The kingdom of hell wasn’t the only thing shaking, Qing Yu’s heavenly palace shuddered as well. They were both derived from the Tome of Life and Death—one controlled the heavens and the other reigned over earth.

Boom—

The Tome of Life and Death boomed explosively from the tremendous pressure that Lu Yun was levying upon it. He fixed it with a death stare and roared, “You’ve always been the one dictating my actions! You direct my cultivation and determine my fate! You brought me to the world of immortals so I would become Lu Yun of the world of immortals. Since you changed my destiny, then I will change you now!!

“There may only be ten Yama Kings as decreed by the Tome of Life and Death, but I will have you accept another!”

Blood seeped out of his orifices—a result of his defiance of the treasure. Those who knew Lu Yun well all thought him to be the owner of the book, that he’d become an incomparably noble existence because of it. Only he knew the truth of the matter, that he was just the treasure’s puppet. A living, breathing puppet.

He was inconceivably far away from truly mastering the Tome of Life and Death, and before he reached those heights, it could leave him at any time or refine him in turn. Though it was unlikely to do so since it lacked its own will and had accepted Lu Yun, he felt that this validation was more like a parent smugly making every decision for him, all in the name of “this is what’s best for you”.

One such as Lu Yun never appreciated emotional manipulation like this. He would rather die than be caged by invisible restraints or passively accept what others arranged for him. All he wanted was freedom and the right to be himself. His goal was just the carefree liberty of being able to do whatever he wanted!

“Take your place, eleventh Yama King!” Lu Yun roared at Fuxi’s body.

Black electricity crackled over the Tome of Life and Death and slowly grew in scope, becoming a massive pair of eyes that looked out coldly at Lu Yun. Something without sentience, like this book, had been forced into opening a pair of eyes in response to Lu Yun’s pressure!

“You will obey me or implode yourself, or destroy me!!” Lu Yun snarled.

The little fox and Qing Yu were so shocked by this scene that they didn’t know how to react. The former quickly summoned her Bell of Chaos to protect the two of them; the four divine beasts staked into the pillars had perished long ago in the fallout.

“Calm down, Lu Yun! This is the central tomb of the Skandha Extinction Tomb! If you destroy this place, Dusk Province will be done for as well!” Qing Yu called out urgently.

The central tomb of the Skandha Extinction Tomb!

Lu Yun had always thought that Asura had completed the Skandha Extinction Tomb with the help of certain human race traitors, that it was later used to curse the divines that’d betrayed the humans…

Yuchi Tianhuang, Yuchi Hanxing, and Xuan Yu had razed the tombs to the ground, but they’d destroyed only the tombs of the four cardinal directions. They’d never found the central tomb.

As more of this tomb’s original layout revealed itself amid furious shaking, Qing Yu realized with a gasp that this was the last tomb they’d been looking for. The ancestors of the four cardinal tribes were all suppressed here.

However, they’d all been reduced to dust from the struggle between Lu Yun and the Tome of Life and Death. The ancestors had been hanging onto their last breath to begin with and were exceedingly weak. Their souls and true spirits couldn’t withstand the treasure’s ripples at all.

Lu Yun remained entirely unmoved and focused strictly on his standoff with the Tome of Life and Death. He would make it obey him!

The eyes over the book grew increasingly brighter, and a spark of intelligence began to dawn in them.

Whoosh!

Blazing hellfire suddenly gushed beneath Lu Yun’s feet as the radiant Karmic Tree appeared behind him to fight the treasure with its master. Hellfire wrapped around the youth and continuously increased his strength and willpower, resulting in the book’s eyes gradually dimming with weakness.

“For what do you go to such trouble?” a tired voice suddenly rasped behind Lu Yun.

“Holy Emperor!” Lu Yun’s eyes lit up and he whipped around to look at Fuxi.

The demon god was in human form and walking down from the Extermination Pillar. He wore an outfit of hemp and his hair was loose around his shoulders, yet his complexion was the color of chalk.

The Tome of Life and Death had capitulated in the end, but in the form of resurrecting Fuxi instead of making him the eleventh Yama King.

The treasure couldn’t break the rules that it’d laid down for itself or it’d explode in self-destructing fury. But once Lu Yun truly mastered the Tome of Life and Death and became the sovereign of death, he’d be able to resurrect whoever he wanted to. He would even be able to travel through time and locate those who’d died in the annals of history and bring them back into the world!

All of this was permitted by the Tome of Life and Death.

Struggle concluded, the treasure fell back into Lu Yun’s arms, projecting a distinct emotion of… being wronged. It suddenly gave off the feeling that it was the little fox and not some ultimate treasure over life and death.

Lu Yun gaped at it. The Tome of Life and Death sank back into his body as a faint shadow, but he could still feel a thick sense of pouting suffering from the treasure.

That Fuxi had come back to life instead of becoming a Yama King was the best possible outcome. Lu Yun didn’t want his friend and senior to become a subordinate—attempting to make him a Yama King earlier had been a last resort. Fuxi had been dead for too long and his soul scattered. There was nothing else that Lu Yun could do with just the corpse.

Fuxi stopped in front of Lu Yun with a rueful chuckle. “This completely destroys the dao fruit that I left for you.”

“The dao fruit is dead, but the holy emperor is a living being. I can still determine what’s more important,” Lu Yun chuckled.

The demon god shook his head slightly and waved a hand, summoning the Ascension Pool beneath the pillar into his hands.

Qing Yu and Tushan approached them to greet the real Holy Emperor Fuxi, with Tushan returning to her fox form to run delighted circles around Fuxi.

“Did you set up the Skandha Extinction Tomb, Your Majesty?” Lu Yun suddenly asked.

“Not I, but Asura, along with the traitors of the human race. I… merely borrowed it,” Fuxi grinned. “I made some moves from the shadows as well, such as capturing those four fellows and throwing them into the chaos.”

As a premier connate demon god, Fuxi was very slightly weaker than Leize. The four divine beasts were strong, but a far cry from Fuxi’s might. They had been the most crucial ingredient of the Skandha Extinction Tomb, but Fuxi had been one step ahead of Asura and brought them back to the great wilderness. He’d sent them into the chaos and perfected the extinction tomb in another space and time.

By doing so, he created a chance of reprieve in the extinction tomb, delaying the activation of the curse on the divine race and cardinal tribes. This was why the divine race had been able to live on in the world of immortals—if the Skandha Extinction Tomb had been completed in the future, the divines would’ve long gone extinct.

“I can’t go back with you yet,” Fuxi said solemnly to Lu Yun. “The chaos dao fruit has not truly taken shape and the curse against great emperors is still in the Ascension Pool’s core essence. I need to keep it under control and think of another way to break it.”

The original plan had been for Lu Yun to cleanse the curse with hellfire when he refined his dao fruit, but his struggle with the Tome of Life and Death and subsequent death of the four divine beasts had wrecked all of the holy emperor’s plans. It would be up to Fuxi now to keep the curse suppressed.

He’d brought back the core essence of the Ascension Pool from the world of immortals, but the curse was so dreadful that it was still affecting the present, though it resided in the past.

“This curse arose because of me, so it should end because of me.” Ge Long walked out wearing flamboyant red robes and a blue longsword.

“Daoist Ingress.” Fuxi hastily rose in respect when he saw Ge Long. “Fellow daoist instigated Emperors Fall at the behest of the heavens. The crux of the issue isn’t the resentment of the great emperors—even that, too, is only a catalyst.”

“But if I die, that resentment will disperse and the curse should break.” Ge Long frowned.

“There’s no need to argue over this.” Lu Yun stretched out a hand, summoned the Ascension Pool’s essence to him, and threw it into the Tome of Life and Death. “There’s no curse beneath the heavens that can withstand my treasure.”

He grinned. “Since the holy emperor wishes to prepare a dao fruit for me, I cannot disappoint the holy emperor’s good intentions. Though the layout here is broken, it can nurture a second or a third dao fruit!” He looked at Qing Yu, she was also without a dao fruit.

Lu Yun waved a hand and activated the realms of yin and yang, opening the Gates of the Abyss with an impressive boom.

“After you, Your Majesty.” He gestured invitingly.

Return to the world of immortals from the chaos? He wasn’t that big of an idiot. That fake Fuxi was undoubtedly waiting for him in some corner of the chaos. Returning via hell was the safest way.

Resigned to this course of action, Fuxi walked into hell. “Ah, yes, this tomb is also a marvelous place of the chaos. I found the ancient spear stuck here in nothingness, and if my guess is right, there should also be other treasures within the vicinity.”