Lu Yun threw out a punch the moment he appeared. The delivery involved no methods or combat arts whatsoever, just pure strength!

Crack… pop! Scatter.

The sea of bones shuddered violently. Its calcified components rubbed against one another with a sound that threatened immediate dissolution.

Landing neatly before the little nun and Star Demon Sect’s holy girl, Lu Yun cut a sharp figure in his pristine white robes. The sea of bones was split asunder and surged uselessly toward the sides.

“You don’t need to come to Dusk Province, Jiangchen Xie. You can try killing me right here.” The young man’s eyes carried a hint of scorn for his adversary.

Jiangchen Xie shivered convulsively. His body hunched in of its own accord and fear flashed across his face. Then, he recalled something that helped him straighten up again.

“Well met, Lu Yun!” Looking at the youth in the air above him, Jiangchen Xie released the hidden light of blood in his dark eyes. It flew out and circled all around him.

Fwoosh!

The sea of bones stitched itself back together and bleached-white flames began burning within it.

Hadal Bonefire.

Glancing at the blood-light all around Jiangchen Xie’s body, Lu Yun slowly turned grave.

“You turned yourself into a zombie king… no wonder you dared challenge me.” He breathed in sharply.

Jin Heyi of the Jin clan had tried a similar tactic after forcibly taking Diexi’s origin sphere, but had failed.

Jiangchen Xie, on the other hand, appeared to have succeeded completely. Not precisely a mere zombie king, but one perfected from the dual state of being alive and a king of the undead.

Lu Yun had a hard time describing exactly what it was. He’d never seen a zombie king who’d successfully bridged the gap from death to life—even Diexi was a step short.

Jiangchen Xie had achieved it as a living man.

……

Jiangchen Xie was spurred into motion. He cast a glance in Lu Yun’s direction, enveloping his general surroundings in bloody light. Mountains of bloody corpses piled up around the Dusk governor in a single moment.

These corpses weren’t the illusions Diexi could create, but real zombies.

The zombies from the Bag of Corpse Refinement were likewise bolstered to unprecedented levels by their king’s power. Lu Yun’s countering arts became completely ineffective against these strange creatures.

Lu Yun narrowed his eyes. He opened his arms, protectively ushering the holy girl and the little nun behind him.

“Be careful, Sect Head!” the Star Demon Sect holy girl said hurriedly. “In our records, the Corpse Refiners was founded by a zombie king. Their zombie methods come from the same source!

“Now that Jiangchen Xie is a zombie king himself, he’ll be able to unleash their true potential!”

The holy girl occupied a lofty position within the sect, giving her access to secrets that most didn’t have. She was also smart enough to connect those dots with what she was seeing.

Though the Star Demon Sect came from the Skandha Range, their five lords had traveled all over the world. The factions they’d wiped out and tombs they’d dug up in their travels were a trove of information for their sect.

Many historical records about the Corpse Refiners were stored, reliable or otherwise. According to legend, the founder and first head of the Corpse Refiners was a zombie king who had reversed death to life. Every method they had, including those for commanding zombies, were zombie king methods.

If someone became a zombie king on the same level as their founder, they would be able to make use of the full potential of their methods.

Furthermore, Jiangchen Xie had Hadal Bonefire, its carrier, and an endless sea of bones to reinforce him. As long as he didn’t die before reaching the zenith of his strength, he would surely surpass the Corpse Refiners’ founder one day.

As for exactly how strong that ancestor once was, the books the Star Demon Sect had didn’t mention that. Since he’d existed before the Primordial Era, he was likely on the level of an immortal emperor.

With enough time, Jiangchen Xie would be able to reach the same lofty heights.

……

“Zombie king methods?” Lu Yun sneered. He raised a hand to the sky, unleashing a torrent of blue-black lightning upon the gory mountains of corpses. The Azure Dragon King’s Yi Wood Cleansing Thunder!

“Break!” He clenched his fist for another punch. Electricity wrapped around his knuckles, and as he slammed them forward, they cascaded into an ocean of thunder.

Boom!

The graphic scenery Jiangchen Xie had conjured was obliterated. Zombies and bone fragments flew in every direction.

Jiangchen Xie zoomed across the air, red in the face from the collision. The bloody light around him had been dispelled by the blue-black lightning.

“The Azure Dragon King’s Yi Wood Cleansing Thunder!” he cried out in slack-jawed terror.

The zombie methods of the Corpse Refiners were accounted among immortal dao’s manifold arts. Thunder was effective against it, but not particularly so. Only one kind of thunder was anathema to it: the Azure Dragons’ Yi Wood Cleansing Thunder.

After the death of the Azure Dragon King in the ancient times, his tribe was hunted to near extinction. The kui was responsible for some of that, but the Corpse Refiners bore the majority of the blame.

Jiangchen Xie had known Lu Yun could use Yi Wood Cleansing Thunder, but he didn’t expect his zombie king methods to crumple like paper in the face of it!

“Rumor has it that the first head of the Corpse Refiners was killed by the Azure Dragon King…” His heart sank into further fear, but he remained reasonably calm. Forcibly settling himself into a stable stance, he summoned a rising mountain of bone beneath his feet.

His Hadal Bonefire set it aflame, and the frigid bonfire illuminated the surrounding skies with chilling clarity. The blue-black lightning disappeared as soon as it approached the flames.

“Just as I thought, your Yi Wood Cleansing Thunder can’t defeat my bones.” Jiangchen Xie let out a sigh of relief.

The mountain of bone underfoot sank into a sea once more. This time, each chunk of bone glowed with bleak Bonefire, turning the landscape into a sinister inferno. The arcing thunderbolts were scattered by the frigid blaze.

“Your Yi Wood Cleansing Thunder can’t win against my Bonefire, Lu Yun!” The zombie king wiped away the blood at the corner of his mouth. His sea of burning bone whipped up an even bigger tide, roiling once again toward his opponent.

“You just never learn, do you?” Lu Yun snorted in resignation.

Fwoosh!

A ball of black fire appeared upon his fist and he punched out once again. Just like before, the fist crashed into the sea of burning bone with pure strength.

Boom!

Another deafening crack rang out, and the Hadal Bonefire and its rippling fuel were fragmented into a thousand pieces.

Simple, straightforward, pure strength.