âAre you the internal demon?â Lu Yun steadied his nerves. He wasnât particularly worried, not with hellfire protecting him.
âI am.â The internal demon nodded. âIf she is willing to die for someone elseâs sake, why would I exist? Sheâs deceived you.â
Lu Yun nodded. âNo one would willingly sacrifice themselves to help someone else.â
Back when Empress Myrtlestar had entered Qing Yuâs Scroll of Shepherding Immortals, she, too, had planned on possessing Qing Yu. But when Lu Yun had helped reforge her soul with the Tome of Life and Death, a new hope had dawned and sheâd changed her mind.
Likewise, Lu Yun hadnât trusted Timelightâs soul from the start.
Perhaps sheâd been benevolent and kind when alive, someone who wouldâve willingly given up her life for her people. But she was dead now. What was left of her soul was a yin spirit, and just like ghosts, yin spirits possessed an instinctive craving!
After moving on from this world and becoming a ghostly existence, even saints of great virtue longed to come back to life!
As the master of hell and the Tome of Life and Death, Lu Yun was naturally aware of the instincts of the deceased. In life, one feared death; in death, one wanted to live! Such was the instinct deeply engraved in the soul. As a result, a ghost was the last existence heâd trust.
âThen why did you promise to bring this possessed body to the underground palace?â The internal demon tilted her head to the side and looked at him in confusion.
For his part, Lu Yun was also baffled. Compared to the soul of Empress Timelight heâd seen earlier, this internal demon seemed much more like a living person.
âBecause several of my friends are stuck inside that palace,â he answered truthfully.
âI see.â The internal demon nodded. âBut I canât let you go inside, or Timelightâs soul will have enough power to control the tower and erase my existence. Likewise, sheâll fully possess the little dragon in your arms.â
There was some perplexity in the internal demonâs gaze as she looked at him too. Just where did his courage come from? What made him confident enough to do the bidding of a dead empress?
Why wasnât he afraid of listening to the dead? Wasnât that just inviting trouble and asking to be schemed to death?
Hellfire?
The current level of his hellfire wasnât enough to deter the internal demon.
âI know.â With a faint nod, Lu Yun no longer paid the internal demon any attention. He set his sights forward and strode toward the underground palace.
Earlier, the empressâ soul had shown him the palaceâs location before taking her leave. Additionally, she hadnât seemed worried heâd be led astray by the internal demon and end up changing his mind.
The internal demonâs complexion turned chilly at his attitude.
âSince youâre so eager to die, I can lend you a hand.â She waved a hand, condensing countless rays of gloomy black light and shooting them at Lu Yun. As if they themselves were so many other demons, the rays howled with anguish and despair, desperate to invade his body.
Crackle!
The hellfire raging around Lu Yun billowed furiously and incinerated them all. The internal demon shook, a slight paleness surfacing on her face.
âDie!â she suddenly snarled, her previous ethereal voice now as macabre as a demonâs.
An imposing specter emerged behind her, similar to the one thatâd appeared earlier when Jing Huaci had refined the cross. A boundless ghostly presence suddenly permeated the air, and the internal demon unexpectedly turned into a ghostly creature.
âDemons can see Jing Huaci, but ghosts canât⌠No wonder, no wonder!â Lu Yun snapped to attention.
Boom!
The specterâs fist suddenly appeared from above. Even as it descended, it started burning with hellfire and scattering black ash everywhere, but it continued bearing down on Lu Yun with irresistible force.
Lu Yun once again felt the shadow of death looming over him. But this time around, he stayed unwavering and held his ground.
Boom!
All of a sudden, a silver column of light erupted from within his clothes and blasted the giant fist apart. The silver Timelight Tower was now an incorporeal structure that shielded him within.
Sighing in relief, he continued onward, Jing Huaci in his arms. He then came to a strange zone made from many folded layers of space, but he was still inside the celestial master tomb. This was something that Lu Yun couldnât begin to understand.
He saw many human silhouettes walking past him, and even saw Jiangchen Xie, whoâd abandoned his zombie king body. He was in the middle refining many giant bones to perfect his Hadal Bone Art.
âHeâs about to become a void-realm immortal!â Lu Yunâs heart shook as he observed the man from another plane. But there was nothing he could do other than helplessly look on as the man refined his bones and increased his strength.
Things arenât too bad, I suppose. At least heâll ditch the arts of the Corpse Refiners for the demon sovereignâs bone arts, so he should stop creating zombiesâŚ. But the Corpse Refiners will grow more powerful in his wake. Lu Yun took a deep breath. Void-realm immortals were frightening existences.
There must be quite a few returned void cultivators whoâve entered the celestial master tomb.
Many void realm cultivators had appeared after the Sovereign Ranking battles, but back then, theyâd still been quite far from reaching immortality.
However, the celestial master tomb was an authentic immortal tomb from the primordial times and contained a complete immortal dao, to say nothing of the many treasures and legacies waiting inside, including ones at the level of the Skyturning Seal or Timelight Tower.
Here, these void realm cultivators were very likely to run into an opportunity that would elevate them into void-realm immortals.
âA great era is truly upon us⌠Thankfully, Iâve already created the formation of heaven and earth and can distribute it in the immortal world as soon as I go back. Otherwise, Qing YuâŚâ Lu Yun sighed before proceeding forward.
Empress Timelightâs internal demon followed him, never taking a step too far away. The internal demonâs essence had been imprisoned inside the Timelight Tower, and as long as the empressâ soul existed, the demon had no hope of breaking away from the tower.
âŚâŚ
All of a sudden, Lu Yun stopped in his tracks. A giant palace stood in front of him that exuded dense immortal energy, but his attention was on something else.
There was a tall and stocky figure standing in front of the palaceâs gates; a man with an imposing figure, vigorous face, black hair that fell over his shoulders, arms that were slender yet strong, and a body clad in bone armor. His only flaw was the lack of a right leg.
The Venerated Sacrosanct Demon Sovereign!
âWhat a shame I didnât stomp you dead. To think youâd make your way here!â The demon sovereign looked at the approaching Lu Yun with a smile. âGive me the dragon in your arms and I will spare your life.â
âSo youâve been resurrected!â Lu Yun looked at the demon sovereign and drew in a sharp breath. Too strong! This demon sovereign was definitely stronger than the silver scarlet ape!
The demonâs gaze was cold and eerie, and though there was a smile on his lips, it was the kind of smile that made one shiver.
âResurrected? I never died to begin with.â Faint black dots of light danced in the demon sovereignâs eyes.
âI have heard that an enduring true spiritâs grievance and obsession can be too strong⌠that they all refuse to believe theyâre already dead...â Lu Yun murmured.
âSilence!!â The demon sovereign glowered ferociously. âThis. Sovereign. Never. Died!â
Boom!
His bone armor combusted in the next moment, the flames churning into raging Hadal Bonefire and turning his tall figure to ash, leaving behind only his enduring true spirit and skeleton.
Solemnity took over Lu Yunâs expression. As the master of hell, he controlled hellfire and could restrain ghostly entities, but the demon sovereignâs power was too immense and far surpassed the limits of what he could withstand!
No matter how gifted a tiger cub was, it could never vanquish an adult wolf.
On the contrary, Lu Yun was desperately restraining hellâs aura with the Tome of Life and Death, afraid the demon sovereign might sense its existence. If he did⌠heâd doubtlessly take over Lu Yunâs body. Hell was the place most suitable for ghostly creatures, after all.
âGive me your little dragon.â The sovereignâs enduring true spirit flashed darkly inside his skull.
Lu Yun was certain that the sovereign couldnât see Jing Huaci, yet heâd demanded her to be handed overâŚ
âItâs you.â He turned back to look at the internal demon, whoâd now discarded her spectral state and reverted to her internal demon self.
She nodded. âI canât let you take the dragon inside, or it will seal my own death.â
An enduring true spirit nursed obsessions that bordered on the extreme. As such, they formed a kind of yin spirit that was almost impossible to extinguish. Even the primordial immortal emperor would find himself powerless against them.
In fact, the Firmament Palace had once tried subduing the demon sovereign, but the attempt ended in failure. However, that didnât mean true spirits didnât have their own bane⌠namely, internal demons!
Empress Timelightâs internal demon was supreme among all internal demons. For her, the demon sovereignâs enduring true spirit was nothing more than a ghostling she could control at will.
âAlright, I promise I wonât bring Jing Huaci inside, so send him away.â Lu Yun breathed in deeply before agreeing.
The internal demon froze for a second. âSwear upon your internal demons.â
âI swear upon my internal demons.â Lu Yun nodded.
A smile appeared on the internal demonâs lips and with a wave of her hand, the demon sovereign vanished without a trace.
Empress Timelight immediately emerged above Jing Huaci and fixed Lu Yun with a frosty glare.
âDo you want to die?â She was now of a mind to kill the young man.