Chapter 2219.1: Void Sacred Flame

Lu Yun had once thought that the four divine beasts were mysterious beyond compare. Now he understood that the beasts were as if his senior brother—manifestations of the rules.

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

I wonder who is stronger, the four divine beasts or Sky?

He’d wanted to kill the seven, but changed his mind after discovering the aura of the seven mansions on them and seeing how they were able to utilize the moves of the northern sky. If he could subdue the group instead, that would be an incredible boon to his cause.

He could tell that there was nothing special about them apart from the methods of the Seven Mansions of the Northern Sky. Thus, he immediately called upon the Eighteen Cerulean Sword Dragons.

A crimson dragon nearly one hundred meters long raged through the black fog. It ripped the gloom to bits and forced the seven to tumble out of the void.

Lu Yun slowly appeared in front of them with Immortals Forbidden in hand.

“They say that the four directions bow their heads when a tiger shows its dominance with a shake of its body. Do all of you concede defeat?” Immortals Forbidden spat out sword light and aimed it at the leader’s forehead.

“Are you not killing us?” the man started.

“This young master treasures talent, of which the seven of you are since you could defeat Ling Chu and the others. I will show you mercy if you return the jade slip to Ling Chu and become my followers.” Lu Yun’s lips curved upwards and there was no hint of hostility in his words.

The leader turned back to look at his brothers.

“Big brother, we follow your call!” they chorused.

They were no fools. While they had few enemies in Great Xia and were feared by some of the nobility, they’d just been defeated in one move. So what if the Dao Academy had issued multiple invites that they’d turned down? They were aware of stories circulating in recent days and didn’t think that Lu Yun would show them the same grace and courtesy that they enjoyed in Great Xia.

“Nan Ting greets the young master.” Their leader bowed his head as he took another look at his brothers. With that, the remaining six also introduced themselves.

Their leader was Nan Ting, second eldest Sun Xiao, then came Yu Xuan, Chang Yingxuan, Wen Yan, Mo Yunxiao, and lastly Qin Luo. They were sworn brothers, but so close knit that they were as if blood brothers. They didn’t even need to verbally communicate to know what each other wanted.

“Hand over the jade slip.” Lu Yun reached out his hand.

Nan Ting hesitated, then retrieved the jade slip from his storage ring. Lu Yun gave it to Ling Chu when he took it.

“Old brother Lu…” Ling Chu didn’t immediately close his hands around it.

“Brother Ling, don’t be like this since you call me your brother.” Lu Yun smiled and tossed the jade slip over.

Ling Chu caught it and looked at him with gratitude, goodwill rising from all four of them. Lu Yun sighed to himself. If it was Yu Shuai and Zhao Chenguang here, they’d already be joking and playing around. They wouldn’t be so solemn and serious.

But it was alright, his relationship with these four didn’t run that deeply yet. They were just friends for now.

“Young master…” Nan Ting breathed out with relief when Ling Chu accepted the jade slip. The rest of his words stuck in the back of his throat.

“I don’t fully trust the seven of you yet.” Lu Yun looked at him superciliously. “I’m keeping that ray of sword qi in your bodies until you fully adhere to me. You can try breaking it before then—let’s see if you die.”

While these seven possessed the abilities of the seven mansions, he didn’t really trust them. Their auras were dark and sinister. Plainly, they were the type to hide a dagger in their smiles.

Now that Lu Yun had reached soul separation, he could call upon certain methods that he couldn’t utilize before. The art of sword implantation was a very cruel restriction. It planted sword qi directly into the nascent or immortal soul, dictating the life or death of the victim with a single thought of the caster.

However, one needed to reach a certain level of comprehension of sword dao in order to use such a restriction. One’s command over sword qi also needed to reach a certain height of innateness. The nascent soul was the core essence of a cultivator. It was extraordinarily fragile, and easily destroyed if the sword qi wasn’t properly controlled.

There’d been only two immortals who mastered the art in the world of immortals—Lu Yun and the Mindful Immortal Potentate. As for those who could break it… there was no one who could, not even chaos immortals.

When he broke their attack, Lu Yun simultaneously planted seven rays of sword qi in their hearts and minds. The brothers didn’t know what it was, but they could sense the frosty killing intent lurking in their nascent souls. Otherwise, they would’ve at least managed to escape if they couldn’t beat their opponent.

The seven had just said that they didn’t think much of anyone other than the royal princes of Great Xia, that they would kill even the Fengxian King’s son.

It wasn’t that their backgrounds were that impressive, but that their methods of escape were that heaven-defying. They were able to easily retreat from even a formation set up by an immortal. Who would’ve thought that they’d run into a wall with Lu Yun this time?

The young man wouldn’t have been able to implant sword qi into all seven at the same time if it wasn’t for them deploying the methods of the Seven Mansions of the Northern Sky. Lu Yun was all too familiar with that one.

He spontaneously seized their mobility and made his move. Even if it was anyone else, even arcane immortals—they’d be hard pressed to subdue the seven. The methods of the seven mansions were too extraordinary.

The seven looked at each other ruefully. They’d dominated Great Xia ever since swearing brotherhood to each other. They weren’t afraid of immortals, but had fallen into the hands of a renowned good-for-nothing in the tiny Jade Ruins Realm.

“We will not be able to remove the sword qi unless we detonate our nascent souls,” Nan Ting sighed as he looked at his brothers.

“Alright, I have plenty of talents under my banner. I don’t need you guys to do anything other than focus on cultivation. When you get to Great Xia, support Ling Chu and the others well,” Lu Yun gave his conclusion after thinking things over.

“Huh?” LIng Chu and the others looked at each other, startled and not sure of what to say.

“Brother Ling, I’ll be frank with you since things have reached this point,” Lu Yun began when he saw the expressions on the other four.

“Old brother Lu Yun, you’re our savior. Just give the world if you need help!” Being the straightforward man he was, Shi Jian cut straight to the chase.

“Mmhmm,” Lu Yun nodded. “Based on what I see, the four of you aren’t particularly valued in your families, yes?”

Ling Chu frowned, but nodded. “Ling Ling, Shi Jian, and I come from cadet branches of our families. They don’t care about us—they wouldn’t have forgotten about us after shoving us into the Dao Academy otherwise.

“In contrast, Song Yi… is the son of the Argent King.”

Song Yi grit his teeth when he heard the king’s title and a vein throbbed on his forehead. When the Human Emperor brought his subordinates to Immortal Burial Valley, Yan Guichi and several other marquises took advantage of the battle to scheme against the Argent King. With the death of the Argent King and Yan Guichi being the strongest of the Great Xia marquises, he naturally became the new king after he broke through at a critical moment.

It went without saying that the new Origin King took over everything that’d belonged to the Argent King as well.

The Argent King’s eldest son was golden immortal and had been made a marquis by the Human Emperor. But he was just an ordinary marquis, so the vast Argent King faction declined overnight.

To the victor went the spoils and legitimacy in Great Xia, so the death of the Argent King and conferment of the Origin King’s title meant that some of those who’d sworn fealty to the Argent King immediately switched their allegiances. The Argent King’s faction quickly fragmented and although some portions remained staunchly loyal, they were a far cry from what the Origin King commanded.

Song Yi’s elder brother’s ambitions did not correlate to his talents at all. He was happy with the status quo after he was made a marquis and gave no thought to revenge.

Lu Yun looked at Song Yi with surprise.

“Brother Song, it seems that we share similar fates.” He smiled wryly, drawing a bewildered glance from Ling Ling.

“Everyone knows that the Lus have a feud with Yan Guichi, but that seems to stem from the Origin King lusting after one of your treasures, doesn’t it?” Shi Jian scratched his head.

“The Origin King? Yan Guichi? He’s just one of our slaves,” Lu Yun sneered. The upper echelon of Great Xia society knew of what’d befallen the Lu Clan. While Ling Chu and the others were descendants of nobility, no one told them these stories as they weren’t important to their families.

Not to mention, Yan Guichi had been the leader of the thirty-six marquises before. Who would dare talk behind his back? It was normal that Shi Jian was unaware.