“Huashe…” Lu Yun groaned weakly.

“Indeed, that was Huashe,” Wahuang chuckled merrily. “If it’d been Moat Snake attacking you just now and not Huashe, do you think you’d still be standing here?”

Lu Yun was rendered speechless.

“I think… if it’d been Moat Snake… he wouldn’t have come after me for my treasure…” he spoke uncertainly.

“Hmph!” Wahuang said nothing, save for a massive harrumph.

When she placed Arbiter into the enormous ball of life essence, the figure of a hazy yellowish snake flashed through the air and sank into the egg. With that, the egg also turned a yellowish-brown color and slowly descended into the depths of Mount Buzhou.

“Next, you need to deliver Eternal to the depths of the Blood Sea in the netherdark. However, that’s part of Darkriver’s territory and I can’t set foot in it, so it’ll be up to you,” said Wahuang.

“I’m going too!” The little fox jumped onto Lu Yun’s head and waved her furry paws.

“Go on then.” Wahuang nodded. “But be careful, there are countless pairs of eyes staring at the two of you now. The connate demon gods in the netherdark won’t pass up this opportunity for some trouble either.

“Oh, right.” She suddenly slapped her forehead. “I almost forgot—that guy borrowed something from you last time and didn’t pay you back in kind. He gave me this to give to you.”

She opened her hand and sent a lotus flower to Lu Yun. It was translucent and looked like it’d been formed from jade, and occupied a full hundred and eight ranks when it came to treasure rankings.

Lu Yun immediately thought of Hongjun. The ancestor hadn’t repaid him with anything when he borrowed the Stone of Three Lives—not that Lu Yun had minded. But to think that he’d sent his sentiments to Wahuang!

Well, that’s true. The first time I met Hongjun was outside Mount Buzhou.

“What is this?” Lu Yun asked curiously as he took the palm-sized lotus flower in hand.

“This is a spirit-grade connate treasure. Though it’s only spirit grade, it possesses unlimited potential for growth. It’s not inconceivable that it might surpass the Bell of Chaos to become the greatest connate treasure beneath the heavens one day.” Wahuang looked at the lotus flower with some irritation. She’d wanted to refine the flower long ago, but Hongjun had gotten to it one step before her. She wasn’t his match, so had to give up the treasure.

Though it’d been in her hands earlier, she wasn’t going to unscrupulously claim it for herself.

“There’s no predetermined attribute within this flower… it’s just pure strength. Then… won’t it…” Lu Yun shook with excitement and sent his sword dao into the lotus. Sword energy immediately rampaged throughout the flower and each one of its petals transformed into keen blades.

Wahuang looked at the youth with great envy.

“What a treasure, what a great treasure!” When Lu Yun withdrew his sword dao, the lotus returned to its pristine state, not a trace of his sword dao to be found. After thinking for a moment more, he sent hellfire into it.

Whoosh!

The flower petals turned black as blazing hellfire danced upon it.

“Hellfire won’t destroy it either?” This quite shocked Lu Yun.

“Hmph!” Wahuang harrumphed again and pouted. “It’s getting late, you should head to the netherdark!”

Lu Yun scratched his head and put the lotus flower away. He was now peak empyrean realm, so it would be an easy task to refine this flower. A spirit-grade connate treasure was also perfect for his current status.

Though he could deploy the true strength of a connate peerless treasure, it would be very difficult for him to fully refine it within a short amount of time. He had ninety years left to him, but that still wouldn’t be enough for the endeavor.

The lotus flower lacked a name and had always been in Hongjun’s possession. Apart from Wahuang and a few others in the great wilderness, no one else knew of its existence. One had to know that the Chaos Lotus, first of the nine great spirit roots, occupied only thirty-six ranks when evaluated. This lotus flower was a full hundred and eight!

……

The road to netherdark was a winding path beneath Mount Buzhou. A section of endless darkness stretched ahead of them as they followed the path; the little fox had burrowed deep into Lu Yun’s arms and wouldn’t take a look no matter what.

“Aren’t you sad at all now that Taiyi’s really gone?” Lu Yun dragged her out and placed her on his shoulder.

“He could never bear to really die,” the little fox snorted. “He prepared the Great Formation of the Nineheavens Gates a long time ago and took advantage of the situation to pull a disappearing act, just like a cicada sloughing off its skin. He’s just waiting for human dao to be established so he can be reborn as a human.

“In the future, someone will bring out the diagram for the Great Formation of the Nineheavens Gates and seal away the great wilderness planet. Someone also sets up the great formation in the Xuan Yuan Tomb. Who do you think does all that?”

Incredulous silence blared from Lu Yun.

“That guy went to the trouble of ruining my reputation so he could get my Bell of Chaos. He said I was his consort! Hmph! Hmmmmph hmph hmph!!” The little fox polished the bell hanging from her neck. “The bell was mine to begin with! That person gave it to me!”

That person was the one who’d enlightened the little fox—very possibly Hongjun.

“Ah, right. I once heard that in the time before Emperors Fall, the great masters rarely revealed their real names out of concern that someone would be able to attack them with that knowledge. Why aren’t the masters of the great wilderness like this?” Lu Yun was rather confused. This had been one of the reasons why he’d gone to the effort of creating the Lie Shan moniker.

“We are in the age of the primitive great dao, a time in which many combat arts and cultivation methods are ridiculously crude. Even an empyrean cultivator like you can smash a chaos realm demon god to pieces. What kind of intricate art do you think those brutish and absentminded demon gods can come up with?” The little fox rolled her eyes.

“All of that will happen after the human dao is established, and most of the uncanniest combat arts will be invented by the humans.”

Lu Yun rubbed his nose. He was just chitchatting because their surroundings were growing increasingly sinister. An evil wind howled on both sides of the path, and ghostly faces seemed to fade in and out of existence beside them.

The netherdark was the world of the dead. Unless one happened to be a great master, dead souls would all be inevitably drawn to this world. He and the little fox had entered it at some unknown point in time.

The path beneath their feet twisted and turned, exuding a faint haze of light. It was their only source of light in this world.

“This path will likely become the Path of the Dead in the future.” Fiery sparks flashed through Lu Yun’s eyes—hellfire was biding its time and just scaring off the things around them for now.

“But the netherdark should be a world of its own, which isn’t the case here. So… we aren’t really in the netherdark yet,” he murmured to himself.

“Lie Shan of the human race, why do you trespass into the netherdark?!” An intangible voice demanded by his ear.

“What trespass into the netherdark?” A cold smile quirked Lu Yun’s lips. “This your home?”