There were three holy kings in the underworld—strongest of all underworld denizens and the true rulers of the region.

A herd of rotting kuns swam around Holy King Atrophy, moving thunderclouds that blotted out the sun. Some time back, the Azure Dragon King had executed a rotting kun that’d swum out of the underworld. It hadn’t occurred to him at all that the true visitor to the world of immortals might be one of its holy kings.

Goosebumps pebbled everyone’s skin when they paused in their flight from Nephrite Major to take a look back.

“The beings of the underworld really have come… no wonder he wanted us to leave.” The master of the Ingress Island blinked and heaved a sigh, then steered his blue bull back home without a glance backward.

“Master, what do we do now?” The head of the Dark North Sword Sect stared blankly, then hurriedly followed the youth.

“We wait!” The youth on the back of the cow spread out his hands. “Since even a holy king from the underworld has come, we’d be going to our deaths if we returned to Nephrite Major now.”

The two scarlet apes on Levitating Island also warily assessed the situation. They were incredibly relieved that they’d chosen to leave earlier. If they’d stayed, the only possible outcome for them was to become a living dead, then be dragged to the underworld to become one of its tomb keepers.

“I hadn’t thought that one of the holy kings of the tomb keepers would set foot into this world. It looks like we really are in for a period of great turbulence and upheaval,” murmured Silverlight as she took human form and looked in the direction of Nephrite Major.

Bafflement filled Goldenlight’s eyes.

“The holy kings of the underworld very rarely leave their realm,” Silverlight sighed. “Whenever they do so, it means the beginning of great chaos. They need to make preparations beforehand to protect the underworld, so they furiously search for geniuses all over the world and turn them into tomb keepers.

“They were a part of the battles of Emperors Fall, the destruction of human dao, when the path of cultivation was severed, and the beginning of the great war a hundred thousand years ago…”

Goldenlight looked askance at his dao partner. He had no idea about these things, and his dao partner had been sealed away a hundred thousand years ago, so how did she have so much knowledge?

She continued murmuring to herself, “There were once three hundred and sixty-five holy kings in the underworld, a nod to the great cycle. Their strength was on par with the human kings of the Primeval Era, but there are only three of them left now.”

“The human kings of the Primeval Era!” yelled Goldenlight.

A strange smile crossed Silverlight’s face. “It seems the holy kings of the underworld have chosen Lu Yun this time. If he becomes a tomb keeper, it’s very likely that he’ll be the fourth holy king.”

……

Chen Xiao, Qing Buyi, Lu Feng, and Mo Yi had revealed themselves in midair and were warily assessing the newcomer.

Holy King Atrophy! A personage that rivaled a primeval human king! Though he currently possessed a cultivation level at only the primordial realm, that still made him invincible in the modern world of immortals.

Contemporary society was far inferior to that of the Primordial Era. The world had been whole and complete back then, and even the immortal emperor wouldn’t have been able to destroy it. However, it’d been smashed into pieces since and was barely glued together by the four great oceans. It’d likely fall apart completely if another war exceeding the dao immortal realm took place.

Lu Yun suddenly grasped something in a moment of spontaneous enlightenment. Immortal dao being severed between the origin dao and ingress realm… seems… to have been to… protect the world of immortals?

He had no idea where the thought came from. With the break in immortal dao, current immortals were hard pressed to reach the origin dao realm, and found it even harder to reach beyond. Perhaps this was meant to protect the world of immortals?

The appearance of flawless origin dao immortals had resulted in the arrival of the Purple Firmament to prevent those dao immortals from doing whatever they wanted. Now, however, the Purple Firmament representatives had left and were no longer keeping these immortals in check.

There must be some sort of relationship between this.

Perhaps humanity broke the immortal dao, rather than the enemy. It’s also possible that someone placed the long-haired monsters near the Dao Tree…

Enemies…

The immortal emperor had wanted Lu Yun to remember Lu Shenhou, and said that those such as Lu Shenhou and the akasha ghosts were the enemies. But up until now, Lu Yun still had no idea what kind of existence Lu Shenhou was or what formed the basis of the akasha ghosts.

The holy king in front of him was no enemy. Lu Yun could clearly feel that he’d come with a very specific purpose—not for the Central World, not for Qing Yu, but for himself. Holy King Atrophy was here to take Lu Yun to the underworld!

……

“I’ve had my eye on you for a while, Lu Yun. You caught my eye when you left the underworld with Ashu.” The holy king looked to be a young man and was wearing a long, inky-black robe. A dense stench of decomposition wafted from him, one even stronger than that which exuded from the kuns swimming through the air. “There’s a marvelous power on you that can revive the dead and return the tomb keepers of the underworld to life.”

Lu Yun frowned slightly; the underworld was a very special location indeed. The experts that resided in that world seemed omnipotent.

“Do you want to come back to life as well?” Most of his attention rested on the holy king, but Lu Yun was well aware that, apart from the person he spoke to, the creatures of the Blood Sea had made landfall and were also hidden in the surroundings.

“No.” Holy King Atrophy shook his head. “There is no difference between life and death in my eyes. My duties are to safeguard the underworld. I can see a potential in you, the potential to become the fourth holy king of the underworld.

“Come back to the underworld with me and be our fourth holy king. I can protect that woman so that she can refine the Central World and become its mistress.”

Bzzz.

A loud buzz emitted from the void as the Venerated Sacrosanct Demon Sovereign walked out with the Skyturning Seal. Hadal Bonefire blazed in his brain—true Hadal Bonefire that was his nascent spirit.

“You’ll have to go through me if you want to take him to the underworld,” coolly delivered the demon sovereign.

“The Venerated Sacrosanct Demon Sovereign?” Holy King Atrophy shook his head. “You and the immortal emperor were among the top geniuses of the world in your time. What a pity that, in order to protect you, the immortal emperor shattered your dao heart and wanted you to rise again after forming an enduring true spirit. You would’ve been the fourth holy king, otherwise. What a pity, such a pity…”

The fire in the demon sovereign’s head flickered as he sank into deep thought.

“You want to take me to the underworld?” Lu Yun suddenly spoke. “Do you really dare do that?”

The holy king blinked.

“Did you not hear what Qi Hai, first city lord of humanity’s three hundred and sixty-five capital cities, said? I possess the primeval hell of human dao. Aren’t you afraid that I’ll combine hell with the underworld and transform it all into my own world?”

Whoosh!

Lu Yun waved a hand and summoned a conflagration of cold hellfire.

Holy King Atrophy quickly fell back a few steps. Hellfire was the true king of death and a natural bane to living dead like him. Though his soul was alive, his body wouldn’t be able to endure the incineration of hellfire. As Lu Yun was currently a peak origin dao immortal, hellfire released even greater power in his hands.

“I see… you are the successor to the hell of human dao.” Holy King Atrophy released a breath of relief. “So that means you are one person alone and not the pawn of any heavyweight in the world…”

Lu Yun frowned. He could tell through the Karmic Tree that the holy king had just become more resolved to take him as the fourth holy king of the underworld!