The days blended into each other until three years passed by in the blink of an eye. Though there was no time in the Hongmeng, making it so that Hongmeng beings wouldn’t die, there was still the concept of time.
One year in the Hongmeng was a great cycle—three hundred and sixty-five days. One rise and fall from both the chaos sun and moon made for one day, and three hundred and sixty-five of them made for a year.
The chaos sun and moon were the only things that imparted a sense of time to the realm’s denizens.
……
Lu Yun’s cultivation grew by leaps and bounds over the past three years. He smoothly broke through creator realm to immortal lord. Such cultivation speed was unheard of in the chaos, a rate more terrifying than what Jin Gushen had attained.
Cultivating alongside Lu Yun, the little fox reached eternal overlord and was one step away from sovereign realm. She possessed her son’s various experiences and understanding, so her rate of improvement would be rapid as long as she kept to her routine.
The same couldn’t be said for Lu Yun as his cultivation realm stemmed from the mythological realm. He needed to consolidate his realm and experience with modern dao methods before he could acclimate to the current era.
In other words, if he followed the ways of his past self, he would obtain a great deal of power in a short amount of time, but drawbacks would appear over a longer period. The mythological realm had fallen to the Hongmeng, so his methods would eventually end up with the same fate.
In the second realm, Lu Yun had used the great daos of the chaos and world of immortals to improve the dao of his past self. He was now doing the same in the Hongmeng—and not just for his primary cultivation, but for his grasp of the supplemental paths as well.
Over the past three years, he studied boundless material to integrate his knowledge with the supplemental paths of the third realm.
It was generally believed that whatever had been lost was the strongest, but very few considered the notion that truly great existences had long since become part of the great dao and recorded themselves into the void. They wouldn’t be lost.
No matter how something became lost, it was a kind of elimination, proof that it couldn’t adapt with the times. Its inability to change accordingly resulted in banishment by Hongmeng rules and orders.
At the same time, the ruin of the mythological realm was also a type of elimination and failure. Naturally, Lu Yun wouldn’t treat something that’d failed as a precious treasure. Strictly adhering to what he’d known before and obstinately following old methods would only lead to even more painful failure.
He used too many resources of the Starcloud Duchy throughout the course of his experimentation, resulting in numerous complaints from all sides. Even the other guest elder had some choice words for Lu Yun.
However, Zhuo Bufan suppressed the entire matter. His standing command was that seeing Lu Yun and Tushan Miao was the same as seeing him. Being as his title was ‘Duke of Starcloud’, he occupied a rather high position in the Hongmeng despite not being strong himself.
Otherwise, how else would an insignificant good-for-nothing like him become a renowned fool throughout the Hongmeng?
Regardless, the duchy’s cultivators burned with indignation to see Lu Yun expend precious resources without a care in the world. They didn’t even have the right to lay eyes on some of these valuable treasures!
Things were fine in the first and second year, but by the third year, reports and complaints filed into the other guest elder.
Named Miao Qimiao, the other guest elder was a peak superior realm cultivator. He was slightly weaker than the lizard-dragon and venerated enforcer as the latter two were already within touching distance of being a titled king. Meanwhile, he dithered around the door to kinghood, unable to find the key to open it. In comparison, he was far below Zhuo Yu of Redbud City.
When he also grew weary of Lu Yun’s spendthrift ways and could tolerate it no longer, he decided to seek out the young man for a chat.
……
“Hmm? What is this?” Miao Qimiao had just set foot into Lu Yun’s residence when the scene around him changed and a dense fog billowed into the surroundings.
“A formation?” He raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Break!”
Rumble!
Icy-blue lightning sizzled from his hand and scattered the heavy fog in front of him.
“That was a transportation formation?!” His expression changed once more when the fog cleared. He was in front of a majestic city!
The city was bright red in color, as if carved from scarlet crystal. With the chaos sun’s rays illuminating the city, the metropolis released tens of thousands of beams like it was a second sun.
Scorching Sun City!
The capital of the Scorch King and where he resided!
“Why, why am I at Scorching Sun City?!” Miao Qimiao turned anxious. His duties were to safeguard Starcloud City and ensure its stability, but he was somehow outside Scorching Sun City instead!
“What’s going on? What just happened?” He regarded his surroundings with stark confusion. Prismatic light danced through the air from the brilliance thrown off by the city. This was exactly as Scorching Sun City should be.
“Miao Qimiao!” A voice that shook the ears traveled out of the city.
“Your Majesty!” Miao Qimiao trembled and went down on bended knee.
“I told you to protect Starcloud City, so why have you returned to the capital?” The Scorch King’s tones weren’t loud, but his every word rang in Miao Qimiao’s ears like a clap of thunder upon his heart.
“I, I…” Miao Qimiao floundered for words. He had no idea why he was suddenly here.
“Why aren’t you on your way back yet?!” hectored the king.
“Yes, immediately!” Miao Qimiao managed to garble out just as the white fog rose again, obscuring everything in front of him. He regarded the situation warily this time instead of leaping into action. Something was amiss.
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
Heaven-shaking war cries rose from all directions and the fog suddenly unfurled to the sides, bringing a large battlefield into view. There were arcane beasts and cultivators in it, all wearing heavy black armor. Their foes were boundless vicious ghosts and malicious spirits in the air.
“This!!” Miao Qimiao’s hair stood on end—this was a battlefield between the living and the ghosts!”
The vicious ghosts of the Hongmeng were completely different from that of the chaos and world of immortals. The ones in the third realm possessed almost tangible bodies and could manipulate various forces in the Hongmeng.
Miao Qimiao would’ve never fathomed that he’d be sent to such a battlefield!
Pfff!
A cultivator next to him was suddenly ripped into two. Burning hot blood splashed onto his face; its metallic tang burrowed into his nose.
“It’s real blood! I’ve really come to a battlefield of vicious ghosts!” Frosty blue lightning once more arced from his hands.
……
“Little fox, you’ve really gone overboard this time. Miao Qimiao is a guest elder of Starcloud City! If anything happens to him here…” Lu Yun looked ruefully at the heroic Miao Qimiao fending off enemies inside a formation.
“He’s the one who barged in.” The little fox pouted and held up her face with both hands. “I happened to be experimenting combining formations of illusions with refining illusion into reality. He ran right into it, so eh. I need an experimentation subject anyway. He’ll do.”
Big ole F for the guy.
