“Who are you?!” The Starfire King finally looked at Lu Yun, ever so slightly less confident than before. He’d fully released the Terra Potentate’s aura from the decree. Even a true king on the level of a divine nation’s ruler should be cowering on the ground, to say nothing of a mewling superior realm cultivator.
But the young man was completely ignoring the potentate’s aura!
“Who am I?” Lu Yun smiled. “Didn’t you bring this decree back from Yin Yang because of me?”
“What?” Starfire didn’t immediately grasp the stranger’s meaning.
Humm!
Lu Yun waved two hammers into his hand and filled the void with roiling heat. A terrifying presence spread from his body and slowly, inexorably, forced back the potentate’s.
It wasn’t his own presence, of course. Lu Yun had to utilize the death art Size Manipulation in the fourth realm, expand his body to the largest it would go, have the Tome of Life and Death turn into his nascent spirit, hellfire for his strength, and fully release the capabilities of a Nihil World Sovereign before he could employ strength and presence like that.
This came from the Glacial Fire Hammers. The method of nothing that the overlord of Ice had passed on to Lu Yun was the key to activating the hammers.
While the Terra Potentate was one of the strongest existences in the Hongmeng, he couldn’t compare to the overlord of a fourth realm plane. In front of the master of Ice, he was less than an ant.
Lu Yun strode forward, forcing Starfire back with every step he took. The decree crumbled in his hand bit by bit as well.
Puff!
It suddenly trembled and turned into a cloud of gray smoke wafting up from Starfire’s grasp. A human face slowly rose from it—the Terra Potentate.
“I am…”
Bam!
He exploded before he could say anything, just like when he’d faced the Talisman King. The sight scared the wits out of those present and raised sharp gasps of disbelief.
The Terra ruler was as white as a sheet and Starfire crashed to the ground in shock. Only the Fish King remained in deep thought. She’d witnessed the same process and ending last time, so this time’s didn’t shake her as much.
“Where is the Fire Virtue Orb?” Lu Yun walked over to Starfire and loftily regarded him from a highly superior position.
“I, I presented it to the Ignis Potentate as a gift.” Blood dribbled out of Starfire’s mouth as he answered weakly.
“Is the Ignis Potentate also in Yin Yang?” Lu Yun asked.
“The eleven potentates are all there, and so are all of the true kings not affiliated with a divine nation.” Starfire’s mind couldn’t withstand the aura from the Glacial Fire Hammers and he spilled the beans on everything he knew.
“For that True King Pact?” Lu Yun nodded.
“Yes.” Starfire ardently wished to faint dead away, but that was quite a luxury for him now.
“What is being discussed for this pact? That no true kings are to appear in the Hongmeng over the next hundred years?”
“Yes.” Starfire gave up struggling. “And also the immortal dao, and how to seize it from the Dao Sovereign and headmaster.”
“Enough!” The Terra ruler exploded with fury. He’d gathered the ninety-nine crossbows as one of light at some point in time and fired it with pure earth origin energy.
But he aimed it at the Starfire King instead of Lu Yun!
Starfire had said too much. This mysterious Feng Feifan could very likely cause incredible trouble for the eleven potentates’ plans. Who knew what would happen if he showed up at the True King Pact?
KABOOM!!
Terra’s royal palace was blown to pieces.
A purple-golden pagoda revolved over Lu Yun’s head. Curtains of light trailed down from it and protected him, the Fish King, and the Starfire King. While the Army Pagoda couldn’t withstand a full force blow from the Terra Crossbows, the Glacial Fire Hammers could. The two treasures working in conjunction kept everyone in Lu Yun’s party safe.
“Ruler of Terra, you can continue to use the Terra Crossbows to kill people.” A trace of blood trickled out of Lu Yun’s mouth. “But I promise you that your divine nation will be destroyed for it and the fissure that you’re suppressing will crack open!”
Fear flashed through the Terra ruler’s face when he looked at the huge hammers that were suddenly in front of him.
Divine weapons of sequence.
These really were the mythical weapons of sequence from the fourth realm! Even if Feng Feifan wasn’t that strong, these weapons were walking potentates in the Hongmeng! The Terra Crossbows would just be ordinary divine weapons in the fourth realm, a candle to the bright moon of these hammers.
“Fuck. you. piece. of. ever. lasting. SHIT OF A RULER!!” Starfire suddenly screamed with rage. “I came running back to protect the divine nation, but you idiotic son of a bitch just tried to kill me!
“Do you think I’d stay in your piss poor divine nation if it wasn’t for the Terra Potentate promising me a chance at supplemental true king?! Would I do your fucking bidding??
“…you there, I’ll tell you everything!” A full fit of fury had descended upon Starfire. Despite everything, he’d avoided revealing the most crucial parts of the True King Pact just now.
“The True King Pact is a front! What I told you about them wanting to seize the immortal dao was also a lie!” Starfire yelled.
“How dare you betray the potentate!!” the Terra ruler hollered.
“You fucking monkey betrayed me first!” Starfire screamed back. “The pact’s true goal is to collect all of the true kings in the realm and charge into the chaos to kill the Purple King. Then they’ll destroy the worlds and world of immortals like the mythological realm was once razed!
“Don’t ask me why! The orders of this Hongmeng might recover when the immortal dao reaches us, so everyone has a chance to be a potentate then. Heh, those eleven old bats won’t be the ones in charge at that point!
“Hehe, I’m just guessing, of course. But one thing I’m very certain of is that the eleventh key appeared a long time ago. Those old farts sealed it away!
“They’ll bring out a fake key during these one hundred years and have the geniuses of the Hongmeng kill each other for it!” Starfire threw his head back with a long peal of laughter.
The Terra Potentate highly valued the Starfire King, especially after the Fish King received a strand of core essence from the Fire King. Sadly for the potentate, Starfire’s innermost thoughts were still of himself since he’d just begun his brainwashing. He didn’t possess the Fish King’s level of faith in the potentate yet.
Since the Terra ruler wanted to kill Starfire for the potentate, Starfire was very willing to change sides in a heartbeat. …though there might be a smidgeon of mental compulsion from Lu Yun playing a part in all of this. It might have something to do with how Starfire’s mentality had snapped and he’d simply turned traitor without another word.
“I see.” Lu Yun inclined his head. “Starfire King, are you willing to follow my banner? Now that you’ve betrayed the Terra Potentate, there is none other than me in all of the Hongmeng who can protect you.”
Coming down from his high of exposition, regret started to set in for the Starfire King. He followed the path of flame, as did his personality. His temper often flared quickly and extinguished just as quickly, leaving regret in its wake. But when he heard this, he quickly said, “I can follow you, but you see how I just betrayed the Terra Potentate. I might do the same to you in the future!”
Fuck it. I have nothing to lose.
“Other than being afraid of death, the Starfire King doesn’t have many other flaws. He followed the Terra Potentate and joined the divine nation because he sought the chance to become a supplemental true king. He won’t betray you if you don’t threaten his life,” the Fish King commented as she walked up to Lu Yun.
Always at odds with the king, Starfire actually felt a bit of gratitude toward her in this moment.
Naturally, it swiftly faded away.
“The chance to become a supplemental true king… that’s not a problem.” Lu Yun nodded. He glanced at the Terra ruler. Having utilized the Terra Crossbows twice in a short period of time, the man was completely out of strength. He sprawled on the ruins of his palace and looked weakly at the group.
