“So it’s the venerated dragon lord,” Lu Yun chortled. “Since the dragon lord has returned to his domain, what are you doing here instead of overseeing the mountain’s affairs?”
“Enough with the fool’s act, Lu Yun. You can’t possibly still be in the dark,” sneered the dragon lord. “You think I don’t know that you made a trip back to the ninth floor? That old thing has certainly revealed my identity to you.”
The Azure Dragon city lord and others’ hearts skipped a beat. Was this dragon lord a fake, too?
The Profound, Yin Yang, and Soulmask Kings had already stepped forward to stand protectively in front of Lu Yun and Qing Yu. A true king was too dangerous—the three of them were only peak ninth step kings and had yet to see the threshold of true kinghood. The path ahead of them was a dead end; they stood no chance against a true king.
“Eminent one, you should go. We’ll hold him off.” The Profound King gravely regarded the dragon lord.
“There’s no need for that.” Lu Yun waved his hand. “Did you say you also want the Hongmeng Pearl?”
“The Hongmeng Pearl is left over from this realm came to be. It is a miniature Hongmeng, and I will let you go after you hand it to me,” frostily replied the dragon lord—demon of the immortal dao.
The Azure Dragon city lord frowned slightly. The Hongmeng Pearl was his greatest treasure, but its value came from it being an ultimate treasure of the realm. In his eyes, there was nothing else particularly of note about it.
“Hahahaha!!” Lu Yun threw his head back with laughter. “You will let us go? On what basis? Are you that strong?”
“Oh?” blinked the demon.
“Little fox… are you in full control of your power?” Lu Yun suddenly looked back at Miao.
“I’ve only got a little bit left to handle,” she replied after momentary thought. “But I’ll have no trouble giving him a beating.”
“What??” The kings and cultivators around them gaped with shock. There was no doubt that the Intrance King was strong since she could beguile even the head disciple of the Dao King, but she also had no problem defeating a mighty true king?
Whoosh!
An overwhelming presence barreled out of the little fox. The Hongmeng trembled when her aura flooded the void and the energy of the land was forced away, forming a perfect vacuum half a million kilometers across.
Dreamlike radiance shimmered over her body as a cool smile played upon her lips. “A true king? What a coincidence, I’m a true king too!”
Eyes wide with shock, the demon of immortal dao suddenly attempted to grab the city lord of Coiling Dragon City. “Even if you are a true king, he’s just a measly eighth step king. You can’t protect him!”
He moved so swiftly that he seemed to break through the limits of space; his hand arrived in front of the city lord almost precisely when he shifted into motion.
“Who says I’m an eighth step king!!”
Whoosh!
Azure light flared from the city lord, flinging the demon’s hand back before the latter could react.
“Since you like reaching out for others so much, you can just leave your arm behind.”
Schiiick.
Qing Yu summoned a brilliant arc of sword splendor from Quiet that bit into the demon’s arm. The demon was completely caught off guard by the Coiling Dragon city lord being a ninth step king. When had that happened?!
Qing Yu’s fast and ruthless stroke cleanly severed his arm. The little fox also sent her Mirage Sand forward as a rainbow chain, wrapping it around the demon.
“Ahhhh!!” Still reeling with surprise, the demon howled with anguish before exploding into pieces. He’d forfeited his body!
“…is he dead?” a shocked Azure Dragon city lord asked dumbly.
“Even a ninth step king can come back to life after death, to say nothing of a true king.” Lu Yun shook his head slightly. “But his arm will never be his again.”
There was an azure dragon claw in his hand—the arm of the demon of immortal dao. Since the demon was wearing the dragon lord’s skin, he was currently a dragon too. Most importantly was that since he’d left the world of immortals and come in person to the Hongmeng, he’d just attacked them with his true form.
“We need to get back to Azure Dragon City! The Hongmeng Pearl is there, if that true king…” the city lord gasped with horror.
“Don’t worry, he’s been gravely injured and it won’t be that easy for him to reach peak condition again.” Lu Yun shook his head. “When he’s recovered, Azure Dragon Region will likely have been unified under one banner.”
“Unified under one banner?” The two city lords looked at each other. Though the world understood them to be caught in a bitter feud, that was only a front to mislead Dragonhollow Mountain. They were brothers, after all, and their actual goal was to control a city each and slowly conquer Azure Dragon Region, ultimately combining their territories when they both dominated half of the region.
However, a plan was easier said than executed, especially one as complex and difficult as theirs. Azure Dragon Region had always been a fragmented domain due to Dragonhollow’s interference. They weren’t a unified whole, unlike many other regions in the Hongmeng.
Fragmented ones like Azure Dragon and Multitude Region did exist in the realm, but not in large numbers.
……
Though nothing resulted from a true king blocking their way, it was still cause for stress and concern. The Coiling Dragon city lord, Blazing Phoenix king, and a couple other heavyweights from factions under the Azure Dragon and Coiling Dragon banners took their leave, no longer daring to travel with Lu Yun’s group anymore.
Instead of returning to the Immortal Pagoda, Lu Yun accompanied the Azure Dragon city lord back to his city for the Hongmeng Pearl.
It was very valuable to Lu Yun as he’d been searching for a treasure that could contain the hellfire of order, from which the hell of order could be derived. Qing Yu had deduced that this would serve his needs.
His mammoth amount of wealth elicited greed and envy from others, but since his dao partner was the eminent ruler of Hopeless Major, would-be bandits kept a firm hold on their inner desires.
……
Azure Dragon City sat on the banks of the most important body of water in the region—Azure Dragon Lake.
It was the largest lake in the entire Hongmeng and stretched on without end, resembling a sea that ran to the horizon. There were many mysteries within that even the Azure Dragon city lord had yet to fully understand.
“This is quite a lake,” Lu Yun sighed with appreciation as he looked at the wide expanse of water.
“Mmhmm.” The city lord nodded. “There are many strange things in the lake, I’m not certain what all of them are.”
“This is a tomb,” Lu Yun elaborated. “One confined by water virtue. The tomb owner should be a fire virtue expert.”
A tomb showing up right on schedule!
