......

“Tushan is correct. Houtu carries the concept of reincarnation on her. If she doesn’t go with you to your era, it’s very likely she’ll transform into the wheel of reincarnation and never be reborn herself.” Huaxu nodded.

Reincarnation didn’t yet exist in this time period, but its system had to be built sooner or later. Houtu carried the seed of reincarnation on her and was also the current Yin Prince. If a reincarnation system appeared, she would have to become part of it and never be released.

On the other hand, a new seed of reincarnation would be born in the netherdark once she left. Her absence wouldn’t affect the wheel of reincarnation from being formed.

“Alright, since things have ended here for now, it’s time for me to go,” Huaxu said to Lu Yun and the little fox. She disappeared from their view with a quick turn of her body.

……

Lu Yun returned to the great wilderness and paid visits to collect Changxi, Shaodian, Jiang Ti, Ah Zhi, Zhi Guangji, and Chi Biaonu’s soul force. As for Ling Weiyang… Ashu was alive and well in the world of immortals.

After some thought, Lu Yun traveled to the Shui and Hao nations for Gonggong and Zhurong’s soul force as well. These two divine spirits had abdicated their positions and passed the throne onto Black Emperor Zhi Guangji and Crimson Emperor Chi Biaonu.

“Everything has been prepared. I just need to wait for the right moment to drive this spear into the celestial court and then… go home.” It’d been eighty years since he’d arrived in the great wilderness. Though it’d been a very normal period of time for him in that he hadn’t experienced the years go by, he felt that he’d been away from home for too long. 

It was time to go home.

……

Lu Yun threw himself into closed door cultivation. He didn’t know when the right moment would be, but since Fuxi would notify him when it arrived, there was nothing to worry about.

However, Ling Weiyang came calling after he’d just started meditating.

“Flame Emperor! I have word of where the Heavenly Grass is!” Ling Weiyang arrived with a not-so-pleasant expression on his face.

“The Heavenly Grass? Isn’t that in the celestial court?” Lu Yun blinked and asked subconsciously.

“It’s not there anymore, it’s in the Mu nation now.” Ling Weiyang’s scowl deepened. “The realm monster that stole my master’s body wants to combine it with the Builder Tree and turn it into a ladder to the world of celestials!”

Lu Yun jumped up, suddenly recalling something that Wahuang had once said to him. 

The first great emperor of the human race would personally destroy the Builder Tree, and that great emperor… was Lu Yun!

The Mu nation was no longer what it’d once been. Everyone knew that something had taken possession of the Mu nation ruler and thus, Ling Weiyang had established another Mu nation elsewhere and become its ruler—the Azure Emperor.

However, the nation’s foundations lay with the Builder Tree, so though there was a new Mu nation, it wasn’t very legitimate in the eyes of the world.

“Alright, I’ll go with you and execute that realm monster. I’ll take back your kingdom for you!” Lu Yun brought out Worldcarver again.

Rumble—

A tremendous shudder shook the world as countless rays of sword qi descended from the heavens to fill the sky.

“Hahahaha!!” Unfettered laughter echoed through the firmament. “I’ve finally seen through the sword formation and set foot into the chaos realm!”

It was the Yellow Emperor’s voice.

Lu Yun had set up a sword formation outside the great wilderness to temper his junior, but Xuanyuan had taken only a few short months to break it and ascend to the chaos realm. Even Lu Yun was taken aback by this speed of accomplishment; no wonder Hongjun had chosen him as the next great emperor! Xuanyuan was truly worthy of being called an unparalleled genius!

A genius of his caliber can’t die like this. With that in mind, Lu Yun shot into the air and found the preening Yellow Emperor.

“Flame Emperor, let’s fight!” Brandishing the Xuanyuan Sword, he looked at Lie Shan with exuberant battle intent.

Lu Yun, however, ignored him. He grabbed the Yellow Emperor like he would a chick and extracted a tendril of soul force from the center of his brows.

“You!!” Xuanyuan stared dumbly at Lu Yun, unable to find the appropriate words.

“I’m infinitely close to Leize and if I really tried, he probably wouldn’t be my match either, to say nothing of someone who’s just broken through to chaos realm like you.” Lu Yun smiled. “After all, I’ve cultivated for longer than you have. Live well and you’ll surpass me one day, becoming the strongest in the world.”

Still reeling from the earlier shock, Xuanyuan’s eyes lit up when he heard the last sentence.

“Alright, you should go back to the human race and make your preparations for the coming war.” After comforting the Yellow Emperor, Lu Yun headed to the east.

“Where are you going?” asked Xuanyuan to see his senior speed for the east.

“To help the Azure Emperor take back the Mu nation!” Lu Yun called back.

On the banks of the East Sea, four people were already waiting for him. Ling Weiyang in azure robes, Bai Zhaoju in white robes, and two others—Chi Biaonu and Zhi Guangji!

They all called themselves emperors now as they’d reached chaos realm. Lu Yun and Ling Weiyang alone wouldn’t be enough to retake the Mu nation, the other three were crucial as well.

“Wait!” The Yellow Emperor landed heavily as well and declared solemnly, “The Mu nation has allied with the human race and we share life and death together. Since fellow daoists are on a mission to liberate the Mu nation, Han Shuniu will not shrink from this calling!”

“Most wonderful.” Lu Yun applauded with loud laughter. “The five emperors conquering the East Sea together will be a marvelous tale in the future.”

……

The previously vibrant Mu nation was now a frozen land of ice and snow while countless yin spirits passed through it. Since it was no longer a secret that Goumang’s body was possessed by another, the realm monster no longer kept up the pretense and turned Mu nation into a kingdom fit for its kind.

There were no other signs of life in the land now, apart from the Builder Tree that towered into the clouds. However, its emerald green form was also undergoing some changes. Some bright yellow dots of light sparkled on it, as if there was another power influencing this second greatest divine tree in the world.

“It’s the Heavenly Grass! It’s combining with the tree!” Ling Weiyang’s eyes dulled with dejection when he saw it. “It’s under the realm monster’s control, but it’s not strong enough to support the realm monster accessing the world of celestials. Thus, someone sent down the Heavenly Grass from above so it can strengthen the Builder Tree.”

As he possessed a body of great dao, Ling Weiyang nursed a special connection to the spirit roots of the world. He only needed to take a quick glance from afar to determine the tree’s current condition.

“Haotian did this!” Bai Zhaoju frowned. “Seniors Bai Ze and Xiangliu have just reached the Jin nation. They say that Celestial Emperor Haotian has turned traitor and joined the realm monsters, thus obtaining their strength.”

He looked at Lu Yun as he spoke, who nodded in return. Though the battle in the skies had yet to be publicized in the great wilderness, many already knew what had happened. Following that, Celestial Kings Xiangliu and Bai Ze deserted the celestial court and joined the Jin nation.

As for the center of the cosmos… no one needed to stand guard there anymore. With the Great Formation of the Nineheavens Gates present, not even Lu Yun would be able to destroy its defenses with Worldcarver.

“In that case, let’s destroy the Builder Tree!” A hard glint shone out of Lu Yun’s eyes. The tree’s seed had taken root in Ling Weiyang’s nascent spirit and it was only a matter of time before it also grew into a towering tree. There was no need for another one to exist in the world.

“Alright!” Ling Weiyang nodded. “But the Builder Tree is a divine tree second to only the demonic tree in the netherdark, if we wish to destroy it… oh, um. Okay then.”

He stopped talking when he saw Worldcarver in Lu Yun’s hands.

“The five of you go kill the realm demon, I’ll chop down the Builder Tree!” Lu Yun swung the axe around.

“Alright!” The five looked at each other and nodded, shooting forward in a combined offensive of the five most powerful existences of human dao.

……

“Ling Weiyang, you’ve come back!” Gleeful surprise emanated from the kingdom. “If I refine you, I’ll be able to immediately summon all of the spirit roots in the world and combine them with the Builder Tree, opening the path to the world of celestials! Come to me!”

Boom!

A blast of frosty air barreled out of the Mu nation and pounced on Ling Weiyang.

“Realm demon!! I will not suffer my master’s murderer to live. Either you perish today, or I die!!” The sight of the realm demon sent Ling Weiyang into a berserk rage. Returning to his old home painfully reminded him of how Goumang’s nascent spirit and true spirit had both dissipated for good.

He’d only been able to break through to chaos realm so quickly because Goumang’s true spirit had used the last of his strength to set up a final boundary for him to cultivate inside. Now his master was no more.

Ling Weiyang was sent flying from his first clash with the realm demon, but the other four emperors swiftly arrived to reinforce him. They drew upon their core essence and bayed for enemy blood, while Ling Weiyang quickly recovered and rained numerous combat arts down on the realm demon.

The combined efforts of all five hurled the Goumang-shaped realm demon into the sea, raising titanic waves that almost flooded the Mu nation.

Humm.

The watery depths spontaneously solidified into thick sheets of ice as the realm demon charged back out. He’d given up on Goumang’s form and revealed his true form as a ball of chilly air protecting a white orb.

The five emperors froze in midair, unable to move. The arctic blasts of the realm monsters were too domineering for cultivators of their level to withstand. The tide of battle had changed and the five stars of humanity were about to be snuffed out. A precarious moment stretched on into eternity—

Thud—

Thud—

Thud—

Three earth-shattering thuds rang out as the Builder Tree—standing tall within Mu nation for a billion years—shuddered, swayed, and fell over in an explosion of wood chips.

“…no? No! NOOOOOOOO!!” the realm monster shrieked like all its kin had just been brutally murdered in front of it.