“You’ve underestimated me, Lu Yun.” A smiling Feng Yin watched his enemy be swallowed by the formation. “My clan’s Thundergust Formation can slay even golden immortals. No matter how adept you are at fighting, there’s no way out of this one.”

A jade bangle lay upon his wrist. He was no formation master himself, but he could control the formation’s power with the ornament.

Hum!

A flash of light from the bracelet heralded a gathering of storm and thunder. Tempestuous winds filled the air, the energy of heaven and earth summoned with vortex-like motion.

Lu Yun remained stationary and stared Feng Yin down with an icy gaze.

“You’re wrong,” the young man shook his head. “Feng Li is a fop and a good-for-nothing. A pig, honestly. He doesn’t need to pretend to be something he already is.

“You’re less than him because of your blindness. You don’t know when to lash out and when to hold it in. Even if Feng Li is a pig, he’s one that chows down on dragons. You? If you’re a dragon, you’re dragon-shaped trash.”

“Wait, what?!” Feng Yin didn’t pay much attention to Lu Yun’s words, too baffled by what he was witnessing. The governor was wholly unhurt by the tempest howling around him.

The Thundergust Formation was completely ineffective.

“Why is nothing happening to you?” Feng Yin took several steps back in fear and shock.

“You think this is strange?” Lu Yun shook his head again. “Haven’t you noticed that I’ve been standing in the same place since I got here?”

Madness radiated from Feng Yin's eyes. He poured all of the mystic force he had into the jade bangle, exerting the formation to new, wilder heights. No longer content with just manifesting the aspect of wind, thunder and lightning crackled between the gusts of air, filling its entire area of effect.

Yet the spot where Lu Yun stood was still completely unscathed.

“Nothing is perfect beneath the heavens. To be marked with flaws is the way of life, which also applies to formations. The place I’m standing is the imperfection. If the master who’d set up this formation was here instead of you, I would probably be dead already.” Lu Yun sighed, then grasped at the western sky.

A ray of aureate light landed in his hand, which he promptly tossed airborne. Something foreign melted into the roaring storm—something that looked like a bit of physical metal: a sliver of the attribute’s connate essence.

Metal attracted thunder, and its connate essence nearly had the ability to take full control of thunder. The new addition threw the orderly operation of the thunder energy into riotous anarchy. Destructive bolts of lightning arced every which way, annihilating even the formation’s own runes and foundation.

In several more breaths, the formation that was reportedly able to slay golden immortals had turned to dust. Lu Yun stepped forward, edging right up to Feng Yin.

“Any other tricks up your sleeve?” he quietly asked.

Feng Yin was ashen by this point, and stumbled another few steps back. “I-I’m the son of the F-feng Clan p-p-patriarch. If you kill me, my c-clan will chase you down to the e-ends of the earth!” His entire body trembled as he spoke. Anyone would be afraid in the face of death!

“Do you regret anything?” came the sudden question.

“No!” Momentarily stunned, Feng Yin was quick to plug a resolute answer. “If I could do everything over, I’d still send assassins after you. I only regret being too weak. I couldn’t kill you myself in the end!”

“You’re not totally hopeless, then. You have earned the right to die by my hand.” Lu Yun nodded imperceptibly. “Dongling Shaogong said the same thing, but unlike you, he was hopeless trash.”

Before Feng Yin could respond, a violet flash emitted from Lu Yun’s hand.

Thud!

His head fell to the ground, spirit eradicated by Violetgrave.

Inside hell, Feng Yin came face to face with the nine Feng august immortals already there, as well as the several hundred assorted guards. His only reaction was a helpless smile, which they wholeheartedly shared.

“What kind of person have I made an enemy of…? I hope the master won’t be upset at the Feng Clan because of it.” He wanted to cry, but couldn’t.

Regret was now finally kicking in.

“You should be honored to have died at our master’s hand. That in itself is a worthy achievement.” Lü Guhong suddenly appeared before them. “Get up and cultivate! We Infernum start out lower than the others. If we don’t work hard, we’ll only be cannon fodder for the master.”

“Diligence! We must strive to become a force that master can rely on!” Lü Biao and Beigong Yu chorused.

……

Feng Yin’s death astounded the general’s residence, much more so than the death of ‘Uncle Heng’.

The uncle had been an old servant of Feng Wujiang, important only because of their personal relationship alone. Feng Yin, on the other hand, was the clan’s brightest genius and the patriarch’s son. His death meant that countless others would be held culpable and their punishments fatal.

A throng of experts surged out from the general’s residence, surrounding Lu Yun in a circle. A few were half-step golden immortals, just as strong as that Uncle Heng. They hadn’t appeared earlier because of two reasons: the nearby bloodcorpse, and the plan to use Feng Yin as bait.

Alas, Lu Yun had easily broken out of the trap, killing their bait in the process.

“Uoooh—" The crowd of immortals excited the bloodcorpse, prompting howls at the sky that blanketed the residence in a bloody radiance.

“I only came here to kill Feng Yin. Now that that’s done, I see no reason for further bloodshed. If you don’t want to die, scram.” Lu Yun strode out of the residence with his sword still drawn. Held in check by the bloodcorpse, the Feng clansmen were powerless to do anything but watch.

“How dare you kill the young master? Vengeance will be had!” an angry shout cut through the silence.

Bang!

An immortal leaped into the air, a sealing rune cracking to pieces upon his brow. The rippling power of a golden immortal was freed from its bonds as he cast a brilliant sword light that scythed toward Lu Yun with blinding speed.

Pop!

Before it could make contact, however, a transparent hand reached out from the void. Its fingers closed on both the immortal and the attack, crushing them to smithereens.

It was Dusk Province’s restriction. After squeezing the golden immortal to death, the hand retreated back into the nothingness. It was as if it had never appeared at all.

Although this place is on the border between Dusk and Outré, we’re still on Dusk land. Removing his seal here was nothing more than suicide. What can the restriction in the ancient tomb be? Why does it forbid golden immortals and above from coming here, anyway? The questions came unbidden into Lu Yun’s mind.