Qing Han cast a nervous look at Lu Yun after his explanation.

“Accursed spirit root?” The governor paused. “That’s still a kind of spirit root, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Qing Han confirmed carefully.

No one in the world of immortals could cultivate without a spirit root. Wanfeng’s empyrean root and Yuying’s immortal root were of unusually high rank, which guaranteed a bright future in their pursuit of the dao.

The previous Lu Yun had been unable to cultivate because his spirit root was too weak to counter the yin energy gathered by the Enneawyrm Coffinbearers. As a result, not only was he physically weak, his spirit root was also wilted.

If his spirit root were powerful enough, he’d still be able to cultivate despite the influence of the Enneawyrm Coffinbearers, like his grandfather had accomplished.

An accursed spirit root was one of the many spirit roots in the world. However, its twisted nature meant that it came with a curse that would bring misery and misfortune to those around the bearer.

The bearer couldn’t control the spirit root. Once its power came into fruition, it would destroy everyone around them, their clan, and themselves. That made the bearer a real harbinger of destruction.

“An accursed spirit root,” muttered Lu Yun bemusedly.

Qing Han’s expression grew increasingly anxious. Though the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals was gradually eradicating the curse of the spirit root, the combination poison from the spirit root and rimesnake venom remained.

These two factors were the culprits behind why Qing Han had no friends growing up. He’d once had a few friends, but they avoided him like the plague as soon as they discovered his condition, and never again did their paths cross.

I’m so scared… that I’ll lose him like the others.

……

“If it’s about the poison created by the mixture of your spirit root and the venom of a rimesnake, then we might be able to make an antidote if I extract the fang of the snake king.” Lu Yun looked up at the giant snake head above them. It was more than a regular rimesnake; it was a king rimesnake.

He’d found knowledge of these snakes in Aoxue’s memory. The venomous monsters were extremely rare, and their venom was potent enough to kill even a golden immortal. Qing Han must’ve survived because of a powerful treasure that countered the poison at the time.

Yuying, Lu Yun’s first envoy, was an unparalleled pill master and knew her way around poisons. Though she’d never dealt with rimesnake’s venom, she might be able to find a cure if she could work with the snake king’s fang.

“I’m getting that fang!” Lu Yun muttered with an intense stare at the snake king.

“Huh?” Qing Han was nonplussed. “Don’t you care about my accursed spirit root?”

“Wasn’t it negated by the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals?” Lu Yun blinked in confusion.

“But, but there should be traces of it left in the poison in my system....” Qing Han couldn’t wrap his mind around the governor’s reaction. Throughout his life, every cultivator avoided him like he was the embodiment of armageddon when they learned about his spirit root; no, he was a literal plaguelord in their eyes.

“Then we’ll find a way to get the fang and use it to fully cleanse away your poison and spirit root.” Lu Yun vigorously tousled Qing Han’s hair, to which the latter shook his head but didn’t move away.

Lu Yun didn’t know why he’d done that either. To be honest, though he hadn’t realized it, he’d never treated Qing Han as a man. The Tome of Life and Death was a supreme treasure that even exceeded the heavenly dao, and it constantly influenced Lu Yun’s subconsciousness. The starstone’s power naturally couldn’t fool the book.

So, subconsciously, he treated Qing Han as Qing Yu. The realization just hadn’t hit his conscious mind yet.

Clap!

With a twist of his hand, Lu Yun manifested a talisman shaped like a water ripple and attached it to Qing Han’s shoulder. Once the ripples faded, the Qing scion’s life essence was completely disguised.

The talisman was Xuanxi’s creation, and part of the emergency kit that Lu Yun had gathered after his adventure in the great burial mound. He had on him Yuying’s pills, Feinie’s formation disks, and Xuanxi’s talismans. The one he’d used on Qing Han would hide the young man from the undead creatures in tombs, which located living beings by sniffing out the life essence radiating from them.

“Stay here,” Lu Yun declared solemnly. “I’ll go up and take a look.”

“But—” Qing Han was cut off before declaring he would follow.

“Protect him, Feinie,” Lu Yun suddenly said in a muted tone. “Don’t let him follow me!”

A wave of black ripples undulated through the air as Feinie appeared beside Qing Han. The Qing scion smiled wryly. Lu Yun had seen right through him, of course he’d been planning to follow the governor.

To him, Lu Yun was merely a golden core cultivator, despite the many tricks up his sleeve. He was no match for the terrifying rimesnake king, whereas Qing Han was a refined spirit cultivator. He could at least protect Lu Yun with the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals and starstone. However, he couldn’t do that if Feinie kept an eye on him.

Whoosh!

Black flames burst out from Lu Yun’s body to conceal his vitality. Violetgrave morphed into flashes of purple light, lifting Lu Yun into the sky and sending him out of the layout through its cracks. The snake king looked close, but it was actually more than three hundred meters away.

……

Ss ss sss!!

The snake hissed savagely, its eyes filled with confusion. It was an otherkind cultivator that had developed its own consciousness.

The unique eye structure of snakes enabled them to locate enemies through thermal imaging, as well as the vitality radiating from their bodies. With its eyes and consciousness, it’d perceived two miniscule living creatures in the formation that’d disturbed it’s slumber, but they’d now disappeared, leaving only a strange ball of fire coming its way.

Ss sSs SSS!!

Powerful hisses emitted from its mouth.

The rimesnakes crawling along the walls of the chamber shot at Lu Yun in streaks of black light.

Hum.

Lu Yun made a hand seal while riding a sword. A shadowy dragon emerged behind him and seventeen swords of violet light flew out from it and launched attacks in all directions.

Nineteen Cerulean Sword Dragons!

It was an abnormally powerful sword art that would be unstoppable if he could manifest all nineteen swords.

Thud. Thud. Thud!

Seventeen violet swords arced through the air, slicing through countless rimesnakes. Their remains and dark green blood rained down from midair.

Feinie made a hand gesture to keep the flesh and blood away from them with a faint glow.

“Qing Yu seems to have a gem like this, too. It sparkles just like a star.” Up close, Lu Yun finally recalled where he’d seen the cosmic treasure before when he inspected it in detail.

SssssSSsss!

A pungent smell assaulted his senses as the rimesnake king opened its maw to bite him. Lu Yun could even see the icy fangs in the snake’s mouth.

No, that’s not the real fang. The real poison fang is the horn on its head! Countless thoughts flashed through his mind in the span of a breath. His eyes eventually settled on the horn that was in his reach.

Swoosh!

To think was to act, Lu Yun vanished in a flash of blue.

Crack!

The snake king ruthlessly bit into nothing, snapping its fangs together with a metallic sound.

Lu Yun next appeared over the snake’s head. Reeling his hellfire in, Violetgrave turned solid and slashed at the jade-like horn.