Chapter 22
The Myriad Formation Summit didn’t exist in Duskwater Prefecture five thousand years ago. Where the mountain sat now used to be the eighth city under the prefecture’s jurisdiction—Truewater City.
One fateful day five thousand years ago, a mountain had fallen from the sky and landed on the city. It then released a myriad of strange formations, killing all of the denizens. Not a single soul had escaped the city alive. Now, only the mountain stood where a bustling city had once been.
Before the incident, Dusk Province had been no different from the other provinces in Nephrite Major. The dao of immortals was flourishing, and though it’d be too much to call Truewater a city filled with immortals, there were still a good number of them.
The incident that destroyed Truewater marked the beginning of the decline of Dusk Province. The qi in the environment deteriorated and cultivators’ progress slowed. The province nosedived after the death of Yuying, the eighth governor of Dusk Province, a thousand years ago. Overnight, it became the most barren of all provinces in Nephrite Major.
Mo Yi’s tale about the mountain’s origin made Lu Yun’s heart itch with anticipation. There was an ancient city under the mountain! Anything buried and forgotten by history was fatally attractive to tomb raiders like him.
“You seem very interested in these things.” Mo Yi was caught off guard by Lu Yun’s visible excitement.
Lu Yun smiled. “Don’t you find it satisfying to recover forgotten histories from beneath the earth and bring them back out to the light of day?”
Mo Yi nodded after a pause. “True, the world of immortals was in shambles after the great war. It’s only been rebuilt because of the artifacts excavated from the ancient tombs.” She sighed faintly. “However, the tombs are very dangerous. There’s always great casualties during every excavation.”
“Right.” Lu Yun nodded in agreement. “The greater the danger, the greater the gain.”
The ancient tombs of immortals were indeed dangerous. Take Yuying’s tomb, as an example. It was just a regular immortal’s tomb, yet there were terrible things in it, like the thousand-year-old zombie, corpse flies, and stone spirits.
“Be careful of the envoy,” Mo Yi suddenly piped up. “He failed to use me to kill you, so his next attempt might come while we’re on the mountain.”
Lu Yun paused. “Are you sure it was him who set me up?”
Mo Yi nodded. “Everyone from Nephrite Capital wants you dead, including those from your own clan.”
Lu Yun fell silent; there seemed to be something more at play here. Something set his position apart from that of the other governors.
“Are you going to Mount Myriad Formation, milord? This old servant will follow you!” Ge Long volunteered himself with a righteous look on his face.
“Si—sir, this servant will go as well.” Fear tinged Wanfeng’s expression, but she clenched her jaw and volunteered.
“Ge Long will do. You should stay in the city lord manor.” Lu Yun patted her head and chuckled. “It’s fine if Ge Long dies, but I’d feel terrible if you get hurt.”
“You’re playing favorites, sir.” Wanfeng’s face flushed red and the tips of her ears turned crimson. Her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz.
“Sweet talker,” huffed Mo Yi. “So our governor does live up to his reputation as a shameless skirt-chaser. You should be careful, girl. Don’t let him fool you.”
Lu Yun’s expression turned awkward.
“Pretty big sister, my house’s lord isn’t a shameless skirt-chaser! He—he’s still a virgin.” After wracking her brains, that was the only argument Wanfeng could come up with.
Even more abashed, Lu Yun stayed silent. A chuckle forced itself out of Mo Yi.
“You’re so pretty, big sister,” Wanfeng said curiously. “Why do you dress as a man, instead of a woman?”
Mo Yi wore men’s clothes and went without makeup, but it still wasn’t enough to conceal looks and elegance that were worth cities. She shook her head without a response.
Once prepared, Lu Yun set off with Ge Long, Mo Yi, and the others. He didn’t take Yuying with him. She’d yet to fully recover her cultivation, still falling a step short of the spirit realm. Besides, she could teleport to Lu Yun anytime through Gates of the Abyss. That would be his trump card, when the circumstances called for it.
The young man in black still hadn’t volunteered his name. Standing beside him were the extremely despondent Li Youcai, and the other six city lords of the prefecture. All of the latter were origin core cultivators, and they knew who Lu Yun was, but showed no respect for him. It was apparent that they’d flocked to the young man’s banner.
“Here you are, Mo Yi!” One of the six city lords perked up when he saw Mo Yi and reached for her hand. This was the city lord of Skyriver, who Li Youcai had betrothed Mo Yi to.
With an impassive look, Mo Yi lifted her hand out of the way.
“You!” Anger flashed through the city lord’s face and he threw Lu Yun a vicious glare.
“Enough.” Irritation colored the tone of the young man in black. “Since everyone’s here, let’s leave for the mountain.”
“Understood.” The Skyriver city lord could only oblige, since his liege had commanded it so.
Ah, Mo Yi is pretending to be weaker than her mark. No one present realizes that she’s an immortal. Strange, why am I able to see through her pretense?
Lu Yun could tell that Mo Yi was an immortal, and an august immortal at that. There were six levels to immortals: true, empyrean, august, golden, arcane, and peerless immortal.
What surprised Lu Yun was that Li Youcai, looking like more meat than man, was also an immortal. He wasn’t at Mo Yi’s level, however, but was an empyrean immortal nonetheless.
As for the young man in black, Lu Yun couldn’t fathom his cultivation level. There was a faint shadow shrouding everything about him. If he didn’t care to display it, no one would be able to get a read on his cultivation.
Mo Yi must be the strongest in the province. No golden immortals dare set foot in Dusk, which makes august immortals the highest possible peak of strength. That’s a very fat thigh! I need to hug it tightly, Lu Yun silently decided.
Li Youcai obviously thought Mo Yi was at his mercy, because, as an empyrean immortal, his cultivation was superior to hers. However, she only obeyed the prefect out of consideration for the rules of the Nephrite court. She wasn’t going to violate the local laws if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.
A stupendous and luxurious fortress ship cut through the sky, traveling to the mountain about two hundred fifty kilometers away from Duskwater City.
“This is it?” Lu Yun stared dumbly at the mountain soaring high into the clouds, his eyes widened in awe.
“This is it.” Mo Yi nodded. “I, too, was stunned the first time I saw the mountain.”
Surprised and appreciative noises rose from the others, as well. The mountain towered grandly into the air. Easily thousands of meters, a faint shroud of mist swirled all about it.
Myriad Formation Summit? More like Myriad Get F*cked Summit! There’s an entire city buried beneath this mountain! No... wait! A shudder ran down Lu Yun’s spine. This is an enormous burial mound! All of ancient Truewater City was entombed beneath this gigantic burial mound from the sky!