Necropolis Immortal

If it wasn’t for the spirit’s last words, Lu Yun wouldn’t be the slightest bit interested in the Hero Rankings of the Soul Dominion. Whether one was strong or weak was best known by oneself.

But if one was on the Hero Ranking, then Halls of Soul Dominion were no longer needed to access further training. Building one’s own hall was even possible! That greatly tempted Lu Yun.

He wanted to build a massive hall in the world of immortals!

Though the world of immortals didn’t train soul force or practice soul weapons, Soul Dominion was a marvelous place of many uses. It would be exceedingly beneficial for immortals to come here and bask in the cultivation levels of the fourth realm.

……

“Alright, I’ll be off then.” Lu Yun left the Argent Snow domain.

“Just how strong is that kid? It seems a bit untoward to only put him at three thousand,” the spirit mumbled. “He’s only the seventh person ever to be strong enough to join the ranking when progressing through the first domain.”

……

“You’re Feng Feifan?” Mo Wusheng coolly demanded of the young man who presented himself—he didn’t seem that old.

“Yes,” Lu Yun nodded. “You’re from the Luminaries?”

“Hmph!” Mo Wusheng snorted and released brilliant splendor from his Argent Snow.

The two meeting in combat immediately raised a disturbance in Soul Dominion. Some candidates who weren’t currently in the trial domain dropped everything and entered to watch the fight.

Though there’d been fights over the Hero Rankings before, few were those that were like the one today. Previous battles had been those not on the ranking versus those who had a placement. Those were heavily one-sided and over almost as soon as they began.

But this time, Feng Feifan had unexpectedly shot to the top and knocked Mo Wusheng off his pedestal. This meant their level of strength was similar and it’d be highly beneficial to observe their fight, especially those who also trained with Argent Snow.

……

The rules of Soul Dominion challenges were particularly grave. A large square platform had been raised in front of the Argent Snow tablet. Each side running three hundred meters wide, Lu Yun and Mo Wusheng were lifted into the air.

“It really is junior brother Feng!” Star Sect members rushed to the scene when they received word. Jaws dropped at the sight of Lu Yun on the platform and they gaped at the last name on the Argent Snow Hero Ranking. They had no idea what to make of the situation.

Xing Wuliang stared dumbly at Lu Yun, at a complete loss for words.

“That’s martial uncle Feng! He was a Nihil World Sovereign a long time ago!” Xing Lingkong corrected.

“Don’t even think of making excuses for yourself,” Xing Lan sneered. “Who in the sect doesn’t know that junior brother Feng’s Nihil World Sovereign strength is borrowed from elsewhere? His true cultivation level is only in the World Manifest level, so it’s not an embarrassment to lose to him.”

Xing Lingkong fell sheepishly silent.

“Junior brother Feifan’s brought back the entire Argent Snow heritage to the sect, so how has your training gone?” Xing Lan asked.

“I…” Xing Lingkong flushed and didn’t dare answer. Though he’d made it past the eighty-first level of the third domain, he hadn’t made it to the ultimate peak yet. Failure to reach great perfection meant that he didn’t have the right to be listed on the ranking.

“It’s a good thing that junior brother made it into the ranking, or the younger generation of the Star Sect would be done for. I’m the only one in the sect beneath Nihil World Sovereign who’s on the Hero Rankings! It wasn’t my intention to take your position as head disciple that day, but I had to do so because you fell far short of expectations!” Xing Lan barely resisted the urge to slap Xing Lingkong as she lectured him.

“You’re in for a beating when we get back!” She turned her gaze back to the platform while Xing Lingkong grimaced ruefully.

……

Lu Yun looked at Mo Wusheng—his opponent was a young man roughly seventeen years old. Dressed in gray linen robes, he seemed incredibly ordinary. No one would take a second glance at him if he was thrown into a crowd.

Yet, such a typical young man as he was someone on the Argent Snow Hero Ranking.

Mo Wusheng’s Argent Snow sparkled with silver radiance, but snowflakes didn’t answer his call. Instead, a faint silver halo enveloped everything.

“What?!” Lu Yun gasped and spun on his heel, throwing himself to the side.

Whoosh.

Whoosh.

Whoosh.

Silver threads flashed out of the halo as soon as he dodged, twisting and stabbing at Lu Yun. Though he evaded their first attack, they doggedly kept up the chase.

“An aberration! This is Argent Snow’s mutated attack! So he’s grasped this level too!” Lu Yun flashed in and out of sight. He raised up his Argent Snow, fending off the silver threads. They were Mo Wusheng’s attack from his soul weapon—mutated snowflakes from Argent Snow!

The gossamer threads were as sharp as sword qi, nearly invisible in the silver radiance. Even Lu Yun found it difficult to track their movement and he was almost pierced through multiple times.

“I need to counterattack or the threads will just continue to grow in number. I won’t stand a chance once the area is completely sealed off!” Lu Yun brandished the short stick in his hand and deployed his power of Argent Snow. The aberration that he’d comprehended was the same as this world of silver light!

When advancing through the levels of the first domain, he’d used the regular Diagram of Autumn Snowfall. He was now going to try the other one that he’d formed.

A picture scroll slowly unfurled over the platform. Blue skies, white clouds, willow trees welcoming the breeze. Lush branches waved in the air as a hundred types of flowers bloomed in unison, competing with each other in beauty and fragrance.

It was a scene of early summer in June.

The clouds in the cerulean sky suddenly shifted into dense thunderclouds. Snowflakes as large as a seat cushion made of grass flurried through the air, interweaving with the sight of early summer.

Craaaaaaaack.

The glorious snowfall severed the silver threads like it was also tangible sword qi.

“What is this??” Mo Wusheng hastily backed away with furious swishes of his Argent Snow. The silver radiance seemed to be like ink while his soul weapon the brush—he was trying to draw a landscape of the ultimate domain.

Unfortunately for him, Lu Yun’s scroll was already fully unfurled. A deep sense of suffering, a grievous wrong done with no hope of vengeance bloomed from his vivid vista. There seemed to be a woman weeping with immeasurable sorrow in the sublime panorama.

A blizzard in June, a drought of three years, blood splattering across white cloth… [1]

Lu Yun combined many Earth stories and allusions into his Argent Snow. A heavy snowfall in June was both the first snowfall and a glorious snowdrift.

The ultimate peak of the aberration—a blizzard in June.

Caught in the ultimate expression of the first domain, Mo Wusheng’s movements slowed as he was faced with an overwhelming despair, wretchedness, and misery. Tears formed at the corner of his eyes.

Pfff!

His body disintegrated into ash amidst the blizzard.

“An attack of emotion? Emotions can kill?” His voice slowly faded away among the drifting snowflakes.

1. A child bride turned widow, Dou E, was wrongly convicted by a corrupt court official for crimes perpetrated by a rejected suitor—Zhang the mule. At her execution, she calls for three curses to prove her innocence: her blood to not stain the ground, snow in June, and a three-year drought. After a visit from the ghost of Dou E, her father eventually brings the corrupt court official, a doctor, and Zhang to justice, thereby vindicating his daughter. Today, the phrase "snowing in June" is still widely used among Chinese speakers as a metaphor for a miscarriage of justice. The story was repeatedly used and modified by later dramatists. ☜