There were no sword cultivators in the fourth realm—not even beings that wielded swords.
After the original Hongmeng shattered, sword dao died out in the fourth realm. Plainly, the man in front of them wasn’t a local.
That made him a Hongmeng being, and one from another Hongmeng world than the one Lu Yun hailed from.
After the original Hongmeng broke apart, its countless fragments took root in the fourth realm. Each of them regrew into a complete Hongmeng world with the worlds of the first realm, chaos, and itself. The worlds expanded in all of them and gradually swallowed the second and third realms.
Apart from the Hongmeng world doomed by the Curse King, the others developed in thriving fashion and produced stunning powerhouse upon stunning powerhouse. The previous iteration of the Hadal Hell, for instance, had been refined from nine Hongmeng worlds that’d grown to the level of the fourth realm.
“When did Hongmeng creatures get so cocky as to block the way of a Void World King?” Xing Wuliang sneered and stepped forward to stare down the man in black.
Fourth realm denizens possessed a natural superiority when they met Hongmeng beings, like that of a dragon considering an ant. Even a Void World King from a Hongmeng world was still inferior to those from the fourth realm.
Wielding a sword was a hallmark of a Hongmeng being.
No matter which Hongmeng world it was, the way of the sword proliferated. The sword was the sharpest of all weapons and the absolute king. When Quiet appeared in the fourth realm, it absorbed the realm’s sword dao and caused fourth realm denizens to be unable to walk the way of the sword.
Without sword dao, swords were meaningless to the realm’s inhabitants.
Even as a treasure, Quiet was definitively stronger than Nihil World Sovereigns as the latter couldn’t cultivate sword dao either. That held true even though Quiet had fallen to the Hongmeng and very possibly existed no more.
Most importantly was that there was a faction called the Sword Clan in the fourth realm—a clan manifested from a connate divine sword. They were one of the strongest clans in the Hongmeng and possessed a Nihil World Sovereign. The supplemental grandmasters of the realm didn’t refine swords out of fear that they’d offend this clan.
Although sword dao in the third realm propagated from the original Hongmeng, the Sword Clan couldn’t be bothered with ants. Their authority didn’t extend so far, either.
……
“Which Hongmeng are you from?” Brightheart asked the newcomer.
“Hmph!” snorted the man. “The Central Hongmeng, of course!”
Smack!
Xing Wuliang slapped him across the face.
“Bullshit, the Central Hongmeng’s been cursed and almost none of its beings can pierce through the barrier to enter the Boundless Planes. How dare a minor World Manifest claim to be from there?!
“Speak! Where are you from?!” Xing Wuliang roared. He was a major World Manifest and could subjugate the other’s will through soul force alone.
Indeed, the man spewed out a mouthful of blackish-red blood when Xing Wuliang shouted. His gaze dulled, but just when he was about to say something, his head exploded like a rotten watermelon, scattering his soul to the four winds.
“What a terrifying restriction, I didn’t even realize there was one in his brain.” Brightheart frowned faintly.
“He comes from a strong background. Only the Hongmeng worlds that’ve grown to the level of one of our planes possess this kind of restriction.”
According to Lu Yun’s understanding, Hongmeng worlds that’d grown to the level of a plane were ones that’d reached the fourth realm. The so-called Central Hongmeng was the one he was from. The core fragment of the original Hongmeng was there and in the Great Ancien, that had been the center of the Boundless Planes.
That locale was still called the Central Hongmeng.
“These Hongmeng people grow bolder by the day. Since there’s an opening in this tomb, everyone has the right to explore this area and their lives are in their own hands. But blocking the way forward prevents others from seeking their fortune!” Xing Wuliang grew irate at seeing traces of man-made destruction on the door.
“It’s repairable.” Lu Yun looked over everything closely. He’d felt some kinship with the sword-wielding man at first, but that feeling swiftly dispersed when the latter claimed to be from the Central Hongmeng. These guys from other Hongmeng worlds are probably scheming against my Hongmeng as well.
He deployed the Dragonsearch Invocation, utilizing its power to project the original form of the destroyed door. The combined form of the Dragonquake Scripture was forbidden in the Hongmeng, but it wasn’t a taboo in the fourth realm.
In fact, there were probably many in the realm who didn’t know anything about it.
“This is incredible soul force!” Brightheart didn’t recognize the method; she was just marveling at Lu Yun’s strength.
The Dragonsearch Invocation slowly materialized the broken door in its original form—it was a spatial transportation door that worked in both directions.
“There’s a bit of spatial order left here. I’ll travel through space while you set up the formation!” Lu Yun condensed his soul force into a spatial bridge and set it up on the two sides of the door.
Too strong.
Though Lu Yun’s soul force level was seventh step, the actual strength of his soul force was Nihil World Sovereign. He was exerting less than a hundred millionth of it!
Rumble!
Xing Wuliang swallowed hard when the void shook. He leaped into action and set up a formation according to the door that was projected, repairing what had been broken.
Since the door worked both ways, there had to be another one on the other side. The Void World Kings that’d passed through wouldn’t destroy that one, since that would preclude them from returning.
It was because that door still existed that there was a mark of spatial transportation preserved on this side. That was how Lu Yun could travel through and Xing Wuliang repair the broken threshold. The other beings that’d entered the area crowded around, waiting for the door to be repaired.
Hummmm.
After roughly a thousand breaths, a faint ripple oscillated through the void and a hazy blue door appeared in the air.
“Let’s go!” Lu Yun bounded through as soon as it solidified.
Xing Wuliang and Brightheart looked at each other. It seemed that something incredible had appeared on the other side! They quickly followed suit, but their field of vision was suffused by shining golden radiance the next second.
Golden swords flitted through the air, piercing through any heads they came across.
“Swords?? How?!” Xing Wuliang gasped with incredulity.
“It’s not the Sword Clan, it’s just swords! There’s sword dao here!” Brightheart exclaimed as well.
She’d just finished speaking when a thousand swords came for their heads.
