Cyan fog permeated the Heaven Locus Marsh; it was truly more of a march than a large body of water like the Sword Lake. The tendrils of heavy fog prevented Lu Yun from getting a clearer look at what lurked inside the murky depths. Moreover, the swamp was shrouded in a strange layer of heavenly power that obscured its feng shui and formation layouts.
With a slight frown, Lu Yun opened the Spectral Eye and took in any information of the dead within five thousand kilometers in radius. A dull pain quickly throbbed in his head and eyes before he hastily shut the Spectral Eye.
“How… how many have died here?!” he cried out in shock. “Was this an ancient battleground?”
“It was a taboo zone back in the Primordial Era,” said the Venerated Sacrosanct Demon Sovereign. “It was guarded by the Heaven Locus Lord appointed by the immortal emperor, and the marsh has been like this since the Primordial Era. I didn’t expect this area to become a facet in the world of immortals of this era.”
“The Xuan Yuan tomb and the Earth Altar are both there,” Ashu spoke up. “There are also things from an even more distant past.
“The ten lands of the world of immortals, namely Heaven Locus, Odyssey, Horizon, Mist, True Water, Yang Fire, Heaven Descent, Yellow Springs, Crimson Abyss, and Demon Measure Land, are derived from the ten forbidden lands from the primordial world of immortals.
“The monster emperors of their ten courts are all descendents of the lords who guarded the ten lands. Only these ten bloodlines are able to keep the forbidden lands under control.”
Ashu used to be a holy lord of the underworld; he’d observed the world of immortals from there and probed many unknown secrets.
What he and the demon sovereign revealed stunned the three hundred peerless immortal soldiers. They’d never realized what the ten lands actually were, and not even the ten monster courts were in the know.
“We don’t have time for chit-chat, something’s coming out of the marsh.” Lu Yun manifested a giant black donkey’s hoof with a wave of his hand.
Bam!
A giant black hand puffing with smoke shot out of the marsh, agitating the air and filling it with the pungent smell of rot and burnt charcoal.
“Alert, alert! Zombies want to charge out of the Heaven Locus Marsh! Attention! Assemble into formation!”
Alarmed, the squadron of peerless immortals hastened to form a battle formation of domineering presence to block the giant hand.
Boom!
Another giant hand dropped from the sky as soon as the battle formation came together and broke apart the newly assembled formation. Vomiting great mouthfuls of blood, the peerless immortals were thrown in all directions and completely incapacitated.
A five-kilometer-tall, charred zombie slowly crawled out of the marsh. It was a zombified figure that’d always been five kilometers tall. No combat arts or manifestations were involved to reach its size.
A five-kilometer-tall giant…
“The titan race! A species that was extinct before the Primordial Era!” Ashu soared into the sky, his eyes glowing faintly of gold as runic patterns interwove into a large golden net before him, blocking the zombie’s second punch and saving the three hundred peerless immortals.
Though he could rival a primordial origin dao immortal, the zombie was too powerful and he too was sent flying for his efforts.
Meanwhile, the Venerated Sacrosanct Demon Sovereign sat cross-legged on the ground to meditate on a Hadal Bone projection. A great manifestation covered in Hadal Bonefire emerged before him and body slammed the giant zombie. The manifestation, while being half a kilometer tall, was still dwarfed by the five-kilometer tall zombie.
Wreathed in black smoke, the giant zombie extended its yellowed mouth filled with corpse energy and bit at the Hadal Bone manifestation.
Hum.
A humming noise buzzed through the air, accompanied by explosive growth of the large donkey’s hoof in Lu Yun’s hand. Now three hundred meters large, it flew unerringly into the zombie’s mouth.
After a violent shake, the zombie was petrified. Seizing the opening, Lu Yun drew talismans in the air and stuck the transparent talismans sparkling with golden light onto the giant zombie, incapacitating it for good.
“Die!” commanded Lu Yun. Emerald Mistfire blossomed on his palm and leapt onto the zombie, washing over it, but what happened next put a grimace on Lu Yun’s face.
“Why isn’t it working?!” The fire had ignited the zombie, but didn’t destroy it.
In fact, Lu Yun could sense that the zombie wasn’t afraid of fire at all. Instead, the fire seemed to be making it stronger… it was about to shake off his talismans!
He hurriedly dispersed the Emerald Mistfire.
Boom!
The zombie shuddered as its body was ignited anew, but with a hazy, gray fire. An aura of decay, desolation, and despair spread like wildfire in all directions as actual blazing flames attacked the talismans restraining the zombie.
“What is this fire?” Lu Yun took several steps back in the sky. Ashu and the demon sovereign came back to him with matching expressions of gravity, their eyes fixed on the giant zombie getting back on its feet.
“I don’t know.” Ashu shook his head. “There is no such fire in the underworld.”
“Whatever it is, it’s not good.” With a grab, the demon sovereign manifested the Skyturning Seal, shimmering faintly of bluish gold. A wave of stable, balanced energy flowed from the treasure.
Legend had it that the Skyturning Seal was a prominent man-made treasure created by the three founders of the immortal dao. It was capable of shattering even connate-grade treasures. The seal had now become the demon sovereign’s personal treasure. Under its bluish gold light, Hadal Bonefire blazed furiously in challenge.
“Go!” With a wave of his hand, the Skyturning Seal rotated in the air and grew in size until it became a towering mountain, then smashed into the zombie’s head.
Wham!
Upon a prodigious collision, the giant zombie disintegrated with a loud bang.
“If the Heaven Locus Marsh is filled with such zombies, we don’t stand a chance of being successful.” The demon sovereign brooded ominously. He’d delivered the strongest attack he was capable of at the moment with the full power of the Skyturning Seal.
The three hundred peerless immortals gaped at Lu Yun and his two companions. The Heaven Locus Court always paid a heavy price to kill zombies whenever they rushed out of the marsh, yet the three immortals had made such quick work of one of these terrifying beings!
“They’re just zombies—idiots with almost literal shit for brains,” Lu Yun remarked as he stuck a Concealment Talisman on the demon sovereign and Ashu to conceal their presence. “Once inside, we can just circle around those we can’t defeat.
“Please inform the Heaven Locus emperor that Lu Yun of Dusk Province is headed into the Heaven Locus Marsh. Forgive me for not having time to pay him a visit.” He stepped into the marsh with Ashu and the demon sovereign.
“It’s the headmaster of the Dao Academy!” the leading peerless immortal inhaled deeply. “Go, inform His Majesty at once!”
