The sudden turn of events stunned everyone, including Wayfarer, who’d come to Dusk Province’s rescue. Lu Yun stood atop Dusk City with Black Emperor hovering beside him, the mouth of which was melting and still emitting black smoke with a burnt fragrance.

At full power, an attack from Black Emperor could rival an origin dao immortal. No one had expected him to make a sudden riposte now, and that was all it’d taken to kill the old crone. There were fatal injuries on the old crone to begin with, so when she was caught by surprise, she hadn’t stood a chance against the powerful attack.

……

“That’s my Divine Seaward Iron!” Scarlet Ape screeched from its vantage point on Levitating Island, its fiery gaze piercing the air straight into Dusk Province and glaring at the cannon next to Lu Yun.

“You, die!” Blinding rage descended after the other four origin dao immortals recovered from their stunned trance. Again, they gathered the great combat arts they’d used before, but a chilling shudder from the bottom of their hearts interrupted them this time.

The cannon that had almost killed Scarlet Ape had appeared again, affording the group an up close and personal look. It was pitch black and shaped like a giant fortress ship, the bow tapering into its mouth.

Once the superstorm dissipated, the Formation Orb of Yin and Yang shielding Dusk Province embedded itself in the mouth of the cannon. The province was again cast in monochrome light by the treasure.

Poised for attack, the four origin dao immortals once again paused and stared incredulously.

“He’s tapped into the true power of the Formation Orb,” muttered one of them. “How is he doing that?” Even they might not be able to wield the power of a connate-grade treasure.

“The question is how many times you can activate that treasure.” Another dao immortal sucked in a breath and said frostily, “Your fortress ship will be destroyed after another shot.”

“That’s right. I can only fire one more shot.” Lu Yun landed on the fortress ship and looked straight at the dao immortals tens of thousands kilometers away to the west, his expression derisive. “However, I can assure you that the shot will kill one of you. So I wonder who it’ll be?”

The four origin dao immortals stilled and exchanged uneasy looks. In the form of a cannon, the Divine Glory could tap into the true power of a connate-grade treasure and launch an attack more powerful than Black Emperor was capable of, the level of which had already killed the old woman. Even celestial emperors would have trouble surviving the hit.

The four origin dao immortals were all already grievously injured. They couldn’t dodge the attack like Scarlet Ape had done, so one more of them would die.

They’d all narrowly escaped death to pick their origin dao fruit and valued their lives too much to take the risk.

Of course, Dusk Province would also lose its last line of defense after Lu Yun took his shot. The remaining three survivors would destroy Dusk Province and kill Lu Yun. Wayfarer might stop them from destroying the province, but he had no reason to stop them from taking a life.

“He’s just a cultivator!” an old man in dao robe narrowed his eyes and transmitted to his three surviving companions. “Without those creations of his from the supplemental paths, he’s nothing but an insect. We can kill him a million different ways as soon as he leaves Dusk Province.”

“We go!” The four origin dao immortals glared at the silver beam of light from the manor with open frustration. Its appearance, and the stars it’d manifested in broad daylight, was a truly irksome presence. Then, they slowly retreated. “Lu Yun isn’t our problem. We must kill the monster spirit fetus!”

……

Lu Yun sighed in relief at their retreating backs.

“Origin dao immortals are the most powerful beings in the world of immortals, apart from the nine celestial emperors. Who would’ve thought they would suffer a defeat at your hands?” Wayfarer turned to gaze upon Lu Yun with unfocused eyes.

Wanfeng, the girl dressed in emerald, happily threw herself into Lu Yun’s arms. The Dusk lord was likewise delighted to see his long-absent maid.

“I exhausted all of my options to drive away the five origin dao immortals,” he smiled wryly. “If there are more....”

“Exhausted your options? Do you think I’ll believe that?” Wayfarer tried for a smile, but failed to tug his lips in the appropriate direction.

Lu Yun shrugged. He did have one final trump card—the celestial emperor corpse puppet. However, that was his final, last resort. The ape in the North Sea was bound to come after him if he acquired the power of a celestial emperor.

Anyway, he only had one use left of the corpse puppet, and didn’t want to waste it here.

……

Bam!

An explosion ripped through all of Dusk Province as a river soared into the air like a giant black dragon. Its howls shook the very sky above. North Sea monster spirits trying to direct the Dusk River into the North Sea were blown to pieces by the power of the black waters.

“Fools of the North Sea, going after the Dusk River like that.” Wayfarer made another attempt at curving his lips, but still couldn’t quite manage a smile.

“What is the Dusk River?” Lu Yun widened his eyes. The river had just… turned into a living being and killed those attempting to move it.

“I don’t recall.” Wayfarer shook his head after a bemused pause. “Alright, things are settled here in Dusk. It’s time for us to take our leave as well, Wanfeng.”

The girl looked at Lu Yun, reluctant to leave.

Lu Yun grinned and patted her head. “Go on. Learn all you can from the old man and sneak on back.”

“Aye-aye!” A smile cracked her face and she skipped back to the impassive Wayfarer.

……

Dusk River, which ran across half of Dusk Province, finally calmed down after raging berserk for three days and nights, then returned to its rightful place. All was serene and peaceful again.

The phenomenon of stars in the day lasted for three days as well. Everything settled down afterward, and the peace was only broken when a baby’s cry rang throughout the governor manor.

Starlight washed over the manor, heralding the birth of a cosmic constitution. The ancient monster spirit ancestor had been one with a cosmic constitution as well.

Qing Ruyan had come back to life, but not from Lu Yun’s doing. Her lifeforce had returned to her after the akasha ghost had disintegrated. She was now the mother of a beautiful, newborn baby girl. The child’s eyes shone bright like the stars, and more importantly… the babe was born a peerless immortal.

A natural-born peerless immortal!

“Strange.” The head of the Panorama Pavilion, standing guard outside Dusk Province, entered the city once the girl was born. “Shouldn’t the child have been born a golden immortal? How is she a peerless immortal? And from my observations during Ruyan’s pregnancy, she should’ve given birth to a boy. So why is it a girl?”

The turn of events was quite perplexing. With the Heaven Descent Pill building the foundation of dao, the child should’ve been born a golden immortal.