The identity of his imposter had been a mystery to Fuxi all this time; he’d always thought that he was matching wits with the other. Who would’ve thought that the imposter would be an entity stronger than even a creator? That he’d left the heritage of the ancestor planet intact just because he wanted humans to perfect the Dragonquake Scripture for him?

The imposter had been in perfect control of everything all along, constantly one step ahead of Fuxi. The only time he’d lost was when Lu Yun unexpectedly pulled him back from death.

……

“Congratulations to fellow daoist for weathering your tribulations and a triumphant return!” Lu Yun breathed a small sigh of relief and smiled at Hongjun.

“Triumphant return?” Hongjun blinked, then thought of his experiences on Earth in his past life. He smiled, “I am no king to be making a triumphant return. Besides, I am still undergoing my tribulations.”

……

The four conversed for a long time at the peak of Mount Buzhou. However, Lu Yun still didn’t learn what he wished to know. More about the chaos creatures, for instance, or who the three-eyed man or Violetgrave was.

Everything seemed to be a layer of mist shrouding his eyes. He could make out some figures in the haze, but nothing came into focus.

“In actuality, what you know now is far beyond the limits of what you should know,” Hongjun said meaningfully. “You should know that I refrain from telling you things not because I want to conceal them from you, but because I want to protect you.”

Lu Yun paused, thinking back to the eyes that burned with netherfire in Pangu’s tomb. It’d said the same as well. The less he knew, the longer he’d live.

Lu Yun and Qing Yu looked at each other, nodding at the same time.

“Alright then, you can go on back. Fuxi will remain on Mount Buzhou to guard this place,” Hongjun bade his guests farewell after a while.

The couple rose to take their leave. They knew that Mount Buzhou was eminently important to Earth. If the chaos creatures wanted to destroy this realm, the fastest way would be through destroying Earth.

Earth was the root source of this realm. Its destruction would be the end of the realm’s foundations, and all would be slowly doomed to die. In his tomb, Xuan Yuan had once told Lu Yun to protect Earth with his life, that he had to safeguard the ancestor planet of humanity at all costs.

……

Lu Yun possessed four dao palaces now and four chaos stars. The power within the stars corresponded to four grand orders within the chaos—ethos, burgeon, creation, and opposition.

Of the remaining two, one was in the cosmos of the world of immortals and the other in the lower realms, respectively representing inception and nirvana.

The three-eyed man had offered up only one of the dao palaces of the lower realms. After all, there were experts among the chaos creatures as well. He didn’t want to establish another karmic relationship while trying to repay the first.

Lu Yun was in no hurry to collect the remaining two as the chaos creatures were likely out of their minds with rage after this swift loss of four palaces. Devastating retribution would descend upon him if he dared take anymore. The chaos creatures had also undoubtedly laid foolproof plans for his arrival.

Currently, his goal was Witherdew Major of the world of immortals.

Akasha ghosts had occupied Witherdew Major, and more had gathered there after they were expelled from the immortal dao. That major was now a haven of akasha ghosts.

They didn’t cause mischief anywhere else, but Lu Yun knew that when the World Gates opened and the yin spirits within the cosmos attacked the world, that would be when they rose up as well. He had absolutely no desire for his backyard to catch on fire while he fended off intruders at the front door. He’d wanted to eradicate them long ago, and now was a perfect opportunity.

……

Three dao palaces popped into existence and formed an enormous triangle in the skies, enclosing Witherdew Major within. A hundred thousand constellation class fortress ships barreled out of the dao palaces, charging into Witherdew Major from three different directions.

Earth cracked and skies shook everywhere they passed through; large swathes of the land were demolished and countless akasha ghosts were obliterated from the firepower of a hundred thousand ships.

Akasha ghosts were uncommonly dreadful, particularly their biggest brethren. The latter used their bodies to nurture akasha souls that were formless, intangible, killed invisibly, and were impossible to defend against.

Lu Yun had specially developed the constellation class fortress ships to counter dead spirits and akasha ghosts. One of the treasures on board perfectly imitated the power of the Scroll of Shepherding Immortals. The scroll contained the core essence of God and could restrain akasha ghosts, and was now a treasure onboard every single ship.

Most importantly was that akasha ghosts used to come and go like the wind when they were residing in the immortal dao. But now that they’d been expelled, they lost more than seventy percent of their power since they could no longer draw off the immortal dao.

……

“You little bastard Lu Yun, we’ve done nothing to you, but here you come kicking in our door!” The Witherdew celestial court used to stand at the center of Witherdew Major. A big akasha ghost with four heads and eight arms sat upon the emperor’s throne—the origin divine.

First of the divine spirits in this world, it’d borrowed God’s power to arrive in this realm and steal the opportunity that belonged to the Exalted divine spirits. It could be found everywhere, whether in the great wilderness or the era of human dao. It’d even been active during the time of the immortal dao!

When the divines carved their sacred runes into the Dao Flower to complete the immortal dao, it’d been the origin divine that almost ruined their efforts. One of its replicas had also lived within the Dao Tree as a parasite. After destroying the tree, Lu Yun had realized that the origin divine must still be alive somewhere in a corner of the world of immortals.

He hadn’t thought that it’d turn itself into a big akasha ghost and possess the ghost’s powers!

Countless akasha souls lived within its body as well, and it led the charge of a horde of akasha ghosts out of Witherdew Major.

……

The Dao Academy conquering Witherdew Major shook the heavens. Three dao palaces formed a triangle and slowly shifted toward the heartland of Witherdew Major. Neither akasha ghost nor akasha soul could hide in any place the palaces passed through.

As the fortress ships increased in number, they connected with the dao palaces and formed a mammoth triangular boundary. Immeasurable might of the realm descended from the skies, blasting into the akasha ghosts within.

“Dao palaces!!” The origin divine was struck speechless when he saw the palaces—as large as celestial bodies—hovering in the air.

It was a creation of the chaos creatures, so it naturally knew how dreadful the palaces were. The six palaces were treasures refined by great masters of the sacred race. The structures could create a vacuum of space unaffected by the energy or rules of a realm and facilitate the chaos creatures to safely reside within.

But now that three of them descended upon Witherdew Major, it was a sight of untold disaster for the big akasha ghosts.

“Lu Yun’s taken these dao palaces from the lords! But since he’s removed the chaos star from them, there’s only one percent of their usual power left to them. We still have a chance!

“Ge Yanxia, send your fur seals to stop Lu Yun!” a big akasha ghost commanded a massive black thing.

“Understood!” While fear also sparkled in female fur seal Ge Yanxia’s eyes, she couldn’t defy a command from the big akasha ghost.

She and her kin had become one massive whole after assimilating into the Ichor Bog. Though the race had first betrayed the demon god for the blood demon, they’d ultimately ended up beneath the akasha ghosts’ banner. They were the troops that the akasha ghosts had used to take over Witherdew Major.

The fur seals had essentially been reborn after becoming one with the Ichor Bog. Their previous patriarch, Ge Yanxia’s father, had refused to switch his loyalties from the blood demon, so Ge Yanxia resolved things by killing and eating him.

Ge Yanxia was the matriarch of the race now, like an empress. She copulated furiously with her kin everyday and continuously spawned new fur seals. The fur seals were now more than ten times their previous number.

They emptied out of the bog upon the akasha ghost’s command and streamed toward the fortress ships.