Lu Yun sighed softly as he looked at the resplendent pearl in front of him. Though the primordial immortal emperor had owned the Immortal Subjugation Seal, he’d never actually used it to control immortals. All of that had been hearsay; he’d only ever used it to light the Sol Truefire.

He didn’t make use of the opportunity to manipulate the immortal dao after obtaining the Dao Tree either—he’d protected this cancerous tumor so that it wouldn’t be exploited by others.

Lu Yun seemed to understand a bit of the immortal emperor’s mindset at this moment. The man had hardly gone willingly to his death. He’d only been one small step away from lighting the heavenly palace and forging a world that could forever guard the immortal dao, an immutable existence like hell.

…….

“So your ultimate goal wasn’t to have Little Yu’s poison curse exterminate the immortal dao. Your true goal was this,” Lu Yun suddenly spoke aloud. “You purposefully brought the immortal emperor to us last time so that he would see us, that he would glimpse new hope and voluntarily sacrifice his will to tame the Sol Truefire.”

“Correct.” Lu Shenhou’s softly chuckling form materialized in the void. “He was the first to experience all four realms of the immortal dao since its creation, and the strongest immortal since the inception of the immortal dao.

“The Primordial Era—as it is referred to today—was the most prosperous age of immortal dao after its founding. In fact, I almost witnessed the roaring heyday of human dao from the Primeval Era again.”

Lu Yun shook.

“He was a great man. We thought we’d destroyed the foundations of immortal dao after severing the path of cultivation. The decline, withering, and corruption of immortal dao was inevitable—or so we trusted. We hadn’t factored on an immortal emperor single handedly safeguarding it and bringing such vitality to the world of immortals that it almost cast light on the entire multiverse.”

Lu Shenhou sighed with emotion. “The immortal dao wasn’t severed only a hundred thousand years ago, so how can a tree grow when its roots are destroyed? But somehow, that immortal emperor did it.

“He reconnected the path with his strength alone and made it whole again. However, he also died in the great war a hundred thousand years ago… so of course the immortal dao broke again.”

Lu Yun listened without a word.

“What a pity he wasn’t perfect in the end. He had far too many flaws in his heart.” Lu Shenhou grinned with great satisfaction. “He always thought that the immortal dao he knew was less than that of olden times, that his cultivation had yet to reach that of a primeval human lord’s. Little did he know that his era was actually the period in which immortal dao was the greatest, and that his level had long reached parity with those human lords.

“We only needed the smallest of the tiniest, most insignificant ant to plant the seeds of defeat deep within his heart. Once it germinated and took root… nothing could save him.

“And then he failed.” Lu Shenhou summoned the blazing pearl with a gentle beckon, which transformed into a tiny ember when it landed.

“And you happen to be precisely his opposite. Your heart is so strong that it’s almost flawless. You never faltered in your belief that the present will triumph over the past. We only had to let him see you and sense your conviction. After that, he would manifest of his own volition and tame the Sol Truefire like a good little boy.”

Smugness colored his tone.

“Right there is where you’re very wrong.” Lu Yun let out a long sigh. “I have my weaknesses, and there are many… The most serious of which is my soft-heartedness.”

Lu Shenhou paused. “What?”

“I’m too soft-hearted...” Lu Yun shook his head. “Did you really think I’d let someone who cherishes all of life sacrifice himself after coming face-to-face with him?”

“You mean to say that you can resurrect a dead man with your pathetically tattered hell of human dao?” Lu Shenhou scoffed. “That might have been possible when the human Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak ruled over reincarnation. He determined life and death, but he, too, would find his hands tied now if he came back to life. He wouldn’t be able to bring the immortal emperor back either.”

“Hahahaha!” Lu Yun burst out laughing, letting loose like he’d heard the funniest joke in the world. “The Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak ruled over reincarnation, you say? He could determine the life and death of all with a single thought? Even he wouldn’t be able to bring back the immortal emperor? Hahahaha!”

Lu Shenhou silently stared at the madly cackling Lu Yun.

“If that is the case, why did the great emperor die?”

Lu Shenhou’s eyes widened at the question.

“If he couldn’t control even his own life, how could he possibly have been the master of all lives in the multiverse?” Lu Yun’s smile dropped. “Are you here to just crack jokes and clown around?”

Lu Shenhou was still reeling from the sudden revelation.

Rumble!

The ember pulsing in his hand suddenly flared into a human figure—the immortal emperor, who’d disintegrated into nothing after taming the Sol Truefire with the last of himself! Upon his emergence, he blasted forward with a punch and shattered Lu Shenhou’s body.

“Just as you led me to see him, so too have I been waiting for you.”

Whoosh!

The Sol Truefire blazed and ignited the air itself, creating an ocean of flames in the void. At its center was a golden heart that beat slowly.

“Impossible!!” shrieked Lu Shenhou.

The immortal emperor had indeed died, leaving not even a trace of him behind. Not even the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak of the Primeval Era would’ve been able to resurrect him.

But he was here?? He was here?! Returned from the Sol Truefire and brimming with so much vitality that he might as well have never died!

“The human lords of the Primeval Era? No, I’d exceeded them and truly reached the heights of an emperor, akin to the great emperors before Emperors Fall. I was one in both title and strength.” Hovering in the air, the immortal emperor continued coldly, “But you who have never been a part of the immortal dao will never know its greatness...”

“The primeval human lords? Nothing but a bunch of sad weaklings!” Lu Shenhou laughed with abandon. “So you truly reached the emperor realm, what of it? You failed in the end anyway. We killed you once, we’ll kill you a second time.”

Ignited by the Sol Truefire, Lu Shenhou’s body faded into nothingness.

The immortal emperor turned to Lu Yun, staring at his hands in disbelief. “How have you managed to do this?”

Within the tunnel, Lu Yun stared fixedly at the pile of bone powder left from the first appearance of the immortal emperor’s ghost. It wasn’t his remains, but his presence could be sensed in the pile.

His feng shui compass circulated slowly across from him, showing a slightly blurry miniature sitting cross-legged at the heart of the luopan that looked identical to the immortal emperor.

“That’s the heart of the world… What’s going on?”

Whoosh!

The immortal emperor’s body suddenly scattered, and the world’s heart vanished in a flash along with the Sol Truefire. The double Lu Yun had created through his nascent spirit observation method faded away as well.

Lu Yun opened his eyes.

“What’s going on here, Ge Long?” Lu Yun’s six paths in hell solidified into his figure and turned to Ge Long.

He’d collected the immortal emperor’s presence with his luopan and observed him with the six paths of reincarnation, but he hadn’t expected to actually manifest the immortal emperor!

“If you combine the rules of reincarnation and your nascent spirit observation method, sir, you can manifest those who have died.” After a thoughtful pause, Ge Long continued, “It’s similar to summoning the Ninth Heaven’s Demon-Destroying Patriarch, but the manifestation is just an illusion driven by the individual’s thoughts.

“The immortal emperor’s true spirit, on the other hand, has truly been resurrected due to his presence collected by the luopan. He’s become one with your compass and resides in it as the treasure spirit.

“It’s the power of time! Someone used the power of time to deliver a fragment of the immortal emperor’s spirit from the past to the present.”