The kings in attendance could also see through the Alchemist King’s intentions. This was a customary method that the Supplemental Dao Alliance used to suppress supplemental kings outside of its purview.

  The alliance was no benevolent faction of kindness—it’d built a monopoly and forbade any treasures over king level to circulate within the realm. When ordinary kings wished to obtain a king level treasure or pill, they had to pay at least ten thousand or a hundred thousand times the cost.

  When Mangcang Mountain crafted Oddmoon, it’d exhausted almost all of the three kings’ personal wealth and they didn’t dare use it in the open. They could only surreptitiously send it to a lower realm for use in their plans.

  Such was the result of the stranglehold that the alliance exerted over supplemental dao in the Hongmeng.

  Wealth abounded in the realm and its current denizens hadn’t excavated even a ten thousandth of it. But of what was accessible and developed, the Supplemental Dao Alliance owned at least thirty percent.

  Whenever a supplemental king that wasn’t part of them appeared in the Hongmeng, the alliance would soon come knocking. Thus, even if Lu Yun hadn’t established an Immortal Pagoda, the alliance would’ve paid him a visit sooner or later.

  The only options were to join them and become them, or be so thoroughly devoured that not even one’s bones would remain. Unfortunately, the alliance was so domineering that not even seventh step kings dared defy them.

  ……
“In that case, it looks like this junior is profiting immensely.” Lu Yun grinned from ear to ear. He had no reason to refuse; he didn’t think he would lose.

  “Then our word is our bond, and may the kings present bear witness,” chuckled the Alchemist King.

  The Elysium, Ingenium, Finepure, and Fineheart Kings looked at each other. They heaved a sigh in unison, lamenting over the Immortal King’s youth. Nothing would come from them objecting, in either case.

  “Let the competition begin.” The Luminous King wore a smile tinged with schadenfreude. Once Lu Yun set foot into the Supplemental Dao Alliance, there would be no other future for him other than death.

  ……
Rumble—
Both supplemental kings shifted into action at the same time. Hongmeng qi surged between earth and sky, gushing toward them from all sides and forming two enormous energy vortexes.

  When supplemental kings refined pills, they elicited Hongmeng phenomenon. It came from the combination of one’s great dao with the realm, and the stronger one’s dao was, the stronger the phenomenon.

  Lu Yun and the Alchemist King’s phenomenon each took up half of the sky, nearly shadowing all of Multitude City. Beings outside of the city lifted their heads with shock, staring at the two tremendous vortexes in the air.

  “Both of their supplemental dao are at the peak of perfection, they’re not ordinary supplemental kings!”
“But how is this possible? The Immortal King is less than a year into his kinghood, how can he be so strong?” The sight awed the heavyweights in the audience. They’d never dreamed that Lu Yun’s comprehension of supplemental dao could compete on equal terms with the Alchemist King!

  Who was the Alchemist King?

  The titan of the Supplemental Dao Alliance and a supplemental king with a tenure of a hundred million years! He’d once refined a heaven-defying pill and was one among very few premier kings in the realm. He’d always hailed himself as the greatest master of pill dao, and to think that he would meet his match today!

  The Alchemist King naturally took notice of this development and wouldn’t idly sit back to allow Lu Yun free rein.

  Boom!

  His phenomenon shook itself into a gigantic fiery bird. It spewed vermilion flames as it swooped down on Lu Yun.

  Crowds gasped with consternation as it descended, but Lu Yun remained unflappable. He continued making pill refinement seals with his left hand and shifted the fingers of his right hand into a dao seal.

  Rumble!!

  The vortex over his head trembled while a fiery giant walked out of it. It raised both fists and punched out at the fiery bird.

  “That’s a… combat art!” shrieked a sixth step king. “The Immortal King’s phenomenon can use combat arts!”
“What?!” Many other supplemental masters echoed his astonishment.

  Supplemental kings could gather Hongmeng qi and coalesce it into a phenomenon, but that was just an image, a projection. The phenomenon could move and attack, but they were unable to deploy any methods or combat arts.

  What the Immortal King’s giant was waving around wasn’t just its fists, but an actual combat art!

  Blazing flames and fiery sparks spewed everywhere when the first connected. The bird was sent flying and the Alchemist King was also affected. Shaking, he almost made a mistake with his hand seals.

  “Hmph!” he snorted. As strong as that attack had been, he’d identified something from it—the Immortal King’s supplemental dao was far, far beneath his.

  His phenomenon abruptly shuddered and let loose with its strongest strength, swooping down on Lu Yun once more.

  “Crook!” Standing off to the side, the little fox shouted in rebuke. “Since you’re joining the fight, Imagination King, why don’t we go for another round?”
She rushed forward and blossomed with beams of dream-like radiance, exposing an Imagination King hidden in the void.

  “Then we go for another round! You’re the one who ambushed the Alchemist King and I’m the one who exposed you!” Imagination’s expression twisted with discomfort. She’d ambushed Lu Yun, been caught in the act by the little fox, and was then forced to reveal her true form. Instead of floundering for any more excuses, she immediately called upon her illusory arts and pounced on the little fox.

  They vanished into thin air.

  No one had expected that the Imagination King would attempt a sneak attack while the Immortal and Alchemist Kings held their contest. Though she’d offered an explanation in self defense, no one believed her anymore.

  “Hmph! That Intrance King is so shameless as to ambush the Alchemist King. That caliber of conduct is all that the Immortal Pagoda is good for,” the Luminous King sniffed.

  “So I see that those who are shameless reign invincible,” sounded a frosty female voice. “What bullshit of a Luminous King of Virtue and Integrity? I say the treasure spirit of the Earth Light Magneticus was right, you’re a hypocrite.”
“What?” His face snapping with shock, the Luminous King looked over to see that the speaker was the Finepure King of the Sublime Pavilion.

  “What, is the fine king of virtue and integrity going to make things difficult for two little girls?” tittered Fineheart when she saw the look. “Are you going to say that we’re unnatural deviants too? Tsk tsk tsk, though the girls of the Sublime Pavilion are no pure and chaste ladies, we sell only art and not our bodies. Whoever wants a girl of the Sublime Pavilion needs to win her heart first.”
“What do you mean by this, Fineheart King?!” Luminous hectored.

  “What do I mean? Don’t tell me that the masked man who snuck into my pavilion three years ago to abscond with Miss Bingruo wasn’t you, Luminous King!” Fineheart stuck her hands on her waist and started cursing like a harlot in the streets.

  etvolare's Thoughts

  Oh damn, where's my popcorn at?