Chapter 2160.2: Severed Meridians
Lu Xiaochi was roughly eighty years old. Although cultivators possessed long lifespans, making it so that eighty years old was the start of one’s life, he was an upright and honest individual who wouldn’t mix with a hooligan like Lu Yun.
Livid, he said stiffly, “Your grandfather wants you.”
“Okay.” Lu Yun nodded, on a roll. He licked his lips and left the yard.
Lu Xiaochi’s cross expression turned into a rueful chuckle as he watched Lu Yun go. That bout of ridiculousness had prevented him from asking some questions that he’d wanted answers to.
“It looks like there is definitely more than meets the eye for this nephew of mine… And is there really a red mole on Ouyang Shengxian’s bottom?” He suddenly stroked his chin thoughtfully.
……
The Lu complex was a massive park forested by various individual residences, each protected by individual formations. Lu Tianling’s residence sat in the middle of the complex and was the eye of the major protection formation—the Major Cycle Nebula Formation.
As a direct lineal descendent of the patriarch, the eldest grandson, and the future heir, Lu Yun could come and go through the formation’s clusters at will.
“Grandfather!” He bowed respectfully to the towering man when he reached Lu Tianling’s residence.
“Mm.” Lu Tianling nodded, a trace of unnatural white marking his face. Lu Xiaochi was close on Lu Yun’s heels.
“Yun’er, it isn’t that grandfather and your second uncle doubt you, but that your change truly makes us worry,” Lu Tianling said after a long moment of silence.
Lu Yun nodded. He would also be suspicious if it were him. After all, Lu Tianling and Lu Xiaochi had watched him grow up. They were well aware of what his personality was like. It would be absolute bullshit to spin a story that he’d purposefully created a facade of being good-for-nothing and treating the world as his stage.
It also wouldn’t make any sense that he’d stepped out of concealment and revealed his true self when the family was in danger, because he was the sole reason that they were in these straits!
Their enemies had used him again and again, leading Lu Tianling around by the nose and forcing the great general to give way again and again for his grandson. Lu Yun’s title of the number one prodigal of Dark City was well rooted in reality.
Lu Xiaochi also looked at Lu Yun with blazing eyes.
“Grandfather, it’s not like I’ve been possessed by another.” Lu Yun took out a piece of inky-green jade hanging from his neck. “This is called the Soul Extendere Jade, right? It’s the bane of the souls of cultivators. Without the protection of a physical body, even the soul of an immortal will be crippled if it draws near the jade…”
Lu Tianling’s eyes opened wide and he gasped, “You recognize the Soul Extendere Jade!”
The Soul Extendere Jade wasn’t something that should be found in a third rank empire like Darklake. Possibly even the emperor of Dark Orchid might not know about its existence. It was considered a priceless treasure that was many times more precious than the Nineturns Profound Life Pill.
Being effective against souls, there was only one use for it—preventing cultivators from being possessed by another.
Powerhouses abounded in the world of cultivation. Where there were people, there was conflict. When cultivators died, it was very possible that fragments of their souls remained. Those fragments retained sufficient strength to seize the body of another and be reborn.
Possession took an enormous toll on the invader—oftentimes, the invader’s own soul fragmented and died in the process. But if one chose a victim with shallow cultivation foundations or someone who was already gravely injured, then the chances of success were somewhat higher.
Lu Tianling had seen his fair share of old monsters taking possession of youngsters, so when Lu Yun fell into a coma for three months, he brought out his treasured Soul Extendere Jade to shelter his grandson’s soul and prevent a possession.
It wasn’t that Lu Yun had taken possession of the body he’d reincarnated into it. It was a karmic tie from the womb and he was Lu Yun the moment he was born. It just so happened that the heavenly dao took him as a disciple at an appropriate time.
Lu Yun nodded. “The Soul Extendere Jade is uncommonly precious and can damage souls to prevent cultivators from being seized by another. But the greatest effect of this item is to nurture the soul, not to harm it. Immortals would fight over it if they saw it.”
Lu Tianling and Lu Xiaochi looked at each other with astonishment.
“Grandfather, your grandson’s soul was not harmed. In the three months that I spent unconscious, I gained a powerful master and traveled with him, learning by his side,” Lu Yun explained with all seriousness.
“Dream Sutra, propagating dao in dreams?” Lu Tianling shot to his feet. “Teaching through dreams is the capability of high-level immortals! Is your master a mighty immortal? No wonder… no wonder your injuries and cultivation fully recovered without needing a Nineturns Profound Life Pill!”
Both cultivators and immortals existed in a world of cultivation! Cultivators set reaching immortality as their goal on their path of cultivation. The Dream Sutra that Lu Tianling spoke of was a method unique to immortals, and not that of ordinary immortals.
Golden immortal? High immortal? Or…
“Did you go to the Celestial Realm Battlefront during these three months? That would make sense, only a place like the battlefield can make you swiftly grow up,” Lu Xiaochi interjected.
“The Celestial Realm Battlefront…” A sharp light flashed through Lu Yun’s eyes when he heard these words. It seemed to be the key of everything and the future source of destruction for this world of immortal dao civilization.
Lu Tianling and Lu Xiaochi no longer doubted Lu Yun. No one would be able to possess the young man when he wore the Soul Extendere Jade. The treasure could harm even the souls of immortals. All of Darklake Empire would suffer tremendous disaster if it was widely known that the Lus possessed one such treasure.
It was an item that immortals would fight over!
Owning the Soul Extendere Jade and being able to establish a clan through his own strength… Grandfather also possesses many secrets. Lu Yun thought silently to himself.
Lu Yun gaining an immortal for a master, leaning through the Dream Sutra, and being sent to the Celestial Realm Battlefront was the only explanation for his changes. Lu Tianling breathed a long sigh of relief and smiled. “As long as you’re fine, as long as you’re fine. If anything happened to you, grandfather would dismantle the Ouyangs and Yuwens.”
“And the Lings,” Lu Yun grumbled.
Lu Tianling inclined his head. “So you see things clearly too. Although the Ling Clan has not erupted in open hostility against us, they’ve done many things from the shadows.”
“The Ouyang Clan will not easily let us off the hook,” Lu Xiaochi said with an uneasy look at Lu Tianling.
The patriarch waved him off.
“Grandfather.” Lu Yun walked up and took out a jade bottle from his storage ring. “This is a pill that master gave me to replenish qi and heal internal injuries.”
The bottle contained the pill that he’d formulated with the properties of the Violet Orchid Ganoderma.
He didn’t say it was his work as it wasn’t yet time to speak of this. If Lu Tianling learned that his grandson was this capable, he would immediately cocoon the young man with protection and prevent any word from getting out.
Lu Yun being a prodigal son was the only opening that their enemies could use against the Lu Clan. Once they discovered that the family trash had become an unparalleled genius, they would immediately seek to kill him. Lu Tianling would never permit this to happen, so he would certainly confine Lu Yun to the residence and forbid him from taking a single step through the front doors.
The young man was safe if he was remained an incompetent wastrel.
In Lu Tianling’s eyes, it must be his grandson’s master directing Lu Yun’s actions earlier in the day. It wasn’t his grandson’s own inspiration, so Lu Yun had concealed things.
“Grandfather, you should refine the pill. We haven’t seen the last of the Ouyangs and neither are the Yuwens the peaceful sort. They’ll probably come calling over the next few days,” Lu Yun said.
Lu Tianling’s expression changed dramatically when he opened the jade bottle for a sniff. “This is a pill refined from the ninth rank spirit grass Violet Orchid Ganoderma…” A crafty smile spread across his face like a wily old fox. “I would fear them somewhat before today, but now?”
Lu Yun cackled as well, the spitting image of a young fox.
……
“I say, kid, you hide things well,” Lu Xiaochi snapped when the two of them left Lu Tianling’s residence. The patriarch had gone into closed door cultivation to refine the pill. Lu Yun and Lu Xiaochi took their leave at the same time.
The two adults didn’t ask why the immortal had accepted a good-for-nothing like Lu Yun as their disciple. The thoughts of immortals were not for mortals to conjecture.
“Eh? What have I hidden?” Lu Yun looked innocently at his second uncle.
“Didn’t you say you didn’t recognize this?” A fist-sized stone appeared in Lu Xiaochi’s hand—the communication stone.
“Huh? When did I say that? I said I have no use for it,” Lu Yun pouted.
Lu Xiaochi paused, recalling what their conversation had been. That… was true, that was indeed what his nephew had said.
“Alright, second uncle, let me take a look at your injuries and see if there’s any way to help you recover your cultivation,” Lu Yun said solemnly.
Lu Xiaochi froze, then asked hopefully after a long pause, “Yun’er, is your master going to help me himself?”
“Master has left and is not in Dark City anymore,” Lu Yun shook his head. “But I’ve learned a bit of his abilities and should be able to handle second uncle’s injuries without difficulty.”
Lu Xiaochi smiled ruefully. He knew his injuries very well and that there was no one in this world who could heal him. His nephew had neither learning nor art and was just seven levels qi refinement. Though he had an immortal for a master, how much of his master’s skill could he have learned in three short months?
He didn’t hold out any hope.
Lu Yun grabbed his uncle’s wrist and sent his consciousness into the man’s body. The Lu second master had been latter nascent soul and the foremost genius of the empire. Although his cultivation had been crippled and his consciousness suppressed, his physical body remained incomparably strong. Having been baptized by the energy of heaven and earth, he kept a youthful appearance.
“Severed Meridians Hold! It’s the Severed Meridians Hold!” Lu Yun’s expression shifted as he muttered lowly.
Lu Xiaochi frowned, but didn’t say a word.
“The Severed Meridians Hold is known as the most vicious restriction there is. It leaves cutting points within a cultivator’s meridians. If one tries to force medicines through, it will immediately shatter the meridians and have the victim die an explosive death!” Lu Yun explained in a frosty voice. “How can a mere Nineheavens Pagoda, a sect of a fourth rank empire, possess such a cruel restriction?!”
Lu Xiaochi’s eyes widened—his nephew had just voiced the same thing as Lu Tianling once said. But Lu Tianling had only said it was a vicious restriction he’d never seen before, he hadn’t been able to identify it.
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