The immortal dao was Qing Yu’s. Although Lu Yun was also called the master of immortal dao, his “master” meant headmaster of the Dao Academy. His ambitions had never rested with the immortal dao.
Now that the world of immortal dao sequence was fully established, he was the first person to open the door to immortal dao sequence. In doing so, he blazed the path for others to follow and immortal dao was finally complete, ready to enter a stage of fast paced development.
It was also time for Lu Yun to pursue his own dao. The land of darkness—hell dao!
Qing Buyi was overseeing Mount Astronomia for five hundred years, which meant Lu Yun had that duration to grow. It was time to focus on himself as he’d spent the last two thousand years concentrating on immortal dao and dispelling the darkness around the mountain.
Since Qing Buyi was here, Lu Yun could wholeheartedly throw himself into pursuit of his own dao.
“Dumping your work onto others again?” Moran Dongning teased when she saw Lu Yun’s current state.
“What again? I’m not dumping my work onto anyone!” Lu Yun glared and continued pompously, “I am going in search of my own dao. Those of the fourth realm are much stronger than me. There are so many that I’ve yet to meet or even learn of! They—er, they… um…”
He petered out because yes, indeed, he was again leaving his work for others. The fourth realm was different from the Hongmeng. When he defeated the eleven potentates and pierced through the Hongmeng barrier, he’d become the greatest in the third realm. No one dared do anything to him or his people after his departure, something that still held true when the little fox fought for the Hongmeng Tower. Powerhouses of the Hongmeng hadn’t forced her into dire straits or really tried to kill her.
Things were different now given the countless heavyweights in the fourth realm—there were even old monsters from the era of the original Hongmeng! Experts beyond ninth level sequence were as common as fleas, and there were some that’d fought against the original emperor and attempted to overthrow the Hongmeng’s rule.
There were even mysterious characters who’d existed before the original Hongmeng. They’d been fine keeping to themselves and staying removed from the world. Such ancient personages had turned a deaf ear to the disturbance at Mount Astronomia and the Luminaries before that, but now… a world of sequence had appeared.
Although it was the world of immortal dao sequence, they could absolutely claim it for themselves if they wished. They could refine the world with their own great dao. While that wouldn’t change the dao sequence within the world, that would make them the master of immortal dao. The great dao in their body would turn into immortal dao, which was a vastly different concept from relinquishing their old path to become an immortal.
If it wasn’t for Qing Buyi’s presence, they would’ve allied together long ago.
It was easy enough to imagine the level of sheer mayhem that would engulf the fourth realm after five hundred years. Attackers from the outside realm would invade and local factions would rebel. It would be a scene of domestic disruption and foreign aggression, an extremely unsettling and precarious time.
Five hundred years wasn’t much to the fourth realm or heavyweights of the outside realm. They regularly spent hundreds or thousands of years in closed door cultivation. Given Qing Buyi’s nature, he would leave without a backward glance after five hundred years.
The tiny anomaly that was Lu Yun had grown into a grain of sand in the river of reincarnation; he’d finally raised a tidal wave that could disrupt the course of the river. The surging waters of destiny and the entire Land of Reincarnation now thundered toward an unknown direction, to an unknown future.
Every step they took now was the future.
This future had only belonged to Lu Yun before, but now it belonged to everything that called this land home. The termination of the loops was both a good and bad thing. The great devastation would never come and the realms would live on forever; there would be no more resets and meaninglessly repeated lives.
It was also possible that this would be their final doom. All would lay in ruins in the end and they would never be reborn again. The darkness would devour them and reincarnation itself.
“Alright, I understand.” Lu Yun scratched his head. While he busied himself with growing stronger over the next five hundred years, so would everyone else commence with their own plans. They would devote themselves to setting up plots and schemes for the great war that would begin at the end of the period.
If Xie Tianxun and the Esteemed Nebula were here, it was highly likely that those from the outside realm would find other ways in and collude with fourth realm natives. After all, Qing Buyi would ignore them if they didn’t cause something like the disturbance from the darkness.
“Are you still going to the land of darkness?” Moran Dongning giggled.
“Yes!” Lu Yun nodded and continued solemnly, “I won’t get stronger if I don’t go. Quick advancement is impossible if I cultivate by the books in the fourth realm! My opportunity lies in the dark and Mo Yi’s already sent me my travel permit.”
A black flower unfurled its petals when he opened his hand. He’d initially thought that Mo Yi had given him this flower so he could use it to influence the core essence of the world of sequence. It wasn’t until later that he realized she’d already known what decision he’d make. This flower was for him to establish the foundations of his dao.
Only the Dark Dao Flower could help him subdue the gloom and turn it into the darkness of hell. There was something else weighing on his mind—Haidong Lin. The Corpse Refiners had taken him and Lu Yun couldn’t determine if the man lived or not. He’d brought Haidong Lin to the secondary worlds and he would save the man no matter what.
Lu Yun would resurrect him even if he retrieved a zombie.
……
Just as Lu Yun readied to enter the darkness, something happened in it. Rays of gold, silver and purple suddenly appeared, dying Mount Astronomia with their radiance.
Sitting cross-legged at the mountain’s peak, Qing Buyi lifted his head and looked at Lu Qing. “Stay back.”
“Uncle…” Lu Qing hesitated, but backed away.
Qing Buyi stood up to regard the three rays of light that slowly converged into three dao palaces.
“Have you still not given up, Esteemed Nebula?” He frowned at the illumination.
“Esteemed Nebula?” came a snort of laughter. “I say, Nebula… you’re at the supreme level. Why have you given yourself an honorific? Are you trying to be different from the rest of us?”
“Hmph!” rang out Esteemed Nebula’s voice. “I will not degrade myself to associate with the likes of you!”
“You won’t associate with the likes of us? That’s strange, I thought you asked us to come here to help you,” sounded a third voice.
“Would you have come if there wasn’t a world of sequence involved?” A vicious edge crept into Esteemed Nebula’s voice.
“You can’t wait even five hundred years?” Qing Buyi frowned tightly at the three dao palaces in the void. The other two were plainly here at Esteemed Nebula’s behest. They wouldn’t even wait five hundred years!
“Everything changes in the blink of an eye in the Land of Reincarnation. Who knows what will happen during this time?” The silver palace trembled as a humanoid figure formed out of it. “I’m not here for the world of sequence. I will leave immediately if you give me what’s left of the dao palaces formed by the six orders of the highest degree.”
