“That’s right, this abyss was refined from the core essence of the Abyssal Hell!” the lizard-dragon quickly piped up when he heard Lu Yun’s murmuring.

It was well and truly afraid of the human now. When even the strength of the abyss couldn’t defeat the little monster in front of it, the lizard truly accepted its defeat. It wouldn’t dare move on Lu Yun now even if the human lay gravely injured on the ground.

Reality had riddled its confidence full of holes; the human had become its everlasting nightmare and would never be erased from its consciousness.

Lu Yun took in the lizard-dragon’s mood through the Karmic Tree.

“It looks like the Abyssal Hell truly has shattered,” Lu Yun sighed and looked at the Sanguine Flame that’d returned to the oil lamp. The hint of consciousness from it had entered a quiet state, as if digesting the zombie king that it’d just devoured.

“Alright, let’s talk about you then.” Lu Yun looked solemnly at the lizard-dragon. “Do you want to die, or do you want to die? Do you want to die, or do you want to have your corpse stink for ten thousand years after you die?”

He waved two jade talismans around.

The lizard-dragon looked dumbly at Lu Yun and didn’t have a response.

“I’m young, I don’t want to die…” it replied weakly after a long moment.

“So you want to have your corpse stink for ten thousand years?” Lu Yun answered with a half smile.

“...WAHH! I don’t want to die or have my corpse stink for ten thousand years! Wahhhh!” The bawling lizard-dragon flopped in front of Lu Yun and tightly clutched the human’s thigh. The youth had already beaten it twice in a row, there was no shame in crying over spilled milk—er, dragon.

It couldn’t return to Dragonhollow Mountain anymore. It’d failed its mission and lost the abyss—it would certainly be skinned alive when it returned and made into a stuffed lizard.

“If you don’t want to die, then you want to live?” A disdainful Lu Yun kicked it aside and dusted off the tears and snot on his pants with a firm shake of immortal power.

“Uh huh uh huh uh huh!” The lizard-dragon bobbed its head rapidly, like a chicken looking for corn. “I, I can swear loyalty to milord!”

It was the first time it’d voiced this sentiment, and it’d appeared only when Lu Yun crushed the zombie king. If it’d harbored even a little bit of hope in turning things around, it would never surrender to Lu Yun.

“Swear loyalty to me?” Lu Yun snorted. “I don’t keep around lazy moochers.”

“I’m not a moocher! I’m a dragon, so I’d be a lazy dragon!”

Lu Yun’s expression sank. “So you really were planning on mooching off me, huh?”

The lizard-dragon trembled violently. “No, no, no! I’m really good in a fight! I can be your henchdragon—er, henchman, milord! With this abyss here, I can rival even a regular king or two of the Hongmeng!”

“Oh? So not only do you want to laze around, but you want this abyss as well?” Lu Yun sneered meaningfully.

“No, no, no! I don’t want the abyss!” The lizard-dragon almost burst into tears.

“Alright, that’s enough bullshit. Come inside.” Lu Yun waved a hand and opened the Gates of the Abyss.

A sinister wind came howling through the doors and sent violent tremors down the lizard-dragon. It knew that the strange human’s headquarters lay behind the ominous doors.

“Milord, do you need my nascent spirit to keep me in check?” the lizard-dragon asked carefully.

“Do I need to use that kind of method to control you?” Lu Yun flicked a glance at the lizard-dragon.

It trembled again and scuttled through the gates.

“Keep your head down and your nose to yourself once you’re inside. My kingdom of hell is a world derived from the Hadal Hell. You’re just the bottom of the totem pole in there,” Lu Yun warned the lizard-dragon as the doors creaked shut.

Though hell was derived from the Hadal Hell, its level of existence far exceeded its origins as it was also formed with the rules from the Tome of Life and Death. Now that his kingdom had broken free from the Hadal Hell and entered a stage of high paced development, the potential of his kingdom was greater than the world of immortals.

As for the lizard-dragon, its strength was still constrained by the Bridge of Forgetfulness. There were plenty of entities in hell that could use it as a punching bag.

Lu Yun didn’t want its nascent spirit as it was too strong; the lizard-dragon was second to only kings of the third realm. Lu Yun didn’t have anything that could constrain its nascent spirit other than the Tome of Life and Death and Bridge of Forgetfulness.

Qing Han couldn’t do it either. She’d only just exceeded the chaos in her prime.

As for Lu Yun himself, though he’d become one with his past self and retained everything of the mythological era—thus propelling him to the cultivation of a Hongmeng king, his own nascent spirit was still in the empyrean realm. It was wholly insufficient for controlling the lizard-dragon’s nascent spirit.

If he had the bridge do it, it’d probably accidentally smash the lizard-dragon out of existence given its lack of control over its body.

Therefore, it was best to have his experts in hell “educate” the lizard-dragon, letting it discover just how many experts he had under his banner. With that, the creature would even build his reputation for him if it returned to the third realm one day.

……

The departure of the lizard-dragon left the abyss empty. Lu Yun carefully put away the oil lamp containing the Sanguine Flame and summoned the Tome of Life and Death.

Blazing hellfire instantly filled the abyss. The Abyssal Hell was gone, leaving behind only a deep crack in the ground. If Lu Yun wanted to return this terrain to its originsand have it become a hell again, he needed hellfire—the Abyssal Flame.

Lu Yun didn’t know if the Abyssal Flame had completely gone out, so he could only use his Hadal Flame to probe the surroundings.

The fires of the Hadal Hell reached all corners of the abyss that was bigger than an entire world.

“Though this abyss is alive, it is dead as a hell. The fire of the Abyssal Hell has been entirely extinguished,” Lu Yun sighed with regret. If he could’ve revived the Abyssal Hell, then he would’ve controlled three hells and his future full of boundless potential.

“Hmm? Wait!” His eyes widened and he vanished on the spot, reappearing elsewhere in the abyss.

A small ripple of power pulsed here, blocking the strength of the Hadal Hell. It was a tiny spot of light, no bigger than a palm, but it rejected the blazing hellfire around it.

“This is…” Lu Yun sucked in a sharp breath when he saw the light. “A fragment of Mount Tai! And it comes from the mountain’s core essence! This is something that hellfire can’t damage!”

Strong joy flashed across Lu Yun’s face. With a piece of Mount Tai here, there was a chance that the Abyssal Hell could resurrect from its ashes. After all, the god of Mount Tai happened to be his disciple!