"You are Zugo, the underworld emperor?" Luò Wěi's eyes widened with shock as he stared at him.
"Oh my, oh my, it seems this little devil is kind of famous in the human world. But I can't really blame you, can I? I mean, who wouldn't want to talk about this handsome little devil?" Zugo replied, a smirk stretching across his face as he boasted.
"May I ask who this mourning young master is?" he asked, looking him over from head to toe as if trying to figure out whether it was him or the guy in front of him who had lost his marbles.
"I'm Luò Wěi, the second young master of the Luò clan," he replied calmly and reservedly as he bowed in respect.
"Oh! So, you are one of the primordial masters? Not bad, but I'm not here for that. Now, where is that fool I'm looking for?" he said, flicking his fan open as he looked around the military council hall in search of someone.
"You must be Lǐ Xùyáng. What a waste. You're carrying her blood, yet you don't know how to use it. Hmm, such a disgrace. Hurry up and summon the undead, or we'll both be unalived when she returns. Why did everything have to happen during my vacation? That devil ain't gonna let me take a vacation after this," he said, letting out an exasperated sigh
"But I ca—" Before he could finish, a loud shout interrupted him from outside the hall.A man burst in, gasping as he struggled to report the situation.
"Let me guess," Zugo said, flicking his fan open and fanning himself as he walked toward the cultivator soldier who had rushed in. "A swarm of a thousand demons led by the Red Lord is approaching the border?"
He passed the soldier and went straight to the door. Standing in the center of the doorway, he looked at the soldiers now rushing to their posts to prepare for the attack.
"How chaotic," he muttered, flicking his fan closed. Then he turned and walked straight up to Lǐ Xùyáng. He raised his hand and opened a portal behind him.
"This portal takes you to the front of the border. After you arrive, take your sword, stab it into the ground, and say the word rise. You got that, right? Okay, now off you go."
He said this before pushing Lǐ Xùyáng into the portal.
"Wait... Argh!" Before Lǐ Xùyáng could reply, he had already been pushed through.
"Oh, he wanted to say something. Oh well, he can say it when he comes back," Zugo said, flicking his fan open and fanning himself as he left the hall.
When he opened his eyes, Lǐ Xùyáng found himself standing 400 meters away from the demon swarm. The moment the demons saw him, they surged forward with terrifying speed. Seeing their acceleration, he plunged his sword into the ground and muttered the word "Rise."
Multiple portals tore open before him, and a warband of thirty undead warriors stepped through. Clad in dark, ominous armor pulsing with eerie green energy, their glowing yellow eyes pierced through skeletal, decayed faces partially obscured by long, stringy white hair. Twisted horns curled from their heads, amplifying their demonic appearance.
Each wielded a saber crackling with vibrant green energy coursing down its center. The edges of the curved blades shimmered with a thin gold trim, neatly separating the glowing green core from the rest of the dark metal.
"Do you know what we call them?" Zugo asked, suddenly appearing behind Lǐ Xùyáng. Startled, Lǐ Xùyáng turned to face him.
"Kāilù, the Pavers," Zugo said with a grin.
"As you know, there are seven levels of cultivation in the cultivation world: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Soul Transformation, Void, and Immortal."
"Each Kāilù can command up to a hundred demons at the Soul Transformation stage. They leave twenty on standby—but this time, they face the Red Lord himself. Do you really think they can defeat him?" Zugo asked, fanning himself casually as the demons closed in.