“Our young lord has the heart of a grandmaster. You mundane men won’t understand his vision and frame of mind,” Situ Zong tutted proudly when the two arcane dao immortals, Qing Yunhe and Canghai Chengfeng, finally fell silent.
“Young lord?” Both arcane dao immortals turned to Situ Zong in surprise.
They knew Situ Zong was a dao immortal of the Star Demon Sect, the most powerful demon sect in the world of immortals. So why would he call Lu Yun his young lord?
Situ Zong huffed and didn’t say anything, while Situ Yun puffed his chest out like a rooster who’d just won a fight. He stroked his Principal Nineheavens Talisman, fully confident in Lu Yun’s words.
……
The Divine Glory sailed through layers of spatial fragments, ferrying them out of the tattered space and back to the dragon tomb. Lu Yun stowed the ship with a wave of his hand, and they entered a tunnel in the tomb.
“Hm?” He turned to Qing Yunhe and Canghai Chengfeng in surprise. “Why are you two still following me?”
“I’m here to protect my little brother,” Qing Yunhe answered in an obvious tone, glancing at Qing Han.
Canghai Chengfeng shrugged and stayed close to Lu Yun, making it clear that he wasn’t going anywhere either.
“What are you going to do if we run into someone from the Qing Clan?” Lu Yun didn’t spare Canghai Chengfeng a glance. He’d already asked Canghai Chengkong, and it turned out that this arcane dao immortal was his younger brother. [1] There was a decent age gap between them, but they were sons of the same mother.
Canghai Chengfeng had plucked five arcane dao fruits, which made him an elite among arcane dao immortals.
Qing Yunhe frowned slightly and nodded. “You’re right. I’ll only expose Qing Han and give those scumbags an opening to hurt him if I stay. We’ll take our leave, then.”
He was here to locate the Cosmic Skycarver and Cosmic Sea for Qing Han. Since his brother had acquired both, there was no reason for him to stay. The clan ancestor must’ve done something to him before letting him enter the tomb, so if he stayed with Qing Han, he might become a threat to his brother.
“Let’s go!” Qing Yunhe grabbed Canghai Chengfeng and shifted in another direction.
“I’m not going!” Canghai Chengfeng struggled and latched onto the walls. “I’m staying with Lu Yun to see how he’s going to make the supplemental paths king! I’m not going! Let me go… I’m staying here!”
In the end, Qing Yunhe unleashed great power and swept Canghai Chenfeng away with him. There seemed to be a great force hidden within him, making him much more powerful than he seemed.
“Carry this. Let’s go.” Lu Yun took down one of the eighteen ancillary cannons and handed it to Situ Zong.
“Hm? This one is much lighter than the earlier one.” After a brief pause, Situ Zong shouldered the cannon without any complaints. Meanwhile, Situ Yun resigned himself to the fate of being carried around like a chick by his master.
“Take this, Lu Yun! The painting will definitely help you improve your sword dao! Supplemental paths as king? Ha, what a crock of bullshit!” Qing Han happily shoved the scroll that radiated starlight into Lu Yun’s hands. The Cosmic Skycarver had suppressed the power of the Cosmic Sea and turned it into a silver scroll painting.
Lu Yun smiled wryly. Qing Han knew him too well; it was impossible to hide anything from him. Although he’d given a glorious speech, he didn’t intend at all to give up on improving his combat arts or dao comprehension. He’d spelled it out himself: the elites of the ancient times could use combat arts to defeat any products of the supplemental paths.
Situ Zong and Situ Yun gaped.
“Tsk, if supplemental paths are to be king, only Lu Yun’s can do so,” Qing Han smugly announced in a pleased tone. “Do you think anyone else is able to tear down the layouts in a tomb?”
Realization dawning, Situ Yun touched the talisman Lu Yun had gifted him, his lips curving into a smile as well. “No one else may reign supreme with supplemental paths other than our young lord!”
“Yun’er is right,” Situ Zong said, recalling the Treasure Refining Talisman Lu Yun had given him. “The young lord can create talismans that have long been lost to history. No other talisman masters in the world can rival him.”
Lu Yun ignored the conversation and returned to hell. Only there could he refine the Cosmic Sea without wasting any time.
Hum.
As soon as he entered hell, however, the scroll suddenly unfurled and transformed into a sea of stars, filling the entire sky of the netherworld.
“There are… stars in hell?” Countless Infernum and other ghostly existences stared at the firmament overhead in shock.
Yueshen and Ruyi were stunned as well, the latter mumbling at the stars scattered across the sky. “That’s the Cosmic Sea! Lu Yun somehow got it in here!”
The Enneawyrm Coffinbearers and Nine-Phoenix Casket remained where they’d always been, straight in the center of hell, facing the patch of endless darkness within the netherworld’s depths.
“I… didn’t expect the Sea of Stars to be incorporated into hell without needing any refinement.” Lu Yun was caught by surprise as well. He tried to draw on its power and found that the Cosmic Sea had become part of the netherworld itself. He could tap into its full power here.
However, he couldn’t channel hell’s power in the world outside. In other words, the Cosmic Sea wouldn’t be of any help in the world outside.
“Well, that’s fine. I was only going to use it to improve my sword aura, anyway.” He rushed into the sea of stars. Amplified by the power of hell, his consciousness expanded and spread through the entire sea, feeling out the intent of the starry sky and teasing out the orbit of every star.
Then with a single thought, the Sugato Sword, which had become one with Lu Yun, emerged and took a position on top of his head, drawing in the intent of the Cosmic Sea and assimilating it.
After an indiscernible amount of time, inspiration abruptly struck him. The Sugato Sword disintegrated into strands of starlight and encircled him.
Splash!
Lu Yun’s sword aura emerged again, but this time, the ocean made of sword energy had turned into endless starlight.
“Cosmic Sea… Cosmic Sea… From now on, my sword aura is named the Cosmic Sword Ocean! Vast Dragon Seaturner!” Lu Yun boomed.
The sword ocean beside him flared with blinding light and rose into tall waves. A sword dragon comprised of sparkling starlight emerged from the waves and lunged at the darkness in the depths of hell.
Bam!
It seemed to have hit something, marked by a dramatic tremor passing through hell. Demonic howls rang from the abyss, seemingly declaring their intention to rush out and start trouble.
“Peng of Kun!” Lu Yun made a second slash, ignoring the angry howls.
An enormous kun-fish transformed into a peng-bird and slashed through the abyss. The enraged clamor grew ever fiercer, and even the very earth of the netherworld began cracking.
“Starstream Stroke!” This was the most powerful sword technique he’d created thus far.
The Cosmic Sword Ocean converged to form a river of stars and rushed into the darkness, eliciting terrible cries. He seemed to have hurt a mysterious monster lurking there.
A pair of eyes suddenly snapped open, glaring at Lu Yun with fiery rage.
“The fourth slash….” Lu Yun kept his eyes closed. Endless starlight created by the Sugato Sword gathered around him and transformed into one hundred and eight thousand flying swords.
“Endless… Cosmic… Ocean!”
Bam!
The swords arranged themselves according to the constellations within the Cosmic Sea, turning into an ocean of sharp starlight that transcended space and enveloped the pale eyes.
Fear flashed through their gaze, and they quickly closed.
Thud!
A humanoid being dressed in a battle robe, upon which was written the character that meant pawn, toppled to the ground before Lu Yun and turned into a ghostly soldier. Anyone killed by Lu Yun would become his Infernum!
Black chains and shackles remained on the Infernum; he was one of the prisoners kept in the abyss of hell.
Swoosh!
Violet fire burst forth and ignited the soldier, reducing him to ashes before he could even scream.
“What the…?” Lu Yun waved a hand, reassembling the flying swords back into the Sugato Sword and catching it. His brows knit together, and frustration flashed through his eyes. That Infernum had possessed the power of a celestial emperor, but the violet fire had killed him.
“Are these pawns not enemies, but the former servants of hell? Did they betray hell under the influence of some power?” A random speculation suddenly struck him.
The slight ripple of energy coming from the Tome of Life and Death proved his theory right.
“They were once ghostly servants and bear the rules of the old hell. That’s why the fire that destroyed hell won’t allow them to return. If I want to restore the netherworld, I have to tame the purple fire.
“It looks like I’m a far cry from restoring hell and becoming the true overlord of life and death. I need a hundred and eight thousand flying swords to mimic the constellations and tap into the true power of my fourth sword technique—Endless Cosmic Ocean. However, I can’t transform Sugato Sword into that many flying swords in the outside world, due to my lacking cultivation. So, hmm… I need more flying swords.
“Good thing I’m loaded… Huangqing, help me refine a hundred and eight thousand spirit-grade flying swords.” This was the best that Lu Yun could do at the moment. If he wished to manipulate immortal-grade swords, he would have to first ascend to immortality.
1. Canghai Chengkong is Dark North Sword Sect sword immortal who wrote his name in the Tomb of Life and Death, and has been passing info about the skydragon tomb to Lu Yun.
