Nothing could forever remain a secret; word of the seed of nothing swiftly traveled throughout the fourth realm. All this time, countless fourth realm experts had entered the Hongmeng and the world of immortals in search of the seed of nothing. An uproar engulfed the realm, one that not even Meng Wang could settle down.
Unbidden, he looked at Mount Astronomia. Upon it, Qing Buyi swept a casual glance in the ancestral planet’s direction and continued teaching his nephew.
……
“Something big is about to happen in the fourth realm.” In his two hundredth year of cultivation while sitting cross-legged in the darkness on a Dao Flower, Lu Yun opened his eyes and looked in a certain direction.
“I say, Lu Yun, can’t you stay focused on cultivation? Who cares what happens in the fourth realm?” Highly bored, the Demonic Vine rolled her eyes and turned to Jian Bu’er. “I bet you this kid doesn’t have anything good in mind. He brought Haidong Lin with him last time and lost him. He’s got us with him now, does this mean he wants to kill us using someone else’s hand?”
The Demonic Vine had been sentient for hundreds of millions of years, but her body was still that of a child’s. She glanced at Jian Bu’er’s slovenly figure and patted her flat chest with dejection. “When will I grow up?”
Jian Bu’er pulled her close and tousled her sleek locks into a bird’s nest before saying with satisfaction, “Stay focused on cultivating. You’re the source of demonic dao and there’s orders of darkness in your dao. It’s highly beneficial for you to cultivate here. See, don’t you seem to have grown one year older?”
Jian Bu’er wiped his nose on the back of his hand and transferred the yellowish-orange liquid onto the Demonic Vine’s clean robes. She fidgeted uncomfortably before settling down again.
“His cultivation level doesn’t seem to have changed in two hundred years. Is he sitting here for cultivation or not?” The Demonic Vine tilted her head up at Lu Yun. The darkness was pitch black for everyone else, even to Lu Yun and Jian Bu’er’s eyes. To the vine, however, it was as clear as day.
Just as Jian Bu’er had said, demonic dao was a great dao of darkness. Apart from Lu Yun’s hell dao, it was the dao closest to darkness. The Demonic Vine was the source of the fourth realm’s demonic dao, and all demonic dao was in turn derived from her, including the dao from the demon of immortal dao.
Lu Yun had sat in the same place for two hundred years without making any progress, but the Demonic Vine’s strength had grown by leaps and bounds. She’d been at eighth level wood dao sequence, but now she exceeded Jian Bu’er at twelfth level sequence.
“Eep!” she shrieked and looked apologetically at Jian Bu’er.
“What is it?” he asked curiously when he sensed a tiny ripple from the vine.
“I’ve just accessed thirteen levels of sequence!” she responded blankly. “Should I switch to immortal dao now and transfer the thirteen levels of wood dao sequence to immortal dao sequence?”
“Not yet,” Jian Bu’er chuckled wryly. He was feeling more than ever that Lu Yun was cultivating here not because he wanted to, but because he wanted the vine to cultivate here.
The Demonic Vine had accessed five levels of sequence in two hundred years not only because they were in the land of darkness, but also thanks to the Dark Dao Flower that Lu Yun was sitting on. He’d commanded the flower to bloom with the full might of its dao, and the power of darkness within it had fully melded into the gloom around them. The three were surrounded by a formless boundary, making it impossible for the endarkened and cultivators from the outside realm to discover them.
After Qing Buyi’s rampage two hundred years ago in which he suppressed the Moran Clan and eliminated the Esteemed Nebula, none of the cultivators from the outside realm dared set foot into the Land of Reincarnation. They didn’t dare approach the land of darkness either, much less the primary worlds. They were deathly afraid of irritating the terrifying fiend and causing their own doom.
They could wait eight hundred years.
“Transfer your levels to immortal dao when you reach eighteen of them. The immortal dao is so strong that it’ll vault you through nineteen when you do so.” Jian Bu’er smoothed back the Demonic Vine’s crazy hair. “What’s that kid doing?” He frowned and observed Lu Yun with his consciousness.
The young man was indeed cultivating; immortal force surged and ebbed at every second in his body and hell dao operated at a furious speed. But his cultivation showed no signs of improvement. He seemed… to be waiting for something.
“I’m waiting for someone to make trouble for me.” Lu Yun opened his eyes with a frown. “I set up a massive trap for someone the day I accessed sequence, but he didn’t come.
“I later guessed that he’d been scared off because Qing Buyi was already in the fourth realm, but he’s still not showing himself even after I’ve come to the darkness to wait for him.”
Lu Yun had kept Moran Dongning’s words in mind, that someone would come make trouble for him when he set foot into sequence.
“What if you activate another level of sequence?” Jian Bu’er blinked. “Maybe that will bring him here.”
“I’ve already accessed six, but there’s still no sign of him,” Lu Yun responded dejectedly and released his strength. He’d been at third level sequence, but was now at six.
Jian Bu’er’s jaw dropped and he rubbed his eyes fiercely, even though that gesture was useless in the dark.
“You accessed three levels of sequence in two hundred years… how did you do it?” he asked, dumbfounded.
“If the Demonic Vine can access five in her demonic dao, it’s no big deal for me to access three with hell dao,” Lu Yun shrugged. Hell dao was part of immortal dao, so the sequence levels of hell dao were also those of immortal dao.
“Forget it, I’m not waiting any longer!” He got to his feet. “Let’s go take a look at Myriadsea World. I think Haidong Lin is there right now.”
“He’s not dead?” Jian Bu’er raised an eyebrow.
“He shouldn’t be… He’s more than just a passing acquaintance with me, so the Corpse Refiners will want to use him as bait.” Lu Yun thought for a moment and sent his consciousness into the Disordered Hell.
Xie Tianxun sat morosely on the ground, unmoving and unspeaking. Meanwhile, Moran Dongning jumped with excitement.
“I got it! So that’s what the kid cultivates, no wonder he’s stronger than my brother!” Moran Dongning offered up a booklet like she was presenting a great treasure. Lu Yun paused, finding the girl to be looking a bit familiar…
“The little nun?” He thought of the little nun that’d abruptly appeared and suddenly vanished one day. She had the worshipful expression on her face!
“Eh?” Moran Dongning blinked and became uneasy. She said with embarrassment, “So you found out…”
Lu Yun smacked his forehead, already guessing what she was doing here. When his future self journeyed to the end of reincarnation and sought to enter the thirty-fourth loop, she’d blocked his way. As the Time Guard, she was immensely tired of the monotony in which she could lose her life at any second.
Hence, she joined Lu Yun. As for being worshipful, it had nothing to do with his performance in the Dusk Province arena. It was simply for his ability to travel through reincarnation. He was the first to ever do so!
“Alright, I should’ve realized it was you a long time ago,” he chuckled. Moran Dongning’s prank on Mo Yi’s senior sister was relief for both herself and Mo Yi. Who knew what the old nun might’ve done otherwise?
“This is for you!” She raised the booklet again. “I’ve looked through it, there’s nothing wrong with the methods. This kid won’t dare lie to me!” She looked at Xie Tianxun, who looked back with a rueful expression.
“The Kinship of Heaven and Earth?” Lu Yun raised a brow at the title. [1]
The written language of the outside realm was different from that of the fourth realm or world of immortals, but Moran Dongning had already translated it.
“This is a method of the outside realm?” Lu Yun asked.
She nodded. “And it’s a very powerful one on par with my clan’s. It’s said that a very strong powerhouse invented it a very, very long time ago. He didn’t have disciples or descendants, so his good friend buried it in his tomb when he died. Xie Tianxun dug up his tomb and brought the method back out into the world!”
A method created by a powerhouse without disciples or descendants naturally wouldn’t come with any restrictions. Lu Yun quietly put it away; he could tell that Moran Dongning had practiced it as well. She was stronger than before and had accessed the second level of dark dao sequence.
Unexpected results could occur when two different methods met each other.
“Right, who’s the person you said would make trouble for me when I accessed sequence?” Lu Yun asked.
1. This is a play off The Kinship of the Three, also known as The Cantong Qi, the earliest book on alchemy in China. The Cantong Qi is concerned with Cosmology, Daoism, and Alchemy, and joins them together as a single doctrine. ☜
etvolare’s Thoughts
Your mom.
Okay put down your pitchforks, everyone.
