The two sides had entered a standstill.

Weapons of war were akin to nuclear weapons on Earth, destructive enough to annihilate the entire world if their use raged out of control. A thousand and eighty circled Dusk Province, and their numbers were still growing. They weren’t there merely to intimidate Lu Yun, but to truly decimate the province.

Powered by the connate-grade Formation Orb, Lu Yun’s Divine Glory could slay even origin dao immortals, marking it too great a threat. However, he wasn’t intimidated by the show of force facing him, as he still had tricks up his sleeve he hadn’t pulled out and a great secret weapon he could fall back on.

……

Up in the sky, where the wind was strong.

Colliding in a mighty clash, Xing Chen and Lu Shenhou both pushed themselves to the limit. Lu Shenhou called upon his full strength and tapped into the power of the Sword of Chaos, while stars emerged in the daytime sky from Xing Chen’s cosmic sword aura.

A hundred and eight thousand immortal swords from one hundred sword atlases filled the sky. This was a clash between the greatest of sword dao in the world of immortals.

Onlookers on the ground were entranced, the ten lords and thirty-six champions included.

“Those are true void realm combat arts. Flawless combat arts are nothing by comparison!” The Fangyang youth couldn’t suppress his shudder.

“That’s because you’ve yet to fully understand the essence of flawless combat arts,” Lu Yun threw him a cool glance. “Immortals in the Primordial Era were never cultivators, and their foundation of immortal dao was complete. They were just like modern immortals who ascended through the void realm.

“Even the weakest of flawless combat arts from that time are greater than the ones we have today. Unfortunately, immortal dao and immortals are inextricably linked. Immortals and cultivators born under a damaged immortal dao won’t be able to understand perfect combat arts, even if they acquire any.”

Lu Yun suddenly thought of Zhu Yan and Yue Longsha.

Both of them were natural-born immortals, like those in the ancient times, but they weren’t that much better than regular immortals today. It wasn’t until Mo Yi created cultivation methods for them that they became stronger.

Lu Yun’s words made many cultivators ponder.

“Those flawless methods were created by the immortals in the Primordial Era. Whether or not a combat art is flawless, only those that suit you are of any value.

“The greatest clans today are shortsighted in the way they keep everything to themselves. Do they think they can dominate the world by staking a claim of ownership on a few ancient tombs and excavating them?” Lu Yun scoffed. “The ancient immortals have all died. They were failures and losers, all of them!”

His words reverberated in their ears and shook even the dao immortals outside Dusk Province. The ancient immortals were all dead, they were failures! Why should they follow the path of losers?

“Three years ago, the nine celestial emperors, in their infinite wisdom and foresight, organized a tournament centered around the inheritance tower in Dusk for the geniuses of the world. Only through constant exchanges and sparring can the geniuses of today continue improving, create our own combat arts, and usher in our own era.

“But… tsk tsk tsk, what a joke the Sovereign Meet was. So the things left behind by those losers are enough to attract all of you?” Derision crept into Lu Yun’s tone, but he’d also conveniently left out the fact that he himself had benefited from what those so-called losers had left behind.

“That’s why we need to host another Sovereign Meet in Dusk Province!” the Fallen Lord took a deep breath and declared self-righteously. “We’ve never forgotten about the purpose of this gathering!”

Lu Yun snorted. “Organize the event wherever you want, but not here. Dusk Province isn’t interested.”

He had greater plans for his territory, and putting on another dog and pony show would only cause him trouble. He wasn’t going to do something that would only uselessly expend time and effort.

“Dusk Province is a part of Nephrite Major,” a Nephrite cultivator sneered. “Do you really think it’s your personal property?”

“It is the wish of the world of immortals for the Sovereign Meet to return to Dusk. You alone cannot stop us,” the Monster Lord, Dragon Lord, and Thunder Lord voiced their collective agreement.

The aura of tens of thousands of cultivators came together and crashed into Lu Yun, who offset the power with an easy flare of black flames from his eyes.

Bam!

A thunderous collison rang from the sky right before a figure slammed into the ground, causing a rumbling tremor to rock the earth. All one hundred and eight thousand immortal swords and a hundred sword atlases circled around Xing Chen as he walked down from the sky.

“I hear you don’t think much of me and my Little Yu?” Xing Chen looked around at the cultivators in the crowd. “Then let us fight.”

He was more powerful than even Lu Yun. The soul shroud in Xing Chen had been refined from the soul of a shaman king, which contained boundless strength in itself. If he so wished, Lu Yun could’ve had Xing Chen ascend to immortality from the void realm right now.

In other words, the replica wielded much greater strength than he did.

Lu Shenhou might be more powerful than Lu Yun, but he wasn’t Xing Chen’s match. With all hundred sword atlases unleashed, Xing Chen was unrivalled in the province.

“I haven’t lost yet!” Lu Shenhou rasped hoarsely as he struggled out from underground, dragging his tattered body along. His right arm was broken and his chest heaved violently as he glared venomously at Xing Chen.

“You aren’t Lu Yun! I’m certain of that now! You’re a descendant of the shamanic race from the Primeval Era!” Lu Shenhou cracked a cruel smile. “To think there’d be some of your kind left in the world… What is yours is now mine!”

Bam!!

Untold bloody light burst out of Lu Shenhou as a giant crimson fiend barrelled out from his body and lunged at Xing Chen.

……

“It’s him! It’s him!!” Through a crack of hell, Wushen Ruyi stared at the giant figure and shrieked, “He was the one who snuck up on me and Yueshen Jixiang and refined Yueshen into a corpse coffin!!”

“What?!” Lu Yun lost his calm. “He’s of the shamanic race as well? Isn’t he a divine?”

“He’s a shamanic divine,” Xingzi said quietly off to the side. “Some divines infiltrated the shamanic race and practiced our methods, then became a tribe of their own.

“Orthodox shamans would never casually turn to methods such as corpse coffins and soul planting, but shamanic divines have no such taboos.” Xingzi’s tone turned foreboding. Strictly speaking, shamanic divines weren’t shamans, but divines. They were a new breed of divines comprised of those who’d stolen the shamanic dao.

Lu Yun found records of this shamanic divine tribe in Xingzi’s memory. They were more heartless than even the shamanic race, and they were the bane of the shamans! They were the ones behind the destruction of the shamanic race!