Immense wills interlaced with each other outside of Qing Yu’s room. They built into terrible surges of pressure that strove to crush her. The old farts had noticed some minute ripples from her earlier breakthrough, which was why they paid another visit at this time to probe what had happened.

  Being no fool, Qing Yu quickly suppressed her aura as a ninth step king after her ascension. Lu Yun and the little fox were under cover thanks to Stillness Talismans. As the talismans were refined from karmic fruits, even ninth step kings would be hard pressed to discover them if they weren’t specifically hunting for the two.

  Most importantly was that Qing Yu’s room was once Violetgrave’s abode. Layered with formations, the ninth step kings couldn’t gain access. If they could, they would’ve married her off to the Origin World a long time ago.

  “Hmph! You better think this through carefully, Empyrean King,” hectored the solemn voice. “After the Broadsword King escaped when our ambush failed, the Immortal Region sent their armies after us and will be on our borders soon. If you don’t make a quick decision, you’ll be the sinner of the entire major!”


  Qing Yu frowned without a word; the impressive wills departed in the next moment.

  “Look at who’s crying wolf!” The little fox thought very little of their visitors. “Those old fossils are so shameless—they’re saying something completely different from yesterday. They’re just slapping their own faces!”


  Yesterday, they’d spoken of Qing Yu leading them to new heights of prosperity, yet today, it was the enemy at their gates.

  “Forget it, I’m used to it.” Qing Yu shook her head slightly.

  “Continuously giving way will only embolden them further,” Lu Yun mused. “Let’s find a chance to catch them off guard! The weaker you present yourself, the more they bully you.”


  “Mmhmm.” Qing Yu nodded. “I’ll give them all a surprise in two days!”


  “I have five more pills here, take them.” Lu Yun extended his hand to reveal five pills exuding hazy halos. Faint clouds drifted among the halos, like they were minor worlds. These were the five pills that the Alchemist King had refined.

  “The Alchemist King personally refined these divine pills. Named the Five Elements Qi Pills, all five are required for a complete set. They can enhance a king’s power and strengthen one’s foundations. He wanted to use this set to recruit the other kings from me, but I ended up taking the pills from him instead.”


  The Alchemist King had poured his heart and soul into his competition with Lu Yun, refining nothing but the best. Since Lu Yun’s Eight Treasures Return Pill would raise a cultivator’s level, then the Alchemist King would use the Five Elements Qi Pill to increase a king’s foundations.

  If Lu Yun had managed to refine a pill of equal quality to Alchemist’s, the latter still would’ve won by virtue of his creation being applicable to kings. He’d never imagined that Lu Yun would refine creation itself. Nothing else mattered after that.

  The outcome didn’t change the potency of the Five Elements Qi Pills. It was further nourishment for someone like Qing Yu, one who’d destroyed one of their dao rules and wished to return to ninth step king.

  Naturally, she didn’t stand on ceremony with Lu Yun. Popping the pills into her mouth, she quietly digested their effects. At the same time, she shared everything about the relationship of the Ten Valleys of Evil with the Immortal Region.

  She’d planned on discussing this with her dao partner only after he became a king through cultivation strength; Qing Yu hadn’t wanted him to be dragged into these affairs ahead of time. Since Lu Yun was now at Hopeless Major, however, it would be untoward to continue keeping this information from him.

  The Supplemental Dao Alliance was allied with the Immortal Region!

  The alliance’s initial monopoly on supplemental dao was targeted at the ten valleys, then gradually expanded to the entire Hongmeng.

  The so-called Ten Valleys of Evil weren’t really corrupt factions of depraved cruelty; they were factions created by ten unparalleled heavyweights. Their ultimate goal was to watch over the growth of the immortal dao and ensure that it extended from the first realm to the Hongmeng, facilitating the growth of the third realm into something real.

  The Immortal Region’s origins were more mysterious. They’d seemed to suddenly appear out of thin air, but also seemed to be the combined force of countless ancient factions long rooted in the realm.

  Even now, Qing Yu couldn’t grasp whether the Immortal Region wished to destroy the immortal dao or control it. Most importantly was that it’d been the Immortal Region who’d forced Lu Qing into the chaos!

  The faction boasted of innumerable ninth step kings and was regarded as the legitimate shepherds of the Hongmeng. All those who opposed it were ostracized as demons or unnatural deviants, which was how the Ten Valleys of Evil began.

  Despite the wealth of knowledge flowing from Qing Yu, Lu Yun found no mention of Hong, the ancient tombs in the stars, and the legends about the truth of the third realm.

  ……


  When Qing Yu swallowed the Five Elements Qi Pills, she calmly refined its power and didn’t open her eyes until the third day of Lu Yun’s arrival in Hopeless Major.

  Ten enormous presences shrouded her room. This tiny piece of the void would’ve been crushed a long time ago if it wasn’t for the formations that Violetgrave had left behind.

  Of course, if there was someone marking Qing Yu, then there would be others protecting her.

  Three mighty presences furiously battled the other ten. The lines were thus clearly drawn between the thirteen ninth step kings of Hopeless Major.

  Ten were against her and wanted to remove her from power. Three remained steadfast to Violetgrave’s laws and protected Qing Yu with their lives.

  Lu Yun and the little fox changed their appearances with the Shapeshifting Talisman and respectively stood next to Qing Yu as a page boy and girl. His army of a hundred thousand half step kings was fully deployed. Magnificent and awe-inspiring, they drifted in and out of sight in the void.

  Rumble!

  A giant door in the void swung open to reveal Qing Yu, Lu Yun, the little fox, and the army standing in Hopeless Major.

  Misty purple filled the major’s sky, like it was an ocean of Hongmeng qi. Floating isles and islands could be glimpsed everywhere, on which roamed exotic beasts and other rare curiosities.

  A heavy atmosphere of unsheathed swords and notched bows belied the scene of tranquil beauty. All of Hopeless Major’s forces were divided into two camps and tensely facing off against each other.

  “Greetings to the eminent one!”


  “Greetings to the eminent one!”


  “Greetings to the eminent one!” Three ninth step kings and the kings behind them sank on bended knees when they saw Qing Yu.

  “You may rise.” She waved her hand gently.

  “Our thanks to Your Eminence!” Two women and one man—the ninth step kings—kept forceful presences locked on their ten peers at all times.

  “Hmph!” The ten snorted when they saw Qing Yu.

  “Three days have passed and today is the final day. How has your rumination gone?” The speaker was solemnly imposing and appeared to be an elder. He was the leader of the ten kings and another founding member of Hopeless Major. Once Violetgrave’s right hand man, he was the Profound King.

  Qing Yu was currently dressed as a man—long ivory robes, a jade ribbon in her hair, and a blue shirt over her robes. It was how Lu Yun dressed in the world of immortals, but since she was a woman, it imparted a heroic bearing to her beauty.

  “What a stunning vision. This person is worthy of becoming my main dao partner,” tutted a tall man behind the Profound King.

  He was the Kaleidoscopic King—the disciple of the ruler of the Origin World.

  Origin World had offered marriage and the Kaleidoscopic King was here to present it. He was a young individual and had ascended to kinghood at fourth step king, slowly rising through the ranks to his current eighth step. He was a renowned genius throughout the ten valleys.

  The Immortal Region once placed a bounty of a million premium purple crystal veins and ten king level treasures on his head, but here he was, still hale and hearty.

  All of his attention was on Qing Yu. He’d been very repulsed by this marriage at first, but realized how wrong he’d been when he caught sight of her.

  “Making kinghood at eighth step? Only such a genius is worthy of me.” He walked forward and looked at her up and down. “So you’re the Empyrean King? Abdicate now and return with me. Origin World will immediately send out troops to rescue Hopeless Major.”


  “Blasphemy!”


  “Vile spawn!”


  “You court death!” shouted the three kings at Qing Yu’s side. They wanted to physically teach him a lesson!