The three chaos creatures in the Quiet Realm’s dao palace had escaped. If there were more of their kind in the lower realms, they would be on the alert after this and ready for action, having laid foolproof plans for defense.

They wouldn’t easily admit defeat after losing one of their strongholds. In their eyes, the creatures of the realms were ignorant, bumbling fools to be toyed with at their leisure. They would never bow their heads to pathetic natives!

……

Dustfall Realm was a large realm within the lower worlds that neighbored the Quiet Realm. It was a brand new realm, but with a more complete system since it’d been born earlier than the Quiet Realm. The energy of the realm and its worlds was far stronger and denser than that in the Quiet Realm.

Naturally, that also meant the dead and yin spirits here were more ferocious and found in greater numbers. They were present on almost every star and planet, with most of the celestial bodies gnawed to ravaged husks by the dead spirits. In comparison to its neighbor, Dustfall Realm was more dangerous and there were more scarlet and purple bale spirits to be found here.

Apart from the main world, there were no other places suitable for life in the rest of the realm’s stars and planets. Most beings were struggling for survival in various planetary ruins that dotted the cosmos.

This was a scene of true devastation, a microcosm of the multiverse at large.

After some deduction, Lu Yun discovered that the second dao palace was in this realm and pinpointed it to the wreckage of a broken world. Again it floated over a world that looked to be valiantly defending against the dead spirits thanks to a Great Formation of Myriad Returns.

But since Dustfall Realm’s main world was still intact and in good shape, it’d become the main camp for visitors from the world of immortals. They hadn’t yet explored the realm in depth, which was why the palace remained undiscovered up until now. Or perhaps there were those who’d already found it, but summarily died for their efforts.

Lu Yun was in a new disguise this time, appearing to be a sword immortal in white, flowing robes with a sword strapped to his back. The little fox reverted to her snow-white fur and sat placidly on his shoulder.

The dao palace wasn’t too far from the main world, but Lu Yun didn’t head there directly. Since he’d obtained his dao fruit, he wanted to remain in the lower worlds both to root out the dao palaces and to further train himself.

What he needed most now was trial and tempering. There remained great room for improvement in his combat arts, cultivation methods, cultivation realm, and personal strength.

He chose to land on Dustfall’s main world through the descent protocol as it teetered on the edge of defeat. Likewise, the dao palace had lost numerous experts in various offensives.

The first batch of immortals to visit the lower realms were immortals from the Dao Academy and Nephrite Major. Upon their arrival, they immediately set up descent platforms to stabilize the descent protocol. Future immortals would then appear on this platform when they traveled to this realm.

If something happened to the world or it fell to the dead spirits, the world of immortals could also sense what had happened through the platform. As for the Quiet Realm… the first batch of academy disciples to arrive were immediately deceived and beguiled. They’d died in the dao palace before they had a chance to build a descent platform.

……

“Who goes there?” demanded an immortal when Lu Yun and the little fox walked down from the sparkling platform.

“Dao Academy, Lu Chen of sword dao.” Lu Yun made up a random name on the spot and displayed his Dao Academy medallion.

When the Ascension Pool was first rebuilt, only the deans of the academy could bestow descent medallions onto immortals who wanted to visit the lower realms. A decade later, however, the Ascension Pool was opening up to more parties. The masters of the eight majors, rulers of the ten lands, dragon patriarchs of the four immortal seas, and monster spirit lords of the East and South Seas all had the right to approve descent medallions.

This was also a nod to the current layout of power within the world of immortals.

The two scarlet apes of the North Sea had once requested this authority as well, but the dean of monster dao had refused them outright.

Meanwhile, Qingfu Nation’s clash with the academy disciples was the personal grudge between the younger generation. Qingfu Nation had also paid the price of one of its princes, so the little fox couldn’t be bothered with it. But the two scarlet apes of Levitating Island were plainly scheming against the Dao Academy, so she wouldn’t be as generous with them.

Apart from that, the Dao Academy firmly controlled the Ascension Pool. The four guides were also unshakeable existences in both strength and status. Many factions offered up their own experts to become guides when they realized how important the position was, but the academy rejected them all.

While the Ascension Pool was monopolized solely by the Dao Academy, the other factions of the world alternated control over the descent platforms. The platforms were essentially a transportation formation. Not only could one visit the lower realms through it, but it was faster to ascend back to the world of immortals from the platform than through the ascent protocol.

“So it’s a senior brother from the Dao Academy!” The two immortals on duty immediately snapped to respectful attention. Immortals from the Dao Academy enjoyed very high prestige in the lower realms, not to mention that they’d built a sprawling academy network in the lower worlds that only dispersed knowledge and didn’t enroll disciples.

Incidentally, their newest visitor was surnamed Lu… the Lu Clan was Headmaster Lu Yun’s clan. Though they didn’t enjoy any special privileges, they were the equivalent of royalty in the eyes of immortals outside the academy.

“Dustfall Realm’s situation isn’t looking good, so please be careful, senior brother,” one of the immortals ventured cautiously.

“Understood.” Lu Yun tossed a storage bag to them that was filled with hundreds of premium immortal crystals. This had become an unwritten custom of the system.

“Thank you, senior brother!” The two were delighted by the contents of the bag.

“You’re going to just let them accept bribes like this?” the little fox transmitted disapprovingly. This was blatant corruption, and Lu Yun—leader of the immortal dao and head of the Dao Academy—was permitting such behavior!

“The descent platforms are very important and watching over them is a critical duty. It absolutely requires a genius to stand guard. This is also a thankless task, to constantly be on the alert against ambushes from the scarlets and being unable to cultivate or train.

“Honestly speaking, it’s just a waste of time for these geniuses. No one would be willing to do the task if there weren’t some benefits involved.” Lu Yun shook his head.

Several hundred immortal crystals weren’t a small sum, but it wasn’t a hefty price for the traveling immortals. If every passenger tipped several hundred crystals, it would amount to a small fortune after some accumulation.

Apart from this, the Dao Academy also dispersed an annual stipend to compensate the disciples guarding the descent platforms.