“What about you?” Lu Yun glared. “You and I are allies, it’s only natural that you come help when I need it. You were conspicuously absent when the Immortal Pagoda opened for business, and when the Supplemental Convention began. How do you have the face to ask me for remuneration?”
Jin Naluo fell sheepishly silent.
The Elysium, Ingenium, Finepure and other kings exchanged surprised glances at each other. Jin Naluo and the Immortal King were allies? This was a huge revelation, one that forced them to reevaluate the Immortal Pagoda’s capabilities.
Jin Naluo didn’t represent just himself, there was a massive faction behind him that was more frightening than the seventh step king next to Lu Yun. However, he fidgeted with unease after the Immortal King rebuffed him. …it would seem that there was more to the Immortal King than they’d imagined.
The Elysium, Ingenium, and other kings took their leave.
A crescendo of noise rose from the hustle and bustle outside the pagoda doors. The Luminous and Blood Kings hung to each side, a brazen display of the pagoda’s might to the rest of the Hongmeng. The Supplemental Convention didn’t end with the departure of the Alchemist and other kings either. On the contrary, it grew more boisterous and more attendees flooded in to participate.
The mountain of Earth Light Magneticus stood tall in the center of the venue. Countless cultivators and arcane beasts had tried picking it up, but a successful attempt remained yet to be seen. No one gave up after their failure as there was a treasure spirit within the mountain. They could still claim the treasure if they could communicate with it and obtain its approval.
The Prime Weapon King had categorically declared that this mountain lacked an owner. Its treasure spirit was pure and innocent, free from any corruption. Even the Immortal King would have to obtain the spirit’s approval if he wanted to own it.
……
Though he’d defeated the Supplemental Dao Alliance and gained a pill cauldron that could project a minor world, Lu Yun was in a foul mood—the Tiger Butcher King had died.
The situation of the Starspace Region was more serious than he thought.
……
Cities and regions fell to the vicious ghosts every second throughout the Hongmeng. Starspace Region wasn’t a large region and its ruler only a fifth step king. To be overcome was its fate; no one would think twice about it.
Lu Yun had sent the Beast King and others solely out of consideration for Zhuo Bufan. The locale didn’t matter to him anymore because all of his belongings and people had been moved to Multitude City.
Currently, the Beast King and eighteen others that’d originally served the Colosseum knelt in perfect tidy rows in front of Lu Yun. No one dared to even breathe loudly. They’d all died, then resurrected through the Tome of Life and Death to return to their master’s side.
Lu Yun looked expressionlessly at them.
“How did you die?” His tones were frosty not because they’d died, but because the situation in Starspace Region was more serious than he’d thought.
Starspace wasn’t that far from Redbud Region and he was friends with the Redbud King now—he didn’t want her dragged into this. Not to mention, the Moon King had once attacked the Redbud King before her current expedition.
“It’s the Moon King, she killed us all with one move,” the Beast King replied carefully. “She’s at least a seventh step king now.”
Lu Yun frowned faintly. The Moon King had only been a second step king when he met her, but that’d been enough to back the Redbud King into a corner. Redbud had been wary of a great weapon on the Moon King. To think that she’d ascend beyond sixth step in such a short period of time!
“Are you sure that she’s a seventh step king?” Lu Yun tried to digest this unwelcome piece of news.
“And more than that,” Jinse interjected. “Since she’s a ghost king, she can strengthen herself through devouring others and releasing her core essence.”
“Releasing her core essence?” Lu Yun blinked.
“There’s rumors that the vicious ghosts and wayward spirits in our realm are the original inhabitants of the Hongmeng. Stories say that they all died in a great war and we are just the newcomers,” Jinse explained contemplatively. “These original inhabitants were much stronger than us, and the vicious ghosts and spirits left can regain their previous strength by releasing their core essence and devouring Hongmeng inhabitants.”
Lu Yun lifted his eyes to the sky above. There was an even vaster world there; it looked like the starry sky, but was a mausoleum and the third realm’s true appearance.
In the eyes of those from the fourth realm, the Hongmeng was a giant cage. Though the great dao existed here, along with many other orders, it lacked the order of time. As long as it did so, the third realm would never be a real one.
“It looks like I need to find an opportunity to enter the fourth realm for another look at the Hongmeng.” Lu Yun shook his head. “Jinse, can you defeat the Moon King?”
Zhuo Bufan and the Scorch King were beyond saving, but he couldn’t allow the Moon King to continue expanding her territory. Once it bordered the Redbud Region, that would put the Redbud King in danger.
Thanks to his arrangements, she was invincible when facing endless numbers of those sixth step kings and below. But when seventh, eighth, or ninth kings arrived, she would still be in danger. Though she’d once declared that she was confident of fighting even Hong after being armed with the mountain’s formation… that was just empty talk for amusement.
“I would be confident in my chances if I took the Purple Stellar Mountain with me.” Jinse responded after thinking it over.
The Tome of Life and Death had captured the exact circumstances of the Beast King’s death. Since her name was written into the treasure, she could peek into that situation and compare it with her own capabilities.
“Very well, take the mountain with you to Starspace Region. Save Zhuo Bufan and the Scorch King if you can, but don’t force it if you can’t.” Lu Yun placed the mountain in her hand with a wave of his own.
“I hear and obey!” Though Jinse worried about her master’s safety if the mountain left the Immortal Pagoda, she couldn’t defy his orders.
The Immortal Pagoda had instilled fear into the outside world and Supplemental Dao Alliance through use of the Purple Stellar Mountain; if they knew it’d left the premises, they might come for him again.
However, Lu Yun hadn’t just obtained a chunk of Stellar Stone Magneticus, he also had a pond of Earth Light Magneticus ten kilometers across, and a boulder of Earth Stone Magneticus half a kilometer wide!
He hadn’t brought any of those out yet—while they weren’t as threatening as Stellar Light Magneticus, they would also easily provide stalwart defense.
“Beast King, go to Starcloud Region again with Jinse. Let’s scare that Moon King,” Lu Yun said to the Beast King and his men.
“Understood!”
“If Jinse still isn’t the Moon King’s match… then I’ll send out the Bridge of Forgetfulness,” Lu Yun murmured as he looked in the direction of Redbud Region.
……
Those of Multitude City naturally detected Jinse’s departure.
“What’s happened for you to send Jinse out?? Don’t you know that you’re in a very dangerous position right now?!” A grave Jin Naluo paid a quick visit to Lu Yun.
“Then I’m in a dangerous position… I can’t just sit by and let a friend fall into dire straits.” Lu Yun was hypothesizing that the Moon King’s setup in Starspace Region was for the Redbud King. Starspace wasn’t far from Redbud, but it also wasn’t near. She wouldn’t raise any attention if she made her arrangements there.
Jin Naluo furrowed his brows and didn’t know what to say.
“I’m going to need you to keep an eye on the Immortal Pagoda for a while. I’ve left a hundred supplemental grandmaster puppets here—they can keep everything running smoothly.” Lu Yun smiled easily.
“You’re leaving too?!” Jin Naluo’s eyes went wide. “And leaving the Immortal Pagoda in my care? Aren’t you afraid that I’ll just take it for my own? …wait, what did you say? A hundred supplemental grandmaster puppets?!”
This was too incredulous to believe. Puppetry was one of the many supplemental daos, but what in the heavens were supplemental grandmaster puppets?
“We’re allies, and is the value of the Immortal Pagoda greater than the key to the Hongmeng Tower?” Lu Yun gently patted his ally’s shoulder.
Jin Naluo was a sixth step king and Lu Yun in the superior realm, the difference between their positions couldn’t be put into words. However, Lu Yun was also a supplemental king who could refine creation. When he patted Jin Naluo’s shoulder, it actually gave the latter a feeling of startled flattery.
Jin Naluo quickly quashed that emotion.
“What are you going to do?” His frown deepened. “Though the Immortal Pagoda is worth less than the key, the key is useless before the last one appears. But even I can’t control the impulses of my heart when you mention a hundred supplemental grandmaster puppets…”
“If you want them, take them.” Lu Yun shrugged. “I’ll just refine more later on.”
