Drawn by the two Dao Flowers, the core essence of the world hovered in front of Lu Yun. It was a ball of white light restrained by eighteen thousand chains. At the same time, it seemed that the chains were part of the light to begin with. The ball of light was the shocking illumination that Lu Yun had seen outside.
It wasn’t as domineering inside the world of sequence. Rather, it glowed with a soft hue. Just like a newborn child, the world’s sequence was pristine and untainted. It could become any kind of sequence, and it would stay this pure if no other sequence was forthcoming to influence it.
“The sequence of the sea? Or the darkness?” Lu Yun stared at the ball of light and stowed his Dao Flowers. The ball didn’t leave despite the disappearance of the flowers. He summoned the Tome of Life and Death with a flip of his hand.
“I’m going to store this world’s sequence inside the treasure, so don’t you dare do anything to it!” he roared at the demon inside.
“Never, never!” the demon hastily assured. “Taking away this world’s core essence is the best possible decision!”
“You mentioned three anomalies in this cycle—me, the world of sequence, and the realm monster. What about Dongfang Mo?” Lu Yun relaxed slightly after storing the ball of sequence into the world inside the Tome of Life and Death.
It’d rather surprised him that the world’s core essence had allowed itself to be transferred without a hint of resistance. He’d just wanted to give the idea a try and was ready with the Dark Dao Flower if the sequence had refused.
According to his calculations, the core essence of sequence shouldn’t be able to leave its world.
“Um… during the previous cycles?” The demon rifled through his memories. “The realm monster is always present and disguises itself as the world of sequence so it can lure in powerhouses. There was no Ruina or Mazu in the previous cycles.
“Because the realm monster came across the developing world of sequence, that imbued it with a trace of the relevant aura. For some reason, in this cycle, the realm monster broke through the world barrier around the Land of Reincarnation and entered the outside realm. It then returned with Mazu to continue the cycle.
“Those meant to enter Myriadsea World still made the trip and lived out their lives according to their predetermined trajectory. It wasn’t until Mazu brought you in that their fates were truly changed.”
The altar had been Mazu’s and it’d been the great goddess who led Lu Yun to the world of sequence. Perhaps she’d harbored ill intent at first, but the meeting of two anomalies shifted the outcome of events into a good direction.
The demon of immortal dao was free of his monotony inside the Tome of Life and Death, so he had no reason to lie to Lu Yun. As usual, Dongfang Mo’s spirit dao came into being during this cycle, but this time, formula dao perfected and incorporated it into immortal dao.
Once the core essence of the world was taken, it appeared from the outside that the scintillating radiance suddenly vanished. The world of sequence dimmed and turned the color of blood.
The zombie stopped; endless cultivators waiting to charge in and fight over the core essence stilled with shock. Ugly cracks in the world barrier split open and slowly sealed shut again.
“What’s going on?!” Meng Wang and the others fighting the zombie also jerked with surprise.
The core essence of the world was gone!
“Someone’s inside the world!” a voice screamed. “Someone is one step ahead of us and refining the core essence right now!” It was very urgent, like the owner had guessed something.
“It must be the leader of the natives! He’s just pretending to be dead… that’s right! He died and tried to become a ghost! Only ghosts can enter a world of sequence!”
The yang tomb erupted with pandemonium. It was fine if a heavyweight of the outside realm obtained the world of sequence. Everyone here would still have a chance to join the faction and gain the opportunity to open doors of sequence. But if the world of sequence went to a native of this Disintegrated Land, that would be a beggar making off with a mountain of gold!
These lofty personages who looked down at this tattered realm would never stand for it!
“It’s not him, not the original emperor,” a young man murmured in the Corpse Refiner camp. “It’s someone else… someone who almost killed me.”
“Do you know something, Jiang Kui?” A gray-robed elder looked at him sharply. The young man was the greatest genius of Rising Sunriver and he’d joined the Corpse Refiners.
Jiang Kui waved a hand and projected images of Lu Yun, Chu Xingran, and Haidong Lin into the air.
“I have a hunch that the one refining the core essence is him.” Jiang Kui pointed at Lu Yun. “I just don’t know if this is his true appearance.”
“I’ve seen that shark spirit before!” The gray-robed elder peered at Haidong Lin’s picture. “It’s a minion of one of the natives… something called the Sea Emperor. It’s only twelve levels of sequence and completely irrelevant.”
“Get him and turn him into a battle zombie. We can strip him of his memories.” A ruthless light flashed through Jiang Kui’s eyes.
……
“Where’s the core essence of sequence gone?” Meng Wang looked blankly at Lu Yun.
“I put it away, I can slowly refine it later. Help me save someone!” Lu Yun ground his teeth. “Haidong Lin and everyone with the Sea Emperor! They must be brought here!”
He’d felt unsettled the moment he took the core essence; there was a nagging sense that he’d forgotten something. After repeated calculations, he realized that he had a weakness in the form of Haidong Lin.
The man would never reveal Lu Yun’s movements or any information about him, but neither was torture a method of choice among great experts. Outright memory removal was the trend.
“Ah… wait, forget it. We’re too late,” Lu Yun sighed.
Meng Wang’s expression shifted as well, he shook his head with dejection. He’d also wanted to seek out the Sea Emperor and bring them into the world of sequence, but the arrival of the twentieth level sequence zombie had caught him completely off guard. He only had time to bring in Lu Yun to refine the core essence.
“This is my oversight,” Lu Yun gnashed his teeth. “We wouldn’t have any of these problems if I’d used my strongest methods at the start to kill Jiang Kui’s primary body!”
He immediately derived cause and effect with formula dao. The defeated, yet alive Jiang Kui had once laid eyes on Lu Yun, Haidong Lin, and Chu Xingran. With Jiang Kui’s level of intelligence, he would raise the issue and take action if there was even a hint of possibility.
What Lu Yun had displayed in the yin tomb had been so flabbergasting that his first candidate for a native refining the world of sequence wasn’t the original emperor, but Lu Yun.
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
The void shook with renewed violence as the zombie redoubled its efforts. Cracks in the world barrier widened and the speed of their recovery slowed.
“You guys should go!” Lu Yun summoned the Bridge of Forgetfulness with a wave. It led to an unknown destination. “This is a collision between two civilizations of different realms. Your karmic ties to this realm have ended!”
Ao Qin and Chu Xingran looked at each other, then nodded at the same time. The look in Chu Xingran’s eyes hardened and he took out a green bead the size of a thumb.
“A complete enigma stone vein is sealed inside. It’s up to you whether or not you can transplant it successfully.” He set foot onto the bridge and left without a glance back.
