“Mosquitoes?” Ying Luo shivered when she saw the towering cloud of those bugs.

“That’s right, mosquitoes. We can handle one or two of them, but a crowd of more than a hundred thousand? Even a third level mortal realm being would be stung to death, much less us.” Lu Yun breathed out in relief and looked down at the sword in his hand with a chuckle.

He didn’t have any useful treasures at hand as he’d returned the Sugato Sword to the Green Firmament, left Violetgrave guarding the World Gates, and gifted Quietus to Tianqi. Therefore, he’d wanted that sword the moment he saw it.

This sword was an enormously strong connate treasure. Though it wasn’t on par with the Bell of Chaos, it was more than sufficient for Lu Yun. Connate treasures weren’t as rare in the chaos as they were in the realms, so any ordinary genius would have one.

“I, er, believe you’re a wanderer now.” Ying Luo held her forehead when she saw Lu Yun leer foolishly at the sword. “How do we get across? Just the two of us won’t be able to get through the mosquitoes.” Unbidden, she grew nervous again.

She hadn’t known what the test was before, but hopelessness descended now that she’d seen it. More than a hundred thousand second level mortal realm mosquitoes? It was impossible to pass through that area!

“Should we wait a bit longer for more people to come so we can make the attempt together?” she asked after a pause.

“There’s no need to do that.” Lu Yun swiftly refined the sword before breathing out easily. “All things have their counter. Those mosquitoes may be strong, but there’s bound to be something that can restrain them. We don’t have to meet them in a head-on fight, we just need to find what will keep them at bay.

“The three-headed lizard earlier was testing our combat arts and strength, so that won’t be the focus of the second test.”

He looked around carefully as he spoke, scanning the premises for something out of the ordinary. But apart from the dark red sands on the shore of the Blood Sea, nothing else came into sight on this barren landscape.

“Junior sister Ying Luo!” a delighted voice travelled where Lu Yun had come from. A man in black robes had arrived at some unknown point in time and was looking at Ying Luo with happy surprise.

“Senior brother Wei Yuan.” Ying Luo frowned slightly when she saw the newcomer, plainly not sharing his joy.

“Junior sister Ying Luo, so you’re here as well! …who’s this?” The man named Wei Yuan glowered when he suddenly saw Lu Yun.

“This is junior brother Lu Yun, a secluded disciple of the Inception Palace!” Ying Luo said before Lu Yun had a chance to respond. “Junior brother Lu Yun, this is senior brother Wei Yuan of the Nirvana Palace…”

“A secluded disciple, huh? No wonder I haven’t seen you before… but you’re called Lu Yun? Don’t you know Lu Yun is the enemy of the chaos? You better change your name quick.” Wei Yuan regarded Lu Yun with a frosty expression. He’d already gathered his strength earlier—if Ying Luo hadn’t said that he was a secluded Inception disciple, he would’ve already attacked this stranger.

Secluded disciples were the most unique group of beings within the sacred palaces. They were the monarch’s last disciples, but never showed themselves to the realm. They typically became shadow guards of the palace when they came into their strength.

It wasn’t that their identities were a secret, but that they very rarely ventured out of their palaces.

“I have a dog called Wei Yuan, are you my dog?” Lu Yun retorted caustically instead of giving way.

“How dare you insult me?!” Wei Yuan’s expression sank forebodingly.

Ying Luo hadn’t imagined that Lu Yun would say such words either. After all, he wasn’t a real sacred palace disciple.

Wei Yuan darted forward before Ying Luo had a chance to react further. He was also second level mortal realm and had passed the three-headed lizard’s test.

Lu Yun answered in kind. Dragon shadows whirled around him and slammed into Wei Yuan in the air.

Beneath them, the Blood Sea frothed and churned and strange cries traveled from its depths. In only three short breaths, the two exchanged tens of thousands of blows before withdrawing to the sides.

“The methods of the chaos dragons… you are indeed from Inception Palace.” Wei Yuan leered at Lu Yun. “But you shouldn’t have practiced their methods. Chaos dragons are now bitter enemies of my Nirvana Palace!”

Snap!

He reached out a hand and condensed black smoke in the air, forming a strange longsword. This was a connate treasure that was infinitely stronger than regular ones. It was very, very close to the level of the Bell of Chaos.

Lu Yun had previously beaten up Chi Wuxia and kicked him into the Tomb of Heaven and Earth. Though the genius hadn’t died, he was the son of Nirvana Palace’s princess. That a chaos dragon had beaten Chi Wuxia up in broad daylight also meant humiliation for Nirvana Palace, so Nirvana disciples now viewed all of the chaos dragons as their enemies.

Though there were very few chaos dragons, many Inception disciples practiced their arts. Therefore, these disciples also became enemies of Nirvana Palace by guilt of association.

Wei Yuan brought his full strength to bear so he could kill Lu Yun. Dreadful power of nirvana blossomed from his weapon, but it hadn’t formed into an order of nirvana.

If it had, Lu Yun could only remain standing where he was and powerlessly look on as death came for him.

Creating laws of order was a level of strength that only creators grasped.

……

Neither did Lu Yun hesitate or back down in this moment. Retreat wasn’t in his personality, and it wasn’t like his opponent was someone he couldn’t afford to provoke. He’d irritated Nirvana Palace already, anyhow. What did it matter if he pissed off two of them instead of one?

Whoosh!

He lifted the longsword in his hand and exploded with the new sword dao that he’d created by combining the Dragonquake Scripture. His sword dao had completely exceeded the old Vast Dragon Seaturner and marched to new heights.

“I didn’t dare underestimate the three-headed lizard earlier or use it to temper my new sword dao. But here you are…” A meaningful grin curved Lu Yun’s lips. “First move—Dragonrise!”

He roared and stepped out, stabbing forward with his sword and flicking its tip upward. The enormous dragon of pale gold wrapped around him also lifted its head, crooning throughout the shores of the Blood Sea.