The Treasurehunter Rat often visited Mount Cloudcover because it sensed Lu Yun’s presence beneath the big grave. Lu Yun’s future self was also Lu Yun, but he was now a dao fruit that rested silently inside the grave.
A complicated mix of emotions rose in Lu Yun’s heart. When he’d reached the dao immortal realm, he’d walked the path of using himself as a dao fruit. After he found the dao fruit of his past self, he’d not only absorbed his past cultivation level and experiences, but his strength had taken a massive leap forward as well.
If he could recover his future self, he’d gain more than that… he’d be able to see the various permutations of the future!
His future self was far more important than his past self. And just like his past self, he couldn’t form any karmic ties to the future. He would silently cultivate and observe from the shadows just like his past self—of that Lu Yun was certain of.
The future Lu Yun was also Lu Yun, so he was very cognizant of what he should be doing then.
“Come on, let’s go take a look!” Lu Yun set his jaw. He also wanted to know what his future self was doing here. When the little fox opened the passage to the future, he’d distinctly felt that it was an inordinately long road. That path wouldn’t have led to this day less than a hundred years later!
There was only one possibility—Lu Yun’s future self had come back on his own.
He had to understand what had happened in the future, why his future self hadn’t sought out the future Lu Yun and instead, returned to present time.
Based on Lu Yun and Miao’s original plans, his future self would convene with the future Lu Yun to be his dao fruit.
……
The bronze doors were incredibly large, like the gates to a world. They were just a shadow in the air—their true forms were hidden in layers of space. However, there was a tiny door next to the massive ones—less than fifteen centimeters across. It was a tiny thieves’ tunnel. Plainly, it was the Treasurehunter Rat’s handiwork.
It had tremendous innate potential and could solve many layouts and formations. It was like equipping a tiger with wings after it learned feng shui and the art of tomb raiding.
Lu Yun had never fathomed that the rat would be able to dig a tunnel here.
“The tunnel is just a bit short of perfection. Though it accesses the inside of the grave, there are countless planes of space inside. You’ll only end up on its outskirts.” Lu Yun glanced at the rat that’d jumped onto his shoulder and caressed its head.
“It looks like there’s only one door to the grave, but there are many layers to it—a full three thousand, six hundred and fifty copies to be exact. Each one leads to a different grave, but there’s only one real one.
“Who set this grave up? …me?” Lu Yun stroked his chin. “I do have the ability to set up something like this, but there are many things I can’t see through here. If that wasn’t the case, the person behind Ghost Dragon and Ghost Phoenix wouldn’t have set up a layout of dragon and phoenix to break it.”
He subconsciously wanted to operate the Dragonquake Scripture, but a hint of warning emanated from the depths of his heart when the thought occurred to him. He immediately stopped calling upon the method.
“Don’t go inside!” Qing Yu suddenly blocked Lu Yun’s way, her face ashen. “Don’t come here before you make titled kinghood, or this will be a layout of death for you!
“I, I derived how to get inside and successfully made it to your future self,” she murmured. “But it’s all fake. Your future self told me this is fake and that you shouldn’t come here before you’re a titled king!”
“You can see my future self?” Lu Yun gasped.
“I can’t.” Qing Yu shook her head. “But you can see me.”
Dismayed, he understood what Qing Yu meant.
“Is the future really a dead end?” Lu Yun murmured. “Did he come back because neither you nor I exist there?” He glanced at the little fox. “Can you sense your soul force replica?”
“My soul force replica didn’t follow you to the future. It dissipated on the way there,” came the disappointing reply.
Lu Yun nodded. “Let’s go. I keep feeling like there’s something behind the door that’s luring me in. We need to leave, and fast, before I can’t control myself.”
Cold sweat suddenly beaded his forehead and he hastily opened the Gates of the Abyss, jumping through with Qing Yu, Miao, and the rat.
A pale, chubby boy roughly eight years old walked out of the bronze doors after Lu Yun left.
“Did he get away? What a pity.” He held a brush in his hand and his expression looked like he was both crying and laughing. He turned around and faced the huge grave in front of him. “What a pity that if I don’t have Lu Yun, I can only use the layout of dragon and phoenix to undo this grave’s layout.
“Damn that Meng! That stupid busybody Meng! If it wasn’t for you cooking up Mount Cloudcover, this little master would’ve gotten the thing a long time ago!” He raised the brush in his hand and drew a few light strokes in the air, recreating the vanished scroll painting.
He was the artist behind the painting!
“Ghost Dragon, go to Azure Dragon City and claim one of the Dragonling Assembly spots. You have to participate no matter what and get that old dragon’s blood!” he roared at the painting.
“Yes, master.” A respectful Ghost Dragon slowly materialized on bended knee.
“Go now.” The little boy schooled his expression and gently waved his hand.
Hummm.
A hazy door appeared in the void and an enormous bridge darted out of it, smashing down on the little boy’s head.
“…Lu Yun!!” shrieked the little boy and he waved the brush through the air in a gentle stroke, creating a massive spatial turbulence.
The Bridge of Forgetfulness fell right into it and flared with fiery black sparks that pierced through the spatial turbulence. It continued descending onto the little boy, unabated.
“A creature of the fourth realm!” The little boy’s eyes turned blood red and his features turned into the laughing and crying ones of an akasha ghost.
“Waughhhhh!!” He howled at the sky and swished the brush at the bridge.
The bridge jolted and evaded the brush, ripping straight through the scroll painting and tearing it to shreds. A faint purple figure appeared and yanked the still kneeling Ghost Dragon and Fire Parasol Tree that’d been ejected from the painting, then vanished without a trace.
The little boy remained screaming on the spot, releasing terrifying malice from his body that contorted his figure.
