Chapter 2165.1: Shengxiang

“Just what are you doing, Lu Yun? What did you provoke that Fengxian Wu for?” Lu Xiaochi appeared soon after Lu Yun returned to his yard. He called their guest Fengxian Wu, not Fengwu. Plainly, he’d overheard their conversation.

The second master was accompanied by a rather large surge of goodwill.

“Goodwill?” Lu Yun ignored his uncle and looked behind Lu Xiaochi.

He Wuheng followed the second master’s 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 Wuheng’s 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.

“If 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 Wuhengs..?” A radiant smile rose on Lu Yun’s face.

Lu Xiaochi snorted to see his nephew pause, then grin the same way the boy had when speaking with Fengxian Wu—lewd and utterly debauched.

“Ahem..” Lu Yun returned to his senses and looked at his second uncle with confusion. “What might second uncle need?” He was in a very good mood and greeted Lu Xiaochi merrily.

“I asked you, what were you doing provoking Fengxian Wu?” Lu Xiaochi huffed back.

“Eh.. to get the way to break the Severed Meridians Hold?” Lu Yun still wore a devil-may-care smile that made Lu Xiaochi’s hand itch to slap him.

“Didn’t you say that you’d be able to do it once you reached foundation establishment?” the man frowned.

“I did and I can, but so can Fengxian Wu’s method,” Lu Yun responded in a lackadaisical manner.

Bright light shone out of Lu Xiaochi’s eyes.

“While her method can also break the restriction, it will end uncle’s path to becoming an immortal. Once we break the Severed Meridians Hold using her way, your path to immortality will come to an end,” Lu Yun said solemnly as the smile dropped off his face.

Lu Xiaochi, He Wuheng, Lu Xuan, and Lan’er’s expressions froze.

Becoming an immortal?

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!

It’d never happened before in the nation’s history.

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 Empire’s constraints. Even a soul projection powerhouse wouldn’t be subject to that empire’s whims.

“You can’t possibly think that I can become an immortal after my restriction is broken,” Lu Xiaochi said ruefully. Although his potential was unparalleled and he’d coalesced a nascent soul at thirty years old—an incredible achievement in Darklake Empire—that was still nothing if viewed from the lens of some of the higher level cultivation empires.

“You can.” Lu Yun nodded.

Lu Xiaochi paused, dazed.

“Don’t forget who my master is,” Lu Yun continued proudly.

“An immortal..” Lu Xiaochi took a deep breath, hope gleaming at the very bottom of his eyes.

“Second uncle, you have a high status in the family. Although you’re grandfather’s foster son, you’re a core figure of the clan. It won’t 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,” 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 family’s 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 weren’t the other families of Darklake Empire.

“Is there anything else, second uncle?” Lu Yun asked again.

Lu Xiaochi shook his head. “Since you know that the family has enemies, you should rein yourself in a little. Your grandfather doesn’t 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 you’re alright.” Lu Xiaochi paused, then said, “This is just trials and tests for you.”

“Trials and tests?” Lu Yun chuckled. “Then let them continue. Your nephew is unwise in the ways of the world and needs a great deal of tempering.”

Lu Xiaochi rolled his eyes. “Unwise in the ways of the world? You were so unwise that you ensured the deaths of the Yuwen and Ouyang patriarchs—do you need more tempering?”

Lu Yun nodded. He seemed to have come to this world for this particular trial.

“Whatever, do as you wish. Just don’t go overboard and give our enemies something to threaten your grandfather with,” Lu Xiaochi smiled with resignation.

“Young master..” Lan’er looked weakly at Lu Yun. Their conversation touched upon the classified affairs of the Lu Clan and she was only a mere servant girl.

“It’s fine, don’t speak of today’s events with anyone else,” Lu Yun smiled gently.

“So the young master is this handsome when he’s not busy being mean..” Lan’er’s heart was aflutter.

“Ai.. second uncle, although there are rules in place for the world of cultivation so that many can’t openly move against us, what are the rules? They’re meant to be broken.” Lu Yun stretched lazily. He didn’t ask who their enemies were as Lu Xiaochi wouldn’t tell him if he did. Lu Yun’s parents had died when he was young—not 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 they’ve been infiltrated by our enemies. The Nineheavens Pagoda from Dark Orchid is also likely one of their pawns..

But who are our enemies? The Severed Meridian Hold? Only an awakened cultivator who’s passed through their tribulation can deploy it.

Lu Yun shuddered when he thought of one such cultivator he’d angered a few years ago. That’d been a true brush with death!

....

The one hundred and fifty kilometers of Dark City’s 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 was—long white robes, fine jade dangling from his waist, and the very graphic fan in his hand. He sauntered through the streets with Lan’er 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 master’s arrival. No one wanted to run afoul of this pestilence!

“Young master, what are we doing here?” Lan’er didn’t understand it. Lu Yun typically spent his days in the eastern or southern quadrants. That was where the capital’s most prosperous districts were located. The northern quadrant.. she recalled that the young master had only ever been here once before.

“Just taking a walk,” Lu Yun smiled faintly. He’d been ten years old when he first visited six years ago. Arrogant, tyrannical, and overweening, he’d 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 formations—only the northern quadrant wasn’t. Even its Qi Accumulation Formation had been out of circulation for an indeterminate period of time.

Bam!

A grayish figure landed by Lu Yun’s feet.

“You cretin! I will cripple you if you dare show your face around here again!” 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.

“Ouyang Shengxiang?” Lu Yun raised an eyebrow when he saw the girl.

“You’re the one who came and threw your weight around in my northern quadrant! Just you wait, woman, just you wait!” The grayish figure—an initial foundation establishment cultivator scrambled out of sight.

“Ouyang Shengxiang is only three levels of qi refinement. How was she able to send an initial foundation establishment flying?” Lu Yun mused as he watched the man run away.

“Lu Yun?!” Ouyang Shengxiang flew into a rage when she saw the young man.

What he’d 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 couldn’t resist charging forward to teach him a lesson.

Lu Yun met her in kind to see Ouyang Shengxiang charge at him.

“Aiyaya my dear! Though we are born a thousand miles apart, souls that are one will always meet. To think that we’d encounter each other here—it’s destiny!”

Whoosh!

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 fan—it 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.