Chapter Forty-One: The Incubation of the Phantom Spirit

Bang!

With a muffled thud, the black giant strode up to the colossal Buddha without a word and landed a fierce punch squarely on the Buddha’s nose, sending him tumbling from the blue lotus. The blue lotus, just about to return to the Buddha’s seat, was crushed under the giant’s heel and shattered to pieces.

“Put down the butcher’s blade… and immediately…”

Smack!

Before the Buddha could finish his words, a resounding slap cut him off, spinning him helplessly through the void, his appearance now a far cry from the dignified image people usually held of him.

Kong Yuxuan and the others were dumbfounded. Though they didn’t know who this giant was, his actions were nothing short of sheer dominance—slapping the face of a Buddha? That was beyond imagining.

“Am I… cough, cough—am I really not dreaming right now?” Rong Fei shouted, dodging the swirling city ruins that the two titans’ battle had stirred up.

“Don’t be silly. All of this is an illusion. Your brainwaves have been suppressed—this scene is carefully crafted for you by the Void Spirit,” the giant suddenly turned his head to Rong Fei and spoke in human tongue.

Kong Yuxuan eyed the giant, frowning. “An illusion? Who are you… Luo Longyu? Watch out!”

The giant Buddha, seated in the air, seized the moment as Luo Longyu turned his head; he formed a mudra with his hands and lunged at Luo Longyu. Unable to dodge, Luo Longyu took the blow head-on, thrown off balance and landing hard on the ground. The Buddha pursued, his massive palm descending once more, countless Buddha seals glowing in his palm, while three thousand Buddhas chanted in chorus all around.

“A mere Void Spirit, and you truly see yourself as the Tathagata?” Luo Longyu rose in fury, his blood-red eyes spinning, twisting the force field in an instant, shifting between reality and illusion as the surroundings flickered and changed.

With a roar that drowned out the chanting, Luo Longyu seized the Buddha by the throat, swung him round and round, obliterated the city, and then pummeled him with relentless blows. The world itself began to crack and splinter—this illusion would not last much longer, for the Corpse Wheel was already interfering with the Void Spirit’s psychic field.

“Qi detection!” Realizing he was trapped in an illusion, Kong Yuxuan let demonic patterns surge over his body, wings unfurling behind him as his demon sigil opened his sea of consciousness, tearing through the collapsing illusion.

The moment reality returned, he saw Luo Longyu leap skyward; with a corpse-qi blade, he cleaved the Void Spirit’s face, then vaulted onto its skull. His right hand flared with searing corpse-fire as he tore through the spirit’s bone armor, shredding its brain to pieces.

The Void Spirit roared and thrashed, but the path of corpses was merciless; the corpse-fire quickly incinerated its insides, pouring from its wounds until nothing but a shell remained.

In the next instant, the entire city turned to dust, vanishing without a trace in the gentle breeze.

Rong Fei and the others stared in shock as the city silently disintegrated into ash around them.

Kong Yuxuan, calm as ever, said, “The illusion affected the real space, but it’s nothing serious. Don’t worry.” He glanced toward the distant hillside. “Stay here and wait for orders.” Before he finished, he had already turned into a streak of light and vanished.

On the rocky slope, as Luo Mengxuan and the others were just regaining their senses, they saw Kong Yuxuan descend from the sky, blocking their path. Luo Mengxuan’s eyes sparkled with delight. “Sister!”

Kong Yuxuan gave Luo Mengxuan a brief look, then turned to Luo Longyu. Their eyes met, and tension seemed to thicken the air. Lieshan, with his apprentice, quickly moved aside—neither side was one he wished to provoke. Kong Yuxuan was the eldest daughter of the demon royal family, and he had just witnessed Luo Longyu’s power over the path of corpses. It was best to keep out of their way.

“Thank you,” Kong Yuxuan said, the tension dissolving.

Luo Longyu’s lips curled in a faint smile. “It was nothing, just a small effort. Are you here to arrest me?”

“No,” Kong Yuxuan replied, shaking her head with crisp decisiveness.

Luo Longyu was a bit surprised, but said nothing more, merely nodding, “Good. I thought you were here to catch me.” With that, he prepared to leave.

As he passed Kong Yuxuan, she turned and asked, “Have you found your mother’s remains?”

Luo Longyu stopped, his expression dimmed. “Not yet,” he replied.

“You should team up with the Xuan Yi Pavilion,” Kong Yuxuan said.

Luo Longyu turned to her, realizing she didn’t know he was already an unofficial member. After a moment’s silence, he said, “That’s not possible—they’re still hunting me, you know.”

Kong Yuxuan smiled. “Oh, that’s been downgraded to a secondary priority. The main mission now is to find the Xuanyin Key, and that key is certainly with your mother’s remains. In other words, find your mother, you find the key; find the key, you find your mother.”

“So you’re here to search for the Xuanyin Key?” Luo Longyu asked.

Kong Yuxuan nodded. “According to satellite monitoring, there was a pulse of Xuanyin detected here a day ago—just for a moment, but it was there. We’re here to investigate.”

Luo Longyu was about to reply when a violent tolling reverberated in his mind, making him stagger and fall. The others rushed to his side, alarmed. “Luo Longyu, what’s wrong? Are you alright? Luo Longyu?”

Clutching his head, silver and crimson light swirling in his eyes, Luo Longyu fell into a trance; mysterious whispers filled his ears, accompanied by a crushing sense of despair.

He saw Kong Yuxuan’s lips moving, but heard nothing. Her face blurred and was replaced by a field of blood—crashing bone-armored starships, a shattered sky, rivers of blood. Dragons soared and smashed the starships, some vessels sprouting iron claws like crabs, tearing dragons in two.

Countless people screamed, endless savage beasts thundered by, wilderness and civilization intertwined, metaphysics clashing with science. The whispers pounded at his mind.

Then, abruptly, the whispers ceased, and the visions shattered and faded. Luo Longyu slowly came back to himself, weakly kneeling as Kong Yuxuan supported him. Luo Mengxuan, Lieshan, and the rest gathered around, all anxious.

Luo Longyu shook his head, looked around, and as he returned to normal, Luo Mengxuan crouched beside him. “What happened just now? That was so scary.”

Holding his head, Luo Longyu opened his mouth but no sound came. After a moment, he managed, “I don’t know… I heard that voice again.”

“Corpse speech?” Kong Yuxuan’s expression changed.

He nodded, saying nothing more.

“Captain, we found something under the city. You’d better come take a look,” Rong Fei’s voice crackled through Kong Yuxuan’s earpiece.

“Copy that.” She replied, then turned to Luo Longyu and glanced at Mu Yimian. “Mengxuan, take care of Luo Longyu. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay, okay,” Luo Mengxuan nodded quickly, taking over supporting Luo Longyu.

“Wait.” As Kong Yuxuan was about to leave, Luo Longyu stopped her. “If I can, I’d like to come with you. I suspect the appearance of corpse speech is connected to something in that city.”

Kong Yuxuan considered for a few seconds, concern in her eyes. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I’m fine. Time is short—let’s go.” Luo Longyu stood up.

Lieshan, with his little apprentice, tactfully excused himself. “This really isn’t my affair. I’ll take my leave. As for corpse control, you should consult Mao Mountain.” With that, he vanished into the forest—after all, a wanderer like Lieshan had no wish to get entangled with the Xuan Yi Pavilion.

Luo Longyu and Luo Mengxuan followed Kong Yuxuan into the city. In the northwest corner, the ground had collapsed, revealing a deep, dark pit from which cold air seeped, raising the hairs on their arms.

Ye Lan, guarding the wounded Moonshadow at the entrance, frowned in confusion at Luo Longyu’s arrival, but Kong Yuxuan signaled him not to ask. “What’s the situation?” she asked.

Ye Lan glanced at the pit. “I’m not sure. The prince sensed something odd here, so he and Rong Fei came to investigate and found this opening.”

“How’s Moonshadow?” Kong Yuxuan asked.

“Nothing serious, just the combat engine in her body was abruptly interrupted, so she’s having trouble adjusting physically.”

“I see. Mengxuan, stay here. Luo Longyu, let’s go down.” Kong Yuxuan’s tone brooked no refusal. Though Luo Mengxuan pouted, she dared not argue.

Kong Yuxuan and Luo Longyu jumped into the pit. It was deep; after several seconds, they landed in a vast subterranean space. Massive bones jutted from the earth, forming supports like the beams of a house.

Rong Fei and the prince were deep inside, pondering the scene before them. Hearing the newcomers, they turned. Seeing Kong Yuxuan emerge, they called out, “Captain, things aren’t looking good.” Then, spotting Luo Longyu behind her, their expressions changed, and they tensed for battle.

“Stand down. He’s not an enemy,” Kong Yuxuan snapped at them. Luo Longyu merely looked at them coolly, saying nothing.

Rong Fei and the prince were puzzled. Luo Longyu was the Xuan Yi Pavilion’s most wanted fugitive—how had he ended up on their side? Still, they asked no further questions and slowly relaxed.

“Captain, look.” Rong Fei pointed to a giant pit behind them. Blood mist swirled in its depths, with strange magnetic fields rippling through the air. Luo Longyu peered in, his face darkening—the pit was piled with corpses, thousands at a glance, all wrapped in some jelly-like substance resembling a hive.

“What is this?” Kong Yuxuan frowned.

Rong Fei and the prince shook their heads.

“Incubation chamber,” Luo Longyu said grimly. The others looked at him for explanation. “It’s described in the Corpse Path Notes. It’s used for incubation. That two-faced beast we fought was hatched from here. All these people inside have been infected with Void Spirit genes. Soon, they’ll hatch as Void Thralls, and from there, mutate into all manner of giant beasts—a fusion of Void Spirit and Earth genes.”

“Like gene implantation?” Kong Yuxuan asked.

Luo Longyu nodded. “There’s a magnetic field here. If I’m right, there’s something more beneath this chamber.”

“Rong Fei, Prince, go take a look,” Kong Yuxuan commanded, eyes narrowing.

“I’ll go,” Luo Longyu interjected. “The Void Spirit’s methods are unpredictable, and the magnetic field here is strange. Anything that provokes corpse speech is dangerous—better I go. Wait here.” With that, Luo Longyu leapt into the pit, broke through the jelly-like membrane of the incubation chamber, and vanished into its depths…