Chapter 2177.1: Immortal Potentate
“Yong Heyu’s actions were calculated that day!” Lu Yun frowned ferociously. It was now apparent that even had Bloodbath not uprooted the Ling Clan, Yong Heyu would’ve found a way to reveal the aura of a dao weapon and gather cultivators throughout the land at the Iron PaG.o.da Mountain.
“Is a blood sacrifice needed to enter the mountain?” The possibility occurred to Lu Yun.
The survivors gaped in the next second. Although it was late at night, the sky was so radiant that it seemed no different from day. The earth was as if a sponge, absorbing the fresh blood from its surface with a speed visible to the naked eye. The blood soaked earth returned to normal in the span of a breath; there wasn’t even the scent of gore left.
“What a terrifying method! This isn’t a regular blood sacrifice formation!” A latter soul separation powerhouse was the strongest out of the survivors. He was in slightly poor form as he looked back at the mountain with apprehension.
“You, go inside and see what’s going on.” He grabbed a random soul projection cultivator and threw the hapless target within fifty kilometers of the mountain.
Whoos.h.!.+
Cutting sword qi flashed across their line of vision and quartered the cultivator before he even had time to scream.
“This isn’t the strength of a dao weapon!” The soul separation cultivator’s eyes widened. “Is it an immortal rank weapon?”
A dao weapon could instantly kill a soul projection, and very easily at that, but the mountain front of them lacked an owner and was simply releasing its sword qi in indiscriminate slaughter. A dao weapon could not deploy such strength without an owner. If it turned out to be an immortal weapon, then this wasn’t an affair that the soul separation cultivator could partic.i.p.ate in.
If that was the case, not even the ninth rank empires had the right to be involved.
Regardless, the cultivator wasn’t willing to be dissuaded like this. There was still a dao weapon inside Iron PaG.o.da Mountain! Yong Heyu’s was at least mid dao rank and he was hiding inside the landma.s.s!
“Hmm? The atmosphere is abating slightly.” Lu Yun keenly detected that the formation seemed to weaken somewhat after the sword qi killed the soul projection cultivator.
“You, take a look.” The soul separation cultivator’s name was Zi Lie and he was a wandering cultivator of a fifth rank empire. He’d rushed to Profound Wing Empire when he heard there was a dao weapon present in the world. This time, he pointed at a lucky nascent soul cultivator and instructed him to probe the premises.
Why would the cultivator listen to him? He raised sword light and ran for the hills. Zi Lie sneered and reached forward, forming a large hand in the middle of the air. This was the technique of a soul separation cultivator—splitting out the nascent soul and coalescing an external image!
The enormous hand grabbed the nascent soul cultivator and threw him into the mountain’s range.
Whoosh whoosh whoos.h.!.+
Numerous rays of sword qi sectioned him as soon as he set foot inside. He died before he even had a chance to scream, but the killing atmosphere around Iron PaG.o.da Mountain lightened further.
Many cultivators were highly alarmed by the development and quickly summoned sword light to flee for their lives.
“Do you think you can get away?” Zi Lie chuckled darkly. The hand in the air split into three and flew through the air, returning with a dozen cultivators in the blink of an eye and throwing all of them at the mountain.
“Some nascent soul, golden cores… Oh? Even foundation establishment are here?” Zi Lie looked at Lu Yun and the others with a malicious smile. “Juniors, head in there yourself,” he cackled. More than half of the atmosphere around the mountain had been dispersed.
“The difference in our cultivation is too great. I would be able to fight him if he was initial soul separation.” Mo Qiyue, Jiang Feng, and Qin Qianxue looked grave. Their nascent soul guards had already died to the mountain. Even though they’d made it out alive, they were very much worse for the wear.
Qin Qianxue was the weakest among them at latter golden core. The other two were initial nascent spirit. Yet despite their relative weakness, they didn’t fear anyone below soul separation. Unfortunately, Zi Lie was a latter soul separation powerhouse.
Apart from him, the other two soul separation experts at the scene had also survived. They hailed from fifth rank empires and could tell that the mountain would no longer be a threat to them if the killing atmosphere dissipated just a bit more.
By now, anyone could tell that there was more than a cultivator wielding a dao weapon inside Iron PaG.o.da Mountain. There was very likely the remains of an immortal!
The other two soul separation powerhouses hadn’t thrown anyone into the mountain, but neither did they stop Zi Lie either.
“Those guys are much more than they seem, they might come from the ninth rank empires or even…” muttered one of them—a frowning woman in purple robes.
“So many have already died here, including scouts from the ninth rank empires. Their deaths have nothing to do with us. Let’s see what this Zi Lie intends to do about them.” The other one, a man in blue robes, was plainly going to do nothing about the situation and reap gains at another’s expense.
Zi Lie leered when he saw the quartet remain unmoving and stalked in their direction.
“What a complete fool.” Lu Yun pursed his lip to see the man approach him. He wouldn’t bring out the Seal of the Mult.i.tude in front of the others—it was a connate treasure that would send even immortals in a frenzy.
He had another treasure that could be used.
Whoos.h.!.+
A gentle breeze fluttered as a man with a stony expression appeared in front of Lu Yun. He wore a longsword on his back and was clad in blue robes. Overwhelming killing intent s.h.i.+mmered around him.
“Lu Yi, throw this guy into the Iron PaG.o.da Mountain.” Lu Yun took a few steps back. Lu Yi was the talisman puppet that he’d refined out of the Origin Sect powerhouse. The man unsheathed his sword without a word and brought it down on Zi Lie.
Caught off guard, the latter hastily operated true origin to protect himself. Lu Yi’s blow came so fast and as a surprise that he could only block; there was no time to dodge.
Bam!
Lu Yi’s stroke bit into the protective layer around Zi Lie, its rampaging strength smas.h.i.+ng through the hastily gathered energy. Zi Lie spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backward.
d.a.m.n, he’s strong! The thought flashed through his mind.
Lu Yi was just initial soul separation, but he’d undergone Lu Yun’s modifications and had been forged into something more like a treasure. His physical strength was beyond what a latter soul separation cultivator could endure.
Seeing that Zi Lie had been flung backward, Lu Yi pounced and grabbed the man’s ankle, flinging him in the direction of the mountain.
Zi Lie roared with desperation and summoned the separations of his nascent soul, slowing himself down with the three hands.
“Hmph!” Lu Yi snorted. He’d retained a trace of sentience after being refined into a talisman puppet and was a strange being that hovered between a living being and treasure. Or to be more exact, he possessed the advantages of both treasure and cultivator. The only drawback was that his cultivation would forever remain on this level. There was no possibility for him to grow stronger.
He deployed his own image in response to the three hands, one of a flying sword sparkling with frosty light. Since he was a sword cultivator, his image was naturally that of a flying sword.
The sword image flashed forward like lightning and sliced through Zi Lie’s hands. Lu Yi bounded forward again, grabbing Zi Lie and flinging him into the mountain’s range!
“Noooo!!” Terror filled Zi Lie’s eyes as rays of cutting sword qi descended from the sky and sectioned him. The sword qi immediately diced a meter tall nascent spirit as soon as it emerged from the remains of his body.
The death of a latter soul separation cultivator was far more effective than the soul projection and nascent soul cultivators.
Rumble!
Iron PaG.o.da Mountain trembled amid a series of loud rumbles.
“Hahaha, blood sacrifices are indeed the key to activating this treasure! Old guy, I’ve lured so many cultivators here on account of your wishes. Isn’t it your turn now?” A wildly arrogant voice sounded from the mountain—Lu Yun recognized it. It was Yong Heyu, the one who’d been at the side of the Darklake crown prince.
“No,” a stilted voice responded from the mountain. “Although I have regained my freedom, this is far from enough from activating the sword paG.o.da. You must kill everything within five hundred thousand kilometers and bring about a true blood sacrifice to fully activate it.”
“Within five hundred thousand kilometers!! Old guy, this is Profound Wing territory. I cannot slaughter my own citizens for this, but the neighboring Dark Empire or Darklake are good options…”
“Take care of the riff raff outside first.”
“We need to go!” Mo Qiyue, Jiang Feng, and Qin Qianxue raised sword light without hesitation, shooting for territory farther away. The two soul separation cultivators also instinctively fled for their lives.
“Lu Yun!” Mo Qiyue turned back, wanting to ensure that Lu Yun was with them. However, he saw the shadow of an enormous dragon dart out from the mountain and swallow the young man. Though he was immensely dismayed, there was nothing he could do for the moment but continue running.