Five billion kilometers away—almost on the edge of Starspace Region—Lu Yun, Qing Ting, and Li Zhen slunk out of a safe spot.
“I’d thought that the Purpleclad Duke had betrayed the realm. Who would’ve imagined that he was pulling this over the Moon King instead?” Lu Yun stroked his chin.
“Betray the realm? You’re kidding. The Moon King killed the duke’s master, how would he ever help her after that?” Qing Ting continued seriously, “Is this the product of your musings from several days ago?”
They’d been surrounded by the light of a formation the second the crystal veins exploded and transported to this spot—the spot where Lu Yun had spent some time contemplating life.
“Yep!” Lu Yun nodded matter-of-factly. “Of course we should press forward with resolve and not be daunted by death, but we can’t just throw our lives away for no good reason either. What’s wrong with fighting the good fight another day? We can beat the shit out of existences on our level or a bit stronger, but if we run into entities we can’t overcome, it’s better to skedaddle as fast as we can.”
“This is a transportation formation! You set up a formation here without us realizing and also set one up for us, then connected the two still without us realizing!” the quiet Li Zhen spoke up. “This is something else from the Immortal King, isn’t it? Are you actually his son?”
He looked suspiciously at Lu Yun, who gifted him an eye roll in return.
This kind of lifesaving formation was one of his new deductions. It was a one-time use invention that transported the user away as soon as they encountered force that exceeded their limits of tolerance.
“Quiet.” Lu Yun’s eyes lit up. “The Moon King is summoning all ghost kings in the region. C’mon, let’s go! This is our perfect chance to get close to the central crystal vein!”
……
The explosion from ten thousand premium crystal veins and Detonation Talismans spanned a radius of five billion kilometers. Everything in the heart of the explosion was flattened to level ground. All ghosts beneath kinghood near Starspace City were vaporized, including every single ghost crafting the ghost tomb beneath the surface.
Thus, the Moon King had no other choice but to summon every ghost outside to rebuild the ghost tomb. Completing it to summon an unparalleled existence was her main goal. The ghost tomb’s foundations would remain as long as the central crystal vein remained intact. She wished to finish the layout first; the requisite purple crystals could be slowly collected later.
“But the Purpleclad Duke is still too young.” A smile curved the Moon King’s lips. “Though his sabotage has cost me greatly, he’s also grievously injured the will of the great dragon in the central crystal vein. That takes care of a lot of trouble for me.”
……
Sensing the Moon King’s summons, Lu Yun and his companions emerged and headed once more to Starspace City.
Hummm.
Blue blade light suddenly descended from the sky and blocked their way. Li Quan and two other half step kings landed from above.
“Hahaha!! There are three first step kings here. If we fight them and hold them off, we’ll gain the right to be titled dukes!” Li Quan’s injury from his defeat at Lu Yun’s hands had completely healed. He grasped a new king grade blade and leered at the trio.
“Li Quan, look at the ghost-headed blade that that ghost king wields… doesn’t it look like your brother Li Zhen’s weapon?” A man in a blue combat outfit next to Li Quan scrutinized Li Zhen’s weapon.
“Li Zhen’s weapon is from the Champion Duke taking it from a ghost, so of course they would have more. But… that one really does look a lot like Li Zhen’s… Leave that ghost king to me, you guys can take the other two!” Li Quan roared and smashed his blade down on Li Zhen. His move also encompassed the meaning of dragon transformation that Lu Yun had used on him that day!
It would seem that he’d mastered the same lesson when Lu Yun taught it to Li Zhen.
“Let’s make this fast!” Lu Yun frowned and shouted lowly. If they spent too much time here, they would lose the opportunity to approach the central crystal vein.
“Come at me!” Li Zhen snarled and released biting ghostly qi through his weapon. It collected as a ghost dragon and howled at Li Quan. The ghost-headed blade was the ghost’s treasure to begin with and everything about Li Zhen was now of that race, thanks to the Transformation Talisman. The appearance of ghostly force unleashed the blade’s true power.
He riposted with a stroke that also encompassed dragon transformation.
“What?!” Li Quan gasped with shock. His king grade weapon shattered from the blow and he flew out backwards.
Li Zhen had defeated Li Quan with one move!
On their side, Lu Yun and Qing Ting also defeated their opponents with the easiest method possible—in one move.
“The master’s summons is urgent, we go!” Lu Yun imitated the raspy voice of the ghosts.
Instead of killing the three cultivators, the trio raised a pillar of black flame and rushed toward Starspace City.
“How… how are those three ghost kings so strong?!” Li Quan and his friends trembled. They’d thought they were infinitely close to becoming titled dukes, that they would gain the experience they needed if they didn’t lose to a ghost king and could become titled dukes in full.
But those three first step ghost kings had defeated them with a clean move in the simplest way possible!
Thank goodness they hadn’t killed the cultivators because they’d been in a rush.
“Why did that ghost king seem… so familiar?” Li Quan murmured to himself as he looked at where Li Zhen had disappeared to. “That traitor’s son has come to Starspace Region with his sinful blood. I need to find a chance to get rid of that mutt, or it’ll be trouble for us sooner or later. His traitorous father caused so much trouble and loss for the clan a hundred thousand years ago…”
……
Having defeated Li Quan with one move, Li Zhen was in fine fettle. He’d punched through a huge bottleneck and his cultivation leapt forward.
This time, the trio kept pace with other first step ghost kings traveling to Starspace Region, as opposed to using any special methods. All of the ghosts scattered around the region were rushing to its capital. There were roughly a thousand first step kings among them—an absolutely staggering number!
If just the first step kings alone charged Cloudexit City… it was very likely the city would fall.
Of course, Hongmeng cultivators wouldn’t let the ghosts march unimpeded to Redbud Region. Cloudexit City was the closest to Starspace Region, but there were several other major cities and fortresses after it.
While the Moon King’s goal was Redbud Region, she wasn’t in a hurry. Once the ghost tomb was complete, the region would immediately be theirs!
Attacking Cloudruin Region and Cloudexit City was just to gather the Hongmeng’s kings and geniuses at Cloudexit. She was collecting food for the one nurtured in the ghost tomb!
“Enter the central crystal vein and use your ghostly force and fire to nurture it. Assimilate it now!” she commanded when all of the ghosts and ghost kings congregated at Starspace City.
The ghosts burrowed underground without hesitation and melded their bodies into the ghost vein there.
The ghost vein was the corrupted half of the central crystal vein; the other half was occupied by the great dragon of Starspace Region. Its will had been gravely injured by the explosion of ten thousand crystal veins and it was very weak.
Now that countless ghosts added their strength to the ghost vein, the will inside that one flared with power and began devouring the great dragon.
Lu Yun, Qing Ting, and Li Zhen made their way inside with the other ghosts. They didn’t dare move together. Instead, they entered separately and found their way to each other again through the natural movement of the crowd.
So this is the central crystal vein of Starspace Region! Lu Yun exclaimed with awe when he saw the crystal vein that’d already taken the shape of a dragon.
It was mammoth and seemed to run on without end. Reaching throughout Starspace Region, it supplied energy for the entire region, but was also confined to this tiny area by a peculiar force and couldn’t move.
Its upper half sparkled with the radiance of the stars, like a sleeping dragon. Foreboding ghost qi emanated from its lower half—the portion that’d been corrupted. Large tombs towered around it, forming a mausoleum. The layout of the mausoleum was the structure of the ghost tomb.
With mausoleum as tomb!
The great dragon was the heart of the tomb. Once it was buried, the ghost tomb would be truly complete.
It was an intricate method with superb craftsmanship excelling nature, but for the moment, all of the tombs were broken wrecks. Instead of rebuilding them, the Moon King had decided to erode the dragon’s will first before rebuilding the ghost tomb.
The dragon was a being born of the Hongmeng and blessed with its favor at every possible second. Unexpected developments might occur if things dragged on, so the Moon King had decided to sacrifice her troops to conquer the great dragon first.
