Chapter Thirty-One: Opportunity Knocks

  Next, Lu Yun ordered Yun Feng and Liu Xing Hun to continue on their way to investigate the situation at Huayuan Pond, while he and everyone else secretly rushed to the outside of Xiulou Forest, waiting for an opportunity.

  Looking at the Shura Forest, Lu Yun and his entourage all had a strange feeling in their hearts. Because this was the only forest they saw after entering the Ghost Domain. This forest was different from those in the mortal world, except for its black color, every tree's branches and leaves were connected as one, giving off a hazy feeling. From afar, just like Yun Feng said, it wasn't very big. On top of it, wisps of black cloud floated out, gently dancing with the faint wind.

  They searched for a long time, and the group hid in a low-lying area sheltered from the wind. Looking at the people around him, Lu Yun spoke up: "Bi Tian and Du Li are weak in body, let's start cultivating and adjusting our breath to recover our cultivation as soon as possible. Everyone else, carefully observe the surroundings and take note of any differences between this place and others. This place is close to the Soul Pool, so the aura may be different from other places. If we can infer some things from this, it will have a certain effect on our analysis of the Soul Pool."

  Everyone nodded slightly and followed suit, carefully observing the surroundings. Shifting his gaze, Lu Yun looked at the horizon, sinking into deep thought. At this moment, his eyes seemed a bit strange, as if hiding something. A faint fragrance wafted through the air, carrying a delicate scent that entered his breath. Turning back, he gazed at her beautiful face and smiled slightly: "Remember to cultivate diligently when you have time. The environment here is very unusual and can greatly improve the cultivation of those who practice the truth. Your current cultivation has already reached the upper level of the 'Indestructible' realm; with effort, you can enter the 'Return to Immortality' realm."

  Gazing softly at Lu Yun, Ao Xue said faintly: "I know. What are you thinking about now, standing alone like that? The sky here is very dark, without any light; the night color here is gloomy, without stars. Here, what can be looked forward to?"

  Looking at those bright eyes, that autumn water like jade, and the sparkling spirit, Lu Yun had a surge of joy in her heart, really wanting to gaze at that beauty forever. As soon as she thought about it, Lu Yun recalled the scenes from the past, and her eyes couldn't help but reveal a hint of infatuation. With a silly smile, this moment's Lu Yun showed her most genuine side.

  A gentle breeze blew, and a faint, weak laugh entered Lu Yun's ears. His body shook, and he suddenly came back to his senses, looking at Ao Xue's elegant smile, and a bright light shot out of his eyes as he whispered joyfully: "Ao Xue is so beautiful, with you here, there are memories! Although the sky here is not bright, but with your laughter, although the night here has no stars, your one glance, one smile, is the eternal shining star in my heart. On a dark and starless night, I have a lovely face reflecting the heavens, if asked when this heart will perish, even if the seven realms are destroyed, my heart will not change!"

  A hint of a smile appeared in Ao Xue's eyes. Looking at the young man in front of her, Ao Xue's elegant and refined face broke into a warm smile from the heart. With deep affection, she gazed at Lu Yun, without saying a word, just silently looking at him, both of them immersed in their own world. At this moment, all words were superfluous. The convergence of their souls, the transmission of their feelings, was completed in each other's eyes.

  In the gentle breeze, all sounds had disappeared, leaving only the sound of two heartbeats. With a faint smile, both pairs of eyes simultaneously revealed a hint of joy, and they gently shifted their gaze away. Glancing at the not-too-distant place, Swordless Dust and Cangyue were both looking at him, and Lu Yun's heart suddenly rose with a sense of pride. This life, no matter how heaven punished himself, but at least he still had Aoxue, and also Cangyue's deep affection. Even if they failed or parted ways in the future, this life still had many things worth remembering.

  He nodded and smiled lightly at Cang Yue, then shifted his gaze and said: "Everyone rest well here, I'll go around to take a look at the situation and see if we can find any useful information." With a flash of his body, a faint light flashed by, and Lu Yun's figure mysteriously disappeared.

  Watching Lu Yun leave, Zi Yang withdrew his gaze, glanced at Ao Xue and Cang Yue, then looked at Jian Wu Chen again, and couldn't help but sigh softly. In this life, Lu Yun and Jian Wu Chen were destined to be opposed, whether in competitions or for love, or perhaps this was just fate. As the true person of Zi Yang, he had already sensed that there were many hidden things on Lu Yun's body after entering the Ghost Domain. Although he didn't ask, he understood in his heart that everything would come to light eventually, and some things could only be concealed for a while, not forever. For Lu Yun, he was more worried because he feared that his conjectures might be true.

  Leaving the crowd, Lu Yun stopped in mid-air and took out that mysterious invisible cloak, instantly concealing all his aura. Looking around at the scenery, under the dark sky, apart from being able to see the Shura Forest, everywhere else was barren mud without any signs of life. Looking at the not-so-large Shura Forest, Lu Yun sent out seven strands of divine thought waves, analyzing the movements within the forest with different frequencies.

  The results came out soon, and this Shura Forest has several obvious characteristics. First, these trees seem to be ordinary trees in the mortal world, but they are actually very different. These trees are actually all a kind of mysterious Xuanxie Qi, transformed into physical objects. Second, the distribution of trees in this forest is very peculiar, forming a massive array that can mislead people's consciousness. Third, on the surface of this forest, there is a layer of powerful seals, connected to the entire forest as a whole. This seal has a strong rebound force, and at the same time, it also has a tyrannical binding force, firmly locking up the aura of the Huayuan Pool, making people outside unable to feel the aura of the Huayuan Pool at all.

  Her heart sank slightly, and Lu Yun was considering how to sneak in without drawing attention to herself. Unintentionally lowering her head, Lu Yun suddenly saw the invisible cloak on her body, and a hint of a smile appeared on her face. She had actually forgotten about this magical treasure, which was really embarrassing. In fact, it couldn't be blamed on her, after all, she had just obtained it, and the consciousness hadn't formed yet, so when thinking about things, she would often overlook it.

  His body gently fell to the ground, and Lu Yun simultaneously sent out a mental probe to explore the path ahead while entering the forest, beginning his approach towards the Soul Pool. After entering the forest, the mental probe suddenly presented a complex diagram of the Shura Cloud Array's layout in Lu Yun's mind. Countless intersecting lines and swirling energies made Lu Yun's heart skip a beat. In just an instant, over a hundred million different combinations appeared before Lu Yun's eyes, overwhelming his brain with calculations, forcing him to rapidly increase his mental energy and speed up the rotation of his thoughts to analyze the secrets of this mysterious grand array.

  His entire strength was pushed to the limit, and Lu Yun barely managed to maintain the rotation of his mind, laboriously analyzing the result. The result came out soon, and Lu Yun was also exhausted, sitting on the ground to rest. While thinking about the analyzed result, Lu Yun recovered his true yuan, implementing a two-pronged approach.

  Soon, Lu Yun sprang to his feet and shot towards the depths of the forest with a speed as swift as flowing light. After passing through layers of trees and turning countless times, Lu Yun finally appeared near the Hua Soul Pool. His gaze swept to the left, where Yun Feng and Liu Xing Hun were hiding. This was something Lu Yun had already known when he entered the forest, mainly due to his mysterious Mind Wave and the Supreme Technique "Tian Di Wu Ji" that he had cultivated.

  Staring at the Soul Pool, the scene was exactly as Yun Feng had described. The three-zhang-sized pool surface looked a bit like a well mouth. One zhang above the ground, a three-chi-sized black cloud cluster was jumping and dancing ceaselessly. As he gazed at the mysterious black cloud, Lu Yun's mind stirred, and his Mind Wave immediately began to spin rapidly, carefully probing the secrets of the black cloud.

  Feeling the nine-layered thought wave being bounced back, Lu Yun's heart slightly shook, and a brilliant light flashed in his eyes. He suddenly increased the thought wave by a fold. In the forest, Lu Yun's entire body's power continued to rise, and the thought wave, under his extremely firm urging, began to explore around that mysterious black cloud mass. Suddenly, Lu Yun's eyes revealed a thread of surprise, and he abruptly withdrew the thought wave.

  His gaze shifted to the five black shadows by the pool, and Lu Yun carefully explored their auras. The five black shadows did not have that ghostly aura, it seemed that it might have left for some reason and was temporarily absent. Among the five shadows on the scene, one shadow was dark green in color, with its entire body protected by a layer of green mist, making it impossible to see its face. Of the other four black shadows, the one that made Lu Yun most concerned was an extremely short black shadow. The black shadow flickered with a faint, eerie glow on its surface, and at first glance, there seemed to be nothing unusual about it, but Lu Yun's mental waves detected a very frightening aura emanating from it, which was highly concealed.

  With a flash of his body, Lu Yun hid himself completely in the mysterious cloak, appearing silently beside the five black shadows. He stood still for a moment, waiting to see if these experts would react. Soon, he saw that the green-glowing monster had shown a hint of abnormality, constantly sizing up its surroundings as if it had sensed something. However, after looking around for a while, it didn't discover anything and eventually returned to calmness. Apart from this monster, the extremely small ghost creature also showed a slight movement, but unfortunately, it also didn't discover anything.

  He let out a slight sigh of relief, and Lu Yun secretly felt delighted. This way, he could now get close to the Soul Pool and investigate its secrets. After passing through a ghostly shadow, Lu Yun approached closer, carefully examining the mysterious flower patterns around the Soul Pool. These patterns were very peculiar, forming an image of the Heavenly River Star Map. Lu Yun looked at these mysterious patterns, wondering why they surrounded the Soul Pool, what was their purpose. As he circled around the Soul Pool, Lu Yun only now noticed that the water in the pool wasn't black, but a dark green color, which appeared almost black under the dim light.

  With a thought, Lu Yun still used his mental wave to explore the secrets of the pool. However, when the mental wave approached the range of the Soul Transformation Pool, it was drawn into the black cloud in mid-air by a powerful force and swallowed up. Lu Yun was shocked and secretly thought it was strange, hastily recalling his mental wave. After glancing at the five experts, Lu Yun's eyes flickered as he pondered whether to take action against them to obtain the solution to the Soul Transformation Pool.

  Just as Lu Yun was deep in thought, a very stealthy aura suddenly appeared and emerged beside the Soul Pool. Looking at the ghostly general who had appeared out of nowhere with an eerie gaze, a strange light flashed across Lu Yun's eyes as he carefully concealed his own aura and paid close attention to its movements.

  With a glance, the ghost general looked around with a gloomy gaze and asked: "How is it? Is there no movement?" There was no response. The five black shadows simply nodded lightly and quietly stared at the Soul Pool.

  Yin Lian seemed to know their personalities and didn't mind, walking around the Hua Hun Pool before continuing to speak: "This time I came, apart from taking a look at the changes here, there's also something else that I hope everyone can help with. This time, the Ghost King cleverly manipulated those high-ranking experts from the Mortal Realm into the Wu Hun Realm, causing them to mutually slaughter each other. Originally, it was intended to weaken the Wu Hun Realm's strength, but unexpectedly, those Mortal Realm experts actually killed the Wu Hun Ghost King. As a result, the Wu Hun Realm has become leaderless and fallen into chaos. In response, the Ghost King decided to launch a surprise attack, aiming to occupy the Wu Hun Realm before the Hei He Realm does. To ensure success in one go, the Ghost King specially dispatched me to invite the five of you for assistance."

  Upon hearing this, the five black shadows all looked at each other with gloomy eyes. After a moment of silence, the green-haired creature spoke up, "At this moment, isn't it too impulsive for the Ghost King to suddenly launch a surprise attack? Our main priority now is to wait for these seven days to pass, and once they do, we can destroy the Soul Seal and enter the human world. If he were to mobilize his troops at this time and something unexpected happens, wouldn't that be a loss?"

  A faint smile, he said in a cold tone: "On this point, the respected ones can rest assured that the king does not intend to transfer all of you. The king hopes that two or three of the five of you will be able to assist him, and that would be enough. Due to the rarity of this opportunity, if it is missed, it will be seized by Heihejian, which would increase a lot of trouble for the king's plan to unify the Ghost Domain. Therefore, the king is so eager at this time, specially sending me to come and discuss with everyone, I wonder what the five of you think?" His gaze swept over the five black shadows, his eyes filled with doubt.

  Upon hearing this, the dignified one and the other four exchanged a glance with each other, exchanging a look. With a stern expression, the dignified one spoke: "In that case, we can consider it. After all, we are cooperating with each other, and we all hope that the Ghost King can unify the Ghost Domain, which would be beneficial to everyone. For now, let's discuss this among ourselves and give you an answer later."

  The four ghosts gathered together, and the respected one whispered to them. After a short discussion, they came to an agreement. The respected one said: "In order to show respect for the Ghost King and our sincerity in cooperating with each other, we have decided to send three high-ranking officials to accompany you. I will stay behind with the Ghost Lord to ensure the safety of this place. Also, it would be best if you could hurry up the two high-ranking officials from the Black River after you leave, so that they can arrive as soon as possible and stabilize the situation."

  His face lit up with joy, and he smiled coldly: "In that case, I'll thank the two of you on behalf of the Grand King. As for those two, I've already sent someone to hurry them along, and I believe they will arrive soon. Please keep this matter confidential for now, lest any unusual movements occur in Heihe, which would affect my actions. For now, I'll take these three experts and leave first; it's been a trouble for the two of you." After finishing speaking, he led the three black shadows and flew away swiftly. By the pond, the two figures exchanged a mysterious glance after watching them depart.

  By the pool, Lu Yun, along with Yun Feng and Liu Xing Hun hiding in the woods, were all shocked upon hearing this. They immediately became overjoyed as everyone realized that this was a rare opportunity. Watching the three powerful experts leave, Lu Yun fell into deep thought. At this moment, for Lu Yun and the others, it was a rare opportunity, and they might not easily encounter such a chance again in the future. The only regret was that they still hadn't found a way to enter the Soul Pool. In this situation, no one dared to try lightly, because if things didn't go well, they might lose their lives - a price no one could afford to pay. However, facing such a rare opportunity and giving up so easily would indeed be a great pity. For this reason, Lu Yun fell into deep thought, as the final decision ultimately rested on him.

  He looked up, and Lu Yun glanced at the forest, he had already felt that Yun Feng and the others were quietly leaving. His gaze moved to the Soul Pool, and Lu Yun suddenly emitted a strong mental wave, attacking it. He only felt that the high-speed vibrating mental wave instantly hit the pool water, but was immediately deflected by a powerful force, transferred to the black cloud in mid-air. The strong mental wave collided with the black cloud, instantly producing a silent dark energy, driving the surrounding air flow to surge, shaking the black cloud to float rapidly.

  "Who's there, come out!" Two different voices rang out at the same time. The two figures of Zun and Gui instantly split into countless illusory shadows that filled the entire Hua Hun Pool. Standing still, Lu Yun completely ignored them, only casting a strange glance at the Hua Hun Pool before turning to leave.

  As soon as Lu Yun left, the figures of Zun and Gui Zun appeared in mid-air outside Shura Forest. Looking into the distance, Zun said, "How strange, that aura is extremely well-hidden, we actually couldn't detect it. It seems this mysterious person isn't simple."

  "Whatever the case, our plan is foolproof. If they dare to come, we'll make sure they never return, buried in the Soul Pool, heh heh." Under the dark sky, a black shadow flashed by, and a faint, eerie laughter echoed softly above the Shura Forest.

  Returning to the crowd, Lu Yun found that Yun Feng and Liu Xing Hun were excitedly talking to everyone, apparently discussing that good opportunity. Walking up to everyone, Lu Yun asked: "What's going on, everyone looks very happy, is there some good news?"

  Yun Feng excitedly pulled Lu Yun, laughing and saying: "We've received some good news, at this time there are only two powerful guards there, it's the weakest moment. As long as we launch an attack, we can seize that Soul Pool, and then think of a way to retrieve the Soul Seal. How about it, is this news good?"

  Shaking his head and smiling, Lu Yun asked: "Suppose there is no expert there now, completely unguarded, can you enter the Huayuan Pool? Just taking a look from afar won't reveal anything, so even if we've already occupied the Huayuan Pool, there are still more important things waiting for us to do. As for the timing, it's hard not to admit that this is a good opportunity, but it's come a bit too suddenly."

  Everyone's excitement diminished greatly after hearing this. Lu Yun's words were very apt, this opportunity was rare, but unfortunately it came too quickly, leaving everyone with a feeling of being caught off guard. Looking at Lu Yun, Zi Yang Zhen Ren asked: "Now, at this critical moment, what do you think we should do? Should we give up or take a gamble?"

  "Looking at everyone, Lu Yun said in a deep voice: "This matter is related to the major event, so I want to ask for everyone's opinion. After all, we came here for world peace, so every opportunity, we must grasp it well. As for this matter, how to decide specifically, it's not just me who says it counts, it needs everyone to discuss together, and the result that comes out is the decision that everyone has always made. Only when everyone agrees unanimously can we better coordinate and complete the task together. Now, let's hear each other's opinions and discuss this matter together."

  Later, Lu Yun and the others discussed this matter together, only to debate whether to give up or fight. Among the eleven people, seven were in favor of fighting, while only four, including Lu Yun, Ao Xue, Cang Yue, and Feng Yuan Yang, were in favor of giving up. In the end, with a vote of 7 to 4, they decided to go all out.

  Looking at the crowd ready to depart, Lu Yun's gaze swept over each person and finally moved to the horizon. After gazing quietly at the sky for a moment, Lu Yun said in a low voice: "This battle concerns our own destiny and also concerns the safety of humanity, so everyone must put out their full strength and take this matter seriously. I hope we succeed once and for all, without a second or third time, because some prices we cannot afford to pay. Now, let's set off."

  With a flash of movement, Lu Yun's body moved swiftly like the wind, leading everyone into the Shura Forest and heading towards the Soul Transformation Pool.