Chapter 1360: Revenge of the Purpleclad Duke
Ghosts could be found wherever cultivators and arcane beasts were absent in the Hongmeng. Some weaker cultivators couldn’t even travel alone in the wild—they were too easily targeted by a variety of vengeful and vicious ghosts.
When Zhuo Bufan took Lu Yun and the little fox to Starcloud City and had their trip interrupted by the Redbud King’s forcefield, they’d hurried to the closest Redbud City to avoid running into ghosts in the wild.
Now with Starspace Region falling to the ghosts, ghost kings in nearby regions broke through the cultivator blockade and surged in to reinforce their new territory.
Lu Yun had gained some clues from the self detonated ghost king, which was why he’d decided to disguise himself as a ghost and sneak in to destroy the central crystal vein, thereby destroying the ghost nest.
There seems to be cultivators working with the ghosts.
....
Each of the three grabbed a third step king’s head and quietly headed further into the region. There were still many cultivators and kings entering Starspace to kill ghosts, and they also targeted the contingents gathered around the crystal veins. However, they didn’t dare approach the heart of the region—Starspace City.
There were signs of ninth step ghost kings in the Starspace capital, yet the strongest Cloudruin defender on the surface was Jinse and Hua Fengwen. The Acclaim King had yet to show herself in public.
Despite that, the cultivators of Cloudruin Region didn’t panic. All would be fine as long as they avoided the core territory of Starspace Region. The ninth step ghost kings were too busy overseeing the ghost nest.
One hundred and eight purple crystal cannons outside Cloudexit City fired barrages into the ghost nest at every possible moment. They completely preoccupied the Moon King’s attention as she was the only ghost king in all of Starspace Region who could dispel the cannons’ attacks.
Dispel, not block.
The light pillars from the cannons contained the will of the Hongmeng. Even when blocked, the encompassed will could still deliver a fatal blow to the ghost tomb.
Only a ninth step king of the Moon King’s caliber could fully dispel the realm’s will within.
....
The further in the trio headed, the more ghosts they could find. When they drew near Starspace City, the land and sky teemed with ghosts. The enemy was as dense as particles of dirt and ghost kings were so numerous that they rubbed elbows with each other.
However, everything was deathly silent with no sound whatsoever.
Though the ghosts understood the common language of the Hongmeng, they rarely communicated with each other. Lower level ghosts were given orders with a simple thought ripple from a high level king.
As first step kings, Lu Yun’s trio was completely inconsequential when they arrived. Instantly lost among the crowd, other ghost kings even snatched the three heads from their hands.
“I’d thought it’d be easier for us to blend in with these tokens of our loyalty, but there’s no order here to speak of. It’s a complete mess,” Qing Ting transmitted to the other two.
“Indeed, there’s no order at all to be found in ghosts—none of life or anything else.” Lu Yun nodded. “But they also look disorderly only on the surface. There’s actually a clear division of labor among them, so it’s probably going to be difficult for us to slip in and make it to the central crystal vein underground.”
He’d noticed that it was very hard for first and second step ghost kings to enter below ground. They either left after handing over their purple crystals or wandered around aimlessly until given new orders.
On the trio’s way here, they recruited several million wandering ghosts and formed them into a contingent, stole a crystal vein from another group of ghosts, and killed their three ghost kings. They then battled with numerous cultivators before finally making it here.
The formerly glittering Starspace City, immense in its might and stature, had become scattered ruins and ghost territory. Lu Yun could see the Moon King.
She didn’t appear to be a ghost king. Instead, she was pure white and flawless throughout, her silver long hair sparkling with light. Life filled her eyes, not the air of death found in ghosts. Three kings from Mangcang Mountain stood next to her—they were all ghost kings now and under her control.
The purple crystal cannons continued their relentless barrage, vaporizing countless ghosts at every second. Ghost kings struck back at every moment as well, dispelling the pillars of light from the weapons.
The heart of the ghost tomb lay under Starspace City.
“Thank goodness the central crystal vein of the region hasn’t been fully corrupted. The big dragon inside is resisting the Moon King’s ghostly power. Though she is a ninth step ghost king, she can’t immediately refine the crystal vein,” Lu Yun heaved a slight sigh of relief. “What about the Starspace King? Was he eliminated from existence or has he been assimilated as well?”
Lu Yun dismissed his ghostly troops after he turned over his purple crystals and shuffled around. The ghost tomb was built not only below ground, but laid out aboveground as well. Any arrangements on the ground had been destroyed by the purple crystal cannons. The ghosts that’d been in charge of that portion of the tomb drifted about inanely since they hadn’t received new commands.
“Would you say that ghosts are intelligent?” Li Zhen wandered around like the other ghosts, making careful observations as he transmitted to his companions.
They were equipped with both Lu Yun’s Transformation Talisman and a Stillness Talisman as refined from a karmic fruit. The latter could quiet any sort of ripple from them, including that of message transmittal.
“They’re intelligent.” Lu Yun nodded. “But low level ghost kings are absolutely obedient to higher level ghost kings. If a ninth step king was there, they’d be just as docile as the rest of us. Be careful not to expose yourself.”
“Wait, look over there!” Qing Ting suddenly transmitted urgently. “There’s a cultivator over there—the Purpleclad Duke!”
“What?!” Lu Yun and Li Zhen’s eyes widened with surprise. They didn’t dare extend their consciousness, however, but looked in the relevant direction seemingly by chance.
Purpleclad wore a black cloak and stood in the air over Starspace City. He hovered in open view, not concealing anything about his figure or face.
“Moon King, so it is you,” he said coolly.
“To think you’d really come, Purpleclad Duke!” The Moon King smiled charmingly at the duke. “Since you have, that means you’ve accepted my proposal. Have you brought ten thousand premium crystal veins with you?”
“Hmph!” Purpleclad snorted coldly. “They’re in my seed storage. Where is my master’s body?”
“Right here.” The Moon King summoned the corpse of a woman with a wave of her hand. She was extraordinarily beautiful even in death. Though she no longer drew breath, she didn’t appear to be overcome by the final end.
She was once the master of Starspace Region—the Starspace King.
Her corpse floated to Purpleclad with another wave of the Moon King’s hand; the duke’s eyes instantly reddened.
“..master!!” he forced out through grit teeth. “Here are ten thousand premium crystal veins!”
He released his seed storage, first sending in his master’s body and then retrieving the crystal veins.
“Detonate!” he suddenly roared.
KABOOM!
Ten thousand premium crystal veins exploded and their innate power spread out over five billion kilometers in all directions.
“Hahaha, you’ve been had, Moon King! I wouldn’t betray the Hongmeng even for my master’s body! Enjoy the ten thousand crystal veins!” He was already gone in a streak of light, but his voice echoed in the aftermath of the terrifying explosion.
historical
He’d come prepared—a king grade Detonation Talisman was buried in each of the crystal veins. When activated, each crystal vein exploded to its fullest limits, leaving nothing behind for the Moon King.
Purpleclad himself made use of a king grade Flee Talisman to immediately escape to safety.
“You bastard!!” the Moon King’s anguished howl reverberated through Starspace Region. An explosion of ten thousand premium crystal veins shook the ghost tomb setup underground. It’d already been severely damaged; another devastating blow ruined it almost completely beyond the scope of salvaging!
Never had the Moon King imagined that the Purpleclad Duke would have this in store for her. She was quite lost at what’d just happened.
Wasn’t supplemental dao monopolized by the Supplemental Dao Alliance? King grade supplemental treasures were almost never seen. Mangcang Mountain’s Oddmoon had only been completed with her help.
Why did the duke suddenly have so many king grade Detonation and even a Flee Talisman?
Had he switched allegiances to the Supplemental Dao Alliance?
Though the crystal veins exploding didn’t hurt her, they still caused her to sink into a baffled stupor for a time.