Lu Yun nodded without a word and turned back to the giant lungs.
“Is there really no such thing as an organ of the world?” he couldn’t help but wonder. All animals, no matter their level of advancement, possessed five yin organs and six yang organs. Even plants grew similar organs at some point throughout the course of their evolution.
The desolate willow in the Skandha Range, for example, had developed a real face that wasn’t just an illusion. Like all other living beings, the desolate willow had nine orifices, five yin organs, and six yang organs.
Once ascending to the void realm, cultivators would be able to draw in the power of heaven and earth and create a minor world within their bodies that was identical to the real world.
Lu Yun didn’t think this ability was a coincidence, as the same was true of feng shui layouts. All layouts were based on something that existed in the world. Even man-made layouts set up by feng shui masters, such as Ghost Deceives God, had been created through combining the existing layouts in nature.
Therefore, hell must exist as well.
Lu Yun was sure that the hell he ruled over would become the hell of legends once it fully evolved. What, then, was the underworld?
……
“Do you want those lungs?” Violetgrave asked after a brief pause, noting Lu Yun’s silence.
“Are you offering help?” Lu Yun shook his head. “I don’t dare take it.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve decided not to eat you. You’re too hard to chew.” Violetgrave rubbed her cheeks. “I wonder what the book on you is. I can still kill you despite its protection, but I can’t eat you.”
“Then why would you help me?” Lu Yun pursed his lips in suspicion, abruptly changing the subject. “Ah, you mentioned that this is a mausoleum?”
“That’s right,” Violetgrave explained. “The underworld is a mausoleum. This tomb is just one of the many tombs within it.”
“What about you?” Lu Yun blurted out. “What are you?”
“Me?” Violetgrave dimpled. “I’m Violetgrave.” She whirled around. “Violet meaning Violetgrave, and grave as in Violetgrave.”
Lu Yun shrugged. “That’s not an answer.”
“Alright. I’ll kill the divine spirit in the lungs, then you’ll be able to make them part of your own body!” Violetgrave’s tone turned serious. “I have an idea about who the lungs belonged to, and who killed him and left the lungs here. He must not be allowed to acquire the lungs, else the consequences will be unbearable.”
She stared gravely at Lu Yun. “You must take the lungs. If you refuse, I’ll knock you out and shove them into your body!
“The book won’t let them kill you. This time, it’s not me helping you, but you helping me! In this world, probably only you can refine the lungs without alerting their previous owner.” Faint flames burst from Violetgrave’s eyes like violet ghosts.
Lu Yun stepped back without thinking, gaping at Violetgrave with shock.
“It’s you!!” He stared at the flames in Violetgrave’s eyes. He’d seen the spectre-like flames before… in hell!
The first time he’d seen the flames, he was trying to combine Size Manipulation Talismans with formations.
The second time, Lu Yun had captured an inmate from the depths of hell, attempting to make it his Infernum. The fire had then appeared and reduced the inmate to ashes.
The third time… was in Violetgrave’s eyes!
This was the fire that’d destroyed hell, and it yet remained there, preventing hell from resurrecting. He was deathly certain that if not for the Tome of Life and Death, he would’ve been burned to a crisp by this fire that was more dreadful than hellfire.
“Me?” Violetgrave paused and considered Lu Yun. ”What are you talking about?”
Lu Yun inhaled deeply to push down his agitation and asked tentatively, “Did you destroy the hell of the human race?”
“I didn’t,” Violetgrave said, shaking her head.
“Then why is the fire in your eyes the same as the one that destroyed the human hell?” Lu Yun had thrown all reservation out of the window.
Violetgrave had always been with him in sword form. Although Violetgrave the woman had been asleep, she must have noticed many of his secrets.
Hearing Lu Yun’s question, emotions warred on her face. “Destroy the human hell… Has he grown that much?”
Lu Yun remained silent, waiting for her explanation. After all, he had refined the sword. With it, Violetgrave would hibernate in his body. He wouldn’t rest easy until she gave him an answer.
“I know who he is.” Violetgrave nodded. “The fire is indeed mine. The person who destroyed hell was the first to make a deal with me to acquire a wisp of Nether Fire. Then he gave me something else in exchange for his life, just like the Sword of Dao.”
“Nether Fire?” Lu Yun nodded. “Is that what this kind of fire is called? It’s more powerful than hellfire.”
“The fire in you is hellfire?” Violetgrave started. “So the place that has been eluding my senses is a shard of hell from the Primeval human race. You’re wrong, though. Hellfire is the most powerful flame in the world.”
Fear flashed through her eyes in echo of a memory she’d rather not relive.
“If there’s something similar to that fabled hell, then it’d be hellfire… The human emperor imprisoned hellfire by force back in the day in order to create hell.
“Alright, let’s not talk about this further!” She inhaled deeply, schooling her expression.
It was the first time Lu Yun had ever seen a display of emotion from her. She was an enigma, something that didn’t seem alive. With the glimpses that Lu Yun had caught, though, she also felt like a real person.
“You, eat the lungs! Or put them in your body!” Violetgrave demanded overbearingly. “Otherwise I’ll show you what the Nether Fire is capable of!”
“Alright, alright…” Lu Yun agreed hurriedly. “But I’m not going to put the lungs in my own body. I’ll put them in my replica, instead.”
He didn’t want someone else’s organ in him. Moreover, the lungs would increase his cultivation and strength by leaps and bounds; however, he knew in his heart that he had to build a strong foundation and take baby steps in cultivating the Method of Life and Death.
If his strength exceeded his cultivation, perhaps something bad would happen. The connate cultivation method was tailor-made for Lu Yun and there were no shortcuts to be had. He had to improve himself step by step.
His replica, though, didn’t share that concern. Lu Yun wanted to improve Xing Chen’s strength as quickly as possible to make him his new secret weapon. The world of immortals was becoming ever more chaotic, and Lu Yun knew with absolute certainty that his trump card, the corpse puppet, would be used in the near future.
……
“Alright.” Violetgrave nodded. She’d regained her usual nonchalance. “Watch my sword.”
Swoosh!
In sword form, she slashed at the giant lungs with a flash of violet.
