Goumang wants to refine Ling Weiyang?

Lu Yun wouldn't tolerate that no matter what. Although he wasn't close to the current Ling Weiyang, his future self Ashu would be Lu Yun’s friend.

Lu Yun’s presence grew stronger with each step he took and hellfire slowly ignited on his body. His measured pace to the Builder Tree left behind a trail of hellfire footprints. Yu Hen and the others parted before him, not daring to block his way any longer.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Lu Yun had crushed the dignity of the Mu nation beneath his feet all by his lonesome.

Troublemaker Tushan held Ah Bao’s hand and followed close behind the human youth. This kingdom wasn't how it appeared on the surface; if Lu Yun set off on his own to confront Goumang, he could very likely fall into a trap.

She swiftly re-refined the Bell of Chaos, making it hers again and activating the final restriction within the treasure. The bell expanded explosively into the size of a small mountain and hovered over her head. The bell was hers to begin with, so only Tushan could undo the final restriction within it.

Although the troublemaker couldn’t deploy the bell’s true strength just yet, she could direct it to reinforce Lu Yun and enhance his strength. What put her mind at ease was that Dijiang had been unsuccessful in attempting the final restriction, and he hadn’t been able to open the last corner of the bell to disturb the Deaf Prince and the others either.

……

“I suspect that Goumang died a long time ago, and that who we see now isn’t the real Goumang!” the little fox’s voice suddenly sounded in Lu Yun’s mind. “Goumang’s dead, something else is possessing his body!”

Lu Yun frowned slightly, recalling the Mu ruler’s appearance. He looked just like the future Deaf Prince, the implications of which made Lu Yun’s expression even graver.

“Lie Shan, you’ve obtained your Constellation Willow. Do not meddle further in my nation’s matters. Please depart from the premises.” Goumang’s voice traveled out of the Builder Tree as the tree itself shuddered gently, releasing an aura as vast as the heavens.

Goumang’s enormous form slowly floated out of the tree. He was in human form and looked exactly the same as Deaf Prince Xiangliu Hongzhen of the future. Even their bearing was very similar, but he exuded a much stronger presence than the Deaf Prince.

A beam of black sparks erupted out of Lu Yun’s eyes to scan the projection. Though he couldn’t use Spectral Eye right now, he still picked up on a slight note of something off—there was a tiniest hint of frost hidden deep within Goumang’s body.

“Realm monsters!” Lu Yun exclaimed. “So you’re a realm monster! You killed the real Goumang!”

His outcry sent a wave of incredulity through the nation.

“What nonsense are you spouting, Lie Shan?!” Yu Hen burst out with shock and loudly reprimanded the human.

“It looks like you're not of Goumang’s bloodline either, but a realm monster too,” Lu Yun sneered and punched out with a casual turn of the body.

“How DARE YOU!” Goumang’s expression changed drastically within the Builder Tree as he quickly sent a mountainous hand down from the heavens to block Lu Yun’s punch. Emerald radiance then cascaded through the skies and took Yu Hen into the tree.

“Hold, you cretin!”

“What do you think you're doing, Lie Shan?!” The three Mu chaos realm experts revealed themselves at the same time when they saw Lie Shan attempt to kill Prince Yu Hen. However, they didn’t dare to overly threaten the human. What if he turned the entire kingdom into a sea of hellfire on an angry whim?

Within the Builder Tree.

Encased in a block of black ice, extreme cold invaded Ling Weiyang’s body. If it wasn't for the tiny sapling growing on his head, he probably would've already died under these appalling conditions. A tiny spot of light shimmered within the sapling—Goumang’s true spirit!

Goumang had died decades ago and even his firstborn fallen to soul possession. Yu Hen was now a tool for realm monsters to control Mu nation with and infiltrate the great wilderness.

Fuxi had long suspected that some of the connate demon gods had switched allegiance to the enemy—the once Luo Houluo being one of them. However, he’d never entertained the thought that Goumang, one of his own allies, had died and been possessed by the realm monsters!

Realm monsters appeared no different when they wore Goumang’s body and acted the part of the leading benefactor of the great wilderness. However, they’d coordinated plenty of moves in accordance with their brethren and dead spirits in space, killing innumerable numbers of great wilderness gods.

It hadn't been until the little fox’s arrival that she discovered something slightly amiss, which was why she argued things no further and just quietly took the seal back when she got nowhere. Quietly informing Lu Yun of her suspicions had been next on her agenda instead of announcing things far and wide.

The ramifications of realm monsters possessing the ruler of Mu nation were far too monumental. Once word of this got out, the great wilderness would absolutely boil over! The impact of Rushou’s death would pale far in comparison.

Lu Yun was also someone who understood what should and should not be done. Hence, he floated into the air to negotiate with Goumang inside the tree.

“Goumang, Ling Weiyang is my benefactor after helping me obtain the Constellation Willow. Hand him over and I will ignore the Mu nation after this. If not, I’ll turn it into an ocean of hellfire!” Lu Yun’s eyes burned as he stared closely at ‘Goumang’.

“Lie Shan, do you really think yourself invincible and the greatest in the land after killing just a Dijiang?” The Mu ruler’s eyes also flared with emerald flames, and he manifested to look frostily at the human youth.

“Dijiang said the same thing to me and now look at him, he’s dead.” Lu Yun smiled toothily. “Do you want to die too?”

Hummm.

The void trembled as Rearbow transformed into a blazing black sun over Lu Yun’s head. It flared with black radiance and sent a panicking Mu nation running for shelter.

The people were quite confused—hadn’t Lie Shan been jovially received last time he visited? Why had everything suddenly turned into this mess? Was it only because their liege had borrowed Tushan’s treasure and refused to return it?

As for the accusation of Goumang wanting to refine Ling Weiyang… they refused to believe it.

“Hand over Ling Weiyang, or I’ll kill you even if I have to destroy the Builder Tree!”

Instead of unmasking the realm monster for what it was, Lu Yun launched into a direct threat because he could tell not only did it have its sights set on Ling Weiyang, but it was also siphoning off the tree’s power to refine it!

The Builder Tree was the foremost divine tree of the great wilderness. The only thing that could measure up to it was likely the Sal Tree of Life and Death beneath the Sea of Hellfire.

If the realm monster really did refine the Builder Tree, it’d probably immediately open access to this patch of space and allow realm monsters and dead spirits to stream in freely. While Lu Yun didn’t know what would happen after that… it couldn’t be anything good. Particularly with how the world of immortals would be in the future.

The realm monster finally panicked when it heard Lu Yun’s declaration to destroy the tree. The human absolutely had the ability to!