Necropolis Immortal

"It is indeed the dead end." Qing Yu took a deep breath after looking at the road ahead. "An absolute road, a road of death! With our strength, the three of us will only die if we try to barge through it!

"It's not Ghost Dragon behind this… he isn't strong enough to hold us in the palm of his hand like this."

Like she said, Lu Yun, Qing Yu, and the little fox were being toyed with like a cat playing with mice. Death stared at them in the eyes no matter where they looked. All paths led to their demise. The Treasurehunter Rat had dug all of them, but a terrifying existence had taken control of every path and turned them all into dead ends.

Instead of changing the local layout, Ghost Dragon had set a horrific creature at the end. Or, he might be waiting for them himself.

"Come on out, Dragon Butterfly." Lu Yun waved a hand and propelled the six-year-old girl out of the Purple Stellar Mountain.

"What is it?" Having sealed off her senses, Dragon Butterfly opened bleary eyes. She shuddered when she realized where they were. "This is Mount Cloudcover! What are you guys doing here?"

"This is Dragon Butterfly?" Qing Yu and the little fox knew of her existence, but she'd cultivated inside the Purple Stellar Mountain all this time and it was the first time that Lu Yun had summoned her.

Qing Yu's calculations of their future had included her as well.

"You… you…" Dragon Butterfly trembled as she looked at the paths of death around her, not knowing what to do.

"Everyone stay here, I'm going to fetch the thing to resolve these passages of doom." A hazy blue door materialized when Lu Yun turned around; he set foot through it.

The Gates of the Abyss.

Faced with the terrifying sprawl of death, Lu Yun was the only one who could leave through these gates. He wasn't affected by the power of Mount Cloudcover since he possessed the Tome of Life and Death, but the same didn't hold true for the others. They would only set foot onto another path of death even if they walked through the Gates of the Abyss—they wouldn't actually end up leaving the premises.

Lu Yun's temper was growing. Come out and fight! What was this nonsense of batting them around like a toy? Did they think he was an easy target or a pushover?

He didn't bring out the Bridge of Forgetfulness; the bridge was standing guard over the passage to the world of immortals that Hopeless Major had guarded.

……

"That's it? He's left just like that?" Dragon Butterfly looked askance at Qing Yu and the little fox. There was also a Silence and Size Manipulation Talisman on her now, making her the same size as the other two.

"Don't worry, he's just gone to fetch what will resolve the dead ends. He'll be back soon." Qing Yu found Dragon Butterfly's chubby cheeks irresistible and couldn't help but squeeze them. The incarnation of the mighty and noble Redbud dragon wanted to cry.

Mount Cloudcover was strictly forbidden grounds within the Hongmeng. Dragon Butterfly wouldn't dare provoke the entity inside even after she reclaimed her dragon body.

……

A ponderous being in front of Lu Yun jumped up with shock the moment he stepped out of the Gates of the Abyss.

Rumble—

A hundred million kilometers of air shook from surprise as the huge head of a black qilin swung in front of Lu Yun's face. A half eaten carrot dangled out of its mouth.

"Didn't you make it out, kid? What are you doing back here?" The qilin had greatly decreased its size from before. It was standing in front of a spacious clearing that was planted with hundreds of thousands of carrots.

Lu Yun: ……

"Where's Hong?" he asked.

"Hong?" A blank look flashed through the qilin's eyes. "Who's Hong?"

"Forget it." Lu Yun shook his head and leapt into the air, heading for the river of time. He'd left a mark on the qilin last time he was in the lost ancient city, just in case a return trip was necessary some day. Entities on the level of the qilin were unable to detect marks left by the Tome of Life and Death.

This time, Lu Yun returned to the ancient city because he wanted more water from the river of time! He would use the great poison of time to dismantle the path of certain death!

Hadn't the terrifying existence behind Ghost Dragon placed a fearsome creature at the end of the thieves' tunnel? Lu Yun would use time to poison that creature to death!

Even the strongest being of the realm couldn't escape the toxic effects of time.

The river of time flowed quietly through the city, the enormous clock still hanging at its end and its hands whirling around in quiet confusion. Large fish drifted among its currents; they turned a blind eye to Lu Yun now since the same aura from the order of time was also present on him.

These fish were once heavyweights of the Hongmeng who'd cultivated the order of time. They'd been transformed into their current form after a terrifying encounter with misfortune. Lu Yun couldn't tell if their current status was alive or dead.

"Maybe I'll also turn into a large fish one day and end up here." He frowned at the thought.

His order of time stemmed from the combat art of Spacetime Reincarnation that he'd practiced in the world of immortals. The source of this combat art was the ultimate treasure of human dao—the Timelight Tower.

After the akasha ghosts stole the tower's power, they transformed into long-haired monsters that infested the Dao Tree. When Lu Yun obtained their weapon, he was able to derive the reincarnation of space and time, thereby controlling the orders of space and time.

Now that he nurtured the hellfire of order, these two orders very naturally melded into his flame of order. With ten tendrils of order blazing inside his body, the disorderly river of time couldn't harm him.

"Hong!!" He stood over the river and shouted into the void. Though his voice echoed through the air and down the entire river of time, the little girl's figure did not appear.

"What are you doing here again?" A human face suddenly appeared in the void and considered Lu Yun with annoyance.

When Lu Yun saw it clearly, his heart slowed for half a beat. Too beautiful. Though he saw beautiful women such as the little fox and Qing Yu on a daily basis, he was still stunned by the wonder of this face when he saw it.

"Who are you?" He quickly recovered his shaken dao heart. "Where's Hong?"

"I'm the city lord of this ancient city, Hong's not here." The face frowned. "I would've killed you if not for Hong stopping me last time. How dare you come again?!"

"Because I possess the order of time?" Lu Yun raised a brow and subconsciously looked at the river beneath his feet.

"I'll let you go for now since you're not yet a king. This will become your home the moment you become a king." A large fish jumped up from the river and fell back down.

"Speak, what are you here for?" The city lord looked at Lu Yun.

"I'm here to borrow water… lend me ten inches of time!" he responded seriously.