Chinks had appeared in the defenses of Dustfall Realm’s main world and yin spirits had come flooding through. Immortals from the world of immortals jointly set up a boundary of heaven and earth and barely managed to protect the last sanctuary of this world. It was only ten thousand kilometers across, but it safeguarded the last hopes of the realm.

There were less than a hundred thousand cultivators and immortals left on the main world, and roughly three hundred thousand ordinary beings. Once this last bastion was destroyed, Dustfall immortals could leave through the descent platform or ascent protocol, but the ordinary beings and cultivators would be lambs to the slaughter.

Dustfall immortals didn’t want to give up on this place, and neither did the visitors from the world of immortals. Three Golden Immortals of Grand Unity and one Arcane Immortal of the Nine Heavens had jointly drawn upon their cosmic dao fruits to set up the boundary, but it now teetered on the brink of collapse.

Hideous fissures marked the protections, ripped apart from dead spirits ramming their bodies against the boundary. The energy of a realm was fatal to them, but they were fearless and wanted to destroy the boundary no matter how many of them were obliterated in the process.

Outside the boundary, the rest of the main world began to waste away. It’d already turned into barren debris from countless yin spirits devouring it.

……

“The second dao palace will arrive here the moment this main world falls!” Lu Yun made brief speculations when he looked upon the world outside the boundary. He could guess that the palace’s main purpose was to collect the energy of this realm. As for what they wanted to do with it… that he couldn’t deduce.

The energy of the world was poison to creatures of the chaos. Perhaps they wanted to use it to refine certain treasures to withstand the power of a realm.

……

“Waugh—” A piercing shriek suddenly rang out as a scarlet bale spirit led a horde of dead spirits to a nearby crack.

“It’s a scarlet! Block it, block it!” Instead of cowering back when they saw the new enemy, the defending immortals charged the spirits in a maddened rush. Rays of brilliant sword light intersected in the void and wove an enormous net that covered the large crack.

This was a small team of seventeen golden immortals led by a peerless immortal. They assembled in a simple sword formation and furiously slaughtered the dead spirits trying to force their way inside.

The scarlet bale spirit made its move at this time, transforming into a streak of bloody shadow that pierced the net and led the dead spirits streaming in through the gap. The sword formation of eighteen immortals instantly fell apart in utter defeat.

“Get out of here!” The peerless immortal waved his hand and sent the golden immortals away. He charged in the opposite direction, straight into the heart of the army of dead spirits with a golden sparkle flickering between his brows.

“Senior brother!!” The seventeen immortals could do nothing against the strength of a peerless one. They’d already flown several thousand kilometers away and wouldn’t make it back in time. They could only watch their senior brother rush forward to detonate himself.

“Self-detonation?” Lu Yun trembled when he saw the scene. He’d always thought that the immortals of the world were very selfish, that they’d always choose to save themselves in the face of certain death. But Luan Qi from earlier and now this peerless immortal changed his mind about this matter.

Self-detonation of the nascent spirit would scatter the soul and true spirit. The peerless immortal wouldn’t even have the chance for reincarnation.

Whoosh!

Lu Yun darted forward and tapped the center of his brows, soothing the agitating nascent spirit that was about to explode. Quietus shot out of its sheath and Lu Yun made three thousand strokes in less than a breath.

A watery ripple seemed to oscillate through the void as all of the dead spirits scattered upon the wind.

“Waugh!!” The scarlet bale spirit roared with rage and flung itself at Lu Yun.

He could clearly see the purple light glimmering through it—it was about to evolve into a purple bale spirit! Sharp claws outstretched, it sought to crush Lu Yun’s sword light to pieces. It arrived in front of Lu Yun the next moment with a pungent tang of blood.

“It’s really strong!” Eyes widening, he grabbed the peerless immortal beside him and slowly backed away. Quietus swung again to deploy a vast dragon of sword qi. Snarling and brandishing its claws, it crashed into the scarlet bale spirit.

Crimson light flashed upon the premises as the spirit disintegrated. Howling defiantly, the dragon shot out of the crack and laid waste to countless dead spirits in the outside world.

……

“Zhao Lu thanks this senior brother for saving my life!” The peerless immortal quickly bowed in thanks to the sword immortal dressed in white robes.

“There’s no need to thank me. I wouldn’t have done anything if you’d left those golden immortals behind and tried to save your own life,” Lu Yun responded calmly.

The golden immortals that’d been flung into the distance all came flying back, babbling profusely with thanks when they saw Lu Yun.

“Might we know this senior brother’s name?” asked one of the golden immortals.

“Dao Academy, Lu Chen.” Lu Yun repeated his earlier pseudonym. “Alright, it’s very dangerous here, the boundary is about to fall. Return to the world of immortals with your peers.”

“So it’s a senior brother from the Dao Academy!” Zhao Lu’s expression grew stilted. He was a disciple of the Exalted Immortal Sect of Exalted Major and half a divine since his parents were human and divine. The Exalted celestial court and sect of old had been destroyed because of the Dao Academy, and the culprit behind it all was now the dean of demonic dao at the academy.

However, he swiftly refocused. “We can’t leave. If we go, there will be no one to protect the hundreds of thousands of lives here!”

Lu Yun had identified Zhao Lu’s origins early on, but still he was puzzled by these words.

There are legends and myths of immortals back on Earth, painting them as great, benevolent beings whose hearts encompassed the world. It looks like those stories are rooted in truth.

Lu Yun nodded at the growing tinge of red outside the crack and nodded. “Then go back to the world of immortals and summon reinforcements. The few immortals here now won’t be enough for even an appetizer for those yin spirits.”

Zhao Lu and the others had discovered the scene outside the boundary as well; they shuddered with horror.

“We need to go find the forefather!” 

The three Golden Immortals of Grand Unity and one Arcane Immortal of the Nine Heavens who’d set up the boundary were from the Exalted Immortal Sect. They were four divine spirits and served Lord Dongfang Hao of Exalted Major.

The world outside had completely turned the color of blood as an endless tide of scarlet spirits gathered by the crack.