“Then I’m going too!” Lu Yun hastily added when he saw that Qing Yu wanted to go with Tushan.

“Hmph! Look at this bias!” Tushan huffed and narrowed her eyes at Lu Yun. He glared back at her and Qing Yu covered her mouth as she chuckled. The others exchanged slightly awkward glances with each other, while loneliness crossed Lin Yan’s face.

“Lin Yan, your empress Yinglong from your previous life should've reincarnated as well.” The Deaf Prince clapped his friend’s shoulder heartily and boomed out with his trademark ringing tones.

An uncontrollable shudder ran through Lin Yan.

……

“It’s most ideal that the three of you are going together. The Bell of Chaos is a peerless connate treasure, but it has marvelous uses that should enable it to repel the creatures from the chaos,” Fuxi said solemnly. A small dot of light flashed through his eyes and his lips vibrated. He couldn’t help but end with a caution for safety. “You must be careful in everything you do. You must still find my severed senses and dispel the curse against great emperors.”

“Don’t worry, Holy Emperor. I'll teach those things a good lesson and return safely.” Lu Yun brimmed with confidence. His primary body had sat in the chaos and safeguarded the Dao Flower for ninety years. He knew many things of the chaos like the back of his hand. There was nothing to be concerned about on his return trip to the chaos.

However, he didn’t reveal any of this because he was certain that the traitor was in the human sacred land and possessed a high status.

……

The Great Formation of the Nineheavens Gates looked to be in perfect operation, but was in fact an empty husk since it’d been broken a long time ago. Something had even sucked out the essence of the blazing sun that Taiyi had transformed into and injected an entirely new filling into it. Thus it kept burning, seemingly the same as before.

If it wasn’t for Yulei’s reminder earlier, the two human dao weapons likely would’ve already fallen into the unknown entity’s hands.

The chaos consisted of hazy gray air currents. There was no sense of space, time, or other beings here.

“The Dao Flower is in the crystal garden at the foot of Mount Xuanhuang.” Tushan looked gravely at Lu Yun and Qing Yu when they reached the chaos.

The couple remained quiet.

“What’s going on with you two?” The little fox summoned the Bell of Chaos and sent it hovering protectively over their heads.

“There’s nothing here and no impending victory of those who live in the chaos. I stood guard here for ninety years and never saw anything other than the realm monsters,” murmured Lu Yun. “And, Fuxi’s dead.”

“What?!” Tushan’s pretty eyes opened wide. “What do you mean, Fuxi’s dead?”

“Fuxi died a long time ago in the chaos. The person who returned with the Heavenfall Spear isn’t him.” A deep grief marked Lu Yun’s tones. “If there’s really any other entity in the chaos, then it’s probably that ‘Fuxi’.”

He hadn’t been certain of things at first, but when he saw the two great formations and the formation of the five elements, three essentials, and yin-yang—that was when he’d become certain that the Fuxi they’d just seen wasn’t the one he’d first met in the great wilderness.

“The real traitor is that fake Fuxi. The one who wants to take the two human dao weapons is the fake Fuxi.” Anguish tinged his tones.

Lu Yun lowered his head and looked at the Embittered Bamboo in his hand. It was indeed the spirit root, but he had the feeling that if he showed it to Fuxi’s five senses, they would be devoured by the bamboo.

Though Yulei’s powers of observation could pierce through the heavens, he couldn’t see through the boundless chaos. Lu Yun had fed him the words that he’d spoken just now. And if the little fox hadn’t eagerly volunteered herself, Lu Yun would’ve found a way to take them into the chaos regardless.

“Let’s go find Fuxi’s corpse.” Lu Yun sighed and stepped out into the expanse of hazy gray.

Qing Yu didn’t say anything. She was of one mind with Lu Yun, so she knew exactly what he was thinking. Tushan reverted back to her little fox form and landed silently on Lu Yun’s shoulders.

“If my guesses are right, the fake Fuxi cast the curse on great emperors. If we find Fuxi’s body, we should be able to dispel the curse,” Qing Yu said suddenly. “The Ascension Pool’s been split into two. Part of it is in the World Gates to bewilder our perspectives, while the heart of the curse in the treasure’s core essence is in the chaos.

“It’s in an enormous tomb in the chaos… Fuxi’s tomb.”

Now in the chaos, Qing Yu’s formula dao operated at a stunning proficiency. She only needed moments to calculate the cause and effect of everything here.

If Jing Huaci hadn’t pointed out there was a traitor among them earlier, the fake Fuxi would’ve never allowed Lu Yun and the other two into the chaos. Though he’d cast suspicion on those who’d died, Lu Yun’s follow-up of saying that the traitor had already revealed himself prevented the fake Fuxi from making any other moves.

The traitor could only watch the three of them walk out of his grasp. He still needed Lu Yun to take the Embittered Bamboo to Fuxi’s five senses. In addition, Mount Vastspace and the Timelight Tower were still in the Deaf Prince and company’s hands. He also dreaded the terrifying combat art of spacetime reincarnation and didn’t dare overly expose himself.

……

The chaos was vast and looked the same from right to left, up and down, and front to back. There was no definition of direction or sense of time. Time didn’t seem to flow here, and the three walked in the chaos for an indeterminate period of time. Lu Yun wielded Heavenfall in his hands, able to discern where the weapon had once resided.

A patch of shadows loomed out of the void ahead of them like a mountain wreathed with black fog. A supremely profound presence exuded from the mountain.

“We’re here!” Lu Yun slowly came to a halt as he watched the bronze spear in his hand.

The little fox didn’t put the Bell of Chaos away. She may have returned to empyrean realm, but even great masters of her level couldn’t walk freely in the chaos, to say nothing of peerless immortals like Lu Yun and Qing Yu. Without the bell’s protection, the couple would’ve been assimilated by the horrifying air currents as soon as they set foot into the chaos.

The black mountain mass sharpened into focus ahead of them—a tomb, not a mountain. An enormous black stone tablet was erected in front of it, on which were carved several large characters dripping with blood.

Tomb of Fuxi.

Fuxi really had died in this boundless chaos. An unknown creature was wearing his skin outside of the chaos and had brought Heavenfall back to the great wilderness to complete his dying wish of eliminating the demon gods. However, that was only an introduction to the act of an even greater conspiracy.