Chapter 1596: Trials in Soul Dominion
“You want to go with me?” Lu Yun started. “But this is a highly dangerous trip and apparently the ruins have turned into a den of ghosts.”
He wasn’t familiar with Xing Lingkong and subconsciously didn’t want to expose any of his trump cards to the man. If Lu Yun were to choose between Xing Wuliang and Xing Lingkong, he’d rather choose the former, even though Xing Wuliang was much weaker.
“You don’t trust me, do you, junior brother?” Xing Lingkong was highly quick on the uptake and easily read Lu Yun’s mood, especially as the young man wasn’t hiding anything.
Lu Yun would never trust someone he’d just met, no matter if the other was a threat or not. It was an instinctual reaction to not trust strangers, even if the stranger had just done something for him.
Lu Yun nodded in a natural motion.
Xing Lingkong chuckled ruefully. “Alright then, it’s not a bad idea for junior brother to cultivate for a period of time first. It’d be best if you can pa.s.s the first domain of Soul Dominion before you do anything else.”
He didn’t care to linger around after being outright rejected; Xing Lingkong turned on his heel and left. He could go himself if Feng Feifan didn’t want to go with him. While the ruins were dangerous, the Star Sect hadn’t forbidden its disciples from traveling there.
Lu Yun sank into deep thought as he watched the man leave.
“Compared to Xing Wuliang, Xing Lingkong does indeed play the part of the sect’s foremost senior brother better.” The reflections that Xing Lingkong had given him were incredibly valuable. Though Lu Yun was stronger than him in terms of absolute strength, he was far behind the other when it came to supplemental dao. After all, the latter had trained for three hundred million years. In comparison, Lu Yun’s experience didn’t even add up to a rounding error.
His plan to head to the Snowsword Sect was thus put on hold as he also wanted to test himself against the famed Soul Dominion cultivation grounds.
Soul Dominion was a cultivation locale specifically for soul force cultivators. The stronger one’s grasp and the deeper one’s understanding of the craft, the further one would progress through it.
Though Lu Yun could activate the three domains of Argent Snow, he wouldn’t make it very far through Soul Dominion with his current level of comprehension.
“I need to meditate in closed door cultivation first.” He returned to his nameless abode so he could carefully peruse the notes that Xing Lingkong had gifted him.
……
“Finally. He’s finally not going anywhere.” Up in the air, Xing Chen surrept.i.tiously wiped away a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead. “I only wanted him to go to Ingress Sword Island or search for Argent Snow’s legacy among the Sword Clan. He could also strengthen our ties with them at the same time. But the kid wants to go to the Snowsword Sect? Would I have destroyed those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds if they possessed Argent Snow’s heritage?”
She’d annihilated them because they’d long since turned into a den of demons and devoured countless planes from the shadows. After she razed the corrupted Snowsword Sect, it dissolved into a nest of ghosts. The Star Sect’s Nihil World Sovereigns hadn’t headed to the ruins to search for Argent Snow’s heritage, but to completely wipe out the remnants of the Snowsword Sect.
For that, the Star Sect paid a heavy price.
While the ruins remained a nest of ghosts, the ghosts were sealed inside and couldn’t rampage through the realm. The public remained oblivious of the truth, just as incorrect rumors had immediately swirled when Lu Yun declined to invite Xing Lan in. That had been the start of Xing Lingkong supposedly wanting to teach Lu Yun a lesson on Xing Lan’s behalf.
And then, the entire sect became wrapped up in the nonsense.
General knowledge about Argent Snow’s heritage being present in the Snowsword Sect’s ruins had grown in a similar fas.h.i.+on. The demise of several Nihil World Sovereigns had been viewed through the lens of sect experts searching for the soul weapon’s inheritance in the faction’s ruins.
Though sect powerhouses later clarified the proper course of events, widespread belief declined to embrace their words. Additionally, the seniors’ habits meant that one explanation was all they would give. They didn’t care if others believed them. Thus, a dangerous land of ghosts morphed into the location of Argent Snow’s heritage.
Influenced by this general belief, Lu Yun firmly believed the same. His notions were reinforced after conversing with Xing Wuliang and Xing Lingkong.
……
Ten years pa.s.sed by in the blink of an eye. To fourth realm cultivators, ten years were the span of a finger snap. Their order of time denoted that one major cycle revolution marked one year—a similar rule to what was present in the various worlds and Hongmengs of the fourth realm.
The order of one major cycle ruled the realm.
“I’ve done it!” Lu Yun opened his eyes with a smile.
Ten years of meditation and simulation, combined with Xing Lingkong’s reflections, enabled him to perfect the methods of the first three domains in Argent Snow. In the same vein, his soul force and cultivation had taken noticeable leaps forward over the past ten years.
His true cultivation had reached true nihil realm from true void realm. What was meant by “true cultivation” was the strength that he could deploy in the Hongmeng. Though that had nothing to do with the fourth realm, it was what he truly commanded without the aid of the Tome of Life and Death.
A stronger self meant more solid foundations, otherwise he would never feel on even footing despite being a Nihil World Sovereign. Now that his true cultivation was in the true nihil realm, his strength as a Nihil World Sovereign also rose by thirty percent.
“Let’s go to Soul Dominion now and see how far I can get!” Antic.i.p.ation blossomed in Lu Yun’s heart to think of his upcoming challenge.
Soul Dominion was a special realm of trial created by numerous rules. Legend had it that the creators of the eight soul weapons had shaped it with a world of rules. It wasn’t in the Star Sect as any faction in the Boundless Realms with the heritage of a soul weapon could communicate with it.
There was a Hall of Soul Dominion in Mount Buzhou through which Star Sect disciples could access the realm. However, only those who trained with one of the eight soul weapons could enter the hall and Soul Dominion.
……
“Senior brother Wuliang.” Lu Yun b.u.mped into Xing Wuliang at the doors to the hall.
“You haven’t gone to Snowsword Sect yet, junior brother?” Xing Wuliang blinked to see the young man.
“I’ve been in seclusion and studying a few methods that senior brother Xing Lingkong gave me. How are you, senior brother?” Though Lu Yun had completely outstripped Xing Wuliang, he still called the man senior brother. The latter was the one who’d brought Lu Yun into the Star Sect, just as Xing Hun had originally recruited Xing Wuliang.
“I’ve just broken through the tenth level of the first domain.” A smile curved Xing Wuliang’s lips. “At this pace, it won’t be impossible to clear the first domain within a hundred years! My latest attempt gave me some inspiration, so I’m going back to closed door cultivation. Go on in, junior brother.”
He rushed off into the distance.
Lu Yun smiled and strode into the Hall of Soul Dominion. The building was a complete world filled with seat cus.h.i.+ons. Disciples only needed to form a replica out of soul force to enter the rest of the world. Their primary bodies would remain in the hall.
“Junior brother Feng Feifan… has senior brother Xing Lingkong not beaten you up yet?” A light voice sounded in his ears. Lu Yun turned around to see a surprised Su He.
“…no,” he replied awkwardly. A new round of rumors had flurried when he declined to travel with Xing Lingkong ten years ago, despite the man not caring in the slightest. There was now a moving love triangle between Feng Feifan, Xing Lan, and Xing Lingkong.
Given how lazy the Star Sect seniors were, they wouldn’t put an end to gossip. Though Xing Lingkong and Xing Lan had denounced the balderdash, their voices were drowned out by hundreds of millions of disciples just on the World Star alone.
Thus, this tragic love story took on a life of its own.
Life on the World Star was very monotonous—cultivation, beatings, and gossip. The saying that a wise man does not believe rumors did not hold true in the Star Sect. In fact, it was the wise who took the farfetched stories and made them more realistic.
If it wasn’t for these fun pastimes between cultivation and beatings, quite a few disciples would likely be bored into a cultivation deviation.
“Soooooo… junior brother, who do you like? Is it senior sister Xing Lan or senior brother Xing Lingkong?” Su He’s eyes sparkled with interest. “Apparently junior brother Xing Wuliang is interfering in your love as well…”
Lu Yun wanted to faint dead away on the spot.
etvolare"s Thoughts
Can you imagine if someone started a tabloid in this sect?