All was foggy and hazy within the marsh. Gray flames the likes that’d burned on the zombie filled the air.

“Strange, the water element should be dominant in a marsh like this. Why is this place teeming with the fire element?” The demon sovereign grabbed at the gray fire floating in the air, which twirled around his fingertips without hurting him.

“This fire is dead. It’s a kind of corpsefire, so it’ll burn only the dead and spare the living.” Unnatural tension crawled over Ashu’s expression. He was a step away from coming back to life, which meant that his body was still dead. The corpsefire here was his bane.

Keeping himself concealed was no longer a priority. He hurriedly used the breathing method to amplify his vitality to the greatest of his abilities. If the corpsefire surrounded him, he would be instantly burned to death and turn into a local zombie.

Lu Yun assigned a brand to Ashu that generated lifeforce around him. The former holy lord let out a sigh of relief at the reprieve and quickly activated the Concealment Talisman, masking any signs of his presence.

There were zombies everywhere in the marsh, be they humanoids, beasts, avians, or beings of the water clan.

“What a shame that their armor has all decayed to the point that we can’t date them to a specific era,” Ashu said quietly. Both he and the demon sovereign knew about the ten forbidden lands of the primordial world, but neither had entered this marsh in person.

Empress Myrtlestar, on the other hand, had visited in person back in the Primordial Era. Holy King Violetshade, too, had been here and drawn a map, which was now in Lu Yun’s possession. However, neither would be able to enter the marsh now.

Violetshade was now a holy king who would have difficulties leaving the underworld, while Fuying had started cultivating anew and hadn’t reached immortality yet. It would be suicide for her to come here.

“According to the map Violetshade gave us, the Xuan Yuan tomb should be to the southwest… next to a giant lake!” Lu Yun looked up to determine the right direction before setting out at great speed.

The stench of rot and decay in the air grew more pungent. It wasn’t only the putrid smell of rotting corpses, but also that of ones that’d been baked well-done after they’d rotted.

The corpsefire in the air grew thicker as well until their way was blocked by the dense gray fire, preventing Lu Yun and his companions from seeing clearly. The fire covered only the air, not the marsh below them, which, however, was now an inky black.

Only corpsewater with heavy sediment would turn such a color. Almost tangible by this point, Lu Yun had to continuously repress his gag reflexes to avoid throwing up. He was certain that any living soul would be spontaneously zombified should they fall into the marsh.

“This corpsewater is even more dangerous than the Great Formation of Corpse Refinement and the Bag of Corpse Refinement that belongs to the Corpse Refiners. If they find this place...” Lu Yun couldn’t help a shudder.

This was an absolute paradise for the Corpse Refiners.

“Their people visited this location in the Primordial Era, but none lived to tell the tale,” said the demon sovereign. “There are more unknown threats here than corpsewater and corpsefire.”

Boom!

Lu Yun waved his hand and manifested the Divine Glory. Embedded in the steering pillar of the ship, the Formation Orb radiated waves of formation light and drove away the fire.

He wasn’t about to wade through the corpsewater himself—he wasn’t a great enough daredevil for that. Who knew how long the corpsewater had accumulated for? It wasn’t something he could touch anymore.

The Divine Glory rumbled as its black sails unfurled, sailing into the depths of the Heaven Locus Marsh.

……

News got out that Lu Yun had entered the Heaven Locus Marsh. Although very few current immortals knew that the boundless bog used to be one of the ten forbidden lands of the primordial world of immortals, its dangers were well known.

“Why would Lu Yun risk his life to enter the marsh? Can it be that a great treasure has emerged there?” Heavyweights in the world of immortals couldn’t contain their excitement.

“Let’s go to Heaven Locus Land and see for ourselves. Lu Yun has the Dao Academy and an endless supply of crystals and treasures. Whatever attracted his attention must be at least a connate-grade treasure. It might be even greater!”

Immortals and moguls from the nine majors and ten lands swiftly gathered at the Heaven Locus Marsh, but what greeted them caught them completely off guard. Dense swarms of zombies rushed out from the great swamp, trying to break through the defenses of the Heaven Locus Court.

“Er… never mind that about a treasure. The Heaven Locus emperor is obviously using us to resolve this crisis for him,” someone chuckled wryly.

“Even so, we must protect the innocents. We can’t stand by and do nothing after fortunately arriving in time.” With a wave of his hand, Nephrite Celestial Emperor Zhao Shenguang sent an immortal sword into the air, which exploded and rained down a hail of swords on the area.

He’d acquired a special item from the Ancient Tree of Life that allowed him to tap into the full power of his heavenly mandate and gain the ninth origin dao fruit without fully understanding the true meaning of beholding the world.

He was now a true celestial emperor, raising him to the peak of the world of immortals. Moreover, the strength of the benevolent heart was slowly emerging from the mandate to influence him.

After Zhao Shenguang made his move, other heavyweights followed suit without hesitation and began slaughtering the zombies as well. The Heaven Locus emperor wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead. It was fortunate that Zhao Shenguang had taken the first step, otherwise, he would’ve attracted the ire of the general public.

Lu Yun had in fact entered the swampy depths, he just happened to coincide with the current spate of unrest. It was also a relief that the boy had killed the most powerful zombie coming out of the marsh before going in.

With most of the elites in the world of immortals here, the unrest at the marsh was quelled before it could spread further.

Rumble!

The layer of smoke above the marsh trembled as a yellowish-brown door emerged in the air and slowly creaked open.

The Xuan Yuan Tomb!

Erected before the door was the projection of a tombstone, on which were etched three bloody characters.

Rather than the contemporary language of the world of immortals, they were written in an ancient language. Nevertheless, a mysterious intent emanating from the characters enabled everyone to understand them.

“The Xuan Yuan Tomb? Who’s Xuan Yuan?” General confusion reigned and even Qi Hai was taken aback. He didn’t know who Xuan Yuan was. In fact, he’d never heard of such a figure. He did know the characters on the tomb, though. They belonged to the written language of the human race back in the era of human dao.

“Did Lu Yun enter the marsh to search for this tomb? But... the entrance to the tomb is actually outside!” Many were already considering entering the tomb to explore it.

“I suggest you stay outside if you don’t want to die a painful death,” Zhao Shenguang spoke up at this time. “Remember the celestial master tomb? If Lu Yun hadn’t broken the formation in that tomb to save all of you, you’d still be wandering around it as skinless corpses.”