Apart from exceedingly few items, everything in the Immortal Pagoda was refined by the supplemental grandmaster puppets. It was also Lu Yun’s greatest accomplishment thus far since arriving in the Hongmeng—creating puppets of this level. This displayed mastery almost on par with the eighteen Pills of Creation he refined.
Jin Naluo swallowed noisily and said no more.
“If there’s nothing else, I’ll be off.” Lu Yun rose to his feet and then reminded, “Ah, don’t kill that Blood King and Luminous King. Just let them hang there.”
Jin Naluo waved an impatient hand.
A tiny ray of purple light flashed across Lu Yun’s body, surrounding him and whisking him out of sight. It was the light of a transportation formation.
Jin Naluo sank into deep thought as he stared at where Lu Yun had disappeared.
“The Immortal Pagoda isn’t important to him at all. If he wanted to, he could create a dozen Immortal Pagodas at any time, or Demon Pagodas, or Monster Spirit Pagodas.
“…servants, take me to the supplemental grandmaster puppets!”
……
Dreamlike radiance flashed across through the air before a young couple appeared.
“Is this Hopeless Major?” Miao looked around and said dazedly, “It’s so pretty, it doesn’t look like a valley of bad people.”
Light dotted an incomparably spacious void around them, like stars decorating the night sky. A marvelous, tantalizing fragrance drifted into their noses.
After dumping the mess that was the Immortal Pagoda into Jin Naluo’s lap, Lu Yun used the transportation formation from Qing Yu to take the little fox to Hopeless Major.
He’d completed refining the army of a hundred thousand half step kings and was here to personally deliver it to his beloved. Being greeted by this backdrop upon arrival was the last thing he expected.
“Where’s Qing Yu?” the little fox murmured.
“Hush!” Lu Yun clapped a hand over her mouth and stuck Stillness Talismans to both of them.
“Empyrean King, I will grant that Hopeless Major prospers more by the day under your leadership and we are much stronger than before!” An extremely grave voice seemed very out of place in this fantastical landscape. “But the Jade King is one of the founding members of the major. We can overlook you emptying the vaults, but Your Eminence must give us an explanation for her disappearance!”
“The disciples in charge of guarding Soul Light Palace said that her soul light suddenly extinguished, then came back to life. That means she died once, to which we look to you for an explanation.”
“That’s right! The Empyrean King must give us an explanation!”
Extremely domineering presences suddenly flared into existence and intersected in the unknown void. These terrifying presences were far in excess of the pressure that Jinse exerted on Lu Yun, or even what Qing Yu exuded!
Ninth step kings!
These were all ninth step kings of Hopeless Major!
Heart in his throat, Lu Yun eavesdropped on tenterhooks. Jinse was Jinse, alright. Though she was only a seventh step king, she was one of the founding members and thus her status and authority were higher than many ninth step kings.
Other founding members were sure to look into her disappearance.
Who would’ve thought that Lu Yun and the little fox would stumble upon this as soon as they arrived in Hopeless Major?
Pain pricked at Lu Yun’s heart to see his dao partner under fire. She had no one she could lean on here. She had to protect the world of immortals, withstand the ninth step kings of the Hongmeng, and endure massive pressure coming from her own faction.
“And, Empyrean King, what of the matter that the Origin lord mentioned last time?” sounded a female voice. “Our two factions would be closer to each other if Hopeless Major was joined to Origin World in holy matrimony. It wouldn’t be difficult to fight the ninth step kings and break the monopoly of the Supplemental Dao Alliance then.”
Lu Yun’s temper flared when he heard this speaker. Miao gripped his hand tightly and percolated a hint of cold aura to prevent him from doing anything foolish. If he appeared at this juncture, the ninth step kings would step on him and Qing Yu would be faced with repercussions that she couldn’t extract herself from.
“That’s right, we’d planned to have the Jade King marry his disciple, the Kaleidoscopic King. But since she is missing because of you, you must resolve this issue!” This was the first voice that’d spoken. “Of course, it would be inappropriate for you to marry into Origin World with your status. We will have that Kaleidoscopic King marry into Hopeless Major instead. He can be a consort, which will not matter in the grand scheme of things.”
“Enough.” Qing Yu raised her voice, but she sounded much more detached than usual, as if she was never-melting ice from time immemorial.
Lu Yun’s heart squeezed painfully.
“I will give you an explanation regarding the Jade King, but whoever dares broach the matter of a political marriage with Origin World will quickly find themselves the bride or groom.” She was majestically remote, her words not to be questioned.
The ninth step kings in front of her frowned. Plainly, none of them truly respected her. The first line of “prospering more by the day under your leadership and we are much stronger than before” was evident sarcasm.
“You are all dismissed,” she suddenly commanded.
“Empyrean King, we would naturally bend the knee if you hadn’t destroyed one of your dao rules when you ascended to kinghood. But you are only an eighth step king and unsuited to rule Hopeless Major!” the grave voice suddenly shouted. “You have no right to sit on the throne even without the issue of the Jade King!”
This was blatant hostility and insubordination.
“You have three days to consider. If you do not voluntarily abdicate after three days and marry the Kaleidoscopic King, then you cannot blame us for forcing your hand. Our ancestor vanished a hundred million years ago and unless she returns in person, a simple command seal is not enough! We go!” The dominating presences vanished.
A wan Qing Yu sank down onto her bed of clouds. She was dressed like a dashing, valiant young man, but there were too many burdens on her shoulders that didn’t belong to her.
After the Jade King’s disappearance, the faction’s ninth step kings immediately ripped apart all pretense of cordiality and wanted her to step down. They also wanted to use her as a tool in marriage.
Scenes like these played out almost every single day. She didn’t want to give Lu Yun undue stress, so she never mentioned it to him.
“Little Yu,” Lu Yun called out gently.
Qing Yu trembled and whipped her head back, lightly drawing back the ultimate spatial treasure behind her—Star Curtain. Lu Yun and Miao’s forms materialized in front of her.
“What… what are you guys doing here?” She was tongue-tied.
The formation that she’d given to her beloved only transported items, things without life force. She’d ensured that it couldn’t transmit anything alive as she didn’t want to drag Lu Yun into the struggles of Hopeless Major.
“Ah, I forgot that you’re a supplemental king. It’s a piece of cake for you to modify a transportation formation.” She rubbed her head with a smile, then bounded forward and buried her head in his chest.
Lu Yun reached out and hugged her tenderly.
“Shh,” he hushed when he saw that the little fox wanted to speak. Qing Yu was already fast asleep.
“She’s under too much pressure and in a state of constant tension. I noticed it last time,” the little fox transmitted. “I used an illusory art on her just now to send her to sleep.”
Lu Yun blinked, then slowly lifted Qing Yu and sat down on the bed of clouds.
Qing Yu was so highly strung that she teetered on the edge of a mental breakdown. Miao had discovered it during her visit, but things had been so rushed then that she didn’t have time to do anything about it.
A lapse in Qing Yu’s concentration after seeing Lu Yun gave Miao an opening for her illusions. She relieved the girl’s mental strain and sent her into a deep nap.
The little fox took a seat next to Lu Yun; all was quiet in the room.
“Miao, what do you think we should do?” Lu Yun suddenly asked, lost. “Should we, should we go back?”
“Go back? Where?” the little fox blinked and transmitted back.
“Back to the world of immortals.” Lu Yun hugged Qing Yu close to him. He really was afraid that she would break under this staggering pressure.
