The elder giant’s expression was nondescript by the time Lu Yun reopened his eyes, as if the Tome of Life and Death had passed the giant by and remained unseen. It was the young man who sat dumbly where he was. Upon inspecting his body with the inner eye, he saw the changes in the treasure.
It’d changed from an ancient bronze book into a bamboo scroll?
What the heck is going on?
After its transformation, all of the power of life and death within the treasure transmuted to the power of reincarnation. Lu Yun could call upon it with a single thought. In his current condition, all inner force within his body—whether immortal force or the power of order that he’d later cultivated—had disappeared. They were all replaced by reincarnation.
Reincarnation was a marvelous strength that could imitate any force at any time if Lu Yun wished to. It was similar to the Shapeshifting death art—on a fundamental level, it was whatever it turned into.
The death arts evolved once more, the changes most pronounced in the Spectral Eye. He rather thought that it should be renamed to the Heavenly Eye now!
The new and improved version clearly revealed everything about the elder giant to his eyes. He who called himself a wretched old man was… dead!
All of the humans in the tomb were dead! Dense death qi had invaded them and turned them into an existence that was the complete opposite of living beings.
The death qi came from the dao bones!
Lu Yun gaped at the elder giant, not knowing what to say. The giants still looked perfectly alive to him despite the Spectral Eye telling him otherwise. Plainly, the power within the dao bones was so profound that it made the giants appear no different from being alive.
Though Lu Yun had killed one of them earlier, they didn’t enter hell upon death. He’d thought that was because the giants here were the same as the creatures of darkness. But now it seemed that it was because they were dead to begin with. Being dead, they lacked souls and thus couldn’t enter hell as new inhabitants when they died anew. They were completely dead when their physical body perished.
“What do you see?” The elder giant understood certain things when he read Lu Yun’s expression.
“You guys… can’t leave the tomb at all, can you?” the young man’s voice was dry.
“Mmhmm,” the elder nodded. “A price must be paid if we seek to take. We obtained the power of the dao bones in exchange for our souls.”
The dao bones were so powerful that they could suppress all strength beneath a great dao—including order. But the price for that power was one’s soul!
None of the humans in the burial mound possessed souls. They couldn’t leave the place, for if they did, they would scatter upon the wind. What the elder had said earlier of breaking free of their seal and walking the world again had been pure bluster.
Humanity in the burial mound knew that there was another branch of humans in the chief worlds. As long as the group in the burial mound existed, then the truly powerful—such as the peak grand supremes or living empyrean supremes—wouldn’t dare do anything to those humans. At most, it’d be grand supremes ignorant of the truth who made trouble for the branch that lived freely.
“Who did you give them to?” Lu Yun ground his teeth. He was beginning to see a familiar look in the elder’s eyes—the same look that Fuxi often looked at him with.
Shaking his head, the elder fell silent.
“What do I need to do to free you from this predicament?” Lu Yun pressed.
The elder remained shaking his head.
“There is a peak grand supreme called Jin Huo at the heart of life. She melded her order of life into the tree god’s body, enabling life to bloom throughout the ancient burial mound. That is how we have survived all this time.
“You are correct to return the order of life to her and resurrect her. Humanity owes her that,” the elder said instead after a period of prolonged silence.
Lu Yun blinked, recalling what the peak grand supreme had said to him, that the giants here weren’t the true enemy. She hadn’t told him the full truth then because she didn’t know his true identity. She’d given her final order of life to Chu Xun due to an agreement she’d reached with the little girl’s parents back in the day.
“Do not reveal your nascent spirit until you truly grow into your strength,” the elder suddenly said.
“I understand,” Lu Yun nodded, quite a bit on his mind. The Tome of Life and Death floating out of his consciousness to form a circulation cycle outside his body was a subconscious display of his trust in the giant.
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“Alright then, go now.” The elder tapped the void three times with his bone staff and sent the two youngsters away. The fruit of life and death reappeared in the hole, but this one was just an image formed out of remnants of energy from the true fruit.
A profound look appearing in his eyes, the elder looked off to the distance.
“The fires of humanity burn bright and our legacy lives on. How wonderful.”
……
Jin Huo had her hands cupped around the withered wood, the desire to live again overflowing from her eyes.
“How was it?” she hastily asked when Lu Yun returned.
He pointed and summoned a bit of emerald-green radiance from the sapling inside the Tome of Life and Death, directing it into the withered wood. The wood transformed into a vibrant, healthy branch, which then changed into an emerald green silk dress that draped over Jin Huo’s lingering will.
A dense energy of life appeared, expanding robustly like a newborn sapling. The order of life abruptly took tangible form and fashioned a new body and soul for the peak grand supreme. It took only a millionth of a breath before a charming young girl in a green dress stood in front of Lu Yun.
“I’m finally… alive again.” Jin Huo smiled. She was a young girl brimming with vitality, her every gesture and movement representing the true meaning of life.
Such was the order of life.
“I’ve seen the one who calls himself a wretched old man,” he said slowly after a long moment of silence.
“A… a wretched old man?” Jin Huo blinked, bafflement flashing through her animated eyes.
“He’s probably the high elder of the human race,” Lu Yun sighed. “I am human too.”
Jin Huo shook from the revelation.
“He told me about you, I have come to return what humanity owes you. Our previous agreement is null and void. You don’t need to go to the World of Immortals with me.” Lu Yun’s gaze was clear as he looked at the reborn girl. “You are a peak grand supreme, so you must have your own matters to attend to in the outside world. Of course, I welcome you to the World of Immortals at any time, if you so wish.
“However, the caveat is that you must protect me until I leave the burial mound.” His expression suddenly collapsed. The Tome of Life and Death’s alteration from an ancient bronze book to a bamboo scroll had blown away the layer of mist wrapped around formula dao.
Lu Yun could now calculate that he had to depend on Jin Huo to leave the burial mound alive. He must never see the elder giant again, or the latter would most certainly die.
