âJust what are you doing, Lu Yun? What did you provoke that Fengxian Wu for?â Lu Xiaochi appeared soon after Lu Yun returned to his yard. He called their guest Fengxian Wu, not Fengwu. Plainly, heâd overheard their conversation.
The second master was accompanied by a rather large surge of goodwill.
âGoodwill?â Lu Yun ignored his uncle and looked behind Lu Xiaochi.
He Wuheng followed the second masterâs footsteps and looked at Lu Yun with both adoration and his usual respect.
Oh? Does collecting goodwill mean more than making people thankful? Is goodwill also created when I do something that makes them think highly of me?
Goodwill resulted from the strength absorbed by the Seal of the Multitudes. Any positive emotion tied to Lu Yun, such as gratitude or adoration, created a mysterious power that was goodwill. This seemed a bit different from the tree of his subconscious memories.
He Wuhengâs goodwill toward Lu Yun lasted only a few breaths before vanishing. Yet the Hongmeng qi created from that momentary goodwill was the equivalent of ten days worth of cultivation! Although he was far from reaching latter first turn, it shone light on another avenue for Lu Yun.
âIf one He Wuheng is enough to help me break through to mid first turn and save me ten days of hard cultivating⌠The what about ten, one hundred, or one thousand He WuhengsâŚ?â A radiant smile rose on Lu Yunâs face.
Lu Xiaochi snorted to see his nephew pause, then grin the same way the boy had when speaking with Fengxian Wuâlewd and utterly debauched.
âAhemâŚâ Lu Yun returned to his senses and looked at his second uncle with confusion. âWhat might second uncle need?â He was in a very good mood and greeted Lu Xiaochi merrily.
âI asked you, what were you doing provoking Fengxian Wu?â Lu Xiaochi huffed back.
âEh⌠to get the way to break the Severed Meridians Hold?â Lu Yun still wore a devil-may-care smile that made Lu Xiaochiâs hand itch to slap him.
âDidnât you say that youâd be able to do it once you reached foundation establishment?â the man frowned.
âI did and I can, but so can Fengxian Wuâs method,â Lu Yun responded in a lackadaisical manner.
Bright light shone out of Lu Xiaochiâs eyes.
âWhile her method can also break the restriction, it will end uncleâs path to becoming an immortal. Once we break the Severed Meridians Hold using her way, your path to immortality will come to an end,â Lu Yun said solemnly as the smile dropped off his face.
Lu Xiaochi, He Wuheng, Lu Xuan, and Lanâerâs expressions froze.
There were indeed immortals in the world of immortal dao civilization, and quite a few of them. But one from a third rank Darklake Empire? This was the stuff of legends!
Itâd never happened before in the nationâs history.
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Breaking through nascent soul to reach soul projection was already a tremendous feat that came about once in a hundred years. No one had ever heard of someone from Darklake ascending to immortality!
If there was such a lucky soul, they would immediately be freed of Dark Orchid Empireâs constraints. Even a soul projection powerhouse wouldnât be subject to that empireâs whims.
âYou canât possibly think that I can become an immortal after my restriction is broken,â Lu Xiaochi said ruefully. Although his potential was unparalleled and heâd coalesced a nascent soul at thirty years oldâan incredible achievement in Darklake Empireâthat was still nothing if viewed from the lens of some of the higher level cultivation empires.
âYou can.â Lu Yun nodded.
Lu Xiaochi paused, dazed.
âDonât forget who my master is,â Lu Yun continued proudly.
âAn immortalâŚâ Lu Xiaochi took a deep breath, hope gleaming at the very bottom of his eyes.
âSecond uncle, you have a high status in the family. Although youâre grandfatherâs foster son, youâre a core figure of the clan. It wonât stay a secret for long if the restriction on your body is broken. Our enemies will investigate, but all we have to do then is attribute everything to the wondrous Fengxian Wu,â Lu Yun said casually.
Lu Xiaochi inclined his head, upwardly revising his opinion of the young man. There was no solution to the Severed Meridians Hold to be found in a third rank empire. If it was suddenly undone, the familyâs enemies would send people to look into things and potentially discover clues that things were not as they were supposed to be.
Although Lu Yun had an immortal for a master, his master was not here for the moment. It would be exceedingly easy for their enemies to kill him.
What surprised Lu Xiaochi was that his nephew had guessed that the family had enemies, and that they werenât the other families of Darklake Empire.
âIs there anything else, second uncle?â Lu Yun asked again.
Lu Xiaochi shook his head. âSince you know that the family has enemies, you should rein yourself in a little. Your grandfather doesnât think much of the families in the empire. Although they attack us using you as an excuse, your grandfather pays them no heed so long as youâre alright.â Lu Xiaochi paused, then said, âThis is just trials and tests for you.â
âTrials and tests?â Lu Yun chuckled. âThen let them continue. Your nephew is unwise in the ways of the world and needs a great deal of tempering.â
Lu Xiaochi rolled his eyes. âUnwise in the ways of the world? You were so unwise that you ensured the deaths of the Yuwen and Ouyang patriarchsâdo you need more tempering?â
Lu Yun nodded. He seemed to have come to this world for this particular trial.
âWhatever, do as you wish. Just donât go overboard and give our enemies something to threaten your grandfather with,â Lu Xiaochi smiled with resignation.
âYoung masterâŚâ Lanâer looked weakly at Lu Yun. Their conversation touched upon the classified affairs of the Lu Clan and she was only a mere servant girl.
âItâs fine, donât speak of todayâs events with anyone else,â Lu Yun smiled gently.
âSo the young master is this handsome when heâs not busy being meanâŚâ Lanâerâs heart was aflutter.
âAi⌠second uncle, although there are rules in place for the world of cultivation so that many canât openly move against us, what are the rules? Theyâre meant to be broken.â Lu Yun stretched lazily. He didnât ask who their enemies were as Lu Xiaochi wouldnât tell him if he did. Lu Yunâs parents had died when he was youngânot on the battlefield, but to those unknown enemies.
The Ouyangs and Yuwens, as well as the Lings in the shadows, attack us so blatantly probably because theyâve been infiltrated by our enemies. The Nineheavens Pagoda from Dark Orchid is also likely one of their pawnsâŚ
But who are our enemies? The Severed Meridian Hold? Only an awakened cultivator whoâs passed through their tribulation can deploy it.
Lu Yun shuddered when he thought of one such cultivator heâd angered a few years ago. Thatâd been a true brush with death!
The one hundred and fifty kilometers of Dark Cityâs northern quadrant was the poorest district of the entire capital. Some of the lowest portions of society congregated here. As powerful and prosperous Darklake Empire was, it had its shady parts. One such area was the slum district of the northern quadrant in its capital that was one thousand kilometers across.
Lu Yun was dressed as he usually wasâlong white robes, fine jade dangling from his waist, and the very graphic fan in his hand. He sauntered through the streets with Lanâer and Lu Xuan flanking him.
Being of noble bearing, they immediately drew general attention when they entered the district. It was mostly qi refinement cultivators who lived in this district, so they quickly dodged out of view when they saw the Lu young masterâs arrival. No one wanted to run afoul of this pestilence!
âYoung master, what are we doing here?â Lanâer didnât understand it. Lu Yun typically spent his days in the eastern or southern quadrants. That was where the capitalâs most prosperous districts were located. The northern quadrant⌠she recalled that the young master had only ever been here once before.
âJust taking a walk,â Lu Yun smiled faintly. Heâd been ten years old when he first visited six years ago. Arrogant, tyrannical, and overweening, heâd caused no end of trouble for the residents when he was here.
He was bored after that trip and never came again.
A lifeless atmosphere ruled the northern quadrant. The other three were protected by powerful formationsâonly the northern quadrant wasnât. Even its Qi Accumulation Formation had been out of circulation for an indeterminate period of time.
A grayish figure landed by Lu Yunâs feet.
âYou cretin! I will cripple you if you dare show your face around here again!â A gentle voice shouted loudly with denunciation and a faint fragrance drifted through the air. A young woman dressed in white with a veil across her face charged out of a simple shack.
âOuyang Shengxiang?â Lu Yun raised an eyebrow when he saw the girl.
âYouâre the one who came and threw your weight around in my northern quadrant! Just you wait, woman, just you wait!â The grayish figureâan initial foundation establishment cultivator scrambled out of sight.
âOuyang Shengxiang is only three levels of qi refinement. How was she able to send an initial foundation establishment flying?â Lu Yun mused as he watched the man run away.
âLu Yun?!â Ouyang Shengxiang flew into a rage when she saw the young man.
What heâd said at Immortal Gathering had naturally made its way into her ears; it was the talk of town now. She was unable to refute it, and most awkward of all; there was indeed a red mole on her bottom!
Now that she saw him here, she couldnât resist charging forward to teach him a lesson.
Lu Yun met her in kind to see Ouyang Shengxiang charge at him.
âAiyaya my dear! Though we are born a thousand miles apart, souls that are one will always meet. To think that weâd encounter each other hereâitâs destiny!â
He snapped his fan open, making Ouyang Shengxiang halt in her tracks when she saw the pornographic depiction. His fan was more than an ordinary folding fanâit was a paramount treasure. Its images could move, so Lu Yun could turn it into a walking show as soon as he infused it with his Hongmeng qi.