Chapter 234: A Tomb Burying the Path of Cultivation (1/2)

Lu Yun instantly noticed Qing Han’s transformation, but he didn’t dare move an inch. In fact, his eyes were still closed. Everything was so real… or perhaps surreal? He was nearly convinced Qing Han and Qing Yu were the same person.

However, he’d been taught a harsh lesson in the Skandha Extinction Tomb. There was no way he would look at Qing Yu this time. Are all certain death layouts interconnected in some way? Just like the Enneawyrm Coffinbearers….

A stray thought popped into his head. Qing Yu wouldn’t come out every time if that weren’t true, right? Surely this was just another attempt to delude him. The akasha ghost this layout summoned was indubitably from the same place.

……

Qing Yu sighed in relief when she noticed Lu Yun’s closed eyes. Deep down, she was also considerably vexed. She couldn’t understand why these certain death layouts that suppressed star power always crossed her path. Her starstone hid both her actual form and her astral constitution. When its energy was stripped away, she became uncomfortably bare.

The others behind them noticed Qing Han’s peculiar condition as well, but they remembered Lu Yun’s instructions. Their eyes and ears remained focused on blanking out the outside world.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The giant maze suddenly began trembling, as if a monster was trudging out from its depths.

“Back off! That thing is real!” Lu Yun roared, then pulled at Qing Yu to leave. But the girl’s body remained solidly planted in place, her expression of cool nonchalance.

It wasn’t her first brush with a certain death layout, and she knew what tricks they had up their figurative sleeves. If Lu Yun wanted to retreat, he wouldn’t have done anything close to this.

Seeing how Qing Yu remained stationary, the others behind Lu Yun followed her lead. The apparently frenzied ‘Lu Yun’ gradually began to calm down, even as an imperceptible shadow departed from him. The young man’s hand, however, still clung to her shoulder.

Qing Yu strode forward amidst intensifying vibrations. It seemed like there really was a huge monster stomping around within the maze.

Monstrous shadows thickened around the group as they proceeded. Violet often flickered between Lu Yun’s fingers, each flash signifying the death of a particularly dangerous enemy.

Qing Yu turned back into Qing Han and came to a stop before a great stone door after an indeterminate amount of time. A smattering of runes from another time were carved upon the slab of rock, which he lightly pushed open.

Rumble...

As soon as he opened the door, the beguiling mists receded. The whole maze trembled slightly, then swiftly contracted into a black pearl that flew behind the door, taking the certain death layout with it.

The door was entirely open, and Qing Han slowly led the way forward. When the youths made their way to the second stone chamber, Lu Yun gripped and unfurled his fingers. The others behind him finally opened their eyes.

“It’s finally over.” Restoring his senses, Mo Qitian breathed a long sigh of relief. “No one was hurt… Dongfang Hao!” he cried out with incredulous shock.

Third from the back, he had his hand on Dongfang Hao’s shoulder. Alas, the friend before him was now a headless corpse. Dongfang Hao had died in the certain death layout!

Lu Yun shook with trepidation. He turned his head toward Dongfang Hao, opening his Spectral Eye in the process.

“He… he really is dead!” He took a deep breath, disbelief flickering through his eyes. The proud, resolute youth who could cut through the heavens with a single stroke—his erstwhile sparring partner—was dead!

“I saw Dongfang Hao swinging at something with his sword back in the maze, but I thought it was just an illusion…” Lu Shenhou mumbled quietly from the very back.