Chapter 2176.3: The Malice That Opposes the Heavenly Dao
Being the disciple of the heavenly dao and having the experience of three thousand lifetimes under his belt, Lu Yun would be able to turn a pig into an immortal given enough time. Nurturing subordinates wasn’t a matter of handheld instruction. They had to grow through conflict and slaughter, so whether it was Bloodbath and his men, or Wu Zhen and the bandits, he left them to their own devices after giving them sufficient resources.
Lu Yun raised sword light and headed to the west. He slowly left the boundaries of Darklake Empire and entered Profound Wing Empire.
While borders were clearly delineated in the world of cultivation, there were no patrols between nations. Nations valued spirit veins and spirit stone mines. The cultivators of a nation were gathered near these resources, building cities to oversee them. Nations didn’t care about land that held no natural resources, and wars were often fought over spirit veins.
Tiger Suppression Pass, for instance, was an indeterminable distance from the Tianlong Empire, but it’d turned into the site of the final battle between two empires. For cultivators who could fly five hundred kilometers in one breath, borders were a bit of a joke. The only ones they would take seriously was if a formation protected one, but a formation that enclosed an entire nation was too mind-boggling to consider.
……
Iron Pagoda Mountain was a famous mountain in the west of Profound Wing Empire. It was shaped like a pagoda and embedded with high concentrations of valuable fine metal and ore. It was as its name.
Fine metal was uncommonly durable and ideal material to craft flying swords with. Iron Pagoda Mountain, however, was too durable to be damaged. Darklake once sent cultivators to excavate it, but to no avail.
As for fourth rank empires, they didn’t think much of a little bit of fine metal.
Unusual activity thronged around the mountain. Countless cultivators circled around it like groups of mosquitoes and flies. Three thousand meters tall, an enormous sword stroke scored the peak. It was the mark of a dao weapon.
Lu Yun concealed himself when he drew near the mountain and silently observed the surroundings.
“Hahaha, I hear you were recently dealt a huge loss in a third rank empire, Qin Qianxue!” At the bottom of the mountain, a young man in green robes pointed at another young man.
“Hmph,” the other snorted. “Don’t get too cocky, Jiang Feng. As lowly as they are, there are still crouching tigers and hidden dragons among them. That guy’s methods were plainly greater than mine—he probably comes from the same origins as us. It’s not embarrassing to suffer a loss at his hands.”
“He must be quite special if Sir Xue speaks of him like that,” Mo Qiyue said next to Jiang Feng.
“Is ‘White’ here?” Qin Qianxue asked Mo Qiyue.
“He’s not interested in this matter.” Jiang Feng shrugged.
Qin Qianxue looked at the Iron Pagoda Mountain. Innumerable cultivators attacked it with flying swords, but it remained unscathed. Not even a pebble dropped from it.
“Those fools. This mountain is very likely a treasure left behind by an ancient lord of the world of immortals. Are a bunch of cultivators going to shift it?” Mo Qiyue sniffed at the busily toiling cultivators.
“The Iron Pagoda Mountain is connected to too much, making it that only the younger generation like us can come here. The various factions are keeping each other in check and have forbidden immortals from taking action. The young man I met that day is probably here for the same reason,” Qin Qianxue mused.
Mo Qiyue and Jiang Feng looked at each other. “Seven Kills, Greedy Wolf, Army, Taisui, and Yinghuo have all manifested in recent times. Those of us from Great Xia are the closest, so we are naturally here first. But why are the others here so quickly as well?”
A ray of sword light streaked past them as they spoke, depositing Lu Yun in front of them.
“It’s you!” Qin Qianxue gasped as his two nascent soul guards went on the alert.
“Hahaha, ole brother Lu, you’re finally here! There’s such a fuss here that it’d be boring if you missed it,” Jiang Feng roared with laughter when he saw Lu Yun. Mo Qiyue also smiled broadly.
“Brother Mo, Brother Jiang, I’ve come late.” Lu Yun grinned at them and turned to Qin Qianxue. The young man remained quiet when he saw that his two friends were familiar with the newcomer.
“Ah… can it be ole brother Lu who delivered a loss to Brother Qin?” Jiang Feng immediately guessed the truth when he saw Qin Qianxue’s expression.
“Um…” Lu Yun said hesitantly. He’d listened for a while and revealed himself only when he understood their identities.
“This is our friend, Qin Qianxue,” Mo Qiyue explained with a smile. “Brother Qin, this is Lu Yun. He’s our brother too.”
“Lu Yun, Darklake… can it be…” Qin Qianxue’s eyes widened.
“Precisely.” Jiang Feng nodded.
“So it’s Brother Lu, greetings.” Qin Qianxue raised a cupped fist salute. “Brother Lu’s methods are unrivaled and I am not a match. However, please keep a low profile and do not make your identity or your capabilities widely known.”
Lu Yun blinked, then understood what Qin Qianxue meant. The Origin Sect. He didn’t know what kind of power the sect possessed since it hadn’t existed when he reincarnated into Great Xia. He didn’t expose his friends’ origins either. Although the trio were good friends with him, there was a complicated web of relationships and power struggles behind them. There were many things that they did not have a say in.
Looks like I need to pay Great Xia a visit when I’m done with Darklake.
There might be many things he couldn’t do in the future, but as he stood there now, these things had to be done. This was the training of the mind—comprehending all of life and the heavenly dao.
Qin Qianxue was a very proud person who’d taken it to heart that Lu Yun had scared him off that day. But when he saw that the Lu young master was familiar with Jiang Feng and Mo Qiyue, he was able to put it out of his mind.
Nor did Lu Yun bring up affairs of the day again when he saw Qin Qianxue drop the subject.
The three stopped discussing Iron Pagoda Mountain after Lu Yun’s sudden appearance. Night fell, and the Seven Kills, Greedy Wolf, Army, Taisui, and Yinghuo stars shone radiantly in the skies, forcing the other stars away.
It looks like the immortal weapon will be revealed tonight, Qin Qianxue thought to himself.
Many cultivators had spent numerous days at the mountain. They’d witnessed the mark left on the peak, but saw no sign of Yong Heyu. However, quite a few discovered traces around the mountain that indicated the man had gone inside the landmass.
Although it was night, activity still bustled around Iron Pagoda Mountain. Several soul projection cultivators mustered their strength for a joint blow, attempting to split the mountain open. It was bizarrely durable and didn’t move the slightest despite a dozen soul projection powerhouses acting in concert.
It was then that those assembled understood they’d underestimated this mountain all along.
RUMBLE.
Iron Pagoda Mountain suddenly trembled as a stunning ray of sword qi shot out from within. Horrifying sword qi quickly roiled over everything within fifty kilometers of the mountain.
“This is bad!” Lu Yun shouted when he saw the situation. “Leave!”
Sword light appeared beneath his feet as he fled outside the range of the sword qi.
“A blood sacrifice formation!” Mo Qiyue, Jiang Feng, and Qin Qianxue paled in unison. The latter two came from Great Xia and Mo Qiyue possessed an extremely mysterious background as well. They naturally recognized that someone had surreptitiously laid down a blood sacrifice formation fifty meters around the mountain!
There were hundreds of thousands of cultivators gathered around Iron Pagoda Mountain. Far from just foundation establishment, there were nascent soul, soul projection, and even powerhouses at higher levels. It was a mind-boggling move to sacrifice all of them!
Cutting rays of sword qi descended from the skies, leaving no time for even soul projection cultivators to react. Unable to defend themselves, they were churned to pieces by the light—even their nascent soul was reduced to a cloud of bloody mist.
Everywhere within fifty kilometers of Iron Pagoda Mountain had turned into killing fields.
Lu Yun clenched his jaw and wove his hands rapidly, gathering connate yang metal around his body to defend against the horrific sword qi. As sharp as they were, they were immediately defused when they touched connate yang metal energy.
Connate yang metal was the sharpest existence in the universe. Given Lu Yun’s weak cultivation, he gathered some bits and pieces that weren’t too strong. In his present level of accomplishment, he manipulated the energy of the five elements with the most primitive methods. It was like picking up a rock from the ground and throwing it forward.
But even so, the power of the five elements was so inordinately strong that they more than adequately defended him.
Once his cultivation reached a certain level, he would be able to use the five elements in many more ways. He’d be able to extract metal from a stone and craft all sorts of weapons. He might be able to hew the mountain open with just one blow of connate yang metal then.
His reaction speed was so fast that he ran out of the sword qi’s range within a few breaths. When he looked back, the ground was dyed red with blood.
Mo Qiyue, Jiang Feng, Qin Qianxue, and exceedingly few other powerful cultivators had managed to scramble to safety. The first three possessed lifesaving treasures, given their backgrounds. The others had either been hovering on the fringes or were so strong that they’d managed to wrest themselves to safety.
etvolare's Thoughts
I like the new kid, he's got his head on right. And really Lu Yun, a pig?
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