“Didn’t you bring those Pills of Creation? Give some to Little Yu. That should take her back to ninth step king and take care of everything.” The little fox frowned slightly. “Little Yu would never agree to going back now.”
Melancholy flitted over Lu Yun’s face as he looked upon Qing Yu in deep slumber. It was the first time that he’d realized the person in his arms was this fragile. Even with her being an eighth step king, the overlord of Hopeless Major, and the Empyrean King… she was still a fragile being.
“I don’t want so much pressure on her,” he heaved a sigh. “With great power comes great responsibility—there will be new matters for her to deal with when she becomes a ninth step king.”
“Worst comes to worst, summon someone from the faction you created in the fourth realm. No matter who comes, they’ll sweep the Hongmeng! And don’t talk to me about rules or restrictions. There are people like that in the third realm as well, we’re just trying to protect ourselves,” Miao spoke at a rapid clip.
Lu Yun nodded, relaxing somewhat only when he thought about those in the fourth realm.
……
Qing Yu slept for a full day and night before stretching fiercely in Lu Yun’s embrace like a lazy kitten.
“Eh? What are you guys doing here?” She rubbed her eyes and rested her cheek on her beloved’s chest.
“You were going to marry that Kaleidoscopic King if we didn’t come!” he harrumphed. “Here, open up and eat this.”
He shoved the Pills of Certain into her mouth before she could respond.
“Mmph! What did you just give me?!” Qing Yu jerked to full wakefulness.
Pills of Creation that were also Eight Treasures Return Pills could supplement the core essence, enhance strength and cultivation level, and facilitate cultivators to shrug off their fetters and leap a level forward.
Regular Eight Treasures Return Pills were useful only for inferior and common realm cultivators. They were ineffective for superior realm and kings. Once a superior realm cultivator reached the peak of their level, they attracted the Hongmeng Tower and coalesced dao rules to become a titled king, making kings essentially superior realm cultivators.
Ordinary Eight Treasures Return Pills could enhance cultivation and level, but couldn’t increase battle strength or coalesce dao rules… but Lu Yun’s eighteen pills were no ordinary ones! He had refined creation itself!
Perhaps just one of them wouldn’t help Qing Yu advance, but eighteen of them would absolutely help her recover the broken dao rule and return to being a ninth step king.
“Oof!” Tempestuous currents pushed and shoved their way through her body. At the same time, they were uncommonly gentle and didn’t cause any damage with their careening. Instead, they gently nourished her dao rules.
The shattered ninth rule began to repair and reassemble itself through repeated basting from currents filled with spirituality. Eyes wide with surprise, Qing Yu stared at Lu Yun—only inches from her face. He smiled proudly back at her.
Just as she was unwilling to tell him of all the burdens she labored under, he would never display his dejected, lost state to her. He was her most solid support, and she was his greatest bulwark.
Only when everything concluded in either success or failure would the two fully let it all out.
“Is this… a heavenly tribulation?” Lu Yun blinked at a sudden drop in environmental pressure. “Do kings have to undergo a tribulation when they ascend?”
Qing Yu shook her head blankly. “I don’t know… I’ve never seen a king ascend.”
Lu Yun rubbed his face and brought out a dozen karmic fruits, crushing them to release the powerful, yet gentle power of virtue. He activated Thunder Palmstrike with a beckon, summoning the thunder in the air that’d yet to solidify into a tribulation and sent it into Qing Yu’s body as heavenly favor.
“Don’t… don’t resolve thunder tribulations like this in the future!” Qing Yu protested gravely. “It’s enough to dispel the tribulation itself, but when you change it to heavenly favor… all of the karmic repercussions will lie with you.”
“Don’t worry, these repercussions are perfect fertilizer for the Karmic Tree. Devouring them will help it bud more fruit.” Lu Yun grinned easily.
This kind of karmic repercussion and strength of retribution was ideal nutrients for the Karmic Tree. When Qing Yu’s retribution shifted to Lu Yun’s body, the tree instantly consumed it from him.
Qing Yu breathed out more easily, then quietly set foot into ninth step kinghood while resting in Lu Yun’s arms. A profound presence bloomed from her the moment she succeeded. Since Lu Yun and the little fox were close by, both of them benefited from perceiving a bit of the mysteries surrounding kinghood.
The Hongmeng Tower did not appear—it only did so when beings first ascended to kinghood through cultivation strength.
“Not only has my battle strength returned to ninth step, but I’m also stronger than before!” Qing Yu assessed herself with widened eyes. With her current condition, she was on even footing with the old fogeys of Hopeless Major! If adding Quiet to the mix, then none of those old farts were a match for her!
“…you just gave me the Pills of Creation!” She suddenly realized what she’d eaten.
Word of Lu Yun refining the Pills of Creation for his competition with the Alchemist King had spread throughout the realm. The Immortal King was now hailed as the greatest pill master of the Hongmeng.
Qing Yu had naturally heard of the occasion as well, but she’d been so preoccupied by the annoying fossils of Hopeless Major that she hadn’t had time to go visit him. Here he was instead, and he’d shoved all of those pills into her mouth!
Bliss blossomed from the bottom of her heart.
“What about you and Miao, since you’ve given me all of the pills?” Qing Yu snuck a quick glance at the little fox, highly concerned that she’d be unhappy.
Miao burst out laughing. “I’m by his side everyday! What do I need Pills of Creation for?”
“Hmph!” Qing Yu sniffed and shoved her head into Lu Yun’s arms again. “I’m occupying your place now.”
The little fox blinked, tongue-tied, while Lu Yun smiled ruefully. He’d dragged the little fox to Hopeless Major as soon as he’d refined the pills because he was worried that certain people might covet them. The Purple Stellar Mountain could intimidate the Supplemental Dao Alliance, but it wouldn’t scare off rogue kings.
“Wait, those old guys gave me three days!” Qing Yu sat up from Lu Yun’s embrace.
“It’s only been a day.” He stroked her hair. “Don’t worry, just kill them if they dare come. They’ll listen to you then.”
If she used Quiet to kill the ninth step kings, they’d become his Infernum and have to take Qing Yu’s orders.
“That may be difficult. Ninth step kings can split their dao rules out from themselves and hide in the void. The wily hare has three holes to its burrow, and it’s tough to fully stamp them out.” Qing Yu shook her head. “I used Jinse’s information to counter-ambush the Broadsword King last time, but he still got away from me.”
Ninth step kings reigned at the apex of their craft and possessed many stunning abilities. They could split their souls into thousands of tendrils and hide them in different locations, each of them able to cultivate as a separate entity.
Their power wasn’t something that could be imagined by eight or seventh step kings. Now that Qing Yu was one of them, she naturally knew the full capabilities of ninth step kinghood.
“But what I mean to Hopeless Major is entirely different after becoming a ninth step king. I now hold great authority, and those old farts will have to think twice if they want to rebel against me again!” Extreme confidence appeared on her face. “But… you still can’t expose our relationship. If people knew, then not only would the unsavory sorts of Hopeless Major come for you, but so would the Immortal Region of the Hongmeng!”
“Immortal… Region?” Lu Yun blinked.
“Yes, that’s what the ninth step kings call themselves. The Supplemental Dao Alliance is also part of that faction. They’re the ones in the Hongmeng who want to seize the world of immortals, and they’re behind the destruction of the mythological realm!
“They’re the culprits behind the curses on the immortal dao, the dragon race, and the Dragonquake Scripture. You can’t deploy the Dragonquake Scripture in front of their kings no matter what. It’s a taboo in the realm because the Immortal Region said so!” Qing Yu quickly babbled out now that she’d collected herself.
“Empyrean King, it’s been a day! How go your deliberations?” A loud shout rang in Qing Yu’s room before Lu Yun could ask further.
This was her bedroom, so they could only remain outside the door like before. They were limited to releasing their power and surrounding the premises with enormous air currents, levying pressure on Qing Yu in this manner.
She was their liege, a fact that mattered not to them at all.
“It’s only been a day, what are you in a rush for?” she frowned.
