Necropolis Immortal

Death art—bean soldiers!

Lu Yun's primary body had remained in the shadows throughout this time; he'd used the death art to summon golden warriors, then disguised them as him with Shapeshifting Talismans. The golden warriors possessed his strength and he could even teach them his combat arts if he so desired.

Thus, from a certain perspective, these golden warriors were his replicas.

Though the Great Brahma had destroyed one of them, he quickly resummoned it back to the field. Thirty-six golden warriors assembled in a Formation of Heavenly Spirits, trapping the Great Brahma within.

……

"So you were using puppets… The Star Sect is evil beyond redemption to teach you such a sophisticated supplemental dao. I was right to come!"

The two halves of the Great Brahma struggled to come back together, but Quiet's terrifying killing intent had severed control over the lower half of his body. However, he didn't panic. He would instantly recover as soon as he activated the power that a sequence expert had given him to destroy Quiet.

"A little thing like you wants to capture me?" he barked with laughter and dissolved into a blaze of fire.

Bam!

The diffused flames recoiled, like they'd hit a wall, and reformed into the Great Brahma's partial upper body.

"W-what? What??" He couldn't understand it.

"There's no leaving after you've fallen into one of my formations," sneered all thirty-six Lu Yuns at the same time. The formation erupted with celestial radiance and flooded the area with light.

Such was the result of his one hundred years of simulating formula dao. He'd calculated a formation for his thirty-six golden warriors—the Formation of Heavenly Spirits and Celestial Gods.

Once someone was trapped within, it was almost impossible for them to escape if they hadn't set foot into sequence. Not to mention, the Great Brahma was heavily injured after Lu Yun's ambush. Having lost both arms and his lower body, there was almost no hope for him to escape.

……

"Is this the fruit of his labors?" Yun Zhongzi tutted with astonishment as he observed the Formation of Heavenly Spirits and Celestial Gods from outside the World Star. This was a demonstration of pure formula dao. Lu Yun had calculated his battle with the Great Brahma down to every step in the process.

He would first use his replica as bait and severely injure his opponent in an ambush. When the latter's heart quailed, Lu Yun would lure him into a formation and suppress him inside.

Once confined, the Great Brahma lost all ability to resist.

Lu Yun's Formation of Heavenly Spirits and Celestial Gods was the first formation to come into existence under the formula dao. He'd derived it completely from the formulas they'd discovered; it was much stronger than a formation under formation dao.

Of course, the combined strength of thirty-six Lu Yun was also enough to halt the Great Brahma in his tracks.

After Lu Yun threw the Great Brahma into his internal world, he raised a cupped fist salute toward the World Star and vanished in a streak of light.

He was on his way to save Jian Juexian.

He'd originally planned on charging in alone, but now he had a hostage and could negotiate a swap with Ingress Sword Island—or rather, the Luminaries. Everyone knew who he was now, no thanks to the Curse King.

Since the Luminaries wouldn't allow him to move freely through the fourth realm, he might as well step into the open before the faction raised all manner of war trying to locate him. Constantly being on the run wasn't something he enjoyed.

……

"Do we let him go just like this?" Yun Zhongzi asked urgently. Ingress Sword Island was now a den of tigers—even sequence experts might not make it out alive. The Quiet Sovereign King had been one of the few sequence experts born in the new epoch; he'd been killed by the three sovereign kings of the Luminaries nonetheless.

"What else can we do? Will he not go just because you say no?" Ah Zhi yawned. "Sleep, I'm just going to sleep. You guys will have reached a decent level in formula dao when Lu Yun returns.

"The Formation of Heavenly Spirits and Celestial Gods was the result of his one hundred years of research. If you old fellows can't match him, then you'll be such an embarrassment to yourselves. Since formula dao of the Boundless Planes stems from the Star Sect, we should be the most prosperous in it. You old farts are the first to be graced with the new dao, so don't you dare fall behind.

"Lu Yun's right, you're not practicing formula dao so you can engage in endless flights of theory. You're supposed to use it to create corresponding treasures.

"Formula dao… formula application… hehehe," Ah Zhi's voice trailed off until it ended in a soft snore.

It felt like lightning had struck Yun Zhongzi.

"Formula dao… formula application… I see… I see! Hahaha!!" Deeply worried just a second ago, Yun Zhongzi laughed gaily when he heard these two phrases. He promptly put Lu Yun out of his mind and rejoined the conversations deriving formula dao.

Deriving formula dao was the process of learning its formulas, discovering new formulas, and using the formulas to search for answers. Formula application was the usage of formula dao's conclusions and practical application in refinement.

Only when both existed in conjunction was formula dao complete.

……

Ingress Sword Island was an enormous Hongmeng world that'd developed to the level of the fourth realm.

When the original Hongmeng shattered, its multitude of fragments had taken root in the fourth realm and formed multiple tiny Hongmeng worlds. The island was one of the bigger fragments; Daoist Ingress had established his dao on the fragment and created Ingress Sword Island.

By now, he'd gone missing for many eons and still sent no word. The faction was now under the Luminaries banner.

Since Jian Juexian had invited Lu Yun to the island several times, he'd naturally told the young man where to find it. With Lu Yun's current level of strength, the trip was easy enough.

Xing Chen had wanted him to visit for Argent Snow's heritage, but she hadn't known that the island had sworn fealty to another, and neither did she know Lu Yun's true identity.

"As befitting a world that's developed to the fourth realm, this Hongmeng is much bigger than the Central Hongmeng. Its rules and orders seamlessly connect with the fourth realm's," Lu Yun murmured to himself as he stood next to the island.

"Lu Yun of the Central Hongmeng is here at senior brother Jian Juexian's invitation. I have come to return a treasure," he sent his voice forward.

It'd yet to finish echoing before an enormous sword formation blossomed from the island and came down around him.

"Since you have come, fellow daoist, you can leave your life behind," rang out a clear voice.

The formation whirred to life and four enormous swords appeared, cutting down on Lu Yun with tremendous killing intent.