Chapter 2214.1: Ingrate

Ling Chu and Song Yi looked at each other.

“I, Ling Chu, do solemnly swear that if I reveal anything regarding ole brother Lu, I will die in a myriad of disasters and never find redemption!” Ling Chu stuck out his right hand and raised it to the sky.

“I, Song Yi, also do solemnly swear that I will not reveal anything about ole brother Lu to others, I will die to a myriad of disasters and my soul will scatter upon the wind!” Song Yi made his vow soon after.

Startled, Shi Jian and Ling Ling looked at the two, completely failing to understand what was taking place. Shi Jian was a bit quicker on the uptake and grasped the situation after momentary hesitation. He also raised his hand to swear upon the heavens.

Ling Ling was more simpleminded and thought less about the twists and turns of human nature. She still didn’t understand after seeing the three make their vows, but she was no fool. Seeing that her companions had promised so solemnly, she quickly joined them as well.

“Brother? Lu Yun? What’s going on here?” she asked with confusion when she finished.

The consequences of cultivators violating their oath would always take place due to the existence of the heavenly dao. Therefore, they would not make such vows if they had any other options available.

“Ole brother Lu Yun is most generous to tell us the secrets of the vicious spirits, how can we ever run the risk of dragging him into danger?” Ling Chu breathed out more easily after he made his promise. After all, they’d only known Lu Yun for a few days and their mutual trust was yet to reach the level of placing their lives in each other’s hands. Openly swearing in front of him was the best method.

Otherwise, not even Ling Chu could be certain that he wouldn’t betray Lu Yun after they returned to Great Xia.

“His Majesty the Human Emperor descended upon the Jade Ruins Realm with the Sword of Chaos to personally eliminate most of the vicious spirits in Immortal Burial Valley. Plainly, this isn’t the first time that these beings have appeared,” Ling Chu sighed. “If HIs Majesty knows about them, then these vicious spirits must certainly be a plague elsewhere.”

“But not a single cultivator within the valley’s range knows how to destroy them. We can only seal them in place with the formation array. Even His Majesty kills them strictly through absolute domination,” Song Yi added. “Ole brother Lu teaches us a way to kill them that not even His Majesty knows. What do you think will happen when other people find out that the cultivator who knows the weakness of the vicious spirits is only at soul projection?”

Shi Jian and Ling Ling looked at each other, shaking their heads at the same time.

“Our brother certainly bears some secrets!” Ling Chu chuckled ruefully. “The blood rune at the center of their forehead is smaller than a wisp of hair. Who would pay attention to it if they didn’t know if it beforehand? The vicious spirits can only be eliminated when it is fully destroyed.”

Shi Jian and Ling Ling blinked.

“This is all too complicated. Matters of the mind are not to my liking,” Shi Jian shook his head.

“Brother, are you saying…” As simpleminded as Ling Ling was, she was very smart and understood the ramifications of the supposition.

Destroying the blood rune was the only way to kill the vicious spirit. It would be reborn if a single strand was left. However, it fully vanished once the spirit was gone, so who would know that there’d once been a rune the width of a hair at the center of the dead spirit’s forehead?

Whoever knew of this secret would certainly be no ordinary person. It was one thing if they were a powerful immortal, but if they were a weak soul projection cultivator? Anyone would think that there was much more than met the eye.

Lu Yun would be a hero on the surface after the secret was made public, but who knew how many heavyweights would lay their eyes on him from the shadows?

Ling Ling nodded.

Shi Jian scratched his head and smiled honestly, “Although I don’t understand what’s going on, I promise I’ll never speak of it.”

“Ole brother Lu, you must have a plan since you’ve spoken of this, right?” Song Yi smiled at Lu Yun.

“I just need to change my appearance and aura.” Lu Yun was fully at ease after the four made their oaths and was completely candid with them. “And then I’ll die.”

“Um… what? That simple?” Shi Jian blinked.

“How complicated do you want it to be?” Lu Yun snorted. “Three days. Don’t wait for me if I’m not back in three days.” He raised sword light and vanished from their view.

“Be careful!” Ling Chu couldn’t help but call out as he watched Lu Yun’s departing figure.

……

Immortal Burial Valley ran ten thousand kilometers across with the place of burial at its center. Deep grooves crisscrossed throughout after the Human Emperor battled the vicious spirits. Instead of the vast plains it once was, there were many ridges and canyons undulating over the terrain.

Lu Yun brought Immortals Forbidden down in a random canyon and slapped a jade talisman onto himself. His aura immediately changed into something wholly different and he grew much taller. Previously two meters tall, he was now more than three and his skinny body began filling out.

A hulking man with a curly mustache and muscles that rivaled Zhao Chenguang appeared a few breaths later. The ripples of initial soul projection that originally ran through his aura were now that of peak awakened realm.

His fire spirit root was also a wood spirit root. While the ripples of cultivation could be modified, one’s innate spirit root could not be altered. After Lu Yun obtained the sapling of the Builder Tree, his spirit root morphed from a singular fire attribute to dual fire and wood.

The jade talisman he used was a Metamorphosis Talisman, one more useful than a Transformation Talisman. It would take the arrival of an immortal to see through Lu Yun’s true form.

Thank goodness that all of the heavenly book’s rules were gathered here in a zone that was off limits to immortals. Any that tried to enter was executed by the treasure. This was a world of cultivation. If an immortal turned into a vicious spirit and escaped, it would bring the end of the world.

After completing his preparations, Lu Yun took out a wood attribute lower dao rank flying sword and flew in another direction. The current Lu Clan did not lack for dao weapons.

……

The Eye of Nullification swept an area fifty kilometers around him. He located a group of cultivations twenty-five kilometers to the southwest that was fighting a large collection of vicious spirits.

There were roughly thirty cultivators, yet they faced a hundred vicious spirits. The spirits were newly assimilated, but they possessed the same undying bodies.

Surrounded by the spirits, there was nowhere for the cultivators to run. If it wasn’t for four awakened powerhouses protecting them, they would’ve been torn to pieces long ago. Even so, deep-seated anguish tinged their fear. Many of the spirits attacking them were once their companions.

“Master, what do we do?” A teary twenty-five year old woman flung out a red ribbon and snarled it around a vicious spirit. However, she was so weak at latter soul projection that she couldn’t hold it in place.

Her treasure was swiftly torn to pieces and the vicious spirit moved in for the kill. Despair flashed through her eyes as a haze of bloody light with a pungent scent of decay loomed over her.

Whoosh!

Jade-green light flashed by as ninety meters of sword light stabbed down from the sky, slicing the vicious spirit’s head open.

And then, the terrifying entity sagged to the ground without getting up again.

“What…”

A vicious spirit was dead from the sudden attack. Everyone froze—weren’t these horrific things undying? How had they died so easily?

“What are you standing around for? Kill them!” came a rough shout. A bulky, coarse man wearing long black robes came flying in with a massive jade-green flying sword.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

He waved his sword around three times and exterminated another three vicious spirits with three scintillating rays of sword light.

“What’s happening?!” The four awakened cultivators looked askance at Lu Yun, but more so at his sword.

“Does his dao rank weapon have the ability to kill these bloody creatures?” Greed sparkled in the eyes of a man with black hair.

Dangers abounded in Immortal Burial Valley and these creatures were everywhere. A cultivator was assimilated in a single moment of carelessness. Having a treasure that could kill them would be the basis by which one could ensure safety in this place.

“There’s a blood rune in the center of their foreheads that’s as thick as a hair. You can kill them if you destroy it!” Lu Yun cursed inwardly—he’d saved a group of ingrates. He hadn’t received a wisp of goodwill after killing ten vicious spirits. Even Red Ribbon wasn’t the least bit thankful, despite looking at him with teary gratitude.

The thirty cultivators started when they heard his words, but the vicious spirits didn’t give them time to react. One of them broke through an initial soul separation’s defenses and grabbed him.

“Martial uncle, save me!” Fear rose on the young man’s face as a bloody light brewed from the depths of his eyes. Bloody radiance slowly enveloped him.

The faces of the four awakened cultivators sank.