Lu Yun naturally wasn’t going to tell them the truth, and the projection of the Dao Flower provided him perfect cover. To lure in the Ancient Tree of Life, he needed not only the Key of Life, but also a great formation built with immortal crystals.
According to Ashu’s estimations, the formation would cost him anywhere from two hundred to two hundred and fifty trillion crystals. He’d splurged three hundred and sixty eight trillion to be on the safe side. That was what he’d been earning all those crystals for!
Spanning the entire garden, the formation he’d created was difficult to spot. Every shoot of grass, every tree, and every particle was part of it. Once activated, the runes would come together to form a great formation.
Lu Yun couldn’t afford to let people realize that he’d set up a formation with more than three hundred trillion crystals. All eyes in the world were now on Dusk Province; nothing he did would escape their notice.
If someone noticed what he was actually doing, deathsworn would immediately appear to destroy the formation, even if they had to self-detonate. The surviving members of House Donglin would stop at nothing to disrupt his plans.
Nurturing the Dao Flower in the garden, on the other hand, was in line with majority interest. As long as the projection remained in Dusk and thus under their scrutiny, they wouldn’t have to worry about it, and they might stand a chance to take it for themselves.
Lu Yun had already placed the Dao Flower into the garden.
……
Seven days!
That was all it took to complete construction on this spectacular, glorious garden. Located to the west of Dao City, the garden spanned a hundred kilometers in width. However, it was far bigger on the inside—hundreds of thousands of kilometers bigger, to be exact. Bigger than even Dusk Province, which was only forty thousand kilometers across and couldn’t have possibly housed the garden.
“That’s no regular crystal garden… Lu Yun’s set up a formation. Is he trying to refine the projection of the Dao Flower in the garden?!” Many immortals realized that they’d been fooled only when the unseen formation surged with power upon the garden’s completion.
Of course, very few had dared to intervene during the construction, what with the connate-grade Formation Orb and the restriction against immortals in Dusk as lines of defense. And now that the garden was done, the most they could do was complain.
Within Dusk Province, even crippled origin dao immortals wouldn’t be able to do much unless restricted-level powerhouses made a move, such as the scarlet apes of the North Sea, Yin Jiuyiong of Truespirit Major, or the great fur seal of the West Sea.
……
“What is he doing? Why would he use so many crystals to build a garden?” Outside Dusk Province, Dongfang Hao stared at the garden with the Sword of Chaos in hand and frowned. His keen instincts told him that Lu Yun was planning something. “Is this for that Qing Yu’s tribulation?”
His constitution and nascent spirit had been thoroughly tempered and completely settled by now. Though he’d once literally been under Lu Yun’s foot, had his tribulation essence and Sword of Slaughter stolen from beneath his nose, and even been tricked by the cancelled bounty on the Dongfang Clan, Dongfang Hao’s resilience bounced him back to his former composure. Once he recovered, very few things could undermine his iron will.
He’d paid a visit to the border of Dusk Province to observe Lu Yun and figure out what he was up to this time.
The garden comprised of more than three hundred trillion crystals had taken the world by storm. Many had come to assess the garden for themselves upon its completion, including the two scarlet apes from the North Sea. However, they remained outside Dusk Province, just like Dongfang Hao.
Four giant swords isolated Dusk Province like enormous doors and a great formation pierced through the sky, sending endless sword energy around the province. It was the formation diagram that Lu Yun had gained from the Exalted Divine Tomb!
Lu Yun had burned a dragon vein to activate its power. He wouldn’t have minded using the formation to ambush his enemies, if circumstances were different, but not now—the Ancient Tree of Life was crucial to lifting the curse in Qing Yu’s body. No hiccups would be tolerated today, which was why he manifested the sword formation to deter potential troublemakers.
……
“That old ancestor… is in Dusk Province?!” Goldenlight yelped and almost wet himself in his hurry to run away.
Clank!
Silverlight knocked him down with a swing of her iron rod.
“What are you afraid of?! Back then, only that honorable one was willing to take in the monster spirits and teach us the immortal techniques. As long as we don’t make a move against Dusk Province, he won’t do anything to us,” Silverlight snorted. “This formation… Lu Yun’s target is the Ancient Tree of Life.”
Goldenlight turned to his dao partner with shock. Silverlight was the better of the two of them in both strength and experience. Light glittering in her eyes, she’d recognized the formation in the crystal garden immediately.
“I was just a lowly monster spirit cultivating under the guidance of master, but master still taught me everything without holding anything back. That primeval formation requires the Key of Life, has Lu Yun gained it already?” Silverlight looked on curiously.
……
Whoosh!
A beam of emerald light soared into the sky, puncturing a hole into the dome above Dusk Province.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Three explosions traveled from the hole in the sky and black smoke billowed out, enveloping all of Dusk Province.
“What is he doing? Is he trying to destroy the province?!” Everyone could tell that the black smoke was yin energy—an endless supply of yin energy! Such energy should only exist in ancient tombs to raise dead spirits, but Lu Yun had created an endless supply of it to cover the entire Dusk Province!
Before they could come to any other conclusion, the yin energy vanished with a wave of Lu Yun’s hand, sucked into another space. Then, an altar of one thousand kilometers across fell from the hole in the sky, smashing heavily into the crystal garden.
Blinding emerald light exploded from the altar, but nothing else was forthcoming as the garden spanned hundreds of thousands of kilometers. The addition of an enormous altar raised no further ripples.
“That’s… a liver!” someone shouted. “There’s a liver on the altar! What’s going on here?!”
The emerald altar was enormous, and the liver was just as large! Did it belong to a giant beast? How big must the beast be when the liver itself was five hundred kilometers wide?
……
“An organ of the world… Dammit, Lu Yun’s after the organs of the world!!” Dongfang Hao gnashed his teeth, but there was nothing he could do at the moment. Dusk Province was under the protection of the sword formation. Even his master would be cut to pieces if he attempted to force entry.
Boom!
A fourth and final explosion rang out as something resembling the roots of a plant drilled out of the hole in the sky.
