Mystery shrouded the battle of Emperors Fall, just like the great war of immortals a hundred thousand years ago. Those who knew the truth wouldn’t speak of it, and those who didn’t purposefully avoided looking for an answer.

……

Scorching and suffocating heat abounded on the other side of the tomb door. A vast ocean of flames greeted the eye, and the group found themselves surrounded by roiling heat waves and thick yang energy. This was the point of extreme yang in the yin tomb, the counterpart of extreme yin that they’d just left behind on the other side of the door.

At the point of extreme yin stood the dragonbolt pillar. The purest of yin had solidified into a tangible structure and chained the torch dragon to it, leaving no room for escape. Although the dragon could control yin and yang, it couldn’t manipulate the pure yin shrouding the pillar.

No, wait, the pillar wasn’t comprised of pure yin, but of extreme yin.

The relentlessly burning land under their feet was highly troublesome to Lu Yun and his companions. If the priest of flame hadn’t gained control over the Fire Altar and thus possessed the ability to manipulate the fires in the tomb, Lu Yun, whose cultivation was the lowest among them, and the demon sovereign as well, would’ve been burnt to charcoal in an instant.

The flames here were no lesser than connate li fire.

“This is the developing core of a Sun Star,” Ashu observed with shock after focusing his concentration and taking a close look around. “It’s been nurtured for at least six hundred million years, and it rivals the great sun overlooking the world of immortals!”

Six hundred million years! Both Ashu’s and Lu Yun’s faces twitched. They lived in a time that was one that was exactly six hundred million years since the establishment of the immortal dao. A coincidence, or not?

“Star cores are the hottest in their infancy and carpeted with wild Sol Truefire, and Sol Truefire is a flame on par with connate li fire, so this star core is essentially a fully unleashed connate-grade spirit treasure.

“This part of the realm must be a world within a connate-grade peerless treasure,” Ashu continued. “And the star core a spirit treasure born within the peerless treasure.”

The demon sovereign turned to Lu Yun with bright eyes. “Do you think… we can find a way to collect this star core?”

“We can.” Lu Yun nodded. “This star core is a treasure of pure yang born out of extreme yin, so taking it away won’t affect anything. At most, the connate-grade peerless treasure outside will birth another spirit treasure of pure yang after another hundreds of millions of years.”

Lu Yun opened his hand as he spoke, unfurling a sun-like golden flower on his palm—the Emperor Sunflower.

After Qing Yu refined the Central World, the Emperor Sunflower rooted within it naturally fell into her grasp. But instead of incorporating the tenth connate spirit root into herself, she planted it in the Central World, leaving it to slowly transform into the world’s sun.

As soon as Lu Yun noticed the star core, he had Yuying notify Qing Yu to send the flower to hell, so that he was able to bring it here. He gingerly placed the flower on the star core beneath their feet and straightened up.

“Let’s go.”

The others were caught off guard by his series of actions.

“Little Yu has refined the Emperor Sunflower,” Lu Yun smiled at the flower extending roots into the star core. “We can leave the rest of this in her capable hands.”

Although Qing Yu hadn’t incorporated the flower into her body, she’d refined it completely with the power of the heavenly palace, making the flower essentially a replica of hers.

“Once it devours this growing star core, the flower will turn into a real sun and illuminate the heavenly palace and kingdom of hell!” Qing Yu’s excited voice rang from the flower. Instead of taking the star core, she wanted to use it as fertilizer for the Emperor Sunflower, thereby evolving the flower into a real sun.

“I’ll leave this to you then, and if it’s possible...” Lu Yun’s lips twisted into a smirk.

“If it’s possible, I’ll also collect the peerless treasure of pure yin and its counterpart on the other side of the tomb!” Qing Yu was so in tune with Lu Yun that she could anticipate his every thought.

“Birds of a feather flock together indeed,” grumbled the demon sovereign. “They’re a perfect pair of robbers and thieves.”

……

The star core hung high in the sky, its scorching heat and pure yang energy sealed tightly to itself. Beneath it was a vast ocean with a shoreline beyond any of their sights. Its black waters were the dreadful connate kui water, which contained boundless yin energy that contaminated the ocean.

The priest of flame shuddered at the sight and almost reflexively summoned the Fire Altar, but Ashu interrupted her.

“The Fire Altar is a treasure of pure yang and fire. Its appearance will result in backlash from the ocean, and then we’ll have to face the frontal barrage of a connate-grade peerless treasure.”

Shudder crawling down her spine, she quickly put the altar away. Lu Yun summoned a great fortress ship to the ocean with a wave of his hand.

Bam!

A loud bang sounded from beneath the ship as something large seemed to slam into it. The ship that was five kilometers long shook violently and didn’t settle down until Lu Yun hastily activated its formations.

A fish with a single horn on its head leapt out of the water, summoning a great wave with its motion before disappearing beneath the waves. Violent eddies and undulations broke through the peaceful surface of the ocean.

“It’s a kun!” Ashu said in shock, having caught a glimpse of the creature. “There’s a living kun here!”

Lu Yun paused. “A kunpeng?”

“No. A kun! A pureblood kun fish!” Ashu took a deep breath. “A long long time ago, someone attempted and succeeded in splitting the kunpeng bloodline in half. Thus, kun fish and peng rocs were born.”

Lu Yun was struck speechless with the unexpected answer, and it was the demon sovereign who broke the silence with a dumbfounded question, “Do you mean the pengs we see today are divine beasts derived from half of a kunpeng?”

“That’s right, and kuns and pengs met with very different fates after their forced separation. Upon their emergence, pengs were recorded into the great dao by heaven and earth as divine beasts, while kuns suffered from a great natural flaw that prevented them from surviving in the world. They fell into the underworld and ended up as decayed or zombified versions of themselves.” Ashu stared at the retreating kuns and murmured, “And yet here it is, a living, breathing kun.

“Capture it!” he suddenly raised his voice. “There must be great secrets on the kun that enable it to survive here, ones involving creation itself! If we catch it, we may be able to peek into the mysteries of creation!”