Lu Yun was utterly delighted!
It was his first time being so happy and jubilant since arriving in the fourth realm. His connections to the Hongmeng and world of immortals were currently paused, and he’d even blocked his ties to hell. He did so out of a faint hope that he would be able to prevent the misfortune of the withered wood from affecting the third realm and his home.
He’d sent that coffin into a world of his own making; a world crafted by a Nihil World Sovereign was sufficient to contain the coffin. Something uncommonly horrifying was inside, so powerful that it could dismantle the Cloud Sovereign’s plans since the sovereign was dead. It wouldn’t have the same luck with Lu Yun, however, since he was a living Nihil World Sovereign.
When he took a closer look at what was inside the coffin, Lu Yun was overcome with joy and he could barely keep his emotions under control.
……
Xing Wuliang and the Brightheart World King could only conclude that Lu Yun was floored by his good fortune when they saw how happy he was. Indeed, vaulting to eighth step supplemental master in one go was something that anyone would celebrate.
Clarity returned to the world, as well as some vitality. The herbs and flowers that’d been here, however, were gone forever.
In other words, there was no value to this place.
Enormous transportation doors connected the tomb realms to each other, but their destinations were so varied that not even Lu Yun could clearly determine where all of them led to. There was no trace of the Divine Fire World King and others to be seen, and neither could Lu Yun discover where they were.
Most of his attention was on the thing inside the coffin, anyhow. He absentmindedly followed Xing Wuliang and Brightheart out of their current world.
Brightheart’s concerns were well placed. When those who arrived later saw only a tomb standing in the middle of the empty world, they dug up the tomb for lack of anything else to do. Unfortunately for them, or not, it was as empty as its surroundings.
There seemed to be an endless number of worlds in the Tomb of the Hallowed Emperor. Lu Yun and his companions traveled through no less than one hundred and eight worlds on their journey. All of the worlds were empty, looted of everything they contained. Those that weren’t possessed entities very similar to the coffin they’d vanquished.
It always fell to Xing Wuliang to excise these poisonous tumors, and they ran for their lives if they encountered something beyond their abilities. There was no end of benefits for the Star Sect disciple as he fully solidified grandmaster-level soul force during this adventure and took another great step forward in his cultivation.
Supplemental grandmasters were as if an ocean in the fourth realm. There were big oceans and small oceans, but an ocean was an ocean. Xing Wuliang was slowly shifting from a small ocean to a big one.
Lu Yun’s soul force also reached ninth step, making him someone noteworthy in the Boundless Planes. No one would even consider making trouble for the trio now, not with their combination of strength.
The Tomb of the Hallowed Emperor was so vast that although many people entered, it was still a drop in the bucket compared to what the tomb could contain. It would take a heavy dose of luck to come across someone else in here.
But sometimes, the most unexpected was the most commonly seen.
When the trio set foot into the one hundred and ninth world, they came across a teeming mass of living beings and the blinding glow of infinite gems and precious materials. This seemed to be where treasure was stored.
An enormous blazing sun was embedded into the void, casting light over this world. Fiery illumination revealed piles of connate treasures jumbled together like trash, too numerous to attempt to count. Items that were even more powerful than connate treasures lurked in the air as indistinct shadows.
Lu Yun’s heart spasmed painfully; Brightheart and Xing Wuliang went slack jawed with incomprehension.
Everyone here was fighting over the treasures, their eyes bloodshot as they feverishly shoved item after item into their robes. But for some reason, the amount of items available didn’t decrease, no matter how many treasures were claimed.
There were tens of thousands of doors in the void, seeming to indicate that everyone would end up here no matter what path they took through any combination of tomb realms.
Lu Yun reached out with both hands and dug them into Brightheart and Xing Wuliang’s shoulders. His fingers were so tightly embedded in them that he’d broken their skin. If it wasn’t for this, they would’ve already rushed up to fight over the treasures.
But they couldn’t claim these treasures, no one could.
The Tomb of the Hallowed Emperor was the Hallowed Emperor’s land of legacy. Anyone who took anything from the tomb would be enslaved by it, completely lose their sense of self, and become a puppet of the tomb’s next master.
The next master should be Longshan Yin, but he wasn’t under Lu Yun’s control.
Longshan Yin had joined Lu Yun’s banner only because the latter was a Nihil World Sovereign. He wanted protection from such a strong being and for that protection to extend to his family members—the last bloodline of the Di Clan in the fourth realm.
That was his only tie to Lu Yun.
When Longshan Yin rose to Nihil World Sovereign himself and stood at the peak of the realm, he would immediately break away from Lu Yun—but this wouldn’t be a betrayal. It was just a function of him becoming equal to his former benefactor.
Enslaving Longshan Yin had never crossed Lu Yun’s mind. If so, he wouldn’t have let Longshan Yin enter the tomb. All of the treasures here were a trap that not even Longshan Yin could influence. Whoever took a single one would be touched by the tomb’s karmic repercussions and forever be the tomb’s puppet to guard the new master.
Apart from Lu Yun, Xing Wuliang, and Brightheart, there was only one other person here who wasn’t grabbing things in a frenzied rush.
The young man with the sword on his back.
He crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked over the scene with a cold sneer. The Ingress Sword Island disciples that’d come with him had completely lost their minds—they busily crammed treasures into their bags and laughed with loud abandon.
“We meet again!” Lu Yun dragged his two companions over and greeted the young man with a smile.
“You’re ninth step now?” The young man looked at Lu Yun with surprise. “Looks like you’ve discovered the secrets behind those things.”
“It’s a pity that we can’t touch the treasures here no matter how many poisonous tumors we cut out,” Lu Yun sighed softly. This place had been set up first, things like that coffin had come later. There was no connection between the two.
“Are you not tempted?” The young man wasn’t terribly surprised by the fact that Lu Yun had to restrain his two companions.
“No matter how good a treasure is, we’d need to be alive to use them.” Lu Yun shook his head. “You’re not tempted either, senior brother.”
“You call me senior brother?” The young man graced Lu Yun with a strange look.
“You’re stronger than me, so it makes sense that I call you senior brother,” Lu Yun chuckled with great sincerity.
“Hahahaha!” the young man laughed heartily. “That’s right, I’m stronger than you, so you should call me senior brother. How about you come back to Ingress Sword Island with me?” He extended an invite again.
“No.” Lu Yun shook his head. “I’m going to the Star Sect.”
The young man: ……
etvolare's Thoughts
I'm a little eh… as to why the young man didn't save his fellow disciples…
