Lu Yun returned the luopan to Xing Wuliang as they conversed.
“Darned shame.” Xing Wuliang wasn’t surprised to receive the compass again.
“Do we leave? Or keep going?” Brightheart asked them.
“Keep going!” Xing Wuliang set his jaw. “Though we can’t take the treasures in the tomb, we’ll still reap a lot of rewards if we keep excising the tumors in here!”
He looked at Brightheart; she hadn’t gained anything yet because she hadn’t had the chance to take action. Cutting out the poisonous tumors not only raised soul force, but cultivation level as well.
Lu Yun was a Nihil World Sovereign and Xing Wuliang only interested in supplemental dao, so the rules of the tomb could only increase their soul force.
Since he couldn’t use the luopan to locate the creation seed, Xing Wuliang turned his attention to collecting some benefits for the Brightheart World King.
“Eh? Hang on!” He realized something and looked at Lu Yun with surprise. “Why is your soul force close to grandmaster level… What happened in the world we were just in?”
“Some things did indeed happen. I took care of them.” Lu Yun nodded.
“What a pity that I was blinded by greed.” Xing Wuliang smacked his lips and put the matter out of his mind, focusing on finding other worlds.
There remained a tiny bit of hope in his heart that he had a shared destiny with the creation seed and he’d be able to see it. Like his master had said, he would be able to take it as long as Xing Wuliang could lay eyes on it.
In the meantime, Lu Yun wasn’t reluctant to spare the effort for Brightheart. She’d resolved many dangers for them along the way, but hadn’t gained anything for her troubles. When he observed the world king’s emotions, he noted that she was a tiny bit eager for improvement of her own, but not at all dissatisfied.
……
Upon entering the next world, the trio’s hearts thudded with dread. Compared to the previous world, this one was much like a tomb.
Dark, sinister, and gusting with yin winds. Ghosts abounded to the Spectral Eye and a dim sun hung listlessly in the air, casting an even bleaker hue over the scene.
There were corpses on the ground, and quite a few of them. They’d all been decapitated with one move, but only headless bodies littered the premises.
“Let’s go back to the previous world!” Lu Yun’s expression turned unpleasant. He saw a familiar figure in the distance—a familiar body.
The Roastwave World King!
The Roastwave World King had died here!
The Hoarfrost World King was also headless on the ground not too far away, his body devoid of life and information. Lu Yun’s Spectral Eye couldn’t read anything about his death.
“We can’t.” A bitter taste rose in Xing Wuliang’s mouth. “The door we came through has vanished, we can only forge ahead.”
Lu Yun turned back to confirm that the door that’d delivered them to this world had indeed disappeared and been replaced by pitch-black darkness.
“Beware of the shadows beneath your feet,” came a voice from the other side. “All of them died to their own shadows. Don’t release your power here, the stronger you are, the stronger your shadow!”
Lu Yun followed the voice to see four people with their backs to each other, warily scanning their surroundings. They were World Manifests and they occupied an area without any shade. Bizarrely enough, there were no shadows beneath their feet despite the dim sun’s illumination.
Lu Yun suddenly reached out and chopped his hand in Brightheart’s direction.
Thud!
An inky-black shadow fell heavily to the ground and vanished beneath the shadow of a mountain with a light roll.
The Brightheart World King’s shadow!
Her face was ashen; the shadow beneath her feet had disappeared and there was a new streak of blood on her neck. If Lu Yun had been any slower, she would’ve died according to the manner they’d just learned about.
“Idiot! I just told you to keep your cultivation under wraps. Are you that eager to announce that you’re a Void World King?!” sneered the one who’d spoken in the quartet.
“The shadow of a Void World King… Tsk tsk tsk, we’re in for it now,” scoffed a burly man with a thick mustache. He leered nastily at the trio. “But that woman will die before we do. Shadows kill their masters first before killing others.”
Frustration and guilt assailed Brightheart. She’d kept tight control over her cultivation level and strength, subconsciously relating it only when the four issued their warning. The second she’d done so, her shadow had burrowed out of the ground and almost killed her.
Is Feng Feifan that strong?
He’d sent a Void World King’s shadow flying with one blow!
She snuck a look at Lu Yun and saw that he had one hand cupped around the Metal Virtue Orb, and the other cupped around the Water Virtue Orb. She didn’t ask any further; the two orbs combined would send her flying, to say nothing of a minor shadow.
Xing Wuliang jumped with shock as well and took out his Horizon’s Edge, sealing away his strength. But when he lowered his head, he noticed that his shadow was long gone.
“Why is yours still here?” He pointed dumbly at Lu Yun’s feet.
“Probably because it doesn’t dare come out.” Lu Yun stared downward. “A true void realm shadow will only be eaten by the others if it comes out, wouldn’t you say so?”
His shadow nodded with all seriousness.
Xing Wuliang: ……
Brightheart: ……
The four men standing with their backs to each other: ……
“How about it, wanna go for a quick walk?” Lu Yun asked hesitantly when he saw the expressions of the others.
His shadow rapidly shook his head!
Are you shitting me?! You display the strength of true void realm cultivator, but you’re actually a Nihil World Sovereign! You’ll pop me like a balloon if I run off! A real man would stay put, so I’m staying put!
The shadow very resolutely shook his head.
“Are the shadows a tumor too?” asked Brightheart.
“No.” Xing Wuliang shook his head, somehow imitating Lu Yun’s shadow. “This is a real burial chamber, not one of inheritance. If my guess is right, there should be Di Clan members buried here.”
He took a deep breath, his eyes darting around cautiously at every second. Shadows targeted their primary bodies first when they escaped.
