Chapter 1331: Ghostly Spies

“I want his sword too, though I walk the way of the knife,” said the Bloodclad Duke. “If I can obtain the Stellar Stone Magneticus and forge a blood knife from it, no one beneath third step king will be my match.

“If you want to kill him for his sword, fight me first. You can do as you wish after you beat me.”

The Azureclad Duke glowered while Lu Yun considered everyone with resignation. Did these preeminent geniuses think he was a pig to be butchered however they liked?

Despite that, he didn’t fly into a rage. He wasn’t offended by the Bloodclad Duke’s words since most of his time and effort had indeed been spent on supplemental dao upon arriving in the Hongmeng. He hadn’t had the chance to really hone his battle skills, so it was normal that he was lesser than all of them.

“How about we deal with the sword in our own way after we handle the vicious ghosts?” proposed the Purpleclad Duke.

“What if he runs off?” snorted Azureclad.

“We’ll just haul him back if he does,” came an indifferent female voice. Flames blazed to life in the void and a woman wrapped in crimson smoke walked out of the fire.

The Crimsonclad Duke was here as well.

Shocked gasps were drawn through the crowd—who would’ve thought that four out of the five unparalleled geniuses would come to Cloudexit City? Was the venerated enforcer here as well then?!

……

“Little brother, don’t go running away now. If big sister finds you and accidentally hits you too hard, you’ll lose that little head of yours.” She winked coquettishly at Lu Yun.

The Crimsonclad Duke was a young woman roughly eighteen years old and exuded every possible womanly charm. She was one of the greatest beauties of the Hongmeng.

Though her expressions and gestures could entrance any man beneath titled kinghood, Lu Yun was completely immune to the temptation. After all, he spent his days in the company of two beauties so breathtaking that they personified trouble!

The Fineheart King had failed to seduce him in the Immortal Pagoda, and so did this Crimsonclad Duke.

Lu Yun spread his hands out—he didn’t want to provoke these four either. If a real fight broke out and he had to fend for his life, his trump cards would probably blow Cloudexit City to high heaven.

Crimsonclad giggled like tinkling bells upon seeing Lu Yun’s demeanor and left.

“Anyone who wants to challenge the Champion Duke may do so, but whoever dares take his sword will face my wrath.” Azureclad sneered and flicked his eyes to the eighteen kings in the sky before taking his leave.

“What did he look at us for? Would we lower ourselves to take that sword?” grumbled the Dawn King.

Earthmartial and the others shrugged. Since Dawn King was the city lord, he’d refined Cloudexit City’s core essence. It wouldn’t be difficult for him to surreptitiously ambush a superior realm cultivator.

Bloodclad and Purpleclad departed as well; Lu Yun wasn’t worthy of their attention.

“Is the name of Champion Duke not well known enough?” Lu Yun mused with dejection.

“Hahaha!!” Uproarious laughter broke out from the cultivators around him. “Do you really think you’re a half step king worthy of a title just because you’ve defeated trash like Li Zhen?”

“Nuh uh, he didn’t even defeat that trash, just broke his sword. If you were wielding anything else, Li Zhen would slice you into two with one stroke.

“Ah this is boring, let’s go. He’s just another Extraordinary Duke.”

“The ‘Champion Duke’ title is gonna be another joke after today, used to insult fools.”

A hint of viciousness floated onto Lu Yun’s face when he heard the jeering around him.

The title of Champion Duke is also going to be a joke?

This title was the pillar of a nation and people, encompassing illustrious battle feats! How dare these people turn it into a joke?!

“Very well, I’ll swap to another sword. No, how about I fight you with fists only?” He coldly pointed at the person chortling about the title.

“Me?” The cultivator brayed with laughter. “Oh no, oh no no no. I’m just a minor character and a puny superior realm cultivator. You’re a noble, majestic duke, the Champion Duke! You can’t lower yourself to my level!”

Contempt and patronization filled his tones as he bit off the title “Champion Duke” like it really was an insult.

“Heh heh heh,” Lu Yun cackled. “Li Zhen left without another word when I broke his sword, so how dare a puny nothing like you taunt me? Do you really think the Champion Duke is a pushover?”

Whoosh!

Searing cerulean light flared from the Stellar Sword and flashed down on the superior realm cultivator.

Shock and dismay rocked the crowd; no one had imagined that the Champion Duke would be so small-hearted that he’d want to kill someone after a few jeers! He’d just said that he would fight with his bare fists, but he used his sword the next second and plainly intended on killing his victim!

Despicable, shameless, reprehensible!

“You!” The cultivator swiftly backed up and flailed around to grab others for a shield, but the ray of sword light had locked onto him. No matter how he dodged or hid behind others, the stroke would still land on him!

“Bastard!” Flying into a rage, he emitted black smoke and formed an enormous ghostly face out to block the blow.

“He’s a vicious ghost!”

“Ghost!!” Shock and dismay of a different nature ripped through onlookers. The Champion Duke’s target was a disguised ghost?!

“What?? Ghosts have slipped into Cloudexit City!” This immediately drew the attention of the eighteen kings in the sky. They were hovering overhead to survey the city and face off the army of ghosts in Starspace Region, but the enemy had already snuck into the city!

“Is it a coincidence, or did he actually recognize the ghost’s true identity?” They looked uncertainly at each other.

The Dawn King looked on with a black look; the ghost’s fake identity came from one of his forces. Despite the unwelcome revelation, a ghost in the superior realm didn’t warrant action from the kings.

Back in the city, Lu Yun smashed through the ghostly face of smoke, kicked the ghost to the ground, and stepped on him. He pierced through the ghost’s forehead with a simple stab and killed him where he laid. The ghost dispersed into the air as a tendril of black smoke.

“You killed him!” Cultivators clustered around when they saw him execute the ghost.

“What, do you think you’ll get his conspirators out of him?” Lu Yun rolled his eyes. Inwardly, however, he frowned to himself.

He had indeed killed the ghost, but there was no new addition to his Infernum like there’d been when he executed the Meteorite King. The ghost was completely gone. It’s like when I killed the akasha ghosts, none of them became my Infernum either.

Lu Yun had subdued the ghost ancestor, but it wasn’t much help in the Hongmeng. All it could do was remain in hell.

The ghost he’d just killed was so much stronger than the ghost ancestor that it could crush the ancestor with one hand. Evidently, the ghost ancestor was relevant only in the chaos and had nothing to do with the ghosts of the Hongmeng.

A faint hunch flickered in Lu Yun’s mind—the ghosts of the Hongmeng might have something to do with the akasha ghosts. The akasha ghosts… seemed to be everywhere. They were drawn by a child of resentment, and who was the child?

As for the ghost he’d just killed—Lu Yun had discovered him early on and was beyond startled to find a disguised ghost swaggering through town. That meant there was a spy among the eighteen kings!

He reflexively looked upward, unable to see that the kings wore unpleasant expressions as the same thing occurred to them.

……

“Hah, that bunch of trash dares call themselves kings.” Having witnessed everything that’d just happened, Azurecloud curled his look at the eighteen kings.

“Sir, they’re just some low level kings. Apart from Earthmartial who possess some real skill, the other seventeen are no match for you.” A young girl dressed in similar azure robes stood next to Azureclad, resting her head on his shoulder. He stroked her pale blue hair and nodded slightly.

“One of their agents in the city has been removed, they’re probably about to launch their first salvo. Otherwise, the ghost king hidden in the shadows will be exposed soon, too.” Azureclad stood up with a lazy stretch. “Qing Ting, keep an eye on that Champion Duke when the melee starts. Don’t let him get away, he’s not what he appears on the surface.”

“Don’t worry, he’s not going anywhere.” Qing Ting smiled merrily.