Chapter 2391: Return Cloud Mountain (2)

After some time, a large mountain appeared far ahead. It was massive. In fact, it was comparable to the Human Mountain in size. This was none other than the Return Cloud Mountain. Su Yu recognized it with one glance. The mountain shone faintly amid the darkness.

Before Su Yu could even go near it, a cautious aura approached. The caution was understandable. No weakling was capable of traversing the void. A voice rang out, "May I ask who this visitor is? This is the Return Cloud Mountain, Supreme Return's territory."

Su Yu maintained his cold expression and said, "This one is an inspection envoy from the Heavenly Tomb Ridge. Not long ago, Lord Tomb left to visit a friend at Return Cloud Mountain. Quite some time has passed. At the moment, the Heavenly Tomb Ridge is suffering from the threat of the devouring locusts. This one is here to report the matter to Lord Tomb. Where is my lord?"

A middle-aged man appeared midair. The man said, "I am unsure as well—"

Su Yu's voice turned colder, "Where is my lord?"

He raged, "I sent many secret messages to him, but not a single reply returned. Before leaving, my lord said that the invitation was sent by Return Cloud Mountain. He said that he would be here to visit Lord Return. Where is Lord Return?"

"..."

The middle-aged man said helplessly, "My lord has been away for some time as well..."

"You..." Su Yu's eyes turned frosty, "Could it be that you..."

"You misunderstand, Fellow Daoist."

The middle-aged man explained, "Back then, my lord, Lord Tomb, Lord Jade, and the other lords departed together for an unknown business. But they never returned after that..."

Su Yu frowned and said, "Did they mention when they would return? Can you contact Lord Return and pass the message to my lord? A powerful devouring locust has appeared at the head of a swarm of locusts near the Heavenly Tomb Ridge. They are moving in our direction. At this rate, something bad will happen."

That would be quite a crisis. The survival of the Heavenly Tomb Ridge was at stake.

The middle-aged man thought about it and said, "I'll try contacting my lord. But Fellow Daoist, you understand that message transmissions are very unreliable across the void..."

Su Yu appeared both anxious and angry as he said, "If the Heavenly Tomb Ridge does end up destroyed because of this, both of us will take the blame for it. My lord is a good friend of Lord Return, but that doesn't mean that my lord won't shift his anger toward the Return Cloud Mountain when something happens to the Heavenly Tomb Ridge. This won't benefit anyone."

The middle-aged man was feeling very troubled.

True!

"Fellow Daoist, can I know the exact strength of that locust leader?"

"Above fifteen daos."

The middle-aged man gasped. That was not weak at all. At the very least, that was stronger than what he could handle. He wouldn't mind helping personally if he couldn't contact Return and the locust was weaker. But this was clearly beyond his ability to handle.

Su Yu was trying to judge the strength of the person before him. The strength of a powerhouse was hard to judge unless one was in active combat. But one could get a rough guess through the aura if the powerhouse wasn't deliberately hiding their aura. Through his observation, Su Yu judged that this was someone between eight and ten daos in strength. This was not weak at all.

Generally, these unaffiliated territories would have a master and an inspector envoy as the main person in charge of security around the territory. Thus, an inspector envoy wouldn't be too weak.

According to Tomb, the inspector envoy of the Heavenly Tomb Ridge had died not long ago. Due to its sparse population and its distance from the Return Cloud Mountain, those of the two territories rarely had the chance to come in contact with each other.

After some consideration, the middle-aged man said, "Fellow Daoist, do you want to enter the Return Cloud Mountain and take a short break from the long journey? I can see that you have suffered some injuries..."

Some blood and scratches could be seen on Su Yu's black robes. Even his aura was slightly unstable.

He frowned slightly and said, "Why? Do you have no way of contacting your lord? I need to return as soon as possible. The Heavenly Tomb Ridge is not big, but it is also a result of my lord's many years of hard work. The moment it falls to the locusts..."

"Fellow Daoist, even if I can contact them, there is no saying how long it will take for them to return. Please wait patiently..."

Rage flickered on Su Yu's face. After a while, he gnashed his teeth and sighed, "Fine. I'll wait. If my lord doesn't return..I...I won't be returning as well."

The middle-aged man didn't know what to say, but he could understand why. Clearly, this person was incapable of handling the crisis without Tomb. As an unaffiliated cultivator, he could only keep drifting through the void when his settlement was destroyed.

The middle-aged man considered the matter. In the past, his lord would not leave for too long a time. It was about time for him to return.

If he didn't return...

The middle-aged man did not continue that line of thought. A Sixteenth Dao powerhouse was not to be underestimated. Furthermore, three of the group were above twelve daos in strength. Such a group could not be eliminated unless it was a forbidden zone master.

"In that case, please take a rest, Fellow Daoist. I'll contact my lord as soon as possible." The middle-aged man asked, "How may I address you, Fellow Daoist?"

"Dark Tomb."

Su Yu asked, "What about you, Fellow Daoist?"

"Falling Cloud."

"I'll be troubling you for now, Brother Falling Cloud." After giving an ancient salute, Su Yu said, "The locusts will reach the Heavenly Tomb Ridge in a few days. If my lord can't return in time, I can only pray that these locusts will switch their trajectory. Otherwise...the Heavenly Tomb Ridge will cease to exist."

A sigh rang out.

Falling Cloud sighed as well. "I hope the lords can return soon. A pity that we're not forbidden zones. We lack the ability to handle the powerful locusts. These days, the locust threat is getting more and more serious. They have been appearing at increasing frequency. Many unaffiliated territories have been devoured into nothingness. Fortunately, the Heaven Gate will be opening soon. At this rate, we'll run out of living space. The price of building a new unaffiliated settlement is too big, yet such settlements won't even last long..."

Falling Cloud was feeling quite gloomy as he lamented their fate. But next, he smiled and said, "Lord Tomb and Lord Return are both Sixteenth Dao powerhouses. Fifteenth Dao locus won't be an easy opponent, but not impossible for our lords. Thus, we are actually in a far better position than the other unaffiliated cultivators."

At their level, losing their territory wasn't really the end of everything. At worst, they could join a different settlement or even build one themselves. No matter what, they were tier-twos. However, most people were unwilling to spend the effort and energy to actually build one.

Su Yu said nothing and gazed at the mountain. It was quite big, and it was shaped like a sort of skewered fruit. It was called a mountain, but for many of the people living there, that was their entire world.

Each layer, or each fruit of this skewer, was akin to a different territory or world. Falling Cloud was basically the god providing protection to the ones residing within. Of course, these unaffiliated cultivators weren't really doing this out of kindness.

They only did this because this could also strengthen themselves. For example, Return was a physical body cultivator. Those in his settlement would also be asked to cultivate the physical body dao, strengthening his dao in the process.

This was the same as how Topsoil Spirit was benefiting from having the entire five elemental race cultivate the five elemental dao. That was why he had grown so rapidly. Return's dao had been devoured by Martial Emperor, but the main bulk of the dao remained.

The people here had yet to sense anything. But something would happen sooner or later. The dao of someone like Jade, who had been killed, would collapse. If he had his own settlement as well, those in his settlement would have discovered his death by now. But that was not something Su Yu was bothered about.

Falling Cloud was not a physical body cultivator. As a tier-two powerhouse, he had his own dao. He was more like a subordinate under Return. Some of the people in the settlement would also cultivate other daos, but they were the minority.

In short, population was also a form of resource here. One could benefit from having a bigger population. But there was a limit to that, as overpopulation would result in a lack of resources and space. Thus, these settlements would also banish their excess population like the forbidden zones.

Su Yu said with an envious expression, "Your territory has quite a lot of living beings. The quality is decent as well. And some of them are even cultivating your dao. A pity that there are too few people in the Heavenly Tomb Ridge."

Falling Cloud smiled and said, "There's no helping that. I understand that Lord Tomb's dao isn't something just anyone can comprehend. Lord Return's dao is the far more mainstream physical body dao. Fellow Daoist, you don't cultivate the heavenly tomb dao, right?"

Su Yu shook his head, "No. I wouldn't have been able to reach this level otherwise. I cultivate the yin death dao."

Falling Cloud was quite surprised to hear that. He asked, "Fellow Daoist, have you not considered going to the Death Hell?"

That was quite a famous forbidden zone. Why was he with Tomb instead of a forbidden zone? No matter what, Master of Death was one of the hegemons inside the gate. It was hard for most people to join, but a cultivator of the yin death dao at this level should be able to enter easily.

Su Yu narrowed his eyes and said, "That place...is very special. It is said that they will constantly devour each other there. The mortality rate of their members is very high." "Growth is harder in Lord Tomb's territory, but it is far safer. People like us might long for growth, but we also fear death."

"But Fellow Daoist Dark Tomb, your strength is quite impressive. You might not be the one to be devoured after joining." Falling Cloud said, "Alright. I'll try contacting Lord Return now. But if it doesn't work, it's not like you have nowhere to go, Fellow Daoist. Don't be too worried."

Su Yu nodded and said nothing. Both of them landed at the summit of the mountain. A large palace could be seen on it. This was most likely Return's palace. Even with Return's absence, nobody dared to approach it.

Falling Cloud looked at Su Yu and said, "Please take a rest, Fellow Daoist. I'll be going. If you need anything, just inform the servant."

He waved his hand and a beautiful lady walked over. After giving Su Yu a slight bow, the lady said gently, "This servant, Rain Listener, is at your service, my lord."

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