Chapter 2180.2: Impending Chaos
Chapter 2180.2: Impending Chaos
“Marquis Origin of the Origin Sect was once a slave of the Lu Clan. When disaster struck the family, he turned on his masters. After he seized the Lu marquis position, he hunted down the rest of the clan.
“Your grandfather’s line was lucky enough to escape and maintained a standing of a third rate Great Xia family. But afterwards, your grandfather stumbled upon an immortal weapon and an ancient immortal’s legacy in the Celestial Realm Battlefront. His cultivation advanced with giant strides and he showed signs of revitalizing the clan.
“The Origin Sect crushed the Lu survivors overnight when it received word of the bright future. Your grandfather managed to flee thanks to the might of the treasure, and you know what happened next,” Mo Qiyue couldn’t help but sigh. The Lu Clan was once so magnificent and awe-inspiring. Hailed as the leader of the thirty-six marquises of Great Xia, they were almost titled kings. Everything changed in the blink of an eye and further persecution from Marquis Origin meant that they were nearly extinct.
The matter had been general knowledge back in the day.
Mo Qiyue hadn’t known who Lu Tianling was at first; he learned of the complete history after making some inquiries at his sect.
The current Origin Sect rivaled the Lu Clan of old and Marquis Origin was one of the strongest marquises in the dynasty. Who dared take a celestial marquis to task for past crimes? Not to mention, the Lu Clan was so feeble that it almost didn’t exist anymore. No one would offend Marquis Origin for the disgraced remnants of a shattered family.
Lu Yun remained silent for a long while when he heard Mo Qiyue’s words. “The affairs of the world are inconstant and nothing is eternal. Where there is prosperity, so is there decline. My clan once soared at the peak of glory, but fell at the end. Such is the cycle of reincarnation that cannot be denied.
“But as a slave of my family, Marquis Origin repaid a debt of gratitude with vicious brutality. This grudge must be answered in kind!”
The everlasting cycle of living and dying was the only eternal truth of existence. Just like reincarnation, there was no existence that was forever or a void perpetual. Even the objective existence of nothing was not eternal.
Mo Qiyue fell silent.
……
Immortal Burial Valley had become the heart of Jade Ruins Realm and the eye of the storm. Its earth was blood red from constant violence and an uncountable number of cultivators had died over the past year. Great Xia’s decision to investigate the valley further raised a disturbance, resulting in higher ranked empires who hadn’t cared about it before also stirring to action.
It was like a keg of firepower ignited the second the heavenly book’s power over the realm was nullified. It had kept the realm under constant surveillance like a massive eye. Anything that happened was immediately recorded in its pages.
When the human demon Bloodbath went on a rampage in a fifth rank empire, it was immediately captured by the treasure and relayed to the law enforcers. That resulted in the ninth rank empires issuing an arrest warrant for Bloodbath.
It also suppressed any external immortal that visited the realm. If the immortal dared plague the world, then the heavenly book would activate and kill the offending immortal.
No one knew who’d created it. It seemed omnipresent and kept watch over the world like a miniature heavenly dao. With its power being weakened, the realm plunged into chaos.
Immortal Burial Valley.
“That woman grabbed the half step immortal pill that just flew out. After her!” Countless cultivators surged in a certain direction like the floodwaters.
The crater had just erupted moments ago, sending out a stream of pills and medicines. There was a half step immortal pill among them, a treasure that would command attention even in Great Xia.
Fengxian Wu had been very excited to see it. To think that she’d obtain an immortal pill on her first visit to Immortal Burial Valley! The half step immortal pill was bursting with uncommonly gentle power. If she refined it, she’d likely break through on the spot and form her nascent soul.
There were too many other cultivators present, however, a full one hundred thousand of them. There were numerous high ranked cultivators as well. Not even Terra Demon wished to meet them head-on, so he motioned to Fengxian Wu and fled in the opposite direction.
A moderately sized city had developed near Immortal Burial Valley over the past year. Untold numbers of cultivators had settled down in it, spending their days waiting for the crater to erupt. It brought forth a shower of treasures once a month—this instance was the thirteenth of the year. Each eruption incited bloody struggles in the valley. The worst of them had caused more than ten thousand casualties, but that hardly deterred would-be fortune seekers. Increasing numbers of cultivators arrived in the valley every day.
Only one item resulted from the thirteenth eruption—a half step immortal pill.
Boom!
One hundred thousand cultivators attacked at the same time, flinging a motley array of arts and treasures. Terra Demon’s eyes widened and he grabbed Fengxian Wu, disappearing in the sky.
They were dozens of kilometers away when they reappeared.
Pfft!
Terra Demon paled as he spat out a mouthful of blood. Though he was the nascent soul of an immortal king, his current cultivation was only soul projection. Simultaneous attacks from one hundred thousand cultivators were enough to break his bones to pieces.
“That group of lunatics would’ve smashed a real immortal pill with that reaction, to say nothing of a half step immortal pill!” Terra Demon’s heart pounded after he spat out blood. As fast as he’d run, the combined blow from so many cultivators had injured him with just its presence. A wandering immortal would’ve been vaporized by it.
“Are you alright, senior?!” Fengxian Wu threw out the pill when she saw Terra Demon’s condition and the horde of cultivators in hot pursuit. “Here it is, you can have it!”
“Don’t trust her! How would she so easily give up a half step immortal pill? She threw out a fake!” someone called out with the crowd. It drifted in and out of hearing, making it impossible to determine where or who it came from. That galvanized the hesitating cultivators and they focused on the duo again.
“You’re purposefully instigating things and deserve death!” Terra Demon snorted, sending out a ray of silver sword light with a lift of his hand. One agonized scream later, it returned to him with a keening nascent soul.
“Were you the one telling tales?” He regarded it coldly, reducing the nascent soul to dust. Despite one hundred thousand cultivators covering the land and sky, blotting out the sun like a thundercloud, he’d still killed who he wanted to kill.
“One of you already has the immortal pill. I will show mercy to none of you if you continue to pursue us.” Terra Demon wiped away blood from the corner of his lips. “The next to die might be you.”
Silver sword light circled around him like an argent snake. Overwhelming killing intent forced a collective shudder out of the cultivators. There were one hundred thousand of them, including a few awakened cultivators, but no one dared come forward.
Fengxian Wu was also stunned. She’d been slightly dissatisfied that Lu Yun had only sent Terra Demon to protect her, but she now understood that her guard rivaled a wandering immortal. If it wasn’t for her presence, he could easily retreat at will.
“There’s only one of him and one hundred thousand of us, we’re not afraid of him! C’mon guys, let’s band together and—” A shriek quickly cut off when silver light flashed by. The radiance returned with a dead nascent soul hanging on Terra Demon’s sword.
It belonged to a combination cultivator!
Silver sword radiance twinkled in Terra Demon’s eyes, pulverizing the struggling nascent spirit. Rays upon rays of sword light formed around Fengxian Wu, cocooning her with protection.
“Piss off or die.” Silver light blazed nine meters from Terra Demon’s eyes. His hair danced wildly as killing intent ballooned his aura.
Shocked, one hundred cultivators uniformly took a step back. They all recalled a story of a combination cultivator slaughtering one million cultivators in the powerful fifth rank Barren Empire, thereby causing its overnight demise.
However, being a fifth rank empire meant that Barren’s strongest powerhouse was just soul separation. Bloodbath had also been a combination cultivator. The one in front of them was just soul projection and he faced an army that included awakened cultivators.
Although some weaker foundation establishment and golden core cultivators could be found in the horde, most of them were soul separation and combination powerhouses. Nearly half of them were stronger than Terra Demon.
The masses parted and five awakened cultivators walked out together.
“We’ll spare your life if you hand over your treasure!” The five were dressed in varying outfits and nursed different ripples of power. Plainly, they were from different factions. One of them was an elder three meters tall who seemed to speak for the group.
Terra Demon was just a soul projection cultivator, but had picked out a combination cultivator from the horde and instantly killed them. Some now suspected that he carried a heaven defying treasure on him.
There were no human emotions to be found on Terra Demon’s face; he was enveloped by silver light.
“Die!” he sat out.
Whoosh!
He rushed forward, the silver flying sword in his hand churning toward the five awakened cultivators like an overwhelming stream of stars.
Rumble!!
The river of sword qi was so magnificent that it covered three hundred meters in all directions. It seemed like a leaping river, but was also immutable as a mountain. It crashed down on the five with domineering force.
The five looked on with dismay. Who would’ve thought that a soul projection cultivator would erupt with so much power?
etvolare’s Thoughts
I like how Fengxian Wu cares for Terra Demon. She’s got some empathy as opposed to being a spoiled little princess.