Necropolis Immortal

Eyes widened accusingly, Jin Naluo glared at Lu Yun.

"Then why'd you dump this mess in my lap? Use one of your replicas to run the Immortal Pagoda!" he snapped.

"It's not like you haven't gained anything for your efforts." Lu Yun grinned. "You've used the pagoda's resources to temper your Bloodpool Mountain and increased the strength at your command by thirty percent. Look at you being all put out when you've benefited this much."

Jin Naluo wordlessly shut his mouth.

"I've taken the bridge back, but you've pretty much fully refined the key to the Hongmeng Tower. You won't die if you don't go looking for death." Lu Yun's replica turned back into a tiny soybean with a shake of his body.

Jin Naluo rubbed his nose. "So the little guy who once threatened me into an alliance is now able to lecture me to my face? …but my Bloodpool Mountain has indeed grown stronger, heh. I need to keep this tangible benefit close to me."

He started cackling with satisfaction; he hadn't been on the short end of the stick with recent events.

……

Hopeless Major.

Five hellfires blazed fiercely in the Truefire World cauldron, replacing the flame that'd previously powered it. After devouring the cauldron's original fire, the flames of the Sanguine and Abyssal Hells began to resuscitate and truly take shape.

It appeared that apart from being a tremendous pill cauldron, the Truefire World also possessed the ability to nurture flame. Even hellfire could be nourished into recovery within it.

The two Scrolls of Shepherding Immortals gradually melded into one through Lu Yun's continuous efforts. Rays of gentle light emanated from it, casting the scroll with incomparably holy light.

"It's the presence of God!" murmured the little fox when she looked upon the changing scroll. "What is God's background? What does he have to do with the Hongmeng?"

Qing Yu frowned slightly and thought over the matter.

"God is now a guardian of the immortal dao. Of the former nine sacred lands in the chaos, the four origin sacred lands… No, not origin. The character they used is a homophone for 'qi', which was their proper name. The four qi sacred lands entered the great wilderness through the origin divine—er, qi divine, and stole God's opportunity." She started speaking at a more rapid clip. "God wasn't behind the five Exalted Divines either. They were created through another outside force to dominate the divine race!

"The four qi elements and cycle of five elements have always opposed each other, each striving to establish themselves as the legitimate building blocks of life. The qi divine and the five Exalted Divines on the altars have always fought over rule of the divine race."

She stopped at this point; none of this was a coincidence.

"The nine sacred lands of the chaos… are the pawns of the nine inconceivably powerful existences in the Hongmeng." Lu Yun suddenly opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of putrid air. "If my guess is correct, the Metal Potentate who took away Brother Jin is one of the nine!"

With the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals in a new prototype form, Lu Yun speculated that it wasn't a dead treasure, that it'd once been alive and a heavyweight of the fourth realm just like Quiet.

It'd suffered heavy injuries and fallen to the Hongmeng, whereupon the World King found it. But since it wasn't complete, it couldn't deploy its full strength and Quiet had easily cut it apart. Its two halves coming back together made it the true Scroll of Shepherding Immortals and an ultimate treasure that rivaled Quiet.

However, its treasure spirit had completely vanished, so it lacked the spirituality that Quiet possessed.

Qing Yu knew all this, which was why she'd said that this scroll only possessed the form. The lack of its treasure spirit meant that it would always remain incomplete.

"God was once the treasure spirit within, a titan of the fourth realm!" Lu Yun breathed out slowly.

"I have another speculation," Qing Yu spoke after brief contemplation. "The ten experts who created the Ten Valleys of Evil have all vanished. I highly suspect that God created Origin World.

"The gods of the five elements and gods of the qi elements should all be descended from God's power. Also, the nine worlds within the Nineworld Origin Diagram should be five from the cycle of five elements and four from the four qi elements!"

Having personally experienced the Nineworld Origin Cannon, Qing Yu was able to use formula dao to determine the energy structure of the Nineworld Origin Diagram.

Lu Yun nodded in agreement.

"There are eleven titans in the Hongmeng beyond ninth step king, perhaps they have something to do with God as well," the little fox added. "The Metal Potentate you just mentioned, for instance."

"Reporting in to the eminent one!" The Soulmask King's voice suddenly traveled in from outside the door.

"Yes, Soulmask King?" Qing Yu quickly stood up. The Soulmask, Yin Yang, and Acclaim Kings had stood firm by her side in her time of need and protected Lu Yun and Miao. She would never neglect them and personally greeted the Soulmask King's abrupt visit.

Soulmask scrupulously abided by her duties and didn't become arrogant from the show of favor. On the contrary, her expression was very grim.

"Origin World is here again and demands that you return the World King's Scroll of Shepherding Immortals."

"I haven't kicked in their door for what they've done, but here they are again! Do they really think I'm such an easy target?!" Qing Yu flew into a rage. They were back for a second round when she was yet to bring a reckoning down on Origin World?? She almost burst out laughing from anger.

"Ahem!" Soulmask coughed and continued with resignation, "They probably think you executed the Profound King and punished those who rebelled. To them, Hopeless Major is falling apart. They don't know that you pardoned him and won over everyone instead. We are now more united than ever before.

"Ninth step Autumn King of Origin World arrived a while ago to poach our Daredevil King. Daredevil fooled him and trapped him in the Nethersoul Formation instead." Soulmask repressed her amusement.

The Daredevil King was one of the ten who'd rebelled, but later felt remorse and didn't attack Qing Yu with the Profound King and others. If Qing Yu had truly wanted to pronounce a sentence on him, he wouldn't deserve death. However, he'd be harshly punished, stripped of his authority, and locked up.

Instead, he remained as daredevil as his namesake, as if nothing had happened.

General sentiment had been that Qing Yu was only pardoning them on the surface, that she'd take action against them in secret. But when things remained quiet in the major after so many days, the insurgents fully relaxed and fell under Qing Yu's banner.

"The Autumn King?" Qing Yu started, then nodded. "Keep him there for now, don't let him get away. As for the Origin representatives… send them off with some random paintings."

Lu Yun had returned the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals to its origin and erased the World King's nascent spirit brand. What lunacy was this about handing it back?

"Random paintings?" Soulmask blinked rapidly. "They say that if it's not the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals, they'll impose sanctions on Hopeless Major along with the other valleys."

"Let them." Qing Yu didn't care at all.

"Your Eminence, I think this is the time for us to display our might," Soulmask countered. "If the World King can bring the Nineworld Origin Diagram to our heartland, why can't you take the Netherdark Formation to theirs?"