The little nun’s master—also Mo Yi’s senior sister—was a powerhouse of the Purple Firmament and a guardian of the world of immortals. She kept the flawless origin dao immortals of the world in check, as well as deterred the origin dao immortals of Levitating Island from acting out.

She took her duties seriously, so much so that a flawless origin dao immortal—an old lion—from Levitating Island had met his death at her hands. She’d departed from the world of immortals after that, her absence emboldening personages such as the big fur seal and Yin Jiuying. They’d only dared show themselves after her departure.

Lu Yun had thought she’d left for good, but here she was.

……

“How dare a yin god of the Green Firmament interfere in the affairs of the living?” the middle-aged nun spoke before Lu Yun could address the situation. “Yu Qinghun, are you looking to court death in coming here?”

Yu Qinghun was the name of the green-clad youth next to Lu Yun; color drained from his face when he heard the rebuke. [1]

“Leave!” scoffed the nun when she saw his reaction.

“A representative of the Purple Firmament?” Lu Yun took a step forward, his projection of Zhurong growing even more resplendent and awe-inspiring as he commanded the limelight. Connate li fire blazed around the manifestation and the two dragon veins beneath Zhurong’s feet crooned with resounding dragon howls.

“And who are you?” The nun’s expression shifted when she took a good look at the manifestation.

Zhurong was the primordial fire god, a proper one with a title conferred by the immortal emperor himself. Worshippers had offered him plentiful sacrifices, elevating his position to great heights in the Primordial Era. At the same time, he was also extraordinarily strong and domineering himself. Having reached the principal realm, he was the cream of the crop among the gods.

In the Primordial Era, the strongest gods had been Thunder God Kui, Water God Gonggong, Wind God Fengbo, and Fire God Zhurong. Their strength had been on par with the four godkings of the four cardinal divine tribes.

Thus, the middle-aged nun would never think that the random fellow on fire in front of her was the primordial Zhurong; that august personage had perished before the great war. Though his bloodline lived on in the world of immortals, the real Zhurong was deader than dead. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The manifestation standing before her was more likely someone who’d obtained Zhurong’s inheritance.

“It doesn’t matter who any of you are, all of you will die here today since you dared come here!” roared the divine spirit of the kidneys. Four water dragons exploded out of the black kui water and barreled toward Lu Yun, Yu Qinghun, the middle-aged nun, and the demon god.

At the same time, the divine spirit opened its arms and rushed at the core of the Emperor Sunflower. Its true form was one of four heads and eight arms, and its legs were webbed like a frog’s instead of bearing distinct toes.

“Hmph!” snorted the nun. Innumerable sword lights bloomed in the air with just a casual wave of her hand. They dispersed the water dragon in front of her with explosive slashes and she took flight as well, treading through air to tear into the divine spirit.

Clang!

The demon god made his move. He wasn’t here in person—the Ichor Bog had formed a scarlet replica that blazed as an enormous red flame. An immense scarlet hand grabbed the nun’s sword light and crushed it to pieces.

“Do not damage my body,” he commanded coldly. Turning, he sent a claw grabbing for the divine spirit.

“AHHHHHHHH—“ the divine spirit screamed furiously. It’d been a hair’s breadth away from the core of the spirit root when the demon god yanked it away!

Snarling and flailing around wildly, it wanted to attack the demon god, but its quarry proved far too nimble. The divine spirit couldn’t touch a single hair on the demon god’s body. In the eyes of both the demon god and middle-aged nun, the divine spirit was a squealing pig waiting to be butchered—ripe for harvest and of no threat at all.

If it weren’t for the nun deterring the demon god, he would’ve gained a new body a long time ago.

“Old nun, I will head to the Crimson Firmament after I obtain this new body. There is no conflict between you and I, so why do you stop me?!” One hand clamped around the divine spirit, the demon god furiously crashed into the nun again and again.

“I wouldn’t obstruct you if you hadn’t possessed the Exalted divine emperor’s true spirit. But since you did, and now want this divine spirit’s body, it’s only a matter of time before you become a calamity in the making. I will destroy this divine spirit even if I can’t kill you!” yelled the old nun as scrolls of sword atlases arose from her body. Each of them was embedded with ten thousand flying swords!

A hundred and eight scrolls made for a million and eighty thousand flying swords!

Each imbued with its own sword aura, the swords whistled sharply through the air in a concentrated attack on the demon god. The little nun had copied the Sword Atlas combat art from Lu Yun, then passed it on to her master. Given the middle-aged nun’s strength, she could deploy the sword atlases with greater strength than Xing Chen—in fact, she’d reached the realm of sword dao!

Sword aura from a million and eighty thousand swords churned the demon god into pieces and scattered him through the air in a shower of gore and blood. However, it took less than half a breath for him to reform. Snarling savagely, he maintained a death grip on the divine spirit and kept it behind him.

“You blackguard!” He seemed unharmed, but the blows had hurt and the pain of being carved into a million pieces had imprinted on his heart. “Die!”

His body writhed into the form of an enormous crimson snake, one that dislocated its jaw and bit toward the nun with venom that glistened of blue.

“Spiriteater Demon Snake!” sneered the nun. “The snake king outside is one of yours, isn’t it?”

The Spiriteater Demon Snake was similar to the Spiriteater Demon Frog that Lu Yun had once encountered in the Sword Pavilion, but the snake version was much more terrifying than its frog brethren. Snakes possessed utmost nascent spirit poison, one that could scatter the soul and spirit to the four winds.

The demon god had plainly become a real Spiriteater Demon Snake, but it was so weak and frail that it couldn’t harbor his true strength. However, the sheen of poison on his fangs was very real.

Now in the form of a snake, the demon god gave up on the divine spirit of the kidneys and pounced on the middle-aged nun.

“I recognize the brat from the Green Firmament and the wretch that keeps ruining my plans! If you two don’t want the world to go up in flames, go stop that divine spirit. Heh heh heh, this divine one possesses the true spirit of the Exalted divine emperor and is housed by the Ichor Bog. I cannot die.”

Ah, that demon god does indeed recognize me.

Boom!!

As the thought flickered Lu Yun’s mind, he let loose with a tremendous burst of firelight and evaporated the water dragon in front of him. Likewise, Yu Qinghun deployed a fighting technique and handled the water dragon facing him. Honestly, while the divine spirit of the kidneys was strong, its combat arts were completely insufficient.

“I’ll go set off the wound in its body, you be ready to kill a god!” Yu Qinghun yelled.

1. Interestingly enough, the characters of his name mean Feather Green Soul. It’s a pretty big nod to his faction and state of existence.