Lu Yun was in great spirits, exceedingly high spirits. The Longshan library was a source of incredible surprises. Who would’ve thought that Longshan Yan would lay bare his family’s foundations and most precious cultivation methods, combat arts, and secret techniques, all in the pursuit of currying favor with Lu Yun?
Though Lu Yun possessed the strength of a Nihil World Sovereign, he didn’t have any combat arts or methods in his repertoire that matched his cultivation level. All he could do was fight with the most primitive methods.
The combat arts he wielded and the sword dao he’d created could easily subdue weaker fourth realm beings, but if he met anyone on his level, there would be no other outcome for him other than a brutal beating.
He brimmed with strength, but he didn’t have the proper ways to release it.
Now with Longshan Yan offering up his family’s entire wealth of knowledge, including their cultivation methods, Lu Yun could peer into the secrets of the fourth realm’s core essence. He had a plethora of the most basic to sophisticated techniques, combat arts, and cultivation methods to choose from.
The Tome of Life and Death had bestowed this cultivation realm onto him rather than him training to these heights. He lacked the process, understanding, and exploring of the great dao of the fourth realm.
The books and tomes that Longshan Yan sent over perfectly filled in the gaps, and Lu Yun could further grasp the intricacies of the fourth realm’s great dao through the Longshan cultivation methods.
“This Longshan Yan is not bad, what he’s delivered is precisely what I need. I’ll owe him a great favor if I don’t do my best to help them weather this trial.” Lu Yun held up a book of basic Longshan cultivation methods with both hands and carefully perused it.
In the fourth realm, books were the medium of choice to record civilization with. Contrary to the jade slips and soul slips of the Hongmeng, there was actual text and diagrams written in these books.
“No wonder they call the third realm a prison and the fourth realm a real world,” Lu Yun sighed with emotion as he paged through the book in his hand.
The text spoke of most primitive civilization—every stroke and sweep of each character depicted the truth, origin, creation, eternity, and life of this void. This was something that jade slips couldn’t accomplish.
“But after the Dao Academy’s efforts, the world of immortals very rarely uses jade slips these days too. Most use text and books,” Lu Yun murmured. “The Hongmeng… has fallen behind somewhat.”
He gently placed the book down and thought back on what he’d just read. He didn’t need the most sophisticated methods for the moment—he wouldn’t be able to use any of them. All he needed was a door cracked open to the secrets of the realm. He’d be able to obtain everything he wanted through it.
Formula dao!
The formula dao that Qing Yu had created could be used in the world of immortals, chaos, and Hongmeng, and was applicable in the fourth realm. Lu Yun could derive his own great dao and combat arts through the Longshan methods.
“That’s strange… Why is there a trace of the Hongmeng in the Longshan cultivation methods and combat arts? No, not the Hongmeng, but a world even lower than the Hongmeng and chaos.” Lu Yun frowned slightly. “Does the Longshan family hail from a world lower than all of those?
“Not a major world in the worlds, chaos, or Hongmeng—those three are on the same level. It should be one of the child worlds.”
He stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Though there are rumors that one will gain a cultivation level of the fourth realm and enter it proper upon piercing through the Hongmeng barrier, there’s never any stories of anyone actually doing so.
“Can this Longshan Yin or his ancestor be from another Hongmeng world? Though the ‘long’ character means dragon, they have no relationship with the dragon race.”
Lu Yun waved a hand and sent out a burst of sword qi from his fingertips.
“Finally. This level of strength just barely matches my cultivation level.” He shook his head at it. “But it’s still not enough. This isn’t my sword dao, it’s a sword dao combat art that I’m releasing through the Tome of Life and Death. If the treasure leaves me one day, so will this sword qi.”
Though he knew that the Tome of Life and Death would never leave him since he’d subjugated it a long time ago—that it even became his nascent spirit in the fourth realm—such was his personality.
He insisted on cultivating the hell of order even though he possessed this level of treasure, wanting to create something that was truly his.
“I can finally officially train in the hell of order now!” A smile quirked his lips.
Only with this hell did he try to set foot on his own path. Although it was a path that Violetgrave had pointed him toward, he was the one who’d comprehended the existence of order. He could materialize the six hells while he cultivated this hell and use them to activate the most terrifying existence within the Tome of Life and Death—reincarnation!
All beings resided within reincarnation. Even the most objective of orders, great dao, laws, worlds, the void… everything came under reincarnation.
To peer into the secrets of reincarnation was Lu Yun’s greatest ambition.
The Hongmeng Pearl appeared within his hand, still holding the Fire Virtue Potentate. The treasure was surrounded by three hundred and sixty-four tendrils of the hellfire of order; the potentate could see and hear everything happening outside.
Nihil World Sovereign!
He finally abandoned all hope. The one who wanted to refine him was a Nihil World Sovereign! There was no possibility of escape or survival.
“I’d thought you were the real Fire Virtue and planned on sparing your true spirit so it could be reborn. But since you’re a strand of forsaken evil that devoured the existence who brought fire to the universe, you can just fade away into nothing,” Lu Yun said calmly to the Fire Virtue Potentate.
Pff!
A mote of silver light appeared on the potentate’s body. The last tendril of fire burst out of his body and consumed his true spirit.
Three hundred and sixty-five tendrils of flame were finally complete and together. They combined into a tongue of silver flame that illuminated the Hongmeng Pearl.
……
“Dead. The Fire Virtue Potentate is dead.” In an unknown part of the Hongmeng, a man in black robes with long black hair looked toward Azure Dragon Region. “I borrowed his strength to curse the chaos, worlds, and six orders of the highest degree. That curse is no more.”
He was very fair skinned, but his lips were an uncanny black.
“But that doesn’t mean things are over. The dragons, phoenixes, white tigers, black tortoises, and the creation, origin, truth, and eternity that they wield still fall under my curse.
“It’s impossible for this Hongmeng to return to its origin and become a real world.” The man rose with a sneer on his lips. “So what if the three tombs become one? They’re just going from three small tombs to one large tomb.”
That last bit of fire… was so much like a scene out of Alien. That’s the one, right? Not Predator?
