Chapter 823: Things Are Getting a Little Difficult

The mission failed!

Lu Ye remained calm, without the slightest discouragement. This was merely an attempt; if it had succeeded, everything would have gone smoothly, and the last Heavenly Mystery Pillar could have been placed effortlessly.

Although it failed, there were no losses, nor anything to regret.

However, he needed to leave quickly.

His intrusion into the Hun Tian Secret Realm had alerted the Golden Corpse King. With his whereabouts exposed and being in enemy territory, it was naturally best to withdraw.

Therefore, the moment he exited the secret realm, he activated his spiritual power. Fiery red spiritual energy flowed and writhed behind him, transforming into a pair of wings. With a stomp of his feet, he shot skyward.

He had arrived stealthily, but now departed with the force of thunder.

“Roar!” Some corpse-kind roared in pursuit. However, Lu Ye's flight speed was beyond the reach of even the top ninth-rank Cloud River cultivators of Kyushu, let alone these corpse-kind.

The only trouble was the constant interception from ascending corpse-kind ahead. There were zombies, and also rotten corpses hidden within swarms of corpses carried by yellow clouds.

His Mountain Cleaving Saber was unsheathed. Lu Ye sped along, leaving a trail of blood and gore wherever he went. Even large swarms of corpse-kind couldn't stop him for an instant.

“Clang…” Suddenly, a clear sword hum resonated from another direction.

Hearing the sound, Lu Ye immediately turned his head and raised an eyebrow.

In that direction, flying swords coiled and spun, and numerous sword lights surged skyward, as if a sword dragon was attacking from that side, rapidly approaching his position.

Within the sword dragon, a figure stood tall, like a sword itself.

Mu Qingyun!

Of the nine people who came from Kyushu, he had first reunited with Ying Wuji, then found Lu Qing and Feng Rulie in the Ziwei Dao Palace, and brought Lan Ziyi and Hua Ci out of Mount Sumeru.

The remaining three, however, were nowhere to be found.

However, Lu Ye wasn't concerned about their safety. Regardless of who those three were, their strength was considerable, and self-preservation wouldn't be an issue. The Ziwei Dao Palace had also begun inquiring about their whereabouts, and he believed clues would surface soon.

He hadn't expected to encounter Mu Qingyun here.

As the contemporary Sword Son of the Beixuan Sword Sect, having inherited Mu Suifeng's true teachings, his strength was naturally extraordinary.

Among this generation's Cloud River Realm cultivators, if not for the sudden emergence of Lu Ye and Lan Ziyi, he would have been the undisputed top contender on the Cloud River Rankings.

Strictly speaking, Mu Qingyun truly represented the standard of top-tier strength in the Kyushu Cloud River Realm.

Both Lu Ye and Lan Ziyi, for their own reasons, had surpassed this normal standard.

Mu Qingyun's sudden appearance at this moment was clearly no coincidence. Lu Ye deduced that he had been hiding nearby all along, and when Lu Ye created a disturbance, Mu Qingyun revealed himself to meet him.

Though they didn't communicate, they tacitly fought their way through while moving towards each other.

In a moment, the two had joined forces.

With their combined strength, they became even more formidable. The sword dragon surged, and saber lights flashed fiercely. The corpse-kind rising to intercept them fell like straw, their shattered bodies raining down.

It was only half an hour later that the corpse-kind gradually gave up the chase, simply unable to keep up.

Near the entrance of the Hun Tian Sacred Palace, among the many corpse swarms, three major corpse-kind with silver, bronze, and iron-colored skin roared skyward, filled with resentment.

Only after fleeing to a safe distance did Mu Qingyun retract his sword light, standing on his flying sword and walking alongside Lu Ye.

Lu Ye also retracted his wings and conjured his spirit boat.

Only then did the two have time to formally greet each other.

“Junior Brother Lu, long time no see!” Mu Qingyun's face lit up with a smile.

Earlier, when they gathered in Kyushu, they had no time for casual conversation before being sent here. They had no prior interaction, but due to their connection through Li Baxian and being part of the Haotian Alliance, a natural sense of closeness arose between them.

“Senior Brother Mu!” Lu Ye replied, “How did Senior Brother come to be here?”

Mu Qingyun said, “After being sent to this realm, my battlefield imprint became unresponsive. I searched for you all but couldn't find anyone, so I came here. I figured no matter where you were, you would eventually come here to deal with the corpse-kind, so I waited. It seems Junior Brother's thoughts align with mine.”

Seeing Lu Ye run over alone, he assumed Lu Ye had the same intention as him.

“I came to scout out the situation,” Lu Ye explained casually. “I didn't expect to run into Senior Brother.”

“Has Junior Brother seen the others?”

“Everyone else has reunited, except for Yang Yuan and Ju Jia.”

“Oh?” Mu Qingyun raised an eyebrow. “That's excellent.”

After a pause, he asked again, “Junior Brother, I don't know much about this realm, nor do I know what to do next. Can Junior Brother enlighten me?”

Lu Ye thought for a moment and truthfully replied, “Actually, before coming to this realm, someone from the Heavenly Mystery Commerce Alliance was waiting at the spiritual peak where we gathered. I was the first to arrive, and that person gave me something…”

These matters weren't exactly secrets; he had simply been too lazy to say much to Ying Wuji and the others. However, there was no need to hide anything from Mu Qingyun, so he naturally recounted the details.

After listening, Mu Qingyun thoughtfully said, “Four sealed Heavenly Mystery Pillars, four major secret realms… While the numbers match, how can Junior Brother be so certain that the Heavenly Mystery Pillars must be placed within the secret realms? After all, the Heavenly Mystery didn't give explicit guidance.”

“Senior Brother hasn't been to the secret realms, so you naturally wouldn't know. This Peerless Continent is fragmented; although spiritual energy exists, it's extremely faint. In contrast, the spiritual energy within the secret realms is dense and has been sustained for so many years, which undoubtedly indicates the presence of spiritual veins, and their scale must be considerable.”

While the Peerless Continent might not be impressive now, it is, after all, a shattered fragment of a realm, and thus still possesses some underlying foundation.

Mu Qingyun nodded gently.

He was naturally familiar with spiritual veins; as a Cloud River Realm cultivator, he couldn't possibly be unaware of such a concept.

“The Heavenly Mystery Pillars' transmission consumes spiritual energy, though we couldn't perceive it while in Kyushu. Therefore, to fully utilize the Heavenly Mystery Pillars, they must be placed in areas rich with spiritual energy. The four major secret realms are the best, and indeed the only, choice.”

Mu Qingyun pondered, “What will happen once the Heavenly Mystery Pillars are in place?”

Lu Ye shook his head, “I'm not sure, but I think perhaps the Heavenly Mystery of Kyushu could use these four Heavenly Mystery Pillars to fully establish a connection with the Peerless Continent. At that time, not only would our battlefield imprints regain their function, but Kyushu might even be able to provide reinforcements, transmitting them via the Heavenly Mystery Pillars!”

Mu Qingyun's eyes gradually brightened, “So, our role is essentially that of an advance party, primarily to establish a connection between the Peerless Continent and Kyushu!”

“That's what I think. We'll know for sure when the time comes.”

“That must be it! If so, then in the future, wouldn't this Peerless Continent become a secret realm for Kyushu? And then, everyone from the Cloud River Battlefield could come here?”

If that truly happens, the corpse plague here would be no big deal.

How many Cloud River Realm cultivators are there in Kyushu? No matter how numerous the corpse-kind here, they probably wouldn't withstand their slaughter.

Moreover, to motivate cultivators, killing corpse-kind would very likely grant merit or war achievements.

Unlike Lu Ye and the others currently, who gain no benefits from their continuous fighting.

At that point, this place would become a treasure trove for Kyushu cultivators to gain experience, perhaps even requiring certain conditions or a price to enter.

Thinking of this, Mu Qingyun couldn't help but have a strange thought: perhaps many of the secret realms in Kyushu originated this way?

He didn't dwell on it much; for him, contemplating these things held little significance.

However, he finally understood why Lu Ye had forcefully entered the Hun Tian Sacred Palace Secret Realm. Yet, judging by Lu Ye's appearance just now, he seemed to have been unsuccessful.

“How many have Junior Brother placed?”

“Only the Hun Tian Sacred Palace remains. The situation here… is a bit troublesome.”

Mu Qingyun nodded. “There are indeed many strong individuals among the corpse-kind. Earlier, I encountered a fellow with bronze-colored skin. He was very powerful. I exchanged a few blows with him, but not daring to linger, I retreated.”

Mu Qingyun was third in the Cloud River Realm, so his strength was undeniable. For him to give such an assessment, that corpse-kind certainly couldn't be weak.

“That should be the Bronze Corpse Commander under the Golden Corpse King.”

Mu Qingyun smiled, “It seems Junior Brother knows much more than I do.”

At the very least, he hadn't known about any Bronze Corpse Commander…

“I'll tell Senior Brother all about it slowly.”

The two conversed as they flew, returning to their previous location more than two hours later.

Seeing him return from afar, Pang Huanyin rose to greet him. Upon seeing Mu Qingyun beside Lu Ye, she couldn't help but be surprised. “Yi Ye, this is…”

“This is my third junior brother, Mu Qingyun,” Lu Ye casually introduced.

On the way, Mu Qingyun had learned about their ranking among the disciples, so he wasn't surprised. He cupped his fists and bowed, “Greetings, Palace Master Pang!”

Pang Huanyin returned the bow. “Before I left, I had already sent people to look for the whereabouts of you junior and senior brothers. I didn't expect Yi Ye to find one first; this is indeed good news.”

She turned to Lu Ye. “How was this trip?”

Lu Ye shook his head. “The corpse-kind are vast in number, and there are many powerful ones among them. Things are a bit difficult.”

Ultimately, they still needed the strength of the Ziwei Dao Palace. Otherwise, it would be difficult for just a few people from Kyushu to accomplish anything.

Even if Pang Huanyin was willing to trust Lu Ye and had no doubts about what he said, as the Palace Master, such a decision could not be made lightly.

This was also the third condition Lu Ye had initially prepared to propose to Pang Huanyin.

Of course, after Lu Ye revealed his identity as a Kyushu cultivator, there was no longer any need to mention conditions.

As they parted, Pang Huanyin sighed, “Give me one night; I will give you my answer tomorrow.”

Lu Ye nodded. “Very well.”