“Boring, how incredibly boring. I’d wanted to see what would happen if someone from the Eastern Planes cultivated soul force.” Xing Wuliang pouted, highly dissatisfied.
It hadn’t been a completely altruistic move for him to pass on the “Three Thousand Soul Daos” to Lu Yun. That was such a common and basic method in the fourth realm that it was of no loss for Xing Wuliang to teach it to someone else.
“Hmm?” He lifted his head, discovering with shock that a crack had opened in the tombstone at some point in time. Dense tomb qi filtered out of the small opening, indicating that it was truly being opened for the first time.
The four Void World Kings hadn’t activated any of the killing formations or false layouts!
“That’s… weird. Before I left, master told me that at least eight Void World Kings would have to die before the tomb could be opened. The blood of a Nihil World Sovereign can also dismantle the killing layout in the tombstone… So how come the four of them are enough to easily open the tomb?” Xing Wuliang’s jaw dropped.
“Maybe they have a shared destiny with this tomb.” Lu Yun opened his eyes with a smile. “Thank you for the ‘Three Thousand Soul Daos’, Brother Xing. I am now officially a supplemental dao cultivator.
“This is one of my tokens. If Brother Xing ever encounters trouble you can’t handle, you can search me out with this token.” He handed a leaf to Xing Wuliang, who took it with a dumbfounded look.
“Are you… really someone from the Eastern Planes?”
“Well, not really?” Lu Yun scratched his head. He was a life form from the Hongmeng—the worlds, to be more exact. He wasn’t a being of the fourth realm.
What he was unaware of was that in Xing Wuliang’s eyes, it was even more impossible for life forms from the Hongmeng to cultivate soul force.
“No wonder.” Xing Wuliang casually put the leaf away, thinking nothing more of it. He didn’t explain further.
He did indeed have a powerful background; there was also an ancient and powerful inheritance reinforcing him, so he knew a little more than the typical person might about certain locales in the realm. Xing Wuliang didn’t give serious thought to Lu Yun’s words.
A shared destiny with the tomb? Absolute nonsense.
But the tomb was indeed open and the four world kings, as well as numerous other beings, had gone inside. The other world kings hidden in the shadows could no longer sit still. They came out of hiding and followed the crack in.
“Are you not going in?” Xing Wuliang was quite surprised to see Lu Yun remaining still.
“I told you that that tomb has a shared destiny with those four world kings. No one else will be able to touch what’s inside apart from them.” Lu Yun shook his head. His greatest reward for this trip was the “Three Thousand Soul Daos”. To him, being able to direct his soul force through cultivating that method, and then truly entering the supplemental dao cultivation of the fourth realm was the most important matter at hand.
The tomb of a Nihil World Sovereign?
He himself was one. What was the point of robbing another one’s tomb?
Lu Yun was right, to a certain degree. The tomb did indeed have a shared destiny with the four world kings. Or more precisely, Longshan Yin.
Lu Yun had determined earlier that the Tomb of the Hallowed Emperor would appear not long after Longshan Yin became a Void World King. That meant to say that the tomb was appearing because of Longshan Yin.
Lu Yun couldn’t enter the tomb, nor did he want to. If he did, unexpected changes might arise.
Di Ling and the others in the world of immortals were tightly connected to Lu Yun, so the Hallowed Emperor wouldn’t do anything to him. The architect of the tomb, however? That was another story entirely.
His plans targeted the descendants of the Hallowed Emperor. Once someone with the ability to open it and obtain the legacy inside appeared, the tomb would naturally manifest.
If Lu Yun dared enter it, the Cloud Sovereign’s preparations would go up in a fiery blaze.
……
“Are you not planning on going inside?” Lu Yun was equally surprised to see a stoic Xing Wuliang.
“Its manner of opening is too strange.” The man shook his head. “I’m not going inside until I reach true World Manifest.”
He’d been full of confidence that he would be able to sweep through the tomb if he worked with the four Void World Kings. But not only had the world kings not seen that he was a ninth step formation master, they’d almost killed him.
Xing Wuliang was weaker than regular major World Manifests, so there was no way he would enter the tomb by himself. He wanted to go with Lu Yun, but that was a lost cause since his new friend didn’t have the desire to make the trip.
“With your skill in formations, Brother Xing, you’d reap great rewards if you followed any of the world kings in,” Lu Yun chuckled.
“Forget it.” Xing Wuliang drooped, deflated. “You’ve never cultivated soul force, have you? I’ll give you some pointers.”
Lu Yun studied the other’s face carefully; he could read some slight changes in Xing Wuliang’s emotions. Xing Wuliang’s soul force was infinitely close to grandmaster level. If he’d really wanted to hide his emotions, it would be very hard for Lu Yun to glean anything.
Xing Wuliang shared some key points and things of note, imparting a new level of understanding to Lu Yun.
“How strong is your soul force now?” Xing Wuliang asked after a moderate period of time.
“Third step,” Lu Yun answered. “My soul force is now at the third step.”
“Third step… isn’t enough!” Xing Wuliang took out something that looked like a massive daikon radish. “This is a treasure that can manipulate and strengthen soul force—the Profound Nineroot. Your soul force is strong enough that if you eat it, you’ll break through to seventh step.”
Lu Yun jumped with shock. Ascending from third straight to seventh step! This was an incredible treasure, but Xing Wuliang had just casually brought it out like this!
He definitely comes from an impressive background.
“It’d be such a waste to just eat it,” Lu Yun grinned wryly. “It’s better to refine it into a pill, whether in terms of potency or effect.”
“I can’t do it, only a pill grandmaster would be able to refine this treasure. There’s a supplemental grandmaster in the Eastern Planes who can do it, but he’s been sealed into an ice cube and can’t refine anything.
“Don’t talk so much. Eat it, raise your soul force to seventh step and enter the Tomb of the Hallowed Emperor with me!” Xing Wuliang said. “There are so many treasures in the tomb and any of them are worth more than this Profound Nineroot. Treat this as your compensation!”
Lu Yun chuckled ruefully and swallowed the meter long “radish”.
Hummmm.
Purple-golden brilliance flooded from his body and raised enormous waves in his consciousness. A tremendous vortex of soul force manifested in his consciousness, becoming the core of his mind.
A soul force vortex!
Soul force would condense into a vortex when it reached the seventh step. Lu Yun had broken through the moment he ate the treasure!
This treasure would be worth more than the entire Hongmeng if it was found there! Lu Yun almost jumped with shock when he made some quiet calculations. This Profound Nineroot could enhance the soul fore of a Nihil World Sovereign—it was a heaven-defying treasure!
He looked at Xing Wuliang in a new light—the leaf from the Karmic Tree that he’d gifted earlier seemed a little… inadequate. Even if it was a token that could compel a Nihil World Sovereign to act.
“Seven step soul force is enough, let’s go!” Ignoring whether or not Lu Yun had agreed, Xing Wuliang flew toward the tombstone.
Lu Yun remained on the spot and thought for a moment, then hid all of his strength and used only soul force. This amount of soul force was already frightening enough in the fourth realm. True World Manifests wouldn’t dare irritate a seventh step supplemental master.
Lu Yun skipped on formation glyphs and followed Xing Wuliang.
