Chapter 715: Kunxu Funeral, Zhang Yu Controls the Field

Chapter 715: A Kunxu Funeral, Zhang Yu Takes Control

Outside the funeral hall, lines of text began to leap across the flesh-screen of Zhang Yu’s ocular remains.

"Welcome to the life graduation ceremony of True Monarch Heaven-Slayer. Are you a relative/friend or a tourist?"

Zhang Yu knew that so-called tourists were merely those who paid a ticket fee to view True Monarch Heaven-Slayer’s funeral, permitted to observe from the outer ring at most.

Only relatives and friends were truly allowed into the inner chamber to attend the funeral proper, and to bid on the deceased as well as the various items from the deceased's life.

The criteria for becoming a relative or friend was also quite simple: aside from the ticket fee, one had to present a sum of gift money to serve as an auction deposit.

After Zhang Yu settled the gift money, he walked straight into the hall, greeted by row upon row of projections concerning True Monarch Heaven-Slayer.

As the protagonist of this funeral and the bidding target for the relatives and friends, True Monarch Heaven-Slayer’s life history—including his achievements, awards, certifications, positions, and salary—was displayed in meticulous detail.

As Zhang Yu swept his gaze across these sheets of light, he unconsciously came to understand the life of True Monarch Heaven-Slayer.

...

True Monarch Heaven-Slayer was the son of a peasant.

Born into a tenant farmer's household, a family of poverty, he had realized the importance of making money at a very early age.

To earn a living, he had tilled the fields, worked as a laborer, served as a waiter, learned martial arts, and run armed escorts.

Because he was clever and possessed a supreme talent for martial arts, he was taken in as a disciple by a certain martial sect of that era.

Yet True Monarch Heaven-Slayer was not satisfied; even in his youth, he possessed a ravenous ambition and desire, holding an obsession with fame and fortune that far outstripped his peers.

Thus, after mastering a suite of top-tier martial arts, he took the military imperial examinations, cutting through all opposition and sweeping the battlefield to ultimately become the Military Scholar of the realm. He then personally led the imperial army to suppress the various martial sects, becoming a grand demon king whose name made everyone in the martial world blanch with fear, as well as a world-renowned general of the imperial court.

During the process of suppressing those martial sects, the desire and ambition in True Monarch Heaven-Slayer’s heart constantly drove him, making him want to become stronger, to grasp even greater might.

Consequently, he plundered the martial manuals of every sect, ultimately creating a technique that surpassed mundane martial arts—one that allowed entry into the immortal path. At the ripe age of one hundred, he stepped into the Foundation Establishment realm, gradually catching sight of the immortal world that lay above the secular realm.

The immortal world back then was still feudal and ignorant, adhering to ancient customs and maintaining a reclusive posture, never appearing directly within the secular world.

Thereafter, relying on his extraordinary wisdom and martial prowess, True Monarch Heaven-Slayer burned, killed, and plundered his way through the immortal world, raising his realm and amassing wealth amidst successive crises of life and death.

But the times were also changing. During the years True Monarch Heaven-Slayer was scaling the peaks of the immortal path, the immortal world gradually merged with the secular world, and every sect embraced the world with a more active, more aggressive posture.

By the time True Monarch Heaven-Slayer finally joined Wanfa University, he was already an executive in a certain mercenary syndicate, having participated in several sect-war projects and boasting a glorious professional record.

Yet, just when the sect wars were at their absolute height and the mercenary market was at its most prosperous, True Monarch Heaven-Slayer had already foreseen the crisis lurking beneath the golden age.

He believed that... as the Ten Great Sects increasingly regularized and standardized the construction of Kunxu, mercenaries would sooner or later exit the stage of history.

"My rise could not have happened without the aid of the era. It was because I happened to conform to the tidal wave of the times—the fusion of the immortal and secular, the great sect wars—fighting and competing all the way, that I was able to ride the wind and ascend to the high clouds."

"But looking at it from the perspective of macro-historical cycles, war will never be an eternal theme. Some of our current cultivators, because they were born during a time of war, cultivated during a time of war, and rose during a time of war, think that war is the eternal theme of the world. This is incorrect."

"This line of thinking is just like those old cultivators of the past. They thought that reclusive freedom and the separation of the secular and the immortal were the eternal states of this world. Both ignore the objective laws of temporal change."

"Now, we have arrived at the eve of yet another transformation of the era."

"The age of war has passed."

"The education industry is the true sunrise industry of Kunxu's future."

"If one wishes to walk continuously upon the path of immortality, conforming to the times is the primary directive."

So spoke True Monarch Heaven-Slayer at the time.

Thus, to adapt to the changes of the era and the market, True Monarch Heaven-Slayer decided to prepare early. Braving the bewildered stares of his colleagues and family, he pursued studies in the education sector.

Afterward, maintaining the attitude of a absolute novice, he started from scratch, laboring for many years in the education industry. He transformed his bloodsoaked, martial habits into the skills required to teach and nurture people, eventually joining Wanfa University and climbing step by step to become the Dean of the Security Department.

...

Beholding these scenes of projection, Fu Ji remarked, "He can really boast. To drive up the bidding price, they're hyping True Monarch Heaven-Slayer to high heaven."

Zhang Yu replied in his mind, "He is a famous Nascent Soul after all, so it’s understandable. If you buy corpse parts produced by Huilong Garden down below, they only report the dimensions and parameters at most; who would care about the corpse’s experiences while alive?"

Shifting his gaze across the projections, Zhang Yu saw that aside from his life experiences, True Monarch Heaven-Slayer’s famous techniques were also written upon them.

One of them was precisely a military-grade technique from the Security Department, named the Harm-Free, Kill-Free, Touch-Free Fist.

As the signature technique of the Security Department, this fist technique emphasized controlling the opponent, severing the flow of their magical power, and disarming their martial capabilities without causing any harm, or even making any physical contact.

Relying on this technique, True Monarch Heaven-Slayer had once achieved an astonishing record of a hundred victories with zero kills and zero injuries, making it a glittering achievement on his resume.

Aside from this, True Monarch Heaven-Slayer possessed the background of sect cultivation, having once learned a true-transmission grade immortal sect technique named the Divine Speed Sutra of the Horizon, which allegedly allowed True Monarch Heaven-Slayer to always seize the initiative, possessing a terrifying speed of execution.

With the introduction of True Monarch Heaven-Slayer’s various deeds and capabilities concluded, the final projection to appear before Zhang Yu revealed rows of product previews participating in this auction.

Remains, dharma-skeletons, dharma-treasures, ocular remains...

Spirit realm browsing history, video collection records, spirit realm posts, spirit realm photo albums, moments...

All sorts of items used and information generated by True Monarch Heaven-Slayer during his life now appeared before Zhang Yu as commodities.

"As expected of a Nascent Soul True Monarch who conformed to the times," Zhang Yu thought to himself. "Not only did he not use his last breath before death to delete his browsing history, but he specifically left it behind to be auctioned. The sheer Kunxu-ness of this funeral is far more attuned to the times than Brother Dao’s funeral before."

Passing beyond the product list, Zhang Yu truly entered the funeral grounds.

The corpse of True Monarch Heaven-Slayer stood like a statue at the absolute center of the funeral.

Within a hundred meters of the center lay the inner chamber of the funeral, where observers could closely examine, touch, or even inspect the deceased.

Beyond a hundred meters was the outer ring, where one could only watch the funeral from afar as a tourist.

When Zhang Yu arrived at the inner chamber, he saw that many Nascent Soul True Monarchs of Wanfa University were already present.

Aside from familiar faces like True Monarch Xianyin, True Monarch Beihai, and True Monarch Leiji from the Artifact-Refining Department, there were also True Monarch Tianzhang of the Talisman Department, True Monarch Miaoshou of the Medicine Department, True Monarch Taihe of the Investment Management Office, and others.

At this very moment, these Nascent Soul True Monarchs each bore solemn expressions. Before Zhang Yu even drew close, he felt a heavy atmosphere rushing at his face, like an undercurrent surging, ready to tear apart anything that approached.

Under the observation of Zhang Yu’s Nine Nether Demon Eyes, he could see that every Nascent Soul True Monarch on the scene was continuously sending and receiving massive amounts of spirit realm messages among themselves.

"Though they appear silent..." Zhang Yu noted internally, "the Nascent Soul True Monarchs present are already engaged in a fierce exchange."

However, this communication was restricted solely to these high-level Nascent Soul True Monarchs of Wanfa; let alone participating, it was impossible for the other cultivators on the scene, especially those in the outer ring, to catch even a fraction of the content.

Just as Zhang Yu was pondering how to join in, he saw True Monarch Leiji send him a message.

This junior brother of the Magnetic Pole Divine Lord first greeted Zhang Yu, then pulled Zhang Yu into a group chat.

Zhang Yu glanced at the name of the group; it was called the Heaven-Slayer Funeral Temporary Communication Group.

The moment Zhang Yu entered, he heard the furious shout of True Monarch Xianyin echoing from the group.

True Monarch Xianyin: "Are you all insane? You want to withdraw at a time like this?"

True Monarch Miaoshou said flatly, "Xianyin, the Heavenly Demon has already withdrawn from the Great Hollow. Now that the Blood Waterfall Divine Lord has also fallen, the withdrawal of Youming University is only a matter of time."

"With two universities withdrawing one after another, what follows will be a collapse like a landslide. The later we withdraw, the greater our losses."

True Monarch Xianyin snorted coldly and said, "The various Transformation Gods could need our support at any moment. If we withdraw and cause this battle to be lost, the fifth layer to shatter, and the Heavenly Court to fail to descend, who will bear the blame for this loss?"

True Monarch Miaoshou sighed and said, "Xianyin, I know your Artifact-Refining Department gambled everything on Magnetic Pole, but... it is time to abandon illusions."

True Monarch Miaoshou spoke, word by word, "If Magnetic Pole and the others could break open the vault of heaven, if they could reopen the pathways to the third, fourth, and fifth layers... they would have done so long ago!"

"They are going to lose."

"We are already about to be defeated."

"In defeat, one must have the responsibility of defeat, the courage of defeat. We must formulate new tactics with failure as our prerequisite."

Listening to Master Miaoshou’s words, the many True Lords of the Artificer Sect immediately raised their voices in rebuttal.

True Lord Leiji shouted even louder in rebuke: “Miaoshou! I see right through you—you’re just trying to seize power and grab benefits while the opportunity presents itself! Do you really think that once we withdraw, we’ll be safe? Or have you lot already decided to surrender?”

Master Miaoshou remained perfectly calm as he replied, “Look at yourselves now—each of you resembles a gambler who’s lost everything, clinging desperately to that last sliver of hope, willing to stake it all for a miracle reversal.”

“I’m sorry, but I have no interest in dying alongside you. If you refuse to retreat, then we’ll withdraw on our own.”

With these words spoken, the gathered Nascent Soul True Lords instantly split into two factions. One faction, led primarily by the Artificer Sect, vowed to hold Fastness Void at all costs, uniting the academies and preparing to receive the Divine Transformation cultivators—a group that could be called the Holdfast Faction.

The other faction, composed mainly of the Medicine, Dao Arts, and Security Sects—and numerically superior—believed the battle was already lost and insisted on making preparations early to minimize losses. They became known as the Withdrawal Faction.

The two sides hurled accusations and insults at each other. The Holdfast Faction accused the Withdrawers of admitting defeat, claiming they had already resolved to surrender to the Righteous Alliance. The Withdrawal Faction, in turn, branded the Holdfasts as desperate gamblers blinded by loss, insisting that continued resistance would only lead to total ruin.

Just as their quarrel grew fiercer, a voice rang out among them.

True Lord Tiansha said, “Everyone, hear me out—let’s discuss this calmly and not lose our composure.”

True Lord Leiji snapped back, “Tiansha, you stay quiet! The dead hold little sway here. You’re nothing more than a wisp of yin-soul Miaoshou managed to salvage—this isn’t your place to speak.”

Watching the funeral’s central figure—the once-formidable True Lord Tiansha—now reduced to little more than a roadside specter in the group chat, Zhang Yu felt a faint pang of melancholy stir within him.

As Zhang Yu listened to the others’ arguments, his mind raced, searching for the best way to persuade them to accept his own plan.

Just as the Nascent Soul True Lords’ dispute reached its peak, a notification flashed before everyone’s eyes.

It was time for the viewing of the remains.

In this solemn part of the funeral rites, all auction attendees—friends and kin alike—were permitted to encircle the corpse closely, touch it, and inspect it thoroughly, ensuring its authenticity before the formal bidding commenced.

True Lord Tiansha smiled gently. “Friends, grant me this final favor—cool your tempers and see me off first.”

Master Miaoshou sighed softly and stepped forward first, standing before Tiansha’s lifeless form.

“Rest easy,” he said. “We’ve been friends for so long—I’ll make sure you’re properly sent on your way.”

Whether driven by hopes of finding hidden value or moved by ancient funeral customs, the other Nascent Soul True Lords soon followed, gathering around Tiansha’s body to begin the viewing.

But just as True Lord Xianyin and the other Artificer True Lords drew near—standing closest to the corpse—they suddenly saw Tiansha’s body tremble faintly.

Then, from within that still form emerged a translucent silhouette—

Tiansha’s Nascent Soul.

With a hand lighter than mist, the Nascent Soul brushed past one cultivator after another.

It moved with a speed surpassing comprehension—a divine velocity so overwhelming that by the time anyone sensed it and tried to react, everything was already decided.

In that blinding instant, not even Xianyin could fully track Tiansha’s Nascent Soul; all he saw was a blurred flicker trembling before his eyes.

The Nascent Soul’s hands pierced the air like lightning yet swept over their bodies like a gentle breeze.

Only when Xianyin collapsed onto the floor did the sound of shattered atmosphere finally erupt through the hall.

The technique known as “Fist of No Harm, No Kill, No Touch,” amplified by the Nascent Soul’s power, unleashed an overwhelming suppression upon their cultivation energies.

Though its name carried “No Touch,” it was precisely at the moment of contact that its power to seal away spiritual force reached its zenith.

Now, every trace of Xianyin’s inner energy lay utterly silenced; all his arcane frameworks had ceased functioning.

And he was not alone—every Holdfast True Lord present had, in that single heartbeat, suffered Tiansha’s devastating strike, their internal energy forcibly severed.

At the same moment, Withdrawal Faction leaders—Miaoshou, Tianzhang, and others—acted in perfect coordination with Tiansha. Each unleashed their techniques, summoned their treasures, released their Nascent Souls, and locked onto their targets.

Xianyin, witnessing this, reacted instantly.

Though their inner energies and arcane frameworks were paralyzed, they too released their Nascent Souls, summoned their treasures, and prepared to fight.

A full-scale civil war among the Myriad Methods sect seemed inevitable.

Xianyin spoke through gritted teeth: “Fist of No Harm, No Kill, No Touch… and Horizon-Ending Speed…”

“Tiansha… you faked your death just to ambush us?”

Everything had happened too swiftly, too close. Xianyin knew that if only he’d had distance and time to prepare, Tiansha could never have succeeded so easily.

But this environment—the funeral, the intimacy of the viewing—was precisely where Tiansha excelled.

The corpse that had lain motionless moments ago now seemed fully alive again. Tiansha cracked his neck and turned toward Xianyin and the others.

“A funeral,” he mused, “is truly a unique occasion. Whether old Nascent Souls or new, all are willing to participate—and all willingly draw near enough for me to touch.”

Leiji glared coldly at him. “Tiansha! What do you intend to do?”

Tiansha replied gravely, “Friends, Myriad Methods University stands at the brink of annihilation. We have lost. Retreat is our only option.”

“Day by day, Divine Transformation cultivators have fallen. Defeat in the upper battlefield is now certain.”

“For now, the Righteous Alliance focuses its main strength on hunting down those Divine Lords above, which is why they haven’t yet attacked Levels Two and Three.”

“But soon—perhaps after Bloodfall Divine Lord’s fall, or the next, or even in the very next moment—their Divine Lords may break free, pierce the heavens, and descend upon us.”

“It won’t take many. Just one. A single Divine Transformation cultivator stepping into Fastness Void will slaughter us to the last man and vaporize every asset we’ve left behind.”

“The risk… escalates by the second.”

Tiansha spoke slowly, each word weighted with finality: “Our only choice now is to retreat as swiftly as possible—gather our strength, secure our assets, hide, vanish, and buy time however we can…”

Xianyin roared in fury: “How is this any different from outright surrender? Do you think they won’t find you?”

Tiansha let out a weary sigh. “Then what else can we do?! The war is over. We’ve lost! When you lose, you admit it! It’s time to face reality. Buying time and preserving strength—that’s all we have left.”

“I won’t waste another moment arguing with you. If you refuse to retreat with me, I’ll carry you out myself.”

His gaze fixed sharply on Xianyin and the others. “Your inner energies and arcane frameworks are temporarily sealed. With only your Nascent Souls and treasures, you cannot win.”

“Surrender. It’s the wisest choice you can make now. The strength of Myriad Methods must not be squandered here.”

Meanwhile, outside observers also sensed the shift within.

Jin Jun, who had entered under the guise of a tourist, exclaimed in shock: “What just happened?”

To Golden Core cultivators like him—who couldn’t perceive Nascent Souls—it had seemed as though Xianyin and the others were circling the corpse one moment, then suddenly collapsed to the ground the next, while the corpse itself sprang back to life.

Bei Wufeng frowned, eyeing the tense standoff. “Something’s wrong.”

Beside him, Yan Qianji gasped, “The Spirit Realm Network just went down!”

Feeling the oppressive aura radiating from Miaoshou and the others inside, watching treasure after treasure rise into the air, Jin Jun and his companions paled. “Are they really going to fight here?”

The thought of multiple Nascent Soul True Lords clashing sent chills down their spines—they could already picture themselves obliterated by the mere aftershocks.

In the next instant, surging pressure erupted from both factions within, like two living volcanoes detonating simultaneously. Radiant treasures and dazzling techniques flared with blinding light, threatening to engulf everyone present.

But then—a figure stepped between the opposing sides.

Barely making out the hazy silhouette, Jin Jun hesitated. “True Lord Zhuyi?”

The next moment, as the figure clasped his hands together, darkness began spreading outward from his palms.

All the radiant energies released by the countless treasures twisted into spiraling curves, converging toward Zhang Yu’s hands like rivers flowing to the sea.

“Everyone…”

As Zhang Yu’s words appeared before their eyes, darkness swallowed his body completely—and surged outward in all directions.

Wherever that darkness passed, the thunderbolts, qi blasts, sword auras, spiritual energies, and treasures unleashed by the Nascent Soul masters were devoured, one by one, without a trace.

The hall, which should have been brilliantly lit—bright enough to illuminate every inch of the corpse’s skin—had plunged instead into absolute darkness.

Jin Jun strained his eyes wide open, only to realize he could see nothing at all.

He tried to open his mouth, but not a sound emerged, nor could he hear anything around him.

He attempted to activate his Eye Relic, yet it gave no signal whatsoever—not even the faintest flicker.

Even his Tianri Huangshen, which had blazed with light just moments before, now saw its streams of flame twist into spirals and vanish into the darkness ahead.

The divine artifact itself seemed to be sucked into that void, disappearing without a trace.

Jin Jun could no longer sense it through the Spirit Realm—as if the military-grade treasure had tumbled into another dimension, severed from him completely.

In that instant, Jin Jun felt as though he’d fallen into an endless abyss, cut off from all perception of the outside world.

For one terrifying moment, he even wondered whether he’d already perished in the aftershocks of the Nascent Soul clash.

It wasn’t just him. Bei Wufeng and Yan Qianji beside him were in the same plight. No matter how they struggled, no matter what power they unleashed or what treasures they summoned—it all seemed to be swallowed by the bottomless darkness before them.

Perhaps it lasted only an instant; perhaps an eternity.

In that world devoid of light, sound, and signal, Jin Jun lost all sense of time—until, at last, the darkness dissipated entirely, and light returned to his eyes.

At the same moment, the Nascent Soul Sovereigns—who had been on the verge of tearing each other apart—now stood utterly still, their earlier fury vanished without a trace, as if no battle had ever been intended.

Only Zhang Yu remained standing between the two sides, arms outstretched, each palm cradling a cube that contained the attacks just launched by the Nascent Souls.

These cubes were formed of spatial barriers. In the one held in Zhang Yu’s left hand, brilliant radiance flickered—within it swirled tempests of wind and thunder, flashes of swordlight, all brimming with destructive force.

In his right hand, the other cube shimmered with layers of treasure-light, within which countless artifacts drifted and seethed like living things.

“Now,” Zhang Yu said calmly, “can we talk?”

(End of Chapter)