Lu Yun’s voice rang out with great resonance, projecting into every corner of the netherdark. He’d arrived at the shores of the Blood Sea.

“Wait, this is the Blood Sea?” Confusion flashed through his eyes when he looked at the endless waters.

The Blood Sea was vast, so vast that it seemed boundless, and the carcasses of countless beings drifted in its depths. However, it didn’t seem as strong as Lu Yun remembered. He even had the strangest feeling that this genuine article was less than the Blood Sea in Life Province to the southwest of Nephrite Major.

“This is indeed the Blood Sea in which flows the blood of all beings… but why’s it so weak?” Lu Yun muttered to himself.

“The Blood Sea of the future has been refined into a treasure and this one hasn’t. Naturally, that makes it weaker than its future self,” explained the little fox when she saw the befuddlement in Lu Yun’s eyes. “Legend has it that Darkriver wanted to refine the Blood Sea as his replica, but Leize warned him that if he dared refine the Blood Sea, he would kill Darkriver even if he had to evaporate the sea!”

“Damn, that’s a statement alright.” Lu Yun swallowed hard and felt a twinge of admiration for this great god.

The netherdark was the future foundation of hell of human dao and the Blood Sea an important site within it. It couldn’t be claimed by another, no matter what.

……

Rumble—

The Blood Sea frothed as Darkriver’s enormous face coalesced again.

“Lie Shan of the human race!” roared Darkriver. “I can say in good faith that I have not provoked you after you visited the netherdark, so for what reason do you come insult me on my doorstep?!”

A bit of suffering and highly strung nerves sounded in his tone. This Lie Shan had killed three connate demon gods in only a few days and even turned one of them into roast meat for some ants to eat. He was the number one bastard of the great wilderness, but he was also backed by some terrifying existences.

Who dared incur his displeasure?

But Lie Shan had come to the netherdark and demanded Darkriver answer for his crimes. If the patriarch was just a little bolder, he would have smacked the impertinent rat dead.

“For what reason?” Lu Yun leered. “An envoy from Leize is here to interrogate you, do you know your crimes?!”

Darkriver’s enormous face immediately froze with awkwardness when he heard Leize’s name. It was as clear as if it’d happened yesterday—Leize had annihilated his Blood Sea replica with a single punch all those years ago.

“I, I, I know my crimes, I know them!” he stammered.

“And hand over Bashe!” Lu Yun chuckled darkly. “He dared threaten me when I first arrived in the netherdark…”

“No!” Darkriver flew into a panic when he heard the demand. “Bashe is my subordinate and you cannot kill him! You’ve already obtained the mountain god, so why must you kill Bashe!”

His surprisingly firm tone threw Lu Yun for a loop. Down in the Blood Sea, the lurking Bashe had spasmed with fright when he heard Lie Shan’s words, but then breathed a little easier when he heard the patriarch’s response.

However, everyone also realized at this point that Darkriver had been bluffing earlier about being wary of the four gods in concert. Just Leize by himself was enough to send the patriarch into paroxysms of fear.

“Alright, you don’t have to hand over Bashe.” Lu Yun nodded slightly. He regarded Darkriver with a bit of newfound respect. Though the demon god was cowardly and afraid of death, he treated his subordinates well.

“Put this egg into the Blood Sea.” Lu Yun raised his hand and showcased Eternal’s egg floating motionlessly above his palm.

“Arbiter!” Darkriver’s true form leapt out of the Blood Sea when he saw the egg. He shrieked with fright, “Leize really does want to kill me! If Arbiter enters the Blood Sea, she’ll kill me on the spot!”

“This isn’t Arbiter, it’s Eternal.” Lu Yun frowned.

“Eternal… Eternal… It’s not Arbiter? It really isn’t Arbiter!” Darkriver put his mind at ease after observing the egg in the human’s hand. “…where’s Arbiter?!”

“Arbiter is beneath Mount Buzhou,” responded Lu Yun.

“Then Leize’s forgiven me?!” Surprise flashed through Darkriver’s eyes when he heard this.

What he was most afraid of was that Leize would have Arbiter return to the Blood Sea and strip everything from Darkriver. He spent his days on pins and needles, with even the slightest breeze arousing his greatest wariness.

But now that Arbiter was below Mount Buzhou, the mountain’s earth energy would change her temperament as she absorbed it and cause her to give up her revenge. That also meant that Leize had forgiven him for what he’d done that year and Darkriver was truly lord of the netherdark.

“Place Eternal in the deepest depths of the Blood Sea and don’t even think about touching her,” Lu Yun repeated.

Light flickered in Darkriver’s eyes—he was present in his true form now. As another entity who took the form of whoever looked at him, he appeared to be a slightly ordinary young man with bright-red hair.

A cold sneer curved Lu Yun’s lips when he saw the other’s face. He opened his palm to reveal a white lotus that then wrapped around Eternal’s egg.

Darkriver’s eyes went wide with surprise.

“This lotus is something that you cannot provoke. If you dare think of doing anything to it, I guarantee that even Leize won’t be able to save you, even if he came here in person.” As he spoke, Lu Yun waved a hand and sent the lotus with Eternal into the Blood Sea.

Color drained out of Darkriver’s face. As the oldest connate demon god in the world, he naturally knew who this spirit-grade connate treasure belonged to.

“It’s not Leize backing you, it’s Hongjun!” he shrieked. “That lotus of a hundred and eight ranks is his greatest treasure, how would he give it to you so easily…”

After Taiyi’s demise, there were only two publicly acknowledged creators—Pangu and God. Leize was the strongest of the connate demon gods.

Hongjun was a taboo existence in the great wilderness that not many knew of, but Darkriver was one of them. Before he’d taken form, he’d once seen Hongjun stroll through the chaos hand in hand with God and chatting merrily with Pangu.

Though he didn’t possess a creator’s presence, in the eyes of the connate demon gods, Hongjun wasn’t any less weaker than a creator.

“Yup, he gave it to me, what about it? And now it’s Eternal’s.” Lu Yun waggled his head, looking impertinently at Darkriver. “Alright, I’ve delivered Eternal to the Blood Sea and will be taking my leave now.”

He raised a cupped fist salute to Darkriver, who sighed in relief and wordlessly returned to the sea.

Lu Yun had spent his days in trepidation when Arbiter and Eternal were on him. He was deathly afraid of revealing their presences and causing something untoward to happen, but now they’d returned to where they should be and awaited their return to the great wilderness.

Whether it was Mount Buzhou or the Blood Sea, both were the safest places for them. He no longer worried about them, and reality would prove him right, because the two sisters were currently in hell.