“Who says we have to kill our primary selves first?” The menacing voice drifted in and out of earshot, providing a backdrop for numerous shadows to walk out of the surroundings. All of them wielded sharp daggers that dripped with blood.
Lu Yun’s shadow wanted to join them, but he absentmindedly stomped it back into place.
Xing Wuliang looked around warily, stuffing Horizon’s Edge into his junior brother’s hands and shrinking behind Brightheart, the very image of a spineless man.
Lu Yun put away the Water Virtue Orb and Metal Virtue Orb. As strong as their worlds were, they were far less than Horizon’s Edge.
Kerthunk.
The cube rotated gently and turned into a drawing compass, landing in Lu Yun’s hand.
“Why have they all come out all of a sudden? Are we that much of a threat?” Brightheart looked a little pale and stared uneasily at her wraith-like shadow. Logically speaking, she was the strongest out of the three of them, but she hadn’t helped much thus far on their journey. It’d been Feng Feifan and Xing Wuliang who’d taken care of anything that came up.
“Good thing the young man with the sword isn’t here. We’d be doomed if his shadow came out!” Xing Wuliang muttered.
“Who says I’m not here?” a dejected voice sounded behind them. Jian Juexian suddenly emerged with his sword dragging on the ground. His robes were disheveled and his neat hair bun chopped off in various places.
He’d plainly weathered a fearsome battle.
“Did you win? Or lose?” Lu Yun asked with a smile before stomping on his shadow again, keeping it quietly still beneath his feet.
“It can hit me, but my blows pass through it,” Jian Juexian responded wearily. “At the same time, it’s impossible for it to kill me.”
“Then it looks like you lost to your own shadow,” Lu Yun declared without mercy.
Jian Juexian grimaced at Lu Yun, but didn’t deny the conclusion. He had indeed lost to his own shadow.
“You should figure out how to handle these ones first,” Jian Juexian pointed at the approaching shadows. “They’re all out here, which means that whatever exists in the burial mound knows that you three are a threat. They’ll find a way to kill and keep you here.”
He leaned back and grinned widely, like he was watching a highly entertaining show. If Lu Yun hadn’t exposed his failings, he might’ve helped the trio. But if his junior and senior brothers learned that he’d been defeated by his own shadow, he would no longer have the face to emerge in public anymore.
Jian Juexian was a Nihil World Sovereign, but so was Feng Feifan! Since they were peers, he absolutely had the right to throw a small tantrum in front of someone on the same cultivation level.
Nihil World Sovereigns being aloof and remote personages was just a misconception that lower level cultivators held. Who would stand removed from other people on the same footing as them? As strong as these sovereigns were, they were also living beings with their own emotions and motivations.
……
Lu Yun glared at Jian Juexian and drew a flat, round world with the drawing compass. A tremendous suction force blossomed out of it and swallowed all of the shadows. He then closed the compass, extinguishing the world.
“…that’s it?” Jian Juexian’s jaw dropped.
“That’s it.” Lu Yun nodded.
“You took care of the problem?” Xing Wuliang was also flabbergasted.
“I took care of it.” Lu Yun lowered his head and looked at his shadow, discovering that it was shaking with fear.
“Was my shadow swallowed too?” Jian Juexian asked dumbly.
“It was swallowed if it came out and wasn’t if it’d remained in hiding,” Lu Yun explained.
“Does that mean I have no shadow from now on?” Xing Wuliang asked hesitantly.
“No, our shadows turned into shadow demons only because of the shadow dao present in this world. Everything will return to normal after we leave,” Brightheart clarified. “The shadow dao probably also has something to do with the dim sun in the sky.”
Xing Wuliang nodded with a rueful grin. Though he understood what peak dao was, he still had no idea what shadow dao could be.
The headless corpses on the ground twitched when Lu Yun eliminated the shadows, but nothing else happened beyond that. All the same, he remained on high alert.
“Senior brother Wuliang, your shadow wasn’t devoured by the cube,” Lu Yun suddenly said.
“What?!” Xing Wuliang jerked with shock. His shadow hadn’t revealed itself since leaving his body. Perhaps shadows of supplemental grandmasters were smarter than the others?
“It should be hiding in the burial mound.” Jian Juexian’s face was pale. He wasn’t a Nihil World Sovereign at the moment and he was suppressed by the entire tomb. He couldn’t even ensure the tomb’s demise with his if he wanted to.
There was someone buried here who was extraordinarily important to either the Cloud Sovereign or Hallowed Emperor. It would be incredibly unjust if Jian Juexian were to die in this tomb, but extreme curiosity filled his heart. Just who was buried here?
The Hallowed Emperor and the Cloud Sovereign!
Both had passed on before Jian Juexian became a Nihil World Sovereign and were legends of the fourth realm. The Tomb of the Hallowed Emperor was as its name indicated—its only master was the Hallowed Emperor.
Thus, it was highly unexpected that someone else was also buried here. The oddness drew Lu Yun with interest.
“We won’t be able to reach the main tomb if we don’t break this burial mound of shadow dao.” Xing Wuliang shook his head at the burial mound that towered like a mountain. “The shadows that junior brother Feng took care of were just the ones from people who came later. If this really is a burial mound for a powerhouse of shadow dao…”
He stopped talking. His shadow had entered the burial mound because its master had selected it.
Lu Yun took another look at the headless corpses on the ground and inclined his head. He called upon Horizon’s Edge again and drew a circle in the void. The world drifted over to the burial mound—he was going to contain it as well!
This burial mound was far removed from the coffin earlier. As strong as it might be, it was just a pile of dirt.
Hummm.
The burial mound’s shadow abruptly stood up as a massive giant and punched out at the circle.
Bam!
Craaaaack.
The world shattered from the collision and returned to nothing.
The Water and Metal Virtue Orbs appeared around Lu Yun at the same time, manifesting their two worlds. The shadow giant continued lunging for Lu Yun after destroying the world since the young man was the biggest threat.
