“Why do you say that, little daoist?” Stunned, the youthful man in black froze.

“I don’t want to repeat what I just said. Go back to the world of immortals right this moment!” Lu Yun fixed his stare on the man in black. “It looks like I was wrong, you’re not a scarlet bale spirit. The scarlets don’t have your level of intelligence. You’re a purple one, aren’t you? You want to use the Corpse Refiners to enter the world of immortals.”

“This joke isn’t funny at all.” The man paled and looked at Luan Qi with a question, “Luan Qi, who is this?”

“Master…” Luan Qi didn’t know what to think or do.

Lu Yun rushed forward before she had a chance to finish her thought and let loose with the energy of a world, bringing a wave down upon the black-robed man.

Shocked, the man took a step backward to evade the attack, but an even stronger surge of energy rose from behind and crashed over him.

“Ahhhh!!” He shrieked with anguish as purple smoke sizzled from his body. The layer of human skin around him swiftly melted away to reveal a purple bale spirit in front of them.

“Master!!” The disciples turned white as a sheet when this horrifying scene happened in front of them. Their master and almost a hundred peers really were dead!

“Waaaaugh!!” Screeching furiously, the purple bale spirit streaked into a cloud of smoke and swooped down on Luan Qi.

Close at hand, Luan Qi was a very powerful peerless immortal. Unfortunately, she was as weak as a chicken in front of the purple bale spirit. An overwhelming mix of tyrannical emotions surged from the spirit to suppress her thoughts, forcing her to remain unmoving where she was.

This was one of the strongest abilities the purples could bring to bear—tyrannical strength of mind. It was enough to overcome dao immortals, to say nothing of mere peerless immortals.

Whoosh!

Sword light sliced across the void in a watery ripple and slashed apart the purple bale spirit’s power, returning Luan Qi’s freedom.

“Go back to the world of immortals and tell the four guides what I told you earlier,” Lu Yun commanded coolly.

“You guys go back!” Upon realizing the gravity of the situation, Luan Qi whirled around and shooed her six peers away.

Since those from the world of immortals could utilize the descent protocol to visit the lower worlds, they could also activate the ascent protocol to return home. Using the protocols this way was almost a cheat, but Lu Yun and Qing Yu had wanted to ensure that immortals wouldn’t be trapped in danger in the lower worlds.

The lower worlds were a place of trial and tempering where one had to fight off death and eke out survival. But it wasn’t a place where people should die completely needless deaths, hence the couple wanted to avoid that.

“But, senior sister!” The six naturally didn’t want to leave Luan Qi here alone.

“I’m staying here to get revenge for our master. Hurry up and go back. There’s bigger things at stake here!” Luan Qi roared.

“Alright!” The six decisively made up their minds and refrained from insisting they all leave together. After all, with that genius senior brother here, their senior sister wouldn’t run into any trouble. She’d come back as soon as they slaughtered the purple bale spirit.

Lu Yun raised an eyebrow at the Corpse Refiner disciple, mentally upward revising his opinion of her.

The ascent protocol activated in the six disciples as milky-white radiance that seeped out of their bodies. This was the light that signaled ascension, a unique force created by the protocol. The waters of the Ascension Pool were the tangible form of this ascension light.

The light required a hundred breaths to envelop the user; immortals couldn’t move or utilize their internal force during this time. This was to prevent over-reliance on the ascent protocol, that people wouldn’t run for the world of immortals at the first sign of trouble.

Immortals were uncommonly weak during this process and couldn’t react to sudden developments. Thus, they wouldn’t use the protocol unless they were in a spot of absolute safety, or had no other option available to them in a zone of fatal danger.

But with Lu Yun guarding the premises, the six Corpse Refiner disciples had nothing to fear. As the disciples returned to the world of immortals, the purple bale spirit and a few scarlets by its side looked uneasily at Lu Yun’s sword, not daring to make another move. Since that sword could sever even thoughts, it had to be at least a connate treasure.

……

“Keep yourself safe,” Lu Yun said to Luan Qi after her peers vanished. Pointing Quietus forward, he once more charged at the purple bale spirit.

Quietus didn’t have a handle or crossguard, just the keen edge of a blade that resembled a watery ripple. Instead of grasping the sword with his hand, Lu Yun directed it with where it connected to his index and middle finger.

A slight shift of his body slingshotted the ripples of sword light swirling around him into the purple bale spirit.

“Waugh!!” Seeing that Lu Yun refused to identify himself, the purple spirit shrieked and… yin spirits poured in through the boundary that didn’t actually exist at all.

This main world had fallen long ago and spirits had devoured all of its inhabitants. Everything here was fake. Now that the only two living beings on this world were immortals who knew the truth, the dead spirits no longer kept up the facade.

What looked like the only safe harbor in this world was infiltrated with boundless dead spirits. Commanded by the purple bale spirit, they stormed Lu Yun and Luan Qi.

Three battle zombies appeared by Luan Qi’s side. One of them was her personal battle zombie, while the other two were undead servants that she’d refined. The three kept her firmly protected between them and maintained a stalwart defense against the enemies.

Since the purple spirit wanted to use Luan Qi to travel to the world of immortals, it didn’t order its spirits to give no quarter. Otherwise, Luan Qi would’ve become their food after the first rush.

Lu Yun wasn’t affected by any of this. Wrapped within Quietus’ sword light, he advanced upon the purple spirit, unimpeded.

Though black dead spirits and gray yin spirits madly flung themselves at him, the keen edge of sword light around him reaped their lives like it was harvest time on a farm. Every single spirit in his way was ripped apart into pieces.

He stood in front of the purple bale spirit a dozen breaths later.

“I would be able to crush you with a single move if not for this strange connate treasure!” The purple bale spirit took the form of a gust of smoke, two balls of purple flame burning within the smoke like two eyeballs.

Lu Yun saw them very clearly—the two purple flames were netherfire. Violetgrave’s netherfire.