“Now, this is what I call an ancient tomb!” Lu Yun grinned from ear to ear at the sight of the dark tomb in front him.

The Hell of Skinning was completely destroyed the second the yin and yang tombs came together. Human skins in the yang tomb merged with their flesh and blood in the yin tomb, returning their owners to the world of the living.

“It’s too bad that the orbs came together so fast… if the scarlet yin spirits had stuck around a bit longer, I would’ve been able to grasp the theory of my own sword dao.” He raised his head longingly at the black void above.

Alas, the hole that led toward the unknown realm was gone. No more yin spirits could come from there to here. More importantly, the layout of the lungs of heaven and earth that’d been about to be torn apart by the yin and yang tombs had restabilized.

Indeed, the place had come the tiniest bit alive. It seemed that the layout had created a delicate new beginning somewhere inside its boundaries.

“This is a complete layout of the lungs of heaven and earth now. It’s far superior to the actual lungs in hell!” Lu Yun could see everything about the microcosm more clearly.

This minor world was an exceptionally brilliant feng shui layout. There were no physical lungs anywhere in sight, but the entire world had the ability to fulfill the functions of a lung. It renewed waste into heavenly qi that was so crucial to the world’s continued existence.

……

Now that the yin and yang tombs had become whole, two shadowed tombs were a single, real tomb. From where he stood, Lu Yun couldn’t see a thing inside. “The celestial master tomb is still interring the lungs of heaven and earth. If the tomb outside isn’t broken, the layout will still wither, sooner or later.”

He called the recombined Formation Orb and Sugato Sword back to him, then stepped out of the layout altogether.

“Hmm?” A faint haze of darkness covered his eyes, and he turned back to see that the minor world formed by the layout had disappeared.

“So if I want to go back there, I just need to turn into gaseous sand.” He breathed a sigh of relief.

The lungs of heaven of earth was far more powerful than any grand influence over the world. It was probably one of the strongest layouts ever, and Lu Yun wanted to be able to study it some time in the future.

“I should destroy the tomb before I do anything else.” His trusty luopan appeared on his palm. “Eh?”

Before he could do anything, he heard a disturbance up ahead.

“There’s a fight going on!” Lu Yun looked forward with his Spectral Eye. This was the end of the tomb, and a wall of bone bricks was right behind him. There was no other way out.

The din of the fighting grew fiercer as time went on, shaking the cavern he was in.

“It’s Scarlet Ape and Kui!” Lu Yun’s heart skipped a beat. He curled up and turned into a rock, then shuffled into an insignificant corner.

……

“Kakaka… you’ve nowhere to run, Kui!” Scarlet Ape’s grating shriek was followed by a loud explosion.

Kui’s colossal body smashed against the celestial master tomb’s walls amidst a purple-gold flash.

“Uoooooogh!” It roared angrily, firing wild thunderbolts into the darkness with its singular horn.

What?! Consternation filled Lu Yun’s heart. How did the kui return to life as well?

The kui he’d seen in Azure Province was a corpse divine. It kept the abilities it had in life, but it was definitely a type of zombie. The one in front of him, however, was much smaller, but it was definitely alive!

It had been resurrected!

“I don’t understand.” Despite his bewilderment, Lu Yun dared not reveal his shock. He tightly repressed his physical functions with the Tome of Life and Death. Though he was a real rock, an expert would definitely notice a rock that could think.

The kui in front of him was a much smaller specimen, yes, but Lu Yun remained confident that this kui and the corpse divine that had appeared before were one and the same.

Maybe Kui died here? An idea came to him. Yeah, only someone who died inside the tomb would be revived right now!

The yin and yang tombs corresponded fairly well to the worlds of the dead and the living.

A living creature that died went to the world of the dead. If the two worlds overlapped, a dead ghost could come back to life, if it found its corpse. The celestial master tomb’s yin and yang tombs functioned in much the same way.

Everyone who’d died here was resurrected as well, Beigong Yu and the Scaled-Dragon King included. The former had died and become a yin spirit outside the tomb, which should have excluded him from the list. Nevertheless, his status as an Infernum under Lu Yun’s command meant the Tome of Life and Death revived him upon the tomb’s recombination.

However, he saw no reason to summon them right at this moment; their deaths would contribute nothing to the situation. Meanwhile, two ghostly figures barrelled out from the darkness. Two scarlet apes!

One golden, one silver.

The two apes charged at Kui as soon as they emerged, and the bovine god mooed thunderously in defiance. Lightning sparked upon its body, but inflicted no damage whatsoever on the scarlet apes.

Is that Scarlet Ape’s dao partner? Lu Yun carefully transfigured a stony eye to spy upon the three battling beasts. He didn't dare use his consciousness, or even a real eye, lest he be noticed by the combatants.

The silver-white scarlet ape was bigger and stronger than the golden one. He couldn’t see what cultivation realm it was in, aside from the fact there was a significant difference in strength between it and its ally.

The golden scarlet ape was roughly Kui's equal. The silver one, on the other hand, dominated Kui as soon as it took the field. Kui's thunder methods were effective against the golden ape, but the silver ape ignored every attack it fired.

What an absolute terror. This creature can’t be allowed to enter the world of immortals. Otherwise, there'll be a disaster to Dusk Province and the rest of the world! Lu Yun's heart trembled; the silver ape was simply too powerful!

"Roooooooar!"

The silver scarlet ape lunged forward with a berserk howl. A silver pillar of light burst forth from its arm, puncturing Kui's body clean through.