“Unless I’m mistaken, all that’s left of that great empress is a soul fragment, so she can’t activate the treasure.” Lu Yun’s eyes shone bright. “As long as she can’t enter this area, she won’t be able to call upon the treasure’s power. This is a great opportunity! We can make off with it instead!”

The Deaf Prince, Beicang Qiong, and Jing Dichen couldn’t help but flinch. Wrest a great empress’ treasure away from herself? Was the mighty senior brother out of his mind??

“Don’t worry, the connection between the treasure and the soul fragment must’ve been cut off.” Lu Yun smiled faintly and outlined his thoughts with great confidence. “The treasure’s turned into a chunk of immortal crystal and belongs to the immortal dao now. Even if she is the soul fragment of a primeval empress… she’s just a damaged soul in the end. She can’t come here, nor can she reclaim it.”

The Deaf Prince and the others looked askance at each other, afraid to respond. They were lawless mavericks, known to stir up trouble as easily as they breathed, but they couldn’t hold a candle to their senior brother, it seemed.

We’re talking about a primeval empress here!

According to Jing Dichen, this was a figure who could squash the primordial immortal emperor with one finger. And yet Lu Yun was blatantly scheming against her!

“It’s decided then. You six are going to take this treasure!” Forestalling their protests, Lu Yun made the decision for them. “I’ve dug up quite a few big tombs in my time, but I’ve yet to uncover something truly worthy of being called a treasure.

“I’m taking this mountain with me if it’s the last thing I do!” His steps became all the more sprightly and lively. Just now, the luopan had not only revealed the truth of everything in- and outside the palace, but it’d also located where Lin Yan and the others were.

The Deaf Prince, Beicang Qiong, and Jing Dichen pulled another long face, then followed him obediently.

“They’re just ahead of us!” Lu Yun suddenly stopped dead, seeing that the landscape in front of them was different from before.

Numerous crystal mountains towered above the clouds, some even bigger than the ones the six profligates owned. It would seem that the mountains the six had made off with had been the smallest ones in the batch; any bigger and they would’ve been too much for them to handle.

Lu Yun glimpsed Bai Qi, Feng Ruyu, and Lin Yan sealed inside a great crystal mountain. Thankfully, they were still alive.

Lin Yan’s situation was the most precarious. His body had been almost run through by a pillar of immortal crystal, but there was a layer of dim golden light encircling him. This was the effect of the Tribulation Surrogate Pill, a pill that could ward off disaster for immortals and cultivators alike.

Even so, the pill’s brilliance was steadily decreasing. When it disappeared for good, it’d signal the end of Lin Yan’s life.

“Senior brother Lu?” Bai Qi shouted as soon as he saw Lu Yun. “Don’t get any closer! Be careful, the crystal mountains here are alive, and they might transform into monsters at any moment!”

Lu Yun stopped in his tracks and opened the Spectral Eye to scan the mountains around them. Sure enough, he saw the aura of living creatures emanating from the inanimate features.

“These mountains… all possess complete souls! ...the faceless ghosts!” Lu Yun jerked his head around. “The impostor must have gone out of her way to collect dead souls, all for the sake of creating these monsters! They probably weren’t in the shape of mountains at first, but were assimilated into immortal crystals later on.”

He finally saw through to the truth of this place. After reaping the souls of many creatures, the soul fragment had turned them into faceless ghosts while feeding their souls to the monsters to revive them.

“Also, I absolutely need to take this mountain away, or it’ll absorb the energy of the land at an increasingly faster rate and end up consuming all of the energy exhaled by the lungs. If that ever happens, the world outside and the worlds beyond will gradually wither.” Lu Yun grimaced when he understood their current quandary.

They were in the true core of the great mountain, the inside of a great empress’ treasure. An imperial treasure, especially one that was still intact, would continuously absorb natural energy in its vicinity to store as its own.

That wouldn’t have been an issue with a complete immortal dao. With the protection of the immortal dao, not even a treasure of this level would’ve been able to harm the outside world.

But the immortal dao was severed, and keeping its remaining fragments together was all it could do. Meanwhile, this parasitic mountain relentlessly leeched away natural energy from the source. At this rate, all of the energy in the outside world would one day end up here.

Hearing Lu Yun muttering to himself, Jing Dichen and her companions shuddered from head to toe.

“You three fall back. I need to lay down a formation to disperse the immortal energy here.” Lu Yun took a deep breath and made a pushing motion with his hand, signaling them to move behind him.

“You have to be careful, senior brother Lu. Apart from those mountain monsters, there’s also immortal ghosts here!” Jing Dichen hurried to warn him when she saw him get to work.

“Immortal ghosts, hmm?” Lu Yun inclined his head. “The layouts here are chaotic and complex… It’s true that it would be hard for me to spot any immortal ghosts that may be hidden nearby.

“That said... immortal ghosts aren’t much of a threat. Yueshen, your turn,” he whispered.

“So you’ve finally remembered me. I thought you’d forgotten I even existed.” Yueshen floated out of the Gates of the Abyss, nine bloodcorpses in tow.

Yueshen Jixiang and Wushen Ruyi were now inhabitants of the City of Life in hell and oversaw the new denizens born in the netherworld. As an immortal ghost herself, residing inside hell magnified Yueshen’s powers. Added to that, her nine bloodcorpses made her an extraordinary existence among immortal ghosts.

Normally speaking, bringing ghosts from one tomb to another was a great taboo that’d result in unspeakable consequences. But, according to Lu Yun’s speculations, though they were still connected to the celestial master tomb, they were in fact separate from the structure itself and didn’t occupy the same space. Therefore, letting Yueshen out shouldn’t cause any problems.

“Alright.” With a faint smile, Yueshen gradually faded from view while the nine bloodcorpses transformed into bloody shadows that quietly stood guard around Lu Yun.

“Bloodcorpses!” Shuddering fiercely, Beicang Qiong hastily brought out his World Chest to protect himself.

“To thin out all this immortal energy, the Enneawyrm Coffinbearers layout should be the most appropriate!”

Enneawyrm Coffinbearers!

It was an ominous feng shui layout that could damage earthen veins, disperse dragon veins, and absorb yin energy from its surroundings. Due to the remarkable density of the immortal energy in the premises, it had to be diluted first before one could collect the treasures inside.

The actual Enneawyrm Coffinbearers was inside hell, so setting up the layout would be a walk in the park for Lu Yun.

“Wait, one layout probably won’t be enough. So…” He grinned from ear to ear. “So let’s lay down the Enneawyrm Coffinbearers, Nine-Phoenix Casket, and Enneaqilin Coffinbiers all at once! The more the merrier!”