Lu Yun and Qing Yu were no closer to an answer even after prolonged joint deduction. Unbidden, Lu Yun thought of the gigantic shadow he’d seen in the river of time, the one that’d obscured all glimpses of the truth.

It didn’t matter anymore how the Dao Tree had supported that shadow. The tree had only been a chess piece in the grand scheme of things.

There were forty-some more years until the World Gates opened, but Lu Yun had yet to reach dao immortal realm. He’d determined how to proceed in his cultivation, yet couldn’t find the last dao palace to complete his plans.

He searched for ten years without coming across any hint of it. Whether the world of immortals or the lower realms, it seemed to have vanished into thin air.

“Has it returned to the chaos?” Lu Yun murmured to himself as he sat at the peak of Mount Xuanhuang.

“The current formula dao is still one of heaven and earth. We can’t calculate anything involving the chaos.” Qing Yu lay in Lu Yun’s arms and grumbled with dissatisfaction, “If only the immortal dao could traverse the chaos as well.”

“If the immortal dao could traverse the chaos?” Lu Yun blinked at his beloved.

“Formula dao is a dao beneath the immortal dao at the end of the day. We have to be physically standing in the chaos to operate it there. If we try from the world of immortals, we’ll never find any answers,” Qing Yu answered matter-of-factly. In a similar situation, they’d only been able to deduce the truth about the Bridge of Forgetfulness because they’d been physically present in the fourth realm.

“In that case, let’s go to the chaos!” Lu Yun shot to his feet and pulled Qing Yu up with him.

“But the world of immortals…” Qing Yu worried. Though the world seemed peaceful at a glance, towering hostility and antagonism suffused it. Many factions irritated against each other and it seemed very possible that large-scale conflict would break out.

“The heavenly court is firmly established in the world of immortals and has become its ruler.” Lu Yun smiled. “The two of us are only symbolic leaders now, the world no longer needs us.”

Eyes widening, Qing Yu gaped with comprehension. She finally understood her dao partner’s true goal. No matter when and no matter how, he’d never given up that fondly cherished dream of leaving all responsibility in someone else’s hands.

Heavenly Emperor Qing Taxian was in residence in the heavenly palace, as well as the four heavenly kings and one Venerated Sacrosanct Immortal King. They were sufficient to maintain order in the multiverse.

Dragons and tigers further abounded in the Dao Academy. Having come into their own, Lu Yun’s ten Yama Kings were unfathomable and mysterious. Without question, they were the strongest aces of the academy.

In addition, there were also eight great emperors and a chaos realm master holding down the fort in the Dao Academy. The remaining supreme pure, jade pure, and grand pure immortals were too numerable to count. These were all great talents who could handle a great many situations by themselves. There was no need for Lu Yun and Qing Yu to worry about anything.

In fact, the couple’s cultivation had fallen behind when compared to everyone else.

Great emperors existed in the world now, but Lu Yun and Qing Yu were respectively a peerless immortal and a High Immortal of the Great Firmament. They… didn’t even count as ants anymore.

Lu Yun was held back due to his lack of a dao fruit, whereas Qing Yu had no idea how to improve herself anymore in the world of immortals. The entire immortal dao was hers; she wouldn’t be able to continue cultivating unless she departed from this realm and absorbed energy from a place not ruled by the immortal dao.

As the dao sovereign of immortal dao, Qing Yu had a hefty price to pay for grasping this great dao.

……

“We’ll head to true chaos this time, out of the zone still within the boundaries of the realm. Let’s go see what this real chaos is like. Plus, we’ll have to fight the chaos creatures sooner or later. They know us like the back of their hands, but we still don’t know anything about them or even what they look like.” Lu Yun looked at Qing Yu and squeezed her cheeks firmly.

“I want to go too!” The little fox popped out from someplace unknown and shoved her furry head in between the couple.

Lu Yun’s face fell.

“I hate foxes!” He yanked her out and glared viciously at her. “Why are you everywhere? Doesn’t it get boring being the third wheel all the time? Or is being a third wheel your hobby and your newest goal in life is to annoy the shit out of me??”

He really was very irritated. Apart from their trip to the fourth realm, the married couple hadn’t had much private solitude since their wedding. Though they’d been dao partners for so long, they were still without a child.

He wanted to also spend some quality time with Qing Yu while they searched for the dao palace. The child could wait until after the cataclysm, but the appearance of the little fox imparted a certain helplessness and resignation to everything.

The little fox looked piteously at Qing Yu, her usual airs as the dean of monster spirit dao and monster spirit ancestor of the great wilderness completely absent.

Qing Yu bursted into chuckles. “Let’s bring her. Tushan Miao needs to locate her fortuitous opportunity in the chaos if she wishes to return to the chaos realm.”

Miao was the little fox’s name while Tushan was her surname. Together, they comprised of her full name.

So, too, did Fuxi and Wahuang possess their own names apart from the surname that people usually called them by. As for Shennong and Xuanyuan, their names had evolved into pure titles of honor, as had Lu Yun’s Lieshan.

Lu Yun looked weakly at the little fox. He never denied Qing Yu anything.

“Let’s go find Tianqi first and see what he’s guarding. What is it that gives those chaos creatures the ability to enter our realm?” Lu Yun suddenly thought of his long lost disciple. “Let’s head to Earth.”

It wasn’t possible to enter the chaos from the world of immortals—the only passage was through the cosmos of Earth.

…...

Hongjun and Fuxi sat facing each other on Mount Buzhou, hardly surprised by the arrival of the three. What surprised the visitors instead was that there was someone new on the mountain—an extraordinarily handsome young man in long jade robes. He bowed slightly when he saw Lu Yun.

“Qiang Liang greets the Flame Emperor.”

“Qiang Liang?” Crouched on Qing Yu’s shoulder, the little fox blinked when she saw the young man and said rudely, “What, you’re not dead yet?”

“The monster celestial master jests.” Qiang Liang smiled awkwardly.

He’d been a celestial king of Taiyi’s court and an exceptionally strong one at that. After the establishment of the human dao, he’d departed from the great wilderness with remaining connate demon gods who didn’t wish to submit to the humans. They’d left the realm and secluded themselves in the chaos until today.

During the time of the great wilderness, many demon gods had joined the human race and become valuable allies. The little fox had sought out Qiang Liang too, but the demon god had declined.

Now that the two were meeting again, he found things rather awkward.