The blood demon’s strength immediately exploded to new heights. His two swords crossed each other like an enormous pair of scissors and hurtled over to the wrathful spirit. All of the dead spirits it passed along the way were reduced to ashes.

Such was the might that two connate treasures could bring to bear. Jointly refined by hellfire and Hadal Bonefire, the two swords were slowly being reforged into a brand new connate treasure—one that was stronger than the previous Rearbow and when the two swords had belonged to Darkriver.

Though the yet unnamed connate treasure was still weaker than the Bell of Chaos, it wasn’t far off. If Rearbow’s core essence hadn’t been damaged by the akasha ghosts, the new connate treasure likely would’ve already exceeded the bell.

There was no room for the yin spirits to fight back in the face of a fully deployed connate treasure. Even being grazed by the swords’ aura reduced them to dust; the combined might of nine karmic fruits was too strong. With their reinforcement, the blood demon almost returned to his peak when he was still Asura.

Hummmm.

A colossal hum rang out as a pair of blood-red eyes opened in the air over the palace of white bone. A black and white flame burned in them—the blood demon’s eyes. Terrifying pressure smashed down on the vengeful spirit and crushed it down to the ground.

The skeletal palace was also trembling as grimacing faces—human faces—floated up from the mammoth mound of bones in the structure. They swiftly filtered into the spirit’s body to bolster its strength.

The spirit was on par with a human king of the Primeval Era, but its strength was dispersed throughout the palace. Fearsome currents of bitterness and spite rushed out from all corners to flood the spirit with power. It gradually broke through human king realm to reach empyrean, showing signs of advancing to chaos realm.

The palace of white bone and the dao palace in general began to tremble. Everything in Dustfall Realm sensed the impending arrival of a chaos realm master. This was different from the blood demon as he only possessed strength on par with the chaos realm, but the true core of his being was still a weapon spirit. He wasn’t in the chaos realm himself, and now that such a powerhouse truly dawned in the dao palace, it elicited the resonance of the realm.

Besieging the dao palace to find their way in, immortals attacking the palace’s boundary froze on the spot. They were flies caught in amber as the suffocating scent of despair percolated through their thoughts. Their bodies lost the ability to move, but the ripple of chaos realm strength departed just as quickly as it arrived.

The blood demon made his move the moment the spirit broke through to chaos realm. Two swords intersected in the air with black and white flames streaming out of them, changing the skeletal palace into a fiery sea of black and white.

“I have a connate treasure and you don’t, so I can do whatever I want!” Cackling, the blood demon looked down on the vengeful spirit like he was looking at the greatest meal of his life. He also took tangible form and pounced on his prey.

A sparkling golden radiance enveloped the bone palace and cut it off from the outside world. The Bell of Chaos hanging upside down over her head, Tushan materialized in the air and stood atop the skeletal palace.

Outside of the dao palace, multiple human masters at the human king and even empyrean realm rammed the seal of the chaos. They wanted in, but they couldn’t break the defenses even at their level of strength.

“Forget the vengeful spirit… go outside the dao palace and destroy those immortals.” A ponderous thought rippled from the depths of the palace, sending chaos beasts flooding out of the shadows.

The strongest of the immortals outside were but Arcane Immortals of the Nine Heavens, the chaos beasts of primordial human king realm could obliterate them with a casual swipe.

However, a piercing dragon croon rang through space the moment the herd of chaos beasts appeared. An enormous dragon the size of a world suddenly appeared, lighting up the inky shadows of the cosmos like it was day. Magnificent energy of yang flared from the dragon; it was inky black with unique patterns carved on every scale. A ball of black flame burned over his head.

The torch dragon!

The torch dragon within Heaven Locus Land revealed itself at this juncture. He blazed with a tremendous force that put him at peak grand pure realm—infinitely close to great emperor.

This was the first torch dragon beneath the heavens, the one that Lu Yun had once defied the heavens to protect. Now that the immortals in this patch of space were in danger, it revealed itself.

Heaven Locus Land was now a divine nation, the Xuanyuan Nation!

Built by humans of the Primeval Era, though this kingdom’s ruler wasn’t a descendent of Xuanyuan, they’d inherited his legacy. The torch dragon was the nation’s guardian.

Awe-inspiring yang energy rushed into the dao palace the moment the torch dragon appeared, blasting the chaos beasts back.

“Leave this place,” the torch dragon spoke in human speech. “This dao palace isn’t something you should be involved with. Return to the main world and protect that safe zone.”

“Understood!” The immortals didn’t dare linger now that the torch dragon had given his commands. A realm incomprehensibly powerful had pulsed from the palace just now, and now these horrifying chaos beasts were everywhere. They didn’t want to stay and die for nothing. They immediately scattered in an orderly fashion and flashed back to the main world of Dustfall Realm.

The torch dragon peered through layers of the dao palace with his faintly golden eyes and stared fixedly at one of the figures in it.

Lu Yun.

“It’s him, it’s him! Last time I saw him, he wasn’t him yet. But now, he’s become him,” the torch dragon murmured to himself.

A projection of the torch dragon had traveled to Dustfall Realm, rather than being here in the flesh. His primary body was still in the Xuan Yuan Tomb, coiled around the dragonbolt pillar. However, his projection was made of hellfire and thus possessed the same realm and battle strength as his primary body.

Born of hellfire, the flame that burned over his head was also hellfire.

“That fox is here too… so Tushan’s found herself as well.”

……

The chaos beasts were blockaded within the palace and the empyrean realm humans weren't showing themselves for some reason. Putting all that out of his mind, the blood demon stretched out a sharp claw and speared the vengeful spirit. Opening his mouth wide, he shoved the spirit in to chew on it.

No matter how the spirit screamed, raged, or struggled, it couldn’t break free of the blood demon’s restraint. It was as if the blood demon was born to devour these kinds of spirits.

The blood demon’s core essence grew ever stronger in the blazing sun of black and white. It was his turn to bellow and fight, trying to break out of the connate treasure’s shackles with every fiber of his being.

Seeing the difficulty of his struggle, Lu Yun sent another eighty-one karmic fruits into the blood demon’s core essence.

Boom!

The black and white flames exploded and melded into one flame that burned with the color of blood.

“AHHHHHH!!” The blood demon shrieked as the vengeful spirit in his hand burst apart like a balloon. All of the resentment and malice in the skeletal palace swiftly converged on the blood demon and entered the ball of red flames.

Whoosh!

The blood demon ignited with flames along with his connate treasure, and scarlet eyes slowly began to open inside the bloody flames. A completely remote and merciless will that lived only for slaughter emanated from the eyes.

Puff!

The blood-red sun exploded into a streak of red flame that assimilated into the blood demon. The fire began to retreat, making way for a sinfully handsome man with scarlet hair and robes standing in the center of the skeletal palace rubble.

“Greetings to the master,” the blood demon fell on one knee in Lu Yun’s direction. “Thank you for helping me, master.”

This newly reborn blood demon was truly in the chaos realm. Though he’d just set foot in this realm, he was a brand new connate demon god. Thanks to the karmic fruits, he’d completely severed his connection to the past.

In addition, the two swords, Rearbow, hellfire, and Hadal Bonefire had combined into a cardinal red moon crescent.

The Bloodmoon.

This was a new connate treasure, but once just as strong as the Bell of Chaos. It was the first connate treasure to be born from hellfire and karmic fruit.

“Alright, you can go back now.” Lu Yun waved a hand.

Since the Bell of Chaos had locked down the premises, the blood demon’s aura didn’t make its way out of the dao palace. No one had detected his presence, and neither did Lu Yun want this trump card to be exposed.

“Understood.” The blood demon stood up and returned to hell.

Tushan arrived by Lu Yun’s side in a cloud of light fragrance.

“The second chaos star is in the depths of this palace, but those chaos creatures have left.” She’d been keeping an eye on the surroundings. Since the chaos creatures wouldn’t even have a chance to escape if Lu Yun shattered the dao palace, they’d decided to leave beforehand.

“Let them go. However, this dao palace is a real treasure, so we won’t be breaking any more of them.” Lu Yun didn’t intend to destroy any further palaces now that he knew their origins. The chaos creatures leaving suited his intentions perfectly.

“But be careful, the empyrean realm human traitors are still here.” Tushan’s elegantly arched brows knitted together.