CH 2199.1

“What?” Ouyang Shengtian’s eyes shot wide open. “All of the Ouyang spirit stones?”

“Shengtian, who is he? Why can he barge into the family’s heartland without prior report?!” demanded an elder with a goatee.

“Should I kill the old guy?” Lu Yun raised his hand with a smirk.

“Don’t!” Ouyang Shengtian shook his head rapidly. “Great grandfather, just ignore this. Young master Lu Yun is my friend…”

“What?? He’s that good-for-nothing Lu Yun?” Ouyang Biegui huffed and puffed, glaring at the newcomer. “You’re the one who wasted old brother Lu’s family foundations!”

“Huh?” Lu Yun was very confused. The Lu and Ouyang Clan had been arch rivals before Ouyang Shengtian became who he was. But the Ouyang soul projection forefather from Dark Orchid called Lu Tianling… old brother Lu?

What was going on?

“Your grandfather once saved my great grandfather’s life. Although my great grandfather broke through and headed to Dark Orchid, he never forgot this great debt of gratitude. When he detected that the soul projection cultivators of the Yuwen, Ling, Zhao, and Yu Clans were traveling back to Darklake, he decided to come as well.” Ouyang Shengtian smiled ruefully.

“…My grandfather saved the Ouyang forefather’s life… so the Ouyang Clan decided to destroy my Lu Clan?” This was the last possible turn of events on Lu Yun’s mind.

“Hmph! I would kill Ouyang Baitian and Ouyang Baiyi myself if those two were still alive,” Ouyang Biegui snorted.

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

“Don’t be angry, great grandfather. Aren’t the Ouyangs and Lus allies now?” Ouyang Shengtian quickly mollified. The “great grandfather” term was rolling more easily off his tongue.

“Hmph!” harrumphed a livid Ouyang Biegui.

“Alright, set that aside for now. Lend me all of the Ouyang spirit stones.”

“Um…” Ouyang Shengtian and his great grandfather looked at each other.

“Alright, I will!” The Ouyang young master decided after brief hesitation. He sent his men to the vaults and took out all of the family’s spirit stones. He’d long consolidated power over the entire clan, a fact that did not change with Ouyang Biegui’s return.

The Ouyang family wealth was immensely impressive after accumulating for thousands of years. They took out thirty million upper rank spirit stones for Lu Yun to use!

Thirty million upper rank spirit stones were the equivalent of three hundred thousand paramount spirit stones. It was an incredible feat for a family of a third rank cultivation empire to possess such riches!

Lu Yun accepted the stones without a pretense of courtesy. He scanned the storage ring that Ouyang Shengtian gave him and threw it into his own, leaving without a word.

After his departure, both Ouyang Shengtian and Ouyang Biegui quieted down.

……

Darklake Empire’s royal palace sat in the heart of the capital. It occupied one hundred and fifty kilometers. Magnificent and spectacular, it was the core of the nation’s power.

It was under heavy guard at the moment with one sentry every three steps and a patrol every five. All of its countless formations operated and none of the maids, eunuchs, or even royal descendants could freely walk around.

“The royal family of any cultivation empire is not to be underestimated.” Lu Yun easily penetrated the palace given that he was protected by talismans of the connate five elements. As he stood at the peak of mid nascent soul, he could break through to latter nascent soul at any time. It was also much easier for him to utilize the connate five elements in creating talismans.

The Eye of Nullification scanned everything within fifty kilometers. But everytime he used it, he was reminded of another art of the eye. It was very similar, with the difference of his being far inferior.

That art could read the information of life and death.

The great formation of the palace rivaled the array of ten in Ashflame City of Dark Orchid Empire. Even soul projection powerhouses would have an unpleasant time if they barged in.

Great changes occurred after Darklake royalty returned from Dark Orchid. Emperor Situ Wenxian was confined to his quarters and Lu Yun’s good friend Situ Yun also lost his personal freedom.

Crown Prince Situ Jie was acting regent and wielded sole authority, but he was also a puppet. The seniors of the family held the true reins of power.

Lu Yun dove into the earth beneath the palace and traveled through it with a shimmer of hazy yellow light over his body.

“Here we are, this is the place.” He burrowed out from the ground, arriving in front of the national coffers of Darklake Empire, the sum total of its wealth. No single clan or sect could compare to a government. The country reigned supreme and its subjects were too numerous to be counted.

Darklake Empire had existed for nearly ten thousand years. What kind of wealth would there be after this period of accumulation?!

The national coffers were a massive seed storage formation, each of its one hundred kilometers partitioned into different areas.

“My my my, there’s more than thirty million paramount spirit stones and some hundred million upper rank stones…” Lu Yun grinned toothily. The formations here were so domineering that any other nascent soul cultivator would already be eviscerated.

“Who dares trespass in the empire’s treasury?!” An angry roar echoed as a man in white appeared with a flash of sword light.

“Uncle Wu, it’s me, Lu Yun.” Lu Yun smiled merrily at the man.

“Young master? You..” Wu Wei gaped at Lu Yun, not knowing what to say. He was a member of the royal family’s secret force—the Hidden Dragons—and assigned to the vaults.

“The Hidden Dragons haven’t been exposed, have they?” Lu Yun asked.

“No,” Wu Wei shook his head. “His Majesty immediately scattered the Hidden Dragons to various locales when he detected something amiss in the capital. The enemy has not noticed our existence.”

Lu Yun nodded, not knowing what his grandfather had done to hide some cultivators from the heavenly book. Dark Orchid was completely in the dark that Darklake Empire possessed a troop of soul projection powerhouses.

If the heavenly book couldn’t detect it, then the true immortal in Dark City was even less likely to realize unless the Hidden Dragons stood in front of him one by one.

Emperor Situ Wenxian possessed keen instincts and was ready before the various clan elders returned from Dark Orchid. He dispersed the Hidden Dragons to appear as if he was under house arrest.

“That’s good,” Lu Yun nodded.

“Ah yes, what are you doing here, young master?”

“I need spirit stones!” Lu Yun responded seriously. “All of the spirit stones in the nation’s vaults!”

“Um…” Wu Wei frowned slightly. “Is this the marshal’s command?”

“No,” Lu Yun shook his head. “Don’t ask further about this, Uncle Wu. I have great use for them.”

“Very well then!” Wu Wei nodded. Although the spirit stones in the vaults were quite important, Darklake Empire teetered on the brink of disaster. A single misstep could lead to the nation’s fall, such as exposure of the Hidden Dragons. Dark Orchid’s retaliation would be sure and brutal if it learned of a vassal nation’s secret cache of soul projection heavyweights. It might even declare war on Darklake through another vassal nation.

If such a situation developed, then Darklake would not survive being beset by all sides.

Lu Tianling’s original plan was to slowly develop in the shadows and turn the Hidden Dragons into a contingent of cultivators who were at least soul separation. He hadn’t imagined that the Human Emperor of Great Xia would disturb the heavenly book and negate its power over the realm!

Wu Wei formed a hand seal and released all of the formations in the vaults. “Young master, those traitors will sooner or later turn their sights toward the vaults. You might as well take everything in it so it won’t end up in their hands.”

A nation’s fortune was so vast that all of the spirit stones, rare treasures, and pills were innumerable. It totaled two hundred million paramount rank spirit stones!

Lu Yun gestured with his fingers without another word and sent out the sword pagoda from his dantian. His cultivation was so low that he couldn’t utilize the sword pagoda’s true strength—he could only use it as a spatial treasure.

Regardless, spatial treasures were very rare in worlds of cultivation as their refinement process was too complicated. One needed to gather the power of the five elements and use them to manifest space. Only premier master refiners could forge such treasures.

While there was space inside Lu Yun’s Forge of Heaven and Earth, it was filled with the power of thunder and lightning, as well as the Nineheavens Brahman Formation. It wasn’t a spatial treasure because the forge wasn’t a treasure at all.

The sword pagoda swiftly expanded in the vaults and turned into a massive tower three hundred meters tall. Not a particle of dust remained in the vaults one hundred kilometers across after a round of terrifying suction force.

Wu Wei’s jaw dropped. He’d taken out some storage rings and was ready to help, but the young master had needed only three dozen breaths to empty the treasury!