Face pale and chest heaving, Lu Yun scanned the premises with cold, steely eyes. Immortals reflexively turned away from his chilling gaze, intimidated by the keenness within.

“Why should we be scared of him?” someone called out, the source of their faint voice impossible to pin down. “He’s exhausted after fighting for a month straight. We should work together and kill him now!”

That still didn’t compel anyone into action.

Lu Yun had cut down a powerful void-ascended immortal, one whose ascension had come with a magnificent phenomenon, with a swing of the axe. The immortal had been unable to even fight back!

What they didn’t know was that a dao treasure would drain its wielder of all energy if activated by force, leaving them with no strength to fight after an attack.

If the immortal hadn’t attacked with the dao treasure, Lu Yun wouldn’t have been his match without the Demon Sovereign Cauldron, which, unfortunately for him, Lu Yun had pulled out by now.

The water jar of a cauldron had no feet and fit upside down over Lu Yun’s head, its pitch black demonic energy becoming part of the youth. Emanating a foreboding aura, he resembled a bonafide demon lord in this state.

“Your cultivation really has deviated, Lu Yun...” The crowd took a collective step back, cowed by Lu Yun’s powerful response. Seeing the Dusk governor manifest the cauldron instilled even greater apprehension in their hearts.

Moreover, five hundred kilometers away at the center of Dusk City, the inheritance tower radiated blinding light. Should Lu Yun activate the tower again, none of them would make it out of here alive.

“I am the head of the Star Demon Sect, a demonic fiend through and through. What is this about me deviating?” There was no trace of exhaustion in his voice anymore; he’d recovered via entering hell and restoring his stamina and willpower. After consuming a few immortal pills, his inner energy had been completely replenished as well.

He didn’t fear these immortals at all. In fact, they’d gotten cold feet and considered retreating as soon as Lu Yun laid hands on the ancient spear. Lu Feng was right; they were a disparate mob that posed no threat. If even trash such as them could defeat Lu Yun, he was unfit to rule over the future sacred land.

True geniuses of the world of immortals wouldn’t have entered Dusk at this moment to vie for the dao treasure.

He was still known as the top youth sovereign in the world of immortals, his title unchallenged. Real geniuses would issue a proper, open challenge once Lu Yun had recovered fully and ascended to immortality. They wouldn’t engage in this crap of skulking around opportunistically.

“Piss off!” snapped Lu Yun. As if being pardoned, the immortals fled with great relief. “Useless,” he lowered his head and muttered, lips curled into a scoff.

“Lu Yun!” A thunderous noise split the air as a giant face emerged in the sky, looking down at Lu Yun. “Hand over the dao treasure.”

The presence of an origin dao immortal radiated from the face, unfurling out over the land and covering all of Dusk Province.

“And who the fuck do you think you are?” Lu Yun derisively huffed at the latest would-be contender.

Offended, the giant face paused before continuing, “I am Venerated Elder Undone Earth of the Immortal Martial School from Enlightened Major.”

“Immortal Martial School of Enlightened Major...” Lu Yun frowned. That was where Wu Tulong hailed from.

Sword Divine had tried planting a soul seed in Wu Tulong. Even though the attempt ended in failure, it’d also proven that the guardian spirit of the Immortal Martial School was loyal to Sword Divine.

“Hand us the dao treasure, Lu Yun!” Undone Earth continued gravely. “When we entered the void to pluck an origin dao fruit, it was this dao treasure that destroyed our fruit and crushed our nascent spirits. This dao treasure is very important to the entire world of immortals.

“As the future master of the sacred land, you should lead by example and hand over the dao treasure for the sake of all living beings!”

What an utterly noble front.

Lu Yun sensed goodwill gathering to the giant face from all directions. They weren’t grateful to Elder Undone Earth, per se, but his words did resonate with them. Obviously, the sources of this goodwill were all advanced or peak arcane dao immortals.

“Please hand over the dao treasure for the sake of everyone in this world!” repeated the elder.

Heated gazes landed on him like physical weights. Increasing numbers of immortals had gathered in the province during the month-long tribulation, and they still remained near Dusk at this moment.

The spear in Lu Yun’s hand was crucial. Over the past eighty thousand years, countless arcane dao immortals had fallen to it. The majority were killed, and only a few returned to the world of immortals with damaged origin dao fruit.

“If you’re making this request on behalf of all living beings, why don’t you come to me in person?” Lu Yun said with a half smile, putting the cauldron away with a wave of his hand and shouldering the spear.

“You’ve manifested a face in the air to look down on me, the master of the future sacred land. Do you have no respect for Dusk Sacred Land? Since you’re asking me for a favor, show yourself and kneel down before me!” Frostily delivering his words, he punctuated the last statement with a swing of the black axe, bringing it down on the giant face with a flare of black light.

Crackle!

A flash of lightning stabbed through the air to offset the axe’s power.

“Are you declaring yourself an enemy of all the immortals in the world?” Elder Undone Earth demanded coldly, tamping down the fury in his heart.

“An enemy of all the world’s immortals?” sounded a chilling voice. Qing Yu broke out of Lu Feng’s hold and made her way to Lu Yun’s side with graceful steps. “So be it.”

She turned around and looked piercingly at the immortals in and outside of Dusk Province. “Dusk is your enemy now. What are you waiting for? Come on in and destroy the province, why don’t you?”

Everyone’s breathing slowed, their expressions changing rapidly.

“That won't do, Fairy Qing Yu. An old man from the Immortal Martial School cannot represent the entire world of immortals,” laughed a candid voice. “Otherwise, if we of the East Sea court wage a war and destroy the Immortal Martial School, wouldn’t we be destroying the entire world as well?”

Clad in a set of dark cyan armor and wielding a broadsword, the speaker was a man who looked impressively noble and imposing.

“Xiangliu Hongtu, first prince of the East Sea Court. Well met, Sir Lu Yun, Fairy Qing Yu.” From tens of thousands of kilometers away, Xiangliu Hongtu raised a cupped fist salute at Lu Yun and Qing Yu.

Members of the East Sea had arrived in Dusk Province back when the auction started, but hadn’t participated as Lu Yun had gifted them with the items being auctioned beforehand.

Though their members hadn’t entered Dusk during the tribulations, they’d slain many would-be invaders headed for the province, easing a great deal of Qing Yu’s burden.

His statement silenced everyone; the East Sea court’s power was beyond measure. No factions in the world, apart from the most powerful Primus Major, could rival them.

When it’d been the top clan of the world of immortals, the Lin Clan might have been able to challenge the East Sea and rival the Primus Court, but the secession of House Donglin was a great blow to the clan, leaving them with only seventy percent of their strength. They’d become somewhat of a recluse after the event.

“Hahaha!” A great fortress ship sailed over the North Sea. The ninth prince of Primus Major, who’d disappeared for a month, was here again.

Standing at the bow of the ship, the prince demanded, “On behalf of the world of immortals, Primus Major hereby demands the dao treasure from you, Lu Yun! If you dare resist, this will be your doom! What can the East Sea court do about it?”

Bam!

An explosion traveled from behind the fortress ship. Countless battle formations lit up and manifestations of divine beasts roared in the air, unleashing terrifying auras.

Heavenly soldiers of Primus Major! An army of heavenly soldiers was on the borders of Dusk to threaten Lu Yun!

Glowering, Xiangliu Hongtu summoned ten lord-grade fortress ships with a wave of his hand. The ships lined up in opposition to the endless supply of Primus soldiers.

“Have you tired of living, Yu Wenteng? I spared your life once, how dare you now taunt me in person?” He was a peerless immortal, but there was a great power of heaven and earth about him. He was no void-ascended immortal; his power came from a formation of heaven and earth etched into his body.

The thousand immortals who’d won the auction had left Dusk Province after receiving their formations and didn’t dare show themselves when the great tribulations hit. They’d come to the auction with a mission; formation masters of various factions were waiting in concert to study their newly-obtained formations of heaven and earth.

Meanwhile, Xiangliu Hongtu’s formation had been etched earlier by Lu Yun, and he was very familiar with its capabilities.

……

Xiangliu Hongtu stood before the ten fortress ships, staring coldly at the oncoming Primus soldiers.

Yu Wenteng, the Primus prince, was completely fearless. When the army finally reached the border of Dusk, the seawater beneath their feet rose and roiled, soaring thirty thousand meters above the ground.

“Get out of the way. You can’t stop the Primus army with so few men,” Yu Wenteng declared with a cold expression. “You don't have enough crystals to propel those ten ships, do you?”

That hit a nerve; Xiangliu Hongtu had given most of his crystals to Lu Yun. Although he still possessed a few hundred million, that wasn’t enough to tap into the true power of the ships.

He couldn’t afford to start a battle, however reluctant he was to admit it. Otherwise, the ten ships would all be taken by Primus Major.

The army loomed along Dusk’s border, ominous and threatening.

“Surrender the dao treasure, Lu Yun, or heavenly soldiers will destroy Dusk even if they lose their lives in doing so.”

“Grrr!” Divine beasts manifested by the battle formations roared incessantly, scaring immortals in the vicinity into quick retreat.

Within Dusk, members of the Chen, Qing, Lu, and Xue Clan were pale as a sheet and looked at the situation with appalled horror.

Primus Major was the greatest major in the world of immortals, and their heavenly soldiers the most powerful. They were already at the border! Once they marched in, none of the clans would survive.

“Lu Yun...” a Qing dao immortal with sealed cultivation spoke up in a trembling voice, “It’s probably better to surrender the dao treasure...”

“Shut up!” Qing Taxian took form out of the void. “Anyone who says another word will be punished for being a traitor!” With the Arcane Golden Orb over his head, he hovered on top of the Qing city and shouted, “Surrender the dao treasure? What are you useless pieces of shit going to do with it?!”

His voice reached a great distance, amplified by the connate-grade treasure.

“The traitorous formation masters in Dusk once stole the almost complete formation of heaven and earth. How long did you pieces of trash study the formation, hmm? And you concluded that the formation was impossible! What a joke.

“Do you think the dao treasure will magically enable you to defeat the monster guarding the dao fruit tree?” His voice practically dripped with mockery.

Many turned red with embarrassment. It was true that they’d originally deemed a formation of heaven and earth impossible after they acquired its blueprint.

As he spoke, Qing Taxian hurled the Arcane Golden Orb at Undone Earth’s giant face in the sky.