The holy kings of the underworld possessed their own unique forms of communication. The underworld was too vast and the few holy kings situated in different locales. They usually relied on these kinds of communication formations to talk to each other.

Of course, these formations only worked in the underworld. They were ineffective once the user left.

“Eh? Lu Yun? Aren’t you overseeing things from your Dao Academy? What are you doing here?” Holy King Desolation blinked when he saw the communication formation suddenly light up next to him.

It was top secret that Lu Yun was in the chaos. Apart from those of the nine sacred lands—nine sects picking up on it, no one else knew of this. In addition, Lu Yun’s replica appeared in the Dao Academy every now and then, creating the illusion that he was still in the world of immortals.

Holy King Desolation kept a close eye on matters in the world of immortals, so he’d been taken in as well.

“I’m here for the Blood Sea.” Lu Yun cut straight to the chase. “Help me.”

“The Blood Sea? Has the underworld started to devour the Tomb of Heaven and Earth in the chaos again?!” Holy King Desolation jolted to alertness and immediately strode across the void, ending up in front of Lu Yun and Qing Yu.

Lu Yun had no idea how the holy king had done that. It’d almost been an instantaneous teleportation and a combat art far more terrifying than Boundless Step.

“Indeed… the underworld is devouring the tomb again.” The holy king considered the situation with utmost gravity.

“Can you tell me what’s going on here?” Lu Yun asked, realizing from the holy king’s expression that something was seriously amiss.

The underworld was like a sea within the shadows. The chaos was its shore and the tomb a lonely island adrift in it.

Lu Yun hadn’t come across the underworld when he was in the great wilderness. He’d thought that meant the underworld hadn’t been born then, but he also hadn’t seen the underworld when he was in the mythological realm.

Though Qing Yu had derived where the underworld came from, it was still a puzzle to Lu Yun.

“New mausoleum keepers are coming and new holy kings have been born. We finally have less to fear about the future now.” A bit of ease threaded through the holy king’s face.

The underworld had once possessed countless holy kings, but they’d all perished in battle after battle. There were only four of them now, and the fourth king Violetshade was someone that Holy King Desolation had roped in from the world of immortals.

A new tomb entering the underworld meant the birth of new holy kings and mausoleum keepers, greatly adding to the underworld’s strength.

“Who created the underworld?” asked Lu Yun.

“I don’t know.” Desolation shook his head. “The truth behind who created the underworld and when has been long lost to time. We only know that our duties are to protect it. This mythological realm isn’t that strong compared to the other inhabitants of the underworld, so we’ll see at most two new holy kings this time.”

He suddenly sighed with a bit of regret while Lu Yun and Qing Yu widened their eyes at each other. They hadn’t thought that this legendary, highly venerated realm in the chaos, once that almost swallowed its lifelong rival, would be “not that strong” in the holy king’s eyes.

While Qing Yu had also derived this earlier, it was another matter to hear someone else speak of it.

Holy Kings Atrophy, Antiquity, and Violetshade also arrived on the scene at this time.

A gray avenue slowly extended from the Tomb of Heaven and Earth, paving the way for two dim figures on it. This road was extremely similar to the bloody path before it, but it lacked the tang of blood and hint of spirit from the latter.

……

“I see, so the tomb was using Chi Wuxia to destroy the rules of trial. If not him, someone else would’ve acted.” Lu Yun suddenly understood more of earlier events.

It was no coincidence that the Tomb of Heaven and Earth had appeared here, at this time. The layout of burial was fully complete within it, and the next step was to assimilate it into the underworld.

Though its layout centered around a massive burial pit, it was still a layout of burial all the same.

The gray avenue gradually extended to the group in the underworld, bringing the two figures into focus.

“You two?!” Lu Yun’s eyes shot wide open when he took a clear look.

Coldnight Merefrost, Dawnruin! Two of the four chaos experts first to discover the creation seed and recruited to Lu Yun’s banner!

The other two had died before the tomb appeared, and Lu Yun hadn’t seen Merefrost or Dawnruin after entering the tomb. He’d thought they were dead too, but to think they’d become holy kings of the underworld instead!

…wait, if they’re holy kings… Doesn’t that mean they really did die?

Dense hordes of zombies followed behind the two—the inhabitants of the zombie sea and burial pit within the tomb.

“Greetings to milord.” Merefrost and Dawnruin bowed circumspectly to Lu Yun, surprising the other holy kings. They didn’t know of the relationship between Lu Yun and their two newest brethren.

“No worries, let’s forget the matters of the past since you two are holy kings of the underworld now.” Lu Yun waved a hand.

“While the past is indeed in the past, the two of us have become holy kings only due to your grace.” Dawnruin shook her head.

“Eh?” Lu Yun blinked.

“We died in the tomb, but became holy kings because of milord.” Merefrost straightened up.

“I know what happened,” Holy King Desolation interrupted. “The holy kings to be born from the mythological realm should’ve been you and someone else. But since you’d departed beyond the realm’s reaches, and Merefrost and Dawnruin have a karmic relationship with you, they took your place. …you come from the mythological realm?”

Desolation had been a heavyweight of an incomparable realm when alive. Though he’d lost his memories of that life, he still understood the rules.

“Ah, it probably has to do with my past self. If I hadn’t absorbed it again, then it would’ve slipped out from the state of being a dao fruit and become a holy king instead.” Lu Yun snapped his fingers.

This made sense—his Xing Chen replica had once accepted the heritage of the underworld and been a holy king. Therefore, his past self would’ve been instantly selected as a holy king candidate by these mysterious rules. As for the other to come from the mythological realm… it was most likely Qing Han.

However, the Tome of Life and Death severed this connection to the underworld, so the rules had no choice but to shift to the dead Merefrost and Dawnruin.