Though the Hongmeng Tower was the overseer of the Hongmeng, it was just a treasure. Whoever wielded it was the master of the realm, but it currently lacked an owner!
Its master had disappeared long ago, whereas manifestations of order—such as the Fire King—were a result of the tower. They appeared when they absorbed sufficient collective wisdom to take form.
……
“The mistress is about to return and the Hongmeng will have its master soon. The two of you should retreat now, or I will truly show you no mercy.” The Fire King’s arctic tones turned chiller, matched by her expression.
“What’s the point of wasting your breath on them?” came a clear voice as the Talisman King—the one who’d appeared at Azure Dragon City and collected the poison formation—appeared next to the Fire King at some point in time.
He was the same as the Fire King this time around—a projection of order, as opposed to borrowing the Talisman Adept King’s body.
“If the Fire King can’t do anything to you two, how about me?” He glared coolly at the two potentates. “You’ve got some nerve to suppress the realm’s true kings for a hundred years. The eleventh key to the tower will certainly appear during this time period. You’re attempting to deny them the opportunity to become potentates, aren’t you?”
The Terra Potentate’s decree had truly infuriated him. Suppress the realm’s true kings for a hundred years? It would be one thing at any other point in time, but the immortal dao would traverse the Hongmeng in the next one hundred years and so would the eleventh key to the tower appear.
Eleven keys permitted eleven powerhouses to enter the tower and receive its direct blessings to become potentates. The realm’s holistic strength would double if another eleven potentates joined its ranks; the ghosts wouldn’t be able to wreak havoc unbridled.
But these eleven potentates wanted to suppress the true kings for their own selfish desires and strip from them the chance to enter the Hongmeng Tower!
All kings could enter the tower, whether true king or titled king. However, the kings of the realm weren’t strong enough. It was very hard for one to become a potentate in the tower if they weren’t a true king to begin with.
Though five of the keys were on the Purple King, he wouldn’t really enter the tower with five keys for himself when the time came.
“Suppressing the true kings for a hundred years is only to ensure that the immortal dao smoothly traverses the Hongmeng,” frowned the Fire Potentate. “The eleven of us have done what you said—we’ve summoned the true kings of the realm to discuss the matter, but we haven’t reached a consensus yet…”
“Then go back and keep discussing, what are you doing sticking your nose into this matter?” The Talisman King looked at the potentate with unconcealed killing intent.
His blunt response induced a scowl on the Fire Potentate’s face. The two potentates were certain that the Fire King wouldn’t act against them, but the same couldn’t be said about the Talisman King.
The Talisman King wasn’t a product of the realm’s core essence, he was an order from one of many great daos in the land. He could absolutely do as he wished in the Hongmeng. Even a divine nation of talisman dao wasn’t out of the question if he wanted it.
He just wasn’t willing to establish something like that, but he was perfectly willing and able to fight the two potentates.
While the Talisman King wasn’t that much stronger than the two, he was undying. As long as the Hongmeng and her orders remained, he would be infinitely reborn. He could also self detonate and trade his current life for theirs.
“Piss off!” the Talisman King shouted at the potentates.
Though extremely irritated, they could do nothing but take a deep look at the Talisman King and vanish as two streaks of light.
“They want to kill you now,” the Fire King said meaningfully.
“There’s plenty of people who want to,” nodded the Talisman King. “But they’re all dead.”
“If the Hongmeng Tower appears again and the eleven potentates call upon it together, they can completely destroy our bodies and minds and make sure that we never manifest again,” said the Fire King.
“The mistress is about to return and the Hongmeng will have its master. The next time the tower descends, those eleven will not be the ones giving orders in this realm anymore.” The Talisman King was wholly unconcerned. “Before the mistress left, she employed incredible methods to form us out of the Hongmeng’s orders. Now that she is to return, she’ll be able to resurrect us even if our minds are lost.”
“The mistress is about to return?” The Fire King blinked.
“She is in the world of immortals,” smiled the Talisman King. “When the immortal dao reaches great perfection, so will she. I’ve already met her heir—she has the mistress’ strength and will be the future master of the tower.”
……
The battle was reaching its final moments. With death staring at him dead in the eye, the Fire Virtue Potentate didn’t have time to be afraid. He released his strongest power and shaped endless fire virtue into fire virtue ghosts, sending them against the six formations around him.
The big-headed doll and azure dragon were shocked. They didn’t dare use their own strength since it was useless against the current potentate. He might even devour it instead and doom them forever.
The Fire Virtue Potentate’s dreadful might was far worse than could’ve been imagined. If they weren’t wielding a formation armed with the power of the Hadal Hell, the azure dragon would’ve died in an instant and the big-headed doll turned into food.
“Motherfucker, the potentate’s dead and his strength is now ghostly strength. Even if I summon the akasha ghosts, I’ll at most just match him!
“This little grandpa is no rival for him in this land of fire virtue.” The doll wrapped his formation around himself and changed tack to passively defying the fire virtue ghosts. “The heck is that kid doing? Why isn’t he making a move yet??”
The doll looked in Lu Yun’s direction.
Feng Qi and the Fish King had claimed all of the treasures in the void and shoved them into storage, but they didn’t leave with their gains. They flanked Lu Yun and were protecting him.
Silver radiance emitted from the Hongmeng Pearl as three hundred and sixty-four lines intersected on its surface.
Three hundred and sixty-four!
The strength of the Six Royals was absorbing the Fire Virtue Potentate’s strength as the two fought and enabling Lu Yun’s hellfire of order to develop to three hundred and sixty-four strands of flame!
Once the final one took shape, the hellfire of order would truly ignite and the Hongmeng Pearl turn into the hell of order!
Though the last tendril seemed close at hand, it was separated by an insurmountable chasm. Only when Lu Yun refined the potentate would he perfect his hellfire.
But with the potentate raging through the area and sending his terrifying power churning and barreling every which way, Lu Yun didn’t dare get close to him. All he could do was set up a layout according to the Hadal Hell and replicate the hell here!
