Understanding dawned on both Lu Yun and the little fox. Both of their cultivations had yet to reach the peak of their level, so breaking through as soon as they entered the third realm was a little ridiculous. It made sense if they’d arrived in a less-than-ordinary locale.
“Please stay here and cultivate, young master and mistress. I will report in with Evilfox’s body and arrange for your identities,” said Zhuo Bufan.
“Alright.” Lu Yun nodded.
The Hongmeng differed from the chaos in that the system and rules here were much more strict. If they wanted to move about in the third realm, they needed a legitimate identity.
Zhuo Bufan bowed slightly to Lu Yun and the little fox, and backed out of the meditation chamber.
“This Hongmeng is a bit mysterious,” Lu Yun said with a frown as he sat down on a nearby cushion.
“How so?” The little fox didn’t understand his comment.
“When Little Yu and I overlooked it from the fourth realm, we saw that it was an enormous mausoleum guarded by a bizarre little girl in a red dress.” Confusion shone in his eyes.
“Like the previous world of immortals?” subconsciously asked the startled little fox.
“No!” Lu Yun shook his head. “The world of immortals was once in the layout of a tomb that Tianqi used certain methods to destroy. The tombs in our world are just tombs created for their specific purpose, not to form a mausoleum.
“I don’t know if the Hongmeng beings don’t know they live in a mausoleum, or if they live in the tomb realms of the mausoleums.”
Prior to visiting the Hongmeng, Lu Yun had suspected that the third realm was similar to the world of immortals, forested by huge swathes of tombs. But after his arrival, he realized that this wasn’t the case at all.
Though they were yet to enter the Hongmeng proper as they were in Zhuo Bufan’s meditation chamber, his intuition keenly detected a strange eeriness that pervaded the third realm.
As for what it was, exactly? He couldn’t tell.
“Ghost Ancestor, have you been here before?” Lu Yun turned around and peered into the abyss.
“No,” the ghost ancestor in the fissure hurried to respond. Everything still felt very unreal to it. It’d followed Lu Yun to the Hongmeng? To the place that countless chaos creatures yearned for?
“What are you and why can you create akasha ghosts?” The little fox poked her head in as well.
The abyss was a peculiar existence. After Lu Yun refined the shard of Mount Tai into it, he fully controlled the treasure and was on track to reverting it back to the Abyssal Hell. The moment they arrived in the Hongmeng, he realized that not only could he open the gates to the netherworld, but he could also enter the abyss.
Hellfire had become the key to accessing the abyss and kingdom of hell.
It wasn’t until now that Lu Yun understood why Bluegrave had wanted him to bring the five hells to the Hongmeng. The strength that they released here far exceeded what they called upon in the world of immortals and chaos.
“I…” The ghost ancestor blinked and took human form, concealing the face that laughed and cried at the same time. He was actually a clean-cut young man without a hint of violence or a ghostly air. He seemed like a bright, outgoing boy with a sunny disposition.
Lu Yun and the little fox stared, not having thought that the ghost ancestor’s true form would look like this.
“I should be the accumulation of all resentment from the souls in worlds destroyed by the chaos.” The ghost ancestor sat in a corner of an abyss that wasn’t so bereft of life anymore. The countless chaos creatures of the Dubiety Realm had made the fissure their home.
“I think I was once an ordinary living being in one of the worlds. I somehow absorbed everything’s bitterness, which slowly turned me into this.” His face once more turned into that of laughing and crying features. “I’ve been contemplating what akasha ghosts are too. My face seems to have been drawn by a child, one that should’ve been carefree and innocent, but bore a face full of malice.”
Lu Yun materialized Qing Han’s brush with a flip of his hand.
“Right, that’s the brush!” the ghost ancestor quickly identified. “I don’t know what that brush is made of, but its ink is definitely concentrated resentment!”
Lu Yun put the brush away and exchanged a look with the little fox.
“A child wrapped in resentment drew the ghost ancestor and akasha ghosts?” Lu Yun murmured to himself. “Who is that child? A being of the Hongmeng? …God once told me that akasha ghosts have something to do with me.”
“Pfft, you believe what he says?” The little fox threw him a look and wanted to dart into his arms, but stopped when she realized that it wasn’t as easy for her to transform into her true self here.
Lu Yun wordlessly stared off into the distance. God’s words to him had left too great an impact. He was even starting to wonder if he’d somehow created the akasha ghosts without meaning to. Perhaps it was unintentional karma from his past self in the mythological realm.
“Let me tell you something!” The little fox reached out with her soft, slim hands and pinched his cheeks, turning his head toward her. “The zombie king from his corpse was still alive when he said those things to you! He was affecting God every second of the day!
“It’s not necessarily God who said those things, but the zombie king! He wanted to plant the seed of doubt in your heart!”
Lu Yun shuddered with horror.
“Right, it could be the zombie king,” the ghost ancestor agreed thoughtfully. “The zombie king is highly cunning and calculative. My replica almost fell for his lies a few times and nearly ended up in his stomach.
“There’s always been a connection between him and God that affects both of them. God once entered the abyss with Heavenfall to kill the zombie king, but he still evaded death in the end. If he hadn’t died, God would’ve likely turned into a poisonous tumor as well.” The ghost ancestor sensed that Lu Yun’s mood was off and hastened to explain, “God only wanted you to fill in the four abysses, but didn’t mention the zombie king. That was a result of his will fighting the zombie king’s!”
Lu Yun nodded slowly. No matter what the truth was, the zombie king was completely obliterated from existence, leaving behind only his very profound impact on Lu Yun.
“What did you just say?” He suddenly revisited the ghost ancestor’s words. “Did you say something about will?”
“Yes, will.” The ghost ancestor quickly nodded, not understanding why his master was asking about this.
“Will… will,” Lu Yun mused. “No, not will. A will is pretty much the same as a being’s mental strength. If it’s not will, then what is it?”
He was thinking of what Bluegrave had said to him before leaving—the true origin of life. If he could grasp it, he would be able to create the sixth hell and form his own dao.
The ghost ancestor remained silent. He himself didn’t know where akasha ghosts came from. All he knew was that they’d likely created him.
“Young master and mistress, I have returned.” Zhuo Bufan walked in from the outside, his face slightly pale and a trace of blood at the corner of his lips. Plainly, he was injured.
