Chapter 1376: Grand Steward of the Immortal Pagoda

“A ghost!”

“Ghost Dragon is actually a ghost!” General shock and pandemonium swept through the crowds at the sparring grounds. They hadn’t thought that ghostly qi would exude from Ghost Dragon’s body!

In the Hongmeng, only those of the ghost race possessed ghostly qi. Any other being, even those who cultivated the daos of extreme yin or even of the ghosts, would at most possess yin-attributed strength. They wouldn’t wield ghostly qi.

Only ghosts had that kind of energy!

The Dragonfeather King reacted extremely swiftly—attacking as soon as ghostly qi rose from Ghost Dragon.

“Hahaha!!” Ghost Dragon roared with laughter when he saw that he’d been exposed. He rose into the air and easily evaded Dragonfeather’s attack. “Champion Duke, huh? I’ll remember you.”

Puff!

He dispersed into the void as a curl of black smoke and vanished without a trace.

Lu Yun remained standing where he was, his expression flickering uncertainly. Ghost Dragon had once been a friend. He and Ghost Phoenix had appeared several times when Lu Yun needed help, aiding Dusk Province to withstand external foes.

Now that they met again, they were enemies. He didn’t know what had happened to Ghost Dragon, but he’d clearly seen his old friend for a split second just now. And not just Ghost Dragon, but also a terrifyingly evil intent wrapped around his friend’s soul, hellbent on destroying everything.

“Damn it!” Dragonfeather circled over Coiling Dragon City for a long time before returning to the city lord’s manor.

Ghost Dragon had left the city entirely and Dragonfeather was absolutely furious. The ghosts had infiltrated Coiling Dragon and claimed a precious Dragonling Assembly spot! This was the utmost humiliation for the city!

A ghost had walked around freely right under his nose. He, a vaunted sixth step king, had had absolutely no inkling of it!

“Champion Duke, did you challenge Ghost Dragon because you realized there was something wrong about him?” Dragonfeather approached Lu Yun.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Lu Yun responded with a shake of his head and a radiant grin. “I told you, I chose Ghost Dragon because he looked easier to bully.”

Dragonfeather repressed an eye roll and waved his hand impatiently. “Fine, fine. Ghost Dragon’s spot is now yours. You can take the spear if you want it, but you should have the Enforcer Alliance purify it before you use it.”

The king pointed at the king grade spear forgotten in the wake of Ghost Dragon’s departure.

Instead of claiming his spoils, Lu Yun raised a cupped fist salute to the king and left. There was still half a year until the Dragonling Assembly—not a long period of time. It would flash by before they knew it.

But for Lu Yun, six months was sufficient for him to do many things, the first of which had to do with Ghost Dragon. Perhaps Ghost Phoenix was also in the third realm with him. Lu Yun wanted to investigate what had happened to them.

He’d stolen a wisp of presence from his former friend before the latter’s abrupt departure. With Qing Yu’s help, Lu Yun should be able to derive certain things about Ghost Dragon from the wisp.

The Azureclad Duke was nowhere to be seen when Lu Yun bid farewell to Qing Ting, but that only made sense. After witnessing their battle, Azureclad was surely thinking of ways to increase his strength. Coiling Dragon wasn’t a small faction; surely they possessed training grounds or unusual training treasures.

“There’s still half a year to the assembly, remember to come back a month before it.” Qing Ting bit her lip. “This is a token of your affiliation.”

She gave him a palm-sized medallion that was the color of jade. This was the token of Coiling Dragon City and proof that he belonged to the faction. As a city, Coiling Dragon was extremely tolerant since it was neither a sect or clan. Even Trueriver disciples could join it.

“Alright.” Lu Yun nodded at her after taking the token. The light of a transportation formation appeared around him and whisked him away from the city.

“Qing Ting, what do you think of this Champion Duke?” A merry Dragonfeather appeared before the girl.

She shook her head without a word.

“What is it? Is he unworthy of you, or are you unworthy of him?”

“Second uncle.” Qing Ting turned around with an extremely serious expression on her face. “If you insist on randomly playing matchmaker, not only will you not push us together, but you might force us apart as enemies.”

Dragonfeather blinked.

“You don’t want what happened to Auntie Ying to happen to me too, do you?” she pointed out with mixed emotions.

Qing Ying had been the city lord’s younger sister and lost her life due to a failed political marriage. Though the city lord personally killed her betrothed after the fact, the matter remained a painful lesson for House Qing.

One of the major reasons why the Coiling Dragon city lord spoiled Qing Ting so much was because of Qing Ying. Qing Ting was a natural recipient of the amends that would’ve gone to her aunt.

“Do you really feel nothing for him? I see that he’s given you a lot of presents, doesn’t that mean he has some thoughts about you?” Dragonfeather asked with confusion. Of course he wouldn’t force Qing Ting into anything. If he did, his brother would be the first to crush him out of existence.

Qing Ting was a young beauty. Though not as stunning as the little fox, she was lovingly delicate and inspired affection from everyone who saw her. Leng Che, You Cang, and the exposed Ghost Dragon had all harbored certain thoughts about her. All of the youths of Coiling Dragon City and associated forces viewed her as their goddess.

“If he did, he wouldn’t have returned those three thousand crystal veins to me,” Qing Ting murmured.

……

Indeed, Lu Yun didn’t have any particular feelings for Qing Ting. In his eyes, Qing Ting and Li Zhen were the same—his friends.

Li Zhen had run afoul of heavy pursuit in his journey throughout the land. After being less than careful during one instance of using the purple crystals, their aura leaked out and even more cultivators hunted him down now.

Naturally, Lu Yun wouldn’t sit idly by. He utilized the resources of the Immortal Pagoda and Hopeless Major to send assistance from the shadows, helping Li Zhen grow tremendously through battle after battle.

When Lu Yun returned to Multitude City, Jin Naluo was sitting in front of the pagoda’s doors with a small leather whip, occasionally whipping a lifeless Lewd King. This was one of the key ways in which he vented his displeasure.

After Lu Yun and the little fox handed the Immortal Pagoda over to Jin Naluo with their departure, his ambitions soared to the heavens upon receiving a hundred supplemental grandmasters. He wanted to achieve something grand and also incorporate the Immortal Pagoda into his Bloodpool Mountain. Who would’ve thought that the two would return shortly afterward, and with a bunch of experts he couldn’t see through?

Those bastards gnawed his Bloodpool Mountain dry in a split second and only left Jin Naluo alone because he was Lu Yun’s ally!

“That’s strange, wasn’t the Human King captured last time he came to make trouble for the Immortal Pagoda? When did he get away?” As he whipped the Lewd King, Jin Naluo regarded the Human King in Haotian Tower with bafflement.

“Eh? Immortal King, you’ve come b—out.” He quickly stood up when he saw Lu Yun. “No, wait, why should I be so fearful toward that kid?” He was being too pitiful!

Jin Naluo was likely the only person in the Hongmeng who knew Lu Yun’s background.

“Mmhmm.” Lu Yun nodded at him. “I now promote you to grand steward of the Immortal Pagoda. The Acclaim, Ruin, and Daredevil Kings won’t bully you after that.”

“I… how… how would they dare bully me?” Jin Naluo blushed fiercely. “It’s more like me bullying them!”

“Are you sure?” Lu Yun leveled a questioning stare at him. “They’re all ninth step kings, are you sure you can bully them?”

Jin Naluo snapped his mouth shut.