Xingzi was also a Nihil World Sovereign now. Upon the integration of Lu Yun’s true cultivation level with the level granted by the Tome of Life and Death, his ten Yama Kings developed explosively as well.
They could cultivate through their own efforts, but relied even more on Lu Yun and the Tome of Life and Death. Their master’s strength directly impacted their own. The ten were undying as long as their master remained alive.
Corpse poison had overrun Ao Qin’s body and there were also countless poisonous entities present. While Chu Xingran might have a way to obtain the treasures stored on the genius, Xingzi was the absolute expert when it came to corpse poison.
“Wow, such a big body!” Xingzi beamed with delight when she saw Ao Qin’s corpse. “So much shamanic poison can be created from it! Um, sir, I think you should summon Xiaoxiao as well. She’ll love this body!”
Lu Yun: ……
Chu Xingran: ……
Haidong Lin: ……
“Alright then, come on out, Su Xiaoxiao.” Lu Yun waved another Yama King into existence.
Su Xiaoxiao had saved countless lives in her time through inventing medicine dao and was equally skilled in poison dao. She’d once slaughtered thirty-six major worlds through poison alone, ridding them of inhabitants that’d all been turned to zombies. Her feat had stunned the facets of the world of immortals.
Indeed, her eyes sparkled like Xingzi’s when she saw the body and champed at the bit. The two Yama Kings held hands and flew toward the enormous corpse.
“What kind of monsters does he command?” Haidong Lin sidled up to Chu Xingran.
“He’s a monster himself.” Chu Xingran flicked a glance at the man and subconsciously took a few steps away.
The group didn’t alarm the flock of birds as they approached Ao Qin’s body. Not even the corpsefish dared draw near it.
“Sir, the corpse poison is too dense!” Xingzi and Su Xiaoxiao suddenly stopped.
“Is it too much for even you two?” Lu Yun furrowed his brows.
“No, we can handle the corpse poison, but we can’t handle the life forms it’s evolved into. They’re on par with sequence experts,” Su Xiaoxiao explained. A small mirror appeared in her hand and reflected everything happening to Ao Qin’s body.
Lu Yun’s eyes widened with surprise. Humanoid forms scurried back and forth over it, carrying and building something.
“An altar, those things are building an altar!” Chu Xingran took a look and remarked with amazement. “Corpse poison… can become life forms?”
“From a certain perspective, the origin of life might be these nigh undetectable viruses and bacteria.” Lu Yun wisely stroked his chin.
Chu Xingran rolled his eyes and completely ignored the young man. The life forms manifested by the corpse poison were hardly life. They maintained the appearance of corpse poison and were grayish black throughout. Skin like a toad’s clung to them and they oozed immense poison.
Most importantly was that they possessed no souls—they were more like the walking dead than anything. Their movements seemed to be directed by some command; the humanoid forms were using Ao Qin’s decaying flesh and scales to build an altar.
He’d returned to the form of a dragon, but most of him was sunk beneath the sea. Only a tiny portion was observable over the surface, which was why the group hadn’t identified the corpse at first.
Now that they were closer, they could see dragon scales that were beginning to rot and a small portion of his torso.
“He’s an azure dragon?” Lu Yun jerked with surprise when he took a close look.
“Mmhmm,” Chu Xingran nodded. “Azure dragons are revered in the dragon race. The azure dragon ancestor is their origin.
“By the way, the azure dragon ancestor of the Hongmeng is just the ancestor of the Land of Reincarnation. He has nothing to do with the azure dragon ancestor of the outside world.”
“Oh?” Lu Yun blinked. “I thought all azure dragons in existence originated from the same azure dragon.”
“That used to be the case before this place became the Land of Reincarnation. The dragon race of your worlds were indeed descended from the azure dragon ancestor of the outside world. Once the god of Mount Tai perished, their connection to that bloodline also terminated,” Chu Xingran explained. “The Land of Reincarnation possesses its own set of rules and is separate from the outside world. The azure dragon ancestor born here is the one and only.”
Lu Yun nodded with understanding. His home was gripped by some sort of power and kept repeating the same thing. Thus, the azure dragon ancestor here died and was reborn in the same manner.
“I find this dragon a bit familiar,” Xingzi suddenly commented. “Isn’t he the Azure Dragon King?”
“What?!” Lu Yun’s eyes widened. “The Azure Dragon King?!”
“Yes!” Xingzi nodded with certainty. “That fellow’s life essence is stored in Mistress Tu’s Scroll of Shepherding Immortals and I frequently study it. I just realized that the core essence of this corpse is very similar to the Azure Dragon King’s!”
Lu Yun thought of the azure dragon ancestor of Dragonhollow Mountain. He’d asked the ancestor numerous times who the Azure Dragon King was, but the old guy always changed the subject or lied straight to his face. It would seem that the Azure Dragon King’s identity was so startling that it couldn’t be spoken of.
“What did you say?!” Chu Xingran shrieked. “You mean that the Azure Dragon King is Ao Qin?!” He looked incredulously at Xingzi.
“Yes!” She nodded again and grinned. “I see now! No wonder that guy isn’t willing to come back to life. He stays inside the scroll because his consciousness is in contact with the corpse. He’s directing the corpse poison to build an altar for him so he can return to his true origins!”
“But what happens after he comes back?” Su Xiaoxiao sank into deep thought. “His primary body is deader than dead and home to endless poison. When his soul returns, he’ll be at most a poison dragon or a corpse dragon…”
“He probably has certain plans in mind for me.” Lu Yun tugged up the corners of his lips. When he first met the Azure Dragon King, there’d only been half of him left. The dragon had survived only because he latched onto the Sal Tree of Life and Death.
It would seem that he’d realized something else during this time and stayed by Lu Yun’s side for it.
“Yuying, fetch the little fox’s scroll please,” Lu Yun transmitted to Yuying.
The little fox oversaw the Hongmeng; the ten Yama Kings were also stationed there.
