Necropolis Immortal

Within the Great Formation of Corpse Refinement, Donglin Bo howled and struggled with every bone in his body, but to no avail. Nothing he tried or threw at the formation rattled his cage or granted him any freedom.

A corrupting will oscillated through the formation, slowly but surely extinguishing the gleam of life from his eyes. In no time at all, Donglin Bo became rather wooden and his body exuded a rotten stench, a sign that his spirit had begun to rot away.

Seven days and nights later saw the completion of the Donglin dao immortal’s zombie transformation. He stood loyally at Jin Heyi’s side with a stilted expression.  

“The North Sea dragon tomb will open very soon. This dao immortal zombie gives me the right to venture in and try my luck there, too.” Jin Heyi and the formation around him began to shimmer into the void, leaving only a few words hanging in the air. “I await your ascension to immortality, Lu Yun.”

……

A ship of white bone cut through the North Sea’s surf at an incredible speed, sailing toward Levitating Island. Jiangchen Wushang stood at the ship’s bow, squinting into the distance. A dao zombie of his own stood nearby, the first Donglin dao immortal his sect had refined.

“Jin Heyi took Donglin Bo as his battle zombie?” Jiangchen Wushang screeched with sudden rage and gnashed his teeth together in frustration. “That bastard! I’d only just convinced Donglin Shaohui to ally with me against Lu Yun… why’d he have to go refine one of their dao immortals now!”

His dao zombie was a Donglin immortal too, but didn’t have much of a relationship with Donglin Shaohui. The zombie had been an elder that didn’t even bear the clan surname. Donglin Bo, on the other hand, was a core member of the clan, a member of the main branch with Donglin blood flowing through his veins. He was far more important than some outsider.     

The loss of a guest elder wasn’t much worse than a servant, which made smoothing things over much easier. Zombifying a pureblooded Donglin clansman however, required a blood feud in response.

Now that Lu Yun was out of Dusk Province, a golden opportunity to kill him lay before them. Originally, multiple clans and the Exalted Immortal Sect had sent dao immortals out to deal with him as well. Thwarting their goals, however, was the reappearance of the Lu ancestor several days ago. 

After a long absence, Lu Daoling returned to announce that he would adopt a very shameless style indeed: any dao immortal who dared attack Lu Yun would find their own juniors slaughtered in turn. More specifically, if a dao immortal from any clan dared stick their nose in Lu Yun’s business, Lu Daoling would devote himself to killing off every single descendent of that clan until their line completely died out.

His words astounded the entire world, making all of the dao immortals on their way to Levitating Island immediately turn tail. When unfettered by a gentleman’s agreement, a peak arcane dao immortal like Lu Daoling was practically unstoppable.

The Lu clan was done for. Not only had it lost Mauve Peace Paradise, most of its clansmen were imprisoned in the Nephrite dungeons. A small portion had escaped to Dusk Province, but the once-great clan that sat at the top of the world was largely no more. As such, Lu Daoling had nothing to hold him back.

It was a most vicious threat indeed. The fact essentially no one knew where he was only added to the intimidation. It was impossible for the other clans to arrange an ambush to take out the danger waiting in the wings.

Out of necessity, the task of killing Lu Yun fell to the clans’ younger members. His Great Formation of Heavenly Fiends could kill peerless immortals, but the great clans all had similar treasures to offer their scions. Jin Heyi’s Great Formation of Corpse Refinement was proof of exactly that, as it was able to transmute a dao immortal into a zombie.

……

Jiangchen Wushang hated Lu Yun with a burning passion. The latter had taken away his Cauldron of Invincible Constitution and grievously damaged his bone fortress ship. Without the Bag of Corpse Refinement as his last line of defense, he probably would’ve died in Dusk Province.

More importantly, the Corpse Refiners had become the world’s public enemy. That time, the zombies inside the bag had been freshly refined. They hadn’t been given enough time to reach the peak of their strength, which was why they’d been cut down so easily.

At the same time, he was currently at less than twenty percent of his former power. Would he be able to defeat Lu Yun one on one, even with his dao immortal zombie taken into account?

To that end, he’d contacted Donglin Shaohui, who was currently burning with rage that Lu Yun had taken his Embittered Bamboo replica. Jiangchen Wushang found him at the height of his anger, and the two became allies overnight.  

……

Boom!

The sea around him unexpectedly exploded as geysers of brine gathered into an enormous humanoid in midair. It was Donglin Shaohui!

“Jiangchen Wushang!” The watery giant roared. “My clan uncle was refined into a zombie by someone from your sect!”    

Jin Heyi had made no effort to hide the fact that Donglin Bo was now his battle zombie. In fact, he openly strutted around with it in North Sea imperial waters and picked all sorts of fights with it. 

It was an act of vengeance against the Donglin clan in the first place, and additionally served as a warning to the great factions. In a way, it was the same kind of inexorable threat as the Lu ancestor’s.

“I’ll give you a satisfactory answer for that later.” Jiangchen Wushang’s expression darkened ominously. “Our number one objective is killing Lu Yun! We only have one chance to kill him. If he escapes into the infinite expanse of the North Sea, we’ll never be able to find him again.

“I know you lost a powerful replica to him. If you delay too long, he’ll probably refine it and completely steal it from you.”

Jiangchen Wushang was only a peak spirit realm cultivator. He could’ve become an immortal at any time, but the void realm had put a stop to that. Perceiving the void was… too difficult. However, he nevertheless stood confidently with both hands behind his back. 

The aura he projected was more than a match for the peerless immortal’s image. There was no question about his talent; he easily rivaled Wu Tulong and the others. The Corpse Refiners’ policy of secrecy and isolation was the main reason for his lack of reputation.

Donglin Shaohui’s seawater double blinked uncertainly, but recalled that Lu Yun still had custody of his embittered bamboo replica. It’d be far harder to deal with the youth if he managed to make it his own.

“Fine! I’ll leave the matter for now. Killing Lu Yun comes first!”

Splash!

His seawater double dispersed back into the sea.     

“Lu Yun has already headed toward the heart of Levitating Island. He’s trying to enter the North Sea imperial waters through the transportation formation there,” Donglin Shaohui’s voice echoed from the distance.

“That damned Jin Heyi nearly ruined my business!” Jiangchen Wushang’s face was blacker than a moonless night. “Jin Heyi refined Donglin Shaohui’s uncle into a zombie, but Donglin Shaohui still chose to remain allies with me. Either he plans to stab me in the back at some crucial moment, or… the replica he lost to Lu Yun is too important!”

His own Cauldron of Invincible Constitution was with Lu Yun, too. The cauldron was no mere treasure; it contained a powerful heritage!