“As I thought!” Lu Yun sneered at the development and cocked his arm back with the Water Virtue Orb, smashing it on the gray hand.
Bam!
The orb crashed into the large hand before it could close around the compass.
Craaaaack.
Grayish-yellow liquid spurted out as the orb shattered the hand. The compass successfully finished drawing a world and stoppered the crack on top of the coffin, resulting in an immediate decrease of the gray fog in the area.
The gray zombie lost its mind and pounced on Lu Yun; it seemed that it would lose its source of strength once the crack was sealed off. However, the zombie disintegrated into dust before it could reach its target.
The young man with a sword and the Brightheart World King gaped at Lu Yun. The two of them had fought together for so long, but hadn’t inflicted the slightest wound on the zombie. Meanwhile, the kid that seemed to be only in the true void realm had vanquished it as soon as he took the field?
The gray fog that could turn the living into zombies was well and truly dispersing.
“What happened here?” Brightheart asked with trepidation now that they had some breathing space. “Why are things like this?”
The young man with a sword was closely assessing Lu Yun. He could clearly see that the unexpected newcomer was in the true void realm!
That was Lu Yun’s real cultivation level after putting away the Tome of Life and Death; it was the strength he could bring to bear after piercing through the Hongmeng barrier. Since he couldn’t deploy the strength of a Nihil World Sovereign in the Tomb of the Hallowed Emperor, he had to return to his origins and utilize only the cultivation level that he’d won for himself.
Of course, he couldn’t change the fact that the Tome of Life and Death became his nascent spirit whenever he was in the fourth realm. When the book activated and the six hellfires burned, he would still be a Nihil World Sovereign. His consciousness and body were that of a Nihil World Sovereign, but his cultivation level receded to the true void realm after he put the treasure away.
In other words, he was a Nihil World Sovereign with strength in the true void realm.
This was obscured from outsiders; they simply thought that he was in the second cultivation level of the fourth realm system. However, his soul force was already at seventh step, and it was stronger than a grandmaster’s! He could utilize even connate treasures!
This kind of insane genius can’t go to the Star Sect!
“How did you do it?” The young man sheathed his sword and stared unblinkingly at Lu Yun with eyes that glittered like the stars.
“Was that hard?” Lu Yun asked with utmost innocence. “Anything’s easy with a connate treasure in hand. Ask senior brother Wuliang if you don’t believe me, right, senior brother?”
Lounging in the world of swords, Xing Wuliang’s nerves thrummed with alarm when he saw the look in the young man’s eyes. This Void World King from the Hongmeng wanted to take one of the Star Sect’s disciples!
He charged out of the world and planted himself between Lu Yun and the youth. He grinned brilliantly, “How are the methods of my Star Sect, honored World King?”
The young man arched a brow and chuckled merrily.
“You can keep the Metal Virtue Orb. If the inclination strikes you one day, you can come to Ingress Blood Island for a visit.” He undid the gourd at his waist and poured himself a generous mouthful before heading deeper into the tomb.
Xing Wuliang paused, then set his jaw. “Junior brother, this ‘Horizon’s Edge’ is a personal treasure that master gave to me. I can’t give it to you. But… I can give you the Water Virtue Orb as a greeting gift!”
Ingress Sword Island had gifted the Metal Virtue Orb to Lu Yun, one that could release an extremely strong connate world like the world of swords. If Xing Wuliang didn’t express a similar sentiment on the spot, he really would have this genius slip right through his grasp. He’d handed over the sect’s formations, talismans, and the medallion, but that didn’t mean Lu Yun had to become a Star disciple.
If he changed his mind, all he needed to do was to release his memories of the sect’s methods and have the medallion detonate itself.
However, Lu Yun remained unmoved and kept his eyes fixed on the disappearing young man.
Ingress Sword Island?
There was an Ingress Sword Island in the Hongmeng as well. Or rather, that’s what it’d been called when the faction had been first established. Its name had shifted to Ingress Blood Island sometime along the way.
It was one of the Ten Valleys of Evil.
The name “Ingress” touched a chord in Lu Yun’s heart.
I’d thought that if Ge Long and the others really were building a faction in the Hongmeng or any of its worlds, they would call it Emerald Palace or Golden Ao Island or something like that. But he used his own name instead? [1] Lu Yun frowned in deep thought.
He didn’t seek confirmation from Ge Long as the latter was overseeing hell and holding down the fort in the world of immortals. He was Lu Yun’s right hand man and more important to his master than the ten Yama Kings.
But now, Lu Yun was certain that Ge Long—no, he should be rightfully called Daoist Ingress—was one of ten ancestors of the Ten Valleys of Evil! He’d surpassed “nothing” and entered sequence. He’d built Ingress Blood Island in the Hongmeng, but his relationship to Ingress Sword Island in the fourth realm was unknown.
Was Daoist Ingress the founder of Ingress Sword Island, or was the founder one of his disciples?
Regardless, it was an incredibly strong faction. Wielding swords in the fourth realm? That young man had just been a Void World King, but he had the ability to modify the Metal Virtue Orb and change its innate world of metal into one of swords!
He might really not be a being from the Hongmeng.
It’d been too long since Quiet was lost from the fourth realm and certain rules had been broken in that time. It was just that many people’s customary patterns of thought yet existed, so they didn’t acknowledge certain new rules.
Perhaps the sword wielders of the fourth realm had long broken through certain restraints, but they were just all viewed as people of the Hongmeng by their own kind.
……
Xing Wuliang’s heart spasmed painfully to see his new junior brother stare wordlessly after the young man with the sword.
“Actually, junior brother, the Horizon’s Edge…” was the cube that’d turned into a compass, and it was sitting in Lu Yun’s hand.
“This is senior brother’s personal treasure, how could I possibly take it?” A smiling Lu Yun transformed it back into a cube and handed it to Xing Wuliang. “Don’t worry, senior brother, I’ve already agreed to return to the Star Sect with you. I’m not the type to change my mind. If I see the young man with the sword again, I’ll return the Metal Virtue Orb to him.”
He put the orb away with a wave of his hand, but said nothing about returning the Water Virtue Orb to Xing Wuliang. After all, the man had given it of his own free will. Lu Yun hadn’t forced him to do anything.
1. Ao is a large marine turtle in Chinese mythology. He was thought to have lived in the South China Sea during the time of the formation of the world. When the goddess Nüwa, creator of mankind, was repairing the sky after a disaster, she chopped off Ao's four legs and used them as supports. ☜
