The fourth realm was different from the Hongmeng. Qing Yu was present in the third realm, so she could guide the immortal dao from the world of immortals through the chaos and into the Hongmeng.
The fourth realm, however, was too big.
A tiny immortal dao entering it was no different from the hair of an ox drifting into the fourth realm. There needed to be the seeds of immortal dao here—formula dao!
Formula dao could meld with the immortal dao and could also be its own dao, not to mention that it was the creation of the Dao Sovereign herself. It could completely assimilate into the fourth realm and be available for fourth realm denizens to cultivate.
Once formula dao blossomed in the fourth realm, it could facilitate immortal dao from the Hongmeng to travel into Boundless Planes.
And a world of immortal dao…
Inspiration struck Lu Yun.
Order!
The world that he could access through the method of nothing was the order of time. In a similar vein, immortal dao could also create a world of order in the fourth realm, one that belonged solely to it. The seed of nothing that it contained could become the spring of order and suppress the fourth realm, becoming the fountain of order for both the known and unknown expanses.
The caveat to that was that Lu Yun must pass on his dao and teach formula dao to others. But with the withered wood on him, he was a walking portent of doom and misfortune. It wasn’t a problem if one only got to know and interact with him, but if one stayed after forming karmic ties… one would eventually be cursed to death on account of Lu Yun.
He was currently in the fourth realm to sever his ties with the Hongmeng. Therefore, he would have to exile the indestructible withered wood first if he wanted to pass on dao.
“Haven’t you wanted to know what it is?” Mo Yi walked up to him with her hand outstretched.
Lu Yun brought out the wood from the Tome of Life and Death and handed it to her. She paused when she accepted it.
“Is something wrong?” he asked with concern.
“You’ve seen for yourself over the past thirty-three cycles that the withered wood is supposed to stay on you,” Mo Yi responded.
“Right, except it was the Thunderstruck Wood then, not the withered wood,” Lu Yun frowned.
In the past loops, he’d used the thunder and lightning found inside the wood to absorb heavenly tribulation and release lightning, thereby paving the road for his rise. He’d found the wood inside the Imperial Seal.
But this time, the wood had been with Longshan Yin—now Di Yin.
Lu Yun could tell that Di Yin hadn’t possessed the wood for long, but he’d still managed to almost cause the end of Dragonmountain Clime. Even his invader, Revered Rednote, had nearly become the Divine Fire World King’s steed.
When Yun Zhongzi almost obtained the Imperial Seal, the Tome of Life and Death had prevented him from succeeding. That was when the withered wood had left the seal.
The emperor of the original Hongmeng hadn’t died with his domain’s demise, but later perished in the Broken Primeval Plane with the dawn of the new epoch. It’d been that final battle that’d broken that plane and given it its name.
If Lu Yun’s guesses were correct, the Thunderstruck Wood’s power had flared to life in those years of mayhem after the original Hongmeng shattered and induced fear in countless beings. Having secluded himself for recovery and thinking of ways to restore his kingdom, the emperor eventually came forth once more and attempted to suppress the withered wood with his seal.
However, the wood had proven too strong to be overcome and the emperor himself was cursed, killing him and the remnants of his subordinates from the old epoch.
Once the Thunderstruck Wood escaped from the Imperial Seal, it sought out the emperor’s only bloodline in the fourth realm—Longshan Yin.
The demise of the Di Clan in the Hongmeng, falling into the Curse King’s traps when moving to the world of immortals to protect the immortal dao, and the elimination of the clan in the first realm was also likely a result of the withered wood.
Although the overlord of Ice had discovered the wood’s existence, he couldn’t take action himself. He could only create a method of nothing and refine a pair of hammers that could access sequence, giving them to the Divine Fire World King.
If the world king could become a Nihil World Sovereign, he would obtain the method of nothing concealed in the hammers and thus exile the wood into time.
And now, the withered wood that sparked fear from sequence experts lay quietly in Mo Yi’s hands. She, however, regarded it with a perplexed gaze and raised a confused look to Lu Yun.
“What is it?” he quickly asked upon seeing the wrongness of her expression.
“Um… are you sure this is the wood that you obtained?” Her slender eyebrows were tightly knitted together and her expression growing odder.
“That’s it, I wouldn’t be mistaken.” Lu Yun nodded.
“But the curse on it… and the resentment it carries from the original Hongmeng… are… gone?” Mo Yi held up the palm-sized wood to her eyes for close scrutiny.
A long period of mayhem and madness existed between the fall of the original Hongmeng and the establishment of the new epoch. The withered wood repeatedly erupted with activity during this time, rampaging through the lives of living beings and wreaking havoc on any survivors from the original Hongmeng.
Gradually, experts began to access sequence and exile it to the worlds of sequence. But every time, the wood would rip free from the world of sequence and continue deploying terrifying curses. Finally, a great powerhouse solved the problem by exiling it into time.
That still didn’t prove to be a permanent solution. The wood would reappear at certain intervals to plague the world. Finally, the emperor of the original Hongmeng personally suppressed it at the beginning of the new epoch and ended everything.
But now, the terrifying curse and malice on the withered wood were gone?
“You put it…” Mo Yi’s expression flickered rapidly and she fell silent.
After staring fixedly at it, she reached out a hand and ignited a black flame on her fingertips. The flame seemed to howl and shriek with boundless malice.
Lu Yun quickly grasped what had happened and what Mo Yi wanted to do. He deployed the Tome of Life and Death to seal off the area.
Mo Yi sent the flame of resentment and bitterness over the wood, helping negativity seep through the item. The dissipated resentment seemed to be back.
“Alright, you will carry this withered wood on you and spread formula dao throughout the fourth realm!” Mo Yi handed the wood back to Lu Yun, a great weight off her shoulders.
“Aren’t we creating a fake like this?” Lu Yun cackled.
“That’s right we are. We’re going to pull the wool over those bastards’ eyes because I know who made it!” Mo Yi nodded. “This withered wood was once part of the divine tree that supported the original Hongmeng. Your Karmic Tree is a branch of the divine tree.
“You cannot exile the wood or destroy it because it’s the divine tree’s only remaining core essence. The tree can be recreated if it exists—a wish that the original emperor once held when he wanted to suppress it with the Imperial Seal.
“This withered wood is a mountain of poisoned gold to powerhouses of the original Hongmeng. They know they’ll die because of it, but they can’t resist its allure. That old fart Yun Zhongzi didn’t tell you the truth because he carries a bit of ulterior motives toward the wood as well.
“What a shame that the original emperor also fell into those bastards’ trap and eventually died for it, his dao scattered to the winds,” Mo Yi sighed. “I only hope that our fake can fool them.”
“Who’s them?” Lu Yun’s heart pounded with alarm.
“The Curse King and those behind him,” said the Dao King as he walked out of the Disordered Hell.
