This jaunt to the chaos had come to an end for Lu Yun. He’d done everything he set out to do, and the remaining battle between the six sacred monarchs and the nine of the creation seeds wasn’t something that he could intercede in.

He didn’t need to worry about the six sacred palaces either. As the rulers of the chaos, if the six monarchs couldn’t handle this tiny uproar, then they would’ve fallen to the hands of others a long time ago.

……

“Did you see your son?” Qing Yu asked sourly when she saw Lu Yun and the little fox return together.

“Ahem!” Lu Yun blushed and didn’t say anything.

“Nope!” The little fox returned to her true form and darted into Qing Yu’s embrace.

…Qing Yu’s jealousy quickly evaporated.

“But Lu Yun returned the ladder to him.” The little fox nuzzled her head against Qing Yu’s chin. Though Miao herself hadn’t experienced what her replica had undergone, she still felt guilty toward Qing Yu nonetheless.

“Alright, since that part’s over, we should head back.” Qing Yu stroked the little fox’s head and hugged her tightly before smiling at Lu Yun. She’d never faulted him for what happened with the little fox.

Their journey home was smoother than their trip to the chaos. Tian Qi had fully refined the lake of purple qi between the polluted and pristine part of the realm, so all of the chaos creatures stationed here had left.

There was a clear moat between these two parts of the chaos, and the polluted zone was expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye—turning the clear energy currents turgid. What was called the “polluted” chaos was, in fact, chaos currents formed by the energy of the worlds devouring the pristine chaos currents. These were unspeakably dirty to the chaos creatures, and life threatening if they came in contact with this energy.

When chaos creatures cultivated, they took in the pristine currents of their home. Therefore, not only were the turgid currents physically harmful, but they also deprived the chaos creatures of their future.

Lu Yun, Qing Yu, and the little fox also absorbed the clear currents when they cultivated, but since they practiced the immortal dao of the worlds, the energy from the chaos perfectly melded into the immortal dao and turned into immortal force.

Qiu Luoyu didn’t follow Lu Yun to the world of immortals. He was a sovereign of Inception Palace, and Leize had also promised to create a sanctuary within the palace to harbor the otherkind in the chaos.

The otherkind were still the enemies of the nine divine sects, but now that Inception Palace was taking a stand to protect them, this was an official stamp on a declaration of war between the nine divine sects and six sacred palaces.

By the time Lu Yun and the others returned to the world of immortals, the battle between the six monarchs and nine of the creation seed had ended in a draw. Not only did the nine divine sects refuse to honor the agreement and strike “divine sect” from their name, but they used the momentum from the nine to resurrect the “sacred land” title.

With the reappearance of the nine sacred lands in the chaos, the eternal overlords that hadn’t dared break through before all set foot into sovereign realm. The sacred lands now had nine great patrons backing them, so they no longer feared the sacred palaces.

……

Mount Buzhou was still their first stop upon returning to the worlds. Hongjun and Fuxi were sitting at the mountain’s peak playing a game of chess. When they saw the trio’s return, the losing Hongjun took advantage of Fuxi’s lapse in attention to scatter the pieces to the ground.

Fuxi chuckled ruefully and didn’t make a fuss.

“How was your trip?” Hongjun smiled at the three.

“Since you two already know, why ask me?” Lu Yun plopped down next to Hongjun and Fuxi, flicking them a sideways glance with an inscrutable expression.

“Ahem!” Hongjun coughed awkwardly and pointed at Fuxi. “He’s the sacred prince of Creation Palace, what he says goes!”

“I knew nothing about refining the creation seed and forestalling the tenth sacred land!” Fuxi jumped and hastily refuted.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough from both of you.” Qing Yu smiled at them and said, “Ah yes, Holy Emperor Fuxi, I’m the sacred princess of Creation Palace now. And he’s the sacred prince of Inception Palace.”

“Umm—” Fuxi and Hongjun looked at each other, their expressions as strange as could be.

The princess of Creation Palace? Prince of Inception? What had these three run into on their trip to the chaos?

Their new positions made them second to only the sacred monarchs, to say nothing of their new cultivation levels.

From their position on Mount Buzhou, Fuxi and Hongjun couldn’t see clearly into the chaos and had no idea what’d taken place. The only thing they knew of was that the light of the immortal dao had rushed out from Mount Xuanhuang.

“How about my dear disciple?” Hongjun smiled merrily at the little fox. She’d originally been a regular fox on Qingqiu Mountain and had only become Tushan Miao after Hongjun enlightened her with the creation seed.

“Hmph.” Sprawled in Qing Yu’s embrace, the little fox lifted her head with utmost ferocity, “I’m in the chaos realm!”

“Oh.” Slight disappointment colored Hongjun’s eyes. The creation seed within her was a power node from the third realm, so it wasn’t much of an accomplishment that she’d returned to chaos realm.

“The one in the chaos sea is my son!” the little fox continued.

“Uh huh, so Lu Yun couldn’t keep it in after all, and you two even have a child.” Hongjun smirked at Lu Yun.

Lu Yun’s cheeks turned bright pink with embarrassment while Qing Yu covered her mouth as she giggled.

“Eh? Did you just say the chaos sea?” Fuxi picked up on the little fox’s words. “Your son’s gone to the chaos sea? Can it be…”

“There’s a great expert in the chaos sea who’s ascended beyond the chaos. Has he chosen your child to be his disciple?!” Hongjun jumped up with a shriek.

The one in the chaos sea was a legendary master! He was the only one known throughout the chaos of ascending beyond the realm. Despite his elevation, he remained holding down the fort within the chaos sea. In Hongjun and Fuxi’s understanding, all of their current problems would be taken care of if he was willing to show his hand.

“That makes sense as well. It’s said that the great master is a fox and carries a human bloodline, so it’s only natural that your son would be chosen by him.” Hongjun stroked his beard with great equanimity. “To think that my grand-disciple would become that one’s disciple!”

The little fox sprang out of Qing Yu’s arms and hopped onto Lu Yun’s head.

“Hey, I said that he’s my son!” she emphasized.

“Of course he’s your son. Even though he’s been chosen, he’s still your son.” Hongjun hadn’t fully recovered.

“Ahem, senior.” Qing Yu snatched the little fox off Lu Yun’s head and stuffed Miao back into her arms. “The little fox means that the great master beyond the chaos that you two speak of is her son.”