Dao rules.
They formed in one’s body when one reached kinghood through cultivation level. The more a king possessed, the stronger their battle strength. A first step king possessed one dao rule, a second step possessed two, so on and so forth.
Nine took shape in Qing Yu’s body when she reached kinghood, but becoming a titled king at this level violated one of the Hongmeng’s taboos. To avoid being rejected by the realm, she destroyed one of her dao rules and withdrew to eighth step king.
“The Hongmeng is a jail and a being with an incredible will is its warden. It forbids many things from taking place in the realm,” Qing Yu explained. “The order of time, the Dragonquake Scripture, ascending to kinghood as a ninth step king, and many others. That will is the jailer of the realm and supervises all of the inmates, preventing them from growing overly powerful and breaking free of the jail.
“I strongly suspect that when the world of immortals expands to the Hongmeng, that mind will reach out and crush the world!”
“Is it the will of the Hongmeng?” Lu Yun frowned deeply.
“Not of the Hongmeng.” Qing Yu shook her head. “The Hongmeng is just an enormous space filled with endless profundities. It was never able to evolve into a real world, so no will can form here.
“That will most likely belongs to some frightening being, very possibly from the fourth realm.”
“If it has to do with the fourth realm…” Lu Yun set his jaw. “I’ll have She Nong come here and squash it.”
Qing Yu lowered her head without a word. Plainly, she didn’t think that She Nong and the others would be a match for the realm’s warden.
Unless… those once imprisoned in the Hadal Hell regained their strength and returned to their prime. Otherwise, a puny She Nong would be no match for the third realm’s jailer.
This part of the Hongmeng was very different from the other Hongmeng worlds as seen from the fourth realm. The others were just grains of sand, but the immortal dao had arisen in this one and provided it with a kind of foundation.
Qing Yu had once calculated that the root of the fourth realm was very likely in the world of immortals, so those of the fourth realm paid especial attention to this part of the Hongmeng.
Lu Yun’s brows snapped together.
“And!” Qing Yu suddenly puffed up her cheeks. “I want crystal veins! I hear that you’re a big shot these days and in cahoots with the Redbud King. Give me crystals!”
“Hahaha, okay okay okay. I’ll give you as much as you want!” Lu Yun broke out in easy laughter. Wasn’t everything he was doing now all for her sake?
And she wanted the crystal veins not for her own gain, but for the world of immortals!
Qing Yu spoke no further on this topic; she didn’t want to affect Lu Yun’s frame of mind. The Valley of Ten Evils was a shield for the first realm, and there was very possibly a road leading directly to the world of immortals deep within its depths. Perhaps it’d already turned into a ghastly battlefield.
“Ah, you may have a lot of kings here, but they’re all lower level and not very useful.” Since she was an eighth step king, she could see through the entire pagoda with a single glance. Her scan noted Hua Fengwen as well, but he was similarly a low level king without much use in her eyes.
“I have a seventh step king here who tries to trip me up at every turn—she’s even showing signs of betraying Hopeless Major. I’ll be much more at ease if you kill her and turn her into one of your Infernum.” Qing Yu deposited an unconscious woman in black on the ground with a wave of her hand.
She’d made full preparations after hearing that Lu Yun had arrived, readying everything she could think of—including the seventh step king that’d opposed her time and time again.
The king was one of the founding members of Hopeless Major and had been part of the faction upon inception. However, she’d never fought the ninth step kings of the realm and frequently raised the idea of forming an alliance with them to refine the world of immortals.
She was exceptionally disgruntled at Qing Yu’s sudden appearance and had attempted to sway the other kings numerous times to overthrow Qing Yu’s rule. After her last attempt, Qing Yu unleashed her own claws and knocked her unconscious for Lu Yun to deal with.
“Alright!” Lu Yun summoned Quiet without another word and raised the sword high, chopping the woman’s head off.
Whoosh!
Hellfire appeared in the next second and enveloped the black-robed seventh step king.
“This servant greets the master!” The woman’s form slowly materialized out of the black flames. She fell to both knees and pressed her forehead to the ground, prostrating herself before Lu Yun.
“Greetings to the two mistresses!” She offered the same grand gesture to Qing Yu and the little fox.
“One mistress. Singular.” The little fox shuffled uncomfortably.
“Two!” Qing Yu gaily took her hands. “Keep a close eye on him when I’m not around, make sure he doesn’t dally with other women!”
The little fox’s eyes disappeared into two crescents with the force of her smile.
“Don’t worry, just leave it to me!” She thumped her chest.
Next to them, Lu Yun muttered something inaudible without pause.
“Master, this servant is guilty!” the black clad woman suddenly said. “This servant secretly contacted a ninth step king—the Broadsword King—and divulged Mistress Empyrean’s movements to him. I invited him to ambush the mistress!”
The woman’s name was the Jade King and she fully recounted her conspiring with the Broadsword King.
Cold sweat dotted Lu Yun’s forehead. Thank goodness he’d raised hell at this juncture and ensured that Qing Yu would hear of his arrival. Thank goodness she’d decided to come to him personally. If a ninth step king had ambushed her at any point in time, she really would have died!
His hands moved subconsciously and hurriedly slapped a Resurrection Talisman onto her body. He then grabbed a double fistful of the talisman and stuffed them into her hands.
Qing Yu smiled wryly.
“There are also ninth step kings in Hopeless Major, so it’s not like the Broadsword King will find it easy to kill me.” However, she still carefully put the talismans away.
“Here, take this sword. Its name is Quiet and it’s the foremost sword of the fourth realm. It will shine with greater power in your hands!” Lu Yun handed the weapon over to his beloved. He’d established a relationship of equals with it, so it would automatically accept Qing Yu after being gifted to her.
“Perfect!” Qing Yu lit up. She did indeed lack a useful treasure; Quiet would fill that gap wonderfully.
“And this mountain of purple crystal…”
“No! Keep it!” This time, she hastily turned her dao partner down. “You need a useful treasure to fall back on as well. There will be many battles in which you have to take to the field!”
Lu Yun blinked.
“Here, you take this. This is all the treasure that Hopeless Major has accumulated since the day of its founding. It’s no use staying with me and it only collects dust sitting in the vaults, so you might as well make the best use of it!” Qing Yu placed an unusually heavy storage treasure in Lu Yun’s hands. With his current level of strength, the tiny treasure almost sank through the floor and took him with it.
