“Bury civilizations!” Lu Yun mouthed.
“That’s right, I bury civilizations.” Violetgrave’s eyes glittered brightly, completely devoid of her usual sleepy look, though she still habitually yawned and stretched.
“Are the four other hells alive like you?” Lu Yun asked after thinking about it.
Violetgrave shook her head gently. “I am the only living being of the five hells. What the Netherdark Hell buries should be more accurately termed the wisdom of all life, rather than its civilizations.
“It is because of this collective wisdom that I was born. As for the other four… well, they all collect dead things.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Lu Yun didn’t understand the reason for their exchange. Violetgrave had never talked about where she came from or what she was. She’d only ever said that she was Violetgrave. Just Violetgrave.
Lu Yun had always thought that the five hells were prisons used by the great masters of the fourth realm, and that Tianqi had once been their warden.
This now looked to be the furthest thing from the truth.
“Because I am free now!” Uncontrollable excitement flashed through Violetgrave’s eyes as she looked at Lu Yun. “I am finally free from being a hell. I am my own being with my own sense of self!
“Do you recall what I said to you when you wanted me to keep watch over the World Gates? That if you don’t take me away before the gates broke, I’d turn into something more frightening than those yin spirits?”
“Because of the Nihil Hell?” Lu Yun instantly grasped where she was leading to.
All of the yin spirits in the cosmos came from the Nihil Hell, which also happened to be devouring the Sanguine Hell. If Violetgrave had remained by the World Gates when they broke, she would’ve been easily corrupted by the Nihil Hell and turned into another horrifying nest of evil.
“That’s right.” Violetgrave nodded and continued gently, “I’ve been fighting that existence in the Nihil Hell all these years. I make my deals so I can obtain sufficient quantities of powerful souls and withstand what occupies that hell.”
“Souls?” Lu Yun blinked.
“That’s right, souls!” Violetgrave nodded. “Only civilization and wisdom from living souls is true civilization and wisdom by which I can fully deploy my power. However, I don’t need souls anymore.”
“Because of me?” Lu Yun quickly connected the dots.
“That’s right, because of you.” Violetgrave nodded. “The power of the Hadal, Sanguine, and Abyssal Hells are all on you and you’ve inherited a part of my power. With the four great hells gathered together and native resistance from the Nihil Hell, we’ve managed to suppress that thing.
“I have also been released from being an entity of hell because of you. I am a true living being now, so I am no longer threatened by that one.”
“I’ve inherited part of your power?” Lu Yun blinked. “Though we’ve made deals before, I’ve never personally received any of your power.”
“What do you think the underworld is?” Violetgrave asked with a smile.
Pausing, Lu Yun nodded with a rueful chuckle.
The underworld… was probably part of the Netherdark Hell, seeing as they shared the same character for dark in their names. Lu Yun’s Xing Chen replica had been a holy king of the underworld and received its legacy. That legacy had been power from the Netherdark Hell.
Since Violetgrave had taken the Netherdark Flame with her, the underworld had remained the underworld instead of becoming the Netherdark Hell.
Regardless, the underworld still fulfilled the duties of the Netherdark Hell, swallowing civilization after civilization in the chaos—as represented by various tombs of heaven and earth dotting its landscape.
“Alright, since the Hadal, Sanguine, Abyssal, and half of the Nihil Hells are all in your hands, I will also give you the Netherdark Hell,” Violetgrave concluded after some thought.
“No!” Lu Yun hastily shook his head. “Even the god of Mount Tai, ruler of the Great Peak of the Five Hells, died because of his post. Do you want to assure that I die a grisly death by gifting the Netherdark Hell to me?”
Violetgrave blinked, not having anticipated that Lu Yun would refuse.
“I don’t want the underworld or the core essence of your Netherdark Hell either. Do whatever it is you should do, I’ll find a way to get rid of the four hells too when the time comes! Too much is wrapped up with these hells, don’t try to dump other people’s responsibilities in my lap!
“And, Tianqi died in his past life, he’s a brand new Tianqi now. Don’t try to levy him with the duties that he once had!” Lu Yun outlined solemnly.
“Well, you’re a sharp one.” Violetgrave smiled wryly. Indeed, there was too much connected to the five hells and they represented some sort of rhythm of the worlds. If all five came into Lu Yun’s grasp, then the burden of all of them would naturally fall upon his shoulders.
But based on his usual style of sloughing off responsibility whenever possible, Lu Yun would never allow himself to be painted into a corner like this.
Not to mention, he was currently as weak as an ant. He wouldn’t be a premier heavyweight if he traveled to the fourth realm; any random sovereign in the chaos or the worlds could squish him dead with their fingers.
Lu Yun never ran from what he should face, but he would be the first to run if forced to take up a mantle that wasn’t his.
Though Violetgrave was disappointed, she wasn’t angry.
“Are you leaving?” Lu Yun asked after glancing at Violetgrave’s face.
“Leave? Where to?” She shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere other than here.”
“Here?”
“This spatial node. I’m standing guard after Qing Yu’s left.” Violetgrave grinned. “But you, you should go to the chaos now,” she suddenly raised.
Lu Yun blinked.
“Open warfare has erupted between the six sacred palaces and nine sacred lands. Experts of the third realm are impeding your son. Lu Qing can’t go to the palaces’ aid, and if you don’t go soon, they’ll fall to their attackers.”
Lu Yun’s eyes widened with disbelief.
“Lu Qing organized the six sacred palaces as the final bulwark with which to protect the world. If they’re destroyed, the chaos creatures will obtain the greatest orders, avoid the energy of the worlds, and enter your home.”
“Protect the world?” Lu Yun fell silent, then asked quietly, “What about the worlds that came before mine?”
Violetgrave paused with surprise.
“Were the worlds before unworthy of protection simply because they didn’t give birth to the immortal dao? Did they deserve to fall into oblivion for that lacking?” he murmured.
“Their root of the world was gone.” Violetgrave understood Lu Yun’s meaning. “Any world without its root is incomplete. Just like an expanding balloon, the bigger it grows, the greater its force when destroyed. When it explodes, it will take out all of the chaos in a massive pop.”
She mimicked an explosion with greatly exaggerated movements. “From the age of the mythological realm to the current world of immortals, only this world has a root. The Hadal Hell and Blood Sea are its roots.”
