The true Dao Flower had descended!
Lu Yun could tell that this Dao Flower wasn’t the one bearing the path of cultivation, but the actual one that bore the immortal dao! The flower of the path of cultivation had transformed into a delicate crystalline petal and returned to the Dao Flower proper.
The actual Dao Flower!
The turn of events caught even Lu Yun off guard, but he immediately pivoted into appropriate measures without delay. All of Dusk Province shook as four giant doors of swords materialized to guard the province.
……
“According to legend, the primordial divine court lured down the Dao Flower and erased its runes when supplanting the immortal dao,” a voice rang from outside Dusk, then continued in a frantic shout, “Are you trying to do the same, Lu Yun?!”
“Do you even have a brain?” Lu Yun looked over his shoulder at the man. “My dao partner is the Dao Sovereign, a personage approved by the Dao Flower itself. Why would I go to such lengths to topple the immortal dao?”
Boom!
The Dao Flower trembled as its layers of petals unfurled to grace Dusk Province.
“Is he… establishing a sacred land again?” many clamored in shock and disbelief.
Lu Yun had only summoned the projection of the Dao Flower in his last failed attempt to establish his dao, but this time, the actual flower itself had descended and was blooming in Dusk Province! Waves of rich immortal energy washed over the land.
“Look at the stamen of the flower,” someone shouted. “Is that… a palace?”
Spectators focused their gazes to take a closer look at the center of the flower, seeing a crystalline palace emerge from it. Its size and materials were impressively unknown, and the exquisite craftsmanship was beyond the abilities of this world. The palace seemed to have been born from nature rather than built by living beings.
“What is it? A treasure, a real palace, or… some sort of heritage?” From their vantage points in their heavenly palaces, the celestial emperors of the world watched everything playing out in Dusk Province, their gazes penetrating through layers of space.
……
After a lifetime of torment, the poison curse in Qing Yu’s body had finally been dispersed by the lineup of treasures and refinement. Luminous and incandescent, she looked up as layers of dao light washed over her and the radiant palace floated down to hover over her head.
Slowly, the Dao Flower faded away and the dazzling palace grew increasingly concrete. Compelled to open her arms, Qing Yu incorporated the palace into her body.
Momentary scuffles broke out on the ground and air as everyone wanted a piece of a treasure from the Dao Flower. Even the demon god flickered into existence, but all action was quickly quelled as the entire province entered lockdown. The four evil coffins re-emerged from the void and soared into the sky, arranging themselves into a square that slowly overlapped with the four sword doors isolating Dusk Province.
Clank!
The four swords came howling through the sky and shattered the four coffins. Tremendous killing power suffused the sky as giant swords of cyan, white, red, and black materialized in the air and became one with the sword doors, turning the sword formation into reality.
All living souls in Dusk prostrated themselves on the ground to worship the four swords!
At the border of Dusk, Sword Divine immediately took off from his hiding spot. He didn’t dare linger any longer. He could tell that all four of the swords were much more powerful than the Sword of Chaos. Even if he found its heart and recovered the Sword of Heritage and Sword of Slaughter, the Sword of Chaos would still fall short by a great margin!
The four swords respected not the heavenly dao, nor life and death, and they obeyed not the cycle of reincarnation!
As soon as the four swords became one with the sword formation, silence descended upon the world and a great consciousness receded from its atmosphere, shifting its attention away from Dusk Province.
The two scarlet apes of the North Sea shuddered and whipped around, leaving without another thought.
……
“If the four swords were buried inside the coffins, then what was the giant skeleton back in the Vastspace Mountain?” Lu Yun muttered at the sword formation looming over Dusk.
Both the corpses and the Blood Sea buried within the coffins had disappeared, replaced by the four giant swords. It wasn’t time for him to follow that line of thinking, though; almost all of his attention was focused on Qing Yu.
Once the pristine palace had been incorporated into her body, Lu Yun could sense something unusually familiar about her. It was as if they were a match made in heaven, the fates themselves having decreed them to be together!
“Heavenly palace… and the kingdom of hell!”
Enlightenment suddenly struck him!
Traditionally speaking, a palace governed the heavens and a manor governed the earth. That manor had now become his kingdom in hell, and the two came together to form a complete cycle of reincarnation.
They hadn’t been created by anyone, but were born out of the natural laws between heaven and earth… the Tome of Life and Death! Both the heavenly palace and the manor had been created by the mysterious book.
Lu Yun had declined to rule over life and death or determine the good and sins of all life solely at his own discretion. This was why the heavenly palace and manor had emerged, transforming into two worlds defined by certain laws.
The kingdom of hell had evolved from the damaged hell of human dao, while the heavenly palace was but a symbolic structure drafted by the Dao Flower. The real world of the heavenly palace had yet to come to fruition; that would have to wait until Qing Yu’s ascension to immortality a month later!
Once the world of the heavenly palace was established, the heavenly courts of the nine majors, ten lands, four immortal seas, and four seas would become nothing but poor imitations of the real thing. Even the primordial immortal court would be considered illegitimate if they returned.
Realization of the gravity of these developments dawned on Lu Yun and Qing Yu, and the latter turned to flash a sweet smile.
She’d never been so carefree since the moment of her birth. Constant nightmares dogging her every thought, House Donglin and the poison within her had drowned her in endless anguish and despair, making even breathing a taxing ordeal.
Then she’d met Lu Yun, someone who’d breathed fresh air into her life and remained by her side through everything. Her nightmares had finally been dispelled today, and she felt lighter than she’d ever felt before.
Lu Yun landed in front of Qing Yu and pulled her into his arms.
The strange phenomena between heaven and earth slowly dissipated, and the Key of Life returned to the Ancient Tree of Life, while the Fusang Purewood returned to the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals. Zhao Wushuang collected the essence of the Four Guardians, leaving only the four pearls circling around Qing Yu and Lu Yun.
“Hey, hey, hey! What do you think you’re doing, you brat?!” a strident voice interrupted the couple’s moment of shared joy. Qing Buyi couldn’t not say anything when he saw Lu Yun embracing his baby sister. The two of them weren’t dao partners yet! Before Qing Buyi could step in and break them apart, Chen Xiao hauled him back.
“What now?!” Qing Buyi glared at him.
“Sever your cultivation now,” Chen Xiao raised a brow, “and start anew!”
