“I don’t know… if my guess is right, Tianqi’s going to be the kid who creates it, so it’s up to him. I’ve already interfered with too much, if I go any further, I’ll exceed the limits of what this era can tolerate.”

He was slowly gaining a sense of what could and couldn’t be done during his time here.

“Now that the netherdark’s empty and Eternal’s lost her protection, she’ll be very vulnerable to attack...” Lu Yun frowned.

“Don’t worry about that, fellow daoist.” A crisp voice suddenly traveled into his ears.

As he turned around, another youth wearing flaming red robes came into view. The youth’s hair was messily piled up on top of his head and barely secured by a topknot; one hand loosely gripped a sword while a wine gourd dangled from the other. He reached Lu Yun’s side in just a few steps.

“This modest one is Yuyu. Greetings to my fellow daoist.” A devil-may-care attitude marking his every gesture, the daoist bowed to Lu Yun. [1]

“Ge Long?” Lu Yun asked subconsciously when he saw the newcomer.

“Huh?” The youth blinked. “This modest one is not a connate dragon, you have the wrong person, fellow daoist.” [2]

“Nothing!” Lu Yun quickly brushed off the moment. He’d recognized the newcomer in flamboyant red robes—it was Ge Long in a past life, before he became one of Lu Yun’s most trusted subordinates. That ungovernable delinquent for whom nothing was off limits was right in front of him!

“This modest one’s cultivation has reached a bottleneck and my master has ordered me to train in the netherdark. I can help look after Daoist Eternal during my time here,” Yuyu said with a smile.

“Then I am at ease with fellow daoist’s arrival.” Lu Yun raised a cupped fist salute.

“You trust me so easily?” Yuyu’s eyes shot wide open with disbelief. This was their first meeting, wasn’t it? Wasn’t Lie Shan afraid that he’d boil Eternal’s egg and eat it?

“Fellow daoist’s character is first in the great wilderness. There are many who I wouldn’t trust, but I will always trust you!” Lu Yun laughed heartily.

Yuyu poured a mouthful of wine into his mouth, garbling back something unintelligible in the same spirit.

“Since fellow daoist is here now, I will take my leave!” Lu Yun raised a cupped fist salute and drifted out of the netherdark, leaving a gaping Yuyu standing where he was.

“My character is first in the great wilderness?” Yuyu blinked rapidly. “He trusts me that much?”

……

Mount Tai remained steadfastly in place, and the path of the netherdark hadn’t been affected by the battle earlier. It twisted and turned back into the great wilderness.

“Is he the Ge Long who takes his head off and uses it as a treasure?” the little fox asked curiously.

Daoist Yuyu was an unknown in the current great wilderness, and even his master Hongjun was rarely recognized. But as someone from the future, Lu Yun naturally knew of their names.

“Right, that’s him.” Lu Yun nodded. “No wonder Eternal’s close with Ge Long in the future. They struck up a friendship before she was even born.”

Some of the major events to take place before Emperors Fall—decimating the peak clans and destroying almost all connate treasures in the world—had been accomplished by Daoist Yuyu in tandem with Carmine Eternal.

When Emperors Fall came to pass, Carmine Eternal could’ve stayed out of it, but she still chose to stand by Daoist Yuyu’s side and complete his goal of slaughtering all great emperors in the world. It was now more readily apparent why she’d done so.

……

Mount Buzhou loomed in his eyes before long. A boy dressed in a black outfit stooped on the ground, casting glances into the netherdark from time to time. When he saw Lu Yun, he came running like the wind.

“Master, you’re finally back!” The child almost cried when he saw Lu Yun. Fresh faced and fair skinned, the child’s red lips offset gleaming white teeth. He looked just a little delicate and happened to be Lu Yun’s third disciple—Tianqi.

“Tianqi? How are you so big?” Lu Yun blinked, taken aback.

“Master, it’s been eight years… of course I grew up!” The boy wiped away tears from the corner of his eyes and replied mournfully.

“Eight years… That’s right, I was fighting off the heavens in the Sea of Hellfire. I didn’t notice how much time was passing by.” Lu Yun nodded.

The heavenly dao wouldn’t send only a simple tribulation to obliterate the torch dragon; the terrifying chaos had lasted a full eight years. In that period of time, Lu Yun had defied heaven’s wrath and two major demon gods, astounding the world with his feats.

“What’s wrong? You seem to have suffered quite a bit.” Lu Yun frowned when he looked at Tianqi.

“Her Majesty Wahuang wants me to cultivate, but it feels like I’m ripping apart every time I do…” Tianqi responded plaintively. “But Her Majesty says that’s because I’m lazy, so she still forces me to cultivate…”

Two fiery sparks gleamed in Lu Yun’s eyes as he scanned his disciple’s body. “Alright then, you don’t have to cultivate starting from today. Just stay by my side.”

“Thank you, master!” Tianqi was overjoyed.

“Lie Shan, why send him to me if you don’t want him to train under my tutelage?” Wahuang leveled an ominous look at the newly returned youth. “This kid isn’t a connate demon god, but he’s a diamond in the rough all the same. He’ll become a chaos realm master of combat arts in my hands sooner or later. What future does he have with you? You’re just empyrean realm, the same as him.”

“What method are you passing onto him, Your Majesty?” Lu Yun asked curiously.

The great masters of this age almost all eschewed cultivation methods, as they followed whatever the divine spirits taught them. Wahuang herself cultivated the rhythm of all living beings, which was how she’d reached her current heights.

“The method that Fuxi created from observing heaven and earth, of course. Do you fancy yourself stronger than Fuxi?” Wahuang was growing slightly frantic. She had no disciples or heir for her legacy, so she’d felt a rare itch stir in her heart when Tianqi came knocking. This was something she would fight Lu Yun on!

“Your Majesty, this kid will be teaching Tianqi a connate method,” Lu Yun answered solemnly. “It’s the method I practice!”

That took Wahuang greatly aback. “A connate method… your method can deploy the hellfire of the netherdark. Are you really willing to pass it onto him?”

Lu Yun waved a hand and displayed the Method of Life and Death as a section of writing in the air.

“The Method of Life and Death? …life and death? …reincarnation?!” Shock gripped Wahuang and she destroyed the writing in the air with a hasty wave.

“Just pass this method on to Tianqi.” She heaved a long sigh. Reincarnation didn’t exist yet—it would only appear when the hell of human dao was established. But it wasn’t until this moment that she realized who this god of Mount Tai was. Lu Yun had delivered the future master of hell and ruler of reincarnation right to her doorstep!

“However, his identity is crucial to too many things, so I will take him as my disciple as well. He, um, ah, I need to pass on a few lifesaving measures to him so that he won’t die in the cataclysm to come.” Wahuang hedged her words with an awkward expression.

“Well? Go on and greet your new master!” Lu Yun swiftly kicked Tianqi in the rear.

“Disciple Tianqi… greets the second master!” Tianqi dutifully complied with a long face.

“I’m the senior master, he’s the junior master.” Wahuang glared ferociously.

Tianqi looked blankly at Lu Yun.

“Let’s settle things as Her Majesty wishes.” Lu Yun smiled ruefully. He had only eighty-some more years left in the great wilderness. Tianqi would still have much to learn from Wahuang in the future.

“Understood… senior master!” Tianqi wanted to cry again.

“Your Majesty, Tianqi should train with me for the time being. I’ll bring him back after eighty years,” Lu Yun proposed gravely.

“Go on, your connate method requires personal instruction. But remember, you can’t let him go back to the netherdark before he reaches chaos realm!” Wahuang solemnly reminded.

“Since you’ve officially taken me as your master, I won’t be miserly with you. This seal is a peerless-grade connate treasure that I took from bratty Darkriver’s hands. It’s yours now, for self protection.” Wahuang placed a large black seal into Tianqi’s hands.

“This disciple thanks the senior master!” Tianqi quickly fell to the ground in thanks.

“Be on your way now, you two. Mount Buzhou has not been quiet as of late. Ah, yes, you must be careful of Ji Du. You destroyed one of his copies in the netherdark and took his greatest treasure. This isn’t the last you’ve seen of him,” Wahuang issued a final reminder.

1. Of the three realms in the Daoist pantheon, Shangqing Zhenjing 上清真境 "Perfect Realm of the Highest Purity” is also known as Yuyu Tian 禹餘天 "Sorrowless Heaven”

2. The long character in Ge Long’s name is the same as the one for dragon. Yuyu thought Lu Yun was referencing a type of dragon called “Ge”.