However, it wouldn’t be that easy for Lu Yun to hatch the kunpeng egg. He had Beigong Yu place the egg inside the dragon palace, so it could absorb the presence of the chaos beasts inside, then bade Yuying incubate the little kunpeng with her three immortal fires.
……
Setting off again, Lu Yun refrained from bringing out Kui, or anyone else. Traveling alone through an ancient tomb was the easiest course of action for him. Companions were nothing but a burden!
That said, exploring these tombs by myself is also very dangerous. Once I’m done with my business, I’ll establish the sect of tomb raiders in this world and impart the art of feng shui. I’ll finally have helpers who can lessen the burden on my shoulders then!
Feng shui compass in hand, he journeyed into the dark tomb at a steady pace.
“Violetgrave was right, this place is indeed a mausoleum… a mausoleum of another!”
The underworld itself was a mausoleum of immense proportions, and there was a certain force inside the celestial master tomb that continuously sucked in tombs from the outside world, thus creating yet another giant mausoleum.
Moreover, the layout inside this mausoleum was extraordinarily confusing. Back in the yang tomb, he’d had a clear view of the entire tomb’s layout and could extrapolate the position of the main tomb.
But after fusing the yin and yang tombs back together, the place had dissolved into utter chaos. The formerly neat and tidy architecture was now a right mess.
“So I not only have to find the qilin and turtle tombs, but also the Deaf Prince and the others.” Lu Yun kneaded his brow, a little disgruntled.
Plip! Plop! Plip!
Suddenly, he held his breath and pricked his ears forward. The faint sound of water drops spread through the darkness.
“Water?” Lu Yun froze. He extended a hand and activated the Mastery of the Five Elements. “There’s no water energy inside the celestial master tomb, so where’s this sound coming from?”
The Mastery of the Five Elements not only captured the five connate elements, but also deduced the existence of elemental energies in the vicinity. However, he didn’t sense any water energy nearby. In other words, there should be no water close by.
Yet, his ears told him a different story. He clearly heard the dripping sound coming closer and closer.
“What’s that smell?” Nose twitching, he sniffed an extremely sweet scent wafting his way that immediately intoxicated him.
Buzz!
The Tome of Life and Death vibrated without warning, and Lu Yun shivered violently.
“Something’s clouding my senses!” He hurried to combust a karmic fruit, shielding his mind. The sound of water disappeared immediately, and the enticing scent also vanished without a trace. Despite that, he didn’t relax. His consciousness poured outward and spread in every direction.
“Ghost!!” an ear-piercing shriek suddenly rang out.
“Ghost?” Startled, he looked back reflexively and saw a girl of about seventeen years old wearing a long blue dress.
She’d appeared out of nowhere; Lu Yun’s consciousness hadn’t detected her presence at all. A peak nascent spirit cultivator not yet in the void realm, the girl’s charming face looked back at him in fright.
“Me?” Lu Yun froze.
“Stay away from me!!” The girl backed off. As she did so, light spread through the darkness.
He was in a giant plaza surrounded by dilapidated walls, likely the remains of an abandoned city. There were also quite a few immortals in the ruined city, all of whom rushed their way when they heard the commotion.
“A ghost? Me?” Lu Yun was rather dumbstruck, but he was also surprised to find a spirit realm cultivator here. Someone who hadn’t reached the void realm yet was no doubt the weakest existence inside this tomb.
Any random zombie could end her life. At the same time, he felt a somewhat familiar aura coming from her.
“A faceless ghost! Yet another faceless ghost! Kill him immediately!”
All of a sudden, the immortals who’d come to investigate the situation blanched. Even though they were still two hundred and fifty meters away, they drew their swords and pointed them at Lu Yun.
Numerous rays of sword brilliance whistled through the air and slashed down in his direction.
“Faceless ghost? What are they talking about?” With a frown, he unsheathed Violetgrave and stabbed forward a hundred times, promptly shooting down the incoming flying swords.
“It’s Violetgrave!” someone shouted in shock. “That’s Lu Yun’s sword! So Lu Yun’s died and become a faceless ghost?!”
“How can that be? Lu Yun… dead?!” All of the immortals started panicking. That Lu Yun had died and become a faceless ghost was momentous news that would shake the whole world of immortals.
There were no dao immortals in the crowd. The strongest of the lot were peerless immortals, while immortals of various lower realms were also present.
“We can’t be certain it’s him. Maybe a faceless ghost grabbed his sword…”
……
“What the f…?” Lu Yun was thoroughly mystified by the chatter. “A faceless ghost? Are they talking about me?”
Acting on impulse, he vigorously waved his hand and condensed a curtain of water in front of him. He could see his appearance reflected in the water.
“What the fuck!!” he cried out subconsciously, almost every hair on his body standing on end.
In the curtain of water, he could see his tall figure, long hair floating behind him, as well as a violet sword in his hand. However—
His face! His face was blank and smooth without any facial features!
In other words, he was faceless!
He moved back several steps in succession. The immortals nearby didn’t follow up and instead, observed him in silence.
“Y-you’re Lu Yun. H-h-how did you die here? My elder sister said you were very strong…” The young girl clad in blue stared at him with sheer disbelief.
“I’m not dead and I didn’t turn into a faceless ghost or whatever that is.” Lu Yun found sudden calm.
I didn’t have eyes in the water curtain, but I can clearly see everything around me. I don’t have a mouth or a nose, but I can breathe and talk. An illusion, someone’s cast an illusion on me! What incredible skill!
He took a deep breath and stood motionless. It must’ve happened when I smelled the sweet fragrance and heard the water drops earlier… and in all that darkness. That was probably when I was hit by this technique.
“Faceless ghosts, faceless ghosts are coming again!” came another panicked yell somewhere far away in the ruined city.
Lu Yun lifted his head and spotted a large group of humanoid creatures, similarly without faces, swiftly floating through the air in their direction. His eyes could see them, but his consciousness told him the area around them was completely empty, that nothing was there.
“So there really are faceless ghosts?” With a shake of his hand, Violetgrave hummed gently in his grasp. “They’re ghosts indeed… ghosts whose soul-parts have been severed…”
Crackle!
Black fire rose around his figure with a vengeance and instantly incinerated the illusion-like thing affixed to his body.
“I…” His expression fell the next moment, because in the water curtain, he could see that his facial features had faded slightly, and he could sharply sense that his soul had also been injured. “I almost became a faceless ghost for real!”
