Lu Yun and the others were currently seated on the back of the black qilin and swiftly making their way to the center of the city. Since the beast was ten billion kilometers long, the group was as if sitting in a world from their current position.
“I say, Brother Qilin, do you really not remember anything about your past?” Hua Fengwen stood on one of its antlers and shouted into its ears.
“I used to remember some things, but forgot them all bit by bit,” the black qilin yawned lazily. “Be sure not to walk around when we reach the city center. There are other terrible things here that even I wouldn’t dare draw near.”
“Other terrible things? What things?” Hua Fengwen asked curiously.
“Like the ghosts from beings killed by time. They’re everywhere and so incredibly annoying.” The black qilin swung its head so forcefully that it almost sent Hua Fengwen flying. “Additionally, the city has a ruler whose test you must pass before you can leave. All these skeletons you see on the ground are from those who did not pass.”
Though the black qilin walked in another plane, that and its mammoth size didn’t preclude it from taking in every inch of the city. Entities smaller than a speck of dust to it—like Lu Yun and the others—were clearly visible thanks to spatial refraction.
……
As Hua Fengwen and the black qilin nattered on and on, Lu Yun sat down cross-legged on its back to theorize the matter of order.
The combined flames of the five hells were required in order to light the flame of order, but the Sanguine and Abyssal Hells had just revitalized. Their fires weren’t fully burning yet and required careful nurturing from Lu Yun’s immortal force.
Thankfully, he was in no hurry. Now that he’d found his own path, he only needed to follow it with surety. What he needed to do first was to ascend to kinghood through his supplemental path so that he could refine the Stellar Stone Magneticus.
He was only a hair’s breadth away, but that minuscule distance was as if an insurmountable chasm.
Hummm.
The little fox suddenly flared with purple light as the shadow of a tiny purple tower appeared over her head. It melded with the radiance blossoming from her body.
“You’ve become a titled king?” Lu Yun’s eyes widened with shock. He hadn’t thought that the little fox would ascend before him!
“Reaching kinghood through the supplemental dao will only summon the tower. It won’t result in a title,” murmured Lu Yun as he looked upon the solemn little fox. He also scanned the tiny projection of the Hongmeng Tower at the same time.
“It… kind of looks like the Sword Pagoda!” His eyes grew even larger.
The Sword Pagoda! The treasure created by the weapons of the primitive dao in the great wilderness!
A tower, a bell, and a cauldron!
The Hongmeng Tower in front of him looked eerily reminiscent of those treasures of the primitive dao, as if they’d been cast from the same mold.
Since he’d once wielded the Sugato Sword, as transformed by the Sword Pagoda, Lu Yun was most familiar with it. He hadn’t expected that the Hongmeng Tower would look almost the same!
In spite of himself, he reached out to touch the projection over the little fox’s head.
“You better not touch that tower!” The black qilin’s voice rang in his mind. “If something happens to that image, your friend’s chance of becoming a titled king might be gone.”
Shuddering, Lu Yun snatched his hand back. “Is that the Hongmeng Tower?”
“Yes, that’s the tower. That image appears whether one becomes a titled king through cultivation strength or supplemental dao.” Hua Fengwen answered him instead of the qilin. “But hers looks very strange, like… like…”
He fixed his eyes on the tower over the little fox’s head and drew his brows together. “Why does her tower look like the real thing?”
When one became a titled king, whether through cultivation strength or supplemental dao, only an image of the tower arrived to bestow their new title. However, the one over the little fox’s head was plainly a replica!
The two were entirely different concepts.
“A twice made king,” the qilin observed leisurely. “The little girl is quite extraordinary. She already became a king once before through a replica, and via cultivation strength! She has attained those heights again through supplemental dao. Most incredible, most incredible!”
Hua Fengwen’s eyes couldn’t grow any bigger. A replica becoming a titled king while the primary body remained only in the common realm? Just what kind of monster was this girl who was almost too beautiful for the world to contain?
Puff!
The tower image exploded into dense Hongmeng qi that poured into the little fox’s body like a waterfall. A vast will dispersed from her body and formed three characters in the air.
Illusion Immortal King!
“Illusion Immortal King? This again?” grumbled the little fox. “It’s a nice title, but my replica’s already used it. Another one, give me another one! I want an even better one!”
Hua Fengwen: ……
Lu Yun: ……
The Meteorite and Skyfall Kings: ……
“Ah, it can’t be changed,” Hua Fengwen chuckled wryly. If titles could be changed, he would’ve changed his long ago. “Besides, reaching kinghood through supplemental dao doesn’t result in a title. Why do you have one?”
He looked curiously at the little fox, and his eyes almost fell out in the next second. The dispersing Hongmeng Tower image reformed over her head, along with a brand new title beneath it.
Illusion King!
“What? That’s so unimaginative, another one!” complained the little fox.
Fox King!
“That’s worse, next!”
Illusion Fox King!
“I seriously doubt your naming abilities now, no wonder Hua Fengwen refuses to tell us his!” Disgruntlement crept into her tones.
Lu Yun didn’t know what to make of the situation, whereas Hua Fengwen wanted to cry. So this kind of reaction was acceptable? If he’d known beforehand, he would’ve complained for all his worth when he reached kinghood!
No new title appeared beneath the tower image this time. It trembled continuously, as if waiting for something. Suddenly, dreamlike radiance cascaded down from the projection and wrapped around the little fox.
Intrance King.
It vanished completely before she had a chance to speak again.
“In… trance?” the little fox blinked. “What kind of title is this?”
“Intrance is the archaic form of entrance, this title rather suits you.” Lu Yun walked forward with a smile. “The tower is complimenting your beauty. It means that you entrance entire cities with a simple smile.”
Though he joked with ease, he was inwardly flabbergasted. What kind of background did the little fox have to force the tower to change her title??
“That’s more like it!” the little fox crowed with glee. “You’re not allowed to call me the little fox in the future, you need to pay proper homage to how entrancing I am!”
She wore a look of great pride. “Oh, I seemed to have gained some new reflections when I was made a titled king. You should take a look at them.” Ignoring the fact that there were others around them, she placed her hand at the center of Lu Yun’s forehead.
“If it wasn’t for your ambitions and if you’d focused only on one supplemental dao, you would’ve made it to kinghood a long time ago,” she grumbled.
Any other supplemental grandmaster would’ve concentrated on only one or two supplemental daos, but never more than three. However, Lu Yun studied all of them and demanded adept skill from himself in them all. That was why he’d yet to make it to kinghood.
There was only one chance to become a titled king; he didn’t plan on giving any path up and wanted to attain kinghood for all of them at the same time. That was the most frightening about his ambitions.
After processing the little fox’s reflections, he settled into meditation once more and sifted through them.
The black qilin stopped after another hour.
“The way out is ahead, but you need to be careful—the ghosts of time have blocked it and you’ll need to clear them out first if you wish to pass.” It shook gently and let the group off, waking Lu Yun out of his meditation.
There was a new light of confidence in his eyes that’d never been present before. He’d found the key to becoming a titled king through supplemental dao.
“I cannot take you over there or the city’s ruler will kill me.” The qilin swung its big head to and fro and plodded off into the distance.
……
A great silver river stretched on before them. There was no water flowing through it, but rays of silver light instead. It couldn’t be seen where they came from or where they were going. A treasure that blazed like the sun hung at the end of the river.
“It really is that!” An odd feeling struck Lu Yun when he looked upon it.
The treasure was a clock.
A tremendously oversized clock on which was carved twelve numbers. A second, minute, and hour hand moved slowly upon it, releasing a dense power of time with each of their movements that melded into the river below.
To be fair, this tower does seem to suck at naming lol.
