“It’s you!”
“Hong!”
Both Lu Yun and Hua Fengwen identified the newcomer at the same time.
“What? You’re Hong??” Lu Yun gaped at the person in front of him. It was a little girl about eight years old and dressed in a red skirt. She was perched on the bow of the Immortal Region Glory after walking down from the sky.
He’d met her before, in the fourth realm!
Qing Yu had said that the little girl in a red skirt was an extremely powerful treasure. She’d created a flower to safeguard beings that’d died in a war in the third realm.
To think that she’d be Hong!
“Don’t call me that! I hate that name,” the little girl pouted. “Also, you should hurry up and leave. If the city wakes up, you won’t be able to get out.” She flapped her hands to shoo them away.
“If the city wakes up?” Lu Yun felt caught on the back foot.
“This city is alive!” She pointed at the clock at the end of the river. “Do you see that? That’s the heart of the city! The closer you get to it, the more likely that you’ll startle it awake.”
“So that black qilin who wants a carrot lied to us? There’s no ruler here at all?” the little fox asked, askance. It hadn’t told them that the city was alive and had wanted them to go see the ruler!
“That old donkey?” The little girl curled her lip. “It thinks I’m the ruler of the city. It’s gone a bit wrong in the head, so just ignore it.”
“How do we get out?” Lu Yun asked.
“Follow me!” She waved a hand and created a passage filled with stars.
“Is she really Hong?” Hua Fengwen gaped at Lu Yun. He hadn’t thought that Lu Yun would be this close to the legendary personage.
“That’s what I want to ask you—is she really Hong?” Lu Yun rolled his eyes at the genius.
Hua Fengwen answered haltingly, “I once sensed Hong’s power when I received my title, but didn’t lay eyes on the great one. Her power ripples are the same as Hong’s, so she should be Hong.”
“Then what kind of existence is Hong?” Lu Yun continued.
“When you become a titled—ai.” Hua Fengwen was about to echo what the Redbud King had once said, that Lu Yun would know once he became a king. But taking a look at the little girl in a red skirt paving the way for them, the genius smiled wryly. “Hong should be the strongest of the realm, the ruler of the Hongmeng.”
“You’re wrong!” She whirled around and refuted seriously, “I’m not the strongest in the realm nor its ruler!
“The third realm is vast, so vast beyond your imagination that what you so-called kings see is just a grain of sand in the Hongmeng!”
It was like a bolt of lightning had struck Hua Fengwen; he stared dumbly at the little girl.
“All that we see… is just a grain of sand in the Hongmeng?” He found this hard to accept. When he entered kinghood at sixth step king a hundred thousand years ago, he’d done with great pride and assurance. He’d felt that he overlooked the entire realm and when his battle strength reached ninth step king, he would easily break through the Hongmeng barrier and set foot into the fourth realm!
But Hong had denounced all titled kings just now!
“Hua Fengwen…” Lu Yun patted his shoulder.
“Near mind me, I want to think about this.” Hua Fengwen walked to a corner of the ship and hunkered down in it without a word.
“Ahem, younger sister, those words are a bit hurtful,” Lu Yun said to the girl in a red skirt.
“Younger sister…” The Meteorite and Skyfall Kings fidgeted awkwardly. Though they were Lu Yun’s men, they were even more aware of Hong’s terrifying capabilities.
Hua Fengwen raised his head to Lu Yun. “I just want some space.”
“Is that so?” The little girl didn’t think there was anything wrong with what Lu Yun had called her. She’d witnessed his ferocity in the fourth realm and how he’d tamed the frightening bridge. “If he can’t handle even this level of setback, how is he to break the barrier around the Hongmeng and enter the fourth realm?
“…alright, we’re here!” She suddenly stopped. The end of the passage was outside of the ancient city—Multitude Region.
Everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief when the Immortal Region Glory piloted out of the ancient city. It felt like they’d escaped from certain death.
Though they hadn’t run into actual danger in the city, the oppressive atmosphere had wrapped around them and levied a heavy weight on their hearts.
“This is where I leave you. If you run into any cities like this in the future, you should keep your distance. Those inside may have been good people when alive, but they’re certainly not that anymore in death.” It was startling to hear “good people” from the little girl.
“There’s no such thing as good people in this world,” mumbled the little fox.
“That’s not true!” the little girl responded seriously. “I’m one! …though I’m not a person,” she added when another thought occurred to her.
She vanished with a turn, taking the passage of stars with her.
……
“You shouldn’t have saved him.” A stunningly beautiful female face materialized over the river of time in the ancient city. “The Hongmeng is a prison and there should be no order of time here. He should’ve become one of the fish in this river.”
Splash!
A big fish sparkling with purple radiance leapt up from the river and kicked up a spray of silver light with its tail. The fish in the river were all transformed from dead Hongmeng beings—killed for their possession of the order of time.
“I’m saving him?” The little girl plopped down cross-legged and harrumphed back, “I’m saving you! Though you’re nothing good after dying, we were comrades once and I can’t just sit by and do nothing for you.”
The breathtaking face closely considered the little girl.
“You’re already dead, so you’re blind. You can’t see the truth of the matter, but I’m alive, so I can!” The little girl glared back. “You’ll thank me one day.”
“I have become the laws of this prison and can never go back,” the face sighed gently and slowly faded away. “I hope your actions today were right.”
……
“We’re finally here, Multitude City!” Lu Yun stood at the front of the ship and eagerly regarded a never-ending city.
“This is right. This is Multitude City, the city of a myriad happenings!” Awe flashed through the Skyfall King’s eyes when he took it all in.
“It looks the same as the lost ancient city,” grumbled the little fox. “But the walls and gates are much smaller, and there are way more people.”
“Give me some space.” Hua Fengwen remained hunched in a corner.
Dude, Hua Fengwen just turned into emo kid.
