Purple energy spanning four hundred kilometers, while not the most impressive sight to make history, was by no means trivial either. But for someone of Lu Yun’s status and talent, such a phenomenon of ascension was indeed remarkably unimpressive.
However—
……
Inside the kingdom of hell.
The projections of the six paths of reincarnation covered all of the netherworld. While her kingdom hadn’t returned to its Primeval Era peak, it now surpassed any single major in the world of immortals. Even the infinite black void surrounding this world was illuminated by the projections.
Therein the darkness lay a phantasmal mirage that appeared as a giant prison filled with shackles and instruments of torture. It was, however, devoid of incarcerated prisoners. They’d all entered the kingdom and been cleansed by Hell Flowers to become residents of hell.
That endless abyss was a fragment of hell, the hell from the Primeval Era of human dao.
Lu Yun had given up being master of reincarnation, but that didn’t mean he’d relinquished the power of reincarnation. What he’d relinquished was… hell itself!
As a living being, to be the supreme judge of hell, to determine another’s virtuous merit and retribution, to reward good and punish evil… Such power should belong to the heavenly dao alone, not to a single person!
Like Ge Long had once said, heavenly tribulations shouldn’t be controlled by anyone in particular, or it would become a fount of disaster for immortal dao as a whole. Likewise, one person shouldn’t rule over reincarnation by themselves, or it would bring nothing but misfortune to all living beings.
In the past, mankind’s tragedy and hell’s destruction… had certainly not been accidents.
In this moment, Lu Yun’s phenomenon of ascension enveloped the entire kingdom of hell, his being bathed in the power of reincarnation.
The strange giant snake, Carmine Eternal, had reduced herself to a small snake about thirty centimeters long and was lazily lounging about on the ground.
Glancing up at the phenomenon, she gasped in astonishment. “He gave up his sovereignty over reincarnation, the right to dictate good and evil in the world! What amazing conviction and courage. If the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak had shown the same resolve in the past, he might still be alive.”
Whoosh!
Lu Yun’s nascent spirit suddenly flew out of his consciousness and merged with the phenomenon in hell’s sky. At this time, he discovered with great shock that… his mind encompassed everything within hell.
At first, the kingdom had been administered by the Tome of Life and Death. But now, it’d become Lu Yun’s own, as though it were his second replica.
Unlike Xing Chen, his first replica, the kingdom of the netherworld could only remain as it was and couldn’t take human form. But here, Lu Yun could do as his heart desired, ruling over all like a god.
Most importantly, his nascent spirit had transformed into the six paths of reincarnation. As long as it existed, he would never die! Even if his body was destroyed, he could be reborn into a new body through the power of reincarnation.
The qi inside him quickly began evolving into an immortal’s immortal force. His strength soared, overtaking the heights he’d attained when reinforced by the Demonic Sovereign Cauldron.
Once a cultivator, he was now a true immortal! A genuine immortal through and through!
It all felt somewhat surreal. At long last, he’d become a fabled immortal of legend.
On Earth, he’d been nothing more than an ordinary mortal among the masses, an insignificant tomb raider walking the world of darkness, never to see the light of day. But in an unexpected turn of events, he’d arrived in the world of immortals and ascended to immortality himself!
Now that I’m an immortal, can I still go back?
The thought suddenly popped into his mind… to go back home, to return to Earth!
Though he didn’t have any family left on Earth, and the master who’d taught him everything he knew had passed away many years ago… he still had a big group of brothers and friends waiting for him.
“Congratulations, milord. Felicitations, milord!” Ge Long flew unsteadily his way, his face devoid of color. In his current sorry state, he could easily be mistaken for a skeleton, and his entire being exuded a dense aura of death. Such was the result of seizing the heavenly judgment by force and merging with it; it’d almost cost him his life.
“Mhmm.” Lu Yun nodded. With a wave of his hand, boundless vitality surged from the netherworld and gushed into Ge Long’s body. But as though he were a sieve, the vitality instantly dissipated, no matter how much was poured into him.
“Worry not, milord. This old servant knows my situation… no amount of life force can restore this kind of injury.” He chuckled mischievously, “Hehe, give me enough time and I’ll recover on my own.”
He pointed at the small scarlet snake on the ground. “Just like her, external forces can’t heal our wounds.”
His injury was nothing more than a relapse. He’d suffered backlash from the world when he melded with the tribulation, reopening old wounds in the process rather than sustaining new ones.
“What about this then?” Lu Yun flipped his palm over and summoned a golden fruit into his hand—a karmic fruit!
After the Sal Tree of Life and Death had evolved into the Karmic Tree, the fruits it bore were purer than ever and hellfire had disengaged from it to burn across the entire kingdom of hell, forming an immense ocean of fire that bore the weight of its civilization.
Lu Yun couldn’t see what lay under the sea of flames, but he was certain that whatever was there wouldn’t be any weaker than the former Tree of Life and Death. It was something that could fuel hellfire into a blazing conflagration.
“A karmic fruit!” Ge Long’s eyes lit up. The small snake resting on the ground also looked up and considered the fruit, but ultimately shook her head.
“Milord, I… can’t handle something this powerful in my current state!” The old servant smiled ruefully. “If I eat a karmic fruit now, the only possible outcome for me would be to explode from the surplus of energy.”
“Very well.” With a nod, Lu Yun waved his hand.
The Karmic Tree previously rooted inside him flew out, then slowly drifted down and transplanted itself into the ground. In the blink of an eye, the sapling that had been no more than one meter tall stretched into a towering tree that blotted out the sky and loomed over the land like a great mountain. A pale golden sheen emerged from its leafy boughs and flowed into hell.
Cheers rose from the denizens of the netherworld when the faint radiance reached them; they’d previously existed in a state similar to Lu Yun’s Infernum. While genuine living creatures, their talents and potential were adversely affected, so much so that many among them couldn’t even cultivate. However, this pale golden light had abruptly freed them from these restraints, enabling them to cultivate and even become immortals!
Within hell, the immortal dao flickered into existence, slowly forming a connection to the outside world and developing into a complete immortal dao.
Ge Long and the small snake wore expressions of pure bliss. Clearly enough, they too had benefited immensely from the Karmic Tree taking root inside hell. The scarlet snake, in particular, made great effort to slither its way up the tree, stopping on top of a branch and falling deeply asleep.
“Alright, you stay here and recuperate… But don’t fall idle, guide their cultivation. I need to establish an army worth its salt, one that can conquer the world of immortals and even campaign beyond!” Lu Yun suddenly urged, his expression solemn as never before.
“This humble servant obeys!” Seeing Lu Yun’s expression, Ge Long also became solemn.
