Necropolis Immortal

There were nine chapters to dao and nine revolutions to dao. The dao heart was eternal and the great dao traversed through all!

Kaboom!

The golden light exploded and emanated an extremely profound presence. A cultivation method slowly unfurled in Lu Yun’s mind.

The Nine Chapters of Dao were the chapters of Seeing Dao, Knowing Dao, Questioning Dao, Understanding Dao, Obtaining Dao, Becoming Dao, Executing Dao, Heavenly Dao, and Great Dao!

The first chapter of Seeing Dao abruptly expanded into strange runes hovering in front of him and filtered into Lu Yun’s mind.

Unbidden, his hands formed a hand seal and the energy of heaven and earth roiled soundlessly toward him. They created a massive vortex of energy that surged into Lu Yun’s body. Once inside of them, they turned into murky air currents that circulated through the air. His shattered meridians and dantian were repaired and made whole through the air currents.

Not only that, but his repaired meridians were wider, bigger, stronger, and more durable than before. The remnants of medicines within him were fully refined by the air currents.

As the grandson of the strongest powerhouse within Darklake, Lu Yun normally ate various pills and medicines like he would candy. But as his cultivation was subpar, he was unable to refine their effects and they accumulated in his body.

Not that these gray air currents swept through his body, they completely refined the lingering medicines and expelled what they could not.

……

The Lu complex, Lu Tianling’s residence.

A seventy year old elder who could only be described as haggard knelt on the ground in doddering fashion. He held a jade bottle in his hands.

“Milord, this old servant has erred!” The elder raised the jade bottle high and placed his forehead on the ground, not daring to raise his head.

Lu Tianling sighed. “Old He, you’ve accompanied me on and off the battlefield for at least one hundred years.”

“This old servant is fortunate enough to follow the lord!” He Wuheng raised his head and panted for breath.

He was originally one of Lu Tianling’s generals and dominated the battlefields with his lord. When the borders of Darklake Cultivation Empire quieted down twenty years ago, he returned home to be the Lu Clan’s family steward.

“You wouldn’t have become like this if it wasn’t for you protecting Yun’er three years ago,” Lu Tianling intoned. “I send Lan’er to follow at Yun’er’s side as a way to protect her.”

As the Lu grand steward, He Wuheng had possessed immense authority backed by unquestionable strength. Since Lan’er was his daughter, she was the recipient of endless attention and favor. But after losing his cultivation, it was only a matter of time before varying thoughts brewed in the motley crew of people intermingled with the family.

Lu Yun was eccentric and tyrannical—though sending Lan’er to him consigned her to certain suffering, it also meant that no one in the household would dare think of taking any action against her.

“This old servant thanks milord!” He Wuheng kowtowed again.

“Since Yun’er gave you this pill, you should take it. You’ve laid low for three years. If you can recover overnight and attain a nascent soul, that will be an immense help to the family.” Lu Tianling waved the old servant off.

“But…” He Wuheng protested.

“There is no but.” Lu Tianling fixed his eyes on the southeastern skies over the Lu complex. An imperceptible vortex of spirit energy was slowly gathering there. That was where Lu Yun’s residence was.

Hu Weheng looked in the same direction as well. Though his cultivation was crippled, his consciousness remained and thus he could still sense the abnormalities in that direction.

“Yun’er does not need this pill.” Lu Tianling smiled with great happiness.

“But the second master…” He Wuheng paused before finishing his sentence.

“Chi’er’s injuries are the result of an extraordinarily malicious restriction. His body cannot endure the medicinal effects of the Nineturns Profound Life Pill.” Sorrow flashed through Lu Tianling’s eyes.

……

Lu Yun remained lying on the bed in the same position as before. One hand flitted through various hand seals while the other held a piece of upper rank spirit stone. Tendrils of white air currents flowed from the spirit stone down Lu Yun’s arm, entering his body to bolster the gray currents within.

The gray currents inside Lu Yun had formed a complete circulation that were perfectly cycled rebirth and decline.

Pfft!

Lu Yun’s left hand was suddenly empty as the fist-sized spirit stone crumbled away into dust. The remnants floated to the bed while his storage ring flashed another upper rank spirit stone into his hand.

Upper rank spirit stones were exceedingly valuable spirit stones in a world of cultivation. Golden core cultivators ordinarily trained with mid rank spirit stones. One upper rank stone was sufficient for one month’s worth of cultivation.

But Lu Yun had demolished an upper rank spirit stone in less than one hour! Thus, the terrifying might of the Nine Chapters of Dao were readily apparent.

Humm.

The gray energy within his body shuddered when Lu Yun digested his second spirit stone and surged toward his dantian.

Whoosh!

The golden light that’d hovered in his consciousness all this time also shot into his dantian and became one with the gray currents. An enormous “dao” character appeared in his dantian. This was a sign that the first turn of the first chapter of the Nine Chapters of Dao—Seeing Dao—was well underway.

His cultivation was fully recovered to his previous seven levels of qi refinement. Lu Yun took a deep breath and jumped down from the bed.

Glittering illumination from the stars poured through the windows and reflected off of Lu Yun’s face. A handsome and charming young man, his eyebrows were straight and angled sharply upward. Bright eyes twinkled like the night sky and a finely pronounced nose hung in the center of his face. A smile that carried hints of laziness constantly played on his thin lips.

But at the moment, sharp killing intent glared out of his eyes.

“Ouyang Shenghe… The Ouyangs and other families in Darklake have schemed against the Lus for a very long time. A few dozen Lu golden core experts have all had their cultivation crippled because of me—some even died on my behalf. This young master will take these up against all of you one by one!”

The current Lu Yun was no longer the spoiled young master from three months ago. After traveling through three thousand worlds in his dreams, he carried the memories of three thousand lives on him—all of their relationships, grudges, successes, triumphs, and suffering. He’d experienced all that life had to offer in all its iterations, which made the schemes of his current life easy to decipher.

Anyone in the Lu Clan could see through them, but Lu Yun had bumbled ignorantly through life and was constantly used by others. He sapped the clan’s resources for his unawareness and brought down a fatal blow to the family three months ago!

Lu Tianling had certainly paid more than just a bit of wealth to heal his grandson’s wounds and retain his life.

“In that case, this young master will keep you company and see who gets toyed to death first,” Lu Yun breathed out portentously and calmed himself. He sat down cross-legged again and slowly circulated the gray air currents within his body.

These currents weren’t the true qi of cultivators in the qi refinement stage, nor were they the true origin of cultivators in the foundation establishment stage. Rather, they were the more sophisticated level of Hongmeng true qi.

Hongmeng true qi was much higher quality than true origin. After all, Lu Yun’s Nine Chapters of Dao were an unparalleled method from the heavenly dao itself.

Rumble!

The hazy character in Lu Yun’s dantian trembled and emanated a current of profound presence. Something new appeared in his mind—combat art of heavenly dao, Petrification!

Those with weaker cultivation levels than the user were frozen forever. Those on the same level were frozen for three breaths. Those stronger than the user, but less than two levels higher, were frozen for a breath. Those stronger than two levels over the user would not be affected.

The two levels meant two cultivation stages!

“Doesn’t… doesn’t this make me invincible? I can kill people stronger than me!” Lu Yun’s eyes widened with incredulity. Two cultivation stages!

This was most definitely a combat art from the heavenly dao!

However, he didn’t let it go to his head. After journeying through three thousand worlds and equipped with the memories of three thousand lifetimes, he wasn’t so immature as to think that a single combat art made him unmatched in the world.

Any sort of existence would have its flaws. That applied without exception to the combat arts of heavenly dao. He could already think of it being possibly negated if his opponent wore a powerful defensive treasure on them.

“Darklake Cultivation Empire is just a third rank cultivation empire. That makes it a primitive backwater in a corner of the world. Thus, Petrification is enough to make me undefeated in this land…” A keen light shone in Lu Yun’s eyes as he analyzed the situation. “So there are nine turns each to the nine chapters. Each breakthrough I make results in a turn, and each turn will grant me a new combat art of the heavenly dao.”

He calmly assessed the situation, refraining from letting his astounding gains go to his head. All things in life were equal—as strong as the heavenly dao combat arts were, they also consumed an incredible amount of energy.

Lu Yun sat down cross-legged and reentered meditation, seeking to increase his store of Hongmeng true qi.

……

When the sun rose in the east, Lu Yun emerged from meditation and shook out his clothes. He summoned Lan’er to help him wash up and walked out of his residence.

The maid looked at him with a complicated expression. Her father had taken the Nineturns Profound Life Pill and fully recovered from his injuries.

Whoosh!

A black figure flashed to his side when he strode out of his yard and took a ramrod straight stance next to him. It was a new guard that his grandfather had arranged for him—Lu Xian. Initial golden core, that was the core battle strength of the empire since Darklake was a third rank cultivation empire. Their strongest powerhouses were nascent soul, but those were few and far in-between in the land.

Many golden core guards had once followed by Lu Yun’s side, but they were all dead or injured. Lu Xian looked roughly twenty years old and wore no expression on his stiff face. A sharp air wrapped around him, like he was a newly sheathed sword that could emerge at any second to kill.

At the same time, Lu Yun’s powers of observation were far more than what they used to be. He could tell with a quick glance that Lu Xuan’s cultivation was the result of a secret art. If no other fortuitous opportunities found him, this would be the limits of his cultivation in this life.

He paused, inclined his head at Lu Xuan, and headed for the family vaults.

“Lu Yun? You’ve just recovered from your injuries. What are you doing out and about instead of resting?” An elder named Lu Jiu stood guard at the vaults. At latter golden core, he frowned when he saw the young man.

“Thank you for your concern, elder. I have fully recovered.” Lu Yun smiled and headed into the vaults.

“Halt!” Lu Jiu interposed himself between Lu Yun and the doors. “Everything of value has been sold off. What are you doing here for?”

He spoke stiltedly and with great sorrow. Lu Yun was an unvarnished wastrel in everyone’s eyes. Lu Tianling had established the clan one hundred years ago and it’d once been the most glorious, greatest family of the empire!

But thanks to Lu Yun’s youthful ignorance and ludicrous behavior, he was constantly used by their enemies. The magnificent family swiftly declined over a handful of years.

Lu Yun glared at Lu Jiu and ignored the elder, walking straight into the vaults. They were protected by an enormous formation that attacked anyone who approached it—even nascent soul stage cultivators. But since he was Liu Tianling’s beloved grandson, he naturally knew how to bypass it.

Lu Xuan stood guard outside.

“The Ouyangs, Yuwens, and Chus… I am not Lu Yun if I don’t rip all of you up by the roots!” Lu Yun clenched his fists as he looked at the empty shelves.

The vaults were tremendous and used to be filled with countless treasures, spirit herbs, medicines, ores, and natural resources. But now, only a few dimly glowing things were left on a few racks.