“You’re the Destiny city lord’s senior brother?” Lu Yun entered hell and stared at Qi Hai in surprise as the latter sat cross-legged in the center of the dragon palace.

“I am.” Qi Hai nodded. “I always have been.”

Lu Yun paused. “You always have been?”

“I’ve been his senior brother since the era of human dao,” Qi Hai explained. “While I’ve awakened, though, his true spirit is still dormant.”

Lu Yun’s eyes shot wide.

“Little Ying has been the Destiny city lord since the very beginning and I’ve always been his senior brother.” Qi Hai didn’t hide anything from Lu Yun. In his eyes, the fact that Lu Yun was in control of hell made the young man the proper heir of the human dao. That conferred upon him the right to know the truth.

“Destiny City was one of the three hundred and sixty-five capitals of the human race, the cradle of human civilization. Unfortunately, all of the rest of the capitals have been destroyed.

“There exists a strange power here that attracts the living spirits that hail the city home, like me and Little Ying. Those who are able to settle down long-term in Destiny have been, and will always be, its residents. Even after death, we reincarnate back into the city,” Qi Hai sighed. “Destiny City used to be larger than the current world of immortals, and there were countless living beings that called it home. Now...”

Lu Yun huffed. “Larger than the world of immortals… Can that kind of place still be called a city?”

Qi Hai smiled in lieu of a response.

“I always thought civilization has been continuously progressing, that life has been ever-developing,” Lu Yun said, shaking his head. “It seems I was wrong.”

“No, you’re not wrong.” Qi Hai shook his head. “Civilization has indeed been progressing and never declined. The world you’re seeing now may not be able to rival the Primordial Era or the era of human dao, but are you so certain you’re seeing the truth of the world?”

Lu Yun was reminded of what Violetgrave had once said: Even if the immortal-emperor grade dread zombie broke free from the sword, it wouldn’t dare run rampant in the world of immortals. There were too many who could destroy it.

“Perhaps I’ve been looking at the world from the bottom of a well. Even though I feel like I’m in the air, there’s still a much vaster sky above my head.” Lu Yun thought back to Qing Buyi, Chen Xiao, and the stunning Mo Yi. They didn’t actually seem to belong to this world.

“Besides, your idea of the supplemental paths reigning dominant and what you’ve been planning is also a kind of progress for civilization,” Qi Hai continued seriously.

“Then it looks like the world of immortals is still in decline.” Lu Yun shrugged when Qi Hai didn’t understand his remarks.

……

When Lin Yu and Lin Xuan set foot onto Dusk Province with Lu Yun and Qing Han, they finally realized what they’d gotten themselves into.

“It’s you two! How is this possible?!” The Lin brothers gaped at Lu Yun once they’d entered Dusk City. “Weren’t you in Dusk Province all this time? Why… How…?”

Lin Yu was doing his best goldfish imitation.

“I’m the head of the Star Demon Sect.” Lu Yun smirked. “Those clans haven’t even been able to infiltrate my sect. Did you think they’d be able to successfully plant agents in Dusk Province?”

That was the explanation he came up with, but in truth, he wanted nothing but to comb through the province and look for moles.

He was the head of the Star Demon Sect, but Dusk Province was far from immune to spies. Lu Yun had simply used Shapeshifting Talismans to turn two people into him and Qing Han, and had them go around the city every once in a while.

Qing Han had been compromised with a soul seed. That meant there must be a spy among those she was close with in the city, one controlled by Sword Divine.

Thankfully, Lu Yun had already identified a list of suspects.

The Chen Clan!

Although they weren’t a top faction in the world, they had their own guardian spirit, who’d come to Dusk Province with the clan. The Lu Clan’s guardian spirit had come as well, which was also a potential threat.

Lu Yun handed the Lin brothers a formation scroll before leaving. The brothers exchanged befuddled looks, which gave way to great excitement after they saw the formation for what it was. If the two of them could fully understand it, they’d be able to create formations without foundation like the grandmasters of the past!

……

A sudden housecleaning commenced throughout the land. Countless immortals and cultivators were shackled and imprisoned, and the Lu and Chen Clans were no exceptions.

Lu Yun activated his Spectral Eye and scanned the entire province with Ruyi’s Divine Spymirror. No one with a foreign soul planted in them could escape his eyes. At the end of the day, he’d rounded up more than twenty thousand people!

The guardian spirits of the Lu and Chen Clans attempted to escape, but were quickly captured by Diexi. The one who’d planted the seed in Qing Han was a peerless immortal, Qing Han’s uncle.

Chen Dongyu, Qing Han’s grandfather and the patriarch of the Chen Clan, despaired when he learned the truth. Even he had been a victim of soul planting, but fortunately, the soul hadn’t yet matured.

As for the Lu patriarch… there was nothing Lu Yun could do. Xingzi and Su Xiaoxiao had conducted countless experiments in hell, but had thus far failed to find a way of removing the foreign souls.

Upon his return to Dusk Province, Lu Yun utilized his connections in the Skandha Range, Panorama Pavilion, Star Demon Sect, and even the East Sea monster spirits to spread the news far and wide about the divine race’s Sword of Chaos and the guardian spirits betraying their clans.

Whether the world believed him was out of his hands.

But as expected, the Mo Clan of Lazuli Major, Zi Clan of Thundergale Major, and the Immortal Martial School of Enlightened Major immediately reacted and verified the information, stating that Wu Tulong, Mo Qitian, and Zi Chen had been enthralled by the divine race.

An incredible uproar took the world of immortals by storm.

……

Dusk Province.

Lu Yun struggled to come up with a solution for the twenty thousand cultivators and immortals controlled by soul planting. They couldn’t be killed, but neither could they stay where they were.

Some members of the Chen and Lu Clans had learned the truth, but the majority refused to accept it. Their protestations and indignation gave Lu Yun constant headaches.

Diexi had publicly arrested the guardian spirits of the Lu and Chen Clans, which enraged most of their clans’ immortals. Many of them even threatened to leave Dusk Province.

Both were major clans that’d been around for tens of thousands of years. It was already a downgrade for them to stay in Dusk Province; Lu Yun making a move on their guardian spirits and clansmen was the spark that ignited their suppressed anger.

Many felt it was Lu Yun and Qing Han who’d caused the two clans to be wanted by the Nephrite court. Those two troublemakers were the source of all their problems!

To make things worse, the genius cultivators who’d attended the Sovereign Meet arrived in Dusk Province to hold the tournament anew. They wanted to restart the Sovereign Ranking and truly determine the order of their strength!