The chaotic brawl between the five heavyweights lasted for a full month before coming to a gradual end.

The pair of large hands and sword immortal in grey respectively returned to Ingress Island and the Dark North Sword Sect, sealing their factions off from the outside world, while Ghost Dragon and the nine-headed phoenix vanished completely.

The North Sea court was rebuilt with Beigong Xuan as the emperor still, but the North Sea was now forbidden grounds for humans. Any human cultivators who dared enter the sea would be killed on sight.

Scarlet Ape, the enormous, golden-furred beast, joined the North Sea court as its greatest patron. [1] At the conclusion of the chaos, the North Sea monster spirits had abruptly reversed their downward trajectory as laughingstock and vaulted to the top of the most powerful factions in the world.

Tales were regaled about the beautiful woman who’d appeared on Levitating Island and frozen the North Sea to save billions, but the fantastical story was soon forgotten when another piece of news broke out: Lu Yun invited the world’s formation and talisman masters to visit Dusk Province, so as to complete the Great Formation of Heavenly Spirits and Earthly Demons!

It shocked everyone that Lu Yun had truly proven his promise with action, rather than simply paying lip service to grandiose claims.

Immortals who’d fretted about becoming obsolete were overjoyed. The formation wasn’t truly completed yet, and Lu Yun hadn’t found a way to incorporate it into an immortal’s body either, but it was still enough to impart hope to the despairing masses.

Void realm cultivators, on the other hand, burned with hatred and wanted to tear Lu Yun a new one. Back on Immortal Sky Island, his declaration had placed many of them in dire danger. They’d been forced to run back to their sects with their tails between their legs and go into hiding.

The future may be yours, but it’s not yet the future!

To take things a step further, Lu Yun then invented a formation that could destroy the future in which void realm cultivators would reign supreme.

By now, those cultivators were conveniently overlooking the fact that it was Lu Yun who had protected the bloom of the Dao Flower and helped restore the path of cultivation, thus returning the void realm to the world of immortals.

……

In the month after Lu Yun made the announcement, not a day passed in which new formation masters didn’t come calling. The layout of heaven and earth held a fatal attraction for them.

He didn’t hold anything back and fully shared everything about the formation with the formation masters. Lu Yun was wholly unconcerned that this joint invention with Feinie might be leaked to the outside world.

Two heads were better than one, after all, and completing the formation would be a great boon to the world of immortals. There was causality involved in this, and only by tapping into the collective intelligence of the world could the feat be achieved.

Lu Yun couldn’t help but think of Mo Yi during the process. If she were here, she’d be able to easily solve their problems. She’d modified Brightstar Snowrend, a deadly killing formation from the ancient times, into her own combat art, combining combat arts and formations.

However, no one could find her. She’d disappeared after depositing two troublemakers in Dusk Province—Zhu Yan and Yue Longsha, the twin jewels of Nephrite Major. Someone seemed to be after them to refine them into replicas, so Dusk Province was the safest place for them to hide in the world of immortals.

Regarding the formation itself, Lu Yun had considered experimenting with talisman formation dao. Perhaps he could etch the formation runes into talismans, or set up the formation with talismans. However, the Great Formation of Heavenly Spirits and Earthly Demons was too powerful for normal talismans to bear. Talismans crafted from premium materials were required, which went against what he wanted, which was to make the formation accessible by all and resolve the retribution falling on Qing Han’s head.

……

The Skydragon and Skyphoenix Pearls were now in his possession. He’d planned to search for the Ancient Tree of Life in the Ancient Desert west of Nephrite Major after obtaining them, but changed his mind after speaking with the nine-headed phoenix and Xingzi in the North Sea.

All four of the pearls were required to diffuse the poison curse. Without the Skyturtle and Skyqilin Pearls, obtaining the Ancient Tree of Life wouldn’t do any good.

Thus, he pivoted to searching for clues about the remaining two pearls. The ghost realm in the East Sea was a distinct possibility, but that was just empty speculation for the moment. That was a risk he’d take only if he couldn’t find any clues of the pearls elsewhere.

Xingzi and Su Xiaoxiao got on like a house on fire as soon as the two girls met. One was an ancient poison doctor and the other a genius shaman. Though their talents lay in different fields, there was a remarkable overlap between their interests—studying strange herbs, concocting potent poisons, and conducting experiments that regular people couldn’t even imagine.

With their combined efforts, they managed to assist in Cangyin’s full transformation by successfully devouring both the bloodline and potential of the bloodqilin!

The transformation raised her cultivation to peerless immortal realm, and the memories she’d lost to the time manipulation art slowly came back to her, in turn entering Lu Yun’s mind through the Tome of Life and Death.

Finally, ancient secrets that were previously inaccessible had revealed themselves. What delighted him the most, however, was that the two girls had managed to suppress the poison curse on Qing Han even further.

……

“Kid, when are the supplemental paths going to take over the world like you’ve said?” Canghai Chengfeng hadn’t returned to the Dark North Sword Sect after his tomb raiding jaunt, but instead followed Lu Yun to Dusk Province with Canghai Chengkong.

The arcane dao immortal clung to Lu Yun like a pest, hoping to personally witness the future Lu Yun had sketched out. After Lu Yun had rescued a good number of his peers in the Dark North Sword Sect, Canghai Chengfeng released his remaining hostility for Lu Yun.

“After the completion of the great formation.” Lu Yun thought for a moment and asked, “Who’s the sword immortal in your sect that can rival a celestial emperor?”

“Hehehe, that’s our ancestor, the ancient Dark North Sword Immortal!” Canghai Chengfeng declared with a pleased expression. Their ancestor had made himself known to the world, so it wasn’t a big deal for Canghai Chengfeng to reveal his identity now.

The ancestor of the Dark North Sword Sect was a sword immortal who’d survived the ancient war. What shocked Lu Yun even more was that the sword immortal was a disciple of the head of Ingress Island. The two factions were actually joined at the hip!

Rumble!

A dramatic tremor passed through Dusk City as a tremendous beam of white light slammed into the city walls. Even with the reinforcement of countless formations that Feinie had set up, the walls immediately collapsed under the great power.

“What’s going on?!” Lu Yun started. He took to the air and looked to the north, just in time to see another beam of light coming his way. “This is Nephrite court’s weapon of war! Why would they possibly risk the ire of the world in attacking Dusk City now?!”

By now, there was no stopping Dusk City’s development. Immortals from all factions around the world flooded into Dusk Province on a regular basis to cultivate. The inheritance tower at the center of Dusk City, especially, saw many visitors.

To attack it now meant making enemies of the entire world, in a time when many previously hostile factions were refraining from going after Lu Yun because of his new formation. Some even attempted to mend their ties with him. It was clear that Lu Yun had no intention of selfish gain, not after he invited formation masters in the world to study the formation together.

Yet Zhao Changkong was attacking the city now?! No one could believe their eyes when they saw the weapon of war in the seaside stronghold taking shots at the province.

“What’s going on here?!” An immortal general had snuck into Dusk Province and was waiting for his turn to cultivate in the inheritance tower. He yelped when the weapon of war shot at the city.

“Who activated the weapon without my permission?!” Cultivation sealed to august immortal realm, the general took flight and rushed toward the seaside stronghold.

Bam!

Suddenly, a giant iron rod swung down from the sky and crushed the immortal.

“Grrrraawl!” A tremendous howl rang throughout the sky. Scarlet Ape stalked out from the seaside stronghold, already in three heads and six arms form and advancing on Dusk City with a brandish of its giant iron staff.

It was now three thousand meters tall and resembled a giant mountain sparkling with golden light. It traveled a couple kilometers with every step, rushing toward the city at great speed.

Hum.

The power of the province surged and a pair of enormous eyes opened in the sky, levelling a cold stare at the ape.

“So this is the so-called Dusk Restriction?” Scarlet Ape leered and snarled at the giant eyes, swinging its iron rod at the restriction.

Rumble!

Earth cracked and fissured from the point of impact and the energy of the land churned into violent currents that rushed out in all directions. Unlike the North Sea, Dusk Province was protected by a heavenly mandate since it was part of Nephrite Major. Therefore, it didn’t react as violently as the North Sea had.

However, the province spanned only about forty thousand kilometers and hadn’t yet fully recovered to its peak. To Scarlet Ape, it was nothing but a muddy pond it could destroy with a kick of its foot.

The Dusk restriction was plainly furious and formed a giant human face in the air, somehow flinging Scarlet Ape back the next second.

Bam!

Another beam of light blasted the giant face of the restriction. This was the power of a real weapon of war—the pure power of heaven and earth!

Half of its face collapsed from the impact, infuriating it so much that its eyes nearly spat out tangible rage.

“Kill!” Tall waves rose from the North Sea as countless monster spirits rode the waves and rushed into Dusk Province.

The weapon of war in the seaside stronghold had been taken over by the North Sea court. It was currently taking shot after shot at the province, turning all forty thousand kilometers of Dusken soil into an ocean.

General astonishment reigned amongst the land’s denizens. No one had expected the giant ape from the North Sea dragon tomb to invade Dusk Province now!

Many immortals took flight and stared in horrified stupefaction at the Dusk restriction fighting the giant ape that was bolstered by a fiery cape.

Bam!

A giant figure clad in crimson armor that towered into the sky materialized to stomp on Scarlet Ape.

“Human demon!!” Scarlet Ape’s hair stood on end as it growled with widened eyes. “So this is the resting place of the human emperor!

“Good, fantastic! I will destroy the foundations of humanity by destroying this place!!”

Hum!

The iron staff in Scarlet Ape’s hand burst with black light and turned into a mountain range, knocking away the foot keeping it down.

1. He’s using his species name as his name now.