The Fish King still looked like she’d seen a ghost—she hadn’t thought that a terrifying entity like the Talisman King could take tangible form. He’d done so not 1for the poison formation, but more for the Terra Potentate’s decree.
Lu Yun had thought that true kings would explode in activity throughout the realm after a hundred years, but to think that decree would be destroyed so quickly and so easily! It’d become an utter joke.
The Fish King no longer had the face to remain in the area and she didn’t care about Azure Dragon Region anymore. Lu Yun had been exposed, either way, so she’d failed the mission that her master had given her.
……
“I wonder where the Alchemist King obtained such potent poison.” Lu Yun slowly uncurled his fingers to reveal a vivid green thunder bead on his palm. The poison within this bead was potent enough to destroy the entire region. To Hongmeng denizens, this poison was second to only the poison of time.
The ten Yama kings curtsied in unison at Lu Yun and prepared to return to the world of immortals.
“Stay, all of you.” He waved a hand. “Let the world of immortals handle their own affairs. Stay and propagate immortal dao for me.”
“Understood!” Their eyes lit up; it didn’t matter where they were as long as they were with Lu Yun. Their supplemental dao was extraordinarily strong and they were all in the true realm. They would be a great help to Lu Yun if they stayed in the Hongmeng.
“Ah, yes, make a thorough investigation of Mount Cloudcover and be careful of the boy with the brush,” Lu Yun ordered with a gentle reminder.
The boy with the brush was too eerie and Lu Yun couldn’t be certain that he wasn’t the source of the akasha ghosts. His appearance in the Hongmeng would result in enormous trouble sooner or later.
It was very possible that Lu Yun’s future self was buried under the mountain, but there was also something petrifying next to it that prevented him from retrieving it. As long as he remained alive and the Tome of Life and Death intact, the ten Yama Kings could be infinitely resurrected from the treasure. Perhaps they’d be able to reclaim his future self for him!
The utterly delighted Yama kings left in high spirits and Lu Yun brought out Qing Ting and Azureclad from the protection of the Karmic Tree. They differed from Jin Naluo as the tree had wrapped them in a cocoon of safety. When he’d put away the Karmic Tree, he’d put them away as well. In contrast, Jin Naluo and Feng Qi had instantly reappeared by his side.
Of course, they hadn’t been privy to the conversation between Lu Yun and his Yama kings.
……
The crisis of Azure Dragon City was thus resolved. Mournful wails and anguished keening rose from its every corner. The city had never experienced this kind of setback from the day of its founding. The entire city had been devastated and half of the citizenry injured or dead.
The Dragonfeather King and other high level kings focused on the task of rebuilding and ignored Lu Yun.
……
“What? You want to go to Azure Dragon Lake?” Qing Di leapt into the air with disbelief.
“Not me, all of us,” Lu Yun corrected genially.
“No!” Qing Di furiously shook his head. “We’ll die there!”
“What are you afraid of? I’ll be there,” Lu Yun grumbled.
“I’m afraid precisely because you’ll be there!” Qing Di rolled his eyes back at Lu Yun. “You were almost the death of me at Dragonhollow Mountain, and now we’re going to do the same elsewhere? Nope, nope, not doing it!”
“Alright, fine, I won’t force you.” Lu Yun nodded. “But I need to borrow a drop of blood from you.”
“A drop of blood?” Qing Di cocked his head. “That’s not a problem, but ordinary blood won’t be of any use, right? I’ll give you a drop of heart’s blood.”
He pointed at his heart and summoned a drop of blood that shimmered with an azure hue.
“Weird, why aren’t the two of you trying to convince me otherwise after I said I’m not going with you?” he curiously asked the silent Qing Ting and Azureclad.
“What for? What if you change your mind?” Azureclad curled his lip and said no more.
Qing Ting smiled and didn’t say anything.
Qing Di blinked, not sure of how to interpret that.
“Alright, alright, we’re heading to the Azure Dragon Lake. Do whatever you want, kid,” Feng Qi chuckled and urged the others toward the lake.
Jin Naluo wasn’t with them. He was already a high level king and Lu Yun was concerned that his level of strength might elicit a response from certain entities in the lake. Thus, he had the man stay behind. Feng Qi was a different case. He was only true first level—theoretically the same as a first step king. He wouldn’t attract any attention.
As Qing Di watched them leave, he suddenly felt that he was missing out on something.
“Are you really not going to go to Azure Dragon Lake with them?” Crippled Dragon asked meaningfully when he walked up to the young man.
“No.” Qing Di wiped off the quizzical expression on his face. “Although the entire Hongmeng knows that I’m a disciple of the Immortal King, I don’t want to bear too many of his marks. I am myself, Qing Di of Azure Dragon City. I will reach true kinghood through my own efforts.”
He knew that his strength would increase explosively once more if he joined them on this trip to the lake. But at the same time, he would thoroughly become one of the Immortal King’s.
That wasn’t a good thing for a fiercely proud genius that was heads and shoulders above his peers.
“Mmhmm.” Crippled Dragon nodded. “Don’t become a titled king.”
“I know… the true realm is the proper path. Titled kinghood is the wrong one.” Qing Di nodded. “Will the proper path ever return to the realm?”
“When the eleventh Hongmeng Tower key appears… If someone can collect all eleven and win the tower’s allegiance, that will be when the proper path reappears,” answered Crippled Dragon. “But the kings on the wrong path aren’t beyond saving. They can still turn back if they haven’t reached ninth step kinghood.
Startled, Qing Di cast a sharp glance at Crippled Dragon. Why was the king saying all of this? This wasn’t like him.
Crippled Dragon just smiled as two dots of azure light flashed through his eyes.
……
“Does Azure Dragon Lake have something to do with the dead dragon in Azure Dragon Region?” Feng Qi took a careful bite out of a karmic fruit and beamed with contentment. It’d been a most delightful surprise to discover that ten karmic fruits instantly filled him up, as opposed to three thousand king grade treasures.
This was unprecedented!
Lu Yun wasn’t stingy when it came to karmic fruit. His reputation in the realm had reached unfathomable heights and goodwill constantly streamed to him from all directions. The tree regularly bore a hundred and eight thousand karmic fruit. Plus, Feng Qi ate so much not because gluttony was his vice, but because he was actually hungry.
“No, I don’t think that has anything to do with it.” Lu Yun opened the Spectral Eye by the banks of the lake and carefully observed everything within the waters.
It appeared peaceful on the surface, but the power of fire virtue and water virtue constantly attacked and tangled with each other. Since neither could gain the upper hand, they formed a delicate balance in the lake and gave the unbounded lake the appearance of tranquility.
However, fire and water interwove within its depths. Two diametrically opposed forces continuously crashed against each other, filling the vast lake with unimaginable destructive power. Even high level kings ran the risk of perishing if they ventured into the lake.
“This lake is a tomb and it’s not burying the black dragon’s corpse.” Lu Yun frowned at what he read. He hadn’t believed a single word from the previous dragon lord, azure dragon ancestral god, or black dragon king from Dragonhollow Mountain. None of those dragons had spoken a word of truth to him.
It was up to him to delve to the heart of things, even the black dragon’s origins.
But of one thing he could be certain—the black dragon king’s corpse was in Azure Dragon Region. What the Fish King had awoken was indeed his corpse.
“What I want to know now is who the fire virtue expert in the lake is.” Lu Yun didn’t jump straight in—that would be courting death. He needed to first set up a formation around its shore to ensure that they traveled safely through the waters.
“Qing Di’s really not coming huh, that brat,” grumbled Azureclad.
“Qing Di’s different from us,” Qing Ting sighed. “With our level of potential, we have our current strength only because of the Immortal King. His potential is far greater than ours and he’s a true genius of the Hongmeng. He doesn’t want the mark of anyone else on him.”
She understood his concerns.
Azureclad blinked, then nodded. His sister was very right. Though he himself was a banner for the younger generation of the realm, that was due to the purposeful machinations of others. He’d realized the gap between him and true geniuses of the realm when the Dragonling Assembly began.
“A dragon sleeps in mountains coiled, those deathly cliffs with mysteries roiled.
“Danger shies if mountains hide, with mountain and river dwell mysteries nigh,” Lu Yun muttered the Dragonsearch Invocation as a luopan manifested over his head.
Bam!
The compass of pure energy shattered and the power of fire and water exploded from the lake. Lu Yun grunted, taking three steps back.
“Not fire and water!” His eyes opened wide. He didn’t dare deploy the Dragonsearch Invocation with gusto as he didn’t want anyone to pick up a hint of the Dragonquake Scripture, but he’d peeked into the great tomb’s secrets for a moment just now.
Opposition!
The order of opposition!
This tomb was created by the order of opposition, one that set fire and water against each other to create a domineering destructive power.
Of the six highest orders, the order of opposition sought to create the conditions for nirvana. Only when all things opposed each other would conflict develop, thereby bringing about the final end!
Opposition reigned in the lake.
“Who set up this tomb? Even the monarch of the Opposition Palace in the chaos wouldn’t be able to do so. Is there an expert in the realm who specializes in this order?” Lu Yun murmured. “But… things have just gotten so much easier. My Thousand Obliteration Formation of the Six Royals can form a reincarnation of the highest order and dismantle your setup!”
A grin curved his lips.
Throwback to the chaos and the six orders! Inception, Ethos, Burgeon, Creation, Opposition, and Nirvana.
