appeared on the aloof Song Yi’s face.

After a round of pleasantries, the five landed on the ground.

……

Cultivators streamed to the area until there were more than twenty thousand of them. The vicious spirits at the entrance finally started agitating, sweeping their scarlet eyes across the assembly, but not going on the attack.

They seemed to be protecting something and prevented cultivators from entering the burial place proper.

“There’s enough people, we can do it now.” The young man in the air flung a sword at the entrance.

Kaboom!

Even Lu Yun jumped with surprise at the attack without forewarning. It was like a hornet’s nest had been kicked over as the vicious spirits shrieked and boiled over the mountain peak. The entrance was leveled and one thousand vicious spirits blurred into blood-red shadows that pounced on the cultivators.

“Let’s go!” The aloof young man retrieved his flying sword and darted for the entrance. The fifty awakened cultivators behind him were close on his heels. The situation on the ground was an absolute mess. He only wanted to use those beneath him as cannon fodder and distraction, so that he and his entourage could enter the burial place proper.

“Ignore the vicious spirits, we head in as well!” Five jade talismans appeared in Lu Yun’s hands and he slapped them onto his group. Everyone’s presence and ripples of power were immediately concealed.

“My jade talismans won’t fool the spirits, but we can get by for now because there’s so many people around us. It’s each to their own luck after we go inside!” Lu Yun was already gone.

Ling Chu and the others naturally didn’t hesitate. They might’ve wanted to discuss things if the situation had been the same as it was four days ago, but after multiple encounters with life and death, they’d reached an unspoken accord in situations like these.

……

One thousand vicious spirits barreled toward the cultivators in streaks of blood-red light. Those who didn’t react in time became their victims. Bloody light rose from the horde of cultivators as more and more were turned into spirits, but even more were those who didn’t care and rushed for the entrance as well.