A timeline of ten days.

Lu Yun refined items for ten days on Immortal Sky Island before taking his leave and disappearing from the North Sea.

What he’d achieved in those ten days astounded the entire world—he refined thirteen thousand eight hundred and seventy-six treasures of all levels, with many onlookers standing witness!

They could scarcely believe it, even though they’d seen it with their own eyes. Not even dao immortal grandmasters could replicate his tremendous feat.

Every single one of the items Lu Yun handled was a masterfully crafted ‘supreme treasure’. That didn’t refer to the rank, but the quality. More importantly, he hadn’t charged a single crystal for his work, doing it all for free.

His highest record was refining five hundred treasures at the same time, including a supreme-rank immortal sword, and completing them within an hour.

That was, of course, what the others saw. In truth, Lu Yun had spent a month in hell to refine those items.

The past ten days had immensely improved his mastery over treasure, talismans, formations, and pills, as well as earned him a tremendous amount of goodwill. There were now six fruits on the Sal Tree of Life and Death. 

In order to ascend to the void realm, he needed seven. Otherwise, it’d take another three years for him to make the breakthrough, based on his current cultivation speed.

Three years weren’t that long a period of time in the general span of things, but the Dao Flower would’ve faded into the void by then and Lu Yun wouldn’t gain its blessing upon ascending to the void realm at that point.

He didn’t need to pioneer a void realm method. The Method of Life and Death was the foremost connate method in the world of immortals, and it was specifically tailored for his constitution. Naturally, it included a method for the void realm.

In other words, even if Lu Yun hadn’t followed Lu Shenhou’s lingering obsession to the ancient tomb, he would’ve forced a way into the void realm once he’d reached peak spirit realm.

Now, though, the Dao Flower had bloomed.

It was the most wondrous and magical thing in the world, and its powers conferred great benefits. Even the overlord of life and death coveted it greatly, as sadly, it wasn’t yet under his jurisdiction.

……

“Is... is this really a good idea, senior brother Lu?” Beicang Qiong, his appearance changed once more, cast a pitiful look at Lu Yun.

“It’s a great idea! Senior brother Lu’s hatched a perfect plan!” Lin Yan slapped Beicang Qiong on the shoulder before Lu Yun could answer. “Hehe, blame yourself for being the first to ascend to the void realm among us. Who else is gonna be the bait but you?”

Beicang Qiong once again looked pleadingly at Lu Yun, who ignored him and animatedly discussed something with Qing Han.

“Younger sister Chen, your Tribulation Surrogate Pill....”

“Umph, senior brother Beicang, senior brother Lu is helping you! You’ve just ascended to the void realm and need a few life and death battles to temper yourself. Don’t worry, he won’t let anything really happen to you!” Jing Dichen smiled sheepishly; it was obvious she had absolutely no intentions of giving him the pill.

“You must be careful this time, Beicang!” Lu Yun warned seriously. “Take all the life-saving treasures you can with you. I can just manage to stop aether dao immortals, but I’ll have difficulty dealing with arcane dao immortals. Of course, all of them will value their lives greatly and probably won’t risk openly offending the Beicang Clan.

“And um, don’t think about using the Tribulation Surrogate Pill. It’s used to protect one against all kinds of tribulations, yes, but it won’t work when you’re seeking death yourself.” Lu Yun smacked his lips and finally admitted the reckless nature of his plan.

Color drained from Beicang Qiong’s face, leaving him as white as a sheet.

“Don’t worry, Beicang, you still have us.” Bai Qi smiled merrily, patting his shoulder. “We’re much wealthier than we were before.”

“Do you bunch dare show yourselves if the South Sea Gourmet comes as well?” Beicang Qiong responded broodingly.

Bai Qi shut his mouth and fell silent; not even Lu Yun was sure how to deal with the South Sea Gourmet. The demon was too unpredictable, and Lu Yun wasn’t sure if the shapeshifting talismans could fool him.

“Fine, fine,” Beicang Qiong said, sounding like he was marching to his death with his mind finally made up. “I believe senior brother Lu won’t send me to my death. But, well, I get the biggest portion of our spoils this time!”

“Don’t worry,” Jing Dichen piped up. “Everything we get this time is yours. We won’t take anything from you!”

“Alright!” Beicang Qiong inhaled deeply. “Senior brother Lu has helped us greatly. Even if I break every bone in my body, I’ll help him catch that big snake!”

“Heh, that’s what I call brotherhood!” Lu Yun smiled slightly. “If we can catch the arcane dao immortal rimesnake, I’m confident I’ll be able to nurture two more arcane dao immortals! Then it’ll be easier for us to explore the skydragon tomb, and I can ambush the North Sea emperor again!”

Beicang Qiong and his friends nodded, excitement clear on their faces.

……

The North Sea was currently the epitome of utter disarray.

The palace had been looted clean, then Lu Yun had set up shop on Immortal Sky Island. And now, another piece of astounding news reverberated throughout the waters.

Void realm cultivator, Beicang Qiong, was setting up an arena on Sunset Island and accepting challenges from the young geniuses of the North Sea!

The news quickly reached all parts of the imperial sea.

Sunset Island was an important island under the North Sea court’s rule, and was located four hundred kilometers away from the palace. There was not only an abundance of resources there, but also a large immortal crystal vein. However, the six troublemakers and Lu Yun had taken over the island and punted all of the monster spirits that were there into the ocean.

“That’s too much! That’s simply too much!” Bing Xuan raged when he heard the news. “Void realm? Void realm?! There’s no void realm cultivator or void realm method in our imperial court yet!”

An ugly smile split his face the next second. “The Beicang Clan of Lazuli Major? Well, we can afford to make an enemy out of them....”

“Sir, the ninety-third prince has arrived at Sunset Island to challenge Beicang Qiong!” Admiral Turtle rushed in with a panicked exclamation.

“What?!” Bing Xuan’s smile fell. “That prince is the genius who’s closest to the void realm. We mustn’t allow anything to happen to him! We go!”

He quickly vanished.