Lu Yin finally understood why so many people knew the Arcane Art—Fatal Revival; there was the grandpa on Driftcharge Planet, Brother Hui Kong, even some people from the Perennial World. It was all because the Specter clan had purposefully spread the cultivation art around to see who could successfully cultivate it. Lu Yin also realized why the Specter clan was so certain that the God of Death’s inheritance could not be stolen, as it was the Arcane Art itself that was the inheritance.
“Does My Lord believe me now? We bear you no ill will. You are the only person who has ever successfully cultivated the Arcane Art, and you will eventually be able to create death energy. You are the future of our Specter clan and the one who will allow our clan to continue existing.” Tong Yu said. This was her greatest motivation in looking for Lu Yin: to inform him of where his inheritance had come from and to assure him that the Specter clan was not his enemy.
While Lu Yin was still wary of Tong Yu, he somewhat believed her now. The Arcane Art—Fatal Revival was not something that could be faked, and it did form the foundation for his God of Death Transformation. It was also utterly impossible to take either of those things from Lu Yin.
Still, he maintained some level of wariness towards the Specter clan. It was impossible for him to be convinced of their goodwill so easily. “If I’m that important to you, then why haven’t you done anything during any of the numerous times that I’ve been in danger?”
Tong Yu blinked. “Because of Fatal Revival.”
Lu Yin was completely taken aback. That… actually made complete sense. He had almost died several times, and he had only survived precisely because of the miraculous nature of Fatal Revival, though he had always felt like there was something wrong with that.
Tong Yu sighed. “My Lord, you must understand my Specter clan’s position. To begin with, we are always being watched by humanity after we allied ourselves with the Neohuman Alliance. On top of that, we also are unable to send out any Semi-Progenitor-level powerhouses to actually protect or save you.
“Still, we have done what we can to help you. For example, the Neohuman Alliance has ordered the Dark Interstellar Supreme Court on several occasions to eliminate you, but we have never attacked you, have we?” Tong Yu clapped her hands. “Ah, also, after ZENITH, we received other orders from them. That time, they wanted us to travel to Zenyu Star and Earth to capture you from one of those places. If that was impossible, we were to destroy both of those places. We never moved against you or those planets.”
Lu Yin was startled. “Really? Zenyu Star and Earth?”
Tong Yu nodded. “It’s known that you care about those two places the most, but we never touched them. When the Great Eastern Alliance attacked the Daynight clan, I also sent Silver to you to tell you about a location with a great deal of death energy. All of these are matters that we have done to express our true feelings to you. While we haven’t been able to do anything openly, we have done all that we can within our abilities, so I ask that you remember these favors.”
Lu Yin’s eyes turned cold. He had no idea if Tong Yu was being truthful or not, but he did know that he should be thankful that the Dark Interstellar Supreme Court had never moved against him, as there was no way that either Earth or Zenyu Star could have survived such a thing.
Tong Yu patted her chest. “I’ve told you everything I should. We have been aware that you were worried about someone trying to steal your inheritance, My Lord, but you should understand that the members of our Specter clan are the least likely to go after you. You should believe this, My Lord.”
Lu Yin stared at Tong Yu, but there was not nearly as much wariness in his eyes as when he had first encountered the woman. “You came to find me because you wanted to tell me about this.”
Tong Yu nodded. She felt a bit embarrassed. “If I had volunteered such information, you would have most likely not believed me, My Lord. Fortunately, you brought it up yourself.”
“I need to think about this. There’s no need for you to follow me for now. I really do believe you,” Lu Yin said.
Tong Yu stepped forward to get closer to Lu Yin. At this moment, she was only about ten centimeters away, which was quite close. He picked up an odd fragrance that was quite pleasant.
Still, Lu Yin was not used to being so close to others, and he really wanted to increase the distance between them.
Tong Yu stared at him for a moment before finally nodding. “This time, I believe you when you say that, My Lord.”
“In that case, let’s play chess!” She waved a hand and caused a chessboard to appear on the ground.
Lu Yin was rather dumbfounded at this development. “What are you talking about?”
Tong Yu was already sitting on the ground. She completely disregarded her own image, as she sat right down, cross-legged, and plopped a hand in her chin. She absently blinked at Lu Yin. “Let’s play chess. It’s not time yet.”
“Not time yet for what?” Lu Yin felt his heart twitch.
Tong Yu pursed her lips and then smiled. “This has nothing to do with you, My Lord. I still have a bit to say to you, but it will have to wait until after this game is over.”
“Just tell me what you want to say,” Lu Yin growled.
Tong Yu smiled and gestured for Lu Yin to sit down with her.
Lu Yin snapped, “I’ve already been here with you for a long time! The Warden’s going to find out!”
“No, he won’t. I put him to sleep,” Tong Yu happily replied. “I want to spend a bit more time with you, My Lord.”
Lu Yin frowned. “What do you mean?”
Tong Yu again gestured for Lu Yin to have a seat. She blinked at him and asked in a rather pitiful manner, “My Lord, please play a game of chess with me.”
Lu Yin took a deep breath. He really did not want to leave, but he was surrounded by death energy that had isolated this area from the surrounding space. Lu Yin knew that he could not leave even if he wanted to. Helpless, he sat down. “You should know that I really don’t like being forced into things.
“I know. I wouldn’t dare force you, My Lord, but you’ll soon understand.” Tong Yu laughed, and then excitedly took her move. She then eagerly waited to see what Lu Yin would do.
Lu Yin stared at the woman for a minute. Finally, he raised a hand and made his move.
Shortly after Lu Yin and Tong Yu started their chess match, Yōu Qi was traveling along in Burial Garden, carrying a war banner above his head.
Suddenly, there was a bang. His entire body had exploded into a stream of light.
Burial Garden’s Tombkeeper’s eyes snapped open, and his expression completely changed. “Not good!”
He stepped out and instantly arrived at where Yōu Qi’s body had exploded. He saw evidence of a sourcebox array, and his pupils constricted. “A teleportation array?”
Reflexively, he lifted a hand and pressed against the sourcebox array.
The next instant, a bronze-colored hand appeared from the sourceboxes to counter Tombkeeper’s hand.
There was a boom that shook all of Burial Garden.
“I found it! Tombkeeper, you can’t stop us!” A voice spoke from within the sourcebox array. It sounded like grinding metal, and was very harsh on the ears. Still, it was also very powerful, and the voice spread across all of Burial Garden.
“Ancient God, it’s you!” Tombkeeper shouted.
Suddenly, there was a strange laugh. “Kakaka, it’s been quite some time, Tombkeeper.”
It was Shaman God.
Tombkeeper’s expression changed drastically. There were two of the Seven Skygods! No, three!
Inside the sourcebox array, Tombkeeper saw a bronze-colored corpse king, a small doll, and an old hunchback with messy black hair that hung all the way to the figure’s feet. The hunchback sighed. “Are we going to fight again? How annoying. I just want to sleep.”
Tombkeeper’s expression changed yet again. “Ancient God, Shaman God, Undying God, you actually dare enter my Burial Garden? You’re seeking death!”
Ancient God looked up at the man. “You’re the one who will die today.”
As the Skygod spoke, a terrifying impact caused all of Burial Garden to tremble. The sky tore open to reveal a spatial crack filled with deep darkness that looked like a black eye staring down at everyone. Everyone inside Burial Garden was startled.
The sourcebox array did not disappear even after the three figures appeared, as two more figures emerged soon after. One immediately took on a massive size after leaving the array while the other was a stunningly beautiful woman who had the emblem of Progenitor Chen on one side of her face. It was Corpse God and Forgotten Ruins God.
Burial Garden had been formed from an amalgamation of various different landmasses, and the entire thing was surrounded by a yellow sea that everyone referred to as the Yellow Springs. Whenever any corpse king tried to enter Burial Garden, they would be swept away by the Yellow Springs without even any bones remaining afterwards.
This was why the Neohuman Alliance could not enter Burial Garden.
With the Seven Skygods’ appearance, the Yellow Springs surged to sweep them all away, but Ancient God scattered the approaching waters.
At this same time, Shaman God and Undying God attacked Tombkeeper.
As all of this was happening, a loud note rang out from within the Yellow Springs as strange sedan chairs swayed in the water. Sheets of paper, as well as straw figures both in front and behind the sedan chairs appeared. All of these items moved with the Yellow Springs to attack the Seven Skygods.
“The suona summons forth hell.”
“The dead travel on sedans.”
“A paper thin life.”
“Rice straws protect tombs.”
“The leaders of Burial Garden’s Death Regiments are nothing but bugs!” Shaman God let out its strange laugh.
Forgotten Ruins God frowned. “They might be ants, but they are still strong enough to fight off both of us with the support of the Yellow Springs. Don’t look down on them!”
“That’s just you,” Shaman God’s doll revealed an odd smile. “You use shells that are just too weak. Leave them to me, kaka.”
Tombkeeper shouted in fury, “This is Burial Garden! This is nowhere for you monsters to act so brazenly! You are looking down on our Yellow Springs!”
He spread his arms open as he spoke, and the entire Yellow Springs began to churn. Pillars of water that looked like yellow dragons rose high into the sky as they stretched out towards the Seven Skygods.
A pillar of yellow water twined around Shaman God and threw them somewhere else in Burial Garden.
Another column of yellow water wrapped around Undying God and threw them somewhere else.
A pillar of yellow water surrounded Ancient God and threw them to yet another place.
A fourth and fifth column of water from the Yellow Springs surged towards Corpse God and Forgotten Ruins God.
Corpse God’s huge body was smashed to pieces by the pillar of yellow water, and the same fate befell Forgotten Ruins God. Neither of them were able to put up any sort of fight.
Shaman God and Undying God also had no way to resist being thrown away by the columns of yellow water. In the end, Ancient God alone managed to break free from his column of water.
“You can’t do it.” Tombkeeper rushed Ancient God.
In a far-off place in Burial Garden, Shaman God was smashed into the ground by a pillar of yellow water. The doll let out a disdainful snort. “Is that all there is to it?”
They prepared to rush back, only to find that their body was still trapped by the yellow water. They looked down. Huh? A cauldron? Why does it look so familiar?
A shadow fell upon Shaman God, and it looked up to see a foot smashing down.
“It’s you?” Shaman God exclaimed. The doll was instantly smashed to pieces by an ordinary looking man. He was actually a wandering corpse, and he did not even seem to notice that he had stomped Shaman God to death. The wandering corpse lowered his head and remade the smashed cauldron. He repeated the same actions that he took every single day.
Elsewhere, Undying God also found themselves trapped by the yellow water after being smashed into the ground.
Undying God had been thrown to some tea hills. If Lu Yin saw this place, he would instantly recognize it as the place where the wandering corpse planted people and raised them as tea bushes. Undying God had crashed right into the middle of the hills, crushing some bushes.
The moment Undying God struck the ground, the ancient wandering corpse that was in the hills high above straightened up and gestured towards Undying God.
The body of the Skygod who had been trapped by the yellow water shot through the air towards the wandering corpse. “You look familiar. We’ve met before.”
The ancient wandering corpse seemed unable to speak, and he only grew tea bushes. Undying God was planted in the dirt, and their body instantly started to change.
“I remember now. You’re the Eastern Mountains Tea King. It’s been a truly long time. Old friend, so you’re here too? Ah, right. This is your grave.
“What are you doing? Planting tea? Are you going to raise me as a tea bush? Escaping won’t be easy. I’m already being trapped by the Yellow Springs, and I can’t break free anytime soon, so do your best.
“This really is quite difficult, and my body’s already starting to change. This shell will definitely end up as a tea bush, but there’s no rush. I won’t fight this. I actually wanted to sleep a bit more, so I’ll just treat this body as a tea plant. It was quite an interesting experience.”
Undying God’s body soon completely transformed into a tea bush, just like the thousands of others decorating the hills. The leaves swayed in the breeze, and inside the leaves, there was a face that looked like it was sleeping.
