Xing Wuliang took a close look at Lu Yun before nodding. “The Star Sect cares not about the backgrounds of our disciples, but you are one of us once you walk through the doors. You may never betray us, otherwise…”
His voice trailed off.
“I know.” Lu Yun nodded.
“Then let us be on our way.” Xing Wuliang inclined his head and left with Lu Yun. Brightheart had already left by herself. She didn’t travel with Xing Wuliang, but neither did he mind.
She wasn’t his dao partner yet and the distance between them was increasing. It was already so big that he despaired at ever bridging it. She was infinitely close to Nihil World Sovereign!
“You just need to raise your mentality so that your mindset is on par with your soul force. You’ll possess strength on par with a Nihil World Sovereign then, which means a chance for the two of you.” A merry Lu Yun clapped his shoulder.
Xing Wuliang nodded dejectedly.
……
The Boundless Planes were infinitely large.
Separated into known and unknown expanses, the colossal unknown expanse hadn’t been fully explored even when the original Hongmeng still existed. Now that it’d fallen, the known part of the realm was continuously eroded by the unknown.
Dangers abounded in the mysterious unknown and Nihil World Sovereigns were no exceptions to possibly dying in them.
There were only a few known factions residing in the unknown expanses. And of them, only their names and signature combat arts were known, such as the Corpse Refiners.
The known expanse of this locality was in the center and thus called the Central Planes. The name was simply a nod to its geographical location, not a sign of status or authority. Within it, the World Plane was one of the major planes. The Star Sect was located in it and ruled over the entire plane, as well as several others close by.
It was easy for Xing Wuliang to return to the World Plane since he was a Star Sect member and a disciple of a Nihil World Sovereign. He naturally carried treasures on him that were similar to portable transportation formations.
Despite that, those only brought him to the World Plane and not immediately to the sect’s doorstep.
A scintillating display of multicolor radiance scored the void of the World Plane instead of filling it with pure black. All of the worlds here were connected to each other, forming kaleidoscopic ribbons of rainbows that floated in the air. There didn’t seem to be a speck of vacant space in the entire plane.
Living beings inhabited the ribbons and countless flight treasures traveled between them. Those were products of the finest and most exquisite supplemental craft. Even ordinary beings without the ability to enter the fourth realm would be able to journey the Boundless Planes if they owned one of these treasures.
Lu Yun sighed with appreciation. Compared to this plane, the Eastern Planes were indeed remote, impoverished backwaters. Since the core fragment of the original Hongmeng had landed there, all of the powerhouses in the fourth realm had come together to seal that cluster away. Whether supplemental dao or powerful combat arts—all were forbidden from being shared with those planes.
The Eastern Planes cluster was the most barren of the known expanses. It had only one Nihil World Sovereign—the overlord of Ice—and he was sealed away. All of this was to prevent the fourth realm’s combat arts and methods from entering the Central Hongmeng, so that it wouldn’t rise and become a second original Hongmeng.
No one wished to be ruled by another.
When he saw the awe in Lu Yun’s eyes, Xing Wuliang asked, “Has junior brother never seen this before?”
“No,” Lu Yun responded honestly. He’d never seen such a sight in even the thirty-three loops of their time. Perhaps such prosperous scenes had existed in all of those reincarnation cycles, but he’d never seen them.
In the Disordered Hell, Mo Yi and Dao King regarded the outside world with a complicated expression.
“If the fourth realm flourishes with such thriving vitality, there is no need for the original Hongmeng to return,” Dao King murmured as he gazed upon the World Plane. “If order has dispersed, we just need to find another method to re-establish order.”
“Mm.” Mo Yi inclined her head. Lu Yun had told her that he hadn’t recreated the original Hongmeng in all thirty-three cycles, that a later descendant would eventually corral the orders of the fourth realm and bring them under control.
Perhaps this was the reason why.
The fourth realm was never this prosperous in the last epoch; supplemental dao never reached these heights. To connect numerous planets with each other as brilliant ribbons of rainbow? That wouldn’t have been possible in the era of the original Hongmeng.
The Star Sect sat in the middle of the plane—the heart of where all the ribbons led. Each dazzling ribbon stretched infinitely in every direction, connecting worlds to each other. Weaker life forms took shelter in them while stronger life forms viewed them as convenient bridges.
Lu Yun and Xing Wuliang were stronger life forms. They strode along the ribbons and soon came to the Star Sect.
The sect wasn’t on a planet, but a massive star. The star was bigger than all of the planets around it and a hundred million times bigger than the true form of the overlord of Ice.
“The World Star!” Lu Yun called out subconsciously when he saw it.
“Correct, that’s the World Star.” Xing Wuliang nodded. “It is the only world star in the known expanses of the Boundless Planes. The World Planes are named after it, and it is the foundation of the sect.”
Xing Wuliang didn’t find it odd that Lu Yun could identify the World Star. Everyone in the Boundless Planes knew of it and countless parties had schemed after it at various points in time. But despite it all, the World Star still remained the sect’s territory.
Lu Yun’s expression shifted rapidly before returning to normal.
“You’re back, Xing Wuliang!” A voice hailed them the moment they set foot into the star’s vicinity.
“I hear that you visited the Tomb of the Hallowed Emperor. What did you find?” A man in long black robes stopped in front of the two.
“I will report my findings to my master, of course, so what are you doing getting in my way?” Xing Wuliang responded brusquely.
“…Xing Wuliang, how dare you talk to me like this?” The man blinked incredulously. He was Xing Lang and the head disciple of the sect’s younger generation. He was everyone’s senior brother and a powerful supplemental grandmaster.
If he asked Xing Wuliang a question, the latter should respond with nothing but the answer.
“How, how dare you!” Taking a moment to react, Xing Lang raised his hand to slap Xing Wuliang across the face.
