âHow dare you!â Sui Geâs ego took a large hit when Lu Yun ignored him. He raised sword light and chased after the young man.
âEh?â Thirty meters away from Tie Shanhe, Lu Yun abruptly discovered that the void around him was turning viscous. The energy of heaven and earth seemed like a swamp, firmly miring him within.
Sui Geâs sword light arrived at the same time.
âHmph.â Lu Yun sent out his Hongmeng qi in a blast of brute force, barely evading the cutting sword light with a twist of his body. However, a section of his long blue robe drifted away.
âAnd here I thought you were some kind of amazing genius. Youâre just a buffoon thatâs all bark and no bite!â Sui Ge chortled to see his opponent nearly die from the blow. His sword light split into a dozen rays that aimed to cut down Lu Yun from all sides.
Hongmeng qi circulating madly, Lu Yun deployed eighty percent of his true qi to negate the formation trapping him in the air. Only twenty percent was left to withstand Sui Ge.
Lu Yunâs movements were slowing significantly and most of his Hongmeng qi was preoccupied elsewhere. He, too, sent out a dozen rays from Immortals Forbidden to counter Sui Geâs attack. Frowning, he didnât say anything.
âThatâs all you can do!â Sui Ge roared with laughter. âGreat Move of the Wings, Rainbow Slayer! Die!â
Sui Geâs flying sword flew out and turned into a massive pair of red wings in the sky. Each flap dislodged fiery feathers and sent them drifting through the void.
Sword light resembling a rainbow cut through the air to arrive in front of Lu Yun.
âWhat beautiful sword light!â sighed numerous female cultivators in the city. All they saw was sword brilliance shooting across the sky like a rainbow. Sui Ge stood in the air, white robes draped around his tall and limber body. His handsome face brimmed with masculine energy and he conducted his movements with unbridled grace.
Sui Ge was the man of many dreams in Dark Orchid, the ideal dao partner. He mesmerized a host of fans as he blazed with high spirits and deployed a scintillating move.
âYou sure know how to put on a showâŚâ Lu Yunâs lips quirked upward. Although his Hongmeng qi was suppressed, he still had many tricks up his sleeve. He lifted his foot and kicked the rainbow arcing toward him, sending Immortals Forbidden beneath his shoe at the same time to protect his foot.
Ear drums across Ashflame shook from the collision as the resplendent rainbow of sword qi shattered in the air. Lu Yun flew backward from the massive recoil and crashed into the city streets.
âNot bad to withstand my Rainbow Slayer! Of course, youâre just relying on the might of an upper spirit rank weapon!â Sui Ge stood imperiously in the sky and sneered down at a Lu Yun with both feet sunk into the ground.
âIdiot.â Lu Yun curled his lip. If it wasnât for the city lord ambushing him with the formation, he wouldnât need a second move to kill Sui Ge.
This fellow, however, was blithely unaware and looked around with arrogant self-satisfaction. He was a clown in Lu Yunâs eyes.
âDie!â Sui Ge lost his temper to see disdain on Lu Yunâs face. How dare someone he defeated show this kind of attitude?! He was asking for death!
The flying sword returned to Sui Geâs hand and burst with dazzling radiance, falling on Lu Yun once more.
Immortals Forbidden also answered Lu Yunâs summons and erupted with a meter of sword light, calmly blocking the attack. But here, the cityâs formation exerted greater pressure. The twenty percent strength he was able to bring to bear was gradually being reduced to fifteen.
âCity lord of Ashflame, I have no intention of being enemies with you. I just want to tear down a restaurant that likes to bully its customers and kill those who want to kill me. But since you do not answer to reason, I will not be polite either!â Lu Yun shouted with real anger.
âCity lord?â Sui Ge blinked in the midst of deploying a strike with full force. He didnât really understand what his opponent said.
The cityâs defensive formation stretched for five thousand kilometers and was comprised of ten formations. The eye of the formation rested in the city lordâs hand. Each formation was a fifth rank formation and their assembly perfectly melded the power of all ten. Their might was enhanced tenfold.
That meant to say that the city lord was invincible within Ashflame. Even soul separation powerhouses had to respectfully bow their heads within this domain. Sometimes, the formation was activated with none the wiser.
Prior to this, Lu Yun hadnât anticipated that the city lord would move against him. The combination of ten fifth rank formations and their increased might was far beyond the hamstrung Nineheavens Brahman Formation. If it wasnât for the sheer quality of his Hongmeng qi being able to negate the effects in the air, he would likely be completely immobilized and be on the chopping board for Sui Ge.
The formationsâ might continued to grow and suppress his cultivation. It was only a matter of time before he lost control over himself.
âHmph!â Sui Ge also realized certain things, but was unwilling to admit that he was less than Lu Yun. Pressing his advantage to kill the young man was the most important matter at hand.
Lu Yun sniffed when the city lord remained silent and materialized a dirt-yellow talisman in his hand. He disappeared in a flash of light.
âEh?â Ashflame city lord Luo Yulong frowned. How had the young man disappeared right under his nose?
But since he hadnât shown himself earlier, he couldnât be bothered to now. If it wasnât for the ninth rank formation disk being so important, he wouldnât have taken action to help Immortal Gazer.
Lu Yun reappeared fifty kilometers belowground, in front of a pale-gold spirit vein that surged like the river. A cold smirk played on his lips.
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âSince you like to stick your nose where it doesnât belong, I wonât hold back either. Ashflameâs spirit vein is mine!â Lu Yun leered toothily.
Ashflame was Dark Orchidâs largest southern city and hailed as the southern capital primarily because of the lower rank spirit vein beneath the metropolis. If Lu Yun took it, heâd be crippling the city beyond repair.
His hands formed seals to summon a black pagoda between themâthe sword pagoda. His cultivation was still too low to utilize the ray of sword qi within, but the sword pagoda itself was a powerful spatial treasure that could store living things.
There seemed to be a world of its own within the sword pagoda. Other than the ray of sword qi at the center, the rest of the area was an unbounded space.
After Lu Yun formed his nascent soul, the sword pagoda automatically recognized him as its master. Although he couldnât touch the ray of sword qi, that didnât preclude him from utilizing the space.
The spirit vein in front of him was one hundred kilometers long. It traveled through the earth like a massive dragon, swallowing and releasing energy of heaven and earth. This one, however, was confined by a formation. It could neither move nor escape the range of Ashflame City.
Connate yi wood flashed from Lu Yunâs hand, breaking the wood based restriction and tearing an opening in it. The spirit vein seemed to come alive and swam toward Lu Yun.
He also could have broken the city lordâs formation with the connate five elements, but the Jade Ruins Realm was in complete shambles at the moment. He would be in grave danger if someone recognized the art he used.
Using a talisman of the connate five elements could be explained away as just a heaven-defying treasure. But waving the elements to him with a single hand⌠even the Human Emperor of Great Xia would come for him then.
Lu Yun didnât want that kind of trouble, and thankfully he could act without reservation below ground. A golden immortalâs consciousness could not extend so far, not to mention formations and restrictions overlapped each other in this locale. Lu Yun wouldnât have made it thus far without his talisman of connate yang earth. If he couldnât manage it, then it was out of reach for awakened cultivators.
After a tiny hint of connate yi wood opened the formation, Lu Yun enlarged the sword pagoda with several hand seals. When its internal space was large enough, it exploded with a devouring force that swallowed the spirit vein.
It took three days for the sword pagoda to fully consume the spirit vein and safely store it inside.
âHeh heh heh, I was worrying what to supplement my cultivation with now that Iâve exhausted goodwill. This spirit vein comes in the nick of time!â Lu Yun waved another hand after claiming the spirit vein and stored the sword pagoda back in his dantian.
Ashflame City, within the city lordâs residence.
âLittle prince, do you mean to say that the young man in blue that day was the murderer of the Boulder Rise city lord?â Luo Yulongâs face darkened. If heâd known that Lu Yun was that city lordâs murderer, he wouldâve activated more than Ashflameâs trap formation to help Sui Ge. He wouldâve called upon the cityâs grand formation and obliterated the young man from existence.
Those from Prince Suiâs household were much more precious than the rest of the Dark Orchid royal family!
âThe murderer who killed my second brother half a month ago was a young man dressed in blue, wielding a crimson upper spirit rank flying sword. If my guess is right, this is the one. Any who dares touch a member of Prince Suiâs household will die even if they flee to the ends of the world!â Sui Ge snapped out as he tossed a jade slip to Luo Yulong.
The city lord brooded after scanning it with his consciousness. It contained a recording of when Lu Yun killed the Boulder Rise city lord. This was what Sui Ge was here to investigate in Dark Orchidâs southern capital. Who wouldâve thought that heâd run straight into Lu Yun here!
âIâve already spread the newsâImmortal Gazer experts will be here shortly and weâll hunt down that young man.â Tie Shanhe was equally livid. The Ashflame branch had been completely destroyed and its ninth rank formation disk seized. They needed to catch this young man as soon as possible, or it would be his head on a pike soon.
The city suddenly trembled as the ten formations enveloping Ashflame collapsed one after another.
âSomeoneâs disturbed the spirit vein!â Luo Yulong gasped.