Seeing the crimson figure snatch Yu Hengluo gave Lu Yun a bizarre sense of apprehension.
Fury exploded from his heart, and he boosted the power of the Sugato Sword through burning immortal crystals and charged Ding Lei with almost a billion rays of sword energy.
“The Sugato Sword! Well met!!” Ding Lei laughed. With a twist of his right hand, his Universe-Encompassing Palm erupted again, creating a minor world and slamming into the energy of the Sugato Sword with overwhelming might.
Bam!
The sword energy scattered into the wind. The attack Lu Yun had launched with a hundred million crystals had been countered by a single palm-strike!
Lu Yun stumbled a few steps back and crashed into the sarcophagus again, a heavy weight on his chest. He was helpless against a giant turtle?!
“What the heck?!” He stared at Ding Lei in shock. The Universe-Encompassing Palm was too powerful, and Lu Yun couldn’t match its power even with the Sugato Sword.
“Hahaha!” Ding Lei brayed with laughter, sending out another strike with his palm. His technique was imbued with the weight of a mountain, and Lu Yun would be crushed if it landed.
Jaw clenched, Lu Yun summoned the black water jar and swung the demonic treasure at Ding Lei’s palm.
Bam!
An earth-shattering explosion rang out, the great impact embedding Lu Yun into the wall of the sarcophagus. Ding Lei was knocked off his feet as well, his right hand crushed to paste. He skidded a great distance before finally coming to a stop.
“What is that?!” Teeth-numbing noises echoed in the dark as Ding Lei’s hand grew back.
The pain was tremendous, but it didn’t faze the turtle at all. Back in the Sovereign Arena, Lu Yun had taken his skeleton apart and skinned him to refine a shamanic instrument. Having a hand grow back was nothing in comparison.
His horrified gaze penetrated the darkness and landed on the black water jar in Lu Yun’s hand. He could hear the sound of waves coming from the mysterious-looking treasure.
“Hehehe, take another hit from my jar, you bastard!” Lu Yun struggled to free himself from the coffin. Slapping several healing talismans on himself, he lifted the water jar and charged at Ding Lei.
“Die!” screamed Ding Lei.
Deploying the Universe-Encompassing Palm again, he turned his hands into the size of mountains, holding hundreds of millions of worlds in his palms. The riposte clashed with Lu Yun’s water jar; shockwaves from their collision shook the entire chamber.
Lu Yun’s attack was all raw power and no finesse. He used no combat art, but instead matched Ding Lei’s power with the might of the water jar alone.
And yet, he’d managed to deter the turtle.
Even Lu Yun himself was caught off guard by the sheer strength found in the water jar left behind by the Demon Celestial Master. It enabled him to match Ding Lei, a void-ascended immortal, as a mere cultivator!
Ding Lei was a stone turtle, one of the most powerful lineages in the world. He was much more powerful than even void-ascended true immortals; his Universe-Encompassing Palm would be able to kill an average void-ascended true immortal with a single slap.
Without taking the last step into immortality, Lu Yun should’ve already lain in defeat. Black demonic energy leaked from the giant water jar to imbue his body with great might. Thus rejuvenated, he wielded the water jar with increasing ferocity, sending Ding Lei running for shelter.
Is this how the water jar is actually supposed to be used?
At that thought, the water jar in his hand sent out a wave of disgruntlement, a clear sign that the treasure had developed its own spirit. Lu Yun swiftly corralled his thoughts and focused solely on the battle at hand.
The Universe-Encompassing Palm can’t break the Sugato Sword, though. There must be something on Ding Lei that can counter the sword’s power. I can’t allow him to escape!
Lu Yun swung the water jar at Ding Lei with all his might.
The monster spirit was struggling to keep up. His palm technique grew ever weaker until it suddenly popped violently with the sound of bursting bubbles.
The resulting explosion left Ding Lei’s hands bloodied and torn. The turtle screamed in terror and transformed back into its true form as a stone turtle, taking a prone position on the ground and retracting its head and limbs.
Clank!
Lu Yun leapt into the air and swung the water jar at the shell. A metallic clang rang at the collision, and the vibrations from impact ran up his arm and numbed his teeth.
“So hard!” Lu Yun had broken Ding Lei’s shell back in the Sovereign Arena, but he’d now failed to leave a scratch, even with the mysterious water jar.
“Surrender the Path of Ingress, anything to do with the Sugato Sword, and the cultivation method for the Universe-Encompassing Palm, Ding Lei,” he boomed before the mountainous turtle, “and I will spare your life.”
“Hehehe!” Ding Lei sneered from within the turtle shell. “Kill me if you have the ability! I’d like to see if you can break through my defense.”
The turtle shell had been refined into his personal treasure, and its impressive defenses could stymie even dao immortals.
“You asked for this,” scoffed Lu Yun. He put away the water jar and splayed his hand.
Swoosh!
Emerald Mistfire surged and overwhelmed Ding Lei with deadly waves of heat. The monster spirit blanched within its shell—no defense would protect him from immortal fire!
“Lu Yun!” a voice demanded from the shadows. “Is Pill Fairy Yuying’s Panorama of Clarity in your possession?”
A man dressed in gold strode out from the dark. He was all hard lines and sculpted features, and his eyes glowed faintly of gold as they settled on the immortal fire on Lu Yun’s palm.
The Panorama of Clarity, Portrait of Emptiness, and Profile of Harmony had merged into the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals long ago. However, that wasn’t common knowledge, as Qing Yu never displayed the scroll in public.
There was a sense of decay about the mysterious man. Clearly, he hadn’t seen sunlight for a long time.
“So what if it is?” Lu Yun manifested the water jar again.
“I’m not taking the Emerald Mistfire from you. Give me the Panorama of Clarity and I’ll let you live.” The man paused, then added, “Or you’ll be seeing Yuying very soon.”
He plainly didn’t know Yuying had been resurrected, but he recognized Lu Yun.
“The Exalted Immortal Sect?” Two beams of black light shooting from his eyes, Lu Yun gazed at the man in gold in front of him. However, disbelief then colored his expression as a tremor of shock ran down his spine. “No, you’re not a member of the sect. You’re a living dead…”
