Lu Yun stood at the center of the extinction layout, needing only to twitch a single finger to break it. The layout was powerful enough to destroy the world once activated, and was one of the most destructive layouts recorded in the texts of his sect.

Extinction layouts were in a category of their own in the records, separate from feng shui formations, feng shui layouts, feng shui influences, and grand influences over the world. At the same time, it was unusually fragile, and anyone who knew feng shui could easily break it. However, feng shui was a lost art in the world of immortals.

Lu Yun stood before the extinction layout and extended his hand, then pulled it back.

Qi Hai abandoned the body of the Infernum and sent him back to hell, returning to Lu Yun’s side in the form of a damaged soul. The evil spirits here wouldn’t attack mere scraps of a soul.

“Let’s go,” Qi Hai said gravely, noticing that something was off with the extinction layout. “This isn’t something we should touch.”

“Say, doesn’t all this look like a game of chess to you?” Lu Yun suddenly remarked. “Two sides are playing against each other, with the extinction layout as the chessboard. Which side the layout destroys depends on whoever has the more comprehensive set up!

“The Exalted Celestial Emperor was placed here not to set up the Sacred Origin Runes, but to release the pair of eyes and be a vessel for them, so they could freely leave the tomb!”

“The human demon was kept in the dark about that,” murmured Lu Yun. “His existence was obviously a hindrance, thus someone wanted to destroy him. He was set up so that he would willingly sacrifice himself.”

Qi Hai felt a chill run down his spine. Destroy the human demon?

The human demon was the guardian of the resting place of the human emperor, and one of the greatest heavyweights of the human race. Although he’d transformed into a zombie upon death, his status in the human race remained unchallenged as its greatest protector. Who’d want to destroy him, and in a way that made him willingly open his arms to death?

“Is there really someone bold enough to do such a thing in the world of immortals?” Qi Hai frowned ferociously. Even if this was a game of chess between two powerful factions, he believed that the human demon should be one of the players, not just a piece.

“The pair of eyes would’ve destroyed the extinction layout, if the Exalted Celestial Emperor hadn’t been present.”

Qi Hai’s faint shadow stood next to Lu Yun. “What about you? What are you planning to do next?”

“Screw up the game, of course.” Lu Yun’s lips twisted in a vicious smile. “Dusk Province is my territory now!”

Qi Hai threw him a disbelieving look. The boy didn’t even know who was behind all of this, nor what they wanted, yet he would make such a bold claim?

“The true form of the extinction layout is the Nine Yin Soul-Parting Wood. Only that can be used to set up this kind of layout.” Lu Yun found records of the wood in Xingzi’s memory.

The Nine Yin Soul-Parting Wood was a sacred material that only the shaman kings of yesteryear had a right to use. Its greatest use was to be refined into replicas. The grain of the wood was unusually similar to the blood vessels, muscles, and meridians of a human body. Other than the ten connate spirit roots, it was the best material for replicas.

Some among the shamans had once theorized that some strange lifeforms must transform into the wood after their deaths, but no one had ever been able to prove it.

Incidentally, an endless supply of yin and malevolent energy could be found inside the wood. Regular folks would be contaminated and zombified once their nascent spirits entered the material. Moreover, there was a terrifying power within the wood that could sever the soul, one that could easily tear apart soul-parts and destroy nascent spirits.

Apart from the shaman king of the three main tribes, none other in the shamanic race could bear the brunt of the yin energy and soul-severing power.

Lu Yun could tell that the extinction layout in front of him originated from those two deadly forces in the wood and was facilitated by the Dusk River beneath his feet, as well as the departed Enneawyrm Coffinbearers. The layout now circled around the wood to form a complete entity.

“Who did the river belong to?” Lu Yun suddenly asked Qi Hai.

“A vicious fiend from the era of human dao. With the sheer magnitude of slaughter he’d committed, all races in the world considered him their worst enemy. The human demon couldn’t destroy him, so he was sealed away in the resting place of the human emperor. The Dusk River was his personal treasure.” Qi Hai sighed with emotion when he spoke about this ancient enemy.

The human demon had been the most powerful being in the human race after the fall of the human emperor, but not even he had been able to kill the fiend. The impact from that battle had shaken every world and the human demon had been severely injured, thus planting the seed of the destruction of the human dao era.

Dusk River remained present in the tomb as a quietly flowing entity of water. When the monster spirits had invaded Dusk Province last time, the river had surged and killed countless invaders. That meant the vicious fiend was still alive, and that he was here, in the ancient tomb! His treasure had merged with the setup here as part of the extinction layout!

“What are you doing?” Qi Hai widened his eyes when he realized what Lu Yun was going to do.

“Don’t worry, I won’t touch the river. Everything else, however, is mine.” Lu Yun scattered the Yi Wood Cleansing Thunder circling his body, allowing thick darkness to return and shroud the area.

Swoosh!

Fire darker than even the pitch-black void around them slowly flared into existence around Lu Yun. He lifted his hand and sent hellfire to envelop the Nine Yin Soul-Parting Wood. A faint scream seemed to cut off prematurely when he did so.

That had been the feng shui spirit residing within the wood. It’d come infinitely close to becoming a real living being like the Dragon and Tiger Prince. However, the true form of the extinction layout was extraordinarily fragile and the feng shui spirit weak as well. All it took was a touch of hellfire for it to be disintegrated.

A ray of crimson light shot out of Lu Yun’s body and slowly melded into the wood. This was how the shamanic race refined replicas. He was going to refine the wood—and the extinction layout around it—into his replica!

Seeing what Lu Yun was doing, Qi Hai was petrified with shock by Lu Yun’s insane plan. He wanted to refine the chess game between two great figures into his personal replica? What was he thinking?! Wasn’t he afraid that the great figures would murder him for the offense?

The world of immortals was vast and boundless. The nine majors, ten lands, and four immortal seas made up but a small corner of the world in Qi Hai’s eyes. The setup here was clearly the doing of some heavyweights outside the world they knew.

Lu Yun wouldn’t have caught their attention whether he destroyed the layout or kept it as is, but no, the boy had to pick the most dangerous route and take what was theirs!