Chapter 2157.1: Lu Second Master

All of the spirit herbs, medicines, and pills within the vaults had been consumed. The rest of the rare ingredients and materials had been sold off. As for spirit stones, only a diminutive pile of one hundred upper rank spirit stones were left in a corner.

Lu Yun sighed and placed the stones in his storage ring. He surveyed the shelves and transferred a few more things to his ring before walking out of the vaults.

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Lu Jiu looked on lividly outside. The vaults had been empty enough already, but were completely bare after Lu Yun picked over them. There was nothing left anymore.

Ultimately, the elder sighed and departed without another word. However, Lu Yun fully registered his look of disappointment before he left.

……

When Lu Yun returned to his meditation chamber, he shut the door tight and took out a few items from his storage ring. Pelts of monster beasts, spirit cinnabar, and a spirit qi brush. These materials that he’d just retrieved from the vaults were low level ingredients for talismans.

He’d found great success in some of his three thousand lifetimes and stood at the peak of his world. He’d also met with incredible failures and died to enemies, or lived out his life in mediocrity. But in each of the worlds and lifetimes, he’d mastered a skill or gained precious experience.

In one of his lifetimes, he stood at the top of a world as its talisman grandmaster, making talismans his great dao.

Lu Yun held an upper rank spirit stone with one hand and the brush in the other, swishing graceful runes onto the monster beast pelts.

There were four levels to the dao of talismans. Fourth and lowest level utilized red ink and yellow paper—those were ordinary talismans.

Third level was his current creations. It required spirit cinnabar ink, a spirit qi brush, and runes written into the pelts of monster beasts. These could be called spirit talismans.

Second level was jade talismans, using jade and spirit stones as their base. They were incredibly powerful talismans that Lu Yun could not attempt to make with his current cultivation level.

First level was the legendary talismans from the void—it used the energy of heaven and earth to create talismans in the air. This was a mythical ability that not even the Lu Yun of three thousand worlds ever accomplished.

He focused solely on directing his Hongmeng true qi to etching talisman after talisman. Sweat beaded his forehead and soaked through his back. Being seventh level qi refinement, he was far from adequate for creating spirit talismans. His Hongmeng true qi, however, was of such high quality that it made up for this shortcoming.

Crack!

The upper rank spirit stone in his hand cracked with a crisp sound and trickled to the ground as a pile of shards. Expressionless, he summoned another upper rank spirit stone into his hand with a flash from his ring.

A full day passed; Lu Yun didn’t stop until the sun set in the west. There were five hundred talismans in his storage ring and he wouldn’t have stopped if he hadn’t run out of ingredients.

“Just a few hundred low level spirit talismans are enough to exhaust me. If Shan Quan and Yu Lei found out about this, they’d laugh their heads off at me.” Lu Yun gave a long exhale as he wiped off his forehead and took off his drenched shirt. “Ai, worlds in dreams… worlds in dreams. Were they just fantasies of my dreams or real worlds?”

He looked out the window at the night sky, a forlorn expression on his face. Another memory struggled deep in his heart. However, it couldn’t shift the slightest bit due to being strictly sealed away.

That memory brought not loneliness, but sorrow.

……

Another night passed and a new morning dawned.

Lu Yun fully recovered after a night of rest and took a deep breath when he opened his door, gazing upon the rising sun. He expelled putrid air from his stomach.

“Time to collect some debts.”

The second he walked out of his yard, Lu Xuan appeared by his side like a ghost. Lu Yun remained oblivious as he headed out of the Lu residence.

"And where is the great young master Lu off to?” sounded a sarcastic voice.

Lu Yun stopped, turning around to beam at a man in white who’d emerged from the inner residence. “Aiya, it’s second master Lu! What brings you here, second uncle?”

The man looked to be thirty years old and of thin frame. His complexion was pale and his steps unsteady. He was plainly a mortal.

He was the second master of the Lu Clan—Lu Xiaochi. His name had once been known throughout the empire as a stunning genius and he’d coalesced a nascent soul at thirty years old. He was the foremost genius of Darklake Cultivation Empire.

Lu Xiaochi was Lu Tianling’s foster son and Lu Yun once loathed the sight of the man. He didn’t think Lu Xiaochi was part of the family at all. Yet, three years ago, when he antagonized a rival that he couldn’t afford to offend, Lu Xiaochi had laid down his life to protect his nephew when the rival came knocking. His meridians were broken and he lost all of his cultivation after that.

If it hadn’t been for the emperor issuing a decree, both Lu Xiaochi and Lu Yun would’ve been beaten to death from that encounter.

But what kind of person was Lu Yun? The previous Lu Yun had been a complete ingrate without a conscience to speak of. Not only was he not thankful for his uncle’s help, but he frequently cursed at Lu Xiaochi for being crippled trash after the fact.

“Second uncle?” Lu Xiaochi blinked with incredulity. “Did you just call me second uncle?”

“You’re my grandfather’s son, not his daughter. Am I supposed to call you second aunt instead?” Lu Yun shrugged and headed for the main doors.

“Stop right there!” Lu Xiaochi couldn’t resist stopping the boy. Lu Yun’s altercation with Ouyang Shenghe three months ago had gravely set the family back and shaken its foundations. Lu Tianling used qi from his nascent soul to yank Lu Yun back from the jaws of death.

Now that the boy had recovered, he was certainly going out to cause more trouble. The current Lu Clan was full of holes and weaknesses—they couldn’t endure any more problems!

Lu Yun stopped and looked at Lu Xiaochi with bafflement.

“Did you take all of the remaining things from the vaults yesterday?” the Lu second master demanded lividly.

“Well, how can one do business without some capital?” Lu Yun responded as flippantly as usual.

“Do business? You’re going to the Ruyi Club, aren’t you?” Lu Xiaochi snorted.

The Ruyi Club was the capital’s largest gambling den. Frequented by idle wealthy scions like Lu Yun, it was one of the three biggest money making operations in the city. The other two—Rouge Pavilion and Beast Colosseum—also counted Lu Yun among their frequent customers.

“Ahem…” Lu Yun coughed awkwardly and responded seriously, “Second uncle, I’m the family’s eldest young master at the end of the day. How would I go to a place like that? Your nephew is indeed going out to do business today!”

“Do business? Very well, your second uncle will accompany you and see just how you do business.” Lu Xiaochi enunciated his title, feeling that the sun would rise in the west tomorrow. How was Lu Yun calling him his second uncle?

“Ah, that would be wonderful!” Lu Yun grinned broadly and didn’t decline. He gestured for his uncle to go first.

Lu Xiaochi brandished his sleeves and swept out the door.

……

Being the capital of Darklake Cultivation Empire, Dark City bustled with activity on a daily basis. Given its name, the empire was filled with cultivators. However, setting foot on the path of cultivation was easy, but building one’s foundations was difficult. Most of the cultivators in Darklake were of the qi refinement stage—the lowliest of societal castes.

Only when one reached the foundation establishment stage could one ride a sword and shake off the identity of a civilian. One could join the army and achieve great deeds in battle, receiving rewards of spirit stones and pills to win further glory with cultivation.

The castes were strictly defined and closely adhered to within the empire. If a civilian didn’t meet with unique opportunities, they would be a civilian for the rest of their lives and spend their days toiling away.

Hence, most citizens focused on cultivating and accumulating wealth. They typically bought a Foundation Establishment Pill when they reached ninth level qi refinement and joined the army after breaking through.

They were now in times of peace after Lu Tianling led the one million strong army in battle twenty years ago, butchering Tianlong Empire’s army of one million and two hundred thousand soldiers at Tiger Suppression Pass. His might traveled to the four corners of the land and no one dared raise the banner of war on Darklake Empire anymore.

Peace and prosperity was upon Darklake. Its population numerous, hale, and hearty. Dark City thronged with people and overflowed with activity.

Lu Yun wore white robes and waved around a gentleman’s fan of pale gold. He seemed urbane and genteel at a glance, but all that changed when he expanded his fan. A scene of pornography was drawn on the instrument—quite vivid and lifelike in its reproduction.

Lu Xiaochi ground his teeth when he saw the fan, but the little bastard waved it around proudly on the streets. Completely oblivious, he was patently very satisfied with the picture.

A vibrant market was located on a street not too far from the Lu residence. All sorts of wares and trades abounded, but a hush stole over it when the Lu young master sauntered in. Smiles froze on everyone’s faces, merchants and customers alike.

“What’s this doombringer doing out here? Didn’t the Ouyang second master beat him to death?”

“I thought so too! Old general Lu stormed the Ouyang residence because of him, killing one of their nascent soul experts and two of the latter golden core powerhouses!”

“Did he come back from the dead?”

“Nah, Ouyang Shenghe probably showed him mercy and didn’t beat him to death…” Gossip flurried through the crowd as people parted ways like the tides. The past three months had been the happiest of their lives in the capital.

“Heh heh, it looks like this young master still commands quite some respect from people,” Lu Yun chuckled with his nose in the air.

Meanwhile, Lu Xiaochi wanted to find a hole to crawl into. Couldn’t the kid see the looks of disgust that the crowd was sending him? The Lu second master knew a bit of Lu Yun’s actions, but it was another thing to witness his nephew’s behavior for himself.

“You, the one selling flame fruits. Come here.” Lu Yun randomly crooked his finger at a middle-aged man with an honest look on his face and a carrying pole across his shoulders.

etvolare's Thoughts

My sanity was severely tested in May. I spent a very good portion of it cussing behind the screen. Please review, leave comments, get a random person on the street to read NECRO or otherwise Imma chuck my head lol. Not only have we gotten the second reset in 20(?) chapters, chapter lengths are about to get RIDICULOUS.