Lu Yun had withdrawn the Thousand Obliteration Formation of the Six Royals and stood within the curtain of light from the mountain, peering up at it from the ground.
It wasn’t at full size since it was only five hundred thousand kilometers tall and shrinking from the constant barrage of attacks. An increasing collection of cracks snaked through it and widened until they covered the entire treasure.
The little fox and Dusksnow Morningstar were ashen; a firmly resolute Meteorite King brandished Quiet.
“Do you need me to do something?” Hua Fengwen came up to Lu Yun. “The Beast King is a fatter ant and I have no hope of winning against him, not to mention this is his home…”
“I’m fine.” Lu Yun shook his head. “Do you think I’ve gone overboard with my actions today in destroying the Colosseum?”
“Overboard?” snorted the king. “This Colosseum pits beasts, slaves, and people against each other. Complaints about it are everywhere, and where do you think they get the beasts and slaves for their rings? Wasn’t your friend abducted by their staff?
“This place looks noble and reputable on the surface, but who knows how many unsavory dealings it’s hiding? None of the four dens of crystal consumption within Multitude City are anything good.
“Destroying this place is doing a service for the people.” He shook his head. “Since you don’t need my help, I’ll go back to some alone time.”
He hunched down in a corner again and lowered his head without another word.
“Who is he?” Morningstar shoved down the fear in his heart.
“If you can overcome your fear, you’d be made a titled king on the spot.” Lu Yun shook his head when he looked at the genius’ pale face.
“I know that too, but… I don’t want to die,” Morningstar chuckled ruefully. “If it wasn’t for my fear of death, I wouldn’t have deployed the venerated enforcer’s combat art earlier.”
Lu Yun patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry, we won’t die. I’ve wanted to redo the purple crystal mountain for a while now, but I lack sufficient strength to do so. …since you lot are here to help me, don’t mind if I do!” he murmured to himself as he watched his crystal mountain teeter on the brink of implosion.
A fist-sized piece of rock appeared in his hand. Sharp light emanated from it and cut his palm; blood flowed freely from his right hand before long.
Lu Yun didn’t care.
Stellar Stone Magneticus!
He’d needed to become a supplemental king before he could utilize it. But now with twenty kings hammering on the purple crystal mountain, the terrible pressure and his own methods were the perfect crucible with which to refine the stone!
The purple crystal mountain was infinitely close to collapse; Lu Yun didn’t hesitate and tossed the Stellar Stone Magneticus into the mountain. The fires of the five hells circulated in his palm and transformed into a tiny brazier.
“Miao, a formation of illusion!” he called out.
“Got it!” The little fox quickly set up a formation that concealed everything about the crumbling purple crystal mountain. Though its curtain of light was still visible, that was the only thing that the assembled kings could see through her formation.
“Setting up a formation?” sneered the Beast King. “You want to pull the wool over our eyes and escape the moment the mountain crumbles, don’t you?” His tone turned chilly. “Spacetime, set up our formation.”
“Understood!” nodded Spacetime.
The mountain had withdrawn its power and no longer affected the formations outside. If it wasn’t for the strength of the great dragon of Redbud Mountain, the mass of purple crystal would have been shattered long ago.
……
“The Colosseum’s finally bit off more than it can chew. Shall we save that little guy in a bit?” Elsewhere in the city, many regarded current happenings with plenty of schadenfreude.
“Save him? I think not. That mountain is refined from more than one hundred thousand veins of premium purple crystal. All we need to be concerned with is how to grab the most number of veins after the mountain explodes. Tsk tsk tsk, a hundred thousand of them! Is the little guy the Redbud King’s lover?” giggled an exquisitely dainty young girl as she looked in the ruined Colosseum’s direction.
“He’s got so much money!” Standing beside her was another young girl who looked very similar, but conducted herself in a completely different manner.
Behind them rose a building lavishly appointed to the point of wasteful extravagance—Sublime Pavilion. It was the second ranked den of crystal consumption in Multitude City.
Apart from them, the various sixth and fifth step kings of the city also looked merrily in the direction of the Colosseum wreckage. Carefree ease marked their expressions as they chatted nonchalantly with friends.
Naturally, it remained to be seen whether they would remain so unconcerned after the purple crystal mountain exploded. Not only were there one hundred thousand crystal veins at stake, but half of the Colosseum’s vaults were strewn amongst the rubble as well.
……
Lu Yun ignored everything happening outside of the crystal mountain. The flames of the five hells had enveloped the mountain and the fist-sized Stellar Stone Magneticus was slowly melting into it, thanks to the terrifying pressure around them.
The ugly cracks on the mountain gradually knitted together with the power from the stone, and then shone with sharp rays of light!
Stellar Stone Magneticus was the keenest ingredient of the Hongmeng and perfect for refining flying swords. Today, however, Lu Yun was using it in a mountain. Once it was complete, it would be a mountain-shaped flying sword.
“The purple crystal mountain’s strength must be perfectly integrated with the stone’s! A perfect balance must be struck, with neither material allowed to assume a dominant position!
“I need something else!” Lu Yun was being taxed beyond the limits of his power. He needed to quickly find another treasure and combine it with the two great treasures in the crucible. Otherwise, the final result would either be the purple crystal mountain swallowing the stone to repair itself and becoming a mountain with magnetic properties, or the stone turning the mountain into a flying sword.
Based on Lu Yun’s current level of strength, the latter seemed more likely.
“This additional treasure needs to be equipped with the mountain’s weight and ability to destroy formations, and with the stone’s cutting edge! All of these attributes must be present!” He was giving up on the wind and thunder formations that were also part of the mountain. They were just auxiliary enhancements anyway.
The innate characteristics of the crystal mountain, the power of the Redbud Mountain’s dragon, the edge of the Stellar Stone and Light Magneticus were what he wanted most of all. Once all of them were all combined as one, the treasure would undoubtedly dominate the Hongmeng and raise him to kinghood!
But since he wasn’t a supplemental king yet, he wasn’t able to perfectly integrate the two. It was a catch-22.
“I need a third item on the same level as these two!” Though urgency mounted, Lu Yun didn’t panic. His fingers flew through hand seals and sent them into the mountain, stabilizing the treasure still taking shape.
The Redbud dragon’s power was fully unleashed from the mountain to protect the immediate surroundings, but power from the outside world was so overwhelming that it was beginning to retreat back into the crystals.
The little fox huffed and summoned a sparkle of silver moonlight from the center of her brows. It solidified into a silver moon crescent that bore the weight of the illusory formation. As the attacks intensified and the purple crystal mountain grew weaker, the attacks were starting to seep through into the curtain of light. That was why she’d had to bring out Oddmoon.
“That moon…? No, it’s not enough. It’s just a strong king-level treasure, it’s not enough to strike a balance between the crystal mountain and stone,” Lu Yun murmured.
“Treasure, oh treasure. What other treasures do I have?” His brows knitted together as he came up empty handed for any other appropriate treasures he might own.
