Chapter 773: Traceless

Chapter 773: Traceless

The ghost face manifested by the fog of light and shadow emitted an ear splitting roar. However, it didn’t seem very solid. While it might have unbounded potential in the future, it was currently cut off from the yin energy in the Dusk River. It could barely maintain its existence at the moment, let alone bring any formidable future abilities to bear.

The four broadswords had completely morphed into four doorways that each had a sword hovering within its arch. Four rays of light shot into the sky, containing enough power to destroy the world and ripped the face to shreds. With how overwhelmingly powerful the formation was, the face didn’t stand a chance.

In its final moments of life before being shredded out of existence, the ghost kept a vengeful glare on Lu Yun, seemingly wanting to commit the human’s face to memory. Wholly unreconciled to its fate, it screamed one final time and vanished on the wind.

With that, Dusk River returned to calm, and the vicious creatures within its waters sank back down to the depths, lethargic and unresponsive. There was no saving the river as it’d already been fully polluted. In the air above it, however, the gray fog around the sword began to lighten after the sword formation turned its attention to the weapon. As it was purified, a haze of milky-white light started to emanate from the gray blade.

The body of the blade itself turned clear without color. When he saw that, a thought struck Lu Yun and he hesitantly dismissed the sword formation. Upon doing so, a bout of irresistible lethargy swept over him from his nascent spirit. Ge Long’s formation was so strong that even the six paths of his nascent spirit were unable to maintain it for long. 

Lu Yun quickly flashed into hell and took a few pills to recover his mental strength. It took almost three years before his withered nascent spirit recovered enough for him to walk back out. Everything in the outside world was as he’d left it.

It’s that one’s sword formation! Shock flashed through Ashu’s eyes. It’s the same as the sword formation in Dusk Province… The three holy kings let me out of the underworld not only because of who I am, but more so because of that one.

The formation of “that one” appearing in Dusk Province meant there was a close relationship between Lu Yun and the august being. Even the holy kings of the underworld had to respect “that one’s” wishes and show him face.

Just the sword formation by itself might not represent much; one could also set it up if they’d received the legacy. However, Lu Yun had projected these four swords just now and deployed the formation to its utmost.

That meant it was very likely “that one” was the young man’s ally, mentor, or even… follower.

……

“Xuanxi, try again and see if you can take the river now!” Lu Yun ordered his Yama King.

“Understood!” Xuanxi crossed her arms in front of her chest and the glyph of the Dusk river god decree appeared above her brows again. This time however, the usually turquoise glyph was black, the same color as Dusk River’s waters.

Rumble!!

The river trembled as it shot to the sky, transforming into a long black chain like an enormous dragon and coiled in the air.

“Open!” Lu Yun waved his arm to flung open the Gates of the Abyss with a loud roar, taking the river into hell. I already have the Yellow Springs in my kingdom, but it looks like that’s the sacred river of Yellow Springs Land. If I really hang onto it, then that facet will be destroyed. I’ll have the Dusk River take its place as the great river of hell instead.

There had been a wisp of will within the Dusk River struggling to break free of Xuanxi’s grasp. But when the Gates of the Abyss opened, the vast might of the power of reincarnation came down upon it and crushed it into nonexistence.

After being swallowed by the doors, the Dusk River landed in the kingdom of hell and took the place of the Yellow Springs. By now, the kingdom of hell looked vastly different from the hell of the human dao era.

In that era, hell was a tool that humans used to conquer the world, reward good and punish evil, and establish a land of merit and virtue. Now it seemed more like a real world, though it still incorporated the Karmic Tree right at its center. It wasn’t influenced by any power, and Lu Yun was the lord of that realm.

The two concepts of hell were completely different.

Once the Dusk River barreled into hell, Lu Yun’s nascent spirit directed the Cosmic Sea in the sky to come down hard on the river and ensure that it flowed quietly in its new home. The vicious spirits and creatures of extreme yin within its waters instantly quieted down, and a sense of release and detachment replaced the grimaces on their faces. Thus gaining relief, they drifted peacefully through the river.

“I have a world and the strength of a connate peerless treasure at my disposal. This is the end of the road for a little river like you.” Lu Yun smiled faintly and waved a hand, summoning the transparent sword hovering in the air that radiated a milky-white glow.

This sword had no grip or guard. Two-thirds of a meter long, it was two fingers wide and thin as gossamer wings. Its resting state was to tremble in the air; if it wasn’t for the milky-white glow about it, even the consciousness would have a hard time locating it.

The edge of the sword was fully transmuted to the state of light. Formless, shapeless, and untraceable. Ordinary immortals would be very hard pressed to detect its presence once it melded into the void.

Lu Yun poured his powerful nascent spirit into the blade, but to his surprise, found that he was unable to refine it.

“Is it just a weapon and not a treasure?” Frowning slightly, Lu Yun discovered that he could use his nascent spirit to manipulate the sword, but he couldn’t make it his through refinement. This was a characteristic shared by weapons of the mundane world.

In other words, anyone with a stronger nascent spirit would be able to take the sword away from him. Thankfully, there weren’t that many that fit the bill in the world of immortals.

His nascent spirit rested in hell and was bolstered by the power of the netherworld. Even the nascent spirit of an origin dao immortal might not be stronger than his. What he needed now was a greater cultivation realm and strength to fully deploy what his nascent spirit was capable of.

Incidentally, the stronger he grew, the more complete the kingdom of hell would be, and the stronger his nascent spirit would become. It was a positive feedback cycle that was to his benefit.

……

“This is a fantastic sword! Though it doesn’t possess any additional attributes and can’t deploy combat arts or sword dao, its edge is very keen. That edge itself makes it worth it!” Lu Yun hid the sword in the air with a quick thought; its disappearance was marked by the vanishing of the milky-white hue.

“It’s gone?” The Venerated Sacrosanct Demon Sovereign and Ashu goggled at each other.

“Nope, it’s right in front of your nose.” Lu Yun grinned.

The demon sovereign jerked and hopped backwards, sending out his powerful consciousness at the same time. There, right where he’d been standing moments ago, was the faintest trace of a sword shadow. He was the equivalent of a primordial origin dao immortal, yet he hadn’t sensed it at all before this!

Ashu wasn’t as impressed. “You better not bring out this sword in front of an ingress realm immortal. You won’t be able to protect it then.”

Lu Yun nodded. The sword that faded so well into the void it didn’t leave a trace could pull the wool over the eyes of origin dao immortals, but had nowhere to hide in front of ingress realm immortals. Nascent spirits of the latter were greater than his, so they could very well take the weapon by force.

For now, at least on the surface, ingress realm immortals were very rare in the world of immortals.

“You will be called Traceless,” he bestowed upon the sword.