Chapter 126: Rebirth (1/2)

Empress Myrtlestar calmly took a position in midair, violet-golden light shimmering around her and the same hue reflected from her originally jet-black locks.

“As I thought, it is you, Azure Dragon King.” Soft and gentle, her voice nevertheless carried a hint of supreme majesty.

“Impossible, that’s impossible!” the dragon bellowed. Violent agitation of emotions burst his wound open anew, spraying dark azure blood across the void. “Empress Myrtlestar is dead, destroyed together with her race! How are you still alive?!”

“Nothing is impossible.” The indifferent empress coalesced the faint shadow of a sword in her hand.

……

“So that’s Empress Myrtlestar?” Lu Yun floated to a slow landing beside Qing Han, grasping a black seed in his hand. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Qing Han shook his head with a wry smile. Judging from Lu Yun’s vigor and liveliness, there was no need to worry about the governor’s condition. In fact, he seemed to have chanced upon a tremendous opportunity.

“What you said before, was all that meant for her ears?” The disguised girl suddenly recalled Lu Yun’s words back on the zombie tree.

It’s just human nature—of all living things, really—to want to live on. Isn’t the very goal of cultivation to obtain greater strength in order to live a longer life?

“Yeah.” Lu Yun nodded gently. “Alright, this is a good opportunity. Watch over me while I refine the seed.”

He waved the black seed in front of Qing Han’s eyes. This was all that was left of the Sal Tree of Life and Death after it’d reentered the cycle of rebirth.

As an existence that’d once shouldered the entire netherworld, Lu Yun might be able to rebuild hell by growing it anew, but he hadn’t the foggiest clue as to where exactly to begin. It was a goal for the future; for now, refining it and making it his was the only thing he could do.

The special structure of this tomb realm could conceal all auras. If he were to bring the tree’s seed into the outside world, who knew what might happen?

“Alright!” Qing Han gripped his sword and took a stance by Lu Yun’s side, shielding his friend from the formidable flows of energy in the surroundings.

Apart from the sal tree and the zombie tree, the tomb realm was also populated by numerous other horrifying zombies and other dead spirits. However, the three immortal fires had laid waste to all these dangers.

They rampaged still through the surroundings, but their energies also counteracted much of the clash between the divine dragon and Empress Myrtlestar, safeguarding the realm from the devastating fallout.

……

The seed of the sal tree landed in Lu Yun’s dantian, glowing brilliantly with the hue of a black pearl. He could sense a lifeforce inside of it, but no matter what he tried, he couldn’t rouse or make it germinate.

“Once we leave this realm, I’ll have to see if the soil of hell can help it take root.” Lu Yun finally opened his eyes after an indeterminate period of time.

“Hahaha—Empress Myrtlestar, at the end of the day, you’re just a dead soul while I live on. That’s why you’re not my match, even if I only have half of my body left!” In the sky, the divine dragon king guffawed with self-satisfaction.

“Is that so?” retorted the empress in her soft, yet imposing voice.

Moments ago, the dragon had smashed her body with its claws, scattering the energy she’d summoned and forcing a return to her incorporeal appearance. After all, she wasn’t even a soul fragment, merely a strong remnant of thought—an obsession.

“Scroll.” Her lips curved into a smile as she looked down and motioned to Qing Han. He quickly grasped the empress’ intentions and floated the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals to her hand with a wave of his.

“You would have been safe from the scroll, had you refrained from fighting so desperately against me. Fortunately, now that I have exhausted the last vestiges of the tree's energy in you, this painting is sufficient to subdue you.” She gently unfurled the scroll.

“The Scroll of Shepherding Immortals! Why is it here?! Wasn’t it separated into three paintings, each sealed by an immortal flame?” Intense fear flashed through the dragon’s eyes. As the name, Divine Azure Dragon King, might indicate, he was a divine! This scroll that illustrated the divines’ origins was also his race’s worst enemy!

“Ah yes, the three uniquely-colored fires you see around here happen to be the immortal fires you speak of!”

Despair filled the dragon’s eyes.

Swoosh!

Pointing languidly with her finger, Empress Myrtlestar bathed the tomb realm in the milky white light from the fully unfurled scroll. The radiance inexorably dragged the dragon’s five-thousand-kilometer long body into the scroll, a process marked by ghastly screams of misery.

Little by little, the image of a half-body azure dragon materialized in the painting, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws.