Blood drained from Chu Yingxin’s face when Lu Yun identified his true form.

“A void beast! No wonder I was no match for him.” The Fallen Lord found the revelation eye-opening.

Void beasts had an exceptional talent: they could meld into space and become nearly undetectable. Specimens of their race were exceptionally rare. Even the ancient immortal emperor had no idea where they lived—they could only be chanced upon, not actively sought.

In fact, an ancient monster spirit emperor had been a void beast. However, no one had expected the final disciple of the Destiny Lord would be one too!

As a void beast, Chu Yingxin was naturally gifted with a sensitivity to space. That was why he’d noticed Lu Yun in the first place.

“In my sect, we have a robe refined from the skin of a void beast. Wearing it allows one to travel through space undetected. Too bad the robe is a little tattered, so it can’t pass through an ancient tomb’s formations and restrictions…” the Fallen Lord’s voice sounded again.

Countless immortals looked eagerly toward the Destiny city lord’s residence in response. The human lord’s words were absolutely intentional!

“He’s a void beast, huh? No wonder master spoils him so much…” Xi Yingchen murmured, gazing pensively at his junior brother atop the arena.

“Say, could the city lord be after your skin when you finally grow up? Maybe he wants a robe just like ours!” the Fallen Lord jabbed snidely. “Hold on, I remember something else about void beasts from the records of the sect. Their body will form a…”

Bang!

Lu Yun splattered him into a gooey mess against the ground.

“How can someone with such awful morals call himself a lord? I’m really starting to wonder what the point of this ranking is,” snorted the young man.

The returned Fallen Lord heard his words loud and clear. He reddened with embarrassment and his eyes glinted with murderous fury. Having been defeated outright by Chu Yingxin with nearly no recourse, he’d attempted to hurt him through outside means.

However, revealing the void beast’s secret was a two-pronged assault: in addition to attracting unwanted attention to Chu Yingxin, it’d indelibly scarred his heart of dao.

Lu Yun scorned such underhanded tactics. He’d only pointed out Chu Yingxin’s true form out of instinct. In the heat of the moment, surprise had gotten the better of him.

Chu Yingxin was completely ashen, and the will to live withered away in his eyes. The Fallen Lord’s words had dealt a blow too heavy for him to bear. Could the Destiny city lord have adopted him just for his skin? The lord was his only family in the world!

Suddenly, the young beast sighed. He glanced meaningfully at Lu Yun, then slammed his own palm against his forehead.

Self-elimination!

If he didn’t figure everything out now, inner demons would surely form. Who knew what would happen to him then? A void beast fallen to darkness was practically invincible in the current world.

……

“Master!” Chu Yingxin opened his eyes to find the city lord at his side.

“Yingchen, stay here for a while. Yingxin, come with me.” His master looked like he had a lot on his mind.

Chu Yingxin’s lips trembled, but nothing came out of them. He stumbled along behind his master in a daze.

The city lord and his youngest disciple strode along coolly through the city toward a certain manor.

“A void beast’s skin is excellent material indeed. You cannot protect him, Destiny city lord.” A throaty voice cackled in the air.

Chu Yingxin’s whole body began to shake, but the city lord didn’t respond.

As one of the sovereign experts in the world, he was an origin dao immortal. Despite his injuries, even the likes of the Nephrite emperor gave him plenty of respect. Alas, the events of the Sovereign Ranking had cleaned out his accumulated renown. He was powerless against the outside predations on his own disciple.

Unless… the Fallen Lord was right after all, and he’d taken in Chu Yingxin for his skin?

……

The trip to Jadeite Manor seemed to take far longer than usual under public scrutiny.

“He can come in by himself.” The slightly hoarse voice of Scarlet Ape came from inside the door.

The monster spirit was evidently expecting their visit. Right now, it was the only one who could protect Chu Yingxin from the rest of the world. Even the nine celestial emperors were exempt from that list. They had too many worries and concerns about politics and attachments to various factions to act according to their own wishes.

Scarlet Ape had no such compunctions. Anyone who dared move against Chu Yingxin would suffer its unbridled wrath against their descendants.

If the gold and silver bloodlines were royalty and nobility, the void beasts were an imperial brood. They stood at the top of the monster spirit pyramid, comparable to Scarlet Ape’s own bloodline.

If Chu Yingxin joined Levitating Island, its lord would surely take him in as its most favored disciple. After all, he was destined to grow into a monster emperor.

“Master!” The young void beast shook with a mixture of bottled emotions. He knelt down before the Destiny city lord, then heavily kowtowed thrice.

“I cannot protect you anymore, Yingxin. Go.” The city lord looked like he’d aged tremendously in a matter of minutes. He nodded wearily at his disciple.

“You aren’t going anywhere!” An ebony hand crashed down from the sky, aiming to grab Chu Yingxin. It belonged to an origin dao immortal—someone who couldn’t bear to see Chu Yingxin escape to safety, no doubt.

“You court death!” An angry roar came from inside Jadeite Manor while a terrifying tremor rippled through the humongous staff there.

“Haha… if you were actually here, you baboon, I might be a little scared of you. But just your metal stick…?” The owner of the hand roared with laughter.

Thump!

The iron staff abruptly contracted before flying into a fiery ape’s fingers. A wild spin from the ape shattered the black hand. The origin dao immortal it belonged to shrieked in pain and fled out of Destiny City on a scarlet light with reckless abandon.

“What?!” gasped the other immortals.

Scarlet Ape!

It’d really come!

“Whoever covets the void beast… will see their tribe wiped out!” The ancient monster spirit’s voice struck fear into its captive listeners. Its cultivation was clear as day. An origin dao immortal, and a flawless one, to boot!

This was only one of the ape’s incarnations with a third of its full power. Scarlet Ape had three such: one water, one fire, one metal. The one that’d come here was the incarnation of fire. When the three incarnations came together, the ape was as powerful as any celestial emperor.

Scarlet Ape grabbed Chu Yingxin and tossed him into Jadeite Manor, its eyes narrowed on the Destiny city lord.

“Hehehehe… another person who avoided the immortal restriction. Too bad about the damage to your cultivation. You’ll never return to your peak.” Its laughter was painfully grating.

The city lord didn’t reply. He hesitated for a moment outside the manor, then departed.

…...

Up on the Sovereign Arena, Lu Yun was still fighting other contestants. After taking only a few moments to eliminate all ten lords, he turned toward the other returned void cultivators.

However, two people appeared behind him at this time: Qing Han and the little daoist nun.