With Yuying deploying her Emerald Mistfire to block Beigong Xuan, Lu Yun squeezed through the crack over the snake’s head with Situ Zong and the rest of the peerless immortals.

“Why’s it so hot in here?!” Scorching heat slammed into them as soon as they flew over the behemoth of a body. Caught off guard, many screeched loudly with pain. If they hadn’t been peak peerless immortals, they would’ve been scorched to death upon arrival. Meanwhile, Lu Yun wasn’t affected at all, as he had hellfire protecting him.

“What’s going on?” Stunned, he muttered to himself to collect his thoughts, “The phoenix nest is of the fire element, but the layout of water and fire has reversed the two elements. It doesn’t make sense for it to be so hot.”

They’d arrived at the former nest that had been turned into a tomb; the tunnel Beigong Xuan had blockaded was the passage between the dragon and phoenix nests.

“Wait, that’s not right! There are two layouts here! There’s a layout of water and fire in each of the two nests. The ghost tree bathed in fire and the Realm of Unearthly Water formed one such layout in the dragon nest. There must be another one in the phoenix nest as well!

“The one in the dragon nest is a yin layout, while the one here is a yang layout! Since the nests are the ancestral lands of the two clans, any layouts within must promote health and prosperity. However, both nests have been turned into tombs now, so… it makes sense for there to be a layout of yin and yang, since that’s a layout of life and death!

“Impressive, very impressive! No wonder I spotted only the dragon nest before, but was blind to the phoenix nest. The two have become one to form a massive layout of yin and yang.

“The dragon nest is yin, and the phoenix nest is yang. The heat doesn’t come from fire, but from pure yang!” Lu Yun muttered a continual litany of observations.

“The dragon nest should be of cold yin, but at its heart is a ghost tree bathed in fire. Then there must be something of the water element at the heart of the phoenix nest…. There’s no reason for me to go there, though. I just need to go to the intersection between the two nests and kill the two-headed zombie. That should resolve all our problems!” Lu Yun took in a deep breath and called out, “Assemble the formation!”

After a brief pause, the hundred and eight peerless immortals began setting up the Formation of Heavenly Spirits and Earthly Fiends according to their earlier practice. The power of the land instantly surged and encircled Lu Yun.

He still hadn’t told them the full truth in the end. The moment they formed the formation, they lost themselves in it and became his to command. He extended his fingers and manifested a black orb. The Yin Formation Orb!

Feinie had divided the connate-grade treasure once again. The Yang Formation Orb remained within the Layout of Resurrection to protect the little fox and Xing Mou, while the Yin Formation Orb had been given to Lu Yun.

In the blink of an eye, its power enveloped the great formation that the immortals had created.

“Let’s go!” Lu Yun ordered Situ Zong and grabbed the young dragon sleeping on his shoulder, tucking it into his waistband. Only now did he begin to see the truth of the phoenix nest.

While there remained traces of the dragon clan in the dragon nest, the phoenix nest had been completely transformed.

It was no more. The curse on the phoenixes had reached its peak and destroyed almost every phoenix in the world of immortals. Perhaps Huangqing was the only pureblood phoenix left in the world.

The two-headed zombie! Both the dragon and phoenix nests were transformed for it. Cursing the dragon and phoenix bloodlines? ...no, that’s not what this is. The culprit wanted to concentrate the bloodlines and the fortunes of both races on the zombie! The moment the layout comes to fruition is the moment the two heads of the zombie become one! And what ghost tree, it doesn’t exist at all! It’s just a manifestation of the two-headed zombie!

Whoosh!

Lu Yun made his way forward at great speed.

Unlike the dragon nest, which consisted of crisscrossing tunnels, the phoenix nest was a giant bird’s nest. With his Spectral Eye scanning through all the layers, Lu Yun spotted something chilling at the heart of the nest through all the dense flames around them.

Nevertheless, he didn’t pay it that much attention and focused on piercing through the various layers of illusions here. The Yin Formation Orb also flared with waves of formation light, revealing assorted hidden formations and layouts.

The Formation Orb couldn’t determine feng shui or tell fortunes, but its power of breaking formations was even greater than that of the luopan.

“Grrrraawl!” A tremendous roar rang out as a two-headed zombie descended from the sky with twin maws yawning open, releasing dual waves of putrid stench. It had a dragon head and a phoenix head!

“A dragon and a phoenix head.... Is this the guy we’re looking for?!” Eyes gleaming, Situ Zong came to a sudden halt and aimed the cannon on his shoulder at the zombie.

Bam!

White light beam ripped the zombie to pieces.

“It’s not, the real one can’t be that weak. That’s only an illusion it’s created! Let’s go!” Scintillating sword energy shone from the Sugato Sword in Lu Yun’s hand. With the assistance of the Formation of Heaven and Earth, his speed reached unprecedented heights.

He suddenly grasped something in this moment: the thing not yet fully awakened in the ghost tree and the ghost in the Realm of Unearthly Water were both the two-headed zombie! The dragon head of the zombie had been drawing upon the dragon bloodline in the dragon nest, while the phoenix head had absorbed the phoenix bloodline of this nest.

Splash!

Lu Yun heard flowing water, and a cool, pale hand took his left wrist. It took only a moment before half of his left sleeve grew damp.

Water Ghost Grasp!

“How the fuck dare a mere water ghost approach me? Piss off!” A blaze of hellfire from his eyes accompanied his angry roar, frightening the unseen water ghost. The pale hand flinched and instantly retreated.

So there was a Water Ghost Grasp layout here as well. However, this particular layout had been transformed from a dead phoenix. It seemed that a heavyweight of the dragons had been buried at the heart of the phoenix nest—a perfect foil for the phoenix buried beneath the ghost tree!

Dragons and phoenixes were doomed to forever clash in their hallowed ancestral grounds and cursed each other in their nests. The dragon clan only possessed a sliver of hope because the nine-headed phoenix had summoned the Fire Parasol Tree, the greatest treasure of their race.

Meanwhile, the Water Ghost Grasp layout in the dragon nest was operating to the full limits of its potential due to the efforts of Ao Lin after his intrusion. Now known as Ghost Dragon, he’d destroyed almost all of the phoenixes of the world.

As for the phoenix that should’ve been in the phoenix nest—one unique to its race like the dragon tucked in Lu Yun’s waistband—it’d been completely devoured by something akin to the old ghost hiding within the Realm of Unearthly Water.

Lu Yun didn’t stop after scaring the Water Ghost Grasp away. Maintaining a steady pace, he moved toward the intersection of the two nests.

Hum!

After a buzz sounded by his ears, he and Situ Zong entered a different space.

Here, birds chirped and flowers bloomed. All life thrived atop a grassy plain beneath the blue sky, and all kinds of immortal herbs and ingredients were waiting to be found. Under a large tree hung a swing.

“How did we get here?” Lu Yun started and quickly panned his surroundings. This... was Su Xiaoxiao’s tomb!

Or this place looked exactly like her tomb, but her tomb had already been destroyed.

“Wait a second, it’s not her tomb.” Lu Yun turned in another direction and came face to face with a crimson altar.

Raised at the center of the area, it was roughly forty meters tall. Fully crimson, ancient, and mysterious runes covered the structure. He could’ve sworn he’d seen this altar before… no, an altar like this!

“The Water Altar at the center of the ancient Truewater City, under the Myriad Formation Summit,” Lu Yun murmured to himself.

“No, this is the Fire Altar,” remarked a pleasant voice from behind him.

“Qi Hai.” Lu Yun’s gaze remained fixed on the altar, but he recognized the voice.

It belonged to Qi Hai, the foremost pill master of the ancient world of immortals. He’d refined heaven-defying pills, such as the Heaven Descent Pill and the Tribulation Surrogate Pill, bringing about the prosperity of pill dao.

He was the reason why pill dao had exceeded the other supplemental paths in the ancient times. Although he’d died in the last era, his name had been passed down to this generation. Even Lu Yun held an unexplainable veneration for the pill master.

Lu Yun didn’t dare turn around. He was… rather afraid to see what the current Qi Hai looked like. However, Situ Zong had already completed the swivel of his body. After a long moment of hesitation, Lu Yun finally lifted his eyes and saw Situ Zong’s look of horror.

His eyeballs reflected a monster that had almost fully decayed—a zombie with a dragon head and a phoenix head. One of Su Xiaoxiao’s memories floated to the fore at the sight. Qi Hai had once kept a blackwater snake as a pet, named Xuan.

……

After a long while. Lu Yun sighed and turned around. A handsome young man dressed in white came into view, his sunny disposition identical to the Qi Hai from Su Xiaoxiao’s memory.

“I should’ve known it was you. Xiaoxiao was able to travel between the dragon tomb and Levitating Island because of you,” Lu Yun said faintly to the young man. “She may be dead, but her body was still alive. That was your doing as well.”

Qi Hai nodded slowly.

“Look,” Qi Hai said, pointing at the Fire Altar not far from them.

Within it, Lu Yun glimpsed Canghai Chengkong and many other immortals. Empress Myrtlestar, missing for days, was there as well.