Necropolis Immortal

Lu Shenhou's murmuring was as quiet as a whisper, but it made Lu Yun’s heart tremble.

He wasn’t alone? Who else had come?

Xing Chen opened the Spectral Eye and warily observed his surroundings. Dark and cold, an eerie wind blew past and elicited a subtle transformation inside the formation.

Mo Yi, Chen Xiao, Qing Buyi, and Lu Feng stood up at the same time, vigilantly observing the growing darkness around them.

Empress Myrtlestar elected to revert to her true appearance. Imperial Star remaining over her head, the other two starstones landed beside the forge of sky and earth and shielded it in boundless starlight.

The Formation of the Ten Yama Kings also came into view, the ten kings standing in the ten directions, locking down the vicinity. The eerie wind gradually grew in intensity, filling the air with ghostly wails.

……

“This isn’t yin wind from hell.” Lu Yun inhaled sharply when he felt the strange wind. “Be careful… akasha ghosts are here.”

Akasha ghosts!

Lu Shenhou’s reinforcements were akasha ghosts! In the air, white figures flickered in and out of existence, filling everyone with dread.

“The akasha ghosts have hell weapons with them,” Lu Yun suddenly added. “Be careful not to let them take your souls.”

Lu Yun had once narrowly escaped this very fate himself. Thankfully, Qing Yu had thrown caution to the wind and exposed her true appearance to deploy the power of her starstone and the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals, saving his life in the nick of time.

And now, their forms vague and indistinct, an unknown number of akasha ghosts had arrived.

These specimens were different from the ones in the divine’s Last Repose. The ones who dwelled there merely came to destroy activated altars, and were closer to incarnations or replicas. But the ones they saw now, these vague and shadowy figures, were the akasha ghost’s primary bodies.

Bursts of yin wind blew by, so cold it made one’s blood run cold.

Empress Myrtlestar beckoned gently with her fingers and conjured the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals in her hand, unleashing pure white light from the scroll that drifted through the air like the petals of a giant white lotus flower.

The next moment, a stillness descended upon the scene. When time flowed a beat later, the akasha ghosts scattered in a panicked flurry.

So it would seem that the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals really could suppress akasha ghosts. The first time they’d appeared, Qing Yu had also used the scroll to frighten them away.

However, these akasha ghosts only reacted for a short moment before rushing at them a second time. They wielded various hell weapons, or chains and shackles, and torture instruments once found in the eighteen layers of hell, and the very fabric of reality rippled intensely in the wake of their assault.

The ghosts shrieked like feral beasts as they swarmed forward. At that moment, the image of a similar charge in hell came to Lu Yun’s mind.

Deja vu? The two scenes were eerily familiar, if not identical.

“Wait a moment!” He stiffened when he suddenly thought of something.

Hum!

With a gentle shake, the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals streaked into a trail rainbow light and shot at the akasha ghosts.

“No, don’t!!” Lu Yun howled even as he lunged forward and threw himself in the scroll’s way.

Bang! The scroll slammed heavily into him and sent him flying.

“What are you doing?!” Empress Myrtlestar softly chided him. She hastily went to help him up, then took out a healing pill and shoved it into his mouth.

“No need.” Lu Yun gently waved her off, then opened his mouth wide and sucked in a swift mouthful of air.

Pop pop pooooop!

Strange sounds popped within Xing Chen, and soon after, his chest caved in by the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals swelled up again. His body housed three organs of heaven and earth, and he wasn’t a being of flesh and blood, so he could regenerate even if crushed to a pulp.

“Everything is fake…. This is the layout of absolute death,” Lu Yun slowly recomposed himself and spoke commandingly, “Cease your attacks, all of you. Everything you see is an illusion, a facade. Akasha ghosts have indeed come, but they’re always accompanied by layouts of absolute death. As long as you don’t trigger the layout, these ghosts won’t be able to harm you.”

Lu Shenhou froze for a split second. He hadn’t expected Lu Yun to see through the existence of the absolute death layout.

The last time, Lu Yun had made the mistake of bringing an akasha ghost into the kingdom of hell, thus triggering the layout of absolute death accompanying the ghost and causing a throng of ghosts to descend in the netherworld.

At that time, he’d realized that the so-called certain death layout wasn’t a layout in the true sense, but something that surrounded an akasha ghost like a personal domain. As long as one didn’t touch the layouts of certain death, akasha ghosts couldn’t truly arrive in person.

……

Lu Yun’s primary body no longer paid attention to Lu Shenhou. Glistening with dark, mysterious light, the Tome of Life and Death was focused on the forge of earth and sky, while Lu Yun calmed his mind and focused all his attention on refining Qing Yu’s poison.

“Heh… you countered my efforts so easily.” Though defiant, Lu Shenhou couldn’t breach the defenses of the Tome of Life and Death, and the akasha ghosts were equally useless against Lu Yun. “Sure enough, you’re quite the remarkable man, Lu Yun. Had you lived in the Primordial Era, you might well have made that ancient emperor your follower.”

Empress Myrtlestar opened her mouth, about to reply, but Lu Yun dragged her over.

“Don’t bother responding to him, he’s spouting pure bullshit.” It wasn’t Lu Yun’s first time confronting akasha ghosts. Additionally, the Spectral Eye could now see through all fabrications. Even Qing Yu’s former disguise would have been stripped down at first glance. Likewise, the Spectral Eye had also seen through the resurrection layout.

“Don’t talk, don’t move. Even if the primordial immortal emperor were to come in person, treat him like empty air,” Xing Chen commanded in a cold voice.

The ten Yama Kings naturally followed his order to the letter, while Mo Yi and the other three, in their capacity as protectors of the four formation eyes, likewise wouldn’t act rashly. Empress Myrtlestar sighed faintly. To think a noble ancient empress like her would be lectured by a junior!

“When my soul is fully healed, perhaps I too should start again from the beginning…” With this one last thought, she gradually faded into nothingness.

“Did you say to treat the primordial immortal emperor like empty air even if he came in person?” Lu Shenhou suddenly posited.

Lu Yun threw him a sideways glance, but didn’t bother to reply.

“But… that immortal emperor truly has come.” When Lu Shenhou’s voice fell, strains of immortal music filled the air and immortal radiance sprinkled down from the sky. An exceedingly handsome man walked down the firmament with a measured pace. His face was striking and his features exquisite. Appearing as a young man, he was tall and slender, a tidy blue robe as a finishing touch.

Inside the void, Empress Myrtlestar’s eyes widened when she saw the newcomer. She tightly covered her mouth, barely stopping herself from shouting in surprise.

The immortal emperor!

The immortal emperor of the Primordial Era!

The immortal emperor who’d unified a world where immortals and demons ran amok, the one who’d established a supreme immortal dynasty!

“Fake, it must be fake! How could the immortal emperor appear in this place?!” Empress Myrtlestar screamed inwardly.

“Who are you?” To her shock, she heard Lu Yun address this young man.