Chapter 1837: Ghost City
Huangpang was enormous, much bigger than any major world in the fourth realm.
It possessed a complete heaven and earth, complete order. Although it was a barren world in the eyes of the chief worlds, it was still one of unbelievable richness to Lu Yun. Its enigma stone veins were much more numerous than those in the fourth realm. The only thing missing was an ancestral vein of heaven and earth.
But it was indeed a destitute place compared to the land of milk and honey that was the Luo Trading Major World. For someone as unknowledgeable of the outside realm as Lu Yun, however, this was a land of treasure.
Most important was that this was the major world closest to the Firmament Prison. If he wanted to explore the prison, obtain the secrets of the primordial heavenly court, or refine the prison’s core essence, he would need the support of a major world.
This was why he lingered in Huangpang.
……
Huangpang’s core was Huangpang City, where the Huangpang Supreme used to live. Lu Yun asked around on the way there and employed formula dao to determine that Huangpang had been as fertile as other major worlds when the supreme ruled. It’d possessed an ancestral vein of heaven and earth then too.
After the supreme’s demise, the ancestral vein dissipated and the major world declined. In the end, only Huangpang’s name was left as a token of the world’s past greatness.
Myriad Spirit didn’t tell Lu Yun how the Huangpang Supreme died, only that the young man couldn’t afford to provoke the killer. Lu Yun didn’t ask further either.
Perhaps the Myriad Spirit Supreme didn’t dare mention that person’s name.
Huangpang City was enormous and very imposing. It snaked through the center of the major world like a crouching dragon. A play off the characters huanglong for yellow dragon, it was said that the Huangpang Supreme was himself a yellow dragon. He’d given up his faction for unknown reasons and changed his name to Huang Pang.
Lu Yun paused fifteen thousand kilometers out from the city, his brows tightly furrowed.
“Does the problem lie with Mo Fei, or is the Huangpang Supreme’s ghost behind this?”
A dignified and magnificent city to other people, Huangpang City was a bustling center of activity and livelihood. It was the most prosperous locale in the entire major world.
But to Lu Yun’s Spectral Eye… it was a den of ghosts.
The city was a mess of ruins strewn over the land. Horrific ghostly entities lurked in dim corners, silently watching the cultivators and life forms living in the ghastly metropolis. The cultivators seemed to have no idea that they lived among a scene of devastation and destruction.
Lu Yun read a terrifying concentration of resentment in the middle of the city. It had latched onto a powerful living being and ate away at their soul. At the same time, Lu Yun saw a familiar face—Qu Cu.
He was the only person awake in the city. Lu Yun could see the worry and resolution in his emotions.
“I thought something was off about Qu Cu the first time I saw him. Indeed, thirty-three levels of sequence gives one the right to break free of sequence and forge a dao palace.” Lu Yun finally saw Qu Cu’s true cultivation at this time. The strongest on Huangpang wasn’t Mo Fei, but Qu Cu.
“You’re here.” Qu Cu immediately discovered Lu Yun’s assessing gaze and appeared in front of the young man. “Have you met with the supreme?” Yearning flashed through his eyes.
Lu Yun looked blankly at him. Even if he had… he couldn’t tell Qu Cu that… Plus, he’d been on the major world the entire time. How was Qu Cu assuming that Lu Yun had magically traveled off world to meet a supreme?
“Ah, I’m being too forward.” Qu Cu’s face dimmed. “You probably can’t see the truth of this place. It looks like a prosperous metropolis, but it’s actually a ghost city. Anyone who enters it will be trapped forever.”
Lu Yun was his last hope. The newcomer had once followed a supreme—if he could ask the supreme to intervene here, that might resolve the crisis facing Huangpang. But what kind of person was a supreme? How many followers did one have? Would a supreme take action just for someone who’d answered to his banner in the past?
Qu Cu was like a drowning man in his current state. He tried to grasp everything he could, anything that would give him hope. A supreme was his hope, so someone who’d served under one was his hope.
He’d said those mysterious things to Lu Yun because he wanted to spark Lu Yun’s curiosity. If Lu Yun came to the city, he could tell the young man everything and beg him to invite the supreme here.
“Only a supreme can save everyone here…” Pleading bled through Qu Cu’s gaze as he looked at Lu Yun.
“The person taking enigma stones as tithe was never Mo Fei, but you… you’re also the one who beat the other immortal to death.” Lu Yun sized up Qu Cu.
“Yes.” The man nodded. “I take enigma stones to inspire fear and resentment, so that people won’t venture to their deaths here. The more souls that Huangpang City devours, the stronger it becomes. Mo Fei has already become a ghost king. The power of heaven and earth found inside enigma stones can slightly withstand his energy.”
“Why did you kill that immortal?” Lu Yun frowned. “Just because he didn’t pay tithe?”
“That immortal courted death! He scared himself out of his wits after he learned some special methods to see the truth of this city and ran around saying the wildest things. I was afraid that he’d anger the ghost king, so I killed him and told people that he didn’t pay enough tithe. That was also another way to intimidate everyone.”
A heritage of ghost immortal dao existed in the Dao Academy. Its cultivators could train ghostly energy with their body of the living. Once the proper balance between yin and yang was struck, that set them on the path of ghost immortals. The immortal had likely walked this path, thus enabling him to see the truth of this city.
“No one alive has come to this city for the longest time… You see all those cultivators busy going about their business? Even though they’re alive, they repeat the same thing over and over again. The end is the beginning, never ending and never pausing.”
Lu Yun couldn’t help a shudder. Repeating the same thing over and over again… The end being the beginning without end and pause… wasn’t that the same thing in the Land of Reincarnation? This ghost city was a miniature Land of Reincarnation!
“I’m going to take a closer look.” Lu Yun took a deep breath while black sparkles flickered in his eyes. He strode forward to enter the city.
“You’ll end up trapped in there if you rush in like this! Go find the supreme. That’s the only hope for Huangpang City and this major world!” A begging Qu Cu stopped him. He was trapped here too, but since his cultivation level was so high, he was able to exit the city. However, his freedom was limited to walking around the major world.
If he dared leave, the ghost king that was Mo Fei and whatever was more terrifying would eat him alive.
“The supreme will come. I’m just going to take a look first.” Lu Yun patted Qu Cu’s shoulder and crossed fifteen thousand kilometers, bounding into the city.
Qu Cu looked on with despair.
