If things had been the same as they were before, Lu Yun wouldn’t have bothered to explain his relationship with Lu Qing to the Fish King.
It didn’t matter anymore since Lu Qing had gotten a firm grasp on the potentate realm—thanks to massive gratitude from the people for ending the chaos tribulations. He would break through given sufficient time or a fortuitous encounter and become the twelfth potentate in the Hongmeng.
Lu Yun himself was a Nihil World Sovereign in the fourth realm; even Hong had revealed the truth of the realm to him. What else did he have to be wary of?
He chuckled to see the Fish King completely flabbergasted. “Surely you know that the Purple King’s name is Lu Qing? Lu for Lu Yun, Qing for Qing Yu.
“Of course, Qing Yu isn’t his birth mother. His birth mother is the Intrance King and she was the one who named him.”
The Fish King believed Lu Yun only with that detail. No wonder the long removed Purple King had started bothering with Hongmeng affairs again. No wonder he’d paid so much attention to inconsequential characters like Lu Yun and the Intrance King.
“But what… why is this?” Her thoughts were still jumbled. If the Immortal King was Lu Yun—and he’d admitted as much—that made him how old? Just a few hundred years, not even a thousand. He was less than a baby in the Hongmeng!
Purple King Lu Qing was a figure from the mythological realm. That was an impossibly old existence compared to the Hongmeng, one that’d long been relegated to myth and legend. Was the Immortal King the reincarnation of some old fogey?
The Fish King looked at Lu Yun in a new light.
“No, no, your body and soul are perfectly matched to each other. You are completely you, neither possessed nor a reborn heavyweight. What’s going on??” She was still immensely befuddled.
The Fish King was a supplemental king infinitely close to supplemental true kinghood. She could easily see the connection between Lu Yun’s soul and body and determine that it wasn’t the result of reincarnation or possession from another.
Lu Yun shook his head when he sensed her disoriented state. It looked like she wasn’t as important a disciple as the venerated enforcer was to Lu Qing. The enforcer knew of Lu Yun and Lu Qing’s relationship and why it was so, but the Fish King didn’t.
“Well, it’s probably also because she’s part of the ten divine nations and might have her soul and memories searched by the potentates at any second. That’s why he didn’t tell her.” Then again, based on Lu Yun’s understanding of his son, Lu Qing would treat all of his disciples equally if he added anyone to their ranks.
“Your Highness the Crown Princess Consort has returned home!” A group of warriors in black armor abruptly appeared the moment the duo set foot onto Terra territory. There were twenty of them—all in the superior realm and their leader true first level.
Outside of the divine nations, true first level cultivators were first step kings. They were highly respected individuals, but in the divine nations, they were just captains of a patrol squad.
“I will exterminate your entire clan if you call me the crown princess consort again,” snarled the Fish King.
“Under… understood!” The leader went slack jawed with shock.
Everyone knew of the matter between the Fish King and the Terra crown prince. She’d once beaten the crown prince black and blue right in front of the nation’s ruler, not showing face to anyone. Now that the Terra Potentate was away, the issue of their marriage was raised once again. Irritated beyond recourse, the Fish King had left for some peace and quiet.
No one thought that she’d left from fear of the Terra ruler and crown prince.
“Get out of here.” She gently waved her hand, annoyed by the very sight of these men. They were the crown prince’s eyes and ears, stationed here to report her movements the moment she returned.
Indeed, their leader took out a communication treasure the second the Fish King and Lu Yun left, relaying the events to their master.
……
“Terra is one of the largest divine nations among the ten—the equivalent of ninety-nine Azure Dragon Regions.” The Fish King put the encounter out of her mind, as well as everything that’d happened previously. She could ask her master about Lu Yun the next time she saw him.
The last key to the Hongmeng Tower would surely appear within the next hundred years. Since he had five of them, the Purple King would have to return to the Hongmeng then.
Sudden inspiration struck Lu Yun when he heard the explanation. The largest demarcation of territory in the fourth realm was the same character as “region” in the Hongmeng—this was likely influenced by the third realm.
Though it’d been shattered to pieces and was no longer the center of the fourth realm, many things still retained traces of the original Hongmeng.
“Terra’s capital is King Qilin City. Rumor has it that a black qilin well versed in the order of earth created it. It’s a remnant of the original Hongmeng and, in fact, almost all of the capitals of the divine nations were once cities of the original Hongmeng.”
“A black qilin?” Lu Yun blinked, reminded of the black qilin in the lost ancient city that loved carrots.
“Aiyaya, you’re back, my Fishie! This prince has missed you so!” A delighted voice floated through the air before a ludicrously opulent carriage procession thundered toward them from the distance. An enormous divine beast with the bloodline of a qilin led the pack. Several thousand meters tall, on its head stood a majestic young man dressed in long golden robes.
His hair was slightly yellow and he exuded an extremely domineering presence. He seemed to want to suppress all of the laws and orders around him so they would bend to his authority.
The crown prince of Terra!
If there came a day in which Terra’s ruler didn’t wish to be king and administer the nation, then this crown prince would become the most noble of them all.
Unfortunately for him, his father was a true powerhouse with inexhaustible life force. He would never die, so the crown prince would never ascend to the throne in this lifetime.
“What are you doing here?” The Fish King frowned at the extravagant parade.
“To welcome this prince’s consort back to the palace, of course! Servants, help the princess consort into the carriage!” the crown prince roared with laughter. He waved two rows of a hundred young girls into place. Dressed in white robes and as delicate as the clouds, they formed an ethereal walkway that led to the crown prince’s vehicle at the height of extravagance.
“Please enter the carriage, Your Highness,” the hundred young girls whistled and hummed melodiously. This was the pomp and circumstance afforded to the Terra princess consort and had been precisely what the prince’s last consort enjoyed.
The Fish King scowled ominously.
etvolare's Thoughts
I mean, he calls her Little Fish, but he's a moron, so Fishie it is.
