Necropolis Immortal

Yun Shuige’s heart raced and he enveloped himself with cerulean sword light without a beat of hesitation. As man and sword were one, his speed was the peak of his limits. He flashed to Lu Yun within a thousandth of a second.

Man and sword being one was the highest realm of sword cultivation. Man resonated with sword and truly comprehended the meaning of sword dao. In the world of immortals, it took reaching golden immortal before Lu Yun touched this level.

However, Yun Shuige accomplished it as an awakened cultivator. He would be a peerless genius even in the world of immortals of yesteryear!

Pfft!

Cerulean radiance cut through the void and unending sword splendor nearly drowned Lu Yun.

“I’m over here,” Lu Yun’s voice sounded in Yun Shuige’s ear, still thirty meters behind the man!

Cerulean sword light faded away as Yun Shuige reappeared in the void, staring coldly at his opponent.

“It would seem that you have a tremendous immortal treasure on you,” he breathed out. Blue luster began gathering around him again. “But as strong as it is, it is an external object. You are but soul separation—how much of its power can you bring to bear?”

He’d struck Lu Yun’s images more than once; they were identical to the young man’s primary body. Yun Shuige was beginning to suspect that Lu Yun owned a heaven-defying immortal weapon.

Countless immortal treasures had appeared in the place of burial over the past seven days. Therefore, Yun Shuige naturally surmised that the young man had laid hands on one such treasure in some part of the area.

“Luminosity of Sky and Cloud!” Yun Shuige called out as he transformed into wisps of cloud, then faded away from the void.

Pfft!

Cerulean radiance exploded over Lu Yun’s head and cut him into two.

“I’m over here,” Lu Yun’s voice sounded.

“I know!”

Pfft!

Another ray of cerulean sword light descended as soon as Lu Yun appeared and destroyed his body.

“Here!” The young man once more reappeared elsewhere.

Whoosh!

Yun Shuige’s attack arrived at nearly the same time.

The Luminosity of Sky and Cloud was Marquis Skycloud’s signature move. For use in assassination and ambush, the wielder came and went like a ghost and was everywhere at the same time. It was a combat art nearly superior to Lu Yun’s Nine Forms of the Cloud Dragon.

“Over here!”

Whoosh!

“Here!”

Whoosh!

“I’m over here!”

……

Lu Yun and Yun Shuige’s body flitted in and out of sight in the void, a dense collection to be seen everywhere. One of them appeared before the other disappeared. If there were any other cultivators present, they would be utterly bewildered and confused.

Gradually, the coolly composed Yun Shuige’s eyes turned bloodshot. This combat art consumed too many resources and despite his internal force having transmuted to immortal origin, he could not sustain this kind of drain.

He was one step behind Lu Yun each time and failed to capture the young man’s true body. It was aggravating him to an endless degree.

This had never happened before.

Yun Shuige admitted that he was less than the truly preeminent geniuses of Great Xia, but this Lu Yun hailed only from a world of cultivation. As stunning as his abilities were, his environment constrained the limits of his potential.

The other perverse genius from the Jade Ruins Realm—Mo Qiyue—possessed the qualifications of a perverse genius due to his potential. But due to where he’d grown up, all he was now was just a slightly stronger genius.

“Die!!” Yun Shuige could finally bear it no longer and sent his sword out with a shout. It exploded in the air and rained keen sword light in all directions.

The nearby ruins and rubble were obliterated by the terrifying brilliance.

“I might fear you a bit if you’d brought your strength together, but since you attack in such an idiotic manner… heh.” Dispersing one’s attacks brought widespread damage to bear, but it also diminished the strength of the attack. Lu Yun pressed his advantage when Yun Shuige showed weakness and shifted in front of his opponent with a twist of the Nine Forms of the Cloud Dragon.

“You fell for it!” Yun Shuige leered when he saw Lu Yun less than a meter away from him. A blue sword appeared in his hand and enveloped him with blue sword light. He was transformed into a keen sword blazing with sword qi.

Man and sword as one! The void trembled!

Hummm!

Bam!

A sliver of hesitation appeared in the air as Lu Yun’s body faded away in a bloody shower after being struck by the massive sword light.

“No, wait!” Yun Shuige’s eyes widened with dismay. This Lu Yun was fake too!

“You fell for it too!” Lu Yun’s voice ran over his head.

Searing heat appeared over Yun Shuige as crimson sword light once more split through the void, careening straight toward him. Lu Yun didn’t give his opponent a chance to react. He gathered his strongest strength and lashed out with the Nine Oscillations of the Heavenly Sword, infusing the air with terrifying sword qi and swallowing Yun Shuige.

Clang!!

A teeth-numbing sound rang out as Lu Yun’s hands shook. He almost lost his grip on Immortals Forbidden.

Yun Shuige’s body drilled into the ground from the force of the Lu young master’s technique. The sound came from a golden bell that’d appeared over him. It trembled as bright peals echoed through the air.

A fifth rank immortal treasure.

Lu Yun’s arms ached slightly. He wielded only a lower dao rank weapon, one that would’ve been destroyed had it not been refined from such heaven-defying materials. A sweet taste welled up in the back of his throat and blood trickled out of his mouth.

……

“This is the Profound Bell… The young lord is in trouble!”

Enormous bell peals filled Immortal Burial Valley. Cultivators scattered throughout were amazed by what they heard, while some were downright dismayed. The Profound Bell was a defensive treasure that Marquis Skycloud had given to Yun Shuige. A situation that’d forced him to bring it out meant that his life was in danger.

Regardless of their cultivation level, all cultivators affiliated with Marquis Skycloud put down their task at hand and sped toward the source of the bell’s tolls.

……

“Your old man’s pretty decent to you, you have a fifth rank immortal treasure to defend yourself with!” Lu Yun stood in the air and looked imperiously down at the crawling Yun Shuige.

“You’re quite strong.” Yun Shuige’s clothes were tattered and his golden crown had long disappeared somewhere. His hair dangled in a tangled mess over his shoulders. “But you can’t kill me since I have an immortal treasure defending me and my men will be here shortly. You’ll be the one to die then.”

He’d lost to Lu Yun whether in terms of strength or strategy, but Yun Shuige wasn’t depressed. True geniuses didn’t sink into mental slump after one loss—they grew stronger with each failure.

Such was the kind of person he was.

The golden bell over his head tolled with increasing grandeur, gathering the cultivators in the valley that answered to his father.

“You think I can’t kill you?” Lu Yun cackled, sweeping the fifty kilometers around them with the Eye of Nullification. There were no other cultivators on the scene as of yet. Marquis Skycloud’s cultivators were spread out in a bid to cover more ground in the valley. Thus, it would take them a while to arrive. Yun Shuige had said that just to persuade Lu Yun to stand down.

Goodwill surged out of the Seal of the Multitude and flowed into Lu Yun’s body, replenishing his consumption of Hongmeng qi.

At soul separation stage, he no longer wished to use goodwill to enhance his cultivation. He’d rather save it to enhance the might of his heavenly dao combat arts. There were other methods to enhance his cultivation, but the strength of heavenly dao combat arts could only be increased by goodwill.

But now… he could tell that Yun Shuige was a fat cat for skinning. That fifth rank immortal treasure was no ordinary specimen of its kind since it could withstand the Nine Oscillations of the Heavenly Sword.

The Nine Oscillations of the Heavenly Sword melded sword qi into the void and attacked through the limits of space. Ordinary defensive immortals weapons couldn’t even touch a wisp of sword qi, to say nothing of defending against it

As goodwill replenished Hongmeng qi, Lu Yun rapidly formed hand seals and collected sword qi over his head. They interwove with each other until they formed the image of a silver pagoda. Growing until it reached twenty-seven meters tall, each floor was one meter tall and the entire structure made of sword qi. Simple, yet ancient patterns snaked over it.

Sword qi cascaded down from the peak of the mountain and enveloped Lu Yun, bathing the young man with silver sword qi.

The image of the sword page was dignified and stately. While it was black, it was overlaid with a faint hue of silver due to being refined as Lu Yun’s image of heaven and earth. There was also something a little more special about this image compared to when it was just the pitch-black pagoda.

“Ready or not, little marquis, here I come!” Lu Yun threw his head back with laughter when his image finalized and crossed his hands in front of his chest. The sword pagoda overhead shot and came down on Yun Shuige beneath him.

The Yun young lord paled and the Profound Bell over his head tolled with the strain of overextension. His marvelous treasure began to darken and dim.

“Die!!” Lu Yun pressed down with both hands and bid the gigantic sword pagoda to swallow Yun Shuige’s body.