Lu Yun tilted his head.

Bam!

Yuan Tong’s staff flattened the man into the ground like minced meat, terrifying the others out of their minds and leaving them scrambling to flee. However, Yuan Tong was too quick for them. It dashed about like a silvery shadow, collecting, then dumping the remaining six in a heap.

“That silverback gorilla is so strong!” The six transformed spirit cultivators paled in terror.

“Out with it. Dragon Lord? Sovereign World? What’s going on here?” Though he’d been here for twenty-three days already, Lu Yun had spent most of that time looking for people and cultivating. He’d barely run into anyone, much less talked to them.

Evidently, the initial chaos and infighting had subsided. Most of the cultivators had formed factions and now interacted with each other in that manner. However, the title of ‘Dragon Lord’ was peculiarly surprising.

Once upon a time, the dragons had nine kings—immortal emperors, all. Anyone who styled themselves ‘lord of dragons’ nowadays certainly had guts. Plus, wasn’t this the central world? When did it become the Sovereign World?

“The Dragon Lord is one of the strongest existences here in the Sovereign World, more than worthy of his lordly title! He’s already a half-step returned void expert!” The six cultivators quickly babbled out everything they knew. Naturally, nothing they said was a secret.

The ‘Sovereign World’ name came from the fact that this continent was nameless and unknown. Therefore, the cultivators had borrowed the Sovereign Ranking’s name.

The ten kings were the strongest cultivators here. In addition to obtaining tremendously precious opportunities, they’d all reached at least unravelled void realm.

Ten great factions had formed around them as a result, and each commanded the allegiance of several thousand more cultivators. The ten lords had then swept across the Sovereign World, unearthing graves for the immortal heritages within.

Naturally, their original peers from the outside formed the bulk of their respective underlings. Anyone unrelated who joined them would only be treated as cannon fodder.

The half-dozen cultivators at Lu Yun’s mercy were the Dragon Lord’s subordinates. They roamed the Sovereign World to look for graves and tombs, as well as coerce lone cultivators into the service of their lord.

“Immortal tombs? So this place has more than just graves, huh?” The mention of tombs piqued Lu Yun’s interest.

“The outskirts of the Sovereign World are a huge graveyard over thirty thousand kilometers across. After you cross that distance, tombs start showing up!” one of them answered honestly. “Several of their honors have already gone in deeper for them.”

Immortal tombs were far more dangerous than burial mounds. Looking for more cannon fodder was the main reason these people had come here, as there were many smaller groups scattered about who didn’t wish to follow the ten lords. All of the contestants were highly self-assured geniuses; plenty of them were too proud to listen to the orders of others.

The ten kings themselves came from highly distinguished backgrounds. The ‘Dragon Lord’, for example, hailed from the Unselfish Sea.

……

After all was said and done, Yuan Tong got rid of the cultivators by eliminating them.

“Will you increase your cultivation now, master?” the simian asked worriedly. If unravelled void cultivators were on the table, Lu Yun’s current level wouldn’t be quite enough anymore.

“There’s no need,” Lu Yun shook his head. “The key to the second round of the Sovereign Ranking is for us to start from the beginning and train ourselves. Excessively increasing our cultivation runs somewhat counter to that goal.”

After his most recent experiences, he saw the intent of the Sovereign Meet more clearly.

The Path of Ingress, the Blood Sea, and now the so-called Sovereign World were all trials meant to hone the cultivators’ skills. In particular, plenty of time was given for them to relive the finer details of the previous realms they’d traveled through.

Lu Yun’s own cultivation came largely from the goodwill collected by the Sal Tree of Life and Death. Essentially, he’d only ever experienced exponential levels of overnight growth and had never had a chance to appreciate the minutiae of each realm.

Although his foundations were exceptionally stable and perfect thanks to goodwill, he’d gained far more from his time over the past few days than could be fully vocalized. From golden core to transformed spirit, each gradation in minor realm was intrinsically related to the cultivation that would come thereafter.

The little daoist girl had come to a similar conclusion, so she was in no rush, either.

None of that applied to Yuan Tong. All of its strength was imbued within its remarkable physique. The higher its cultivation rose, the stronger its body became.

“Come, let’s take a look at the tombs deeper in. I’d like to know who’s buried in them.”

If origin dao immortal bones were strewn about like debris, and genius heritages were buried in mounds… what more would the tombs hold?

The trio embarked as soon as the decision was made. Their way inward was barred by a number of misshapen mountains. All of the peaks looked too misshapen and peculiar to be naturally formed. Some had already been broken open, while others had piles of cultivator corpses out front.

“All of these are burial mounds for immortals,” remarked Lu Yun.

“These mountains are burial mounds? No way!” The little girl was incredulous.

“The immortals buried in them are too important for their graves, so their resentment turned the mounds into mountains.”

Indeed, Myriad Formation Summit had fit that description as well.

“Hold on!” Lu Yun began connecting the dots. “If Myriad Formation Summit fell from the sky… could it have come from here?”

He drew a sharp, hesitant breath as he took in the mounds jutting into the sky.

“That happened five thousand years ago. So did Levitating Island, plus a few other landmarks elsewhere in the world…” The young man furrowed his brow and cast his gaze all around, paying closer attention to the geography and feng shui. 

Myriad Formation Summit hadn’t contained any heritage whatsoever, only a Resurrection Formation, whereas Levitating Island had contained Su Xiaoxiao’s yin-yang dual tomb. Alas, his observations came up cold. This place was nothing more than a huge graveyard, after all.

Rrrrrrgk!

Suddenly, a thunderous rumble came from deep within the Sovereign World. The entire ground began trembling and Lu Yun nearly blacked out at the shock. The little girl and Yuan Tong were worse off: they were knocked straight out. 

A huge pillar of immortal light blasted into the sky. Light from burial mounds that’d been unearthed before couldn’t possibly hold a candle to this fiery radiance.

The whole world shook in trepidation, and countless people glanced in that direction.

“A true opportunity has finally appeared.” A peak unravelled void cultivator suddenly stood up, then rushed toward the light as a streak of his own.

“Has someone managed to open the tomb at the heart of the world?” More than ten thousand cultivators independently followed suit.

Seven days remained before the end of round two. Everyone intuited the boundless opportunity the light held; this would be the last wave of eliminations before the next round!