Chapter 123: Giant Ghostface Maggots (1/2)

“What the hell are those things?!” Qing Han’s skin crawled at the sight of the oncoming spores. With his sharp eyesight, he could easily pick out the human faces on each one of the floating spores, all of them belonging to Qing Hongchen.

“Let go of me first,” Lu Yun said urgently, also fixated on the spores. Struggle flashed through his eyes the moment Qing Han dismissed the Imperial Star, but hellfire ignited in his irises once again to defy the mental force in the area.

“Don’t use your energy to touch those things!” he wheezed.

A cultivator’s realms were divided into the qi, core, and spirit realms, with different personal energies found at each stage. There was qi at the qi realm, internal energy at the core realm, and mystic force at the spirit realm. And once one broke through to the immortal realm, their mystic force would morph into immortal force.

The Tome of Life and Death trembled slightly as Lu Yun circulated his internal energy, disgorging Emerald Mistfire and reducing the airborne particles to dust.

“We have to leave at once,” he urged, his voice weak and face wan.

With the tomb realm disrupting the connection between the Gates of the Abyss and the netherworld, his only option was to forcibly extract power from the Tome of Life and Death in order to control the Emerald Mistfire.

But with his paltry cultivation, merely summoning the book was already an enormous burden, not to mention the hellfire he was sustaining to combat the dreadful compulsion. Deploying the immortal fire almost completely depleted his internal reserves, yet he was in no danger, thanks to Qing Han’s Imperial Star. Though the mental compulsion was domineering, it couldn’t rattle the Imperial Star.

“I’ll carry you!” Qing Han grabbed Lu Yun and swung him to the back, then turned into a violet-gold whirlwind and shot forward with a surge of mystic force. One of Empress Myrtlestar’s skills, this physical combat art more than tripled his speed.

“You have to be careful when you refine the legacy item,” Lu Yun suddenly murmured against his ear.

Qing Han’s heart pounded painfully at the feel of the governor’s breath against his cheek. He forced himself to calm down before replying, “Why?”

“An empress’ lofty aspirations won’t so easily capitulate. She can’t have simply resigned herself to death.” Lu Yun swallowed a pill to regain some lost energy. “She’s certainly hidden traps within her legacy. You might unwittingly be possessed by her.”

Qing Han shuddered.

“But that’s just human nature. Do almighty masters not yearn to dazzle as bright as the sun and stars, or live as long as the universe? Devising contingency plans to come back from the dead is just par for the course.” Lu Yun coughed. “In fact, some ancient oddities from a hundred thousand years ago have probably already come back to life through possessing someone else’s body.”

“I understand.” Qing Han compressed his lips and nodded. Tiny beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he dodged the oncoming spores with exceptional agility, while still turning an attentive ear to the governor’s exhortations.

“Find a safe spot and show me whatever you got. I’ll help you erase the hidden dangers,” Lu Yun added after thinking it over.

“Alright,” Qing Han agreed without a shred of hesitation, then promptly stopped cold and looked solemnly ahead. They’d reached the end of this particular branch. Ahead of them, the tree trunk loomed like a wall with a giant cavity in which two faint crimson lights glowed.

Behind them, the seemingly boundless cloud of spores was already upon them, the Qing Hongchen faces set in a cruel smile.

Hiss!

A black head unexpectedly shot out of the tree hole and opened wide to bite the two humans.

“Get lost!” Qing Han shouted, white sword light suddenly shining from his hand.