Chapter 1791: Can’t Make A Move?
Lu Yun unfurled the black battle flag with a jerk of his hand when Hongjun s.h.i.+fted into action. Rays of silver cosmic radiance rained down and washed the void with silver light.
“The corpse demon’s mission is to kill the creator of the h.e.l.l of Order, we can’t let her kill Lu Yun!” Yin Jiuying roared and bounded in front of Hongjun, helping him hold off the corpse demon.
Hongjun and the Dao King had jointly refined the battle flag specifically to restrain the corpse demon and treasures of corpse dao. But the G.o.d of Mount Tai was well prepared. While the battle flag might be able to restrain the corpse demon in anyone else’s hand, it was ineffective in Lu Yun’s.
When disguised as Bluegrave, the mountain G.o.d advised and directed Lu Yun on his path of h.e.l.l dao cultivation. He was Lu Yun’s guide, so he naturally knew the particulars of Hongjun and the Dao King’s setup. Jiang Chen of the Corpse Refiners had also always been completely exposed to him.
It was then that the G.o.d had planted the seeds for everything in Lu Yun. The corpse demon didn’t exist to threaten the Land of Reincarnation or to devour corpse dao. She was here solely to kill Lu Yun and seize the h.e.l.l of Order.
Lu Yun was unable to defy this karmic repercussion no matter what treasure he used.
In the mountain G.o.d’s original plans, he didn’t need to reveal himself—he won as long as Lu Yun came with the battle flag. However, he never fathomed that Yin Jiuying would turn out the way he did!
Yin Jiuying was here by invitation from the G.o.d of Mount Tai and was also a p.a.w.n placed by Jiang Chen’s side. Jiang Chen was here to refine and kill the corpse demon, and Yin Jiuying was to kill Jiang Chen.
However, Yin Jiuying had seen through the mountain G.o.d’s plots and needed to change only a few steps to ruin them. He’d forced the G.o.d to appear in person and reform karmic ties to the land.
The G.o.d of Mount Tai was dead—he’d abandoned even his soul. His rebirth was a result of borrowing Violetgrave’s replica and he’d irrigated his primary body with civilization. He was thus free from all karma, but his plans lay in shambles after he’d been forced to appear. Even if he ultimately won in the end, he was newly tainted with the karmic repercussions of the world.
This was what the G.o.d of Mount Tai was most furious about. Regardless, he stayed on the sidelines and coolly watched Hongjun and Yin Jiuying battle in tandem.
The two combined were able to hold off the corpse demon and force her back. Her eyes, however, never focused on them. She remained fixed on Lu Yun wielding the black battle flag the entire time.
That was her goal.
“This thing’s too strong, we need to shove her back!” Yin Jiuying roared. “Give me the battle flag!”
Head lowered in thought, Lu Yun ignored the urgent call. After a slight pause, he walked forward and stopped in front of the G.o.d of Mount Tai. When he opened his hand, the h.e.l.l battles.h.i.+p appeared on it.
“Don’t you want h.e.l.l dao? It’s right here,” he smiled at the mountain G.o.d.
The G.o.d’s pupils constricted violently and he shuffled a step back. Lu Yun matched him step for step.
“...are you trying to force my hand?” the mountain G.o.d smiled superciliously.
Safe on the sidelines all this time, Jiang Chen suddenly threw his head back with laughter. Baring his teeth in a savage grin, he sauntered over to the two.
“So, G.o.d of Mount Tai, turns out you’re still dead right now. There is no great dao on you. So it’s not that you don’t want to make a move, it’s that you can’t. I am the greatest victor here!”
Hongjun and Yin Jiuying were too preoccupied by the corpse demon to do anything else. Just as Jiang Chen said, the mountain G.o.d’s hands were tied. All he was capable of was arriving in person to direct the corpse demon in killing Lu Yun, and intimidate Jiang Chen from action at the same time.
But what kind of person was Jiang Chen?
He would stand at the apex of the hierarchy of powerhouses even in the chief worlds! Most importantly was that when Lu Yun brought corpse dao into the immortal dao, he took advantage of the opening to learn formula dao.
Jiang Chen deployed it when the two sides fought and realized that the G.o.d of Mount Tai was a paper tiger. The G.o.d hadn’t shown himself before because indeed, he didn’t wish to have anything to do with the karma of this land, but also because he couldn’t do anything after revealing himself. He had absolutely no strength to dictate the outcome of the situation.
“No!” rang a piercing shriek. “I am the greatest victor! Die, old freak!”
Kaboom!
Endless resentment exploded out of nowhere and sank into the corpse dao drifting through the air. The resentment crunched away at the great dao as if it were alive.
Jiang Chen went slack jawed with shock. His supple, youthful body and das.h.i.+ngly handsome face withered at a pace visible to the naked eye.
“Impossible!!” he wailed as a skeletal image flew out of his head. It transformed into a skull wreathed with ghostly air and frantically turned to a Jiangchen Xie who’d suddenly gone on the attack.
“I merely seized your physical body, how can you possibly hate me so much?!” He knew that the grudge corpse in front of him was Jiangchen Xie; he’d never imagined that it’d come with so much malice and hatred! It was enough to counter his very existence!
His body was still Jiangchen Xie’s, after all. It was destroyed the second the resentment appeared.
“Three hundred and sixty-five lifetimes… heh heh heh. You took possession of me three hundred and sixty-five times. The bitterness of all those lives is here!” Jiangchen Xie’s resentment was the ant.i.thesis of the corpse dao in the cavern. He could destroy the great dao in their surroundings even if he stood still and didn’t do anything else.
He didn’t want to devour the corpse dao for himself; his resentment cultivated immortal dao. There was ghost dao within it, so he trained in the ghost immortal dao.
“Yin Jiuying, you did this to me!” Jiang Chen snarled with rage, having connected the dots of what was happening.
“Don’t blame me, the G.o.d of Mount Tai asked me to take care of you, heh.” Yin Jiuying moved with newfound ease. All he needed to do was ensure the corpse demon didn’t attack Lu Yun. Jiangchen Xie was no threat to the young man, of that he was sure of. Jiangchen Xie wanted to come back to life and become a true living being again, not the half corpse half ghost thing that was a grudge corpse.
Jiang Chen wailed with fury as his skeletal body began to fade away.
“It looks like you’ve truly underestimated me…” Brooding in a corner, the mountain G.o.d suddenly smiled. He transformed into a streak of blue and rushed the fading Jiang Chen, becoming one with him.
Whoos.h.!.+
A white skeletal arm probed out of the void and smashed down on Lu Yun.