The Cleaver Gang, Xuantian Sect, Yue Kingdom, and Soul Chasing Pavilion suddenly withdrew like a receding tide. The encirclement that had surrounded the immortal tomb in layer upon layer, leaving not even a gap, instantly emptied by half. The cultivators nearby stared at one another in bewilderment. Many factions immediately dispatched spies to ask the people they had sent to serve in the Cleaver Gang what had happened.
News soon came back: Yu Mi, the Cleaver Gang’s Young Lord Bao Nianhui, the Yue Kingdom’s Empress Si Ruo, Soul Chasing Pavilion Master Qu Yirou, Xuantian Sect Elder Feng Menglong, and Hua Sheng had met to discuss something. After that, the four powers withdrew at the same time, doing so with extraordinary decisiveness.
The major powers that had dealt with Bao Gu in the past and knew she had been buried in the Immortal Burial Grounds immediately grew cautious. Some cultivators, however, saw an opportunity. Without the four great powers joining forces to suppress everyone, they might be able to seize a share of the spoils.
After the forces of the Xuantian Sect and the Cleaver Gang withdrew, Yu Mi remained in Taizhou City, less than a hundred li from the immortal tomb.
The tomb’s emergence had drawn cultivators from all over the cultivation world to Taizhou City, and rumors—some true, some false—flew everywhere.
Every inn and tavern in the city was packed.
Yu Mi used spiritual power to disguise her appearance and conceal her aura. She checked into the Cleaver Gang Inn, the best source of information in the cultivation world. Rather than use a free basic room, she paid out of pocket for a premium room on the third floor.
After more than a thousand years of development, the Cleaver Gang Inn had evolved from its original haphazard layout into a courtyard-style compound. Buildings stood on all four sides around a central hall. At the exact center of the hall stood the Cleaver Board, constructed by a formation, where all sorts of information and missions were posted.
A ring of counters surrounded the board and handled matters related to the missions posted there: collecting rewards after completing a mission, commissioning the inn to post information or a mission, and so on. Beyond the counters were rows of neatly arranged square tables where food and drink were served. They had also become a place where wandering rogue cultivators exchanged news.
The central hall occupied the middle of the first floor. The buildings surrounding it contained free guest rooms for rogue cultivators on the first and second floors, while the third floor held premium rooms that guests had to pay for themselves.
The premium rooms on the third floor were arranged with a corridor down the middle and guest rooms on both sides. The rooms on the left faced the street; opening their windows offered a view of the road outside. The windows of the rooms on the right looked down into the inn’s central hall.
The windows were made of crystal and engraved with formations. No one outside could see in, while someone inside only had to activate the formation to see everything outside without obstruction. This convenience made the rooms expensive, which was why even with every inn in the city full, there were still vacancies for Yu Mi.
Rumors spread by rogue cultivators were usually padded with a great deal of hot air, but they were not entirely useless.
By dusk, several reliable reports had emerged. First, the location of the immortal tomb had been confirmed, and excavations had reached its main gate. Second, not a single faction had cleared the area to stop rogue cultivators from entering the tomb to seek opportunities.
That news sent the rogue cultivators at the bottom of the cultivation world, all yearning for an opportunity left by some ancient sage or mighty predecessor that would let them rise to the heavens, rushing toward the tomb.
As soon as the news spread, two-thirds of the people who had filled the Cleaver Gang Inn vanished in an instant, all heading for the immortal tomb.
Still, some stayed behind.
A cultivator at the Deity Transformation stage sat at a table in the central hall, drinking as steadily as a mountain. He said to several nearby Golden Core cultivators:
“Don’t rush. Let’s wait and see. Haven’t you noticed that the Cleaver Gang, Xuantian Sect, the Yue Kingdom, and Soul Chasing Pavilion have all withdrawn? This immortal tomb isn’t easy to get into. Whenever a rare treasure emerged in the past, didn’t the major powers always clear the area? The reason they haven’t done it this time is that they intend to use us rogue cultivators to scout the way. If there’s danger, we’ll die first while those major powers stay behind and retreat in time. If there are benefits, do you think people like us can hold on to them with all those major powers watching?”
Someone at the next table objected:
“That’s not necessarily true! Fortune is won through danger! Some immortal opportunities choose their own masters. Once you obtain one, nobody can take it away from you! This is a chance to rise overnight! Even if a major power takes notice of you, it will recruit you for its own use. Then you’ll finally be free of the miserable life of a rogue cultivator!”
The people nearby nodded vigorously when they heard that.
Another person retorted:
“Do you think it’s easy to get by in a major power? If you have no roots or backing, even after joining them, you’ll still be bullied! You’d be better off fighting your way into the Cleaver Gang’s Inner Hall. At least most of the Inner Hall’s elite came from among us rogue cultivators.”
Someone else took up the argument:
“Even getting into the Cleaver Gang’s Inner Hall requires you to fight for your place with your own fists and feet. Cultivation arts, pills, spirit wine—which of them can you get without exchanging merit? If you enter a sect, you’ll receive a monthly or yearly stipend. And if you can find a master…”
Another person cut in:
“That depends on what kind of master you take! Choose the wrong one, and you won’t even know how you died!”
Someone sighed.
“Speaking of taking a master, our Young Lord has to be the most capable person in the entire cultivation world!”
Another person beside him sighed.
“Opportunities can be encountered but not forced. There’s no point envying someone else’s fortune!”
At the mention of opportunities, another person could no longer hold himself back. He rose to his feet.
“Since this is a heaven-sent immortal opportunity, why don’t we go and try our luck? What if we get lucky and an immortal opportunity drops right onto our heads? Is anyone willing to travel with me? At least we can watch each other’s backs!”
When no one answered, he left on his own.
Several more tables nearby rose and hurried outside.
Gradually, fewer and fewer people remained in the inn.
Yu Mi contacted Bao Nianhui through a voice-transmission jade talisman and asked about the immortal tomb.
Bao Nianhui replied:
“Martial Uncle, according to our informants, the major powers are all holding back. Only a few medium- and small-sized factions, along with the rogue cultivators, are eager to make a move. There’s something else: this tomb is different from the ones discovered in the past. We found only the tomb gate, but no tomb walls. We haven’t found the roof or the foundation, either. A formation master examined it and said the layout resembles one that cuts itself off from the secrets of Heaven.”
Yu Mi asked:
“You haven’t found the tomb walls?”
“That’s right. The geomantic nexus indicated by the flow of feng shui and earth qi lies inside a cavern hall. The hall is completely empty, with only a single gate. The gate is sealed with demon-race sigils, and the only words on it are, ‘Those Who Trespass Die.'”
Yu Mi asked:
“What does the tomb gate look like?”
“Its outline resembles a teleportation portal, but there is no teleportation platform. It is twelve chi high and twelve chi wide, and its frame is nine chi thick. The gate stands in the cavern hall and looks exactly the same from either side.”
“Has it been opened?”
“Not yet.”
“Mm. Then let’s wait a little longer.”
Bao Nianhui asked:
“Martial Uncle, do you think this could be Master’s tomb? I’m really worried!”
Yu Mi replied:
“If it is your Master’s tomb, there will certainly be restrictions to prevent it from being opened prematurely. Don’t worry.”
“I hope so.”
Yu Mi stayed at the Cleaver Gang Inn in Taizhou City until the fourth day. That night, she suddenly sensed a powerful aura surging from the direction of the immortal tomb. At the same time, the room around her began to shake.
Yu Mi leaped from the bed in alarm, then immediately understood. Opening the immortal tomb had disturbed the earth qi. As the earth qi shifted, the mountain veins changed course, triggering an earthquake.
She was worried that there might be danger, but the habits forged through years of fighting and adventuring were not easy to break. Now that she had seen the tomb open—and knew that her strength was enough to stand above everyone in this realm, with a way to escape even if danger arose—how could she remain seated? She immediately rushed toward the immortal tomb.
In almost the blink of an eye, Yu Mi arrived.
The mountain that had originally covered the immortal tomb had vanished, leaving behind a massive pit.
The pit was like another world buried underground. Mountain ranges rose and fell, forests stretched as far as the eye could see, and flocks of spirit birds soared freely through the woods and sky. Rare ninth-grade spirit treasures that were scarcely seen in the world were scattered everywhere. Nascent Soul fruit trees and Primordial Spirit fruit trees covered an entire mountain peak.
With just one sweep of her eyes, Yu Mi spotted dozens of different ninth-grade spirit treasures. She had seen plenty of rare treasures and precious medicines, but the sight still left her dazzled. Almost instinctively, she wanted to rush over.
Then she sensed that something was wrong.
The mountain peak covered in Nascent Soul fruit trees and Primordial Spirit fruit trees looked far too familiar. It reminded her of Monkey Ridge, the territory of the Duobao Spirit Monkey. If she had not seen that this world and these mountain ranges were not part of the Xuantian Mountain Range, she would almost have believed that this was Bao Gu’s immortal tomb and that Bao Gu had simply opened her enormous storage bag.
While Yu Mi was still bewildered, she saw many cultivators charging into the boundless world floating in the pit, which was filled with countless rare treasures.
Suddenly, one cultivator slammed headfirst into a cloud floating within that world. A spray of blood burst through the air, and with a loud pop, the cultivator exploded into a mass of flesh and blood, like a mosquito swollen with blood and then slapped apart.
The cultivators had seen the ninth-grade treasures and rushed forward too quickly. Accustomed to flying through clouds, they saw a cloud ahead and crashed straight into it. One after another, they became huge blood flowers blooming in the sky.
Yu Mi sucked in a cold breath.
The cultivators rushing toward the world had all stopped. They hurriedly kept their distance from the floating white clouds. Yu Mi saw a cultivator in the late Deity Transformation stage carefully steer around the clouds and fly to a position just over a zhang above a mountain peak. He reached out through the air and drew a ninth-grade spirit treasure into his palm.
The instant the treasure landed in his hand, it suddenly dissolved like wisps of smoke. The cultivator was instantly twisted into a blood mist by the smoke that spread from it.
Even Yu Mi, who had seen and experienced much, was frightened by that silent killing intent.
She steadied herself and focused her gaze. Suddenly, she saw traces of the laws of the Heavenly Dao mixed into every rare treasure, every mountain and stretch of earth, the clouds, and even the wind. Another strange feeling passed through her.
She probed the things at the bottom of the pit more carefully. They felt incomparably real, as though they were actual objects, yet she sensed a faint but extremely familiar aura: sword qi.
Yu Mi’s attainments in the Sword Dao were extraordinarily high, and she was especially sensitive to sword qi. Thus, she could determine with certainty that everything at the bottom of the pit contained powerful sword qi and sword intent.
One cultivator could no longer restrain himself. He fired a magical treasure at a mass of white cloud at the bottom of the pit.
A streak of lightning flashed, and the cloud dispersed like smoke.
At the instant it vanished, Yu Mi sharply caught sight of something flickering out of it. It disappeared too quickly for her to identify.
Other cultivators followed suit. One attack after another slammed into the clouds, and cloud after cloud dispersed.
Yu Mi watched them without blinking and made another discovery. Whenever the clouds were blasted apart, they released a tremendous amount of spiritual power, while a faint thread of consciousness fled at high speed.
She could now be certain that these were not clouds at all. They were unbelievably lifelike illusions constructed with immense power by some unknown entity hiding within them. They were beautiful, but killing intent lurked everywhere.
After thinking for a moment, Yu Mi curled a finger and flicked it. An invisible strand of sword qi shot out and struck a Primordial Spirit fruit tree.
She had not used much force, only enough to destroy the tree. The Primordial Spirit fruit tree first exploded into splinters under her sword qi, then dissolved into smoke and vanished.
Far away, a cultivator suddenly shouted:
“Everyone, fall back! These are illusions!”
Yu Mi looked toward the voice and recognized the speaker as an elder of the Divine Sword Sect. At his shout, several Divine Sword Sect disciples hurried back to his side.
Suddenly, Yu Mi saw the Soul Chasing Pavilion Master’s flying carriage appear. Jade Shura was standing outside it. Yu Mi quickly sent her a voice transmission.
“Jade Shura, over here!”
Jade Shura heard Yu Mi’s voice, looked in the direction Yu Mi indicated, and pointed that way.
“Master, Yu Mi is over there.”
The Soul Chasing Pavilion Master’s carriage arrived beside Yu Mi.
Qu Yirou stepped out of the carriage. She first glanced toward the bottom of the pit, then asked Yu Mi:
“What happened? I heard they used a sacred artifact to force open the immortal tomb’s gate, and a minor world filled with ninth-grade spirit treasures burst out.”
“It’s an illusion!”
Jade Shura suddenly cried out:
“Oh my heavens, Yu Mi!”
Yu Mi turned toward Jade Shura in confusion.
Jade Shura grabbed Yu Mi by the wrist and pointed toward the bank of a river at the bottom of the pit.
“Look! Look! Do you see the one over there carrying a wooden basin and using a laundry beater to wash clothes?”
Jade Shura’s voice was so loud that it traveled a great distance. Many people heard her and swept their divine senses toward the place she was pointing. Then many of them saw Yu Mi—whose cultivation had reached the Grand Perfection of Void Tearing—squatting by the river and washing clothes.
Qu Yirou’s mouth fell open. She stared at Yu Mi in astonishment.
“When did you become so diligent? As far as I know, Bao Gu was the only one who ever did laundry!”
“That isn’t me!”
Suddenly, someone else shouted:
“There’s another one!”
Jade Shura craned her neck toward the speaker.
“Where?”
The person pointed in another direction.
“Over there, over there! See it? In that little courtyard halfway up the mountain, sitting there embroidering!”
Yu Mi quickly extended her senses in that direction. Sure enough, she saw someone who looked exactly like her, with a similar aura and expression, sitting there in an especially graceful pose and delicately embroidering something. A flower? A lotus? A duck?
When she looked at the picture beside the embroidery, she saw crooked lettering that read: “Mandarin Ducks Frolicking Among Lotus Flowers.”
“How could mandarin ducks look like that? And the lotus flowers look like round mallets! This embroidery is atrocious!”
But that was not the important point. The important point was this: why was there an illusion of her here?
Yu Mi asked:
“Could it be because I attacked this place just now? My aura was left behind, so an illusion of me appeared?”
“There’s another Yu Mi over there! She’s hauling water on a shoulder pole—and crying while she does it!”
The Soul Chasing Pavilion Master’s carriage was far too conspicuous. When people from the various factions saw the three of them standing together, they recognized the Yu Mi who had concealed her appearance. Many prominent figures came over, clasped their fists with smiling faces, and greeted her before asking:
“Immortal Yu Mi, this… how did your image appear in this illusionary world?”
“I wish I knew.”
Jade Shura suddenly asked:
“Could this be Bao Gu’s tomb?”
Yu Mi paused, then said:
“Have you ever seen anyone build a tomb in this shape?”
Jade Shura thought about it.
“That’s true.”
While the three of them were talking, members of a major power suddenly flew a warship over and began bombarding the illusion below.
Under the warship’s powerful barrage, the vast, boundless minor world rapidly collapsed and vanished.
As the world disappeared, darkness once again enveloped the bottom of the pit.
The cultivators’ vision was not hindered in the slightest by the darkness. They clearly saw shattered pieces of the immortal tomb’s gate scattered across the bottom. The stones had been made of high-grade white jade.
Behind the pile of gate fragments stood twelve pillars arranged in a circle. A powerful energy surged through the pillars, weaving together the force of a formation and creating a hemispherical shield that resembled the vault of heaven. Beneath the energy shield stood a nine-tiered platform, with a rectangular object resembling a coffin placed at its exact center.
The tomb gate, the twelve formation pillars, the platform, and the coffin—this was the entirety of the immortal tomb.
It was the most miserably bare immortal tomb anyone had ever seen. There was not even a single funerary object outside the coffin.
Yu Mi stared at the twelve pillars.
“These formation pillars are no ordinary things.”
They had been forged from Great Luo Scarlet Gold and engraved with True Spirit runes of the demon race. The formation they created was a Twelve-Cycle Spirit-Gathering Grand Formation. Yet the aura it gave off did not resemble that of a spirit-gathering formation. Instead, it made her feel as though it connected to another unknown, mysterious, and terrifying world.
Qu Yirou said:
“The pillars form a spirit-gathering formation, with the coffin at its center. If we force the formation open, the coffin may not survive, and we’ll get nothing.”
Jade Shura said:
“Every formation has a life gate. We only need to find it.”
Qu Yirou replied:
“The life gate of this formation is very obvious. It’s at the coffin. The death gate is there as well, using the technique of reversing Heaven and Earth. Entering the tomb from directly above the coffin is the death gate. Leaving from inside the coffin is the life gate. This is a configuration in which those who enter die and those who leave live. My attainments in formations are limited, so I can’t see much more, but I feel this place is far from simple.”
As they spoke, a group of formidable cultivators flew toward the immortal tomb from the distance.
Yu Mi recognized them as members of the Heavenly Dao Sect, which was famous throughout the world for its formations. Two people from the Tianji Sect were following alongside them. None of them had low cultivation; their levels ranged from Void Tearing to Tribulation Transcendence.
The group surrounded the immortal tomb and seemed to be searching for a way to break the formation.
With them taking action, everyone else stood to the side and waited.
A question lingered in Yu Mi’s heart: Could this be Bao Gu’s tomb?
Bao Gu had been buried in the Immortal Burial Grounds. Was the Immortal Burial Grounds really this shabby? Given Bao Gu’s wealth—and the wealth of the Demon Emperor’s eldest legitimate princess—had she truly been buried like this?
Yet Monkey Ridge and the appearance of her own illusion here made Yu Mi feel that this really was Bao Gu’s tomb.
And then there was the sword qi.
The thought made her heart tremble. Almost as soon as it arose, she was already above the immortal tomb, blocking the people who intended to break the formation.
“Everyone, I’m sorry, but you cannot touch this tomb.”
A cultivator in the Deity Transformation stage saw that someone had suddenly gotten in the way and immediately shouted:
“Who are you? Get lost!”
Yu Mi revealed her true face and released a trace of the aura she had been concealing. In a calm voice, she said:
“Yu Mi, Enforcement Envoy of the Cleaver Gang!”
The moment she said this, the people who had intended to break open the tomb all changed color.
The people from the Tianji Sect clasped their fists toward Yu Mi, turned around, and left.
The people from the Heavenly Dao Sect frowned.
The leader raised his voice.
“Does the Enforcement Envoy intend to stop us from opening the immortal tomb? Wasn’t the Enforcement Envoy already leading the Cleaver Gang away? What, have you changed your mind and come back to get involved again? When an immortal treasure appears, it belongs to whoever has the affinity for it! You left and then returned. What reason do you have to stop us from opening the tomb and seeking its immortal opportunity?”
Quite a few cultivators shouted in agreement:
“Exactly! The Cleaver Gang may be powerful, but it can’t keep everything for itself!”
“Immortal opportunities belong to everyone! What right does the Enforcement Envoy have to stop us?”
Yu Mi’s voice rang out in every direction, cold and clear.
“This is the Cleaver Lord’s tomb. Anyone who wants to touch it may do so—but you’ll have to step over my corpse first!”
Many people changed color on the spot.
The man from the Heavenly Dao Sect continued:
“According to what I know, the Cleaver Lord has merely entered a life-and-death seclusion. No one has heard that she has passed away! Does it become the Cleaver Lord’s tomb just because the Enforcement Envoy says it is? Where is your proof? If this is the Cleaver Lord’s tomb, why didn’t you stop us earlier? If you had stopped us then, so many fellow cultivators would not have died in that illusion.”
