Lu Yun hadn’t expected the master of the Panorama Pavilion to arrive so quickly. Qing Xun borrowing the dao weapon had been conducted with a transportation formation, but it seemed the Tribulation Surrogate Pill warranted a personal trip.

The newcomer was a tall, lean man, roughly thirty years of age. He was an arcane dao immortal, but right now, his cultivation was held back by layer upon layer of restrictions. He didn’t dare give the slightest hint that he possessed any dao fruits.

His arcane dao fruits’ communion with heaven and earth would inevitably draw the monsters protecting the origin dao fruits to him—or him to them, either one.

As he wasn’t confident in his ability to pick an origin dao fruit, he had no recourse but to seal away his own dao fruits. Death in failure was far too out of the question for him to contemplate. Even a grievous injury would reduce his Panorama Pavilion to rubble!

The master looked fervently at the youth before him. Despite being wet behind the ears, this young man could help him survive his tribulation! A dao weapon alone didn’t necessarily mean he could defeat the long-haired monsters, but a Tribulation Surrogate Pill would provide considerably more assurance.

After the Panorama Pavilion obtained the herbs in question, its lord keenly sensed that they were vitally important to him. His ignorance of what their actual purpose was hadn’t hindered his premonition. That was why the faction had spent several thousand years attempting to restore them, hosting auction after auction in order to attract the world’s strongest and brightest.

After receiving Qing Xun’s report, the lord had immediately set out with a panoply of medicines: a hundred and eight thousand immortal herbs, three hundred eighty thousand supplemental ingredients, and his sole remaining portion of skyphoenix blood.

“Young friend, what conditions do you have in mind? What will it take for you to refine the Tribulation Surrogate Pill?” He cut straight to the point as soon as he arrived.

“What conditions?” Lu Yun mused over the question for a moment. “It’s simple. The Panorama Pavilion will join Dusk Province, with you as its guardian.”

The lord colored slightly, but said nothing.

“I didn’t really want to make Dusk Province into a sacred land at first, but… a lot of people everywhere are forcing my hand, you see?” Lu Yun was a little troubled.

Initially, he’d only wanted to establish a tomb raiding sect to teach and pass on his traditions. Alas, too many people saw him as a future threat to be stamped into the ground. His very life itself was in danger! What could he do except follow through with their wishes? Dusk Province… had to become a sacred land!

The inheritance tower was there, as was Sword Lake. Even the dao flower had bloomed there. When it came to natural blessings, Dusk Province was more than qualified. Sadly, it lacked a critical mass of reliable manpower.

The Skandha Range commanded the respect of many villains, but they owed favors to the desolate willow, not him. At present, strengthening Dusk Province however he could was Lu Yun’s top priority.

The restriction against golden immortals and above?

It was powerful, sure, but the Nephrite Emperor had once deployed the power of origin dao in the province through a replica of himself. The restriction hadn’t done a thing about that, proving that it wasn’t omnipotent in its security.

If an origin dao immortal wanted to destroy Dusk Province, it was still quite possible for them to do so. According to Lu Yun’s present information, the Donglin clan had at least one such member.

Having said his piece, the youth looked quietly at the Pavilion Lord. He wasn’t much worried that the Panorama Pavilion would take over the province; he wouldn’t have dared to make such a proposal in the first place without a failsafe up his sleeve.

“Alright, I agree.” After perhaps twenty breaths, the lord of Panorama Pavilion exhaled loudly. “Ruyan’s child will be born in another year and you will be their master. In the future, the Panorama Pavilion would still have to join your province!”

He laughed helplessly. Qing Ruyan’s child had the potential to become a celestial emperor. Even if they couldn’t defeat the long-haired monsters and pluck an origin dao fruit, they were still guaranteed peak arcane dao immortality. They would even become Panorama Pavilion’s future lord. At that point, there’d be no question of which side the faction would stand on, so it was only a matter of time before the foregone conclusion came to pass anyway.

A smile stretched across Lu Yun’s face.

“However…” the Pavilion Lord said hesitantly. “The herbs and skyphoenix blood are one thing, and the skydragon blood isn’t hopeless either—not with North Sea’s soon-to-open tomb—but qilin are extinct in the world.”

“Not to worry, I have some skyqilin blood right here.” Lu Yun grinned. A drop of cerulean blood appeared in his palm, which he extended to the lord.

The anxious lord received the droplet of blood with a mixture of utmost care and shock. The qilin had gone extinct after the ancient war. In the known world, no qilins, or even creatures descended from them, existed anywhere. Yet the drop of blue blood Lu Yun produced was identical to the aura of an ancient qilin nest!

“The master of Dusk Province is no ordinary man. This qilin blood is proof of it!” The Pavilion Lord breathed a sigh of relief.

The drop of blood belonged to Lu Yun’s sixth envoy, Cangyin. She was only a true immortal at the moment, but she was a real qilin; more specifically, a young and immature one. A time manipulation art had reverted her back into a qilin egg before her death. Although it had reverse-aged her, it hadn’t stripped away her bloodline.

“The skydragon tomb is important enough for me to go myself, is it not?” The lord smiled with confidence born of reassurance.

“Ah… that’s quite alright, senior. Let us take care of it.” Lu Yun shook his head. “The tomb’s pretty complicated. If your seal is disturbed, there’s no telling what could happen.”

The Pavilion Lord blinked, then nodded in sad acquiescence. Right now, he wasn’t exactly in fighting shape.

Boom!

The deafening sound of rock smashing against rock cut through the air, shaking the floating island in the center of Levitating Island.

A loud yell accompanied it. “I only give away crystals to people I like! If you want to rob me, you’ll have to get through my crystal mountain first!”

Boom, boom, boom.

A series of loud impacts followed shortly after, and the entire island creaked under the stress.

“Bastard! I only came to ask Lu Yun for an explanation. Since when did I want your crystals?” Fang Feixing’s furious voice sounded through the air.

“You stole the treasure senior brother Lu wanted last time, and now you’re back for more, eh? Feel the wrath of this prince’s crystals, you boy toy!” 

Clang, clatter… crash!

The building that Lu Yun and the others were in collapsed around them.