Though Li Zhen’s blade wasn’t king grade, it was a fine weapon that was hard to come by. He’d wielded it for a hundred thousand years and killed countless powerful foes—half of that credit went to the blade. However, it’d been sliced into two when he simply probed the Champion Duke!
This was outright bullying!
Their fight drew a crowd and directed many ardent gazes at Lu Yun’s Stellar Sword. Even some of the eighteen kings over Cloudexit City wanted to make a move on the weapon, much less the half step kings.
It wouldn’t be difficult to kill enemies higher level than oneself if equipped with this sword, especially given present circumstances. The sword would raise one’s chances of self preservation or victory over a ghost king when the ghostly army mobilized.
“No one makes a move!” shouted the Earthmartial King when he noted the expressions of his peers. “The Trueriver King isn’t a passive soul—he’s just broken through to peak sixth step king and has yet to establish his new reputation. If you dare seize his disciple’s treasure, he’ll make mincemeat out of all of you!”
The kings next to him shuddered; peak sixth step kings were invincible in their eyes. Offending a sixth step king meant that they wouldn’t even have the chance to flee for their lives.
“But, he won’t have anything to say if his disciple loses it to a half step king or superior realm cultivator in a fit of arrogance,” smiled Earthmartial.
……
“It looks like your strength isn’t much to write home about,” Lu Yun remarked nonchalantly as he retracted his sword and looked at Li Zhen grasping an empty hilt.
Li Zhen almost vomited blood.
“You’re just relying on the strength of the Stellar Stone Magneticus.” His expression sank ominously.
“The Stellar Sword is my treasure and thus part of my strength. Your blade being less than my sword makes your strength less than mine.” Lu Yun could easily sense malice lurking in his surroundings, but he didn’t care about that. With the deterrence of the Trueriver King’s name, none of these lower level kings would dare do anything to him.
“Do you bow to the superiority of the Champion Duke?” Lu Yun gave his sword a twirl and chuckled merrily at his opponent.
“Hmph!” Li Zhen picked up his broken blade and stomped off in a huff. He’d never seen a person so shameless that they’d be pleased with themselves over the sharpness of their weapon. This was basically the rise of another Extraordinary Duke! No, wait, one even more base than that laughingstock.
“The Stellar Sword can easily break my blade, but it won’t find true king grade treasures to be that easy. Now that the rules over supplemental dao have been relaxed, if I can obtain a king grade treasure…” he plotted to himself.
“The Immortal Pagoda sells king grade treasures,” Lu Yun suddenly called out. “I hear that the Immortal King plans on opening a branch of the Immortal Pagoda in Cloudexit City and will be selling all sorts of king grade treasures and formations!”
Half of the city quieted down at the unexpected news. Since they were facing a vast army of vicious ghosts, many trading companies had pulled out and were avoiding the area like the plague.
The Immortal Pagoda wanted to establish a branch here? They didn’t even know if the city would still be standing after the first battle.
“Fine!” Li Zhen suddenly turned around. “If I get a king grade treasure, we’ll go again!”
“King grade treasure? How much of its power do you think you’ll be able to use?” Lu Yun snorted with laughter. “It’s more important to obtain a treasure that’s a good match for you than a high level one. Take my Stellar Sword as an example—it was created for me, which is why I’m stronger than you.”
Li Zhen vomited blood and refused to speak more to this upstart.
Humm!
Sword ringing softly, Lu Yun called out, “I am the Champion Duke and a titled half step king. Is there anyone else who has an opinion about who I am?”
Cerulean radiance circled around him, scintillating in its brilliance. This was Stellar Light Magneticus in sword light form and one of the sharpest existences in the Hongmeng.
“I have an objection,” sounded a faint voice. “Li Zhen is a piece of trash and lost to the Purpleclad Duke within three moves. It doesn’t mean anything that you were able to break his sword.”
A figure in azure robes padded out of the void. It was a young man roughly seventeen years old dressed in azure robes. Azure hair framed his handsome features and he wielded an azure halberd that resembled a dragon in concealed form.
Lu Yun’s brows knit together.
“Azureclad Duke of Coiling Dragon City in Azure Dragon Region,” the young man remarked coolly.
Lu Yun’s pupils contracted violently—he’d heard of this duke! This was someone who truly rivaled the Purpleclad and Bloodclad Dukes, as well as the venerated enforcer. He was stronger than the lizard-dragon and a prominent existence in the Hongmeng beneath titled kings.
To think that he was in Cloudexit City, and that a few cocky words from Lu Yun had drawn his attention!
Instead of being daunted, however, Lu Yun champed at the bit. He’d yet to experience true battle since arriving in the third realm and also needed to force himself to greater heights if he wanted to cultivate the fire of order. He had to reach the peak of his potential.
The current version of him was no match for the Azureclad Duke, whether in terms of experience or strength. Lu Yun’s battle experience came from the mythological realm; his past self had been a superior realm cultivator and didn’t reach titled kinghood. He was far below Hongmeng geniuses since he hadn’t even been a half step king!
As vast as the meaning behind his Dragonrise was—to the point of helping Dusksnow Morningstar defeat the Bloodclad Duke when he deployed it—that didn’t mean Lu Yun was on par with Morningstar. In fact, he greatly fell short in terms of battle experience.
All he could do was rely on himself and improve at a slow but constant pace. The best way to do so was to fight the unparalleled geniuses of the Hongmeng and the endless vicious ghosts outside Cloudexit city!
Thus, Lu Yun trembled with excitement when he saw the newcomer.
“Azureclad Duke, your opponent is me,” rang another chilly voice. A burst of bloody light enveloped the area as the Bloodclad Duke, dressed in coarse white robes, walked out of the air.
“You’ve already lost, Bloodclad Duke.” Azureclad shook his head at the latest person to join them.
“I lost to an exceptional king, not to that Dusksnow Morningstar.” Bloodclad refuted the claim, no sign of dejection to be found in his eyes. He’d lost to Dragonrise, a technique created by neither the venerated enforcer or Dusksnow Morningstar. Another terrifying heavyweight had created that move.
He’d met the venerated enforcer before and while they hadn’t sparred with each other, they’d exchanged many insights into cultivation.
“Hmph, glib-tongued.” Disdain colored Azureclad’s tones. “A loss is a loss no matter who you lose to.”
Purple light blossomed in the sky as soon as he finished speaking—a man in purple robes strode out of the void.
The Purpleclad Duke!
So the Purpleclad Duke of Starspace Region wasn’t dead and was in Cloudexit City instead! Azureclad immediately fell silent at seeing the newest addition and warily considered his peer.
The current Purpleclad Duke was steadier than when Lu Yun first met him and his presence much stronger. It would seem that the destruction of Starspace Region had dealt such a blow to him that his mentality had undergone a complete metamorphosis.
“Let’s not indulge in these meaningless arguments, the three of us reached the realm of titled kinghood a long time ago. We hold off our ascension simply because we wish to accumulate more experience and test the limits, so that we might break through to a higher level.” While his words were calm and measured, they crashed into the crowd around them with shock and awe.
It was generally believed that these dukes weren’t titled kings because they weren’t at those lofty heights yet; Purpleclad’s words revealed the truth of the matter and the depths of these stunning geniuses’ ambitions!
They wanted to test the limits when they broke through and ascend as high level kings!
Hua Fengwen had been a sixth step king upon his ascension a hundred thousand years ago, did they want to break his record?
The Bloodclad Duke of Multitude Region, Purpleclad Duke of Starspace Region, Azureclad Duke of Azure Dragon Region, Crimsonclad Duke of Blazing Phoenix Region, and the venerated enforcer of Retribution Region were all characters with such ambitions.
Compared to them, Dusksnow Morningstar was nothing to speak of. His goal was just to be a titled duke.
There were a few other titled dukes in the Hongmeng, but their reputations were weaker than the five. Of course, their relative strength wasn’t determined through fighting each other since they rarely crossed paths, but were an educated deduction based on past accomplishments.
“That’s fair enough,” chuckled Azureclad. “But my current goal is to challenge this Champion Duke and take his Stellar Sword. Do any of you object to that?”
He candidly stated his plan as even the Trueriver King couldn’t bring him to task if he won the weapon in a fair fight.
“Vicious ghosts surround the city and we should keep the bigger picture in mind.” Purpleclad considered Lu Yun and then shook his head. “If you kill him now for his sword, that might impact morale.”
Azureclad frowned faintly.
