With the last of Xuan Yuan’s wishes fulfilled, his lingering obsession abated and he finally sought out eternal rest.
……
“If that old ghost’s finally found his peace, does that mean I’m free as well??” Chained to the dragonbolt pillar, the torch dragon shook his head slightly and took another look at the door of bones. A complicated smile stole across his face. “It’s actually not that bad here, I’ll never be lonely if I keep my kin company.”
Whoosh!
The iron chains connected to the pillar scattered to the ground as metallic shards. A silver shadow of a nine-tailed fox darted forward and vanished from the premises.
“Hmmph, I’m not leaving now even if you beg me to.” Indulging in a nice stretch, the torch dragon swiftly shrank himself and coiled around the bone door. However, a second version of him appeared in short order—his projection from the nascent spirit observation method.
“That kid’s observation method is magical indeed. By observing all things in the world of immortals and using that as the foundation, I can go anywhere I want.
“But his mindset and vision is on par with Xuan Yuan’s. He can relinquish the body of a peak great emperor just like that, without any reluctance or hesitation…” the torch dragon sighed.
Xuan Yuan had willingly gone to his death, or rather, his murder, so that he could fully imbue the five altars with his power. Only then would they possess enough strength to nurture organs of the world.
He was the sacred emperor of humanity, an existence beyond the realm of great emperor. If he hadn’t wanted to die, who could’ve killed someone who stood at the very heights of the heavens themselves?
His death served to facilitate the survival of later generations, so that there might be a ray of hope preserved for their continued existence in the future.
“Hehehe, little girl Tushan, you’ve forgotten who you are, haven’t you? The monster spirit emperor? A great emperor?” Grumbling, the torch dragon dismissed his projection and fell fast asleep coiled around his kin. [1]
……
Qing Yu and Violetshade easily obtained the mother altar without running into any obstruction.
“These are the Xuan Yuan Slaves sacrificed to the mother altar!” Qing Yu picked out a dense throng of figures on the altar. Though she’d never seen them before, she could still identify who they’d been in life.
There was no fury or hatred on their faces, there wasn’t even a hint of resentment. It was as if they’d long known that this was to be their destiny, their only value within their Xuan Yuan Tomb. Their only purpose was to be sacrificed to the mother altar and break apart the Great Formation of the Nineheavens Gates.
“Lu Yun can resurrect them,” murmured Qing Yu.
“But what would be the point of that?” Twin sparkles of purple flashed through Violetshade’s eyes. She mused pensively as she looked at the slaves, “They knew of their destiny a long time ago. Their only reason for residing here was to await the day in which someone would sacrifice them.
“Protect the Xuan Yuan Tomb? It was the tomb who protected them.” She sighed softly when she finally caught sight of a slender corpse beneath the mother altar.
Back when she was Empress Myrtlestar, she’d once visited the tomb and planted the roots of karmic repercussion with someone. The person had remained on her mind all this time and had just perished, and Empress Myrtlestar herself had transformed into Holy King Violetshade and Fuying. Any debts or feuds from the ancient past were thus rendered null and void.
“She died not too long ago by willingly offering herself to the mother altar… is this what we mean by destiny?” Qing Yu lifted a hand and quietly raised an unassuming burial mound, sending the corpse to her final rest.
Since Qing Yu didn’t know who the corpse was or what her background was, burying her with a humble pile of dirt was the only thing that could be done. She saw no resulting resentment from the corpse, a sign that residing in a burial mound was enough for her.
……
In a patch of unknown space, a singed and charred section of the zombie tree’s trunk melded with another section of tree that’d been planted in a safe location.
“Lu Yun… the day your great emperor replica dies is the day you die as well!” The zombie tree morphed into Qing Hongchen. He stood in the air and scowled at Dusk Province. “One day, I’ll take root in Dusk Province and turn it, no, the entire world, into zombie dirt!”
He was gravely injured after having his treasures taken by Lu Yun and even his own body sorely wounded. The strength of a great emperor was too dominating. He’d only have been able to hold his own if he’d obtained Traceless, the Dusk River, and called upon all five elements.
In the end, he’d been able to escape with a little bit of trunk because Lu Yun knew there was no point in annihilating him in the tomb. Rather, there might be a bit of use leaving some part of his trunk intact.
“Take root in Dusk Province and turn the world of immortals into zombie dirt?” a gentle voice suddenly sounded. “Why don’t you give your body to me instead? The two of us can work together to take root in the world of immortals and turn it into demonic soil.”
A little dot of light darted into the zombie tree.
Wham!!
Qing Hongchen immediately reverted back into tree form and took root in the air. He screamed, shouted, and flailed around wildly, but there was nothing he could do. His face on the zombie tree slowly adjusted itself until it became the demon god’s.
“Well well, I’ve finally found an appropriate body for this great emperor true spirit of mine. But the immortal dao is not yet complete, so whoever dares become a great emperor must die.
“It won’t be long now though, hehehehehe! The immortal dao will be fully complete when its path is completely laid out. Great emperors will return to the world, and I will be the first among the entire multiverse, a great emperor of a demon god!”
He’d split off a replica of himself to walk the path of cultivation and become a void-ascended immortal, then returned to his primary body—made from the Ichor Bog—so that his true spirit would fall under the immortal dao as well.
It’d been perfect timing to ambush the zombie tree when it was grievously wounded, and now was the time to use the Ichor Bog to nourish it so it’d become a demonic tree. Then, when the immortal dao was complete, he’d become a great emperor.
……
“We’re too late, someone’s already taken possession of the zombie tree!” Yin Jiuying and Jiang Chen assessed the lingering traces in the air with sour expressions. “It’s the demon god…”
……
On the tenth day of the third month, in the first year of the Xuanhuang calendar.
Perhaps in response to the calendar receiving approval from the immortal dao, a revitalizing atmosphere of spring and renewal descended upon all the facets on this day.
There had been no seasons in the world of immortals before. But now that Lu Yun had decreed there to be four seasons in the calendar, rules pertaining to the passage of the seasons slowly formed in the immortal dao and administered the world. They were still very weak, so weak that many didn’t sense the creation of the four seasons.
The matter of the Xuan Yuan Tomb was put to rest. Though there were still a few zombies roaming the Heaven Locus Marsh, they were of no threat to the residents of that facet. The door to the tomb had closed, and though there were countless primeval and even connate treasures inside it, Lu Yun wasn’t inclined to touch them at all.
“Did you just say that you want to compile a record of history?” Qing Yu’s eyes widened with surprise at Lu Yun.
“That’s right, I want to put in writing all the events of the world.” Lu Yun nodded. “With history as a warning, we will know our future prosperity or decline. There are many things that shouldn’t be forgotten by everyone!”
History was a forbidden topic in the current world of immortals and many things were concealed, including Emperors Fall and the great war a hundred thousand years ago. To put brush to paper meant that Lu Yun was issuing a challenge to those unknown powers in the shadows.
1. A lady from Mount Tu, frequently known as Tushanshi or Lady Tu, was the wife of Yu the Great. Yu the Great was a legendary king in ancient China famed for his introduction of flood control, establishment of the Xia dynasty which inaugurated dynastic rule in China, and upright moral character.