The Blood Sea was deemed out of bounds and a forbidden area ever since three empyrean realm experts died in it. Empyrean realm, or great emperor as it was previously known, was the strongest level of immortals in the world at the moment. Since even they had perished, no one else dared draw near.

A scene of desolation reigned around the bloody waters. Countless blood sea creatures roiled in its depths, but they didn’t dare come ashore. Their deterrent was four enormous coffins lying horizontal to the water’s banks, emanating piercing sword intent that cowed all of the Blood Sea.

Ge Long had returned to hell, but his four evil coffins and the swords sealed within remained to keep the Blood Sea and its denizens under control.

Of course, the world of immortals was also no longer what it’d once been. If the Blood Sea creatures really did dare invade, they wouldn’t find the easy pickings they expected.

There were at least a hundred empyrean experts in the current world of immortals—a sum not yet on par with the heyday of human dao, but making this the strongest age of the immortal dao era.

Immortal Emperor Qing Taxian had broken through empyrean realm and set foot into the chaos realm. He was the first to manage this feat beneath the immortal dao, making him the emperor of all immortals in both name and deed.

Of the entire world of immortals, he was the only one who dared have “emperor” in his title.

……

“It’s been a long time, fellow daoists.” A figure walked gracefully out of the parting Blood Sea and approached Lu Yun and Qing Yu.

Light-footed like flowing water, she looked sixteen and her elegant form was wreathed in a layer of mist. Despite that, the couple could sense a perpetual air of sorrow and loss about her.

“Greetings to fellow daoist.” Lu Yun nodded slightly at the woman. She was the vengeful spirit that he’d encountered in the ruins of the Firmament Prison, the last soul of one of the ages of immortal dao.

If it hadn’t been for her paper boats, Lu Yun and the others probably wouldn’t have made it out alive.

“For what matter have fellow daoists come?” The girl dismissed the layer of mist around her and revealed her true form. Her limpid eyes stared unblinkingly at Lu Yun and Qing Yu.

“Since you already know, fellow daoist, why do you ask?” It was Qing Yu who responded. “Do you wish to stop us?”

The girl shook her head. “My name is… Di Ling. Di as in ‘emperor’, which is found in ‘great emperor’, and Ling as in ‘grave’, which is found in ‘Violetgrave’.”

Lu Yun frowned and subconsciously met Qing Yu’s eyes.

“The curse on the word ‘emperor’ has been lifted, your name no longer poses a danger.” Lu Yun’s frown deepened. It made him quite uncomfortable that Di Ling had mentioned Violetgrave, and explained that part of her name shared the same character. He now knew what kind of existence Violetgrave was.

There were two great masters in the chaos who’d ascended beyond the realm. One of them was Lu Qing in the chaos sea, the other was Violetgrave.

Violetgrave was even more ancient than Lu Qing as traces of her presence had existed in the mythological realm. However, that was the extent of Lu Yun’s knowledge about the sword. He had no idea where she came from or what exactly she was. What his past self had found in the mythological realm only pointed to her being an inauspicious omen.

“How is the curse on emperors so easily lifted? It is the immortal dao that has given way and changed great emperor realm back to empyrean instead,” murmured Di Ling with a lowered head.

Qing Yu was the one frowning now, and a well hidden streak of worry flashed through her eyes. There was still one person who used the emperor title in the world of immortals—her father, Immortal Emperor Qing Taxian.

Though it’d been Lu Yun orchestrating the change of great emperor realm, he wouldn’t have been able to do it if the immortal dao hadn’t been willing.

“The word curses me still.” Di Ling jerked her head up. “Violetgrave is the source of all curses. My name puts the emperor character first and the grave character second, which makes it the source of the curse on emperors.

“All will be resolved when I truly die.”

“Are you saying that Violetgrave is the instrument of the curse?” Lu Yun’s brows furrowed tightly and he recalled what Violetgrave had once said in front of the World Gates. If he didn’t retrieve her in a hundred years, then she would turn into something even more frightening than the dead spirits.

“Yes,” Di Ling responded. “The immortal dao is vast and far reaching, and the only dao that can traverse the four realms. My Di Clan is from the Hongmeng, and we came to the world of immortals to safeguard the immortal dao. However, we ended up becoming sinners against our ward instead, and I, the source of all evil.”

When Di Ling raised her head again, her eyes were a piercing crimson and bloody tears trickled out of them. Every drop seemed to be another Blood Sea that contained all beings.

Lu Yun and Qing Yu hastily backed away as rays of crimson light flared from her body. A giant, demonic shape was slowly forming behind her!

She was caught between two extremes—her regular form on the left was still as gentle and placid as still water, deep sorrow flowing out of her eyes.

Her right side, however, was the form of a demon. Brutal, violent, and exuding a tyrannical air.

“Kill me, kill the last of the Di bloodline and end it all. The immortal dao will be pristine, pure, and travel through the four realms!” Di Ling’s voice was split into two—tender feminine tones and raging masculine tones. The two joined together in an extremely weird combination.

“Come on, then! Kill me! I am the spirit of this Blood Sea! You’ll be able to take it if you kill me, and the last of the curse on the immortal dao will vanish!” The left side of Di Ling’s face continued to cry bloody tears, but her right side leered savagely, as if goading Lu Yun to kill her.

“The demon of the immortal dao!” Qing Yu took a step forward and forced out through grit teeth, “It’s you!”

Di Ling paused and looked at Qing Yu. “Since you know it’s me, why don’t you hurry and kill me?”

The demon of the immortal dao!

A chaos realm Fuxi had had to strip away his own senses after facing it, and his eyes corrupted by the simple sight!

“Don’t move, this isn’t the real body of the immortal dao!” Lu Yun yanked Qing Yu to his side. “Don’t get close to it. The left side is still Di Ling, while the right side is the demon. It hasn’t fully occupied Di Ling’s body yet, so we’d be helping it if we killed her.”

Black flames danced in Lu Yun’s eyes.

“So you’re the source of the uncanny zombies!” Lu Yun sneered at the demon of the immortal dao. “You’re getting ahead of yourself to corrupt the Blood Sea.”

The uncanny zombies! The kind that assimilated whoever killed or touched them!

Those zombies rampaged through all of the tombs in the world of immortals and Lu Yun had even ran into them in the outskirts of the Tomb of Heaven and Earth. All of that originated from the demon of the immortal dao.

Di Ling had tried to kill it when it’d invaded the Blood Sea. Thankfully, she was the spirit of these waters and too strong to be assimilated even after all this time. When she told the story of her past, her mind had been controlled by the demon. She was almost taken over, and when the process was complete, she would be Di Ling, the demon of the immortal dao.