Necropolis Immortal

The Tome of Life and Death completely caged in the Curse King's strength. However, deep-seated fear suddenly dissipated from his face and an eerie smile stretched his lips from ear to ear.

"This is your trump card, isn't it? After so much time and effort, I finally understand how you managed to break out. It's all because of this item, huh?"

Lu Yun's heart skipped a beat. Break out!

Break out of what? Destiny? The endless loops?

A multitude of thoughts replicated in his heart like demons; a variety of distracting thoughts bounded into being and a wisp of black flame rose in Lu Yun's mind. What had been a bright mental world began to darken and the dark flame coursed through the area.

"Tsk tsk tsk." Contempt traced the Curse King's smirk. "So you do know that you're just a plaything in the hands of a great being. So what of the worlds? What of your immortal dao? It is all naught but flowers in a mirror and the moon's reflection in water. Transient and ephemeral, a dreamlike illusion."

"If that's the case, why are you so obsessed with me?" Lu Yun's eyes brightened and the black demonic flame sputtered out of sight, absorbed by his hell dao.

That'd been the fire of an internal demon. Once an internal demon developed and stirred to action, the flame of the heart would devour the body.

"Obsessed with you? Who do you think you are for me to be obsessed with you?" the Curse King chuckled. "I was only curious about the bronze book you carry. I wanted to know what it was, that it could help you leap out of this extensive river.

"But it turns out to be entirely inconsequential, something that's only stirred up a tiny ripple. It's not worth speaking of." Though the Curse King was firmly suppressed by the treasure, he wore the smile of a victor.

Lu Yun stared fixedly at the Curse King before he, too, chuckled.

"You're trying very hard to hide it, but you can't disguise the trace of fear in the innermost depths of your heart." He keenly recalled the split second of terror from the Curse King when the Tome of Life and Death first appeared. It hadn't been an act; the other was truly afraid. He was engaging Lu Yun in conversation simply because he wanted to gloss over the moment.

They were in a world of the mind. Martial strength of the outside world held no meaning here. One's doom was nigh when a mental weakness developed.

Weaknesses abounded in Lu Yun's mind, but he was protected by the book. The Curse King labored mightily to withstand the treasure as it didn't come down to whether or not he was willing to forsake the replica, but that he couldn't.

This replica housed some of his memories and some secrets were hidden in those memories. Thus, he was attempting to buy time to burn his memories.

"You win this round since you've learned of my trump card. Victor, you can now die with peace of mind." Of course Lu Yun knew what the Curse King was trying to accomplish. He brought out the withered wood and combined the six hellfires into one pure black hellfire. They enveloped the Curse King's mind and followed the wisp of fear into the deepest parts of the body before he could fully destroy his memories.

Bam!

The Curse King's mental body suddenly exploded. Self detonation! His replica and anything it contained were instantly blown to smithereens.

……

A certain locale in the known expanses of the Boundless Planes.

A man with black hair slowly opened his eyes. His face was as white as a sheet and a trickle of blood dribbled down his chin.

"He actually forced me into mental self detonation." The Curse King coughed lightly as he looked piercingly in a particular direction of the void.

Mental self detonation was vastly different from destruction via outside force. Mental self detonation required the primary body to connect the core essence of their mind to the replica's mind. Once detonation was undertaken, the primary body's mind would also be affected. If a replica was destroyed by outside force, all the primary body needed to do was to sever the connection.

"What is that book?" The Curse King's hands were as pale and slender as a woman's. He stroked his smooth chin and sank into contemplation. "I was only testing the waters when I said 'break out', but he developed an internal demon from the phrase. What does he know?"

……

"Pity, most of the memories were destroyed in that explosion." Despite the majority of important details being lost in the self detonation, Lu Yun carefully collected the Curse King's scattered memory fragments. He could see hints of useful information in them.

"I see, so it wasn't the original Hongmeng that kept the fourth realm's orders under control, and not the seeds of nothing either." He frowned deeply. "Someone has been purposefully leading us down the wrong path. Whether it's a dao that traverses the fourth realm or the world of immortal dao that Mo Yi thought of, neither will be able to corral order…

"No, the world of immortal dao can, but it needs to nurture a true world first."

It'd never been the Hongmeng that'd suppressed order, but the worlds inside it. Heaven and earth were the true masters of order, the existences that accepted all order and manifested them.

The worlds of the original Hongmeng had reached terrifying heights. Once they expanded to their fullest, they would incorporate all of the known and unknown expanses of the fourth realm, making it a true realm of order.

However, being as weak as they were, the worlds needed protection. The chaos and Hongmeng had never been the best guardian for the worlds. That honor went to immortal dao!

Immortal dao encompassed everything, including the worlds. It could shore up weaknesses and mutually depend on the worlds. If Mo Yi's world of immortal dao was to protect the worlds, then it would perfectly accomplish their goals.

However, Lu Yun still didn't understand what she really had in mind.

Though there were many hints and clues in the Curse King's memories, Lu Yun didn't dare fully believe any of them. The Curse King was a crafty and insidious fellow. Everything in his memories, apart from the worlds, could be fake. The bits about the worlds were true only because they matched Lu Yun's own calculations. Some things could also be verified with the powerhouses of the original Hongmeng and fourth realm.

"According to the Curse King's understanding, he walks the path of justice and we are the irredeemable evil, the cavities that disturb existence?" Lu Yun glimpsed something interesting. "He's seriously so childish. There is no absolute right or wrong in the world, just a difference in perspective.

"So what if we're the holes in the paper? As long as our existence is rational, then come one day, we might become the paper." He opened his eyes and stretched out his limbs.

"Hmm? My cultivation's taken another step forward and I'm a Void World King now?" Lu Yun blinked with surprise.

The Curse King's mental body had completely melded into Lu Yun's body. Though the young man could access only his true cultivation level for now, his realm of Nihil World Sovereign yet existed. He just lacked the proper strength and cultivation level as befitting his realm.

With the Curse King's self detonation, the Tome of Life and Death transmuted his immense mental power into pure strength and directed it into Lu Yun's body, thereby raising his cultivation level.