Lu Yun’s dao rules began to fuse under the rapt gazes of the realm. Many ninth step kings had already grasped the notion that dao rule fusion was the path to true kinghood, but without actually understanding how, it remained a dead end to them.
As the name indicated, dao rules were the manifested rules of great dao and order. Not only did they contain a lifetime’s worth of the knowledge and comprehension of dao, they also contained the ultimate truths of the Hongmeng.
The nine dao rules were the pillar of support for both the true cultivation level and titled kinghood. If they were disturbed, the world would metaphorically shatter around the cultivator and all would return to nothing.
Dao rules belonging to true cultivators were different when compared to that of titled kings. Cultivators in the true realm formed their own dao rules and fully understood everything within them. They could use the dao rules as an extension of themselves. Once they reached the end of the true realm, the dao rules would automatically gather and fuse together.
But the dao rules of titled kings were bestowed by the Hongmeng Tower. If one started as a first step king and slowly formed the rest of their dao rules, then they might have a chance of setting foot into true kinghood when they became ninth step kings.
However, the level in which one ascended to titled kinghood was indicative of one’s potential. It was exceedingly difficult to become a high level king upon breaking through, to say nothing of progressing to true kinghood later.
Those with the potential to become true kings almost always became mid or high level kings upon ascension. They would then advance through the ranks while bypassing the process to understand their dao rules; the proper method to fuse dao rules together would naturally also be out of reach.
This was an infinite loop of conflicting conditions.
To ascend as a ninth step king was the height of this dilemma, placing one squarely at the dead end as soon as one broke through. Lu Yun now stood at the end of the road since he was a ninth step king. It was time to illustrate the true king method to clear the way.
His nine dao rules began to fuse together; tribulation clouds silently formed in the air. This was the tribulation of a true king, different from what had taken place the little fox fused her dao rules. She’d done so under the protection of the Hongmeng Tower and watchful gaze of the black entity. That’d headed off a heavenly tribulation since the rules and orders of the fourth realm could not enter an area beneath the tower’s purview.
This time, the heavenly tribulation arrived with prompt swiftness since Lu Yun was becoming a true king over Azure Dragon Lake. He didn’t pay it any heed and absentmindedly swallowed it with Thunder Palmstrike.
He would’ve never exposed a trump card like this at any other time, but now that he’d defeated the potentates of the ten divine nations and forced the Curse King to retreat…
Even the spirit of disorder was now the resident spirit of the Disordered Hell. There was nothing for him to be concerned about in the Hongmeng anymore.
In a similar vein, devouring a heavenly tribulation wasn’t much compared to piercing through the Hongmeng barrier with three strokes, so no one paid attention to those actions.
The most direct beneficiaries of Lu Yun demonstrating the true king method were the two thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine Immortal King disciples. They hailed from a variety of places in the Hongmeng and consisted of both cultivators and arcane beasts. There were those who flew, walked on earth, and swam through water.
While his disciples weren’t his actual disciples, they were still his followers that helped spread Lu Yun’s teachings through the Hongmeng.
The many cultivators on the banks of Azure Dragon River also emulated Lu Yun’s movements, but their knowledge of dao paled far in comparison to the nearly three thousand Immortal King disciples.
Lu Yun held nothing back as he exhibited how to fuse dao rules and ascend to true kinghood. His nine dao rules turned to six, then to three, and finally to one. One singular dao rule.
Potentate!
General shock and awe swept through the crowd when he broke through. He’d been a mere superior realm cultivator one second before. Although his title was the Immortal King and he was a supplemental true king, and even though he was the headmaster of the Dao Academy, he was still in the superior realm and as inconsequential as a gnat.
But he soared into the skies one moment later and was now a lofty potentate!
Lu Yun devoured the heavenly tribulation of a potentate the second it formed.
“The path from ninth step king to true king and potentate is clear,” Lu Yun called out. “Let us call it… the immortal path.”
“The immortal path…” The beings of the Hongmeng turned the words over in their mouths.
Since Lu Yun was now a potentate, his previous title of the Immortal King was now the Immortal Potentate. It wasn’t unreasonable to call a path that the Immortal Potentate had created the “immortal path”.
However, everyone knew that the true significance of this name was a nod to the immortal dao traversing the Hongmeng in the future. This immortal path would eventually become one of the cultivation levels beneath the immortal dao.
Lu Yun held his own desires and motivations since he was a living being. He, too, felt emotions and formed grudges or debts of gratitude. When Mo Yi appeared, he’d immediately understood the cause and effect of many things and that the Hongmeng Tower was a gift from Mo Yi to the little fox.
That the tower could bestow titled kinghood meant that it could oversee the entire realm. If Lu Yun wanted Miao to become the sovereign of the Hongmeng, then the Hongmeng Tower needed to continue administering the immortal path.
Just like how the Dao Tree once held sway over the world of immortals.
He didn’t know if a spirit would develop in the tower, if it would one day be corrupted and a cancerous tumor to the realm like the tree had become. All he knew at the moment was what he wanted to do, and so he did it.
Of course, the path via the true level still existed, but there were no shortcuts there. One had to train from true first level all the way to true ninth level before one could set foot into true kinghood.
It wouldn’t be long before the true cultivation realm fell out of favor due to lack of cultivators.
……
Lu Yun was now the Immortal Potentate, a development that bemused many. Potentates were the strongest powerhouses of the Hongmeng and superior to true kings. There were plenty of people in the crowd who’d seen him pierce through the barrier around the realm with three strokes and reach the legendary fourth realm.
The True King Pact and ten divine nations were instantly dismissed as nothing but jokes. Multitude Region became the Hongmeng’s version of the world of immortals and Multitude City became the immortal palace.
This wasn’t through Lu Yun’s own declarations or actions, but a decision by the general public. His identity had been known to all long ago.
Qing Yu became a true king as her dao rules fused to three, but that left her a long way from breaking through to potentate. For the moment, that was enough for her since the immortal dao in the world of immortals could sense her presence in the Hongmeng. It infiltrated the third realm from the chaos, melding into her body.
……
On this day, Lu Yun was not in Multitude City. Under the Ignis Tower in the center of the divine nation of Ignis, the Ignis Potentate trembled to see the most famous potentate in the realm suddenly appear in front of him.
“Are you here to kill me?” he asked dully.
The remaining ten potentates had thought that Lu Yun would at most become a true king when the two dragons left him; he would still be of no threat to them. Who would’ve thought that he’d skip over that cultivation level entirely and become a potentate??
“Overlooking” the matters of the past seemed nothing more than a colossal joke.
Lu Yun walked up to the Ignis Potentate, who was deeply regretting believing Lu Yun and not fleeing when he could.
etvolare's Thoughts
I'm curious why Mo Yi gave so much to the little fox? Were they such good friends in the world of immortals? I remember Miao liking to cuddle with her before Qing Yu showed up (?) but that doesn't seem strong enough to gift the little fox all of her cultivation level and treasure?
In case the part about Lu Yun being selfish is confusing, he was selfish because he could've chosen to have everyone return to the proper path of true > true kinghood. That's what it was before, and it enables people to actually understand their dao rules. Instead, since the Hongmeng Tower is the little fox's treasure and it will command the Hongmeng if it continues to hand out titles, he continued to make it a viable path. If I'm strong enough to ascend as a high level king, you bet I'm going to do that instead of starting from true first level and slowly making my way up again.
