Chapter 230: The Door of Demise (1/2)

The tunnel ran deep, ending about three kilometers below ground. It was perfectly safe, since Lu Yun’s bean soldiers had dug it themselves, and they’d even unearthed an underground river along the way. The group made their way to the bottom as quickly as they could.

A clearing of about twenty-five meters in radius greeted them. On the other side of it was an underground structure, its entrance flanked by two lit green lanterns. The faint light brought to mind a pair of eerie eyes, illuminating the tight space with a dim radiance. There was even a trace of blood on the door that was slightly ajar.

“There it is, the entrance to the tomb!” Lu Shenhou’s eyes shone bright with enthusiasm. “On my first visit, I thought it was an expert’s abode. Only after I entered did I realize it was a tomb.”

Lu Yun stared at him in disbelief. “You just… opened the door and entered?”

“How else were we supposed to go inside?” Lu Shenhou was befuddled by the questioning, to which Lu Yun just shook his head, his expression growing graver.

“Those are Soulstealer Lanterns.” The governor inhaled portentously. “The lanterns, the doorway, and the interior of the tomb combine to form a layout called the Door of Demise. There is no path for the living past the Door of Demise!

“It’s a pure killing feng shui layout!” Lu Yun said under his breath. “There’s no trace of any formation… the dao of feng shui must’ve existed back when this tomb was set up!”

The art of feng shui was lost in the current world of immortals. There was no trace of its existence, even back in the ancient times. The tomb, however, contained a pure feng shui killing layout.

That’d caught Lu Yun’s attention.

This tomb was from a time when feng shui was known and the cultivation path was complete. The Door of Demise was the main layout of the tomb.

“Step back.” Lu Yun took a deep breath as he looked at the lanterns and manifested his luopan again. The others did as he said.

“To find a tomb in mountains coiled, those deathly cliffs with mysteries roiled.

“If danger lurks in layers told, then hereby they do come unfold.”

Rumble.

The Dragonsearch Invocation came into effect, rotating the three indicators of the luopan at great speed. Heaven and earth, male and female, and yin and yang continuously recombined and changed, analyzing the countless possibilities of the layout.

Coiled mountains referred to not only real mountains, but also the obstacles in a feng shui layout. Overcoming the coiled mountains would be breaking the layout.

“The two lanterns are the first layer of coiled mountains in the Door of Demise!” Luopan in hand, Lu Yun strode to the lantern on the left. The compass rotated furiously, tempering his inner energy so that it could suppress the lanterns.

“Wah!” The lantern before Lu Yun came to life and wailed like a baby, a terrible ghost face emerging from within the green flames.

“Wah wah wah!” screamed the ghost face as it shot a long tongue at its quarry. However, Lu Yun fully restrained the face with his own inner energy.

“I’ve seen this face before!” exclaimed Lu Shenhou. “It ate Lu Cai!”

Lu Cai was the bodyservant he’d grown up with. Over the thirty years Lu Shenhou was away from the clan, Lu Cai had constantly been by his side. Although the servant wasn’t as talented as Lu Shenhou, he was far from mediocre. He’d reached peak transformed spirit realm and was only a step away from becoming an immortal, but a ghost face in this tomb had eaten him in one gulp.

“Watch out!” Qing Han shouted.

Lu Yun had suppressed the left lantern with his luopan, making room for the right one to take flight and turn into another ghost face, biting at Lu Yun. “The two lanterns are the first line of defense. As soon as they move, the coiled mountains break, which increases our chances of survival within the Door of Demise.”

With a whistle, Lu Yun held up his luopan and shot a beam of golden light with his other hand, stilling the other lantern.

“Do you think a mere lantern spirit can get to me?” he huffed. “Open the door!”

Qing Han walked up to the door and kicked it open without missing a beat.

Rumble.

The very air seemed to shake as the door opened.

“It… it looked different the last time we came!” Lu Shenhou was stunned by what he was seeing.

“You must’ve been haunted by the two lantern spirits as soon as you entered,” chuckled Mo Qitian. “Tsk, how did you even survive?”

Lu Shenhou raked his fingers through his beard, his expression dimming with dejection. The twenty-some companions he’d come with were people he’d befriended over the past thirty years, but only he was left now.